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)

The Future of Work

Sea of Managers

Readers every day in India these days we hear about Layoffs, especially in the IT/ITES and software fields. People seem to place the blame on external factors when this happens. Sometimes it is true and politics is at play, but quite often it is not.

What has brought about this nemesis? On an average, Entrepreneurs insist that the blame lies with the employee. Sometimes they claim the issue is about political factors(Donald Trump's anti-outsourcing policies etc). Again, this is a tendency to pin blame elsewhere when the finger should be pointing inwards! The entrepreneur refuses to invest in the employees training and development, instead, giving him/her more non-technical "responsibilities".

The gullible employee on the other hand feels this is a "way to the top" and begins to take on more "responsibility"(non technical work). Sometimes the managers give the coders such a hard time while they are coding/doing technical work that the coders revolt and try to become managers themselves. Suddenly we have more and more (and more) managers and fewer coders left in the fray. This becomes a dangerous irrational situation and the entrepreneur is forced to "take a tough decision". {Actually, the average entrepreneur does not really care until the customer tells him that his people are not technical enough for the project}

Donald Trump and the Offshoring S(c/h)am

Average Entrepreneurs try to deflect the blame from themselves by saying US anti-outsourcing policy has resulted in this mess. Do Indian workers really need to worry if outsourcing stops? Many competent ones can in fact get a H-1 and move to greener pastures for many times their Indian salary which the entrepreneur paid them. Donald Trump is a blessing in disguise for many such competent techies! It is the Entrepreneur himself who is in trouble now, not techies, and for once the shoe is on the other foot!

Automation

The other real reason jobs are disappearing is because of automation not politics! Automation continues its onward wealth creating march as more and more jobs disappear. Thousands of people working in call centers will be replaced with  single scaleable chatbot that will run on cloud and answer questions for users who were anyways fed up with fake foreign accents. This is just a canonical example and many jobs and industries are going to be disrupted by automation in the next few years. 

Examples of potentially obsolete jobs are taxi drivers, even low end IT jobs, Massively online open classrooms are already disrupting conventional education to some extent or supplementing it. Russia has now built the first AI battle tank, even the future of war is going to change.

Lets ban Automation! some will say. We are losing our jobs! To them I have this to say: "Even if you close your eyes and sit in one place the world continues to move forward!"

There are several issues that Government is going to need to address like taxation on automation, Universal basic income etc.

Advice to Youngsters

What then is the advice I have for budding coders?

1. Improve your technical competence continuously
2. Continue to build great software regardless of what people around you are saying. Managers may go about saying "You are just a coder", but please know that they are faking it themselves
3. Learn to say "NO" when you are given non-technical work to do("Responsibilities").
4. Teach other like minded coders and learn from them, continuously
5. Continue to invest in your own education.
6. Understand that the goal of any business that employs you is creation of wealth for its investors and not guaranteeing you a job.
7. God helps those who help themselves

8. Understand that "the few will always rule the many" and try to become the few!
9. Believe that all you really need to succeed is food, shelter, a laptop and a broadband plan, not employment/career etc.

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 comparative study between the Indian IT industry and Bollywood

Folks, we have been influenced by movies since time immemorial and Bollywood is the chief culprit. This shows up in our day to day lives and we often subconsciously mimic Bollywood without knowing it. This is a study of similarities and differences between these two faking industries. I am sure there are parallels in other industries as well! Several Software Professionals have a holier than thou attitude towards Bollywood, so this is an attempt to make them see the light of day... 

Similarities:

1. There are "Roles" to be played
2. There are "Actors" and "Actresses"
3. There are heroes (developers) and Villains (Project Managers)
4. Both industries pretend to make finished "Products" 
5. There is a lot of rinse and repeat till you get the perfect "Shot" (Re-takes Vs Iterations/rebuilds etc)
6. The "Actresses" career is more or less over once she gets married! (ditto in the s/w industry)
7. Both Pretend to do Philanthropy ( CSR and doling out stuff)
8. There are Award Ceremonies!
9. The awards are Fixed!
10. There are lots of "Extras" everywhere.
11. In several cases you can sleep your way to the top
12. There are lay-offs once the project is complete
13. There is a lot of Copy and Paste! 
14. There are plenty of Scandals (Sexual and Financial)

Differences:

1. Bollywood makes some good finished products whereas the IT industry is still mostly about services!
2. Bollywood is Honest about layoffs.
3. Bollywood pays its Actors well
4. The Hero is treated with some semblance of respect in Bollywood
5. The press is crazy about Bollywood.

I hope you had a good Laugh!

Do you know any more Similarities and Differences? Do comment.

Regards

Milind Thombre

May the Force be with you!

Folks there are innumerable examples of how our forces have saved  lives, both Indian and other nationalities, when natural or man made disasters strike. This post is written with the deepest sense of gratitude to our men and women in Uniform. This post also acknowledges the work of several people who volunteer selflessly without the cover of a uniform such as but not limited to the Rashtriya Swayam Sevaks the various Gurudwaras, Ramdev Baba and many more I am sure I don't even know about.

Himalayan Disaster

When a Magnitude 7.9 on the Richter Scale (exponential scale) earthquake struck last weekend, Nepal was devastated. Buildings fell and became masses of suffocating rubble. Over 3200 people were no more, countless others were missing and injured. The survivors had severe stress levels from not knowing where their loved ones were. Aftershocks continued to instil fear in the hearts of the surviving. Mount Everest was also struck with several landslides claiming lives of climbers, and other tourists. Nepal as always been like a brother to India and it truly hurt all Indians that this small Hindu nation should suffer such destruction.

The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force were called to the rescue. Thousands of Indian tourists and anybody else who wanted to be rescued were flown out on massive aircrafts and choppers to safety. The operation was Aptly called "Maitri" or friendship. NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force)  medics and paramedics were put on the ground. Emergency operation theaters were set up in makeshift tents. An Indian Army expedition whose initial mission was to clean up Mt Everest (Safai) survived the quake. Instead of coming back to safety they pressed on looking for survivors. This is nothing short of heroic. The Gorkhas in the Indian Army (of Nepal) were given leave and plane rides to visit family back home.

The acknowledgement will be incomplete without a note about RSS and Ramdev Baba. Both vehemently hated by Indian Media (Presstitutes).

My parents who used to trek the Himalayas often several years ago have had a couple of near death experiences (Amarnath Yatra and Kailash-Manas Yatra). On all such occasions they have had the good fortune of being rescued by the Forces and fed by the Langars  when they were on the verge of collapse.

Even BSNL pitched in with Local call rates to Nepal. (Note that Idea and Vodafone were busy making IIN Ads and IIN jokes respectively at this time)

Hats Off!

When Saudis started their bombing campaign in Yemen. Indian forces were the only ones (Operation "Rahat") who went in to rescue its citizens. The US citizens in Yemen were told to call out to the Indian Forces if they wanted rescuing. Naturally, India's left leaning and pseudo secular media did not cover this. (Indian Muslims being rescued by the Indian Army). Retired Army General V. K. Singh personally walked through the villages in Yemen, unarmed and on foot calling out Indians to rescue them.

Genocide

For all the people in the world, including several Indians I know who portray a negative image of our forces.(esp because of the Kashmir issue) I want to remind you that this is the only Force standing between you and the receiving end of Genocide.

That's all for now folks, have a great day! (Comments welcome)

~ Milind Thombre

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