Pramod Biligiri's Blog

Bombay (Day 0 - since I arrived today!)

2009-12-30T19:29:05Z

A few quick jottings (Could be boring):

Considering I haven't been to Bombay in 23 years, this is effectively my first time :) It's a good thing I changed my hotel at the last minute from the suburbs to South Mumbai, since most of my places of interest are there. I'm staying on Marine Drive. The guy at the check in told me there are no rooms available overlooking the seafront, but after I was ushered into one I opened the balcony curtain and gosh - all of Queen's Necklace!

Decided to make the most of the evening and dashed to Churchgate station in order to reach Juhu. Naturally was comparing the railway system to London all the while - no route maps, no signage, no swipe cards etc. A few stops and a few hundred people in the cabin later, I realized all comparisons have to cease. But I was pleased to see the platforms are *full* of shops selling knick knacks. They wouldn't allow that in the West. By the way, why are so many people *running* up and down the platforms? And why did so many get off at Dadar...

Walked the length of Juhu beach, saw the sun set. Had some chaat and saw tons of kids playing cricket and football. The only niggle is my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic /gratuitous-name-drop which keeps running out of battery. And Airtel's GPRS brings back the dialup experience if you were missing it.

I returned to find Marine Drive fully alive at night. Walked the entire stretch with the moon sky high :) The footpath is wiiiiide and free of obstacles. Must have taken a lot of political will to keep hawkers from setting up shop there, as even the underpasses leading up to this promenade are lined with petty shops. A great thing in Bombay is that you are never more than a few feet away from food of *some* sort. In London I used to feel like a fool walking ten minutes for a nibble. Not the hallmark of a free society. And Bangalore seriously lacks open, public spaces like this :(

At some point I realized that within 12 hours I've travelled in a bus, auto, car, train and plane. If only I'd gone boating ... :|

Every time I travel by plane, I am reminded of the below stand up act by George Carlin (contains bad language):

George Carlin on Airplane Safety - I

Part 2, if you liked the above.

A few days ago I found Jerry Seinfeld do a good set of jokes about the same. Much cleaner humor: Link.

Gujarat makes voting compulsory!

2009-12-19T17:36:37Z

Unbelievably, the Gujarat government has made voting compulsory, though only for the local civic body elections as of now: "All registered voters in Gujarat will be required to vote and those absent will be summoned by the local election officer and asked to submit a valid reason with proof within a month."

This is going to result in a Guinness Record scale of dog-ate-my-homework stories. And people trying their best to not get trapped into the electoral roll. Hmm..do I smell corruption? The silver lining is that there will be a "None of the Above" option in the candidates list.

But seriously, this is a gross violation of one's freedom. It's one thing to like voting or exhort others to do so, but how does enforcing that at gun point help?

I'd heard of Australia as one country with compulsory voting and used to wonder whey they haven't voted that out. The relevant Wikipedia page has a long list of other not-too-inspiring examples: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Fiji, Liechtenstein, Nauru, Peru, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and Uruguay.

It's possible this is some silly gimmick or trick by the incumbent government in Gujarat to gain mileage. But what chutzpah!

For a more perfect Union

2009-12-13T09:34:47Z

(First, read Ramesh Srivats' post as he covers most of what I have to say)

What surprised me after the prolonged protests for Telangana was how quickly other demands for statehood gained media attention! Harith Pradesh, Bundelkhand in UP (in fact Mayawati has written to the President asking UP to be divided into 3 - a surprisingly progressive move on her part), Gorkhaland and a whole lot in the North East too.

Some of these demands are political ploys driven by money and "we" (whoever that is) should avoid knee jerk reactions. But in principle there's a strong case for dividing India into many more states - 50 is a good target to aim for over the next couple of decades.

In general I always support secession and subsidiarity. And the question I think of is whether in a newly created state there will be more freedoms or less. Many of the above movements have come out of genuine discontent with current State governments. So I can only assume it should get better. Only the people who're actively gaining from the current political boundaries will lose. The common man shouldn't have much to fear. So the default position should be yes for more states, unless in exceptional cases.

What are the benefits? Like the blog I've linked to above, I believe that more local the power centre, the better the chances of redress. For example don't we remember how people in Hubli-Dharwad were protesting because they didn't have a High Court bench?! By nature governments (and oh boy our courts) can never anticipate people's needs and work efficiently. So it helps if their power and legitimacy are directly dependent on the small set of people that they serve.

Imagine, UP has 180 million people and just 1 Chief Minister who has ridiculous power over them all.

What's the downside? For a while I was worried that India as a free region for people and goods to move around might suffer. Actually there's a Mint editorial along these lines (link). But I think political freedom is more important than a Rational Unified Goods & Services Tax. If free trade is imposed from up above it ceases to be.

Another one says if you create new poor states, money will be taken from rich ones to prop them up (link). Well, that happens even now. Smaller states will make wealth redistribution more efficient and transparent. Actually their real concern is the new set of Ministers and babus who will waste huge amounts for little value. But if we believe in democratic governance the long term benefits are supposed to outweigh these costs. Btw, whatever happened to District Governments??

Ultimately it's up to the people of any region to either successfully secede from their parent State or not. As fellow Indians we should speak for their cause more often than not. Hopefully our children might grow up and wonder how we managed this vast expanse with just 25 CM's and their retinue.

"The patent system: End it, don't mend it" - CSM article

2009-12-12T17:20:40Z

An article on the Christian Science Monitor (via econ.reddit) calling for an end to the concept of patents: link. At the end I find that they are economists and the authors of Against Intellectual Monopoly, a book that someone has long recommended to me (and I still haven't read :P).

They mince no words! It begins, "It is common to argue that intellectual property (IP) in the form of copyrights and patents is crucial for the creation of innovative ideas and inventions such as machines, drugs, software, books, and music. Proponents argue that IP is just like ordinary property in houses and cars. In fact, empirical evidence shows that IP does not promote innovation and that, unlike ordinary property, it is detrimental to the social good...." and ends "Why are we keeping alive a system of legally protected private monopolies that does not deliver on its promises and, instead, generates a vast number of socially damaging activities? The answer seems twofold: legislative and political inertia on the one hand, and vested monopolistic interests exploiting the status quo on the other."

"The real price of gold", article in NatGeo

2009-11-22T19:28:41Z

A fantastic article about gold, mining, and the value people place on it, in NatGeo: The real price of gold.

It's loooong but quite worth reading. I rarely read NatGeo; I chanced upon this via economics.reddit.

Ron Paul's Audit the Fed is gaining wings!

2009-11-21T06:14:22Z

Glenn Greenwald (by no means a "right-winger", writes): "Something quite amazing happened yesterday in Congress: the House Financial Services Committee -- in a truly bipartisan and even trans-ideological vote -- defied the banking industry, the Federal Reserve, the Democratic leadership, and mainstream Beltway opinion in order to pass an amendment, sponsored by GOP Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, mandating a genuine and probing audit of the Fed."

Here's some background, from whatever I understand of US Congressional procedures: Two months ago the House Finance Committee had a hearing on Ron Paul's HR 1207 ('Audit the Fed') bill. Before it came to vote, some senior members suggested amendments to the bill which would water it down considerably. This was supported by prominent economists (pdf link) and ex-Fed biggies like Greenspan and Paul Volcker (link).

However, the "populist" movement probably won this round, the bill was passed in its original form. Here is co-sponsor Alan Grayson (D) speaking just before the vote yesterday. Mel Watt, the other person in the video, had introduced the opposing amendment.

Rep. Alan Grayson on HR 1207 (10m:08s)

Displacement and dispossession

2009-11-09T17:58:37Z

I can't believe that I read all these reports of government sponsored terrorism(?) in a single day's newspaper!

1. Nation-wide protest planned against Orissa SEZ (link)
"The POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi (PPSS) has threatened to launch a nation-wide protest against the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in a tribal area in Orissa ...South Korea-based POSCO had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Orissa in 2005 for establishing a plant on 4,000 acres of land inhabited by tribal people. The land is the only source of livelihood for the inhabitants, most of whom are farmers and fishermen...'We are not going to retreat. Let the Government deploy paramilitary forces. The anti-POSCO men and women are ready to lay down their lives'"

2. Agitating farmers get Medha’s support (link)
"Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan has extended her support to the 11-month farmers’ agitation against the State Government’s move to acquire fertile farmland at Chaganur and Siriwar villages in Bellary taluk to construct an airport...The farmers of Chaganur and Siriwar villages in Bellary taluk launched an agitation after G. Janardhan Reddy, Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure Development (the mining bigshot), announced that a new airport would be constructed near these villages a few months ago. They have also filed a court case against the State Government’s move to acquire their fertile farmland."

3. Unwanted underpass irks residents (link) - This is a 10 minute walk from home
"Heavy rains on Sunday could not extinguish people’s rage against the construction of Tagore Circle underpass as a good number of people turned at the ‘Janaabhipraya’ (public opinion), organised by Deccan Herald and Prajavani at the Government School on KR Road...What was intriguing was the absence of BBMP officials, who did not show up to clear people’s apprehensions over the underpass and its impact on the landscapes near Tagore Circle which used to be the identity of KR Road."

On RBI buying $7 billion gold

2009-11-03T18:38:45Z

The IMF has announced (link) that it has sold 7 billion USD worth gold to the RBI (around 200 tons). This transaction was done over the last couple of weeks and made public only now (this kind of stealth stuff is done to prevent markets from seizing on the information). Apparently the IMF needed liquidity to lend to low-income countries, and the RBI needed to diversify its dollar holdings. So they'd call it a "synergy".

The RBI press release helpfully elaborates: "This was done as part of the Reserve Bank’s foreign exchange reserves management operations. The purchase was an official sector off-market transaction..."
/sarcasm.

Even China has significantly increased its gold holdings over the last year or so, largely because of uncertainty over the future of the dollar.

Should the Indian and Chinese governments be sitting on reserves of $200 billion and $3 Trillion respectively? Should they have any reserves at all? Your guess is as good as mine :)

Sauvik calls for drug legalization...

2009-10-25T16:38:34Z

...in a post titled Bhola on stock exchange.

Overheard

2009-10-20T18:01:22Z

I overheard at lunch, project mates discussing costs of Caesarean (C-section).

How times have changed!

Also overheard: Doctors ask Are you on Insurance? And double the price of the C-section. In India!

Here we go, one more youth scarred by our moral oppression

2009-10-10T18:54:46Z

A few days ago the Bangalore police arrested a 23-year old DJ called Nischit Lalwani. His crime? Selling ganja (marijuana). I found it more troubling because this young man lives close to home, on Lalbagh Road.

At a time when US states like California are toying with legalizing marijuana, and the pernicious effect of US drug policy on Mexican society is evoking op-eds in The Hindu, the government in India still wants to bar adults from buying and selling drugs.

When the drug laws are overturned in the USA in the not-too-distant future, it will be because they will run out of money to pay the police and DEA to do the needful. The Indian State is still on an upward spiral and I expect the Bangalore government to be rich enough to indulge in such nefarious activities for quite a while.

But as citizens, we should keep the social cost in mind. India does not have a public healthcare system worth its name, so drug addicts are not a burden on the taxpayer. As to "drugged driving", well, can our roads get any worse?

Considering one worries about young children, cousins, nephews and nieces falling prey to drugs, the question to ask is whether it's justified to force other adults from pursuing the life they want and risk jailing 23-year olds, or can we still rely on family and community to instill the desired values in kids?

Alternately, you can wonder if the government's money is better spent on mid day meals, or flood relief or what not.

Obama? Peace prize?

2009-10-09T17:21:48Z

I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time, when my mom informed me that Obama has won the Nobel peace prize (link).

How can anybody who's President of the United States win a prize for peace?

Classic protectionist spiel

2009-10-04T06:28:53Z

The Hindu often features the writings of one ex-Supreme Court judge called V R Krishna Iyer, who remains an unreformed socialist. Yesterday he wrote about protecting Kerala's domestic industries against imports, in an article straight out of a time warp. Read The iniquitous perils of the free trade pact.

Videos of the "Audit the Fed" hearings

2009-09-26T14:18:44Z

There's a series of YouTube videos of yesterday's Congress session where an attorney representing the Federal Reserve warned that passing the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (known popularly as "Audit the Fed") would compromise the monetary policy independence of the Fed.

In any case, the videos make for good drama. Start with this below segment from Ron Paul. The entire series can be found here

Audit The Fed - Ron Paul (6m:46s)

[The audio is faint. Use earphones]

Still perusing the rare Indian gold bug

2009-09-24T16:48:03Z

Here's what Sauvik has to say about the trade deficit imbalances in the world.

[quote]
500 street hawkers were evicted from Chennai – while the entire focus is on the G-20 meet in Pittsburg. However, I will not recommend the editorial in the Economic Times, which reads like propaganda and not informed analysis. Indeed, the pivot of their argument is a patently false proposition:

Boom and bust are an integral part of free-market capitalism.
This is what Keynesians, who idolize The Total State and its Funny Money, believe. Economists of the Austrian School oppose this view, and hold that governments create bubbles and booms with easy money and cheap credit. This causes “malinvestments.” Hence the inevitable bust. The solution is real capitalism and sound money: Gold. Private money.
[/quote]

Read the whole post, it's called Rebalancing the USSA.

Monetary reform is going to happen

2009-09-21T17:45:32Z

It's a foregone conclusion now that the financial industry in US and UK will face significant regulatory changes over the next few years. It's also obvious that the Federal Reserve is going to be reformed, or even get a new name in order to erase the stigma of 2008. But yet I'm surprised to see reputed newspapers start talking about the soundness of the dollar and the nature of fiat currency. I didn't expect so much to change so soon.

One piece in NYT called The Recession is over - for now, says, "Why should we believe that the Federal Reserve could regulate banks and avert financial bubbles when that agency has repeatedly failed to do so over the past 30 years? The greatest failure of all time happened from 2002 to 2007, and for most of that time Mr. Bernanke was on the Fed’s board of governors. To make financial regulation workable again, the chairman needs to admit the institution’s recent failures and call for deeper reforms in the operation of the Fed"

And today, I found a link to a Guardian opinion piece that had this, "The notion that the present financial system is "laissez-faire" is, of course, ludicrous. At present, we have a nationalised organisation that holds a state-granted monopoly on the issuance of currency. If this were any industry other than finance, the Bank of England would be seen as the Soviet-style planning board that it is.".

Of the 3 points mentioned by the author of that article, the second one deserves to be quoted in full: "Repeal legal tender laws. When sovereigns control currency, they debase gold coins to augment their own coffers. When politicians control currency, they print money to monetise their debts. Even by giving control to independent central banks, we haven't found a way to protect the value of money, since there is still a monopoly provider with an incentive to inflate. The best form of consumer protection is competition, and commercial institutions should be allowed to offer currency to allow markets to determine the most effective medium of exchange."

Lastly, don't miss this Ron Paul interview in the WSJ.

Divide and conquer

2009-09-05T18:35:30Z

In the city of Bangalore, the class conflict between commuters on one hand, and residents, shopkeepers on the other, keeps propping up repeatedly. Normally they fight over roads and their width, using all State-ly means to assert their superior property rights over them. But once in a while, the commuting class gains supreme power and manages to overthrow the resident class from their...well, residences.

The sad case of CMH Road is well known w.r.t the construction of the Metro. Now, people living in BTM Layout and JP Nagar could be forced to lose part of their houses in order to widen the Ring road. The government has been going about it with characteristic grace: sneaking up at night and marking out houses in ugly, red paint.

Houses marked for land acquisition

"more than 600 houses being marked with signs indicating more 7 metres (roughly 21 feet) of acquisition...Residents say that in the first week of August this year, some BBMP officers came and marked their compound walls without asking or informing."

Interestingly, the "officers" go on to justify that they'd put up the legally requisite acquisition notices (in random pages of random newspapers - who, incidentally, publish it routinely, and then make money off the demolition reportage too! :P).

I still stand by what I last wrote against forcible land acquisition for the Metro - namely, it's unethical and unnecessary. By the way, the victim in that incident, Malini Srirama appears to have won the fight to retain her home. Should that count as a disappointment for the rest of us Bangaloreans?

The most exciting part of supporting the "greater common good", is you never know when you'll find yourself on the firing line - whether directly or via something you love. Like this one indignant letter that could almost pass for satire:

"To Whom it may concern,
As a supporter of Namma Metro, especially with regard to cases such as Namma Metro Vs CMH Road residents and Namma Metro Vs Mahakavi Kuvempu Road residents, I am plain disgusted to note that Namma metro does not care a inch about our city's heritage.

This is with regard to acquisition of Shri Komer Srinivasa Iyengar's masterpiece home (that's Malini Srirama's residence) in Basavangudi. This is the equivalent of acquiring Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece homes in Pennsylvania for a rail road!...Just by sitting in your air conditioned offices and not visiting facts on ground, you assume that the home of Komer Srinivasa Iyengar is just another property to be acquired...Since i am also a supporter of Kannada culture - i plan to write to the Department of Kannada and Culture, the Urban Arts Commission..." [the whole thing]

Sometimes I wonder if our children will read about all of this decades from now and shake their heads wondering: ..because they wanted to get someplace faster?

Economics in one press release

2009-09-04T15:58:50Z

Once in a while there comes a news report which illustrates many errors of thinking in a few short paras. Yesterday's Hindu had one such hilarious article. The title, "Survey of dentists in India sought", grabbed me instantly, like the curious cases of Sherlock Holmes. The character in question is a Mr. Kohli, who is the President of the Dental Council of India (DCI). I'll just paste from his words now, every sentence is a gem.

[quote]
The Dental Council of India (DCI) has urged the Planning Commission to carry out a survey of dentists in India and assess the oral healthcare scenario.

President of DCI Dr. Anil Kohli said he had requested the commission to ascertain the number of dentists available in the country at present and how many of them India would be requiring in the next 20 years.
...

Dr. Kohli told The Hindu that such a survey was necessary to improve the oral healthcare and dental hygiene among the people.
...

He said there was an uneven spread of dentists across the country, with most of them being concentrated in urban areas. "If we have one dentist for every 500 people in urban areas, there is one dentist for every 3.5 lakh people in rural areas," he said.

"We are facing a severe shortage of qualified teaching faculty in these dental colleges. There are not enough patients visiting the dental colleges for treatment," he said.

Dr. Kohli favoured a moratorium on new dental colleges in the country. "We need to stop opening new dental colleges. Let us have a moratorium. I have already written to the Government in this regard," he said.

In order to meet the requirement of qualified faculty, the existing faculty members should be promoted to higher levels in shorter duration of time. "For instance, a lecturer should become a reader in four years while a reader should become a professor in five years."

The poor turnout of patients at dental colleges for treatment has also become a cause for concern. "If a dental college has 300 students, we don’t even get 100 patients. If enough patients do not visit the colleges, it will serious affect the students’ exposure to dental treatment," Dr. Kohli said.
....

Dr. Kohli proposed to open the doors of dental colleges in the country for subsidised treatment to poor people.

"I have asked the Government to subsidise dental treatment for below poverty line (BPL) families. This will also create awareness of dental health among the people," he said.
[/quote]

Of pirates and goondas

2009-08-30T11:02:16Z

Hardly a week passes when I don't encounter the stupidity of copyright laws, as applied to creative works. Yesterday during a casual discussion with my mom, I got to know that there are people who want to put up the on web some of the more famous works in Kannada literature, but the publishers who hold the copyright remain very protective of their property. Another friend who works in an Indian research lab was complaining that their college has blocked YouTube in order to stop people from watching pirated content.

The Karnataka government recently decided it will invoke the "Goonda Act" against people who illegally copy and sell CDs. The film industry is understandably happy, as they had long lobbied hard for stronger measures to protect their livelihoods.

Google's ongoing controversy over its project of scanning and uploading millions of books is well known, and has acquired intercontinental proportions.

So it's no surprise that this month saw the creation of another Pirate Party, this time in England (similar to the Pirate party of Sweden). Their focus is still conservative, as they seek to just reform the duration of copyright laws.

[Wow, as I was googling for them, I came across the existence of the Swiss Pirate party (started in July '09!) and the Finnish Pirate party (started in Aug '09!)]

Hm..I wonder how many young, urban Indians would be willing to support such a party in India?

Such reassessment of the idea of property rights is common in history. Karl Marx's statement of this phenomenon is perhaps the most famous (from his A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy):

[quote]
At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution.
[/quote]

In short, we have to start teaching our children that if you write a book or create a video, you should no longer expect that society will step up to make sure it's not copied and resold without royalty or attribution. It's not practical, and requires too much force to make it seem ethical.

Another post from Sauvik, which I felt like sharing

2009-08-28T10:42:08Z

[I'm going to take the liberty of pasting the entire thing :)
The sentiment I most agree with is that the Indian government feels like bandar ke haath me talwar ...sword in the hands of a monkey. ]

[quote]
There are two must see videos I have for you today: the first is a snippet from a town hall meeting in America. Now, this is what I call a Real American. We need many Indians like this. The attitude is of this marine veteran is simply incredible.

The second video I have is of the dance group of day labourers I had earlier blogged about – this is a video of their final performance, which won them the prize. (Thanks to Mint: read their report here.)

India does have talent. Indians need Liberty, not education.

And talking about education, here is a must read news of the corrupt activities of the vice-chancellor of a prestigious south Indian university. There have been many such reports before, but this one is truly disgraceful. We must wind up all higher education from our The State.

In the meantime, while the Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi State worries over our intellectual development, here is an interview from the ToI today of a human rights activist that is titled “Manipur has become a lawless state.” Do read the entire interview. He also talks of other states like Kashmir and Chattisgarh as “lawless.”

There is another report of lawlessness, this time from the Indian Express, with a headline that says it all: “Maoists blow up railway station in Orissa, mobile tower in Jharkhand.” Do read the full report here.

What is our The State doing? From what I recall of what I just read, scanning many newspapers, they are dealing in hydrocarbons, they are worrying about climate change, they are worrying about Jinnah and Gandhi, they are not allowing FDI into domestic civil aviation or retail, they are worrying about the drought, they want to protect farmers, and yes – the food subsidy is gonna go up a lot because they are raising the procurement prices of various crops: that is, The State is dealing in food.

On climate change, do read Deepak Lal's column in today's Business Standard. He "spikes the road to Copenhagen," saying that the West's obsession with carbon emissions is both "wicked" as well as "economically foolish." (Thanks to Chandra.)

This socialist and democratic idea of the "Role of The State" doesn’t make much sense to me.

It is as senseless as the State-owned booze shop from which I picked up some cases of beer yesterday.

It seems our The State is doing all the wrong things.

As the Hindi proverb goes: Bandar ke haath mein talwar. (The sword is in the hands of a monkey.)

And please, let us not raise the flag of democracy. As I have said right at the outset of this post, you MUST watch the town hall meeting video to know what democracy should mean.

Our democracy – if you factor in the rampant “lawlessness” – is not very different from Afghanistan. Manipur, in fact, must be even worse. As in Afghanistan, so in Manipur, so in Kashmir, foreign mercenary soldiers rule the roost.

And there is an excellent article on LRC today that outlines what needs to be done to restore trade and peace in Afghanistan. Topping the list of what should be done is the assertion that US and NATO must completely withdraw. Do read this great article, here.

And THINK!

How do we restore "civil government" to Manipur, Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa, and Lalgarh?

I leave you today with that important question to ponder over.
[/quote]

Sauvik on music

2009-08-24T16:47:05Z

Sauvik Chakraverti has a post on how the Indian government likes to ban music performances. The personal angle makes it touching:

[quote]
Those days, during the summer vacations, I used to head to the hills of Mussoorie. There, I would jam with the band at Whispering Windows. People would dance. The band liked me. The crowd liked me. Even the management liked me. And I got a free holiday in cool weather, some free drinks, and a little money. It kept me going. I also felt I was heading in the right direction – towards a musical career.

Then came Morarji Desai and prohibition. All the bars that employed musicians closed down. I gave up music. Tried higher studies. And my life took a different course because of the whims of a silly Gandhian politician pretending to be a moral force.

Indeed, music is still dead in India. I now live in south Delhi and within a 10km radius from my house, there isn’t a single place where you can enjoy a drink and listen to live music. There are shows sometimes, organized by FM radio stations and the like – but the regular scene is rather sad. This is an “unhappening” city as far as bars and music are concerned – and the two go together.

If we are to revive the music scene, then we must kill the excise department. They are killing the music. So we can “swear it was in self-defence.”

When I see the market-places in Delhi today, I try and imagine another world – a world of Liberty. My nearest market sells fish, vegetables, fruit and provisions – and not much more apart from some street food. There are no bars, no hash cafés, no “pubs,” no discotheques, no live dance joints, no casinos – these are all “what is not seen.” These are not seen because of official restrictions that are better called “economic repression.” All these must go.

[/quote]

Trying out Facebook

2009-08-16T18:36:48Z

For my friends who almost died of heart attack yesterday on seeing Facebook friend requests from me, yeah I finally decided to see what the fuss is. Also there were way too many friend requests which I couldn't afford to ignore any more.

Facebook seems to consist of Twitter-like posts on an LJ-style friends page. I like the fact that a few comments are shown on the same page, and loading the rest of the comments doesn't force a page refresh. I still don't get the "Liked this" concept, and the weird, non-blogpost kind of happenings that go on. Anyway, let me see.

I have half a mind to crosspost my LJ entries there :D

Did you mean...?

2009-08-13T10:07:32Z

Another funny Google quirk, Deepak points it out.

An affair to remember

2009-08-05T13:08:01Z

I am back in Bangalore after 4 months of London. Here's a consciousness stream of London experiences that will remain etched in my mind.

Discovering Bankside on a Friday night en route to Tate; Bankside on a bright Sunday morning; Bankside during rains;
Hungerford bridge and its musicians, South Bank Centre - the huge open air cafes, kids playing in the fountains at Elizabeth hall, the polka dotted trees there, the skaters in the basement; walking along the river all the way from Royal Festival Hall to Tower Bridge; the narrow and crowded walkway from Embankment to the Strand; the musicians in the Embankment gardens; walking on the Strand on a rainy day; Trafalgar Square taken over by ISKCON and their huge chariots; the throng of tourists from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square, sleazy and stylish Soho with countless restaurants and bars; Aldwych with big LSE and BBC buildings; beautiful cafes along Canary Wharf, the financial behemoths located there; the City area with magnificent St. Paul's, the Guildhall and numerous old buildings; meeting Arundhati Roy and Amartya Sen; BBC proms at Royal Albert; Foyles and its many temptations; the London Walks; rich and stylish Londoners at Kensington and Sloane Square; the many varieties of museums; the amusing and reassuring presence of the Southwark council; musicians "busking" in the Tube stations; Wales!

And most cherished of all: reading Mises and Marx by the Thames, with coffee in hand.

The days of IP in music are numbered

2009-08-01T00:33:13Z

I read this recent report of a man being sued for sharing music online. I think it is just a matter of time before artists have to give up on government recognition of their intellectual property rights. I don't understand how as a society we can condone laws that stop people from doing harmless things. See even how the BBC frames the story:

[quote]
A US student has been ordered to pay $675,000 (£404,000) to four record labels for breaking copyright laws after sharing music online.

The Boston University student, Joel Tenenbaum, had admitted in court that he had downloaded and distributed 30 songs at issue in the case.

It is the second such case to go to trial in the US.

In the first case, a woman in Minneapolis was ordered to pay $1.92m for sharing 24 songs.
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If IP for music breaks down in our lifetime, it would be interesting to watch the variations across countries. The Indian film industry could become a strong lobby for IPR. The Kannada film industry, for example, has no qualms paying government to write laws that take away people's freedoms.

Also expect publishers, researchers and creators of software to come up with self serving explanations as to why they are more useful to society than music and sports.