As Time Goes By

I have always wondered about this dichotomy, that i remember little of college days as if the time flew by but i also sense that sometimes life was really laid back and i was a bit lazy and read so many books and watched so much TV, so life wouldn't have been so fast paced. So this book review from Tim Harford really made sense.

We do not remember time as a continuum but as a series of events; that is why a fortnight recuperating in bed seems like an eternity (because we have no events to observe) but almost vanishes from the memory (because there are no events to remember). That is also why a wonderful day’s sightseeing can fly by, yet when looking back over an evening drink, that morning’s coffee can seem impossibly distant.

Its really a question of Continuous versus Discrete, where the human behaviour counts Discrete events while our physics lessons have made us to think of time asa continuum which is reinforced by the watches.

The One with the Sting

I dont think there is any doubt about the fact that Gill and Co have been a disaster for Indian Hockey. At a time when the country as a whole has grown manifold, Indian Hockey kept losing its place in the Indian consciousness.

However, one point must be mentioned. Every time a politician is caught in a sting row, there are all these questions raised about the ethics of stings and all the news channels are basically told to self regulate and the specter of the Orwellian broadcasting bill is raised. Here, no questions about the ethics of Sting. No one raised a doubt on Gill, still this incident was good enough to dissolve the IHF.

How many chief of parliamentary whips were even asked to resign in the Cash for Questions sting. How many indirect parties have resigned over any sting when it comes to politicians

The Current Food "Crisis" or "Opportunity"

The Economist has a very good chart explaining the causes of the current crisis. While the food prices started rising, the market has started responding with in creasing yield in the last year. The other notable thing to note is how the yield growth has stagnated over the last 45 years.

I guess that the rise in food prices is following the natural rise of commodity prices in the last decade or so following increasing demand from India China etc, and thus food prices thus following commodities like Oil, Metals etc (While you may argue Metal prices are cyclic, i do believe the current upturn is more secular in nature. So, if we agree with the given analysis and assume that the increased food prices are here to stay, we shall come to the important question - What will be the impact on India, and thus How should the Indian policymakers respond.

Regarding the impact, i think there is a clear dichotomy exist(as it should), between the demand side and supply side. While the Indian consumers will suffer, there is tremendous scope for gains to the Indian primary sector. Let us focus on the structural changes due to higher prices which will improve the primary sector*

Government - Government will be unencumbered by the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism and then can fully focus on the market enabling measures to ensure that the gains in trade are diffused enough to prevent backlash of higher prices among general populace. Here the basic logic is that while the MSP does create a floor of prices, the given inefficiencies in the buffer system, means that the gains form trade are not passed on to the farmers in times of high prices. With the high prices, the burden of procurement will be on government and thus will have a fiscal impact, but anyway i don't expect the government to be fiscally efficient in near term.

Market - Higher floor prices means that enough incentives exist for the middlemen and traders to take advantage of India's improving road and rail connectivity to reach the hinterland leading to better price discovery across locations

Farmers- Incentives to improve productivity, and increasing disposable income.

Frankly, rising food prices can be an unmitigated blessing for a country like India with the worlds highest gross acreage and largest population in agriculture. Just imagine Oil Prices doubling for Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia on the cusp of finding more oil wells. Well for us, the oil prices have just doubled and the infrastructure and communications improvement are our new oil wells.


* Of course the glaring omission in this analysis is the effect of high prices on inflation thus leading to loss in real income for many of the populace. I still feel that the government should take a fiscal hit rather than limit the upside of the price rise for million of farmers by commodity price targeting which seems to be the current mode of thinking in the current political/bureaucrat regime.

Picture Courtesy The Economist

The Debate Starts

If you follow English soccer, football rather, you must be aware of the "club vs country" debates that rages every time the English national team under performs, which btw makes it sort of an annual debate. Now i feel Indians are going to have the taste of the debate big time with the start of IPL.
Also on a serious track, some of the celebrations was off putting for me, its alright for Shahrukh to cheer Mccullum hitting Zaheer as he is the owner, but the odd thing was that nobody mentions the of shifting loyalty from country to club and the implicit transition. It is as if the official policy of the event organisers particularly the commentators is to not to comment on the contradiction and just hope that by pretending that strong Club loyalties exist and behaving as such will make the crowd see it that way. Well i am not convinced and find it difficult to accept that i will ever cheer Zaheer getting hit for a six by Mccullum.

Also for a bit of humorous take, see my cricket fanatic friend and perennial commenter Vibhash's post

Beyond Washington Consensus

Dani Rodrik says

successful policy reform is at its core governance reform

I completely agree with this sentiment. For too long, the multilateral agencies have focussed on policy formulations and seeing it fail and blaming it on governance. While the link has been made many times, mostly in a post facto manner. The right way to go about is i think going for governance reform, enablers (Specifically MIS), and then policy reforms. While this seems self evident on reading, it must be noted that "washington consensus" which was the staple of reforms under development agencies, for long has focussed on policy reforms while treating Governance as an exogenous variable.

The unbearable longing for emptiness of being

One of the great things about my life is, i really long for these moments of emptiness...when the world sort of stops...you are not supposed to meet any deadlines...you are at peace with yourself...when i can do anything i want.. (which is basically nothing)..I i really go for pop psychoanalysis of myself, its the lazy bugger syndrome..i cant seem to handle stress and so long for escapism....but that will be the cynical approach...the solitude coupled with the belssedness really does makes you feel like nirvan is actually not a bogus concept.

The Linearity of Time in the Space Time Continuum

The signs were all there. I was being nice to people. I was not abusing my friends nearly enough. I tried to resist thinking about it, i even tried some counter measures e.g Singing frequently, extemporaneously giin dissertations about my innate qualities etc, b ut my friends i cannot ignore it anylonger, for today was the last straw. I failed to eat just half a water melon. I am sad to state that i have grwon up and my bodyt has given up on my will powers ability to turn back the clock. So from now onwards, less antics and more books. prepared to be surprised.

The Moment

There was this sweet types golf movie called 'Tin Cup' starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo..and while the movie was the typical run of the mill underdog sports movie..one of the statements really stuck with me..it goes something like.."when the defining moment comes..either you define the moment or the moment defines you".. ..and right now, i feel like one of those defining moment are going to cross by me.. and i really wanna be an active player in this round...and hope my golf is better than roy mcavoy.

P.S - Talkin of defining moments etc- this is my 100th Post. Thanks to all of my readers....(Yes chuchu and malik u both)

The Professional

Rahul Dravid is not my favourite batsman (Sachin is)...He is not my faovurite indian captain (Dada is)..He is not even my favourite cricketer (Sachin again)..but over the years, Dravid has continually risen in my estimation as the truest professional in the Indian team. I mean Md Kaif is also a gud professional but he had to be one. But given Dravid's talent and approach etc, Dravid could have become a prima donna..but he didnt. He accepted that the team is bigger than him.

So..all in all Not only Dravid is gud enough to score 10k in both the forms of the game, he is good enough to be an example for other players and thats what makes him truly great.

The End of an Era

I still feel a bit of a sense of Loss on watching the Hockey segment of the movie Golmaal..here was one part of our heritage that we have lost. Hockey had the potential to be part of our national conscience but it failed or rather we failed hockey

Today, was the definitive hammer blow for Indian Hockey. Today it lost its place as one of the premier games of India. Now Hockey has to fight with other sports to fight for a place in our conscience. Playing in all of the olympics till date was one of the best records in Indian Sports..something you can be proud of..It has come to an end though..and to be fair...we extended as long as we can. India certainly is not one of teams that you can claim should be part of the Olympics. We were just not good enough. But this is not the time to recriminate against Gill, He has been doing his job terribly since long. This is the time to remember the past greats..from Dhyan Chand to KD Singh to Pargat singh..And i take this opprtunity to thank all the past hockey olympians..they made history after all.

An Apology

I must have been in standard 4th or 5th when i crossed my swords with Wordsworth. There was this book "Panorama" a book on poems assigned to my cousins who studied in another school. And i remember reading the poem "Daffodils" by Wordsworth and while there was some pleasant imagery, i was distinctly unimpressed by Wordsworth call to solitude .

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

but right now with nothing to do on a lazy summerish afternoon listening to Hemant Kumar and, I lie in a vacant mood and actually my heart seems filled of pleasure and while i haven't danced with daffodils..i can relate to the feeling..

So Mr William W. Wordsworth..I apologise

Three Things

Three things i want to read more about

1. Law of unintended consequences - In the context of mainstream India.

2. Free Trade and Societal Structure - What is the relationship. I hope one day i actually read The Great Transformation and also The Bottom Billion by Collier. In the merantime, you can read this by Delong for context.

3. Economic Situation in Bihar - Even articles will do. What is happening in there. The last good article that i read seems to be one by Aditi phadnis in Business standard

Blogging as Procrastination

How diffuclt it is to procrastinate and blog..i think easy..whatever gets me out of the "Restructuring" mode. Ome hellhole of an assignment. I just hope i get out of it unharmed. My blogginess just hopes that my blessiness works this time too and get me out of all this messiness.

The fear of going Meta

As i may have mentioned before..i have this great fear of flying..during almost all my journeys..i envision the plain ncrashing down..(the best part is- i always chose the aisle seats so that i dont look at the window and then i will keep looking at the window to see i f the plane is banking too much etc..)...
anyway..in all of these nightmarish scenarios i always feel like i should call home etc etc..i mean the intention is to close out my life in abalnced manner...but lately since i fly around once a month..i have had the thots so many times..i have started going meta..and now one of my worries is..if i m really crashing down..i will think of something arbit and my last thopught will be "you bugger..this is waht you come up with a syour last thought"

Gilly Retires

One of the most important reasons for the Australian cricket team's phenomenal success has been this man. He was one player..who for a long time was the worlds best wicketkeeper and to top it all one of the real match turners coming at no 7, while batting. I am talking about test cricket here ofcourse. Gilchrist i feel was the element that really made the aussies invincible. Other teams had good bowlers, good batters, better captains, but none had a player of the worth of gilchrist's class coming at 7. A truly great player, and one of my favourite players of all times. Have fun in your retirement man..you deserve it

The Charm of "The Wonder Years" (TWY)

I really like the show.
What makes the show good?. As mentioned here

"What makes "The Wonder Years" so appealing is that many can identify with what was happening in Kevin's life. Not only could those who lived through the 60's and 70's relate to the historical events, but almost anyone who was a teenager can relate to Kevin's personal adventures. . Most of us ..... experience all these other pivotal stages on our trip through puberty and adolescence into adulthood. These times really are wonder years, the time when we learn how the world and it's people work. "

Mayur says it even more lucidly here

"So many years after the show ended when I saw Kevin Arnold's pic in one of my friends computer screen NOSTALGIA did HURT. I mean it brought back memories of the yesteryears. It was very easy to relate to everything that Kevin was going through although I was from another world in India. His love interest the cute Winnie Cooper made it all the more interesting. Loved his best friend, though he did look like a nerd. I specially remembered a scene when Kevin kissed Winnie in the beach. Saying this might sound like saying a lot but it is just the truth. Sometimes the show seemed to me more important the books that I studied in school. A tutorial. It will always be close to my heart and fondly remembered. I can assume its like this for many of us around the world"

Ofcourse, I also feel that TWY rings the Nostalgia bell so beautifully is the fact that, most of us remember our childhood as a bunch of incidents. But TWY reminds us, that each incident was part of a growing up process. The wonderful voice over by Daniel Stern brings the sentiment to the fore, that each incident made us learn something, feel something, regret something and aloowed us to feel bad, good, sorry or proud of oneself, but all in all those were the years that improved the quality of life itself.

The Perth Story

Two things about yesterdays victory really make me happy.

1. The 16 match winning streak ended by India - The Aussies press's gloat would have been too much. What makes it doubly sweet is the fact that, India has already done it once before. Also in the cricketing sense, I think Steve Waugh's team was much better than the current Aussie team. The opposing teams then also were of a slightly higher standard i feel.

2. I have always marvelled at the Aussies Bench strength - eg Slater retires- Hayden is there..Hussey, Clark, Kasprowicz etc etc..but in this test..Pathan and Sehwag came from the bench for India and Tait and Rogers from Australian bench..and look who did better.

P.S - Also, do check out my friends amusing take on the win yesterday

The Case for Social Security

I think the need for a social security problem in India cannot be overstated. A functioning social security system will ofcourse provide direct benefits to the people most in need of it as of now. But as i have often argued..A functional social security will also fulfill the following criteria

Movement away from Caste Based Largesse distribution to Need Based intervention - The slowing down of the identity politics - This is very indirect, but as the State moves from caste based bounty distribution to need based social security..I don't think the upside of identity based politics will be very high

"Abilty to Pay" becomes a non factor in PPP or Community based initiatives - Right now the 'ability to pay' factor means that much of the PPP initiatives can be argued against. A social security system will lessen the need for govt intervention in implementation and maintenance of facilities in the agri and other social sectors eg Irrigation Projects, Water supply etc.

Halt to mass migration to Urban areas - As the social security kicks in, People from the rural areas will be loath to live in sum urban hutments to get a livewlihood. And surely thats good for everyone. Frankly much of the desperation in the society that goes on with earning your livelihood will be removed, making everyone a lot more civilised.

As i mentioned earlier in the blog also, community participation and PPP initiatives is the most potent way in which we can improve the implementation mechanism for government schemes. The other way is ofcourse through use of Information technology. Technology here i think is just a prop to bring about change. Even just information dissemination will do, but that alone will not be allowed to happen. But all this in a separate post.

Disclaimer : Ofcourse the big assumption here is- How to effect a functional Social Security system and do we have adequate resources for the same. I am afraid we have unsatisfactory answers to both the questions. But the point of this post is, while there is need to point out the apparent lacunae in schemes like NREGS, a potent case for a Social Security system should also be made. Lat our governance system outgrow the subsistence mode.

Need Theory Stage 5

" You know, it’s kinda hard just to get along today
Our subject isn’t cool, but he fakes it anyway
He may not have a clue and he may not have style
But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial"

~ Offspring

P.S - Happy new year everyone..

The Mistake

One of the major lacunae in Pkaistani batters is their approach to batting and failure to play with application. India by batting first and pi,ling this large score in the last two tests has sort of made it easier for pakistanis to apply themshelves, one by showing how easy it is to bat and number two by anyway putting a victory out of the equation for Pakistan, so now their batters know that there is no excuse for them to paly a risk shot and get out. So..maybe Kumble should have bowled first..but still gioven the pitches, i dont think it would have mattered. Also, it feels gopod to see India dominating Pakistan