Infinite thoughts

I am rather late in watching this interview of Ms. Indra Nooyi but had read bits and pieces of the interview as soon as it hit the media. Even our dining table witnessed the discussion around this topic. My response before watching the interview was solely based on the read articles and hearsay and it went like this  You can have it all. Only thing is - "you" define what is "all" for you and don't let other dictate what is "all" for "you". After watching the interview in its entirety today, I confirmed my belief. Even Ms. Nooyi , one of the most powerful women in the world, is driven by expectations from the society and hence there's this guilt trip. Seemingly the powerful position is not helping to undo the effects of upbringing and hence it makes all the more important for such a person to have a positivity towards the upbringing of her own children. I see quite a few things which are outright wrong and are attributing to the...

The most obvious reaction to this picture is that our education system is flawed and the above problem depicts THE problem - every individual is being given same set of criteria to prove himself/herself. The person behind the table is asking the candidates to perform same act irrespective of the capabilities of the individuals. However, is it really a problem? I don't think so. Real problem is different. Real problem is why does the elephant want to get evaluated for a criteria which he is not even meant for? Why is fish and dog standing in the same queue which calls for a skill related to climbing a tree? Shouldn't fish be finding a table that asks for swimming or diving skills? Shouldn't dog be standing in a queue that asks for hunting or protection skills? The person behind the table is looking for a specific skill - climbing a tree. Why should he be blamed for not judging the hunting or swimming skills? I believe the problem is not a single criteria of evaluat...

Interesting list of items that can be done by those unfortunate folks who either have lost the job because of the recession or were unlucky enough not to have one at first place. I have started becoming fan of his writings. Lots of things to learn from his posting. I had something similar in my mind while on the topic of unemployment in general, not necessarily due to recession. Specifically in India, we see many young folks not getting the right job or not getting it at all. But many-a-times what is observed is they either waste time with friends of same problem, or they go the depression way. How many of them really take effort to improve their skills and make themselves more markettable? How many of them think that they can actually spend part of their time towards NGOs and spend rest of the time in honing their skills? Many of the items listed by Seth may not be directly applicable in Indian context, but how about replacing them with some of the tasks that fit the bill and get goin...

This one is on infrastructure. 3.a. I heard people cannot use the lane reserved for BRT. How will this be ensured (unless there is a divider on both sides of the lane)? If there is no divider, then I think its not possible to prevent people (at a basic level we have a problem people not obeying signals) from using this lane (at times of peak hours and traffic jams). How is this aspect taken into care? 3.b. Are safe cycle stands planned at the bus stops so people can literally ‘get from anywhere to anywhere in Pune’? 3.c. Now a days buses are flooded beyond their limits, is there any increase in no. of buses during peak hours? 3.d. BRT lane is in the middle of the road, a person has to cross the road and come on the Bus Stand. Is't it risky? 3.e. Having signals etc is fine, but would the duration be sufficient for senior citizens and the el derly to finish crossing the road comfortably? 3.f. Now that the road is being dug up for expansion, any chance of having good ...

2.a. AG: Assuming that the BRT is a success on Satara road, how will it be implemented for narrow roads? (Satara road is probably the widest of all, what about Karve road, JM road, the old Mumbai-Pune highway, and so on.) 2.b. JI: Is the BRT planned to let me get from anywhere to anywhere in Pune? Meaning how well covered is the network going to be that will not warrant me needing to take my vehicle out so I do not have to be at the mercy of rickshaw wallas? 2.c. PK: Why waste money on a system when it cannot be implemented across Pune? Only 1-2 roads in Pune can support exclusive lanes, then why run a pilot project which anyway will be scrapped or limited to 1-2 roads? It is a waste of tax payers money. ------------------------------------- A typical BRT road needs: a footpath, a cycle track, at least one "other vehicles" lane, one bus lane, a bus stop - all this on both sides, plus an optional bus lan e for overtaking other buses. This infrastructure needs a road width of 3...

Acknowledgements first! :) The questions were sent by: Amarendra Godbole, Gopal Phadke, Jhumkee Iyengar, Mahesh Ambi, Neeta Garud, Prateek Kaul, Shambhavi Borkar, Ujjwal Joshi. Many thanks! We have grouped the questions in 9 categories. We cover category (0 and) 1 today. ------------------------------------------------- 0. Main objectives of BRT: ( Do read the Prologue ) ------------------------------------------------- Create a "metro on tyres" on the roads to increase throughput (no of persons carried per hour by the entire transportation infrastructure), to keep pace with growing needs while providing an alternative to discourage personal transport in order to prevent congesting the roads and reduce pollution. Provide footpath/cycle tracks in the road design to sustain/ encourage non-motorized transport. All in all, provide cost effective, sustainable transportation to all sections of society. 1.a. GP: How is it different from good o...

There's lot of discussion going on about BRT in last few months. There seems to be more confusion and that too based on some prejudices and self-made-assumptions. In an attempt to answer few of those queries and create a better environment to understand the whole BRT system, few of my friends has started a series on BRT FAQ. All of us belong to a movement which is named as 'Save Pune Traffic Movement' and more details about this movement could be found here . I thank Harshad Abhyankar, Rajendra Sidhaye and other folks in the movement for allowing me to re-publish the FAQ that they are putting together with a lot of effort. BRT Prologue: What is BRT? BRT is not just high quality clean fuel buses moving in dedicated lanes at high speeds. Not just clean and well-designed bus stations, ticketing and passenger information boards, route maps etc. All these are of course important and need to be executed to the highest standard possible, but this is only part of the total pict...

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