The curious case of the Indian Grand Prix and the Bangalore Metro !

Two events captured nation's imagination this month - The launch of Bengaluru's 'Namma' metro and the successful completion of first ever Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit(BIC) in Noida. 

Both events had evident similarities. Both marked a watershed moment for the respective cities. Bangalore will finally get much needed respite from it's traffic snarls. Noida, on the other hand, will finally come out of New Delhi's shadow and bask in its own international glory. Both boast of a tremendous fan following. While officials claimed that 10 million people used metro within 3 days of its launch, the global viewership for Indian Grand Prix could anywhere be near 30 million levels. Both generated a frenzied excitement around them and were widely discussed in the media and in social networks. 

Add one more to the list - There was an insurmountable importance given to both of them. Both were projected as symbols of a resurgent India and supposedly herald the dawn of a new India - an India which is agile, contemporary and spirited.

I believe the last similarity, the hype generated around Bangalore metro and the of-utmost-national-pride thing, attached to Indian Grand Prix, was hugely unfounded, unwarranted and unreasonable. And here's why:

The Case of the Bangalore Metro: Bangalore metro missed it's launch deadline five times. 4 times the delays were because of customary land acquisition, labor and regulatory issues. The reason of the fifth delay was however absurd - the scheduled inauguration date couldn't fit in PM's tight schedule. Eventually also, after a delay of about a month, it was not inaugurated by the PM which brings me to the question as to why was the PM required to inaugurate such a Basic-Public-Utility? It was not even a first or one of a kind. Even most of the technology that goes into is not indigenous, it's borrowed. Add the financial angle and things get even more perplexing. With each day of delay, the metro authorities lost 5 million INR. And to add to that you end up coughing 25 million INR for the inauguration ceremony. All this when the whole world is talking about austerity measures and fears of another slowdown loom large?

Something which was supposed to be inaugurated in March 2010, missed 5 deadlines to be inaugurated 18 months later, to cover a stretch of 6.7 kms and which was marked by a blatant disregard for fiscal intelligence and common sense, I refuse to regard it as a symbol of new resurgent India.


The Case of the Indian Grand Prix:  Indian F1 viewership is estimated to be around 30 million annually and BIC could manage only 75% (95000 spectators) attendance at the circuit for the inaugural race. Even if BIC were to run full house, it will still incur an annual operational loss of 35 million USD. And then there's 200 million USD of capital costs spent on building the track that is to be recovered. A few other Asian GPs - those at Seoul, Shanghai and Sepang (Malaysia) which started with much fanfare are now running in losses. So what really was the need for hosting this extravaganza? The it-will-generate-tourism argument also does not cut ice. The number of tourists attracted by the GP would perhaps pale in front of those repelled by a host of other factors. Even if the idea was to promote a sports culture, perhaps a world-class soccer stadium would have done much better to help the cause of sports in India.

875 acres of precious farm land acquired by state govt., for a highly non-viable and suspect business model, by giving inadequate compensation  to farmers, so that in a country of a 1.2 billion, a few thousand adrenaline junkies can hear the roar of world's most powerful engines , is perhaps symbolic of misplaced priorities, indifference and of the accentuating social inequity.
And I refuse to regard it either as a symbol of new resurgent India. 

Those li'l acts of kindness, li'l words of luv !

Life never ceases to surprise and yesterday, I was caught unawares again!

On my way back from office, I exchanged glances with an elderly woman at the bend outside my house. Listening and humming along my favorite songs as I moved ahead, my rhythm was interrupted by a gentle tap on the back. I turned around only to find the same elderly woman. She pointed towards my untied shoe laces. I thanked her but instead of tying them I just tucked it in my shoes as I had almost reached my apartment. As I was about to move on, I realized that my act of laziness had not escaped the scrutinizing gaze of the old lady. She looked at my shoes and then at me as if asking, " What's wrong with you son? Why don't you tie your laces?". I told her that it was fine but she insisted that I tie them. So I did. But the tough task master that she was - she was still not happy and asked me to apply a double knot to the laces. In absolutely no mood to bend again a third time, I just thanked her again and reassured her that it was fine. Before I could utter my next sentence, I was surprised by her sudden gesture.

Before I could utter my next sentence, she bent and started tying my laces herself.

Standing there at the pavement, in crimson twilight, right in front of my apartment, with a septuagenarian tying my laces - I was dumbstruck. Afterall, it's been 2 decades since someone else tied my shoelaces. It was one of those moments when suddenly your mind is inundated with a flood of conflicting emotions and your sensory receptors just stop responding. I didn't know if I should apologize to her or thank her; if I should ponder over my callousness or admire her for her kindness and humility; if we really were strangers or had met someday, somewhere before...

As we moved along, she told me quite animatedly that tucking the laces in shoes might effect their elasticity. She also explained that a single knot may open again and I may fall and hurt myself;so the double knot. She asked me to be careful while walking on road with untied shoelaces. By that time, I had reached my apartment. I sincerely thanked her and bade her good bye. The whole experience lasted just 5 minutes. But it was very pleasant, very humbling. For next couple of hours or so, I was engulfed by an inexplicable sense of satisfaction and happiness.

Sometimes, we set ourselves on a journey to achieve long-term goals or wait for some big events to happen that we think, will make things better in our lives and in the world around us. More often than not, the wait for such events stretches to an eternity or the goals just keep on evolving. In pursuit of those goals , in wait of those events, we often forget to savour the random, the smaller delights that either we can offer to others or what life has to offer to us. But actually it's these little acts of kindness, these little words of luv, in unknown lands by unknown people that really have the potential to overwhelm us and can make the world a better place to live in !

PS: The fact that we didn't even have a common medium of communication (She was speaking French the whole time while I spoke English) made the episode even more special.
And secondly, the twilight was not really crimson. The color was used just for special effects !