Facebook Police!

Delhi Police Use Facebook to Track Scofflaw Drivers – NYTimes.com

Using the pictures, the Delhi Traffic Police have issued 665 tickets, using the license plate numbers shown in the photos to track vehicle owners, said the city’s joint commissioner of traffic, Satyendra Garg.

So it appears that Delhi’s citizens have found a way to express their outrage at the daily violations! The facebook page is still up and running. Today one poster had 7 pictures up with violators caught red-handed. I’d love to give this site a chance and try out this citizen reporting.

Here’s the link to the page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Delhi-Traffic-Police/117817371573308

Setting up shop in India

I had a discussion with a friend yesterday about the registration process for business in India. We were discussing the advantage of the Sole Proprietor model. Since I wanted to get some resources on the topic, a brief search turned up this site: http://business.gov.in/starting_business

Looks like an excellent resource. From what I understand, the sole proprietorship model needs the least amount of paperwork, but does carry moderate risk because of the unlimited liability involved. However, in the details department this site lacks sufficient information to act as a comprehensive guide to navigating India’s convoluted bureaucrazy (I might just have coined something useful there!).

2 opening sutras of Patanjali’s text

In reading a commentary on Yoga Sutras (I’m just at the beginning), I found that the commentator stops at every sutra (aphorism?) and meditates on it. The text starts with the sutra “Atha Yoga Anusasanam” – “Now Yoga Teaching”, a standard way of opening texts, I’m told. Like adding a title to a blog, or text, perhaps. The two commentators I’ve looked at take this to launch into several definitions of Yoga, and pedagogy, exploring how Yoga – harmony is one definition – can be taught, focusing on the role of the teacher (guru), and the student. Here, the student is admonished to cultivate an attitude of intelligent submission. This could be called “being coachable”, where one needs to focus on ingesting the information with a reflective attitude, allowing the learning to illuminate one’s understanding of the world.

The second sutra is “Yoga Citta Vritti Nirodah” – “Yoga is the stilling of the mind-state” which I find is quite incredible. As one commentator explains, our state of mind is constantly shifting. He compares it to waves on the sea. There’s the wave and there is water. The mind state is just a temporary phase of the mind, eternally shifting. So in explaining this simple seeming aphorism there is a wealth of background that needs to be understood. For me, it feels like a return to my university philosophy courses where I felt completely baffled most days. In this sutra, the concept of one’s self-perception is brushed away. Why/How? Let’s take a look at how people may describe themselves: I’m a self-motivated, approachable person with a friendly smile. Are you always self-motivated? Are you always approachable? And do you always have a friendly smile on your face? Because one can only describe oneself using mind states as adjectives, the practice of yoga is designed to still the mind. Two questions here:
- What is the practice of yoga?
- And why should we still our minds?

Commentaries are necessary, because our language involves imagination. The concepts which are the foundation of any language evolve over time. In English the word “gentleman” for example, has evolved from the original concept of landed gentry to referring, in the polite form, to any group of men. In a similar fashion the words and concepts in use during Patanjali’s time are different to our understanding of the same now. Citta and Vritti, for example, are are loaded words colored by decades, if not centuries of debate at the time Patanjali penned his text. Their use, and their understanding has changed – which prompts one commentator to suggest that one approach the original text with a dictionary in one hand to explore the text independently to develop a broader and deeper understanding. Perhaps in the process of this piece-wise exploration he hopes that we will have the questing, open and receptive attitude that is suggested.

Lecture on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Attended a lecture on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali yesterday. It piqued my interest, so I went and picked up two books from the Khan Market on the subject. Yesterday’s speaker recommended Edwin Bryant’s “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” and while browsing, I came across another text with the same title, but with commentary by Swami Venkatesananda. The foreword was really well written and in the same form as a conversation, so I just had to pick it up.

Amazingly enough, or rather, as should’ve been expected, Yoga connects with Ayurveda because they seem to rest on the same principles but perhaps with different aims. I guess there’s quite a bit to study here. My main complaint around this is how unclear studying Indian philosophy/theology can be. I guess India’s always been one of those places where fact and fiction are a hair’s breadth apart. I expect I’ll be posting some more on this topic…

Driver’s License in Delhi

To get a license, you need to first figure out which Regional Transport Office you should apply to – it’s based on where you live – the address on your FRRO.
Check here:
http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_transport/Transport/Home/About+Us/Location+of+Zonal+Offices

Next thing you do is get a learner’s license http://www.transportindia.in/lic_learners_licence.asp – here’s the prep test:
http://www.rtoindia.com/

To study for this test, you can view the question pool here:
http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_transport/Transport/Home/Driving+Licence/Question+bank+for+computerized+Learner+License

Then after 30 days, the permanent license: http://www.transportindia.in/lic_permanent_licence.asp

Source: http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_transport/Transport/Home/Driving+Licence/

Where will you be on April 28th?

It’s finally online and we’re pushing forward with TEDx IndiaGate!

I and a group of volunteers got together to see if we could contribute in some way to making India a better place. I guess at the back of our minds were questions like how one could go about influencing public policy in our complex democracy. Also, we wanted to understand how others had done this and where the pitfalls lay. So, after much bumping of heads we settled on tacking “Public Policy”. I’m hyped by the topic and the group I’m working with to make this event a success.

We’ve got the venue, and now are working on our speakers and sponsors to make this event a success. Care to join us?

Jazz Festival in Delhi

It was a beautiful day at the Nehru Park today with flowers in full bloom.

And it was the perfect evening for Jazz in the park. Tonight was the last evening of the festival and I was impressed by the amazing talent on stage.

We stayed till about 8:30 pm and watched two bands perform:

• Bica-Daerr-Stick trio, and
• Magos Herrara

Both were really amazing. On this page you can hear a sample of the former’s music (bottom left corner) and this page has some music by Magos Herrara. It’s one thing to love about Delhi, the opportunity to enjoy great music in a wonderful setting.

Jai Bhim Comrade–an eye opener

I’m still a bit too overwhelmed by the screening to unclog my thoughts easily, so please bear with me as I try and discover what I think of this documentary.

It hit me on several fronts:

• The silence that surrounds social injustices in India
• Ongoing injustice (against the Dalits)
• Shiv Sena and the Hindutva movement’s political attitudes towards other faiths and castes
• A look at undocumented histories (Panther movement)
• Real heroes who have fought against the injustices committed against them and despite all pain continue to fight

As Mr. Patwardhan pointed out, one flaw of this documentary is the lack of breathing space for the viewer to absorb the stories he presents. I feel that acutely as I try and distil what I got out of this 198 minute long record.

Jai Bhim is the traditional greeting of Dalits, as well as a name for their community, which remembers Dr. Bhimrao Ramji “Bhim” Ambedkar and his efforts to uplift the Dalits.

Jai Bhim Comrade starts with a brief intro to Vilas Ghoghre, a Marxist Dalit poet whose suicide, following the police shooting at residents of Ramabai colony in Mumbai,  prompted Patwardhan to create this documentary. Interviewing primary sources, Patwardhan shows the official police interpretation of the events for the fabrication they are. He documents the failed prosecution of Manohar Kadam, the police officer who ordered the shooting and puts this story of injustice alongside others, showing the systematic prosecution of Dalits by the “Suvarana” and the Hindutva movement in Maharashtra.

In brief interviews with four non-Dalit members of the public, Patwardhan documents their ignorance of the Dalit cause and explores the hollow foundations of their prejudices. Following the Kabir Kala Manch, and other poets he explores how the Dalits employ the medium of poetry to carry the history of their plight, efforts of their savior (Ambedkar), messages to stay strong, and betrayals by their own leaders.

3 hours and 18 minutes later, I sat stunned in my seat as my mind struggled to grapple with the reality that had been laid bare before me. I still can’t believe that the public which  goes crazy about dumbass things like Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty stands by and allows killing, maiming and systematic prosecution of our fellow countrymen by bigots who, shamefully, are our countrymen too!

Tracking the trains en route, the Railway Budget and Lalu

Recently when my cousin was visiting Delhi, I had to wake up early to pick him from the railway station. I wondered if there was a way to follow-up on the train’s arrival time short of going to the station. I looked up erail.in to look up the scheduled arrival time and my eye fell on the following bit of info:

Indian Railways Time Tables, PNR, Route, Fares, Arrivals/Departures, Running Status – eRail.in (Better Way To Search Trains)

Click On For
Train Number Fare & Route
Dep. Time Running Status at Source Station – select date at step 3
Arr. Time Running Status at Destination Station – select date at step 3
Travel Time Route map
R View run days of the train on calendar
Av Availability of selected class – select date of travel at step 3
Header Sorting
i Special Note
Roll mouse over any text / Data to get help and more features

It worked and I was able to get an update regularly as it passed by key stations. Way to go Dinesh Trivedi!

I’m really happy for all the small but positive changes I’ve observed with the Indian railways. There’s a lot more work to be done. I’m sure it’s not all Dinesh Trivedi, but frankly 10 years without a price change, is just hemorrhaging India’s economy and holding back development of a vital service. The guy must be applauded for having the cojones and the integrity to put forward a budget that is in the public interest of maintaining this vital service and ensuring that it stands on its own feet. I’m looking forward to reading more on the details.

And assertions by Lalu Prasad Yadav about Lalu doing a better job are largely baloney. I’d say that by ignoring safe loading limits on trains (yes, he did), he milked the cow – like a vampire. And then he paid  IIM-A to write a report praising him. Smart move, that.

Rebel with a cause

Excited about watching Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade, organised by the Programme for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion, JNU.

Films of Anand Patwardhan

Jai Bhim Comrade (2012, 198 mins)

India’s Dalit (oppressed) castes were abhorred as “untouchables”. The film, shot over 14 years follows the music of protest of Maharashtra’s Dalits. In an age of increasing bigotry and superstition, it is both a record of recent history as well as eloquent testimony to a rationalist tradition that has survived amongst the subaltern for thousands of years.

Patwardhan is known (as per Wikipedia) for his activism through social action documentaries on topics such as corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and communalism. And he’s had a tough time fighting for his own cause to bring these stories into the public view, with government censors clamping down and DDTV (India’s government sponsored TV channel) refusing to broadcast them.

At the end of the movie, there’s going to be a Q&A with him too and I’m looking forward to hear him speak about his perspective on “shining India”.

Yeah, India is conservative when it comes to obscenity, and I’m not for fighting public sensitivities against sex and profane language, but I am for fighting any censorship to block access to information which may “upset the public”, especially if it concerns wrongdoings that have been neglected or condoned in the name of the aam aadmi.