watch the old man groove!

followed by

followed by

Normally i cant handle radio. too much of crap music followed by even more crazy RJs involve with their own voice and their own stupid jokes. Jasmine loves her radio and listens to it when ever she travels in the car which is like a large and important part of her day. i cant handle it more than a few minutes. Now that Jispa has her songs on her cell phone, its interesting listening to her songs which I kind of enjoy. The other day we were just sitting on the dinning table and listening to the youtube selection of Coldplay. It was a moment of some bonding! Hah! that was a brief ephemeral moment of papa daughter having something to share.

She later asked me - am I allowed to use my cell phone as a music player. Ya sure, I answered. Of course you can, why not? She said that Mom is saying no! Hah! Jispa is one of those who likes her music and likes to listen to it while studying or while doing practically anything. Anything besides swimming. Before swimming I am not allowed to listen to the radio, a song or even sing one. Because then it gets stuck in her head while swimming and nothing is more irritating that that. I had gotten her a nice set of JBL headphones. Jasmine is also right, music is also a source of distraction as she constantly fiddles with her song list when she is listening to it, even when she is studying or doing something. And mom doesn't let her listen to music with her headphones on. I am assuming its because then she wont listen to anything mom shouts out for or possibly she would listen to it too loud. hmmm.

I asked her if she would like a good music system that plays music via bluetooth from her cell phone. Wouldn't that be cool. I have been trying get a good system at home for some time. Jasmine listens to music while cooking and my servant from 10 years, Deviki listens to it while doing her work and now Jispa. AND I HATE MY UGLY RADIO AT HOME. It sounds like shit. Its a old cheap box which we bought as a cheap cheap thing when we had less money. After that I have been after Jasmine to upgrade but she refuses. I cant listen to music on that crap boom box. So now that Jispa has come of age, I am going to but one just for her. Any decent good one that plays bluetooth and possibly has a radio for Jasmine and Devki’s sake. Lets see, that would be a good gift for her. After all what is a teenagers life if she doesn't get a music system as  gift from her dad!

While driving a few days before I saw this ad for a retro radio station on the a billboard and I knew I had to just tune in. Dam cool. You know you are old when a retro music station is belting out numbers that you just loved listening to as you were growing up. Aint that the cool old thing to do. I guess they probably appeal to the 40 year old who still love listening to songs that he grew up to. They re the perfect audience with all the money in the world. A 40 year old. The young kid has got no money and a fleeting loyalty and of course internet music that besides them no one else listens to! 

So today morning when i was coming to office I put on the radio to the retro channel and I heard the awesome tracks back to back - Om shanti om, yard aa haha hai an then the heavily inspired Jumma chum de de. I couldn't help singing these tracks and grooving to these beats while driving. People would have thought I was a joker but it was great. These are amazing tracks and filled my mind with a ton of positivity and energy, not that I think I need it early morning but a little more spring wouldn't hurt at all.

So that was fun and this radio channels dded some meaning to my morning commute today! yo man!

how much?

What’s the cost of time in Mumbai? If one completely ignores the convenience and the hassle angle but solely focuses on the cost versus time angle, then yesterday and today morning was one such experiment.
I have shifted to a new division within the broad conglomerate that I work in. the excitement on working on new stuff and a broader canvass is amazing. The amount of work that there is over here … sigh… I don’t think I would have the time to really write as much I would want to. The pressure will be relentless. Which makes me think on the tone of the blog from here on. If I want this blog as a legacy for my daughter, then I don’t think she would be too bothered with what my day to day life would have been. Leave her, I wouldn’t be too bothered with what I do day on day. I would rather focus this blog on issues that I believe I want to talk to her on. Some gyan and some interesting titbits on her growing up. That is what will matter in long run, or so I think. I would like this to be a place where I can clarify my thoughts and my actions and leave something for her to ponder about.
Ever since we moved to Bhakti Park four years ago, we had no option but to go in for two cars. The dam place is in the middle of nowhere. All my life I have travelled to work in public transport and I resisted having to use the car. So while my office was in town I used my second car to get to the nearest rail head and then travel onwards. When it moved to kalina, I had no option but to use the c or risk a really lengthy, painful commute. My car has gone in for servicing which forced me to use alternate transport since yesterday.
Yesterday I came in a cab. I left at 8 am and reached my office at 8.15 am. 15 minutes dot and it cost me 102 ruppes. Today I decided to take the public transport. I left at 8 am again. I took one bus from under the house. That took me to Dadar plaza. That cost me 8 bucks. At Dadar I alighted to take another bus to my office. That cost me another 7 bucks. Totally 15 rupees. The time taken this around was totally 45 minutes. That’s 30 minutes more than the taxi. I got to sit in the first bus and I had to stand but comfortably ok with no real squeeze hour massage. So as I said if I look at a time versus cost alone, 30 minutes for a Mumbai dweller would cost 87 rupees. That’s about 174 bucks an hour. How expensive or cheap is that?
Lets take the case of the maid who comes home everyday. She works for around two hours everyday. That’s about 60 hours. And she takes home around 900 rupees. Of course there are hidden costs as well, such as a Diwali bonus and the fact that she gets interest free loans when ever she wants to home and build a house or attend a marriage. These loans are not so small an amount. And the interest arbitrage on that is large. The money lender who would lent her money would have charged a princely 30 percent at the minimum. That too if she is lucky. Otherwise they can get into debt traps that would never get repaid with the principal always outstanding. But forget that for a minute. So she gets on an average 15 to 20 rupees an hour. Hmmm. Obviously all the maids use the public transport.
What about the lowly paid clerk. He gets around 10,000 rupees a month. For eight hours a day and 24 day month. That’s about 52 bucks an hour. No can take taxi.
So the break even point for a taxi for a single passenger is if the poor fellow earns around 33,000 rupees a month, or around 4 lakhs per annum. So if you see any one travelling via taxi to office everyday he should be earning at least that much. That’s of course the mathematics of it all. The economics would differ. The cost of reaching on time. The mental peace, the pride of finally chucking the public transport… etc etc. also this is a Wadala to Worli experiment. In many instances in Mumbai, if you don’t use the public transport such as trains and travel via taxi to your office it would take you twice as much time and ten times as expensive. There the cost implication is not time but the opportunity to not get massaged all around by the rush hour jam in a train.
So how is this all important from Jispa’s point of view when she grows up. I don’t know but I had fun thinking about it.

traffic sense

On some days I get home faster and on some days I get home slower. The traffic is a bit unpredictable. It’s generally easier on Mondays than other days as I guess it must be thanks to the retail business holiday. But the unpredictability of the route is typically concentrated in only what might be 5% of the complete route distance.
That my attempt to make a some statement like 80% of variability in returns depend on asset allocation rather than eth asset fluctuation. I know, it sounds like fart and it may not make sense to you (or me); but there is some serious science behind this stuff.
So there is a patch on the route that makes the commute highly unpredictable. If there is traffic on that route I am doomed at the spot anywhere 15 to 50 minutes. I could walk faster through that patch. It is sion koliwada. The interior heart of the place. the place where are large chawls with Jai Bhim written in blue, where just of the road there is a colony called sardar nagar, and large slums with south Indians dominate. All in all it seems to be a very potent combination. This road through the place did not exist a few years ago. The carved a road from here to the highway which leads to my complex. This is a short cut and I safely save 20 minutes else I would have to make the great turn at priyadarshini circle which at peak hours is horribly horribly jammed.
So the traffic I get once in ten days (a little dense) or once in 20 days (quite slow) and once in 30 days (we are celebrating some festival you dickhead) is well worth the trouble.
Especially the last one. Once in 30 days (I suspect the instances are getting closer) there is some festival or another by some community. Since it is a densely populated area comprising of the lower income group, the political parties are also fairly active there. We rich basterds rarely vote and we are too far spread to really rally around. So on and off there will be a rally, a stage built on the bloody road, a procession, some dance and excitement and a large mass of people roaming around. Recently the monorail which is expected to pass through narrowed the roads further, dug some stuff up, erected barricades and then just as suddenly, filled the holes and left, leaving rubble. So much happens in that one or two kilometre stretch that it makes the rest of my commute seem mundane in comparison. Well actually, the rest is mundane. How exciting can western express highway followed by a cut through dharavi and a drive past Sion hospital get. There is one really stupid cross road just at the start of the mad street. The cross road by itself is not srazy. Poor thing. It just lies there. The craziness is due to the cars that insist on creating logjams there. The bus coming in from opposite wants to turn to its right and invariably finds itself facing a car on the wrong side which is trying to manoeuvre, in order to pass the bike which is stuck as the car ahead is overtaking a waiting line which in turn got jammed by the original bus leading to other in my line rushing forward on the wrong side in the hope that somehow by reaching ahead they will beat the system, causing many more to follow suit and then some want to take the turn which is to my right to get inside, but is a no entry, but who cares anyway as that lane has cars parked all over and has many garages that park their cars on the kerb while they work on it and the ….. you got the point. Dint you?
You pass that and you get to the chaotic bazaar right ahead. I think the yoga I have been doing must be helping me here. The other day there was a procession of the South Indians. They had completely jammed the road. The crowd was so great that the bikes which normally make their way too were pretty much stuck. Yoga connection? I was happily stuck. It did not bother me one bit. I was pretty much unfazed. At one point I even stepped out and locked the car. I was enjoying the music I couldn’t understand a word of. I was enjoying the crowd, smiling at people, laughing and cracking jokes with the bikes who were hassled. Sharing a smile, everything. Just short of dancing alongwith the crowd. It was some weird festival. The guys were in a procession carrying some pots and garlands around. But the interesting bit was the human self torture. They had these huge hooks which were essentially hooked up on their backs, with the hooks passing through the skin and they were pulling stuff with it. Some were pulling loads of coconuts while one guys I saw… what the hell was that… he was pulling a god dam TAXI? Whoa. Then there were the others who had huge rods piercing their cheeks. They went in from one side to come out through the other. And they would be roaming around with that hanging on their cheeks. Weird. I have a few of these before. Never understood why they torture themselves such.
Here is the pic of the rod guy.

The rod is much bigger than what you see and the reason he is so bending as he is trying to manoeuvre his rod between the traffic. Swaying from side to side.
I can’t believe this shit still happens. Now I guess I know why I am not that religious. They all seem to lead to some form of flagellation. Suffering is intrinsic in religion I guess.

world consiparcy

I have nothing against Robin Sharma or Paulo Coelho. Though I am sure either would be slightly slighted to see either written in the same breath. But what can I say I abhor them both. Equally. No no … not personally but I don’t like their books. I read one from each author (tried to) and its not that they speak lies; but I don’t need a whole book to know the truth that is apparent in my face. I have spoken about it in the past, and the reason I mention it now is because I was reminded by Paulo’s lines in the Alchemist - “When you want something, the whole Universe conspires to help you realise your desire”.
Ever since our office moved to kalina I have been driving to work. No other convenient option. It’s definitely helped me cut my commute time. But the trade off has been no reading in the trains. I have also in the past written about bad radio programming and the same songs with inane radio jockeys. Aggghhh. Makes my blood boil just thinking about them.
So while browsing around I came across ted.com and their audio downloads. I downloaded a few onto my cell phone and picked up a connection cord to the car deck. WOWieeee….. Driving has become much more pleasurable. From one of the economic blogs I was following I came across and another download with an economist. I love it! I was wondering what to do with my driving frustrations and the options emerged. There is a wealth of data there. I am still not ready for audio books on serious topics but this stuff is welcome spring water. If you know of interesting interviews on audio download with anyone at all, anyone – sports, entertainment, economy, business, vagabonds.. Whatever.. Please send me a link. In fact send me a link for any interesting audio downloads. Yes I know podcasts have been there since evolution. But I was never the music types and hence never took to the ipod. Hence podcasts gave me the miss. I have been trying to figure out a way to stay connected to podcasts with out itunes or any software (office laptop does not allow installations). So I am pretty limited. Learnoutloud.com is one discovery. Many more to follow I am sure.

So there I was reminded of The Alchemist. But did I need to read the whole book to know this? No, for sure not. I knew of it in many different ways, but I guess reading the book helped me remember it. so I guess in that way it was useful, but as a rational thinker one must ask ‘at what margin?’. The time and money spent to read that book so that you remember the obvious? Nopes. I have better things to read and do and spend on.