When dearest friends go abroad... some forever!

While the Americans might be rejoicing their performance at the recently concluded London Olympics, I have never liked America very much ( both North and South).  Since I was a kid these two continents(some countries distinguish them as two continents and so it should not be a problem calling them as separate continents) have taken away some of my best friends and one will never be back.  

I very well remember when I was in the eighth grade one of my building friends and the only one of my age left India for Canada and has settled there since then.  But he flies down to India every year or so ( now maybe it will be even more given he has a job a Microsoft) and so it has never been that big a problem to stay far.  Ditto is the case with his two cousins who are also friends who had to go to the US for work and they keep flying between the two countries frequently.  But after that there was some respite.

Then again as engineering came to an end three best friends having plans to pursue their Masters in the US again started going there since last July and every six months there was an exit from India and my already small group of friends( given I don't socialize much and believe in having quality rather than quantity) became even smaller.  True that evolution in technology has given us Skype and Gtalk and I can video call them at the click of a button but it is never comparable to the fun and joy of the actual presence.  

But the biggest blow was when my dear friend Priyanka aka my FFF left for her home country Chile after completing her graduation to be with her family.  And I call this blow the biggest of all because in all the above cases I have mentioned there is that feeling of safety that sooner or later all of them will be in India and the good old, fun-filled days will be back again because they have not settled there forever.  It is a temporary phase and will pass but this does not hold true for Piyu, as she is fondly called in the group. We became friends through a common friend Saurabh and in just three odd years it became a lasting friendship. 

Having studied in an almost boys-convent, I was a very shy and reticent guy.  Having friends with similar nature didn't help either.  It was only until I became friends with Piyu that I opened up and now I can proudly say that she changed me and deserves the entire credit for it.  I can safely say that she has an impeccable charm and a great power to attract people because of three reasons- one, I have hardly seen her have problems with people and if any they are for a very short period; two, because I would have never talked with a girl forget becoming great friends with the fairer sex.  It would always be a formal conversation, if any, before Piyu and three, she always had someone to help her out no matter what including me.  What she did or what changed me still remains unknown.  So first of all a big thanks to her for changing me and for opening me enough that I can boast of it in front of my friends. 

But besides this she has a great personality.  She was always jovial and went about troubling everyone in the group particularly Rohan ( who too is in the US) and me.  And I have not seen any other person who can take jokes on him or her so sportingly.  And that's what is remarkable.  It is easy to crack jokes on others but taking it on ourselves and enjoying it to the fullest is what differentiates people. Talking and chatting was never fun before. Apart from this enjoying food is her hobby and watching her is a delight.  And even though I clicked her pics while she ate(only because of the only fact that she is very camera conscious while she eats) she enjoyed her food very much.  

Apart from this her stay in India if observed carefully gives you many lessons in life.  Being a girl she stayed alone far away from her family for years and managed everything quite well.  Be it going to the bank or in the last few months managing the household chores all by herself, shopping and even staying alone without her family. But this did not affect her academics.  It gives important lessons in life.  Though reaching on time was always a problem for her, she completed most of the tasks on time( concessional delay is to be assumed) and that has to be learnt.

I am known to make enemies faster than friends and it takes a long time for me to make great friends( Akshay, Suneet, Nirjar and Abhijeet would endorse this).  In spite of this peculiarity my friendship with her became quite strong and I consider her among my best-est of friends in such a short span of time.  Skype and Facebook will definitely help in keeping touch but it will not be a fraction of the fun we had as a group.  I believe in being practical to the core and not displaying emotions easily but when she left I felt sad like never before and expressed it as well. Such was the power of her friendship on me.

Right from the time we became friends it was a known fact that she would return after engineering but it was hard to believe when the time actually came.  On August 7 at around 10:30pm when her aircraft started on the runway she uploaded a status on Facebook and I quote: " So this is it... bye bye Mumbai... you've given me the best-est memories one cud ever have!" and finally the time had come which I always secretly feared.   She will only be in contact via Skype or phones henceforth but never in person.  At this juncture I can think of only one quote " Happiness won't last, it will leave, without even the courtesy of a wave of goodbye".  Her company will always be missed.

Raj Thackeray's MNS: Real Navnirman or just another political party?

Media went ga-ga over Raj Thackeray's courtesy call to estranged cousin Uddhav Thackeray when the later went for angioplasty last week.  Raj actually drove him in his silver Mercedes to the later's residence, Matoshree.  It was a perfect reunion picture just like in the Bollywood films.  After all it was 6 long years and numerous jibes and potshots at each other later that the camaraderie was seen.

For starters, Raj and Uddhav are cousins not only from the paternal side but the maternal sides as well since Balasaheb and his brother married sisters Meenatai and Kunda Thackeray respectively.  From a very young age Raj was considered to be the heir apparent of the Sena Supremo Balasaheb.  And rightly so.  Both are cartoonists, both spew venom on people other than sons-of-soil ie Maharashtrians, both look similar and both are big crowd pullers.  While Raj is considered to be ferocious in his attacks, Uddhav is mild and has a softer approach.  And so despite all this when Uddhav was crowned the CEO of Shiv Sena instead of Raj, Raj took little time in expressing his displeasure and left the party to form his own Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Raj Thackeray has always been the angry young man of politics.  He believes in the " laaton ke bhoot baaton se nahi maante" dictum.  What he feels is right he will ensure others accept it as well by force if not by choice.  Whilst in the Sena, he was the poster boy who was seen giving "bhashans" around the elections and is also believed to be the face behind the Sena's vandalism.  The style continues today as well.

Raj Thackeray is credited with quite a few things.  First of all he demanded that all telecom operators in Maharashtra should offer IVR services in Marathi along with English and Hindi.  The telecom operators had no choice but to abide by Raj saheb's wish.  Ditto with the agitation to have names of shops in Marathi as well.  Both the above demands were accompanied with warnings of violence.  I personally believe that violence is not good but his demands were completely justified.  Having traveled to many states in India I have seen both but it is only Mumbai where these things are not followed.  Though it is not a compulsion to have the state language as national language has utmost importance but then again Jawaharlal Nehru believed in the "divide and rule" policy which led to the creation of states based on language spoken and hence we have to bear the ill fruits of it.  So along with Hindi and English a mention in Marathi on signboards and for IVR is not a big demand.

After forming his new party, the MNS, during the initial years Raj was not very active.  He enjoyed his regular routine of a game of badminton at the gymkhana and other passions.  Only when the strong Maratha, Sharad Pawar mocked this attitude of his that he took full control of the day-to-day affairs of the party.  The people of Maharashtra have always liked Raj's oratory skills and this can be proved from the fact that inspite of being just a 3-year old party MNS managed sizeable amount of votes which created a dent in the BJP vote bank though it did not convert into seats.  Since then Raj's popularity has only increased.  The 2012 Municipal elections are a proof of it.  Not only did it rout Shiv Sena in its bastion of Dadar, it also got the post of Mayor in Nashik which is home to Chhagan Bhujbal, another heavyweight in Maharashtra politics.

People have shown faith in MNS particularly Raj Thackeray and he has not let people down.  His constituencies fare well as compared to others.

Raj Thackeray is a shrewd politician.  He stood for the rights of Jet Airways employees who were sacked and the decision as we can guess was in favour of the employees.  Another act of getting the marathi manoos vote for him was that he demanded reservations in the Maharashtra Railway Service and also created a ruckus at the examination center where the exams were held since his demands were not met.  Apart from that he is also an astute businessman.  A few years ago he bought land at Kohinoor Mills for roughly Rs. 400 crore and then sold it at an exorbitant profit of 400%.  Though Raj claims he had a minor stake and that he made very little profits it can't be taken for sure as politicians are known to hide or misrepresent their facts.

But things that make Raj Thackeray stand out are his genuine efforts to improve the condition of the state.  Recently he made his sainiks stand at toll plazas and calculate the amount of toll collected.  While calculations by him and the company may differ over the recovery cost and period he did bring out a few good points like if the contractor builds roads which develop pot holes within no time and give a pain to the commuters travelling, the commuter has every right to not pay the toll for bad services.  For me this was one of a kind approach for a cause which no one has given importance to.  Secondly while all of India's so-called "secular" netas like Digvijay Singh call Narendra Modi a communist and bring up the Godhra riots as they have nothing negative against him today due to his development policies, Raj called upon Modi and also toured the state to see how a state can be developed.  Even though Mumbai contributes to a third of tax of the country the roads are not even one third of the quality of what roads are in Ahmedabad.  Besides the irrigation facility for farmers is a boon in Gujarat.  This experience can be used in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra as well as there are suicides every now and then due to droughts.  This is something what the Govt. of Maharashtra should do but they criticize Modi while Raj has chosen to emulate his development policies.

Raj has ensured that none of his corporators are involved in corruption and also seen that only people with sound knowledge of rules enter the Assembly for which he conducted an exam for aspirants of tickets in elections.  But the biggest comment from him so far are his views on the controversial Belgaum status.  While politicians from both states argue over which state should get Belgaum and have been doing so for 55 years, Raj gave a simple yet mature solution of keeping Belgaum in Karnataka where it is now but the people should be given all rights and should be treated fairly.  Well what else do people want apart from rights and equal treatment.  This has by far been the best solution given by him.

So at the end of it, Raj Thackeray has been making the right noises and also taking correct decisions.  Though some of his policies may not be correct and his way of getting work done unacceptable to many, he is the best hope in case Maharashtra were to be amongst the best states in India. Well giving him 5 years at the helm is no big deal.  If inefficient people have got so many years which are wasted why not give 5 years to a man who wants to bring about a change or "navnirman".

Power of Microsoft-Nokia-Blackberry trio?

Ever since Nokia ( the company my friend Saurabh loves till death and has delayed buying a new cell in spite of damaging his half-a-decade old N72 in the hope of a new perfect phone being launched by Nokia very very soon)  chief Stephen Elops announced that Windows will be the primary OS for all of Nokia smartphones, tongues have been wagging whether eventually Nokia will be taken over by Microsoft.  Reports of another troubled handset maker Research In Motion, makers of BlackBerry cell phones, being sold and the top contender to buy the company being Microsoft amongst others gives rise to a very interesting situation in case both the companies are actually bought by Microsoft.

Before going into the details of what the possible implications could be here is a quick look at why the Microsoft can easily lap these two companies.  Microsoft has around $50bn in cash reserves while the market capitalization ( for laymen, it is the total value of the company based on the value of the stock and can be calculated by multiplying the number of shares of the company and the value each stock on the stock exchanges) of Nokia and Blackberry have fallen drastically compared to 2007-08.  The market capitalization of Nokia and Blackberry maker RIM are approx $7bn and $4bn respectively.  So even if Microsoft buys both the companies it won't be much of a dent in the cash reserves.  More so debt can be easily raised and hence it is not at all difficult for Microsoft to carry out the transaction.

But why would Microsoft buy these companies and would it make business sense?  I personally feel the answer to this question would be 'YES'.  And this is why I think it can prove a formidable competition to the Androids and the iOSs of the world.  Microsoft has had a very rocky journey in the mobile space with failed attempts of Windows 5.0,6.0 and 6.1.  More so Stephen Elop is an old Microsoft guy and his intentions are inclined towards Nokia playing a major role in Microsoft's success if any.  The way Meego OS was unceremoniously stopped after N9 and also not forging a partnership with Google give us hints to think in this direction.  Meego will now continue as 'Jolla' by people who worked on Meego and have the patents as well.

As far as Nokia is concerned it is still the favorite brand among Indians (India is the second fastest growing market in the world) and as mentioned in the first line people still love it.  So Microsoft gets a  foothold in such a huge market.  Also the hardware of Nokia is undoubtedly the best.  A 3.2MP camera on a Nokia phone would do the job of a 5MP camera on a say HTC or LG.  Also it has a great battery life though it is because of the outdated Symbian OS.  So together with a few twists in the OS and riding on the Nokia brand Microsoft can succeed.  Besides Microsoft also gets the stake of Nokia in the Nokia-Siemens joint venture which lays the network for communications as well as huge number of patents in the telecom domain which are very valuable.  But there is still one space where Nokia has never been very successful except the E Series and that is the traditional domain of Blackberry, the enterprise class. And by buying Nokia, Microsoft also saves $1bn per year it pays to Nokia as fees for being the primary OS.

Until about two years ago it was a sin if a corporate person did not have a Blackberry.  Superlative security along with amazing sound quality and almost zero time email delivery made it a hit with the ' Business Class' . But with the iPhone and Android email was not an exclusive feature and slowly people started turning away from Blackberry.  But even today it has the most secure network and it is almost impossible to trace emails via the servers of the company.  Also the latest OS 10 looks very impressive.  And not to forget the battery life is better than iOS and Android barring the BOLD4.  So by buying RIM Microsoft gets the most secure network.

Microsoft itself has a huge variety of products to offer.  First it has the popular XBOX 360 which can be integrated with the cell phones and has been done with the latest Nokia offerings.  The popular Office Suite is another huge product Microsoft can add.  Besides Microsoft has a been a great marketer of products reflected in the fact that 90% of the PCs worldwide work on Windows in spite of proof that there is some flaw in the system.  Also Microsoft gets a stronghold in all categories of cell phones be it music or business.

But the biggest question remains as to whether it can integrate all the systems to form a perfect system taking the best from all systems it inherits as it has been a herculean task for Blackberry to migrate to BB OS 10 which it acquired from QNX.  Personally I'm not a fan of Microsoft and hence I wish that Nokia teams up with Android which would give the best combination ever and Blackberry comes up with the BB10 soon.  I would not like to see my favorite brand die.  Blackberry has impressed me with the call quality and the email service and plan to upgrade to a BB as soon as front facing camera becomes a norm and OS 10 arrives.

Destiny- accept it happily or suffer!!!

The weekly hangout at the soda shop with dear friend Abhijeet many a times brings about serious discussions,sometimes saddening when given a thought later.  During one of the recent hangouts he suggested this very topic and after giving much thought to this topic,which is usually taken lightly but actually is not, I decided to share my views.  And no better time than sitting at home because of a company's bad financial condition to write on this topic!!

Destiny and Luck are often confused but in reality there is nothing such as Luck.  Everything is destined before hand.  But the mentality of  humans is if something good happens we call it "good luck" and if something bad happens we call it "bad luck" and try to pacify ourselves by saying that its destiny that we have to suffer.  If we read into Lord Krishna's teachings, popularly known as the Bhagwad Gita ( I haven't read it but being a fan of the original B.R.Chopra's Mahabharat and watching it quite a few times I've learnt some things about destiny) it can be deciphered that we clearly are the writers of our destiny as our life is a result of our 'karma' and it is guided by the good and evil things we have done.  So its no use pointing fingers at our destiny for the ill fate , if any, as we ourselves are the authors of our destiny.

We are destined to achieve everything that we achieve in life but yet we must not stop working towards our goal thinking that if we are destined to be successful we shall be.  And this is when it becomes necessary to sometimes not think about destiny or not at all believe in it.  Because the day we submit ourselves to our destiny without toiling we are bound to be doomed sooner than later.  Destiny is a fact of life but not the guiding point of our life which is why some people who believe in perseverance over destiny fare well because they themselves write their destiny by working consistently towards their goal and making sure that they achieve it. ( The last part is what my sister Prakruti believes in)

Destiny is when even after studying hard for years and passing with first class students passing from professional courses do not have a job and the jobs offered have meager salaries.  Destiny is when people become friends but then become enemies and so is the separation of friends after years of friendship.  I particularly believe in the last statement because I have had both.  While I would not like to discuss the first part of the sentence the second part of the sentence relates to most of my friends going to America for higher studies. ( A detailed blog on the pain of friends going away on August 10) .  But it is a part of life destined to be that way and somewhere down the line I feel happy for them because I know for sure they will make it big in life in some years.

Destiny is when you buy a stock worth Rs.100 anticipating it to reach 120 and you making a profit of 20 rupees on the share but the stock moves in another direction and reaches 60 thus making a loss of 40 rupees.

Now for the destiny in a person's love life.  Our Bollywood films or even Hollywood ones have always presented romantic films in such a way that we know for sure that the lead characters are destined to meet come what may.  But a look at Shakespearean works and we know that it is not all that rosy.  Two people loving each other might never become one and on the other hand a person may not be able to express his love or maybe he or she expresses it when it is too late.  All this is destiny and it has to be accepted that way.  Trying to change it can be dangerous for all involved and hence it is said that some things are best left untouched.

I am a staunch believer in Destiny but at the same time I do not leave everything to chance.  I believe that success is 99% hard work and 1% luck.  But in spite of working hard and scoring good marks I missed the call from premier institutes in MBA earlier this year by a very small margin.  That made me believe in destiny even more.  Or for that matter getting a hairline fracture on my right leg on my last step of crossing.  I was never adventurous in life when it came to such things and hence this saddened me.  But a detailed explanation by my doctor on how lucky I was to escape with just a hairline instead of life long disability made me realize that whatever happened had happened for good and it taught me to be even more careful in my future endeavors.

It is destiny that in spite of starting to write the blog 3 days back I was unable to complete it till today.  The reason being two paragraphs into the blog and I started chatting with another dear friend Akshay who is in the States for his MS and rarely meets online.  Or be it the case of Nirjar, another dear pal, who did not get a visa for a good six months even though he had done nothing wrong.  It had little impact on his career but it was destiny.( I consider it good because I wouldn't have been able to deal with 2 friends leaving India within a gap of 4 days).  It is destiny that the most calculative person of our group( in a game of cards he will make a thorough study of the various combinations before playing a hand) Suneet who has just resigned from his job in Chennai and will be uniting by July end.  Add to it that my joining at Infosys has delayed and I get time to enjoy (Again it is destiny that my friends in Accenture have their joining this month).  This is sheer destiny.  Becoming very good friends in just 3 years, another dear friend will be departing forever in less than a month and going to the native country in South America and I will never meet that friend which is saddening but all this is destiny whether I personally like it or not.

So Destiny may be good or not so good( I never call it bad).  But in the end whatever happens is for our own good  whether we like it or not.  My life till date has not been very good or successful and has had more downs than ups and so I may have shown the sad part of the destiny.  But somewhere it has to be good.  So the whole thing can be summarized in this beautiful saying, " whatever happened, happens and will happen is for good".

Until another blog have a great time.

Aviation in India-What lies ahead!!

Since the past few months the front page of the orange newspaper ( read Economic Times) has been carrying headlines on the aviation sector.  Be it Kingfisher's king-sized problems or Air India, the national carrier, problems akin to the stature of the Maharaja.  But this has raised quite a few doubts on the Indian Aviation sector as a whole. India is the second fastest growing economy in the world boasting of a population of 1.20 billion but only 50 million prefer this luxurious n fastest mode of transport. And there are reasons aplenty.
To start with, aviation was started in India by the visionary, J.R.D.Tata who himself was a pilot, under the name Tata Airways.  Incidentally he flew the first flight as well from Karachi to Mumbai.  The airlines was given to the nation as a gift by the large hearted tatas or in government's words it was nationalized.  And from there the airlines problems have grown each day.  The domestic routes were covered under the Indian Airlines brand while international routes were served by Air India.  The government flagship enjoyed exclusive dominance in the Indian skies till the 90's until the aviation sector was opened up.  This saw a rush of airlines like Jet Airways, East-West, Damania and so on out of which only Jet Airways has survived and grown to become the largest carrier in India.
Come 2001 and an air force officer, Captain G.R.Gopinath who dreamt of making the Indian skies affordable to the common man of India.  He introduced Re.1 special fares and the lottery system which made flying affordable and attractive.  But as they say finance is very important in a business which I completely agree and Gopinath made the mistake of growing without caring for the profits.  So it accumulated huge debts and finally had to be sold to the ever-so charismatic Dr. Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher fame.  Even though the Chief Financial Officer warned against such an acquisition, Mallya was adamant to grow his Kingfisher brand ( the beer is what I'm talking) through the aviation sector by modernising the airline and bringing the oomph factor to it .  And the result is that Kingfisher has never posted profits since its inception and is now saddled with debt of over 7000 crores which is a huge amount but is dwarfed by the Air India case discussed further.  None of the banks are ready to lend more to the king of good times and he has been forced to pledge his stake in flagship companies like United Breweries which is a cash cow for him and has also decided to sell his non core companies.
So what are the options left with Kingfisher? Not much would be my answer as soaring crude prices and the high taxes levied on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) by the government have left no room for cost cutting.  Vijay Mallya can either sell the airline to a big corporate house like the Reliance who are eager to get into this business and have more the 70000 crore of free cash.  Another option is to trim the airlines' operation by cutting down on non-profitable routes and on a lighter note less clothes to the air-hostesses( no offence intended and I have the highest respect for females) and sell all the assets that the airline has in the form of land banks and guarantees.  Though this will hurt Mallya's image as a flamboyant businessman he will atleast be out of this mess and will be able to concentrate on his love, alcohol.
Now comes the case of Air India.  Though the airline continued to make profits till around early 2000s, the tenure of Mr. Praful Patel who used the airline as his family business and ruined the business.  The first decision was the untimely merger of Air India and Indian Airlines with a view to rationalise the operations.  But it backfired miserably as the merger is still pending in terms of codes shared and this has created problems in the new Air India.  The total number of employees are more than 70000 and the average number of employees is around 150 which is quite high as per industry standards.  Coupled that with around 40000 crore of debt is a serious problem for the airline.  Even though the new aviation minister has announced a 30000 crore package to be infused in the airline by 2020 in stages, it is like throwing good public money behind bad money.
But the case of Air India turnaround is somewhat simpler as compared to Kingfisher Airlines.  The airline has the backing of the Government and hence funds are not an issue.  Taking this as an advantage it should offer a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its employees and those ready to opt for it must be compensated with a large heart just like Ajay Piramal who chose to share the wealth with all concerned when he sold his formulations business and pocketed a huge sum.  This will phase out the old and less efficient staff and will increase the operational efficiency.  Another advantage that Air India has is the huge tracts of land which are in some valuations valued at 30000 crore.  This itself wipes out most of the debt.  Yet another source of income could be partial stake sale in the Maintenance , Repair and Overhaul ( MRO) division of the airline which is among the best in the world.  After this the airline would only have the operations as the primary function and could lead to better utilization of resources.
The only successful carrier in India today is Indigo Airways but that airline too has been witnessing delays which is not going down well with the customers.  Other players in this industry are Spicejet and Go Air which are smaller players and have managed resources efficiently.
Thus the Indian aviation sector will witness growth if the troubled carriers find a pragmatic solution to their problems else the whole sector will suffer as these are too big to die.  Also the government must relax rules in the sector and allow foreign carriers to invest directly and also help the industry with pro- industry policies at least till the sector is out of this mess.

the world of telecommunications simplified..

World Telecommunication Day is celebrated on the 17th of May every year.  But this year it was completely forgotten, at least in India, and on the social networking site.  Being a telecom enthusiast I was not pleased to not see a single mention of this.  And this compelled me to blog (its been exactly 2 months since my last blog) about my passion and my first love.
Telecommunication can be divided into various categories: services using airwaves provided by the telecom companies, cell phones and the passive infrastructure comprising telecom towers, fiber optic or copper cables and to some extent satellites.I would briefly describe cell phones and passive infrastructure and a detailed explanation of the first part since that part has been one of my favourites since childhood.
To start with, cell phones have come a long way from the cordless type phones which would easily injure a person even if hit by mistake to the sleek and sexy phones being launched at the speed of light these days.  Once Nokia ruled this market but has now passed on the lead to Samsung which has a phone in each and every segment you ask for ( phones start from 999 to Rs. 44000 for the latest samsung galaxy s3).  The original Nokia and Motorola phones gave importance to call clarity, strength and superior battery life while the latest phones like the iPhone and galaxies of the world package everything in the 4 odd inch screen phone but come with the disadvantage of a poor battery life.
The passive infrastructure includes telecom towers or in technical terms as one of my favorite teachers, Ms.Geeta Hayagreev, would say the base switching center and the base transceiver system which in layman's language means the device which takes care of your call and data routing over the network.  Very few companies like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications have completely owned tower companies while the others just hire the services of towers owned by dedicated tower companies.  Some notable names are American Tower Company and GTL Infrastructure. Passive Infrastructure would also include the fiber optics which are the latest means of communication and are found to be quite effective.  Vodafone and Reliance Communication have an extensive network of these cables which virtually connect the whole world.
Now comes the network part.  I would first go into the network which supports our calls and data.  Technically speaking ( the only thing I've learnt in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering) frequency spectrum is used in the 800MHz( mainly used for CDMA services), 900MHz ( used by old GSM operators like Airtel and Vodafone), 1800 MHz (used by new GSM players like RCOMM) and the 2.1GHz (used for 3G services providing higher data rates and better voice quality).  Other frequency bands which are used are 850MHz and 1900MHz which are used in the USA.  CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access) services was developed by Qualcomm of USA and is used by companies such as AT&T and Reliance Communications.  It makes use of the entire spectrum available and hence it is considered more efficient in terms of usage.  The rival technology which is widely used today is the GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications)  was developed in Europe and basically divides the frequency available in either time slots or smaller frequency bands.  That was a brief description of the technical aspect of the mobile communications.
 Since I don't have a very good idea about the telecom sector of countries other than India, I will stick to the Indian Telecom Story.  Cellular phone service started way back in 1996 when the longest serving chief minister of India, Mr. Jyoti Basu made the first phone call on a Modi-Telstra network for some 16 odd rupees.  Modi network Back then even incoming calls were charged and it was only the elite people who owned a cell phone, my dad being one of them and that's how it became my passion and first love.  From 16 rupees in the late 90's to just a rupee and free incoming in 2001 thanks to Dhirubhai Ambani's vision that in order to be a successful telecom company you don't have to compete with rival companies but with the post card and hence it should be affordable.  And then there was no looking back.  Call rates have fallen to drastically low levels of just 30p/min with free incoming calls while my best friends Akshay and Nirjar still pay for incoming in the USA where the first mobile phone was manufactured by Motorola.  Even though there has been hue and cry over corruption in the telecom sector where spectrum was given at lower prices by A.Raja , I believe this very fact allowed 14 players in India and reduced cost rates to extremely low levels though it could have been handled in a better way.  But as of today Indians have the privilege of good services at cheapest rates in the world.
As I write this, there has been uncertainty from the government over the future of this industry and even though third generation services haven't had the success as the operators expected ( only 12million subscribers use 3G out of an estimated 680 million subscribers) India has already embraced 4G technology with Airtel launching services in Kolkata and Bangalore.  It remains to be seen whether companies can profitably roll out 4G services in a price sensitive country like ours where operators have had to cut 3G services by upto 70% to attract more customers and recover the heavy price paid for the airwaves and missed calls are still a trend. Whatever the scene is, the customers stand to benefit from this and have access to all the three technologies (second, third and fourth generation services) at the same time.

When days began at 4am...

After 5 months of exams and only exams my journey to the Rajasthan town of Nathdwara which is a pilgrim place for the Gujaratis was a welcome break.  It was actually a planned tour which the family undertakes every year.  The tiredness after the grilling schedule for preparing various exams vanished instantly as I boarded the train for the 2N-3D journey.

For those new to this, Nathdwara is a small town in the Udaipur district and the nearest airport is Udaipur  while by rail it can be reached via 2 routes: one via Mavli junction ( 25 min drive) and second via Falna( 3 hr drive).  By road it can be reached in 4.5 hours via Ahmedabad.  The time has reduced considerably compared to a decade ago thanks to great highways built by the Narendra Modi government and the NHAI.

I expected a change in the surroundings like every year but everything was same as the last year.  So much so that the workers in the hotel were the same and the roads were still full of cow dung.  Reaching at a time when the darshan was about to start, I didn't wait to bathe and rushed there.  And when I entered the temple happiness filled the heart.  I forgot all my troubles and was at peace something which eluded me in the past months.  And since then I did not miss a single darshan while I was there no matter how tired or hurt I was during the darshan.

The very sight of the God makes you forget all the worries.  Once you are in the temple you dont realize whether you are hurt or not.  It is only later that you realize what happened inside the temple.  This feeling was the prime reason behind not skipping a single darshan.  Whenever the thought of not attending crossed my mind, I just remembered Him and I was on my feet to head to the temple.

Lunch on 2 days was at the Government run RTDC and it is one of the few govt run entities I praise because of the ambience and the food they offer.  Even though it is a good 3 km away we didn't mind going there.  While the third day was the traditional Guajarati thali.  After a delicious meal a good nap is a ritual but due to travelling so far it was something I was deprived of.  Another reason for lack of afternoon nap was that by the time we returned it was time for second round of darshan.

Lord Shrinathji is probably the only God in India who does not give darshan to its devotees for the whole day.  Its a brief appearance for 7-8 times depending on the month of the year.  It starts with "Mangla" as early as 5am followed by "Shringar" , "Gvaal" and then the sumptuous " Rajbhog" at around 11.30 am.  After a 3 hour break it starts again with "Uthapan", "Bhog", " Aarti" and finally "Shayan".  Each darshan lasts for about 30 mins on average with a 1.5 hour break between 2 darshans and hence it is a great feat to pray to your heart's content when there are 1000's of people wishing the same.  If the names are observed closely they resemble the day to day routine.

As luck would have it, my slippers were stolen during the first darshan of the second day and since then most of the times I walked bare feet from the hotel to the temple since wearing shoes was quite cumbersome.  This made people wonder how such a young person can be so pious.  But the fact was something else.  Also there were no chappals/slippers worth the price quoted by the sellers so I considered it as destiny to walk bare feet.  It required smart walking as the roads are full of cow dung and 100s of people walking.

Corruption is one of the biggest problems in India and in the temple too.  If you wanted to do the auspicious aarti you had to shell out Rs.100/- on weekdays and Rs.150/- on weekends.  The arrangement is such that 80 per cent would go to the guards while the remaining would go to the person who brings the devotees.  Even though not wanting to be a part of this, the desire to see the aarti made me do this a good 5 times. But I was chuffed by one guy who not only facilitated a smooth entry and exit but also provided us with betel leaf which is one of the prasads and given to a chosen few.

Then there are the famous trustees and so called VVIPs who can enter any time during the darshan at their will and the guards will stop the entire crowd for them to have a peaceful darshan.  One such example is Kokilaben Ambani who is Vice-President of the Temple Board.  Luckily or unluckily she too had decided to be in Nathdwara on the days we were there.  On one day I was in the same row as she and this allowed me 20 minutes of darshan uninterrupted so I cannot complain much.  One of her friends is a distant relative so I got to greet her as well.  It made me extremely happy but would have been happier had I seen  her son and one of my favorite businessmen Anil Ambani  who too was there for a night but paid hefty amounts( A wild guess)  for a special darshan behind closed doors.

Waiting in the special line for offerings to God (read money) you are bound to strike a conversation with the person in front or behind you.  In my sister's words, Every gujju is doomed to be an open book to a fellow gujju.  The conversation starts with just one word, " Mumbai?" or "Ahmedabad?" referring to the place of residence and then the conversation starts.  Withing a matter of 5 mins you have exchanged so much information that it makes you realize the power of socializing.  New friends are made in this fashion.  And you keep bumping into people you met on your way in the train and/or at least one relative.

The whole trip tired me a lot due to the above schedule and as the trip came to an end I vowed never to go for all the darshans the next time I visit Nathdwara because of the stress I had experienced.  But I know I will break this vow and still run as soon as the darshan starts. A memorable trip as always!!