The weekend that was ...

Today is Wednesday and I am going to write about the weekend. Well, It is not about how I am waiting for the coming weekend but my (mis)adventures of the last weekend. Wow! Writing about a weekend on a Wednesday, I will go places with my sense of timing !!

I cant even remember what I did on Friday. I didn't do much I guess, I was up at 6 on a saturday morning so should have slept pretty early. My roommates parents were here, and they took care of my meals during the weekend!

Had an appointment with my Dentist at 12, so set off to Delhi on my bullet. I wanted to reach there before 12, well my last few appointments were pathetic. Once I reached 1.5 hrs late and the next time 15 mins late, so I wanted to make a point to myself by reaching there early. With all the thoughts and preparations, I could manage to leave home only at 11:15, thanks to the maid, who took her own sweet time in sweeping and mopping the house. I rode fast and managed to be there by 12. :) Bravo !!

My dentist was in a good mood, he was going on a holiday to Pune. I suggested another interesting place, Lavasa, nearby Pune. I think I managed to kill his enthu by some 25%, he was regreting why didn't I come a week earlier. :). I had said the right thing at the wrong time, poor guy!!

I had South Indian lunch with my office colleagues. I spoke to the waiters in my mother tongue and got faster response towards our orders than the rest of the ppl sitting there. Things like this happens in India, you see a person from your town, you walk the extra mile to keep the person happy!

After lunch we moved to Oxford Book Store in CP. The ambience of the store is pretty good. The collection was refreshingly different, books categorically placed. The stafff is friendly, the cafe's menu is inviting, the ambience is superb. I recommend you to visit the store when you are in Delhi. The catalogue is pathetic, I asked for few books which they didn't have in their database and I believed them. During billing, one guy found a book which was not in their database! The staff gaped with an open mouth. The security is not so tight and I dont intend to describe it :) .
I almost scanned through the entire collection of books and bought some three books. 'The real price of everything', 'Keep off the Grass', 'Wise and Otherwise' and a book on China - kinda business book.

I met an Alum from my alma mater over there, exchanged pleasantries, exchanged cards and the usual stuff. An entrepreneur bubblin with lots of passion and enthu.

From there we made our way to IHC, to watch Makhrand Deshpande's play 'Sakaram Binder and the Constable'. Pretty decent storyline, but the performance of the actors were stunning !!! Makhrand takes acting to an entirely different level, and the supporting actors did one wonderful job. The performance was very captivating, well it was one of the best plays I ever seen and to think of it, I have seen more than 100 plays - English, Hindi, Kannada.

The real adventure began when I started towards Gurgaon. It was drizzling, I thought it is just a harmless drizzle and started on my Bullet. There were traffic jams on the way, which is an expected thing when it rains. I had no clue how much it had rained when I was watching the play. As I waded through traffic and to some clear stretched down the road, I came across a huge traffic jam in a place where it should have been a free flow. There were no intersections for a few kms, even then there was a traffic jam. Expecting some Vehicle would hav broken down, I slowly made my way on the left side pavement. What came later was a complete shocker. There was water on the road. Rather the road was in the water. It was more of the road going into the pond and coming out. I had never seen so much of water on the road. There was not even a single inch of road that was visible. Cars were making their way slowly through it. Few cars had smoke coming out of them, I slowly made my way. The car in front of me stopped and I braked and put out my leg for support and my feet couldn't feel the ground till my knees were under water. I had never ridden my bike through something like this. I thought the water will flow into the engine and the bike would stall. Thank God, nothing happnd. Once I came out of the water, I could see cars parked on the edge of the road and I could hear the hissing of the engine which wuldn't start. There were few 2-wheelers, the kickers being kicked 'n' no. of times and not even a single sound from the engine. These people had a long night ahead.

I was lucky that night, I thanked all my Gods for their timely shower of mercy on me and I reached my home some 3 hrs after I started off from Delhi. Afternoon it had taken 35 mins to cover the same distance !! Well, time for Delhites to sing "Rain Rain go away".

Came back home saw Kung Fu Panda and slept!

Sunday was chill. Finished 'Keep Off the Grass' by afternoon. Went out in the evening, bought 'Thousand Splendid Suns' and 'Shantaram', bumped into an office colleague, spent some time in the market, came back and slept off.

Well, Saturday was longer than Sunday !!

I have to write my review of the book 'Keep off the Grass' and also "Splendid Thousand Suns", which I finished last night. I will write about them when thoughts flow freely. Right now, the mind is concentrating on the stomach. I guess it is time for me to go and have my dinner.

India Shining ...

I came across this shocking article today on my company's discussion forum. It is very well structured, thought provoking article or it is fear invoking article. The great Indian Growth animal has come across a fork in the road. One path puts it back on growth and the other one is what the article describes.

As Robert Forst puts it, "

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference "

I am not sure which path is the one that is less traveled and I am not sure whether it makes a positive or a negative difference. We were at the forefront of change few years back, and we made a choice then which resulted in the growth story India is proud of, but we are not able to continue that growth story for long. We have stumbled on it as soon as we started it.

I think lot of people wonder which path to take. What is that we need to do, to change the destiny that we are staring it. Is this what Nehru meant when he made that historical remark 'India's tryst with destiny' during his independence speech. Well no one can ever be sure of that.

But what we need is a list of things that we need to do, to come out of this mess - if at all I can say so.

Well, we do not have to start the research now. Goldman Sachs has already done it. Based on the research carried out by Jim O'Neill and Tushar Poddar, they have come out with a list of Ten things India has to do to achieve its 2050 potential i.e., to be one of the top two economies of the world.

The list is as follows:

1. Improve Governance

2. Raise Educational Achievement

3. Increase Quality and Quantity of Universities

4. Control Inflation

5. Introduce Credible Fiscal Policy

6. Liberalize Financial Markets

7. Increase Trade with Neighbors

8. Increase Agricultural Productivity

9. Improve Infrastructure

10. Improve Environmental Quality

The full report on the same is available here.

It is time we wake up from our deep slumber and get India back on the growth wagon.