Acronym Bazaar

Do you want to learn SAS, SAP or ABAP? Or perhaps you want to get certified as a CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, or MSCE? (yes, strictly speaking the latter ones are abbreviations, not acronyms) Then you have come to the right place. On both sides of this street are numerous buildings with all kinds of computer related classes.

I hope you will excuse me for posting more than one photo today.


This building is on the main road, not on the street pictured above.

There are no strict zoning laws here which separate businesses from residential areas. So in a building like this, typically the ground floor and the first floor are set aside for offices and businesses, and the floor above for residential flats/apartments. But in this case, even the floors above have been occupied by businesses as can be seen from the sign boards. In some of the flats/apartments where there are no signboards, you can see laundry hung out to dry.


The right side of the building above. (I don't know how to "stitch" these photos together).

There are computer classes all over the city, but here there is a concentration of them. And then there are national chains (not in any of these pictures). Education is big business in India - from English and computer classes to Engineering schools, all are minting money.

Students who enroll sometimes have no clue about which classes to take. They go by someone else's recommendation about what will help them make more money, and it doesn't always work out that way because the quality of the classes and the student's own lack of proper educational background can mean that the student has wasted the money on these classes. Some of these classes offer "live experience", which means they put the students to work on projects which have been outsourced from clients.

Most companies here look for at least 1-2 years work experience when they hire people. And when people don't have that work experience, some fake it on their resume. Companies have gotten wiser and in order to weed out the fake ones in the interview they ask not only academic questions but also questions about the exact location (e.g. which floor) of the company where the candidate claims to have worked, and not only the salary they got there, but also how much tax they had to pay on that salary!!! Recently one of the big IT (Information Technology) companies here let go over 500 people because the company found that they had doctored their resume.

" "Technology" is what we call whatever didn't exist when we were born."
-- Alan Kay, computer scientist at Xerox and Apple

"Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession."
-- Kingman Brewster, diplomat and president of Yale University

Westward Ho!

Many companies have sprung up offering assistance to people who wish to go abroad. After 9/11, the number of students going to the US had temporarily dipped, but has picked up again. Universities from the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France and Germany are sending their representatives to India to showcase their universities, and they are offering financial assistance. Earlier students used to mainly go to the US and also UK, but now a large number of students go to other countries as well. Interestingly hundreds of students are now going to China for medical education (in English). On the other hand, management graduates of IIMs (Indian Instiute of Management) make headlines every year for being hired by foreign companies for higher and higher compensation, the latest being for around $250,000! Another indication of global opportunities is that Americans and Europeans now come to India to get experience in IT and MNCs (multinational companies).

Did you notice that the glass facade has windows in it that can be propped open? Many new buildings are coming up with reflective glass facades. The overhead cables from telephone, power, cable and Internet companies are an eyesore throughout the city.

"Go West, young man, and grow up with the country." -John B.L. Soule

Tamarind Man

What looks like a heap of dirt on that cart is actually tamarind. Tamarind is used in Indian cooking. Many people buy tamarind paste and packed tamarind from the grocery stores. The word "tamarind" comes from Arabic tamr hindi, lit. "date of India." In spite of the name, according to some sources, tamarind is native to tropical Africa and was introduced into India long time ago.

"They sharpened my teeth till I could have shaved with them, and gave them a "wire edge" that I was afraid would stay; but a citizen said "no, it will come off when the enamel does"--which was comforting, at any rate. I found, afterward, that only strangers eat tamarinds--but they only eat them once." -Mark Twain, Roughing It

Security Check

Looks like something strange is going on, but if you click on the photo you can see that the bank guard is checking the bag with a metal detector. This is the first time I have seen this happen at a bank. While I was clicking one of them came by and asked me what I was doing. I think it is not very smart to be taking photos like this because there is a lot of paranoia given the recent bombings. I am tempted to get a cell phone with camera so that it is not too obvious when I take photos in such situations. People are taken in for questioning if they are found in "suspicious" circumstances. Even though India recently complained about the treatment given to an Indian doctor in Australia while he was being questioned in connection with the Glasgow airport incident, according to local newspapers, there are thousands languishing in Indian jails without any specific charges. That is scary.

"Because that's where the money is." -Willie Sutton, American bank robber when asked why he robbed banks.

No Parking

There are two signs. The big one says "No Parking-Towing Zone" and the small one says "Parking at owners risk" (sic). There are TWO rows of two-wheelers parked here! If you are parked in the first row, good luck getting your bike out when you leave! The big sign is by the traffic authorities and the small one is by the bank. There is a huge rush at the banks and there is no proper parking space provided. Once in a while the enforcers make a round. While I was there a policeman came by and talked to the "security guard" at the bank who went in and made an announcement that the bikes are going to be loaded onto the tow truck. Out came a large number of people and they scrambled to move their bikes temporarily to another place. Banks are so crowded that it took us more than 30 minutes just to deposit a check. There are drop boxes, but there was some problem recently with checks dropped in drop boxes and some people prefer not to use them. Banks are giving good interest rates - a fixed deposit for 500 days gets over 9% interest.

There was no forethought about the growth that India is experiencing and as usual policy plays catch-up as huge number of new two-wheelers and cars come on the street every day. It will get worse as a huge number of new small cars hit the street. TATA, an automobile company, is coming out with a car that costs Rs. 1 Lac (lac = hundred thousand; 1 lac= USD 2525 or Euro 1780). Incidentally, TATA is bidding for Jaguar and Land Rover as Indian companies continue to go global, while Mercedes and BMW have set up their manufacturing units in India.

"Politics ain't worrying this country one-tenth as much as where to find a parking space." -Will Rogers

Eid Mubarak - Happy Eid

A big banner greets commuters on the recent occasion of Eid (the Islamic festival which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan (spelled "Ramzan" here). If you click on the photo, you can see the Chief Minister of the state donning an Islamic cap. The CM himself is a Christian. Although India is predominantly Hindu, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh is a Sikh, the chairperson of the ruling coalition, Sonia Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi) is a Catholic, and the ex-president who just demitted office very recently, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is a Muslim. The politicians world over seem to please their constituents by donning their garb and participating in their festivals and making sure that others see it. All through the month of Ramzan, there are "Iftar parties" in the evening. "Iftar" is when the devout Muslims break their fast in the evening. Newspaper photos show local, state and national level politicians holding their own "Iftar parties". Even Iftar has been politicized. The sorry state is reflected in a recent cartoon which showed a bureaucrat asking a politician -"Shall we also invite some Muslims to the Iftar party, Sir?"


"It's clearly more important to treat one's fellow man well than to be always praying and fasting and touching one's head to a prayer mat." -Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian author and the 1988 Nobel laureate for literature

Forbidden (custard) fruit

A monkey eating a custard apple. A group of monkeys visits every few weeks around this time of the year. They pick fruits off the trees, and throw them at us or the dogs! They are pretty bold. Monkeys stealing fruits is one thing, but even people do it. Around here, some people don't consider it necessary to ask for permission. They just pick fruits and flowers off the trees, pulling the branches in order to get to them while standing on the other side of the compound wall, and in the process sometimes breaking the branches. The botched prune job on the bouganvillas can be seen on the left. The "gardner" used a sickle because he did not have a pair of garden shears.

According to one research article, Chimpanzees steal fruit to impress the lady Chimps!

"You are what you eat. Avoid FRUITS and NUTS." -Bumper sticker