Multi-tasking with Mobiles

Mobiles are very popular in India and everyone can use them because mobile services are very cheap. Even those who do not have basic amenities, have access to mobiles in India. Experts claim there are as high as 0.9 Billion (or 90 crore) mobile users in India. Similarly, there are many mobile service providing companies and so are the handset instrument marketers. No wonder, many people are now using mobiles with twin-SIM card facility, which offer two SIM cards with different numbers from the same or different mobile service providers. Recently, I have seen a Bollywood movie clip in which a heroine was using two mobiles – keeping one on her each ear and was conveying the same ‘love message’ to two heroes who were sitting at the same place parted by a short distance of 7-8 feet. Quite amazing. Isn’t it? Indians have developed multi-tasking skills with mobiles which can be easily seen in day-to-day life. Recently, CEAT tyres have shown a slice of life situation in their TV ad film in which a father drives a pram with his baby sitting in it on a busy traffic road. He is involved in some business talks on his mobile while pushing the pram and suddenly takes right turn to cross the road. From the other side a motorcycle rider was coming. The rider had to suddenly apply brakes to prevent the accident with the pram. The mobile multitasking man was at fault but blames the bike rider, “Are you blind?” in a rude manner! A background voice says, “Streets are filled with idiots...”. These two incidents have inspired me to write down the incidents that I witnessed in various situations which are as under:

Talking on Mobile....

·       while smoking;

·   while smoking and walking with a pet dog – chain in one hand and mobile in the other;

·       while driving a motorcycle;

·       while driving a car;

·       while driving a car and smoking simultaneously;

·       while eating;

·       while eating and walking in a buffet;

·       while eating and doing some office work or writing;

·       while working on a desktop PC or a laptop;

·       en route to workplace, halting for a while on a temple and bowing but carrying on conversation;

·       while talking on a fix-line phone at home or at workplace; 

·       while watering the plants in home garden;

·       while watching television;

·       while reading a newspaper or a magazine;

·       while in bed about to sleep; 

·       while urinating (suddenly received a call);

·       while doing morning walk, jogging or exercising in a gym; 

                                   and many similar acts in daily life...

The pleasure of multi-tasking with mobile provides a sort of satisfaction to the users. They realize as if they are very busy and hence successful people. However, they fail to realize that their multi-tasking act may invite any threat to other’s lives or to their own life, as shown in a TV ad by CEAT tyres. A driver talking on his mobile is susceptible to an accident. In fact, there are incidences when people have lost their lives or got seriously injured because their driving person was multi-tasking with mobile. Just like cigarette companies, mobile manufacturers should also put a Statutory Warning on the back of every mobile set – not to do multi-tasking while talking on a cell phone. 

New Zealand is one of those countries that has imposed a traffic law from November 1, 2009 under which use of mobile has been banned during driving. Drivers violating this law will have to pay penalty. This is because if a driver is multitasking with mobile while driving, he is not only inviting danger for him but also for the others on road. New Zealand has one of the highest standards in quality of life in the world.

~Gunjan Gupta, Esq.

Emerging Fire from Water

Status show off is an egocentric social activity in India. Everybody tries to show off his/her status by various means so that society considers him/her as a rich person. Wasting Water is one such common act in India by which people from various walks of life and various socio-economic classes try to show off others that they can afford to waste precious and depleting natural resource ‘WATER’ – even if the neighbours are thirsty or deprived of. If you are suffering from water scarcity because you are dependent on alternate-day limited time municipal water supply, your neighbour will switch on his submersible water pump to suck up underground water and proudly throw it on his another status symbol (one or more car). The gallons of water flows out on pavement and  spreads on the street in front of half-a-dozen neighbours’ houses and apartments. This provides him a sense of self-satisfaction that what is scarce for you, he has in abundance. Hence, he is a rich while you are a poor. But in reality such people are poor in intellect. If an intellectual person, who cares for the environment and is concerned for the misuse of natural resources, tries to create an awareness about the misuse of water, he will be insulted by ‘the water-rich person’ with an argument that he wastes his own water. So who are you to interfere in his personal affairs? This shows the sheer selfish motive of the so-called ‘water-rich person’. Whether one belongs to an educated class or an uneducated/ illiterate class, upper economic class or lower class, it hardly matters. Everyone has acquired the same fashionable-cum-egotistical practice of throwing and wasting water – a national character of All Indians. After indulging in this activity, people feel satisfied with a ‘sense of achievement’.

Our bureaucrats and ministers are the great suckers. They waste another resource like water. It is Petrol (and diesel). They get an unlimited amount of petrol free of cost at government expenses, i.e., wasting public money. All so-called progress of India will come to standstill when these two resources will cease to exist. A country can import petrol or crude oil but not water. The widespread deforestation has further deteriorated the situation and resulted in drought-like circumstances. The underground water has already gone down in many parts of India to an alarming level. But the government as well as public – both are sleeping callously. Days are not far when people all over India will indulge in a war-like situation with multiple neighbours. The news headlines will appear like: “India Inferno”, “Fire emerged from Water – India Inflamed by Civil War”, “Water catches Flame: many killed”, and so on.

Most children in India are usually not taught by their parents, grandparents or school teachers – “not to waste precious water” but to preserve it. They must be taught that when they grow in the next 5 to 10 years, almost entire country will be affected by drought or flood water in some areas (which is not usable water) – if they do not conserve water and protect the environment. Many children play with water and derive pleasure in throwing and wasting it in various ways. If you point out to their parents or grandparents, there is invariably a common reply you can expect, “He is just a child now...”. But only a child can learn readily. That’s the reason a child is sent to a school (and not his parents/ grandparents – even if they are uneducated). Children can pick up and easily learn any language depending on the linguistic environment they grow in – which adults cannot usually do. Henceforth, it is the high time, children should be educated to preserve the natural resources and conserve water.

The percentage of usable water suitable for human consumption is only 3% on earth, out of which 2.25% water forms the polar caps and glaciers. In India, the Himalayan glaciers are the largest source of fresh water that irrigate the entire North India. Due to global warming, glaciers are rapidly depleting that resulted in shrinking of major rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, et al. If every second person wastes just one litre of water per day (usually people waste in gallons), 600 million litres of water is wasted every day in the country. This could quench the thirst of nearly 300 million people in India. But actually every second person wastes at least a bucketful (10 litres) or more of water every day. This explains why there is a water scarcity in India, and why we always face a crisis of water every year for 4 to 6 months in the country. The selfish, egoistic and pseudo-status-conscious Indians will never ever change their attitude and mind. A horrible fire is heating to engulf the whole country to devastate its superficial progress. The news media has already witnessed an onset of such incidences in the last years during summer of 2008 and 2009.

~Gunjan Gupta, Esq.

Top to Bottom: Indian Standard Excuses (ISEs)

In India, we are very much dependent on people because the ‘system’ does not work automatically. The ‘system’ could be public or private as well as ‘no system’ at all. It could be run by uneducated or illiterates, public service departments as well as by MBA degree holder corporate people and ‘customer care’ departments. Everyone is driven by the same socialistic approach without any difference. Whether they ‘assure’ you or ‘promise’ you, it makes no difference. You will invariably be cheated by the false assurances and promises made by Indians to Indians. Some Indians who have over-confidence on India’s so-called booming economical progress and reforms may not agree with me or may not accept these facts. Take for instance the uneducated plumbers, electricians, masons, contractors or even educated builders whom you hire to get your work done or problem rectified. They assure or even promise you that they will finish up the work 99 to 100% by so and so date or time, but you cannot be optimistic. If they give this type of statement, be pessimistic and do not expect that they are going to fulfill their promises or assurances. The next day, they will neither turn up nor inform you anything. The advancement in telecommunication devices has given an easy way to adapt unethical practices to lie or put an excuse instead of utilizing the technology to provide an efficient and ethical service. Now by sitting at home and without leaving the station, a person habitually claims that he is out of station if you try to contact him on cell phone. The illiterate workers or maid servants have the same attitude towards their duties. They will probably come to work for 10 or 15 days in a month and claim full-month’s salary by saying that they worked for the whole month. No morals, no work ethics! These are for the educated lots.

Likewise, if you are expecting a service from the so-called ‘customer care’ department or a service sector person of a small or big, local or multi-national company, you will experience the same behavioural attitude from them. If your washing machine has gone out of order, your fix-line telephone is not working at home or office, you are expecting a refund of deposit from your previous post-paid mobile company, a sales agent of your insurance company has assured you to pick up a cheque from you  towards your premium, or you are expecting a serviceman from your computer dealer to visit your office/home to rectify software or hardware problem – even if you are under warranty period, you cannot be optimistic that they will fulfill their assurances or even promises. For them there is practically no difference between an assurance and a promise because both are made falsely with an intention to deceive and in some cases to harass you. If you ring up and remind them after waiting for sufficiently long time or sometimes for days, you will receive a similar ‘Standard Excuse’ from a set of excuses, viz., I forgot; I was busy with so much work load; I was out of station; I had to go out of station for some urgent work the day I was to visit you and have returned today or only yesterday – now I would surely come to you tomorrow; my boss sent me somewhere; I was stuck up in an urgent meeting; my boss suddenly came from the head office so I had to go to airport to pick him up and hence I was busy for the whole day; my bike got punctured so I got delayed; when I was leaving my office to come to you it started raining suddenly; I was busy and did not see/receive your email or SMS; my mobile was on ‘silent mode’ so I did not listen to your ring; my cell phone’s battery was down so I could not inform you or pick up your call; my kid has spoiled or broken my mobile that I bought for Rs. 15000 so I do not receive any calls; although you get the ‘ring’; I was sick for 2-3 days; the spare part of your washing machine is out of stock or hardware of your computer is not available so I did not come; the spoiled hardware of your computer is covered only for 6 months or not at all covered under warranty; your cheque has been mailed or couriered last week and you will receive it within a day or two; many of our staff are on leave so I was busy today but I will definitely do your work tomorrow; the person dealing with such cases is on leave for a couple of days, so you have to come next week (no courteous request), I remain so busy that it slipped from my mind to visit or ring you; and so on, so forth. All these are ISEs – Indian Standard Excuses because these justifications are given or provided to hide the real reason or conceal the fact – a sheer lie. Had it not been ‘excuses’ the person concerned would have informed you in time or even late, repented and apologized (not a courtesy in India) and tried to compensate the loss or inconvenience by efficiently completing the task and by his/her polite manners. We cannot expect such manners or politeness from the uneducated and illiterate people or government departments who thrive on false statements or lie to cheat you. However, even the well-educated staffs with so-called corporate culture do not hesitate to utter sheer lies which you can easily detect as a  customer or client. An entrepreneur, a self-employed professional, an employee of a small company, educational institute or a manager of a big corporate – you can expect the same behavioural trait from everyone. No wonder why the noted motivational speaker Shiv Khera has commented that every home in India is a factory of liars. Every kid starts learning from his childhood how to lie without reason from his parents and elders at home. We grow in this atmosphere and also learn to doubt, suspect and distrust people around us because if we rely or try to trust everyone, there is likelihood that we will be swindled. People keep on telling lies in routine without any reason.

Is there any way we can change this widespread and unethical system of throwing false excuses and uttering lies every now and then? Can’t our educated people in business and profession learn to say the truth, be courteous, and politely apologize for the assurances and promises they fail to keep due to any valid reason while feeling sorry for the inconvenience caused to their clients or customers? After all, it only takes a courtesy phone call to inform to your client. Why can’t Indian business houses and corporates train their old and new employees to stay away from Indian Standard Excuses and to follow this as a ‘code of conduct’ in their career? Is this very difficult to implement? It only requires self-discipline for every individual employee while a strict instruction from the management to penalize any employee if s/he is found to give standard excuses (ISEs) or if the company receives any complaint from a client/customer. We need to purify our system to make it ‘ethical’.
Courtesy costs nothing but pays much. 

~Gunjan Gupta, Esq.

Is Indian Prime Minister accountable like the U.S. President?

It has been learnt during Barack Obama’s India visit (Nov.-2010) that when the U.S. exports 10 Billion Dollars worth of goods, 50000 jobs will be created in America. But when Indian exporters export, perhaps no additional jobs are created in India. Rather exporters want Indian currency to remain down and weak for their own vested interest. Developed countries of the world have stronger currencies such as British Pound, Euro, Dollars of USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, etc. If India wants to be in the list of developed countries as is projected in the coming decade, Indian Rupee (INR) has to grow stronger. Perhaps the Indian government including the RBI does not intend INR to grow stronger. In 1980’s, US$ 1 was equivalent to INR 8, while in 1960’s, it was less than INR 5 per US$. Soon after independence in 1948, INR 1 was equal to USD 1 and Pound 1. The steep rise in exchange rate began in 1991 onwards during Reformed Economy of Liberalized India. The INR started losing its value since 1952 when the political leaders borrowed money for the first time from the World Bank and other developed nations. By 2010, our own currency Indian Rupee has become so weak and devalued that it has lost its purchaing power even within the country. It is quite common to witness Indians comment, “Even a beggar does not accept 1-Rupee these days”. It is a very shameful situation for us. No one in any developed country dares to think or comment like this about his nation’s currency. India has zero value for all its coins (in the eight denominations of less than a rupee) – which is the recent development in 21^st century. Days are not far when our 1 & 2-Rupee coins will also have zero value and become extinct – just like ‘Paise’ coins. Indians are shown fictitious figures about inflation to represent it low. Being an Indian, I realize as India’s share market grows, Indians are shown higher GDP growth rates while the inflation levels are sneakily made lower by our government and officials. The food grains and other food items are traded in Commodity Exchange (MCX). This results in exorbitant rise in prices of edible oil and food grains making them out of common man’s reach – whereas India is designated as an ‘Agriculture Country’. In reality Indians observe that prices of everything – whether food items (agricultural produce), FMCG products, automobiles, or real estates (including rented properties) are constantly rising by leaps and bounds. In 1970’s, one Kg. common salt was available in 10-20 paise (one-tenth to one-fifth of a Rupee)!! Today the common salt (of course iodized version) is costing INR 10-12 per Kg. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi had challenged the British government and shaken it with his historic “Dandi March” when the British imposed a salt tax on salt. But today, we have no Mahatma Gandhi to protest against Indian government’s taxing policies – especially on essential commodities that torture us and particularly forcing the lower strata of Indian population to remain below the poverty line, starve and suffer the most. In this way, one day Indians will find that the inflation level is declared at ‘zero level’ but in reality they will have sky-high prices of everything. Possibly on that day, a 10-Rupee currency-note will have a purchasing power of today’s 1-Rupee coin. No wonder Indian government would blatantly declare India’s GDP growth rate as 14 to 15% and inflation rate at 0.00%. No public protest, no voice – despite being the world’s largest democracy. In developed nations as well as in a nearby progressive  country, UAE, the commodity prices remain standstill for a long time and rarely fluctuate so frequently as they rise in India.

Indian government is trying to create an illusive image to show the world that India has progressed much by showing exaggerated GDP growth rate and high ‘Sensex’ figures generated by foreign investments (in its share market). This growth does not mean that most of the country’s population is satisfied or at least getting employment for minimum survival level. The U.S. President Obama is just trying to lift India eulogistically by calling it a ‘super power’ for meeting his and his country’s vested interests. This is an irony that a beggar, who borrows money from the World Bank and other rich countries, is giving alms to the ‘Rich and Famous’!! Unless India repays its borrowed debt with accumulated interests, it cannot be a developed nation. The litmus test will prove this when INR will be equal to the USD in the ratio of 1:1.

American President is ‘accountable’ towards American people. He has come to India to generate jobs. But is Indian PM or any minister in government accountable towards educated Indians who are passing through the ordeal of joblessness? Leave aside the uneducated and illiterates. Indian media and government are trying to portray that we have excess jobs in India which we have probably snatched from the Americans (at least they believe so in the U.S.). Now by helping the U.S.A., India could possibly return those excess jobs to the Americans. Do we have 100% employment and 0% unemployment rates? Certainly not. India’s ‘power-hungry’ political leaders who thrive and prosper on corruption, are not at all the Statesmen. They accumulate wealth for their next 7 generations but are never bothered for India’s present generation. Half of India’s population lives below poverty line. They hardly manage to get a meal a day or not even that. This is all related to unemployment issue. Indian government has failed to resolve this significant problem in 63 years of independence and is not likely to resolve in the next 2, 3 or 4 decades. But on paper with the help of false media publicity, India is keen to declare it a ‘developed nation’ by 2020 by concealing its burning issues like poverty, unemployment and corruption. I only wish if an Indian minister or the Prime Minister would have done something like the U.S. President to seek jobs or to generate employments for the India’s unemployed to help eliminate at least unemployment and poverty.

~Gunjan Gupta, Esq.

From infuriating hyper-advertising to ‘Social Responsibility’

Excessive or hyper-advertising leads to irritation. It has been observed during festive seasons that some advertisers believe too much mass advertising is directly proportional to high turn over – even in 2010 when the world over and especially in developed world, Social Media Marketing has taken precedence over the traditional mass advertising. But in India, not only the local companies but also multi-nationals like SONY (Bravia) seem to have high reliance as well as dependence on outmoded mass advertising. 

As a TV-viewer, how do you feel whenever you observe that a TV commercial is ‘repeated’ more than once during every ‘break’? A regional jewellery company (PC Jeweller – operating only in some states) has really ‘bored’ the viewers with its hackneyed and dull TV ad which was bombarded thrice during each break before Diwali-2010 – so much so that it has actually started “irritating” the audience to the extent of ‘aversion’ caused by nuisance. I call this “Advertising Pollution” which also badly affects and cripples children’s minds. In India, for generations, jewellers have bad names for cheating their customers in various ways until the Bureau of Indian Standard introduced “Hallmark” for Gold jewelleries to safeguard customers. No jeweller runs any promotional scheme to charge 1 Carat less for the gold jewellery that you have purchased (for example 20 Carat rate for a jewellery of 21 Carat). Instead they are likely to charge you 1 or 2 Carats higher than the actual Carat of the purchased gold jewellery by befooling you. Moreover, they can literary waste huge money on mindless TV advertising to “irritate” the audience or prospective customers to a great degree. Isn’t there any law in India that safeguards the TV viewers from such onslaughts of TV ad bombardments by the advertisers on every channel? If the companies have excess money to waste like drain-water, why can’t they channelize the excessive funds for the welfare of society they make money from? Why can’t they show their Social Responsibilities or philanthropy? They are only concerned for their own profits and bottom-line by squeezing each and every customer.

~Gunjan Gupta, Esq.

To speak, a language is no longer required...!!

Indian TV channels have excessive bombardment of commercials (advertisements), 24 hrs X 7 days. There is less time for ‘contents’and more for the Ads. With exorbitant mass advertising, I wonder how Indians remember and recall those ads to make a decision while in the marketplace or doing shopping.

One such ad by an Indian mobile service provider company claims thru an ordinary-looking, flop hero (called ‘Sar-ji’ or rather ‘Paer-ji’ – in Hindi) who plays a dumb role in the ad that “To speak, no language is required”. “Now anyone can talk in any language”. Sounds silly...!! Interpreters of the world: have you heard this? Time to lose your jobs! Now using this mobile technology (?), every Indian can talk in English and those who wish to study overseas, need not take tests like TOEFL, IELTS, etc. Now anyone can easily talk in any language, for example, in Mandarin (Chinese), Japanese or Spanish. What an idea…! This could also facilitate to talk in and understand the languages of other vertebrates, such as birds and animals. Beware of Indians. They have made a remarkable progress in India and left the world behind...!

~Gunjan Gupta, Esq.