A Train Seen from the Twelfth Floor

Jaron Lanier on Anonymity on Blog Forums. A Blogger's Code of Conduct Coming?

Always been a great fan of Jaron Lanier, the internet guru and evangelist, and general web supremo. So we were interested to read the following about anonymity on blog forums, in a discussion with Tim O'Reilley, he of the Blogger's Code of Conduct Fame.

"People who can spontaneously invent a pseudonym in order to post a comment on a blog or on YouTube are often remarkably mean. Buyers and sellers on eBay are usually civil, despite occasional annoyances like fraud. Based on those data you could propose that transient anonymity coupled with a lack of consequences is what brings out online idiocy. With more data, the hypothesis can be refined. Participants in Second Life (a virtual online world) are not as mean to each other as people posting comments to Slashdot (a popular technology news site) or engaging in edit wars on Wikipedia, even though all use persistent pseudonyms. I think the difference is that on Second Life the pseudonymous personality itself is highly valuable and requires a lot of work to create. So a better portrait of the culprit is effortless, consequence-free, transient anonymity in the service of a goal, like promoting a point of view, that stands entirely apart from one’s identity or personality. Call it drive-by anonymity."

"Anonymity certainly has a place, but that place needs to be designed carefully. Voting and peer review are pre-Internet examples of beneficial anonymity. Sometimes it is desirable for people to be free of fear of reprisal or stigma in order to invoke honest opinions. But, as I have argued (in my November 2006 column), anonymous groups of people should be given only specific questions to answer, questions no more complicated than voting yes or no or setting a price for a product. To have a substantial exchange, you need to be fully present. That is why facing one’s accuser is a fundamental right of the accused."

Interesting! So we are learning. We also learn that the best way to counter ad-hominem (attacks to one's personality) is to ignore the attack. Considering we had our share of abusive comments on this and several other blogging and literary forums, we are really wondering when the "Blogger's Code of Conduct" will become final, so we can whack our online critics' backs with it.

Anthonybhai rarely, if ever, uses the net. When we approach him for a quote his response is, why do it anonymously when you can do it in person, drag him by the collar, give him two dishum, dishum, to his stomach and then break his leg. But then, if the Internet has to grow as a medium (which we strongly believe it can) we need to keep it clean of the detritus that clutters our "in person" lives.

These Are the Seats on which We sit

The sagging seats in the First Class compartment of Central Railway trains on Harbour Branch. My book just sank in, and if I sit in the pits where my book now sits, I will be rewarded with a backache for the rest of my day.

Our this blogpost and the subsequent letter to Lalloo Yadav did receive one reply, i.e., from the Western Railway. I will scan and post the reply here sometime. The Dy. Chief Engineer (EMU) has replied with a detailed list of activities the Western Railway has been doing including:

1. Seats maintained every 21 days. Seat found defective due to opening of stitches, thread, torn rexine ect. are removed from the coach and suitably provided with rubberized coir cushions.

2. Doors are repaired for corrosion, roller assembly are replaced if found worn beyond 3 mm. All moving parts are greased before fitting them back on the door.

3. Window. There is a plan to replace aluminium windows by FRP unbreakable windows with the added advantage of lighter weight and lesser maintenance.

4. Lights/Fans: 100 per cent functioning of lights and fans is ensured by bearing change, commutator profiling, testing each fan on the test panel before fitting it back on the coach.

The letter ends with, "While all efforts are being made to maintain passenger amenity items in the overaged fleet of Western Railway, better amenities have been designed and provided in the newly introduced Siemens AC/DC rakes."

Good show Western Railway! We appreciate your reply.

However, Central Railway on which we are traveling right now has been lax in its reply. We haven't received your reply Central Railway, so please hurry up. Do you see the kind of seats on which we sit (if not, see picture)?

Why the Markets Fell, and Dampened Our Diwali

Santosh Desai in his article in today's Times of India raises a few issues that, we feel, need wider coverage, to see at least how many others think and feel like him. We for our part agree with him to some extent.

In India regulators have become some sort of accomplices. You see this rampantly in every aspect of life. From the traffic cop who accepts a bribe to a babu who accepts gifts all are compromising their positions, and diluting the structure of our democratic institutions.

We cheered, we are ashamed to say this, when they said that out of the top ten richest, four are Indians. How did they get this wealth. One such richest men is building a 27 storey building for his residence which will have six floors to park his cars. But we didn't cheer when they said thousands committed suicide because of inability to pay off loans. Take the following as an example:

"The Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute released its report "The World's Most Deprived: Characteristics and Causes of Extreme Poverty and Hunger" on 6th Nov 07. The Institute devised the global hunger index (GHI) as a measure of poverty & hunger in a country. This report is the first of its kind to use household survey data to look at those living below the one-dollar-a- day line. The index is designed to capture three dimensions of hunger: lack of economic access to food, shortfalls in the nutritional status of children, and child mortality, which is largely attributable to malnutrition. Some of the rankings among 119 poorest nations:

47 China
68 Myanmar
69 Sri Lanka
88 Pakistan
92 Nepal
96 India

Mauritius is among the top 20 of least hungry countries." I took this from a Google Group called Kerala farmers, because news like this is hard to find in print or online."

And in India, self-regulation is a farce. I know because I headed an industry association that had the hallowed view that self-regulation was better than government regulation and the association made rules with loopholes so big that even an elepahant of infringement could saunter through it without any problem.

Today Is Dhanteras, First Day of Diwali!

Diwali is here, but in a muted sense, today being Dhanteras, the worshipping of "dhan" meaning money and the buying of gold, silver, and precious metals. No deafening crackers that would shatter the ear, less colour, less parading of finery. Let's learn to be subdued. The market fell another 1000 points on friday, and we said "Oh, God, not again!"

There's a saying in the Bible, "Who lives by the sword, dies by the sword." The same goes to speculation, we guess. "Who lives by speculation, dies by speculation." The market was bloating like the mid-region of a properperous shetji these past few months and when time came to deflate the bowels with a well-deserved enema, all the shit came out.

Our wealth enjoying brother Dhansukhbhai is sad on Dhanteras. I say, "Kem cho bhai," and he doesn't even look up. Usually he is driven in his Toyota lexus to office, but today he is commuting by the humble local train. He can't afford a driver anymore, and is cutting costs.

"Bajar ma mandi che, thame nathi khabhar?" There's a depression in the market, don't you know. "But," we say, "You are responsible, no? The market moves in cycles of highs and lows, and you people mopped up the funds of a lot of people who lost during the lows, isn't that right?"

We notice the bags under his eyes, his hunched shoulders, his drooping lips, a picture of lonely agony, but his talk is bullish about the future. "I am saving every penny these days. Getting rid of bad stocks and buying only blue chips. You see, with reliance down to 1200 or so, I would definitely buy some more.

Guess he is right. Wasn't it Warren Buffet who said, "When the market is high be concerned and sell, and when the market is down, be happy and buy." Well, not his exact words, but something to that effect.

Happy Diwali, Dhansukhbhai!

Driving Crazy in Delhi

If you haven't seen the way Delhiites drive, you haven't seen driving! Honest, they are like Formula 1 drivers, minus the helmets and suits, of course. Such aggression, such use of the senses, such reflexes, such energy, such anxiety to get home to loved ones and have a jalebi, laddoo, chas, lassi, tandoori chicken, or, sarson ka saag and makki di roti with them. So we were pleasantly surprised when we read the following article in Time Out .


"Tom Vanderbilt started out with a simple objective: he “wanted to hear what traffic has to say”. He realised that when drivers get on the road, “we are navigating through a legal system, we are becoming social actors in a spontaneous setting, we are processing a bewildering amount of information, we are constantly making predictions and calculations and on-the-fly judgements of risk and reward, and we are engaging in a huge amount of sensory and cognitive activity.” The way we drive not only reflects our personalities but is also a function of our cultural heritage, Vanderbilt contends. Read the full article."

Colaba, in the Night!

Colaba enchanting, alluring, vibrant, like a teenager's heart beating in the breast of a distinguished old lady

Ages, probably, aeons ago, we used to work in Colaba. Went there to get our watch repaired at the Titan showroom at Hamilton House yesterday and was surprised at how Colaba had changed and, well, um, hadn't changed. (Y'know, the more things change, the more they remain the same... and all that....) The owner of the Udupi restaurant, the poky one next to Delhi Durbar, recognised me. Said hello! Then walked down the road a bit to Esperanca and Eucharistic Congress Building, and Cusrow Baug. Esperanca (pronounced Esperansa), meaning beauty or something in Portuguese, is still the serene, majestic building towering over the entire area (except Taj Mahal Hotel, perhaps), and it had the same majestic aura of Catholic solemnity and sanctimoniousness about it. When I come to Cusrow Baug there are many pretty Parsi girls and their boyfriends, bargaining with trinket vendors. I know they are Parsi by the way they talk the particular Parsi patois. I worked here for nearly 10 years, loved this area, and still do. It was here my then boss used to live, I mean Esperanca, and a visit to his flat on the fifth floow was something like visiting the King or Queen. Made me long for those halcyon days.

Back in those days, after lunch, I would go for a walk in the afternoon to friend Mani's bookstall above (see the books neatly arranged on the left), to ogle at the books and buy them, this when our salary was around Rs 800 a month, a princely sum in those days. Then I would buy an evening paper - a copy of Mid-Day - at Arjun Singh's newspaper stall outside Cafe Mondegar. Mani has done well, and has since started Searchword nearby and as for the one-eyed Arjun Singh, I don't know where he is. In the area pictured above is the former bookstall owned by Mani, and in front of it are the Malayali trinket vendors offering chains in beads, precious stones, leather belts, amulets, rings, all in an array of outre styles and designs, and we loved to just stand and stare at them (mind you, not buy them, for we were a bit shy of these things). But all those vendors from the Malabar were my friends, but no one remains. Wonder where they have gone. Maybe, back to Kerala or to the Gulf to run small restaurants and food catering businesses.

Then we used to visit Nalanda in the Taj Mahal Hotel, and was a bit apprehensive that we would be turned out in this hallowed precint. But we weren't even once questioned in the Taj Mahal, that last bastion on good manners, good food, and good living. We would go through the fantastic collection of books from everywhere in the cool environs of Nalanda, books of all colours, subjects, sizes, and surprise, surprise, they also sold comics and Bibles!

That was Colaba, once, mesmerising, captivating, beautiful, vibrant as only Colaba could be. And we found out yesterday, it still is.

Diwali Is Here!

Aruna Roy: Using RTI to Get Justice

Citizens for Peace has been doing excellent work to promote peace, understanding, a ray of hope in the murky world of communalism, sloganeering, vocalism, and violence. In this article below Aruna Roy, Magsaysay Award winner talks about how the aggrieved in Gujarat used the Rights to Information Act (RTI) to get the police to treat them with respect. Seems to us, poor defenseless people that we are, RTI is the only stick that a belegured public can wield against those in power who manipulate it for their own ends and reasons. Excerpts:

"Kuldip Nayyar would probably have been quite encouraged if he had heard some of the presentations made by people during the course of the day at the same meeting. Presenting a well researched and documented report of the Nyayahgrah programme in Gujarat, Surur Mander spoke about the use of the RTI by victims of the Gujarat riots. They had embarked on a mission to seek justice with a firm resolve to not resort to unethical or violent means. For pursuing the legal cases, information was a vital prerequisite. Initially, their sense of hopelessness with the criminal justice system was only getting compounded, as their requests for information were rudely turned down, and they were turned out of the police stations they went to.

"Their use of RTI soon after the Act was passed however, brought about a dramatic change. Not only were their questions being answered for the first time, but suddenly they were being treated with dignity in the very offices that had aligned themselves with their tormentors. They were now being asked to sit down, offered a cup of tea, and being treated as respectable citizens. Even more significant was the change in the powerlessness. Police officers even agreed to face political pressure and arrest the powerful communal leaders they had been reluctant to, with the request that the related RTI applications be withdrawn. Over 200 people in Nyayagraha have through peaceful persistence procured information from the police, and put the truth in the public domain. Read the full article here.

Good work Citizens for Peace. We applaud your efforts!

Who Will Speak for Us Mallus?

Woke up this morning only to see that three-wheeled autorickshaw, our choice of transport, had kept off the roads. Oh, hadn’t they struck work only last week. Why again? What’s wrong with these rickshaw drivers? Oh, ho, then we receive a call from colleague Harjinder who says that Raj Thackeray the politician has been arrested and there’s unrest in the city. So we go back home. Things could take an ugly turn, so am not going to risk it. Another day lost.

As we write it this there are images on television and talk of Raj’s arrest. There are those images that are put on some kind of loop, again and again we see a woman in dark glasses and confident mien being shown entering a court with a man in a black coat, obviously a lawyer, a man asking a policewoman something, and then the policewoman pointing to something, or some place, and the man walking away, and a lot of hands being raised, waving, shouting something, and the people assembled there are smiling, arguing, shouting, waving flags, there seems to be a lot of screaming into cameras, as a lot of cameras are held upright above the head. And look, there is a cameraman climbing on the shoulders of his colleague to get a better shot.

And it happens. What is called a “lathi charge.” A lathi is a staff carried by the policemen in India and when they charge and beat up demonstrators with that stick, it is called a “lathi charge,” a mild one this time. Mild, because they can be ruthless at times, too. If you ask us we have never seen a “lathi charge” and are amazed the able way our corpulent cops can wield the stick, so lustily they beats them up. Yeah, they are efficient, at least, in this activity. Y’know beating up people comes easy because you can vent all that pent up anger.

Our friend Anthonybhai has a different take: Men, these are people whose pride has been hurt, whose rights have been taken away, deprived, men, by the migrants to the city from far away. We ask: but why the wanton destruction of property? Wasn’t passive resistance the Gandhian method of protest? Gandhi didn’t ask his followers to break glass or blacken people’s faces. Our other wealth-enjoying-brother Dhansukhbhai is fearful, after all he was also under the weather recently for not displaying the name of his company in his posh Nariman Point office in the local script. A mob entered his office and blackened his face. “No comment,” was his reaction. But then he calls me up in the evening and says, “I don’t think I should be saying this, but don’t quote me.” We say, no, we are only citizen journalists, nobody takes us seriously. “Pachi, these regional parties, no, I somehow have a bad feeling about them. Baddu, baddu, gana, gana, che. Raj talks about the right of Maharashtrians, and Lalloo talks about the right of Biharis. Who will talk about the rights of us Gujaratis?”

He is right. Who, for that matter, will speak for the rights of a Mack-English speaking Goan like Anthonybhai? Who will speak for us Mallus?

And here we would like to introduce our new character Poovannamnilkunnathil (it simply mean 'House were the Poovannam tree stands') Mathaichettan. No, don't try to pronounce the first word, you will find it impossible, on your uninitiated tongue, and send Mathaichettan into a tizzy about "ignorant", "arrant" "uninitiated" bourgeoise customs. Just call this president of the local Kairali Association as Mathaichettan, meaning elder brother Mathai (which is the Malayalam equivalent of Matthew). His face quivers with indignation when we ask him for a quote for our blog.

"It's alright for people to fight along regional, er, er, caste-based, er, er, language-based political lines. But according to God and Karl Marx we were all created equal, can't you see," says this god-fearing believer in class struggle.