Begging & Payer's Dilemma!

Two parties. One transaction. Different levels of exchange. The world runs around this simple funda! Few examples: Ideal Business - mutually profitable with equal exchange. Donation & true love - Giving without expecting anything back. Greed - Expecting more than what you give. Stealing - Taking without the knowledge of the counter-party. Begging - Getting without any obligation!

Similar to Prisoner's dilemma, (With 2 players, optimal solution is possible with cooperation. But the players end-up with a sub-optimal solution due to lack of trust, since trying to cooperate when the other competes has higher penalty!) Payer's dilemma is a major issue - Yes, both might lead to suboptimal solutions.

Payer	Beggar
		No need to beg	Need to beg (and he begs!)
	Don’t pay	Ideal, if Beggar resolves not to beg	You didn’t help the needy!
	Pay	Laziness supported & beggar gets free lunch, if he decides to beg	Sub-optimal, but might be inevitable

The dilemma is to pay or not - by paying a beggar, am I helping him? Or is that I am promoting begging as a profession and impede his learning of any skill? It's a very tricky situation! But it's clear that begging is good for none: Beggar - no descent lifestyle, no sustained income, he doesn't develop any skill; Payer - Loses money without getting any service in return; Country - No net addition to the GDP. Hmmm.. Seems ideal to have no begging. Is it possible? If so, how? Will a ban on begging help? To answer these, we need to answer the very basic question - why does he beg?

People beg because of (i) Incapability - physical or mental (ii) Unemployment - Unfit for existing jobs or unavailability of jobs (iii) Laziness. [There is a fuzzy fourth category, predominantly that of monks who does it in the name of spirituality - Some genuine monks beg because working for a living is inferior to them; fake monks will come under the "laziness" category. This fourth category goes beyond the scope of this post!] Among these, lazy beggar is the troubled category - the payer's resolution is simple (it shouldn't be supported) but the solution is tough - You can take a horse to water, but never make it drink, esp when it has determined to not drink! Also, it's not possible to differentiate the beggars - lazy beggars hurt themselves or lie or put up a false image to earn people's sympathy. Yes, "information asymmetry" problem!

Looking at the reasons, two things become clear. First, a simple ban might not work - it might backfire with still worse consequences (a banned beggar may die / suicide or turn into a thief / anti-social element) and/or turn out to be ineffective (It would be a rule on paper like the prohibition of smoking in public in Chennai). Second, the beggar is not the sole reason for begging - the payer, the society and the government are all parties to it. Unless there is a concerted effort from all, it's tough to uproot begging.

I believe the begging problem can be reduced (if not eradicated) gradually in 2 stages (if not overnight):

1. FIRST, Slowly and gradually move the existing beggars away from begging pool
• Plan and create "Beggars Rehabilitation Program" with funding and support from Government, NGOs and Wealthy individuals (if required, add a new cess for income exceeding a certain limit). Register all the existing beggars in every town, city and village under this program
• Categorize the beggars - The "incapable" has to be sent to the corresponding NGO or Government sponsored helping homes; The "unemployed" should be arranged for skill-development programs; IT could be leveraged to create a database of these people and it would be an ideal CSR initiative for companies to employ people from this database. Lazy beggars should be given strict warning to not beg, else face severe punishments (Remember the Tamil movie Anniyan!)
• The program could also create centers in every town (similar to government departments or NGOs) - People who want to help the beggars should donate to the centers than directly to the beggars to avoid the "information asymmetry" problem.
  
2. SECOND, Stop the inflow of people into begging population
• This calls for bigger things - Efficient, Good & Incorrupt Government; Zero Child Labor; Marginally Low (Zero is bad for economy!) Unemployment
  
• Build / Improve homes for "incapable" category & "skill-development" centers
  
• Set a future date for complete elimination of begging
• Creation of Beggar's helpline - If you happen to see a new beggar, call them up!

All of these may seem ambitious, but where there is a will, there will be a way!

I am sure government officers, politicians, people dedicated to & socked in social service would have better information, context and ideas to make a beggar-free India than this computer-science & management graduate. I wish they come forward to make it a reality! :)

Force called 'Fear'

Utter Darkness. Bottomless Pit. Sky-high hill. Ultra-speed wind. Abyssal Ocean. Mysterious Sound. Poisonous Snake. Hungry Tiger. Angry Elephant. Man-eating Shark. Black Cat. Giving a Speech. Final Exam. Important Interview. Ghost. Skeleton. Blood. Death. List goes on! For human beings, the entity that unifies the list is "Fear" and its related cousins viz phobia, panic, scare, terror, guilt, paranoia, nightmares, anxiety & worry etc.

The list is understandable. But I was baffled by my friends' fear for getting into 3-ft H2O, jumping from 4 ft height, riding on 100cc bike at 60 kmph, climbing on a small rock, talking to a Prof & walking in darkness. "WTH", I thought. But my friend gave a profound statement - It's quite natural; everyone has his/her own customized list of fears and no fear is inferior or superior. Yes, it made sense and I tried to enumerate my list - Oops, quite a long one! (Let me not list them here to make you realize how stupid my fears could be!)

Three questions kept lingering in my mind: (1) What exactly is fear? (2) Can one be fearless? Rather, should one be fearless? (3) How to avoid unnecessary fear? Being an expert neither in Psychology nor in Physiology, I can't give a comprehensive scientifically-proven answer. Neverthless, I will make an attempt, since people keep saying "Don't fear" [Nice tamil quotes like - 'Anjathey', 'Accham Thavir', 'Accham illai, accham illai, accham enba-thillaieh; Uchi meethu vaan idinthu veezh-gindra pothilum accham illai', 'Accham enbathu madamaiyadaa, anjaamai dravidar udamaiadaa']

I would explore Fear in 2 different ways. First: fear spans past, present and future. Foundation of fear is PAST - We start developing fear out of our personal experience or what others tell us. That way, our society, upbringing, parents and friends play a major role in what we fear for. When your father keeps saying "Never climb rocks. You will slip down", you inherently develop a fear for rocks & heights. (Side Note: In Tamil movie "Thenali", the hero Kamal Hasaan has countless phobias thanks to his bad childhood experience) Going by this logic, fear is not completely natural to human beings. Fear is an experiential emotion in PRESENT - there are lots of physical & psychological changes that happen when we fear. Fear is associated with uncertainty about FUTURE. When there is certainty, there isn't any fear - A person sentenced to death knowing the exact date, time, place and the procedure of dying won't fear for death as much as a normal person. Second: Major stems of fear - (a) Fear of Death / physical discomfort (b) Fear of Rejection / Failure (c) Fear of losing one's respect / ego / identity (d) Fear of losing an external entity (e.g. loved ones, money, motor bike)

Like many others, fear is a double-edged sword. Being fearless is great, but it's stupidity to believe we shouldn't fear for everything. In one sense, fear stifles our improvement, fends off taking bold decisions, avoids changes & exploring new paths, obstructs stretching oneself. It eats away our productive time, brings in stress & tension, makes us poor-performers (esp. because of stress & tension). At times, it makes us behave unnaturally. On the other hand, fear drives away our laziness, makes us careful creatures & good future planners.

So, the key is to differentiate necessary & unnecessary fears. Fear of punishment (e.g. murder, robbery, copying in exams etc.) goes to "necessary" bucket i.e. always fear to do wrong. Clear "unnecessary" categories: things on which we don't have any control (e.g. earth would be hit by a meteor, germs in your just-cleaned hand etc); hiding our true personality (e.g. fear that someone will stamp us ignorant) - i.e. no need to fear for being natural & ourself; unproven & non-experiential stories (e.g. darkness, ghosts etc). [Just reminded of this: the phrase "God fearing" is an excellent selling point for Grooms in matrimonial advertisements. My belief: "fearing God" goes to the "unnecessary" category. Unless you experience , don't fear, instead pray Him out of Love, if you believe in God. Once you experience, it's your choice!] The problematic area is the gray section - E.g. Fear of exam is both good (makes you study at least 1 day before the exam) and bad (tension leading to poor performance!), Fear of death - Good (insurance for your dependents) & bad (Never makes one enjoy the exciting white water rafting, mountain climbing). In such cases, try to answer whether the fear helps or hinders the improvement / experience / enjoyment of self & others. To summarize, the litmus test to differentiate the fears - (a) Punishable? (b) Not controllable? (c) Being yourself? (d) Unproven & Not experienced? (e) Helps or Hinders?

Half the job is done with the differentiation. Nevertheless, the 2nd half is not that easy. Fear might emerge from our subconscious mind and hence simply telling ourself "don't fear! don't fear!!" at the surface level may not help. Head-on fight with the fear or denying the reality might not help. First, we need to be aware that we fear, observe the sensations because of fear. Few ways to tackle the fear: (a) From the PAST angle - awareness that fear is unnatural & is shaped by just our experience and that there are many other people who don't fear them; don't believe everything that we hear, read and see (b) From PRESENT - Engage in some activity that we like; Pass on the fear to someone else - God / Guru / Our loved ones / Our Higher self, if we believe any of them (c) From FUTURE view point - Big picture view - will my fear help in anyway to serve a higher purpose; Awareness that the uncertainty can't be ruled out because of our fear & that we can't take control of everything; Realize that it's just uncertainty, outcome is not yet known, one can worry if the outcome turns out to be negative instead of worrying about it even before it has happened. Another way is to understand the stem of fear and tackle it: (a) Death - everyone will die one day (b) Failure / Rejection - What's life without ups and downs - Trying & failing is a lot better (c) Ego - Better to be a known devil than an unknown god (d) Losing external entity - one doesn't even have complete control on oneself; Nothing is permanent in this world.

Yeah, similar to many of my earlier posts, all these methodologies seem simpler on paper, but it needs lots of effort and prudence to be fearless than being driven by the Force called Fear.

Hampi "Rocks"

With most of my trips in the past, I would be dead tired during the return journey. The last trip to Hampi has been an exemption - Felt rejuvenated after the trip. Yes, it's yet another enjoyable trip with lots of fun with friends, but the interaction with nature & historic ruins is different! The weather was just perfect - It started drizzling the moment we boarded the train and the nature continued its cool shower throughout the trip. The experience of lying on the rocks by the river side with mild drizzles, pleasant breeze, sun playing hide & seek with moving gray clouds and absolute silence except the occasional chirping of birds and the rhythmic flow of water in the near by river is something beyond comparison!

I can't do justice to the greatness of Hampi through this post, but still my 2 Paise. :) I was simply amazed by the countless number of temples built of gigantic stones with beautiful carvings & etchings. Most of the temples were missing the vigraha (the statue of the main god in the temple) & many other statues were beheaded - Yes, seems like the temples of Hampi, the capital of once prosperous Vijayanagar Kingdom were destroyed after the kingdom was captured by Muslim Sultans. These days, people don't give due spiritual significance to most of these ruined temples, since the main vigrahas are absent - Good in a sense that these are not crowded, the beauty is not destroyed in the name of rituals! We saw some temples being excavated and recreated. In fact it's not just temples, but the entire city from queens' bath to the elephant's stable to the bazaar to the tank to the palace seemed to have been built in stones with highly artistic sense.

Seems like Hampi is not yet exploited in the name of tourism - The ruined town still looks desolated without much crowd - but that's what makes it more exciting! You can be at peace with the nature and ruins - We didn't bother to visit all the places of historic significance, but wherever we went, we enjoyed spending hours in peace! Few places we enjoyed the max and you should never miss if you visit Hampi:

• Virupaksha Temple - The main temple near the bus stop & the Hampi Bazaar - [One of the very few monuments still regarded as temple by people. Tit bit: Don't be deceived by what's called the "inverted image" of gopura - it's just a painting in a dark enclave!]
  
• Hemakuta Hill - Series of structures built on a hill - Simply awesome to have a walk over the hill. You start from the sides of Virupaksha temple and end it near the monolithic Gorgeous & Gigantic Ganesha statue!
• Vittala Temple - Need to travel 12 KM from Hampi centre. It turned out to be my favorite monument in Hampi - esp. the stone chariot and the astonishing stone pillars used to make musical tones.
  
• Palace & the Mint - Don't expect a leela palace here, there are just remains of the place. Also, I believe they are just rebuilt from the excavations. It takes 10 mins to just travel the entire area by bicycle.
• Dibba - Center of attraction of the royal enclosure, a tall pyramidal structure (Top portion seems to be missing & one climb to the top!) - Gives an amazing view of the surrounding enclosure
• Tungabatra River - One can reach the river either from Rama temple or Purandaradas Mundapa (near Vittala Temple) - The river was just pleasant when we visited, neither gushing nor dry. Coracle ride and river side walk are never to be missed!
  
• Mango Tree Restaurant - The only restaurant that we liked in Hampi. It gives a panoramic view of the river and you get to eat under a mango tree with nature's intimacy!
  

Hampi may not sound exotic for people who don't have a flair for history or monuments. But it's not case - Apart from the river side walk, coracle ride & bouldering opportunities, one can't escape falling in love with Hampi's rocks & ruined creations from stones! Yes, Hampi rocks!!

One should definitely experience Hampi at least once in life!

Mobile Business

As of Sep 2007, there are 210mn mobile subscribers in India and is expected to go up by 300mn by 2008, which translates to 25-30% mobile penetration - pretty impressive for a once-termed "poor country". From a school student (Knowledge Management, Strategic Planning for homework) to auto-walas (Customer Relationship Management) to street-shop-vendors (Supply Chain Management), mobile is a big boon - It has fundamentally changed the way certain people do business!

Wait.. the post is not about mobile phones, rather about interesting "mobile business" in the world's largest Railways network - Yes, within moving, day trains of Indian Railways. Yeah, they offer various categories of products: (a) Eatables (Major chunk!) - full-time food, beverages, snacks, fruits; (b) Entertainment / play items targeting children; (c) Personal care - Flowers (yes, women in south India like to get down from train fresh with flowers), (d) Fancy products like bangles, ear-rings, key chains etc; (e)Education / Recreation - Books, newspaper, magazines; (f) Textiles.

Apart from food, all the other categories are sold by hawkers. Selling process is heavily dependent on the impulsive buying behavior. Here is a sample: books by small local publishers (printed in cheap paper, priced Rs. 10-20, with attractive titles for a typical middle class) and pirated DVDs - the selling process is quite interesting - Seller brings a bundle of products & hand it over to you saying you don't need to buy but can just flip through them. Three problems with these businesses: (1) Unlawful, since no permission from Railways (2) Disturbance to travelers (3) some are sub-quality products. The other side of story is different: it's rice & rasam for poor fellows doing these businesses; good & useful time-pass for travelers (esp. for the Indian middle class which doesn't spend much time on shopping! - But metro women are fast catching up with people abroad!!). So, rather than banning them altogether, Railways can promote them after carefully eliminating the problems.

So, here are few suggestions:

Simple:

• IRCTC has done a wonderful job w.r.t. food - they can extend it to other categories
  
• Strict rules to prohibit the sale of unlawful products like pirated DVDs, books etc
  
• Provide movable trolleys for the sellers
• Have big TVs similar to buses
• License to sellers of different product categories
• Sell those frequently used in trains - locks, chain, tooth brush, playing cards etc
  

Ambitious:

• Dedicate a coach or a part of it as "Mobile Shopping" - Have mini-shops as in exhibition - People can walk in for shopping during travel
  
• "Movie Theater Coach" - Designate and design a coach as theater running multiple shows per day - People can get tickets for the latest movie shown in the mobile theater
  
• Short education / training / seminar sessions - e.g. cooking, oil painting, basic computer, spoken english, personality development, yoga, meditation, dance, table etiquette, vedic mathematics, abacus
  
• Mobile Restaurant
• Aquarium, museum, gaming zones etc
• Library / Reading room / Book shop
• Recreation hall with chess and other board games
• Spa / Massage, beauty parlor
  

Yeah, all these sound exciting, but economic viability & customer interest are questionable and hence needs a more thorough analysis. Even more pertinent question to ask is "will Railways be able to implement and maintain them well?" [We all know of one service which is maintained very badly in every coach! ;)]

All these are fine and might get implemented in future, but one should never miss the beauty of country side and the fun of watching innumerable interesting things sitting in a moving train! :)


PS: Shall explore business opportunities in stations/platforms in a different post!

e-motion

Hmm.. 3 months break! Plan for roaming, traveling, catching up with friends, doing something useful.. Oops, still left with free time. Ok, resort to Blogging! Decided the following guidelines for blogging (a) Regular, frequent, crispy posts (b) Avoid non-sense just for the sake of humor (c) Try some thought-provoking-stuff. Here goes the first!

There was a time when "e-" was prefixed to every damn thing to signify the usage of internet: e-business, e-tail, e-ticket, e-commerce e-tc. But there is word to which 'e-' was added long before internet was known. It's e-motion - the motion has nothing to do with internet nor is this way of splitting right. Ok, with that intro, let me get into the actual post!

My PG farewell hasn't been as senti as UG's. I told myself I am more matured & less emotional now - esp. accepting that changes are part of life. But... Recently visited CEG, my UG college - went alone since it was a weekday (office time for friends!). After meeting my favorite profs, spent 1-2 hrs roaming in the campus. It is tough to explain how I felt - something within me seemed to resonate with the buildings, class rooms, trees & hostels; heart felt a little heavy; preferred walking slower (and sit at every place); had a feeling of having left something. Hmm.. So, it has probably to do with the impact that the place has created than the change in myself.

Many a times, I used to think that being emotional is a sign of weakness - We tend to lose the true picture, get driven by impulse from inside - makes us more dependent on outside entities - brings to us sadness, disappointment & frustrations when expectations are not met. Does that mean being senti is all bad? No is the obvious answer - Without emotions, life will be robotic, dull, boring and without any force. Shouldn't force-ful life be a sign of strength and not weakness? Also, emotional drive might work better than rational drive in certain cases (e.g. Gandhi Vs Hitler?). Most of the Entrepreneurs and many of the high-achievers are driven by emotion. So, it's easy to derive that one needs to balance emotional and rational drive, but implementation is not that easy. It needs prudence, real wisdom, full consciousness of onself & everything around us - Will post an entry, if I invent a formula for balancing! :)