Risk sharing with Doctors

A thought just struck me. There are a few facts in India:

1. A large part of a doctor's work is in diagnosis.
2. Doctor diagnosis is of two types:
a) The Doctor's analysis of the patients reports.
b) The Doctor's perception of the patient's pain and the affected areas from the patient interaction
3. We have an acute shortage of doctors in this country.

As a solution, most technologists recommend that the patient Video Conferences with the doctor, and emails down all reports to the doctor.

Instead of that, how would it be if the doctor could be made to "feel the pain" of the patient, by some kind of replication of the stress on the brain/spine? I mean, temporarily. This way, we can also ensure high quality in the doctor's diagnosis, because he is now responsible for his own feelings.

My point is this: When a doctor consults, he is doing a risk-free business. No-one can hold him responsible for his failures. I think this is plain bad consulting. Its like the McKinsey who told Rahul Bajaj not to launch Bajaj Pulsar, or AT Kearney who told Jagdish Khattar that they should get out of the small car business by 2002, or the famous McKinsey recommendation to Tata Steel that they should get out of the steel business by 2000, as the prices are going to go down on a spiral. As we all know, Tata Steel is on the verge of becoming the fifth largest steel producer in the world.

I think its a basic rule of consulting. IBM often gets into a profit sharing agreement with a client. If they believe that their solution is going to give savings of 10% of operating costs to the client, their payment for the deal could be half of that savings (apart from a fixed payment). That way, the consulting outfit knows that they cannot walk out with a paper deliverable. A consulting assignment is more about the paper. Its about the change management, the implementation, and the sustainability of the assignment.

Then why should the doctors get away by talking through their hats and giving any recommendation they want. They need to share the risk, either mentally or monetarily.

For example, you could say, that hospitals could integrate with Health Insurance companies. This means that if the doctor does not take care of the patient, and provide him the most cost effective solution, the attached health insurance company would suffer. This would put a driver on the doctor to keep the costs down, hence reducing the risk factor, reducing the premium for users, and making it a win-win situation for all.

Have you ever...

Have you ever smelt the fresh November evening air?

I know you've been out at night, but have you actually taken time out to smell the air?

Have you ever felt good about yourself for simple gifts that others might die for?
How many times have you complained about an unfulfilling job or no love in your life?
Have you ever looked at your hands and your legs, and felt good about them?
Have you ever stepped out of your house at night, looked up at a star studded night, and taken a deep breath and felt yourself becoming a part of the universe?
Have you ever then looked at yourself, and felt good about the blood surging in your veins?
Have you ever loved, because you have felt like loving, and not because you expected anything in return?

Sometimes there are such simple things we could be grateful about, but we choose to complain about the inconsequential.

The new age "Hospitals"

After a completely shielded childhood, I first walked into a hospital unaccompanied a few days back, to diagnose a swelling in my leg. I was in this super hospital called Paras Hospitals in Gurgaon. I didnt understand why a single hospital was called "Hospitals". I decided to put my logic in the back seat, and walked in, and I was taken in by the swanky look of the place. For one, I could not smell "the hospital smell".

I found this dude in suit and tie, so I walk up to him and ask for Dr. PC, the guy I had been referred to. He told me to go fill up two forms, and pay for consultation. I was reminded of Munnabhai, as I limped to the counter to fill the forms. The lady misspelt my name twice, and made me pay in cash before meeting this doctor. I then walked in, and I found Dr. PC was the same suited guy I had seen near the reception. I began thinking it was some elaborate plot and I was the Bond in the scene, but I trusted him anyway. He seemed in a terrible hurry.

He took one look at it, and told me that it was a fracture. I marvelled at his phenomenal capabilities, and could see my consultation fees evaporate. "So, doctor, don't you think we need an xray?"
"yes yes, xray xray. Good good. Come with me.", he muttered excitedly and looked at his watch.
He hurried down the hall, as I limped behind him. Somewhere along the way, I was intercepted by a wheelchair wielding male nurse (!!) and I raced along with him. On the way, I spotted a former Cabinet minister who clearly wears a wig in all public appearances.

I reached the XRay room, and stepped in. The enormity of the equipment took me by surprise. I saw computers and smartly clad male nurses (What is with male nurses anyway?) I was re-assured that the male nurse was a malayali, as are 89.9% of all nurses worldwide.

In a tearing hurry, I was put on the seat. A blinding light later, my leg was being evaluated. I looked at the xray. New age technology ensured that my doctor was looking at my leg in a computer, in different angles. I could see my bones, and some flesh around it. It reminded me of chicken fry. I became hungry.

Dr. PC, in his furious pace to find a ruptured bone somewhere, muttered under his breath and showed me what was clearly a scratch on the screen. He told me it was the sacrimento bone fracture (or something like that), and I needed a plaster cast for a month. I asked the male nurse for a copy of my XRay. He told me that I would get a copy only after I cleared the bill. I told him to keep it, with my best compliments to him and his family.

Meanwhile, I raced behind the doctor on my wheelchair to the room where he was to put a plaster cast on my leg. He was mumbling to himself continuously, and when we reached the room, told me to hold my leg out at 5 degrees to the horizontal. I asked him for a protactor. He didn't find it funny.

He took out a blue plaster and got to work on my foot. I asked him why we were not using plaster-of-paris. "The days of Plaster of Paris are over", he remarked with a flourish, and an intelligent smile. I really enjoyed the humor, and smiled, relaxing for the first time. I then happened to chance upon the price of the blue plaster on the packaging. I froze.

I then tried convincing the doctor that Plaster of Paris would be an ideal choice in my condition, as the sacrimento bone would be better placed that way. It didn't work. It was too late. My leg was plastered.

It was then time for my tearful farewell with Dr. PC and my money. Apparently, they didn't even accept Sodexho coupons. Five minutes later, I had paid the bills, prayed that my insurance would pick it up, and was standing outside the hospital waiting for the car.

The tryst with modern day hospitals was over, and I was on my way to recovery. Atleast, thats what Dr. PC said before rushing off.

Guruji: The "Indian" Search Engine

Whenever I see an Indian based internet offering, I start wondering how they can compete with the global offerings. For example, when I was involved in an Indian social networking service at an early stage, my role kept giving them ideas to customise the offering for a target segment. I strongly believed that there was room to add considerable value if the offering was customised completely.

This brings me to my query: How does Guruji add value? Guruji, as you already know, is India's customised search engine. As you would know from the Baidu phenomenon in China, there seemed to be a place for customised search engines. But Baidu was Chinese! And the whole of China loved the service, because it was in Chinese, and the Chinese predominently don't speak english.

When Guruji came up, I always wondered how they can have an English domestic search engine, and compete with the big G (Google, for dummies). I looked up the website for some answers. This is what I found:

Why should you use Guruji Search?

Guruji's content is India specific and it allows you to search for any information on the web, like company websites, reviews, blogs, job sites, matrimonial sites, etc. For example, you can try searching for songs or movies in the India search and Guruji provides sites which have content related to Indian movies and songs, whereas other popular search engines show results from all over the world. Any query on Guruji search happens in the "Indian" context and you do not need to add the keyword "India" to your search.

If you are looking for anything related to India, Guruji search is your best bet !!

Now, I have three questions:
1. If the only value that Guruji does is to add "India" and search, then why can't I do that at Google?
2. Also, why does Guruji need any hardware and software? Why can't they just design a meta search, such that, if someone searches for Shravan in google, the following search string is generated: http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=shravan&meta=
Now, if I owned an Indian search engine, and someone searched for Shravan, would I just not run a google search in the background by putting this string (Shravan India) into the search box: http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=shravan+india&meta=, bringing the results in XML, and styling it as per our requirements on our guruji page and displaying it. Who would ever know?
3. How does it define "Indian"? For example, I blog about the American stance on Iraq, is that an Indian blogpost because its written by me? Or is it American because its about America?

I also hear Guruji has a City search feature. Again. If it follows the same rules of searching (crawlers, which google does anyway), then what value is it adding?

Basically, all that I know of the site is that its heavily hyped as the "next big thing", has a team from "India's premier engineering colleges" like IIT and IISc, and so on.

I don't see what the big deal is. I'm hoping someone will help me understand.

God's debris

Often in my life, people come to me with the complaint that their work is not satisfying enough and they have too much free time on their hands.

I point them to this link. Its an ebook by Scott Adams (The Dilbert guy). Don't worry, its free. You know me. I wouldn't pay for a book even if it was the Letters to the Penthouse.

I read this book many months ago, when I was doing nothing in life. It altered my thinking so fundamentally, and I began a theory about the existence of god. I do not believe that god exists. Yet, I do not believe that Scott Adams is entirely right. But the book is heavily inspired by Hindu concepts, and explains the concept of religion better than I've read in most places. If you feel like it, please email me some other free or pirated e-books on religion. I love watching them being taken apart.

Eserve is now citigroup global services

Have you watched the new advertisement about eserve being renamed as Citigroup Global services?

It is so bad, so bad, that people just need to talk about it!

And I think that's brilliant! If you need to advertise, there are two ways to do it. One way is to make the sexiest advertisement anyone has ever seen. Or the funniest ad ever. Or the most picturesque ad ever. Everyone will want to talk about it. Like the recent Xbox advertisement featured on this blog. But the second way is to make an advertisement that's so bad, so audaciously bad, that people will need to talk about it. People will want to complain about it. But not ever advertisement is talkable-bad. Only some of them are. I get the feeling that this advertisement was made to be the worst form of creativity in the history of Indian television. I find that very fascinating.

Another example: The historic Apple Superbowl Advertisement made in 1984, to launch the Macintosh. Mindblowing stuff.

Hope

Yesterday, the Indian cricket team was bowled out for 91 runs. We lost by 157 runs to the South Africans. No Indian batsman could stand up to the might of the Safs. Kallis alone scored about twenty runs more than the entire Indian team.

Every media channel is taking the team apart for its poor performance. It has not defended a single aspect of the Indian team's game. It is, however, completely expected. We have never tolerated our failures, although we know full well that we are nowhere close to being world beaters. Would South Africa play as well if they were put on the spinning Chennai track? I don't think so.

I speak not as an Indian. I speak not as an Indian cricket fan. I speak purely as a human being. Nobody deserves to be taken apart the way these boys have been. So they didn't play well, they lost. So they're sportsmen, like I am a consultant and you are, well, what you are. Just because they are bad at their profession, does not mean they should be taken apart in such a violent manner. It hurts to see that the media can behave so insensitively towards a group of people they had hailed sky high just a few months back.

Fightbacks have taken place in the world before. But this team needs to show the world that they have a spine. They need to sit across a table, and tell each other that they could die in the field, but they will not bend to a bouncer. They must tell each other that they could break their back, but they will not bowl at less than 140 kmph. They should break a kneecap, but not let the ball go beyond the boundary.

This country does not deserve heroes. Because everyone has bad days. If you can take the great times, you must have the muscle to take the bad days.

Good luck team India. Just show us you have a spine. Thats all we need.

On a break?

So Im down with a fracture in the ankle.

And I can't go to office. So I work from home, online.

So after a heavy lunch, I usually go and sleep for two hours.

Interestingly, I still manage to finish all my work by 7 PM.

Now what does that tell me about my normal work-efficiency?

Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Awards

I have a message for you from the Manjunath Shanmugam trust.

On November 19, 2006 Manjunath's first death anniversary the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust has undertaken following initiatives:

1) Launch of a national helpline that will help people across the country in using the Right To Information Act. (9250-400-100)

2) Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award.

The objective of Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award is to honour and encourage person/s or institutions who are working to uphold the values of truth and honesty in the Indian public life. We are looking at deserving candidates who have reported and actively rectified/have worked to rectify corrupt practices in government, public or corporate life.

The nominees will be evaluated on the basis of

1. Gravity of the situation and its impact
2. Corrective action undertaken , not merely reporting the situation
3.Extent of difficulty faced by nominee in correcting the situation

The valid entries will be assessed by a panel of distinguished jurors, drawn from the corporate sector as well as public life.

Nominations will be accepted from 19th November, with details and form available on the MST's website www.manjunathshanmugamtrust.org. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs. One Lakh.

You can help us by nominating a deserving person. If you wish to nominate someone, pleasedownload the nomination form and send it to us at the address mentioned. You can also spread the word around through your emails/blogs.

We wish to make this annual award a success, and encourage more people/institutions to work to improve Indian public life.


H.Jaishankar
IIMB ('91)
Trustee
Manjunath Shanmugam Trust
www.manjunathshanmugamtrust.org

Bikhchandani strikes gold

A friend sent me this. Sanjiv Bikhchandani is richer by 722 crores after the IPO. To my knowledge, the first Web 2.0 millionaire in India.

I first remember Sanjiv Bikhchandani from a year back, at IIML, when I was coordinating a talk with students. After the talk, we were getting some gyaan from him regarding making a dotcom. His words were impressive. "The moment you realise that e-commerce is more about commerce than it is about the e, you've made it."

At some level, it is true. Sanjiv Bikhchandani started his jobsite at a time when the dotcom boom was going on. Unfortunately, just after their first round of funding, the market sank, and the website became a no-word in the industry. But Naukri was not a dotcom. It was a job service, and the internet was just a medium making it much simpler to use. The service was of focus, not the medium. Therefore, Naukri survived the bust, and went on to be India's number one job service. In fact, it is said that Jobsahead always was technically better than naukri, but naukri always ended up as a better adopter and implementor. It remained number 1. Soon after, Monster entered India, and bought out jobsahead. Soon, it was India's number 1 against the world's number 1. But they still held on.

A jobsite has a only three USPs:
1. Its members, who are its core strength
2. Its network in the industry
3. Its technology

The network of Monster would always have been superior to naukri, purely due to reach. However, its members, the job-seekers, had already chosen Naukri. That first mover advantage was destined to make Sanjiv India's dotcom badsha.

Very soon, Naukri had begun diversifying. They came up with www.99acres.com , India's first dotcom real-estate site. This was their way of tapping into allied businesses. For example, their corporate network could come in handy while diversifying.

However, I always disagreed with this tactic. I always felt that naukri was a market leader, not naukri.com. In Sanjiv's own words, the .com was the medium, not the company. They should have diversified into the offline space. Of course, they have an offline executive job search, but thats really not enough. I believe Naukri should consider moving downstream. By conducting quality checks of candidates, maybe an entrance exam that could qualify them for certain jobs, etc. However, Sanjiv told me that they had no intentions of moving out of the online space.

I found that strange, and I shall always hope that naukri moves beyond the dotcom. Because the future does not belong to the medium. The future belongs to the service. This is true for Naukri, as it is true for any other dotcom.

You know the economy is going down when...

Startup dotcoms start advertising on the television.

You can spot it increasingly these days. Dotcoms are increasingly advertising on television. I think this is a sure sign that the economy is about to get overheated. Here's why:

A dotcom doesn't require much money to get started. Thats because their product is often very simply made on someone's home computer. And the medium of distribution is almost free (the internet). So they need nothing to get going. When they begin advertising immediately, it means that some VC has put his/her money behind them. Now if a VC allows a product to advertise on television without having any proof about the possible success of the company, no initial success, etc. then you know that there are many high risk ventures being floated around. There are many potential bad investments in the market. Thats my indication to pull out of the market.

This does not mean that the bubble is going to burst and the economy is going to crash. It just means that it might not grow as explosively as people might expect it to from now onwards.

I hope I'm wrong.

Abhishek Bachchan and the Yash connection

First, Abhishek Bachchan plays the lead in the Yashraj movie "Bunty aur Babli". Then, of course, in the eye of the storm, he receives the Yash Bharti award from the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

The question that many people want to know the answer to is: Does the little B really deserve such a big award?

I think the question they really should be asking is, why not?

In my opinion, there are a few reasons why a person should be given an award: It is a recognition for the person, and it is a recognition for the award.

In this case, to be honest, I didnt know that there was such an award in this world. For five lakhs in prize money, atleast the award got famous! Anyway, I don't think anyone has any doubt that the UP government is safely and securely in the hands of the Bachchan and the Anil Ambani family. Atleast this way they did a favor to the award by giving it to a real celebrity.

About Abhishek Bachchan, the poor guy has no idea whats hitting him these days. One fine morning he walked out to the shooting unshaven, and that became the AB look! Now he wears a hairband, dates Aishwarya Rai, collects award, and truly believes he is a superstar. But I think he did the right thing anyway: He donated the prize money to a charity. I think that's fair enough from his side really.

A year passes

A year has passed since Manjunath Shanmugam, a honest IOC officer and IIML Alumnus, was shot while doing his duty.

It got its share of news the first time around, and its got it again on its first anniversary too.

The incident, for those who have not heard of the concept of trashy news channels: He went into a petrol bunk to check for adulteration. He found that there was, so he protested, and in the process, got shot. In the bargain, he aroused the consciousness of thousands of youth in his country. He has indeed created an aspirational space for many of the youth of this country who want to make a difference to the society in their own special way.

Manju, rest in peace.

Not "The same" again

I solemnly pledge not to use the phrase "The same" for the next one week.

I mean, who talks like that? I didn't hear it until i got into business school, made fun of it for two years, and then come out to a world where everyone uses it like their own name!

Then why must we use it in formal email communications? Did you ever hear a son tell his mother, "wow ma, that gulab jamun is wonderful. Can I have one more of the same?" Or a movie where James Bond says, "oh baby thats good, don't stop the same"! Can you imagine how shocking that sounds? Then why do we use it so often in formal communications? Why must a formal communication sound like the suicide note of an Earl?

Lets pledge not to succumb to the stupidity of the corporate world. Lets not say things that sound formal, but mean absolutely nothing. Lets speak like we want to.

If they don't like it, well, screw the same!

Economics of scale

In Business School, we always learn about how the great corporations of the world have always leveraged on their size, in order to provide a better value proposition to their customers. One also hears about four different levels of integration in the organization. As an example, lets look at IBM (but of course). Did you know IBM procures about 50 billion dollars of chips every year? By doing this, it can probably negotiate the cheapest prices for computer chips in the planet, and provide enhanced value to the customer.

I logged onto Orkut this morning, after very long. I realized a new feature had been added. Now, you could click on any member in your orkut friendbook, and view their Gtalk online/offline status. You could also look search into your friendbook, or into orkut itself.

The internet space itself seems to be seeing some horizontal integration. Large players are known to buy out some popular sites because of the strong community that they own. Interestingly, after they get annexed into the yahoo! kingdom or the google kingdom or the ebay kingdom, they try to leverage their existing products and push it to this community. In a sense, they pay for the community. If eBay paid 2 billion dollars for Skype, its not for its revenues (a paltry 60 million), but for its loyal set of users.

Now, this is very similar to what happens in the offline space. Large companies like IBM or GE buy out small players and try to leverage their size. However, the small players always had an answer to that. For example, when a large player like Larson & Toubro (in India) opened its own L&T Infotech arm to aid in developing technology solutions for its entire business, the other corporations in the construction business realised that they didn't need to do that. They could just tie-up with other companies that make software, and get it cheaper in the long run. Like SAP or Oracle. It worked very well for them.

Now I'm waiting to see that in the online space. Many might have heard of small companies having a benefit in the online space. But this is getting scarily difficult, because large players are beginning to leverage their size and build on their offerings. Now the small players need to tie-up with each other. Maybe a myspace can tie-up with a meebo and provide better messaging between its members. Maybe Yaari and rediff messenger.

Who knows. The possibilities are limitless.

Here I go...

On the road again...

"I read On the Road in maybe 1959. It changed my life like it changed everyone else's."
-Bob Dylan

The book that changed the lives of millions, and effectively ushered in the hippie generation.

I started reading it at 8 PM last night. I don't know when I fell asleep. I listened to Orbitrock all night, I think.

And I'm off, on the road again.

And he takes her apart...

Sometimes when you watch a person like Karan Thapar take on a politician in full public view, you feel bad for the politician. He gets clinically taken apart by a technically and intellectually superior Karan Thapar. Whats more, for all the politician's bravado, he is unable to articulate as well as Karan Thapar.

Yesterday, I was watching the telecast of Ram Jethmalani's interview to Sagarika Ghose, and I truly felt bad for her. He takes her apart brilliantly.

The background is like this: Ram Jethmalani, former Indian Union Law Minister, goes against the tide of public opinion to defend Manu Sharma, the accused in the Jessica Lall case. In this regard, Sagarika Ghose is interviewing him. Her agenda is set: She wants to prove how heartless Jethmalani is, how he is supporting a criminal and fighting his case. Little does she know that it takes more than that to rattle a 80 year old criminal lawyer, probably the best lawyer in India today. This man has been fighting cases from before Sagarika was born. There was very little chance of this happening. Ram Jethmalani would defend himself first, and then Manu Sharma in the courts.

What I didnt expect, was this: Ram Jethmalani launching a brilliant, logical, coherent and complete attack against the media, and telling the world why exactly he should be defending Manu Sharma. The logic is simple: Every accused deserves a right to be defended by the law. Every accused who is against the populism of the media is not guilty. And most importantly, and I quote here, "He (Manu Sharma) is entitled to the services of a good lawyer. Courts will decide and no Pressman, no editor or television crew will decide."

You do not want to miss this.

Aussies show attitude!

Yes, the Australians won again.

Yes, it was the champions trophy. Yes they destroyed the opposition. But that gives them no damn right to behave the way they did with Sharad Pawar. Take a look at this video. Look at the arrogance with which Ponting demands for the trophy from Sharad Pawar, and then how Damien Martyn pushes him out of the frame in order to take a team picture.

I really don't care that they are the best in the world. Sharad Pawar is a fine politician who has spent decades in public service, and is probably one of the best administrators in India today. A Union Minister, BCCI President, and ICC member as well. If these guys think they could just come into MY country, play on MY soil, and insult MY minister like this, then they're goddamn mistaken.

Such a team is not far from their big collapse. I hope it comes in the world cup next year. Then the cup should be demanded from Ponting and he should be nudged out of the frame for the victor to take a team picture. And I hope Rahul Dravid does the honors.

Here's to the beginning of the Aussie ruin. Cheers!

Lottery in the SMS world

I find some revenue models very fascinating.

There’s this show on Zoom TV every week night at 12 o clock. It’s based on a very simple principle. For half an hour, they introduce to you a product. They go on and on about the product and talk about its features and how cool it is. Now, as the audience, you have to send an SMS to 6644 with the lowest possible price you want to pay for the item. Basically, you can bid any random number which is as low as possible. For example, you could bid Rs.12 and 43 paisa. Or just Rs.1.06. The lowest bid wins. But when someone else bids the same low amount that you do, your bid gets cancelled. The conclusion is that the lowest unique bid for the product wins it.

The revenue possibilities: For advertising a product continuously for half hour, the manufacturer would only be too glad to take care of the costs of the product and also pay a hefty amount. Secondly, everytime an SMS is sent, the program takes a cut. Thirdly, advertising revenues in between the program.

Over many years, we have seen the business of lottery on the wane. One could possibly reach the conclusion that people are getting less gambling-friendly. On the contrary, I would suggest that shows like Bid2win are a form of evolved gambling. If the government won’t allow lottery legally, it would be such evolved complex forms of gambling that could make money for everyone.

However, there’s a fundamental flaw with lottery gambling. The process of gambling itself has to be entertaining. That’s when the game gets all the more revenue, because now the customer is willing to invest the money for the sheer experience, and the money he gets is a lucky gain. It reduces the notional gambling amount, because the customer is now able to classify it under two heads: Entertainment and gambling. It reduces the load on gambling. It just makes good business sense.

It’s not to say that people have not figured out innovative solutions to lottery gambling. I found this very interesting: Recently, during a television lottery, there was a holdup at the studio and the TV anchor was forced to announce a certain number as the winning number. As soon as he did, payoffs were made at 200 different stores across the country for the winning amount. Within fifteen minutes, the money transaction was made and they got away with the money. I think this is a brilliant form of manipulating the system: By using the fact that the judging authority is different from the awarding authority. The judging authority can be manipulated, and the awarding authority would not have the faintest clue.

The media hits its own leg

I got the feeling today when I was watching a program on television about the media and its role on the society, I realized that the media was getting itself into a situation that it should stay wary of.

I have often remarked about how the society is fast moving into a place where the truth is often the most powerful opinion. There is no real truth. In creating the truth, hence, the media plays a very powerful role. Often it can define facts like no one else can: The judiciary, the executive, the police would always remain the authorities. The media would always command a special place in shaping the “truth”. In the Jessica Lall case, a similar situation ensued. When the accused Manu Sharma was let go scot-free, the media created such an outcry that the case had to be re-opened. This brings to the fore a very important question: Who is the media to say that Manu Sharma was guilty? Does anyone among the millions in the audience know what happened that night? Who are they to believe? Are they justified in “creating the truth”?

Another controversy created by the media is about Ram Jethmalani fighting the case of Manu Sharma. The primary argument in the media is that such a reputed lawyer should not fight the case of a criminal like Manu Sharma. How can the media make such a judgement? What is the truth? Is the truth not defined only by a competent authority? Does the media have the right to call Manu Sharma guilty? Would every Rajdeep Sardesai or Prannoy Roy issue a public apology if the case was closed and Manu was again pronounced innocent?

The media is going to play a very powerful role in the times to come. Also, its thoroughly commercialized and hence would want to make good news. Of course, the bland story of Manu Sharma being innocent is nothing when compared to the juicy story that it could make otherwise. Imagine, an innocent waitress serving a rich politician’s son and gets shot for not serving a drink. Then he gets arrested and buys his way through the system. A criminal walks scot-free. Doesn’t it make a great story? But the best story always need not be the truth. That’s the fallacy.

If you saw Manu Sharma walking down your street tomorrow, wouldn’t you remark, “Hey what’s that murderer doing here?” Do you know the truth? Or is it being covered by the best story on offer?

In all this, I’m not denying the possibility that Manu Sharma is guilty. He very well might. My only point is that it is for the judiciary to decide. Its not for the media to decide. If this happens, they might be right today. But sometime in the future, an innocent man might suffer because the media chooses to write against him in favor of the spiciest story that day.

To know the truth, or atleast the closest we can ever get to it, we need an authority that is not yet commercialized. I would be willing to bet on the judiciary any day, over the media.

Why?

Cricket in India never fails to amuse me. The game is inherently boring (8 hours! Sometimes 5 whole days!), takes too much time in getting going, and often turns out to be a completely one-sided match. Most of all, India sucks at it. Let’s face it. India can’t play cricket to save its life. We might manage to win a tournament here and there. Maybe even the world cup. But the truth is that we are atleast 5 years behind Australia and South Africa in organizing the game domestically. New talent is not coming to the fore. The incentives are just not there in domestic cricket.

The big question is, how is the game so wildly popular in India? Is it just because it’s a British legacy? Hockey shares a lot of similarities, why does it not fare on par with cricket? Is it just Jagmohan Dalmiya?
Some great marketer made the game that is today. I think that marketer was a man called Sachin Tendulkar. The story of a young kid from Mumbai who makes it big on the global stage at a young age, battles on for decades, survives injuries, is one of the best reasons I can think of.

Another reason for the game’s popularity is, in my opinion, the fact that Pakistan plays the game too. This makes for some phenomenal clashes, and luckily India has won most of them on big stages. Every such match makes for great viewing, purely because of the history between the two countries. The game used to be secondary. Showmen like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad used to make every match spicy, as would Indian warriors like Kapil Dev.

I think the 1983 world cup also gave us the illusion that we are really good at the game. This added to the people coming in to watch the game. The sad part is, we still believe it.