My days at Patna

The love and affection this city has bestowed upon me is just refusing to settle down. The more I hate it, more it crawls nearer to me. We have nothing in common, but still we are inseparable, at least for now. Compelled by my destiny, I decided to recollect the colorful and often colorless events that made me who I am. As a matter of fact, I never admired Patna during my childhood, my destiny thew me to NIT Patna. I simply was unable to develop the sense of belongingness during my college days, the destiny, again dumped me to this city, some two and a half years ago.

It was 3rd of February 2012, Patna welcomed me with a warm and tight hug. The clasp was so intense that eventually it broke my back, in medical terms, the gap between two consecutive discs of my back reduced and thankfully it didn't collapse. I went onto bed for next 7 days. My family rushed to rescue and could not hold their emotions as they found me bedridden and helpless. But, how I broke my back? Well, that's the story!

I had never imagined in my wildest of dreams that one day I would be back to Bihar-Jharkhand for accomplishing my professional duties, it was a mere coincidence, and an act of unscripted play directed by destiny. The memories  are still green. It is always a pleasure when you get placed before you finish your studies, I was one of those fortunate ones who succeeded in getting into a good job in the 7th semester. 
It was September 2006, one of my friends, who also got the taste of success at the precise moment I got mine, was equally elated. Hailing from Patna and getting a job through campus was a indeed a big deal. In a city, often referred to as Abduction Capital of India, getting placed was noting less than winning an Olympic gold. His father threw a grand party to all his friends and relatives at his Patna residence. During an informal colloquy one of his uncles expressed his much researched views, "Nice to hear that Babua got a job in Maruti, and what else you could ask for Babua ke Papa, he will never have to go to Bada Sheher, maane Dilli Punjaab to earn livelihood". 
Babua ke papa, bit perplexed with the courageous manifestation, interrupted him in between, "Bhaiya Ji, he is going to Gurgaon.....Dilli". 
"Kahe? When Maruti is in Patna, that too theen go, ekgo Dakbunglow Chauk, and dugo Boring Road par".  
With a little smile on his face, my friend's father made an attempt to enlighten Bhaiyaji with some simple facts,"Bhaiya Ji, these are Dealerships, like we have Gas Agencies and Petrol Pumps, my son is, for God sake, an NIT grad, he got placed in the company".
Bhaiya Ji was in no mood to listen to this crap, as listening and accepting facts were just not in his DNA, with his mouth wide open, swinging his head he tried to justify his point. Babua Ke Papa sensed the storm Bhaiya Ji must had been going through, he made a second attempt,"Bhaiya Ji, he got placed in the factory, like rice and plywood mills you must have seen in your village, the place you are mentioning are the dealers, like, Babulal Premkumar is dealer for Donier Kapra". 
"O, acha, bujh gaye, acha see you later, let's go Bunty ki mummy, parnaam"

When my friend narrated this anecdote, I couldn't control my laughter, it still makes me giggle.

I spent eventful 10 months in Gurgaon, (for us in Bihar, it is Dilli). The whole of NCR is Dilli. Dilliye Hai sab, ekke hai.

I never asked for a home posting, but got one, again, unscripted play, produced by my luck, directed by my destiny. Flew down to Ranchi in 2008 March with pledge of getting back to a place where I could make my future the way I always wanted it to be, well, again life taught me not to develop loathe for anything, as it could well boomerang.

I stayed at Ranchi for almost 4 years, experienced how it feels, being nearer to you home, your family, your childhood friends. Truly, unrivalled, unparallel feeling of being loved and cared by so many people around. I have seen ups and downs at Ranchi, with so many family duties on anvil, how could you think of making your own career? I threw my desires into dustbin and continued my life on the course decided by destiny, never made an honest attempt to rewrite it. 

Four year was indeed a long time, desolated with the monotonicity of work, I desperately wanted a change and for my bosses I was like the one who could carry all the burden onto his shoulders would never pop off. But, I popped off after 3.5 years. 

My dauntless expression, asking for a change in profile or transfer, took my bosses with surprise and they assured me of justice. Filled with sense of contentment, I kept quiet for two months. Whenever I would ask my boss whether he was considering my request for a relocation, he would reply diplomatically, "Simant, we will do whatever best we could". This statement was often used to follow by a long and restless silence. The only way out was to opt for something no one dares to. It was November 26th 2011, during mid year review I said, "Sir, I am so desperate for a change that I can go even to Patna". This time too, there was a silence and I was given the same diplomatic answer, "we will do whatever best we can". Disappointed, I dragged myself out of the conference room of my Ranchi Regional Office.

On 2nd of December 2011 I was having my office order, proclaiming my transfer to Patna, in my hands. 

Patna Calling

Need of the hour was to keep myself positive post my office order, I did the same, "Patna is not alien to me! I have spent eventful 4 years there! As a matter of fact, I am what I am today because of this city, and yes, Patna will definitely give me an identity what Ranchi failed to". Now you must be wondering, was I going thru an identity crisis at Ranchi?

First taste of identity crisis

It was my first winter at Ranchi and I was attending a function at my Jijaji's home, while we were bidding goodbyes to our guests, suddenly one fat fellow cropped up at the exit door, brushing his teeth with toothpick, loosening a notch of his belt to relief pressure out of his overhung belly, he asked my Jijaji's uncle who was standing alongside, "Tiwary ji, i am desperately searching for a suitable match for my daughter, ufff, it is very tough to get a nice ladka". Chacha ji's was swift in his response, "lijiye...., aree....see... you are standing in front of a groom, (boy in your armpit and declaration across the town- courtesy Rohit Shetty). The fat fellow scanned me for few seconds, with brushing his teeth still with toothpick and scanner still on, he threw open his first doubt, "What does he do?" 
"He works for Maruti here at Ranchi". Chachaji was quick to respond. The fat fellow immediately stopped scanning and with a smirk said, "Oooo...he works for Premsons?", Chachaji, in his second attempt to eradicate fat fellow's confusion, interrupted him, "Are nahi ji, he doesn't work for Premsons". 
"Toh Sushila me karta hoga" (Premsons and Sushila are Maruti dealers at Ranchi). Fat fellow refused to let his imagination cross Premsons and Sushila. 
Chachaji's 3rd attempt, "are nahi bhai, he works at Maruti Regional Office Ranchi". 
Fat fellow refused to budge, "MARUTI? REGIONAL? OFFICE? That too at Ranchi? Kahan hai??", having gathered all the smartness he borrowed during his lifetime, he was consistently on a lookout to decipher the conundrum just presented before him. 
"Yes, Maruti has a regional office at Ranchi near Lalpur chowk", Chachaji's 4th attempt. 
"Where near Lalpur chowk, I never noticed". 
5th attempt by Chachaji, "Areee hai na, at Rohini building". 
The fat fellow, in a sigh of relief and now poking toothpick into the 32nd teeth said, "Oooooo" .... this oooooo was so long that it made me believe that Chachaji posseses an unquestionable ability to make even a fool understand. Long oooo by the fat fellow was followed by even longer  Achaaaa..... and then came the master stoke, 
"toh ... he is an accountant..." 
Chachaji in his 6th attempt, "Offoo he is Territory Manager, manages dealerships of Jharkhand, he is bada officer you know?" 
"Acha tiwary ji, see you later, goodnight" the fat fellow disappeared in a flash.
I heard him murmuring while he was on a rush to get back to his car, "huh, Maruti regional office.... that too in Ranchi, hamko  budbak  samjhe hain"

Identity crisis now starts....

It was December 23rd 2011, I furnished my joining formalities and started my hunt to get a decent accommodation, I was very well settled at Ranchi in a nice specious 2BHK flat in an awesome society, I was looking out for a similar accommodation here at Patna. My small stint at Bangalore and stint at Ranchi taught me to look out for newspaper classifieds instead of hiring a property dealer. To my utter surprise, local Patna newspapers were hardly carrying any to-let advertisements. I took out Sunday newspaper and found 2 classifieds offering flats on rent. Dialed the first number, the man on the opposite side confirmed that location of flat was convenient to me as it was situated at boring road. When I enquired about the rent, hold your breath, 23000 per month, for 2BHK, and it was the year 2011. When I asked the gentleman, "Don't you think the rent is bit on a higher side?", gentleman replied on top of his voice, bit irritated, as if I wasted his precious minutes, "I am yet to tell you the maintenance part, another 3000 Rs for maintenance, total 26000 Rs per month" out of curiosity, I asked, "Is it furnished?". Gentleman now became just man, "Lagta hai you are new to Patna, it is unfurnished, pankha bhi nahi milega, this is Bihar, yaha yahi rate hai"

And, from hereon, my ordeal to find a decent accommodation in city begins. Soon I realized Bihar and Biharies were on peak of their aspirations, good governance and better law and order had just made them open their coffers, new Bihar was spending and was on a shopping spree, years of high GSDP growth and better law and order ensured incessant flow of money into household. With no place to invest or spend, Bihar chose to park their white and often black money into real estate in an anticipation of better returns.

The B-B-B theory.

Losing my hope to get a decent accommodation thru classifieds, I hired a property dealer, Munna. Munna, like other PDs made me believe that my search would end as he had the best of the properties into his bouquet. In next few days, I sniffed each and every locality of Patna, no matter how posh locality may seemed, filth, mud and pigs followed. Munna took me to a residential apartment, decent by Patna standards and at a stone throw distance from my office. Rent was also affordable, 10K per month. Bingo, I thought my all pain and infliction would soon end. We were waiting for the owner to come, when I noticed that the building was comprised of more than 20 apartments, yet parking was barely for 10 cars, I could not hold my curiosity and asked Munna to clarify. Munna, like a tourist guide, started with brief history of Bihar Jungle Raj. "Saar, possessing a Car in those dreadful days was like throwing  an open invitation to abductors, the moment it was revealed that you own a car, you used to get a messages instantly to deposit Rangdari Tax, those who resisted were abducted, few unlucky ones were brutally murdered".

"But Munna, owning a house is, at any point of time, much larger manifestation of amassing wealth, then why only Cars made abductors act?", my doubt kept on looming larger.
"Saar, owning a house was not a costly affair during Jungle Raj, and the goons also never discouraged people from owning a house, you see, this flat was bought in the year 1999 in 3 Lac Rupees only and today the price is anywhere between 80L to 1 Cr"

"Why goons encouraged people to invest in properties?", my inquisitive nature had taken over me by then.
"Eee bada interesting theory hai Saar, see, CM's brother used to have control over property sale in Patna, and in event of a price rise in tune of 80~100%, they first would acquire that property by force, kicking the owner out and then would sell it at a premium, thus making sky high profits. Heheh, every property of Patna, one way or the other belonged to CM's brothers then why would they have discouraged people from owning a house?"

I don't know, how much fact this statement carried, but even if it carried 20% of the fact, I could imagine how difficult it would have been to survive in a lawless land. No doubt, rentals and property prices have gone up in Patna post LaRa (Lalu Rabri) era.

While waiting for the owner to come, I saw a man in his late forties, riding his bicycle with a milk can hung over the handle, wrapping ubiquitous Red Gamcha around his neck. 
"I don't want to strike a deal with servant or care taker, where is the owner?", I asked Munna, "Phshsssss, saar, thoda quiet, he is the owner". Oops, now its time to shun my habit of judging people with their appearance.

Apartment was at the first floor, nice wooden cupboards inside, and moreover I could see my office building thru its window.
I was about to strike a deal with the Gamcha man, when he started his interview session.

Gamcha Man : "Bhare (where) do you work?"

Simant: "Maruti, Munna must have told you"

Gamcha Man: "Yes, phir bhi, it ij my duty to ask you again,  Maruti kaun wala, Alankar, Vaus k Karlo?"

Simant: "I am from the company, these are Dealerships, see.... that building is our office, Munna must have told you"

Gamcha Man: "Yes yes, but phir bhi, it ij my duty to ask you again, who else are there in your phamily (family)?"

Simant: "I and my parents, therefore I am looking out for a property on ground floor, or at maximum at the first floor"

Gamcha Man : "And bat (what) about your wife?"

Simant: "No wife, I am bachelor"

Gamcha Man: "Ooooo, baichlaar (1st B, checked)"

Munna interrupted in an attempt to convince the Gamcha fellow that he didn't conceal this fact, "Aare Saar, old parents you know, they bill (will) stay with saheb at all times, and han, sahab ij (is) getting married soon, uuu kya kahte hain, already engaged, you know, hihihi"

I gave a look at Munna as if I wanted to say, "what was that?" Munna kept on smiling and swinging his head, showing his Gutkha rotten teeth to me and Gamcha clad owner for equal time intervals.

Gamcha Man : "And, bare (where) are you from, maane, your gaon?"

Simant: "I am from Dhanbad"

Gamcha clad owner gave furious look to Munna, this time his smile was gone and he could hardly hide his teeth, but this time, Munna didn't say a word to advocate my claim over the house.

Gamcha Man : "Oooo, but you do not appear like a Jharkhandi, bare (Where) are you originally phrom (form)?"

Simant: "Ya, my parents are from Bihar, but we are settled at Dhanbad now for last 3 decades"

Gamcha Man : "Oooo, mane you are phrom (from) Bihar" (2nd B checked), Ooo, bare (where) is your gaon, Ganga maiya k eee patti k oooo patti. (This side or that side of river Ganga)

It was getting tough and enough, still to douse my curiosity, I wanted the face to face interview to stretch a bit longer.

I picturized map of Bihar and began to search for Begusarai, whether Begusarai is at eee patti, or oooo patti. Begusarai is at ooo patti.

Simant : "Ya, my ancestral origin is Begusarai which is at the other side of Ganga maiya".

Gamcha Man : "Acha, Begusarai, and bhat ij (what is) your phull (full) name?"

Simant: "Simant Singh (3rd B checked)"

Gamcha clad owner gave a tough look at Munna, as if he wanted to say, no more contract to you, you scoundrel. Munna in turn gave a look to me as if he wanted to say, "Sab spoiliya (spoil) diye saar"

It was more than enough for me, I couldn't withstand his illogical rapid fire round anymore. I ordered Munna to come downstairs with me. While in the car, Munna revealed the triple B theory.

"Are saar, why did you reveal your origin, being a Bihari in Bihar is no less than a curse. You know what, people here do not want to rent their properties out to their fellow Biharies, I had told Lallan ji (Gamcha Man was in fact Lallan ji, quite predictable) that you are from Hyderabad, and you had been transferred here from Bambai (Mumbai).  And han, no room for bachelors, all bachelors live at Mahendru, or Bazar samiti, in a single room and when a bachelor looks out for 2BHK, it cast doubt on owner's mind, what a bachelor would do of the flat? Hehe, Bihar mein it is common belief that if you are in a job and you are unmarried, then you are not being paid well, still if you want a 2BHK flat, it means you will utilise it for purpose objectionable to society"

And what was the 3rd B? Was it Begusarai?

"Na na, not Begusarai, it was your caste, you know, Lallan ji is very smart, with mere knowledge of your origin on this or that side of Ganga maiya, he got to know about your caste, you know, your caste is dabang, goonda, don't mind saar, but here, people are bit scared of, as their homes are their only rozi roti, they fear that people of your caste would eventually throw them out of their homes and will take illegal possession of their flats, then, they won't have anything to eat"

I laughed, and kept on laughing, Munna was trying to understand whether he played a joke, later he also participated enthusiastically in the laughter session . 

Soon laughter turned into frustration.

16th day and my search was still on, in between, I made 2 trips to Ranchi. On the penultimate trip, I gathered enough evidence of being the dumbo of the century, a fool would only leave a vitrified tile finish flat with 6k rental to a tabela resembling Apartment of 3 times the rent!

The deadly Triple B ghosts followed me throughout January'12, I even tried my luck on 99acres and magicbriks.com, but success seemed like a mirage. Out of curiosity, I searched for rentals at Delhi and Mumbai, navi Mumbai and Pitampura Delhi rentals were far less than that of Patna. When I presented this fact to a localite, twisting his moustache, puffing in all oxygen around us, he uttered, "Patna is no less than Mumbai, Mumbai will also have metro rail like Patna in few years, and you see, every train has a stoppage at Patna, doesn't it imply Patna being a very important city".

I could hardly buy any logic, but it makes me remind of my childhood, when we could actually write answers to a question in our exams without being sure of its correctness. We hoped that evaluator would appreciate our pain of jotting down nonsense and would eventually end up allotting a non zero figure against our answers, few of our teachers were known to mark an answer based on the length it covered on the answer sheet.

I tried to ring up my old friends, relatives, Dad's friends, seeking help to get a shelter, all in vein, actually, it was getting tough for me to get myself acclimatized to changed circumstances. My new city was unable to offer me hygienic accommodation within my budget, even though, I agreed to stretch my budget by 20%, the BBBs syndrome ruined everything.

Disdained, and running short of time, I decided to get into my friend's friend home. A 3BHK house, with parking space, but situated at a distance where I was supposed to cover mud, filth and pigs everyday for 45 minutes to reach office.

Craziness for Trains, Sarkari Naukri and Politics

My 2.5 years stint at Bihar, which includes travelling along its lengths and breadths, made me discover craziness of its 10.5 Cr population for Trains. Every district and its towns are evaluated on the basis of number of trains passing by its railway station and not making a halt. And a town is regarded extremely important if Rajdhani express makes a halt there. There have been agitations, in which often MPs/MLAs are found making more hue and cries, demanding Rajdhani stoppage in their respective constituencies. The craze for Trains led to an era where a Bihari had been at the helm of railway ministry for over a decade. To utter dismay of readers there are certain routes where railway is marred with abysmally low income from operation as the section of society living there still feels that buying a train ticket is a challenge to their very existence. Trains AC compartment full of so called daily commuters is not a rare sight here.

A famous saying at Bihar goes like that, "No matter whether you're chairman of Google or Microsoft, thaath baath of a sarkari clerk is unmatched".

I was often subjected to uncomfortable questions from society here.

"Are re reee... see how much work you private company workers have to do, are re re.. abhi bhi its not too late, try your luck in Bihar sarkar, you know, if you become JE in bijli vibhag, you will be head of bijli, you know, and kamai is also very handsome, and above all, no kaam, only aram"

Few others did not have the courtesy to show pity, they were as straightforward as they could, "Seems you were not good at studies in college, else you could have secured a first class government job, just like your elder brother". I often responded to this crap as there were other GETs with me at Maruti, that too from, IITs and top notch NITs, they never got tempted to get government jobs, then why should I, I love what I do, I am also being paid decently, then why should I think of moving to a govt job?

"Bajjar gire (let the lightning strike upon them) Delhi Punjabi ladkas want to spoil poor Biharies, Aareee, sarkari job is free of tension, no work, you get your fat salary without work and you could pile-up insurmountable tax free wealth by performing some do number kam". 
Here, a person who works hard to earn money are often criticized of being a jackass, a wise man is one who never works, yet lives in opulence.

Who could be blamed for below par social and financial indicators of Bihar, is it the rulers that made the distinction between ruler and ruled starker? Or only people of this state could be blamed for not being able to seize available opportunities. Why Bihar never produced Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis, Adanis, Jindals. I met a boy in his early 20s, he was asking for a lift as he had to appear for BA part II exam at a place some 50kms from his village, marred with destitute, he couldn't afford his travel by public transport. Although I was bit suspicious of his credentials, yet I took a chance and agreed to take him to his examination centre. During the course of journey I discovered how helpless youth of this state are. Government must intervene to provide skills to working hands here, with advantage of being home to youngest population of country and home to cheapest labour, Bihar could become next manufacturing hub of India. Time has come for people of this state to come out of their shackles, become a job creator, not seeker. 

My ordeal in Bihar is on, and like my last stint at Bihar, I am learning at a much faster pace than to my peers. But is there all negative about this city? not exactly, 3 days ago, I found front left wheel of my car struck in a deep pothole, my desperate attempt to get my car car out of it did not meet with success. Some, 4-5 young men, bantering with each other, suddenly noticed my plight. They came to my rescue without being asked for it, in less than a minute, all 5 of them lifted my car up and I made a way out of the dreaded pothole. Bihar is full of contrasts, if it has deep potholes, it has ever ready helping hands, if Bihar is poor, it houses best of the talents. Hoping for the best and wishing good luck to this incredible state.

A Loss that is Still Haunting: 50 years of Indo China War

22nd November 1962, a day in history marked as the day when we lost to China, once and forever. Wars won by defeating armed forces are won for once, those won by defeating their morale are won forever. Somewhat similar happened in 1962, the way Chinese won and we lost is still a matter of great debate. In all, as per statistics released by ministry of defense, 1,383 soldiers lost their lives, 3,968 were taken prisoners while 1,696 are still missing.
Quantum of loss suggests that it was indeed a humiliating loss and with latest effrontery exhibited by China by way of showing Arunachal as its own territory, it is a high time to know what happened 50 years ago that changed our psyche towards China forever. Why we could not retaliate to China by showing two of its provinces as a part of India when it shows Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as its own territory? Why Chinese forces violate LAC (Line of Actual Control) 500 occasions in two years and our army remains a mute spectator? Answer to all these is a must for every Indian.  

Origin of conflict: The origin of conflict could be traced back to the year 1913~14 when British India negotiated its boarder with Tibet in series of negotiation with Tibetan leaders at Simla. Named after Chief British negotiator Sir Henry McMohan, the boarder line separates present Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh to Tibet. Representative of then Chinese republican government was also present during the negotiations but at the end of conference, they refused to sign the boarder agreement stating that Tibet was subordinate to china and was not a sovereign nation, hence it possessed no rights to negotiate boarder with British India. Both Tibet and British India ignored dissent made by Chinese authorities and went ahead with finalising McMohan line.
Soon after the famous Chinese Revolution of 1949 that led to formation of People's Republic of China,  Mao Zedong, leader of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), initiated actions to hammer decisions made by erstwhile Republican Government of China. Mao Zedong was extremely popular among peasants for his exemplary work on land reforms. The famous uprising by CCP first coined the word "Maoism". Policy followed by Mao may well be described by the most popular saying of Mao himself "power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Followers of Mao never recognized democratic process, a presumption so badly inculcated into their minds that it finally led to state organised massacre at Tiananmen Square on June 4th 1989. Thousands of pro democracy protesters were killed when People's Army of China stormed into the square with tanks to crack down the peaceful protest.

India China Relationship at the time of Indian Independence: Nehru was extremely impressed by Mao Zedong's idea of forming a socialist government, though he never actually subscribed to Mao's idea of attaining power through armed struggle. Socialism was the only thread that kept Nehru closer to Mao. Nehru never missed an opportunity to praise China for its pro people policies. Although Nehru's opinion about Mao went on shaky grounds when later invaded Tibet in October 1950. Doubt on Mao being a staunch follower of Maxism was on question, yet Nehru was helpless as India could never match China in any case. Nehru was also inspired by description of Mao, his adorable sister Vijayalaxmi Pandit presented to him, on her return from china in 1952. Mrs Pandit described Mao as a visionary leader and a great socialist, she even compared Mao to Mahatma Gandhi. Scared with threat posed by US, as it began to favour Pakistan, Nehru had no option but to sign series of agreements with china in 1954. In exchange to India's recognition of Tibet as a part of China, later agreed to went into an agreement with India, famously known as the Panchsheel. Both the countries agreed to follow policy of mutual non-aggression and mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity.

Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai: Nehru never paid attention to warnings given by Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, former Secretary General of foreign ministry on expansionist aims of China. Towards end of the year 1954 Nehru visited China and experienced larger than anticipated reception. The whole hearted welcome made Nehru believe that China was no longer a threat to India. Chinese Premier Chou en-lai, in return visited India in the year 1956. 1956 was a peak in Sino Indian relationship, an era that gave raise to slogans like "Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai". But history was poised to follow a separate path in the same year.
Heart of controversy: During visit of Nehru to China in 1954, China assured that autonomy of Tibet would remain in tact and China would regard influence of God-King of Tibet, The Dalai Lama. China in fact was worried about poor accessibility of Lhasa with rest of China. The discontent shown by inhabitant of Tibet towards unpopular invasion by China was soon converting into vociferous opposition from every nook and corner of Tibet. Chinese were quick to respond, they planned for quick and easy accessibility of Lhasa with rest of China so that they can take Tibet into their better control. Chinese authorities planned for a road link from city of Shinkiang in Yarkand province of China to Tibetan capital Lhasa. Construction started at the end of 1956 and finished by October 1957. The Road was built across Ladakh, a part of Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian authorities could have never come to know about the road for next 3-4 years if china had not published a map in the July 1958 edition of its official magazine, "China Pictorial". The map showed Ladakh as a part of China.

Beginning of Acrimony: News of China having claimed Ladakh its own territory spread like a forest fire. In the meantime Khampa community of eastern Tibet launched an armed uprising against occupiers, the revolt met with an initial success and later brutally suppressed by Chinese forces. In retaliation, Chinese wanted to eliminate route of uprising. Chinese believed that with elimination of Tibetan god king, Dalai Lama, Khampas would never ever dare to voice their dissent. News reached Dalai Lama and in March 1959, he fled to India crossing McMohan line. Of-course, New Delhi agreed to provide political asylum to Dalai Lama, an action that could very easily be marked as a retaliatory step, in return to China's road controversy. The gulf between the 2 countries further widened with each communication Nehru had with Chinese premier Chu En-lai. Nehru tried his best to douse the fire through diplomatic route, but his honest attempts were vehemently rejected by his Chinese counterpart. Chou, in his replies to Nehru's letters, rejected existence of McMohan line in the east and supported map shown in China Pictorial by stating that Ladakh was always a part of China. As per Chou, McMohan line was a product of the British Policy of aggression against the Tibet region of China. The war of words continued along with minor to medium clashes of Indian and Chinese troops at the eastern sector.
in 2nd half of 1961, Nehru came under severe attack in parliament for his inability to deal with situation of Chinese occupation. He was terribly criticised by Jansangh Leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Hem Barua of Praja Socialist Party and NG Ranga of Swatantra Party. Even, some of his own party leaders also started questioning Nehru's ability as a Prime Minister. Nehru faced opposition from his own party for the first time since demise of Vallabh Bhai Patel, the only minister in Nehru cabinet, who relentlessly voice his dissent over illogical moves made by Nehru in the past.
Nehru was known to be a emotional person, Chinese invasion into India shook him from inside. He was surrounded by sycophants, like Defense Minister, VK Krishna Menon, who never appraised Nehru about grim situation of Army, perhaps he himself was unaware of the situation. India's then chief of Army staff, Gen. KS Thimayya tried to make the defense minister aware of the antiquity of arms but in vain, India was still using .303 Enfield rifle, first used in WW1 in 1914.
By the 1st half of year 1962, clashes with Chinese army had become a common refrain. It was also clear by that time that India would not be able to protect its territory if a war was declared with china. China was hundredfold stronger than India in terms of manpower, equipments and aircraft. India had two options, either to get into some kind of deal with China and maintain status quo (a solution suggested by Chou En-lai) or seek political and military help from west before chalking out any aggressive military action against China. Patriotic sentiments had already taken over conscience and our political leaders rejected both the options. War was finally imposed on the nation.

The unfolding of war: Indian Army was given the order of forward march at the eastern boarder. It was June 1962, Assam rifles had established a post at Dhola, a region where boarders of India, Tibet and Bhutan merges. It was enough provocation for China to establish its post at Thang La, some 2000 meters above Dhola. Chinese troops cautioned India through megaphone in Hindi, Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai, ye zameen hamara hai, tum wapas jao". The word of caution was taken as challenge by Indian armed forces. Post made by Assam Rifles at Dhola needed to be reinforced by Indian Army soldiers, Indian army jawans reached Namkha Chu  valley, a place near Dhola, on October 9th 1962. Army was exhausted after a long march to Namkha chu through mud, mountain and rains,army set up a post in the valley and waited for more troops, arms and ammunition to come. Chinese attacked on 10th of October, Army fought hard but without arms and reinforcement could not save the post. Indian Army was outnumbered and outgunned by China, it was indeed an impossible ask but our brave soldiers gave Chinese a tough fight and laid their lives protecting our motherland.
It seemed that humiliating defeat on hands of China at Namka Chu was not enough for our politicians, Nehru instructed Army to flush out enemy out of Indian soil once again. On this occasion China did not grant time to Indian Army to regroup and plan future course of action. On the night of 19/20 October 1962 China launched simultaneous attack on India from Aksai Chin in west and Tawang, Thang la in east. Attack took India by surprise, Army failed to offer decent resistance to Chinese People's army. China invaded further, as their modern mortars and medium machine guns were too advance in front of Indian .303 World War I rifles.
Within 4 days, China invaded further into Indian territory, 20 posts have fallen in NEFA (North East frontier Agency, Arunachal) and 5 in Ladakh. Tawang came into control of China. China was also having advantage over their Indian counterpart in high mountain battle as Chinese had been fighting with Khampa warriors in Tibet for past 4 years. On 24th October, China halted its forward march at Tawang and leaders of both India and China exchanged angry letters for next 15 days, both leaders tried to find out a solution once again through diplomatic routes. While diplomacy was getting failed, China was busy in utilising the brief recess to improve connectivity of their posts on Indian territories.
On 15th of November China, on the second occasion launch an offensive. China attacked Indian posts along McMohan line. On this occasion too, army could not offer a substantial resistance to Chinese aggression. When post Bomdi La (last post on mountains)fell, China gained access to Indian planes. Panic spread after the fall of Bomdi La had turned Tezpur city of Assam into a ghost city. City was vacated, City administration had burnt papers at Collectorate, local banks burnt currencies and fled to Guwahati.
2 days after, China declared unilateral cease fire. On 22nd of November 1962 Chinese armed forces moved to north of McMohan line, China had even vacated Tawang! While in west, it went to the position from where the hostilities had begun.

The Aftermath: Nobody knew what prompted China to vacate captured Indian territories in east. India's loss was insurmountable and irreparable, we could not gain anything out of this brutal war.The loss is still haunting our armed forces and the win is still serving as a confidence booster to Chinese.

The loss can be attributed to Nehru's short sightedness and his arrogance. Nehru turned down warnings of Patel when he warned Nehru of keeping a safe distance from expansionist China. USSR expansionist aim was not hidden to him, he was learned scholar himself, wonder how he could forget communist ideology that says "Promises are like pie-crusts, are meant to be broken". He assumed that China would follow its promise made during Panchsheel and respect India's territorial integrity. His decision of pushing country to war was taken more on emotional ground than on logical one. It is highly unlikely that 1962 would ever get repeated now, as India has advanced a lot since 1962, but the humiliating loss still captures larger chunk of our psyche when we talk of China.

2G Auction Failure: Blessing in disguise?

Braking News: Governments' much hyped 2G spectrum auction crashed, government could fetch only Rs 9,400 Cr against estimated Rs 40,000 Cr from sale of second generation airwaves. Little over half of the 240 MHz spectrum available for sale were bought. Airwaves for CDMA could not be auctioned as it failed to attract any takers. Hopes of government further shattered when it could not even manage to mop up Rs 28,000 Cr through sale of spectrum in GSM band. Not a single operator bade for pan India spectrum, priced at 14,000 Cr for 5 MHz of airwaves. Now the chances of keeping fiscal deficit to below 5.3% of GDP has gone bleaker, or rather impossible to achieve, thanks to rising government spending, inefficient babus' and volatile market that is prohibiting government from going for stake sale in giant PSUs.

Amid all these gloom, the optimist in me see these recent developments as a major breakthrough.

1. You were wrong Mr. Comptroller and Auditor General: The scam that caught the entire nation in a frenzy for past 2 years, chiefly due to much hyped 1.76 Lakh Cr estimated loss to government exchequer, in-fact was a hoax. Loss estimated by CAG was based on simple mathematics, keeping aside even the slightest of business logic. As per CAG report, tabled in parliament, government could have earned Rs 1,76,000 Cr by way of auctioning the airwaves rather than selling it at a throwaway price on first come first serve basis. CAG actually bench-marked the price of 2G spectrum with that of 3G. The calculation was having a basic flaw. The price of 3G spectrum got jacked up due to the artificial scarcity created by offering only a thin layer of spectrum for sale. The recent failure of 2G spectrum affirms that the estimated loss of Rs 1.76 Lakh Cr to the government exchequer was a nothing but a miscalculation. Now the question is, how CAG could be so bad in mathematics. Fact is, CAG was outstandingly perfect in mathematics, an attribute that is a prerequisite for becoming a financial auditor. A financial auditors' job is to ensure that all the account books are in order, earnings and expenses are marked under correct heads and balance shown in books are true reflective of physical realities. Problem erupts when an auditor starts breaching its own boundaries and encroaches discretionary powers of policy makers'. Let it be very clear, an accountant cannot judge and find the intent of expenditure, they are not trained to do so. I would present to you an illustration related to my workplace but relevant to many similar places.

I work in M&S division of number 1 passenger car manufacturer of this country, we are supposed to organize mega events aiming at, building strong and long term relationship with customers, bringing the company closer to customers, enhancing brand equity of company and loyalty of customers, marketing of after sales services of dealerships, that would in turn enable our channel partners to earn more from after sales activities and would make them financially more capable of increasing reach and volume of our business and last but not the least, generating exchange and new car sales inquiries. The budget of these activities runs into crore of rupees. Out of long term, short term, tangible and intangible benefits listed above, only cost per inquiry generated can find its place onto books of account. Suppose we conducted 10 events of similar kind with an expense of Rs 50 Lakh, i.e. Rs 5 Laks/event. We were able to generate 2000 new car sales inquiries, cost per inquiry stands at Rs 2,500/-. If CAG had audited our books, it would have prepared its report somewhat similar to the one below:
"The cost per inquiry of Rs 2,500/- is too high, with conversion ratio fixed at 25%, cost per conversion is estimated as Rs 10,000/- which is equivalent to product margin. 2000 inquiries could have been generated by way of distributing 20,000 newspaper inserts that would cost the company 40,000 Rs. The estimated loss to company is Rs 49.6 Lacs!"
Sounding similar to CAG report on spectrum sale and coal block allocation? It is. Can the benefit of organizing mega events be matched with the distribution of newspaper inserts? Can a newspaper insert bring a company closer to its customers, can it fulfill even a single long term objectives?

2. Does that mean there was no 2G scam? Is A Raja innocent?: Yes, there were nothing like 2G scam, but wait, there was a scam, and it was crafted by then telecom minister Mr. A Raja. A Raja had manipulated First-Come-First-Serve policy to benefit few telecom operators. Unitech got nationwide airwaves through dubious FCFS policy and later sold the company to Telenor at a hefty premium. Unitech did not roll out its services alone even in a single circle neither had invested even a single penny in infrastructure. It had pan India spectrum worth Rs 1400 cr with it as an asset. The company was sold to Telenor for over Rs 6100 Cr. Unitech made a hefty profit of Rs 4,500 Cr. There was a scam and it was brought into notice of the nation undoubtedly by CAG, but the way scam was highlighted and suggestions were made before Public Accounts Committee was wrong. CAG interference to policy making could halt the reforms. CAG has been outstanding in scanning government books and must continue to do so, but it must refrain itself from suggesting parliament the correct methods of policy making. 

3. What is the take away?: I hope CAG will understand its limitation that it is a national auditor and not a national policy reviewer. Government could be able to justify its decision of allocating coal mines for captive use to private players as the recent developments made it clear that auction is not the only way of selling natural resources and there are other factors need to be taken into account.

Let us hope that government takes full advantage of this development and accelerate the pace of economic reforms.
   

Strikonomics

"Economics is a study of how society decides what, how and for whom to produce". ("Economics" by David Begg, Stanley Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch). Recently I got acquainted to Economics behind mass strike, popularly known as "Bandhs". It is very interesting to note how a handful of protesters decides what to do, how to do and for whom to do.

It was wee hours of 20th of September 2012, I woke up when I found my train making longer than expected halt near outskirts of Patna. I left Delhi last evening after a tedious and monotonous long stay of 8 days.

I did not leave my berth until I was made curious by my fellow passengers. The uneasiness inside the coach created all the required impetus for me to get up and to get the first hand experience of the situation beneath. The halt was indeed unexpected and very unlikely of Rajdhanis. I got up and decided to become a part of morning chaos. I dragged myself out of the compartment to see what others had been doing.

Phone calls everywhere. "Our train has been stopped by some 500 odd protestors, I have no idea where the train is, will keep you informed, in case situation fails to improve, you will have to pick me up from this location only". An old man's pity as it was being told to his son, most probably.

Coach attendant rushed to fold the bedding, on my protest, he left the one I was using and continued his business with others. He must have been feeling assaulted with my rude "no-go", he murmured with a purpose of making me aware that he was such an important person with whom I had just misbehaved, "On last occasion train had taken 3.5 hrs to reach Patna from this place, it wont be wise to wait for train to leave, better leave the train".

Had this statement been made in a cordial atmosphere I would have appreciated it and followed it incredulously. But the statement could have been a by product of anger and intent of revenge for my recent assault on him. I made up mind to sneak through the door, lean a bit outward and sniff the scene outside. I saw number of cars already lined up, waiting for their loved ones to make an exit from the stranded train. Few were not so lucky, they were lined up across the road, waiting to be picked up by public mode of transport. The crowd includes, women, children and senior citizens. It was a nightmare of senior citizens, getting out of train which is almost 5 ft above the ground level is not a small deal.

The red signal was showing no signs of changing its color. In an era when changing one's color is so ubiquitous, this signal stood with an inexorable wont-change-my-colour-do-whatever-you-want attitude. When the "unexpected" and "most unlikely of Rajdhani's" halt was just inching towards completing an hour, came the first official confirmation from coach manager, "Train cannot make its journey forward at this point of time as 500 odd protesters have taken over the railway tracks. This is Bharat Bandh". I was forced to de-board the train and to terminate my journey near outskirt of Patna. Having no idea where to move I decided follow my fate. I jumped out of the train with my bag and baggage. 

The railway track which ran parallel to the one on which my train was stranded welcomed me in typical Indian Railway style, with series of human excreta and its toxic smell. It is very tricky to cross railway tracks in India, you cannot run as it comes with a risk of losing your focus, the moment you lose your focus you could well end up landing onto freshly exhausted human waste. You can not be slow either as the "venomous" smell is enough to make you unconscious. I sneak passed the track and saw an auto rickshaw racing towards me. I was the only one who chose the other side of the train to get myself out, the auto driver did not take a minute to judge that he had just made a wrong move. By the time he had sniffed the tantalizing smell of unprecedented profits he could make on selling his services at premium to helpless passengers, he took a sharp U turn and rushed to the opposite side where hundreds of men women and children were waiting to be picked up. I instructed him to stop, he was in hell of a hurry. "Rajendra Nagar Jana hai, Kitna loge?", I asked. "Reechap (reserve) me chaliyegaaaaa?". "Han". "Taaa teen sau rupaiyaa legega". With  borrowed idea of the place from my fellow passengers, confirmation of the same through Google Navigator, a smart app of my smart phone, I came to know that I was hardly 8 Kms away from my destination. The Auto-rickshaw was asking 40 Rs a Km from me.

"Kuch kam karo bahiya". I requested, "Etna hi lagega.. chalna hai taa chaliyeee, na ta hum chale". I thought for a while and said "No" to him. Even the most luxurious cab services of Delhi/Mumbai would charge lower than the price what I was just asked to pay. I continued my stroll further till I found a good four lane road. Suddenly I saw an auto passing by, it was shared one and was going to Patna Junction. During my short journey to my home I saw what I describe as "Strikonomics"

I read statements made a day before by various political parties that the Bandh was called to save the aam aadmi from frantic bite of rising inflation. The Bandh had just jacked up auto fare from Rs 150 to Rs 300 a trip. I don't know what kind of relief they were talking about. I was also told that the Bandh was being constituted to save aam aadmi from deep inconvenience they might have when entry of foreign retailers would be allowed in India, aam aadmi was suffering on that day also. Agreed, Rajdhani travelers are not aam aadmi, but what about thousand others who were also stranded around the outskirts?

On my entire journey I tried my best to figure out what protestors were doing, how they were doing it, and for whom. The essence of Strikonomics. First I saw bottom of pyramid, the slum-dwellers. The footpath colony had already started their day, men had just finished their morning ablutions, women had started cooking, or perhaps making last night's left overs re-warm. They did not seem to be bothered about the Bandh. They might mot be aware of it at all!

Alright alright, slum dwellers are choosa hua aam aadmi (Squeezed common man) and hence must be taken out of the context. Policies are made keeping them in mind, votes are sought using their names but when it comes to making their presence felt, they, all of a sudden are made alien. My curiosity incresed, if not Railway passengers, not slum dwellers then for whom the protest was orchestrated?

Soon I witnessed a road blockage, my auto driver, very promptly took the sharp right turn and ventured into a diversion. Fortunately, I was able to figure out who the protestors were.

Protestors were known creatures, white kurta clad creatures, had no idea what they were doing, why the whole protest was being organized. I am sure many of them would have not been made aware of the issues based on which whole drama was being played. My curious eyes kept invigilating, but failed to find even a single aam aadmi coming out in support of the Mass Strikers, I found aam aadmi rather perturbed with these crazy acts of Rail Roko and Chakka Jam.

If the kurta clad creatures were not following the mandate of aam aadmi then for whom the whole episode was planned? If India is a democracy, all political parties must follow the dictate passed by the citizens of this country, then why the mandate did not irk even a slightest of response from political class. There were 3 major issues raised by the political parties during the Bandh.

1. Hike in diesel prices: Diesel prices were hiked by Rs 5 a liter, let us find out how it would impact aam aadmi. First we need to understand dependence of aam aadmi on diesel. A common man uses diesel propelled public transport, purchases vegetable which are supplied to their nearby mandi in trucks, again propelled by diesel. Farmers uses diesel to run their pumping sets, run their tractors. 

These all modes consumes 78% of diesel subsidies, here it is pertinent to submit that subsidies are nothing but taxes collected from the same aam aadmi. Rest 23% subsidy is getting wasted as it is used in fueling cars and SUVs. I would urge my readers not to see this hike in present scenario rather see this hike keeping in mind long term perspective. Subsidy burden is ultimately borne by tax payers. Selling diesel at controlled price and selling petrol at market determined price was widening the gulf between prices of diesel and petrol. This huge gap was prompting prospective buyers to purchase diesel fueled vehicles, auto companies too responded promptly and spurred manufacturing capacity of diesel vehicles, usage of diesel power generators were getting cheaper than industrial electricity tariffs, more and more industries started using subsidized fuel more aggressive than ever, originally intended for public transport and farmers. It was imperative to put a brake on uncontrolled growth in diesel consumption. Yes, quantum of increase in price is debatable and I find myself incapable of challenging decision taken by eminent economists in MOF. Hike was inevitable as it would soften the burden of burgeoning diesel subsidy bill which is still pegged at 1.7 Lac crore, little more than the State GDP of Jharkhand!.

2. Retail FDI: It was not too long ago when we saw similar protest for opening of organized retails for domestic players. Few states, such as Bihar/UP, have still not allowed Reliance retail to open their stores (Reliance fresh, Mart and Super). Four years have passed since then, Reliance hardly made any dent on business of neighborhood stores. 

Let me also tell you a story, story of onion farmers of Nasik, India's biggest mandi of onion farmers. Onion is very powerful in dethroning governments, we have seen it in pasts how NDA and Congress lost the battle due to high onion prices. Lets come back to onion farmers of Nasik. When the whole India was paying Rs 50~60 Per Kg for onion, Nasik farmers were getting highest ever price for their onions. Can you guess how much that was? It was 10 Rs a Kg.
Price of onions get increased by 500% by the time it reaches your kitchen. Even if onions are ferried through air transport from Nasik and a hefty 100%  margin is kept, by no means price can go up to 60 a Kg! Then who is eating out the chunk of the margin? It is the middlemen to which organized retailers are biggest threat. Middlemen lobby is extremely powerful in the country and enjoys unprecedented patronage from their political masters. Their bosses use them wisely in pre-election campaigns. Whatever be the scenario after entry of retail majors in India, our neighborhood stores and small neighborhood vegetable mandies will continue to make their presence felt.

3. LPG Subsidy: Every Domestic LPG cylinder is subsidized by 40%. The subsidy was introduced in early 80's to encourage poor Indians towards usage of cleaner fuel for cooking. LPG consumers have grown at a rapid rate of 44 lacks consumers per year, so the subsidies. In the last 5 years LPG consumption had witnessed exponential growth. Widespread use of Domestic subsidized LPG cylinder in hotels and automobiles is not a secret anymore . Capping the usage of subsidized LPG cylinder would route these subsidies to place where it was originally intended to, your kitchen.

As seen above, all three decisions taken by the government are logical and need of the hour. We were under the threat of credit rating downgrade to "Junk" status. Fiscal and current account deficits are all time high. FIIs were abhorring from routing money to India, Indian Rupee was facing humiliating devaluation. Keeping in mind all these cues what we were getting from across the globe, the decision taken by the government are welcomed and justified too. 

If the logic behind the decisions are valid and no such unprecedented public anger was seen on roads, then why the Kurta clad creatures were making our life hell? After a long deliberation I understood, they are working for themselves. Current politics of India has nothing to do with the aam aadmi, political parties manages elections. Many of my prospective readers would argue that my voice do not match with the chorus of the country, but I am confident than my voice is similar to the powerful Indian Middle class. 

According to political leaders, Bharat Bandh was organized for making voices of common man heard to government and to assuage their pain and inflictions, but the truth is way apart from the reality, it is the common man who gets perturbed the most during these Bandhs. 

Therefore Strikonomics says, "Strikes are organized by a group of unemployed political workers by adopting destructive techniques like rail roko, chakka jam, purely aiming at disrupting life of a common man and wholly intended for betterment of their own political carriers".