ExpertDabbler

The very fact that Ranbaxy is hiring Giuliani to fend on its behalf in its imbroglio with USFDA makes me suspect their credentials. The intro on Giuliani Partners’ site was the ultimate piece of mokkai I’ve come across in recent times. Businessweek had covered the Ranbaxy issue , before the issue hit headlines.

What caught my attention was this.

Ranbaxy denies any wrongdoing. The company counters that it made changes recommended by the audits, and that the audits themselves are protected by attorney-client privilege. On Aug. 3, Ranbaxy turned over some documents to the FDA.

Manufacturing mess-ups do occur in the big bad world of pharma worldwide. A cursory glance through http://drug-injury.com reveals quite a bit. It is not confined to third world countries or one particular manufacturer.

But perceptions are a completely different beast. A wrongdoing by a US Pharma company will always be seen as a wrong doing by that company in that plant, while a failure by Ranbaxy will quickly translate to ‘India companies are always like this’ type generalizations. Anything manufactured in India is by default viewed as cheap, and of poor quality simply because it is from India. And to be honest, we have done very little to rectify that perception. I am sure Japanese car manufacturers would’ve faced the same issues sometime back. Look where they are now!

At this point, it looks like Ranbaxy has acted like one of those irresponsible brats I had mentioned in my previous post. At a time when Indian pharma companies are gearing up to move to the next level in the CRAM space (Contract research), acts like these by biggies like Ranbaxy brings a lot of bad press and pushes the whole industry and the country behind by a few notches.

One of my colleague, a married man, was leaving from work at around 8.30 PM when this other guy was just entering the office.

“Enna indha nerathula office, edhavadhu meeting irukka?”

Guess the answer?

“Illai, veetla current illai!!”

Staying late in office may or may not translate to getting work done, but it definitely means free uninterrupted power with A/C. Here are some of the other freedoms enjoyed by the folks, atleast in my office:
- free internet with WiFi,
- free unlimited coffee/tea,
- free unlimited packaged drinks (Tropicana and the likes),
- free DTH television in state of the art gadgets so that people can watch TV anytime (my company provides one on every floor),- - free recreational facilities like foose ball, table tennis, pool, and very recently Nintendo Wii,
- free visits from doctors from corporate hospitals,
- free cab facilities from various points in the city – either catch the bus near home early morning, or come to select points in the city and avail cabs every hour till 11 AM, house drop late in the night, flexible working hours, free concierge services, etc.

I am not the one to grudge anything here. Facilities are there to be used. But are we using it responsibly and judiciously? Not everybody at least.

For e.g one of my other colleague will come to office every morning with a To-Do list.
If you are in a hurry to say ’Maintaining To-Do list is good’, hold on.

His typical schedule is like this

11 – Come to office
11.15 – Finish checking mails – gmail, yahoo etc. Official mails can wait.
11.15 to 11.45 – Tea time.
11.45- he will start his first call - nothing official here as well. Sitting in Chennai, he is the undisputed Naataamai for his sister’s family back in his native. That Naataamai cum counseling session will go till lunch.
1 to 3 – a good lunch in Amaravathy, an Andhra restaurant nearby.
3 to 4 – Another call, this time to his parents back home.
4 to 5 – Tea break.
5 to 5.30 – call to his fiancée.

This is not to suggest that I eavesdrop. The only way I can stop listening to that guy’s outbursts over phone is to become deaf.

Usually something mysterious happens at 6. Maybe the power of his romantic love spurs him or whatever. He opens his daily tasks around this time and will wrap it all by around 2-3 AM, with due breaks for ‘Dhum’, ‘Sandwich’, ‘Orkut’. Since it is obviously late night, he will book a house drop and go back in company cab for free. One can imagine if some other team mate has a dependency on this guy’s work, chaos reign supreme. I am sure the guy would never go home if only the company provided him a dorm and a laundry. I am sure he is secretly praying for a ration card and voter ID in company address as well. I suspect he would even take a salary cut. Bachelor guys who stay away from home are the prime culprits in matters like this.

Recently, I came to know a good percentage of folks download movies for their viewing pleasure using RapidShare while in corporate network. When I gently asked them, pat comes the reply

“Prabu, adhu thappu na inneram block pannirupaanga la?”

I got reminded of some tamil proverbs which may not be appropriate to be quoted here.

If the administration provides for free pen and scribble, how to deal with people who take scribble pads and free Reynolds every day?

Result: they made pens and scribbles available on request.
Response - Some people request almost every day.

Of course not everybody is like this. But I fail to understand why even some percentage should be like this. There are some who simply do not have the maturity to work in a corporate environment where you are kinda free but expected to be responsible. The incidents I am observing in the last few months have made me conclude that a good percentage of people always find a thrill in abusing the freedom given to them.

In our previous facility in MEPZ, four people had to share a desk phone. All external calls were routed to an operator who would manually connect to calls once we tell the number. All downloads were prohibited, irrespective of whether it is for official purposes or not. How long does it take to go from the present freedom to the one in MEPZ? In my view, it’s only a matter of time.

I think IT companies can cut down their expenses by a substantial percentage by doing the following

- ask a percentage of their employees to work from home,
- ensures most of the folks do not stay back except office hours,
- and make an announcement that the top ten percentage of people who do the most number of outside calls from their work phone, and those who use company bandwidth to download non work related content will find their names exposed with data and a specified amount will be deducted from their salary. If they are non-productive resource, they should just be sent home.

I honestly do not think such people deserve any privacy or anonymity or even their job.

I guess not everyone might know about phishing attacks. I wanted to explain with a good example for sometime, and I got one this morning:

Here’s the first screenshot, a mailer which says due to invalid login attempts my Axis Bank Net Banking account has been temporarily restricted and limited.

Removing the restriction is simple, all I need to do is click on the link, go to the URL, enter my user ID and password and be done with it.

Everything looked genuine, till I saw the URL:
http://flachmotor.de/testshop/root/index.php?bank=www.axisbank.com

Why should a German site be so concerned about my online banking restrictions??

Here’s the fake version screenshot:

Here’s the actual AXIS BANK Net Banking page screenshot:

Very hard to tell the difference except for the missing verisign logo, and the warning message in RED.
I do not think many would actually read it. People tend to ignore the text so long as they see the open text fields to enter their details. Overall, a very professional phishing attempt.

Just for those who did not get the message till now, DON’T EVER CLICK THOSE MAILERS AND START ENTERING YOUR NET BANKING USER IDS AND PASSWORDS. It’s as good as sharing your user ID and passwords with the whole world.

Yanni’s version

Vanessa Mae’s version

I’ve heard VM’s before but got Yanni’s version of the same classic today. Brilliant!

And here’s the ‘proper’ version i guess

Ron Paul saw it coming long before we could coin “sub-prime mortgage”.
Click here to know more

He is also a Republican, he is also from Texas. Lets just say all things are not created equal in the Republican party, or in Texas or for that matter, the world.

Today’s Price list:

Tomato - Rs. 30/kg

Carrot - Rs. 40/kg

Beetroot - Rs. 20/kg

Big Onion - Rs. 40/kg

Cocnut - Rs. 10

Kosuru:
Coriander leaves, Bear sterns, IndyMac bank, Merill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Washington Mutual, Citigroup, Wachovia, etc for purchases above Rs. 100.

I guess not many know the rise of the Nadar community down south. Their progress, both material and in social status in the last century is nothing short of phenomenal. The Nadar community has been historically associated with toddy tapping. They had to face discrimination from other upper caste Hindus because of this. They were ostracized, denied entry to temples etc. But in a span of about 50-100 years, they have become one of the most prominent communities of Tamil Nadu thanks to their unity, enterprise and bloody hard work. It is one thing to grow if you are politically connected and well placed in the society, it is completely different if you do not have money, nor social status, nor education.

The community leaders had initiated a system of Uravinmurai and Maghamai wherein each Nadar family contributes a fixed monthly income to the Uravinmurais. The Nadars, with the funds from Uravinmurais, built their own temples, their own accommodation for their poor traders to stay in major towns, and built their own schools for their kids to study. A few of the software engineers now in US are products of these schools. Some of them had openly said that they could not have progressed this much had it not been for these community schools. My own cousin studied in one of these schools. So it is not as if the schools are reserved only for Nadar children though they do get a preference. In general, I am all for the idea of communities supporting themselves in areas like education. Had they waited for the government to build, support these schools, i guess they should’ve waited forever.

The Nadars had enterprise in their DNA. I cannot think of any other community which has a profitable privately owned bank to its credit - the Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank is essentially a Nadar bank. Today, Shiv Nadar is the richest South Indian, HSB is one of the biggest restaurant brand in Tamil Nadu, and about 50% of the major business establishments in T. Nagar area should be Nadar establishments.

While all the business growth augurs well for the community, it is not without its pitfalls. The concept of community based networking in business and politics works very well during the initial stages but later leads to cartelization when a threshold is reached. For e.g I don’t think its easy for an outsider to start a business in Virudhunagar unless he is a Nadar. I hear it’s better in Sivakasi. But this is the other side of caste based business networking. I guess this is the same in Tiruppur or Karur where the Gounders reign. I think the same applies for caste based politics too.

This strategy of uravinmurais may not hold good for all communities for all conditions. As I previously mentioned, the fact that Nadars were brilliant businessmen helped in no small measure. But nevertheless I think the rise of Nadars as a whole is one good case study of how it can be done. It is also a lesson about how sheer hard work, tenacity, enterprise and adaptability works brilliantly in the long run. I cannot help but say this - when one compares the progress of Nadars with similar disadvantaged groups e.g Muslim communities, and the Dalits, the difference in attitude and approach is glaring.

I did some search on this topic on the net, and inquired with my uncle who lives in Virudhunagar before writing this. For further reading on this subject, refer to:

Uravinmurai concept

Please refer this PDF.

And of course here to get a list of the Nadar institutions and establishments. Please note that most of these should’ve come up in the last 50-100 years.

I’ve been reading a lot about various community histories in our state in general. A lot of the so called intellectuals in all those communities always tend to place their forefathers at the center of the universe. Right from Iyothee Thass to Maraimalai adigal, the pattern is the same. The less said about the holy ancient texts, the better. Everyone likes to think their ancestors were great and kula vilakkus of the world since the days of Neanderthal man. Perhaps it helps them feel good, like watching Jaane Tu or DDLJ. Enough of romanticism, what about present day situation? They half expect Vijayakanth to stem the rot nowadays!

From whatever little I read, it is to be noted most of the well developed Hindu communities of India have either been persecuted or been persecutors or accomplices to grave injustices at one point or the other, only the degree varies - this is my version of history. This is one of the reasons I am basically disillusioned with this whole concept of caste and community and the pride associated.

Let me start with the community I was born into. As is the norm for all communities, there is a sangam for mine too. I came to know of them when they printed daily sheet calendars and distributed it in my native. Apart from that there is a Kalyana Mantapam and beyond that there are two schools. That’s pretty much End Of Story.

I asked my mom if there is any count on the total number of families who belong to my community. My mom said a ball park estimate. I’ve been far too long in the IT industry not to know such ball park estimates are a little more accurate than a random number rounded off to nearby thousand. Bear in mind that getting a census within a small community like mine should be infinitely easier than getting it for the whole of Tamil Nadu. What’s more it’s much simpler to identify people who need real help within a community. But instead all the perusus of the community collect money to build/renovate a temple in some remote part of Tamil Nadu as if the whole world will get rid of all injustices as soon as that temple gets built.

One of my relative is clearly struggling to educate his son. I am sure there are plenty other kids worse than my relative. I know there are enough rich guys who can make sure all these good students get their education within the community, yet nothing happens. There is no clear forum to present such cases. Without such a forum, do we expect poor students to go and beg? Till date, no one has asked me to donate funds for building a college, or school from my community.

Like flies which gets into action only in garbage, the only time one gets in touch with his community is during marriage, and that too it’s more of a hindrance than help in finding a good match.

Its not as if this phenomenon is restricted only to my community. The way I see, this is prevalent in all the so called well-off communities. In essence, there is no such thing as a community in spirit, all I see is apathy.

The sons and daughters of high class families who get their education in Vidya mandirs, PSBBs and DAVs and who speak against reservation are too strategic to think about their poor brethren who spend their lives on vaidheegam in Srivilliputhur or any other B, C tier town. They conveniently hide the fact that if a PSBB guy can get to a position in 4 years without reservation. With reservation, he will get to the same position despite reservation by virtue of his awareness, network and contacts in 6 years. The loss is two years. While for the B and C tier town students, it’s a question of life. It’s a herculean task to combat both reservation and poverty sitting in places which is neither a town nor a city. Okay, lets assume the government conspired against them. So what did these people do to their poor brethren?

Not many people know that are a whole bunch of communities who come under forward castes and who do not come under reservation. The fact remains that there are poor families in all communities. Some communities like Nagarathars, I hear have openly declared themselves as forward and hence made it clear they do not want reservation.

Mr. X will study in a top school in Chennai, get into IIT, go to America, get GC - end of story. What is that he does to his community except write in his community website about his forefathers who are India’s pride? Most of the time the answer is zilch. Trouble is, there is no organised way to do even if he wants to. Some even go to the extent of donating funds for the study and promotion of Vedas for poor students. I think it’s kinda funny that they ensure IT education for themselves while actively promoting study of Vedas for the poor. If only all the educated and relatively well endowed had sponsored one poor student intra community, if only each had contributed a thousand rupees to build a college, we could’ve made India a developed country long back.

From what I can see, the Nagarathars did their bit for education, the Naidus and Gounders have made Coimbatore what it is today. But these are too few and far in between. Also, these communities are relatively politically well connected as well. I am not too comfortable with caste and politics combo, and to a lesser extent caste and business combo. This just leads to some other form of abuse of power in the long run.

Thus, while most of the so called ‘powerful’ community stories are essentially stories of riches to rags, there is at least one community whose story is clearly rags to riches in the last fifty years.

Honestly, it’s a bit embarrassing for me to write about theoretical physics, black hole, big bang theory and so on. To say that I am not qualified is like saying the torch light is not the sun – understatement of a lifetime.

Anyways those of you who might be interested on those topics would also be glad to know that we are alive today despite doomsday predictions from some sections. Hopefully, we should survive 21-Oct-2008 as well.This looks like an attempt to get closer to the grand unifying theory of physics. My enlightened readers can say more perhaps.

For more insights on such intellectual jalliadi matters, please buy at least a pirated edition of ‘A brief history of time’ from triplicane pycrofts road and try reading when you don’t feel sleepy. If at the end of the book, you realize a black hole is not exactly a corporation drainage man hole which is dark and black, then the money spent on the book is well spent.

This term jalliadi also reminds me of Sujatha. Had he been with us today, I am sure he would’ve written about this stuff in Katradhum Paetradhum at least a week before. I was hoping against hope that people who had more than a passing interest in theoretical physics, the real techies or nerds will write about this so that almost illiterates like me can know more. Alas, that is not to be. Idhuvum Ildyvadai la potta dhaan padipomo??

BTW do we a thamizh blog on science subjects? I can read English a bit but am not as comfortable as in clearly written contemporary thamizh when it comes to reading technical, scientific stuff.

PK: Kiriyaa oooki is not exactly clearly written contemporary thamizh. Catalyst is.

- That I can run. I am kinda surprised that I could run around 2.5km despite being overweight. I am sure most of the folks who confine to walking can graduate to jogging. Crossing five minutes is the hardest. It gets better after that. My friend Madhu keeps pointing me to the Chennai runners website. I don’t want to see that till I hit five km

- Adobe comes with lot of options to edit and manage RAW files. Long way to go for me:(

- The more I think about Nanganallur, the more I realize that it is a fantastic suburb for the middle class makkals in Chennai. There is a temple every 100 mts. It is well connected by trains, and almost walkable distance from the airport (if you are prepared to walk 4 kms that is). It has two star hotels nearby if you are in a mood to spend. Cost of living is also relatively cheaper in Nanganallur than areas like Velachery. All IT bus routes touch this place one way or the other. An evening walk to Anjaneyar temple is part of the routine for locals I guess. The temple is crowded all the time. Two rounds of that ghee dripping prasadam there should take care of your dinner needs if you are not in a mood to cook. What more do you want?