Desicritics Author: Abhishek

The Great Reservations Debate

Abhishek — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:47:13 EDT

The absurdity of the Indian judicial system knows no bounds. The recent judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has left every right thinking individual shell shocked. None of the political outfits or the parties, whether aligned to left or right is going to come out in favor of the people who are affected the most.

Historically, affirmative action has not worked wherever it has been sought to be introduced. Society cannot move on idealism; it needs practical approach towards issues that face us. Affirmative action, by and large leads to policy of reverse discrimination, where the system rewards the “less competent” over the more competent person. This definition, unfortunately, remains subjective leading to acrimonious debates, most of them featured on these columns or elsewhere. Merit is indeed an abstract notion; there are no objective criteria to measure it. This remains one of the forceful arguments for those who propose reservations.

In the garb of promotion of equality, the Government has chosen to promote “race equality”. Why should the successive generations suffer on account of perceived injustices to the present “class” of people? It only serves to hurt the “mainstream” people for something that they do not condone or support.

Higher education is a holy cow. Successive governments, regardless of ideologies, have chosen to dabble with their brand of ideology and influence the course of historians to suit it to their own partisan interests. Those knowledgeable in the statecraft would attribute this to ruling of the masses by an iron sleight of hand. It pervades every nook and corner of our existence. The concept of democracy is notional. Every aspect of our lives is measured, filtered and assessed via a fine tooth comb and information for us to be assimilated is rehashed. It justifies this as the majority of the population is unable to take decisions on their own. This, my country, is a nation of dimwits who are unable to stand out and vote for a meaningful change.

If the Constitution guarantees equal rights, this decision should not be equated by taking my rights to satisfy someone else. Since, it would repress someone who is capable for a particular job; it would make this nation a laggard.
Why higher education alone? Why not the entire political spectrum? We have a resounding silence there. There has been no word in reserving the seats for the ones who have been dispossessed in the political arena. The entire political spectrum is dominated by upper castes unless you wish to include the “born again Christians”, the emasculated Prime Minister and his consort very appropriately called as, “The Madam”.

The arguments for affirmative action have included the fact that a more diversified representation from the various ethnic minorities would lead to a “vibrant workforce” and that it indicates the “strength of democracy”. Most of these concepts have been brought into focus from the discarded “western notions” about democracy in general. We cannot separate the chaff from the grain and ironically may well echo what the British had commented long time back about our inability to govern ourselves. Unfortunately, the overriding message to the future generation is that this nation does not value your academic achievements or the number of hours you put in to burn the proverbial midnight oil. The sole factor is the “accidental birth” in an upper caste household and one is doomed forever.

One of the sore examples is that of Tamil Nadu where the reservations work to the disadvantage of “upper castes”. The crushing reservation has only helped to move them out of their communities to search for greener pastures elsewhere. Primarily, the “lower castes” vote en bloc leading to generation of a “vote bank” because in lieu of their votes, the systematic rot is allowed to be in place further depressing any hope of an institutional change.

Another factor is that caste notions are constantly hammered in the consciousness of those who otherwise would not have thought about the same. I cannot but help thinking about the person who would enter the hallowed portals of AIIMS based on his caste rather than clearing the tough entrance exam which tests the potential of above average students. It could hold true for any other institute. All his life, the person getting entry based on Government largesse would be marked and force him to get ghettoized with his “caste kinsmen” without really getting himself integrated in the mainstream as hoped for. These caste divisions would only serve to create constant frictions between the various groups; all the while allowing the powers that be to fish in troubled waters. Such constant friction only negates the idealism which isn’t warranted in the first place.

Although the judgment speaks of keeping out the creamy layer from the purview of reservation, only the very naïve would believe that this creamy layer would not act to keep their interests in the family. A huge amount of tax is being funneled to pay for fancy schemes which remain good on paper; pathetic in implementation at the ground level. It would be difficult to extrapolate individual cases on generalized scenario but even the creamy layer among the backward castes is reaping a rich harvest of Government largesse. We may never be able to force the system to change and the situation is going to worsen over the period of time. It has been prompted by evil machinations of an old dying crock who cannot muster enough votes for himself in a local municipal election and unfortunately, has been thrust in mainstream for his controversial proposals.

When it would concern the people who vote for a radical change, it remains to be seen as to how their wards or significant others secure or latch on to national resources like leeches. They suck the intellectual discourse dry and for some reason have inexhaustible resources to argue needlessly without any reason. They form the majority of the media and the leftist cabal.

I foresee a rough time ahead for the aspirants to higher education. Those who can afford, even in these times of killing inflation, would escape this system to institutes where merit alone is the criterion.

There are no easy solutions to these problems. Although, the easiest is not make the waters too murky by setting up caste based reservations. We already have enough troubles on our hands. This is a killing blow to the bright and deserving children from either side of the divide where they are thrust into unknown future. Neither there are any quick fix solutions to problems that have stemmed from very shaky foundations.

Why Do Doctors Get A Raw Deal?

Abhishek — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:43:00 EST

This is in response to the Bangalore junior doctors' strike which has been resumed after fearing attacks from the patients' attendants. The unruly mob threatened the overburdened juniors and created a mayhem in the process. Why should doctors always get the raw deal?

It takes a lot to graduate from a medical school. The whole concept of the world changes once a person is a medico. This is not to belittle any other profession for each one merits it's own place in society. However, given the economic condition of the doctors, one needs to empathize with the working conditions that they as a community find themselves in.

Most of the Government hospitals are understaffed and suffer from a severe lack of equipment. Still, the doctors fight against all odds and deliver the goods. In no other profession a person would be woken up at 3 in the morning and have to confront a dying man who would demand 100% attention right from the word go. Do you know how much effort it takes to diagnose an acute case of pain in the abdomen? You have to order the right tests, the right dosage of the medications, the vitals that need to be recorded, to comfort the patient as well as his/her attendants and correlate the findings to come to a diagnosis? Yes, one has to do all this and there has to be no scope for error. Any sign of failure in the critical patient and the response has to be equally quick; in seconds.

The hands-on job training takes years to hone before one gets oriented to the state of affairs. The medical profession is indeed a boon; a life saved is indeed worth it.

Yet, the doctors work in an environment which gives them a raw deal. A junior doctor, who has spent the best part of his life mugging up and writing his examinations and clearing his practicals sees his counterparts getting hired in fancy companies. All paid housing benefits with an annual all paid leave. No doubt, the work is pushing in the other fields too but it is often moronic and repetitive. There is no thrill in reading a financial statement correctly at the end of the day. Still, they are paid more than the doctors who are more qualified than them in every respect.

Doctors get to work in dingy hospitals where there is no concept of patient care. The paramedic staff is shorthanded and it is the doctor who has to manage the blood samples, collect reports, administer the medications and listen and solve the patients' complaints. All at the same time. For all this, they are paid a pittance. The monthly salary of a peon in a Government office is more than what the striking doctors in Bangalore are getting.

No doctor would want his patients to suffer. It violates the fundamental principles and the oath that they take to serve the humanity. Yet, if as a community, they are pushed to the brink repeatedly, what options do they have? How can anyone, in their right mind, really expect the doctors to work in an atmosphere of fear? Where the next attendant of the patient might just come and attack them? Are they not justified if they demand security for their workplace?

The management (or the bureaucrats) are stone deaf morons who have no idea how to manage a hospital. Until they wake up to reality, nothing is going to change on the ground. Unfortunately, the Gandhian way of doing things in this country are outmoded and only the voice of collective strikes is heard.

The media adds to the conundrum by drumming it up with the last line that the "poor innocent patients suffer". Where were you sods when the entire incident played out? Why do you claim yourselves to be the watchdogs of society when you can't even pinpoint the problem staring in your face? Whose side of the divide are you and whose interests are you serving?

Doctors should stand up for their rights and rightly so. They did so when the reservations issue was in the limelight and everyone else was making it a drawing room conversation topic. They were the ones who fought out on the streets for everyone else. Who applies the salve to their wounds?

Strikes are the last resort; but they have to be justified. Surprisingly, there is no outburst against the proposed bank strike that would cripple the entire nations banking industry and cause untold losses to the financial sector. Or the proposed BSNL strike that was deferred recently for the "unjust" demands of the striking employees who are among the most pampered sections of the workforce. When doctors go on strike for their legitimate demands, million voices rise condemning their actions; gallons of crocodile tears are shed and strikes ended by force or coercion by law or promises that are kept in deep freeze.

If Abu Gharib prison shots shook your conscience, witness the living accommodation of a resident doctor in Maharashtra. It's worse than a concentration camp.

It's high time issues are brought in focus and matters resolved to gurantee basic work place ethics to a professional. The least a doctor demands is autonomy in his work; there is enough self censure in the community to warn one professional when he is straying away.

Don't deny this right to them.

Open Source Hassles

Abhishek — Mon, 3 Dec 2007 11:29:30 EST

I have been an open source proponent over the past four years and realized the frustration over the period of time by sticking on to it. At the centre of debate is the copyright versus copyleft scenario which has no easy solutions and answers. There are proponents of two theories and a considerable amount of money and energy is being devoted towards promoting their respective agendas.

Microsoft has been dominating the computer scene for over two decades ever since the personal computing era began. It is immaterial as to how they achieved their "dominance." To them, stealing intellectual property rights and passing it off as their own is second nature. They have a whole army of lawyers to battle the companies and frequently tend to settle out-of-court by paying out huge monies. The owner is the world's richest man and grows richer by the second. The employees are well paid and I believe that they are taken care of.

On the other hand, there are a group of "hackers" who put in their brains to make the "free" software work. Their de facto spokespersons, such as Richard Stallman, go around the world propagating free software. Much of the work has been done by these renegade folks who work behind the scenes to create open source software, which means that anyone can modify their work and release changes to the public.

Much criticism of Microsoft has been about their stranglehold over the hardware manufacturers. This was evidenced by the release of Windows Vista, which required users to "upgrade" to be able to use an utterly useless fancy interface. Still, the company piled on cash to advertise the "features" by trying to induce people to use something that wasn't really worth it.

Idealism apart, the incremental nature of the hardware complexity has meant that there is a bewildering array of choices in front of a consumer. It becomes difficult to choose and not to fall for the advertising glitz. With the release of new software, the support for the previous versions slowly wanes away. With every version release and "features", the users are forced to upgrade their hardware in order to make the features work.

I faced a similar predicament a week back. I have been using Ubuntu on my laptop but however hard I tried, I could not make my webcam or my wireless work. I have been facing issues with my trackpad not working out of the box; it was next to impossible to get the support from the forums or the designated support structures. My usage for the laptop was sub-optimal because I could not use the hardware that I had paid my hard-earned money to use.

However, I could easily set up the same hardware in Vista which had come previously installed. Wireless worked flawlessly and so did the data transfer. Setting up the network was "easy" and it was a matter of getting used to the right buttons to click.

How does this user experience matter? I have been waiting for the "perfect" Linux distribution that would be truly plug and play. No doubt a lot depends on the hardware manufacturers to release their drivers in the Open Source-supported models. Still, the usage of Linux remains sub-optimal in the sense that even though the hardware is made to work, the full functionality is not utilised. For example, my laptop speakers are Dolby enabled and can create a variety of sound effects depending on the equalizer settings in Vista. Even though the sound works in Linux, the effects don't. In effect, it doesn't really translate into "customer delight."

I installed Open Suse (which is a rpm based distro) and started missing the convenience of Debian. Still, it has really come a long way from what the earlier versions had been and as I understand, a lot of work is being devoted to making a majority of laptops work. I feel that at this pace, it would truly take a lot of time before anything meaningful materialises and an ordinary user would really need some working knowledge of the command line interface to make things work for him/her in Linux.

This brings us to the questions that I had raised about copyright and copyleft. There are no clear-cut winners here and it only depends on the number of people propping up either side of the divide. I have my system in a dual boot mode for "emergency." While travelling or for WiFi access, I have to depend on Vista. Maybe perhaps, in the near future, the distros will be polished enough to translate into a happy user experience. Otherwise, presently, I am sticking with dual boot solely because of idealism for Linux and nothing else.

Tech Review: Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

Abhishek — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:43:00 EDT

I was indeed seduced with the option of having a brand new Linux distro on my laptop; specially when the reviews suggested that it had improved support for laptops.

I had to manually install the whole damned thing because it would not upgrade from a CD. I decided to go ahead with a clean install and after several false starts, I ended up having a brand new shining version, which has considerably improved over its predecessors. The whole problem was traced to VGA as the default screen resolution.

For once, Firefox has amazed with its inline grammatical check; I have yet to see something similar in Opera. I would, no doubt, install Opera once it becomes available for 7.10. For the time being, this is an acceptable trade off. Everything seems to be configured for the end user convenience. For example, I had to click on the mp3 file and it offered to download and install the codecs by itself. The screen brightness applet works and it automatically brings down the screen brightness once you disconnect it from the mains. WOW again.

The most amazing thing was the auto-detection of my wireless card. It offered to download the firmware from the net and installed it on its own. WOW to that. Rhythmbox seems to work out of box with the addition of songs a breeze. It has been toned up and made to resemble Amarok.

Sound works better on my Lenovo than the previous installed version, however, this is strictly a subjective confirmation.

For most of the users, this is a no-brainer in the Windows world. However, for Linux, these are teething issues that have taken a long time to resolve. Most of the hardware manufacturers refuse to release drivers for Linux boxes which makes it extremely hard to "hack" the drivers and make the hardware work. This only results in suboptimal performance when Linux is not to be blamed. The best part is that all this is community participation and true democracy at work.

Open source software is the way to go. I have had issues with Gnome and have been using it quite reluctantly; till the time KDE comes out with its 4th version.

There are several other enhancements like the addition of lightning fast desktop search and improved support and installation for Firefox add-ons. I was never a Firefox fan boy and especially its extensions (THE big plus factor in its widespread adoption by everyone). This would gladden FF nuts in the wild but to me this remains a useless add-on.

The default installation comes with a reasonable number of themes and preferences, however, there are definitive guides available to spruce up and spice your system.

I would recommend installation of the beta system; by and large the main glitches are resolved. It's the continuous updates that would be available right up to its release and make it worthwhile. There's always a problem of overloaded servers though on D-day.

I would not recommend installation of Automatix. Earlier on, I was fond of the various programmes that could be downloaded; Gdebi installer has made life way too easy. Just download the required .deb files and it will download the necessary dependencies. Simple as that.

I remember the time when I had to manually search for rpm files for Mandrake (now Mandriva and it sucks to the core) which made me switch over to Ubuntu (a .deb based distro). Over the past three years, the hardware support has improved considerably and perhaps barring Mac OS (in terms of spit and polish), Ubuntu comes a close second. Mac OS can be overbearing and needs incremental hardware to support itself. None of these hassles exist with Ubuntu.

I really hope that the hardware manufacturers take up Ubuntu's cause and offer it as the original installed base system. It's a myth that it is difficult to support. At best, it does need some degree of involvement with your system; Windows in my experience can be more frustrating to use.

Here's to Gutsy Gibbon. Welcome to the new wave of user-friendly computing.

Tata Broadband Faces Customer Criticism

Abhishek — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 01:03:00 EDT

Tata Broadband has been taking its customers for a ride. Their customer care is pathetic and it's difficult to make them act on your complaints. One person has been fighting the company since Feb 2006, for 17 months! So far, there has been no response to the person's emails/letters to the company's CMD and from TRAI who is supposed to be the "caretaker" of the customer's interests.

He explored the matter and raised the issue on Broadband Forum He tried to raise the issue at mouthshut.com which claims to be a "neutral" website for consumer reviews. However, his posts were manipulated and deleted by the people behind the website.

This, by itself, is a matter of grave concern. No one from the company responded to the customer's plight despite the various deadlines. They ignored him like they do to numerous other customers. What I didn't realise is that most of the ISPs do not have toll free numbers which makes it very expensive for the customer to call in and lodge their complaints.

TRAI is supposed to act as a regulator but is more like an emasculated paper tiger. None of the ISP's seem to care two hoots for the "regulator" because on its own, it cannot act. Even though there are legal safeguards for the customers, they are not enforced. This has emboldened the companies to act against their customers without giving them the services promised for.

This customer in question has been made to suffer downtimes and deficiency in service. In effect, this is a clear breach of the service agreement with the customer to provide him a decent service. I understand that the company responded to the customer via its communication arm where in they just sought to wash off their hands of the matter claiming that the downtime is beyond their control.

Tata Broadband (and erstwhile VSNL) has been stuck in a time warp. I understand that a mainstream media channel is interested in the story and might be airing this segment in October. I would appeal to all to list their problems with their ISPs (and Tata in particular) for possible resolution.

For very obvious reasons, I have obscured the details here. Follow the story in the forums or here and watch it unfold!

I am copying and pasting the details as on the forum for your perusal.

MouthShut tried to take the following text off their website 7 times... I am back [yet again] because many of you did read it (550+ individuals) and many did like it because it was very helpful to them! very helpful to them!

I simply ask: Why should you all not know the truth?

In my fight with the ISP -- VSNL/ TATA-indicom -- I have escalated my issue(s) to the highest level now and look forward to an excellent cooperation from the media to help fight the cause for us consumers.

I have been the ISPs customer since February 15th, 2006. The following is a listing of the continuing faults, i.e. my allegations:

1. Constant breaks in service, i.e. connectivity.*
=> The line is down 10-30% of the time every month... it has been even up to 80% at times.
2. Constant fluctuation in bandwidth (down- & upload speeds).
=> I bought and pay in full for 256 kbps (256 kbps Infinity Post Paid) but only get 201 kbps (download) and 160 kbps (upload) speeds!
3. Low speeds that range from 10-100 kbps (kilobit per second) occur often.
=> Connections like this make browsing next to impossible... this happens often and is not called a break in service!
4. No credits for short and also prolonged lapses in service.
=> Despite all the breaks in service, drops in speed, lacking bandwidth, very little or no credits are given.
5. Incorrect and unprofessional billing.
=> If you get 6 different versions of printed bills with next to no credits for proven downtimes OR lapses in service, you can call it a fraud!
6. Long wait times to register complaints.
=> Wait times on a non toll-free number can be up to 12 minutes.
7. No toll-free number to register complaints at VSNL cost.
=> All calls are made at the consumers cost - and these amount to many calls a month!
8. Non-functional (also slow) web mail services.
=> The VSNL webmail services are a catastrophe!
9. Incapability to correct my address.
=> After over 17 months and 5 reminders there are still mistakes in the address!
10. The ISP is interrupting my business and hence influencing my life’s quality!
=> It is obvious that someone who is so dependant upon a functional and fast internet cannot do his work under the circumstances!

Some facts for you:
- I have been a VSNL/ TATA-indicom customer since February 2006.
- I have lodged 85+ official complaints (with unique complaint numbers!).
- I have sent them 50+ eMails, reprimanding them.
- I have been forced to spend more than 2,100 minutes on the phone with them.
- I have billed them for Rs 1.5+ lacs in expenses/ cost to me (increasing by the day!).
- I have written to the VSNL CMD, Mr. Subodh Bhargava (5+ times).
- I have written to the TRAI Chairman, Mr. Nripendra Misra (once!).
- I have involved CNN-IBN to fight for me/ us.*
- I have filed an RTI application with the TRAI RTI Officer Mr. Jiwan Das (once!).
- CNN-IBN has now handed in a DVD to VSNL with the allegations.*

The contact details (in case you have a grouse against your ISP, specifically TATA, are:

Mr. Subodh Bhargava
CMD
VSNL - Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (TATA-indicom)
Bangla Sahib Marg
New Delhi - 110 001
Delhi
Home Phone: +91-124-5063146
eMail: s.bhargava@vsnl.co.in

Mr. R. K. Khushu
PA to CMD
VSNL - Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (TATA-indicom)
Bangla Sahib Marg
New Delhi - 110 001
Delhi
Office Phone: +91-11-23747319
eMail: rk.khushu@vsnl.co.in

Ms. Mamta Jain
Customer Assurance Head
VSNL HQ - Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (TATA-indicom)
M. G. Road, Fort
Mumbai - 400 001
Maharashtra
Office Phone: +91-22-66101240
eMail: mamta.jain@vsnl.co.in

Mr. Nripendra Sharma
Chairman
TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan
Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road)
New Delhi - 110 002
Delhi
Office Phone #1: +91-11-23211236
Office Phone #2: +91-11-23213409
eMail #1: cp@trai.gov.in
eMail #2: trai@del2.vsnl.net.in

Mr. Jiwan Das
RTI Officer/ Chief Public Information Officer
TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan
Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road)
New Delhi - 110 002
Delhi
Office Phone: +91-11-23211622
eMail: jiwandass@trai.gov.in

Hope this gets carried out to its logical conclusion.

Take your own battle to them and copy me on your correspondence(s) if you like. Don’t forget: if you release the pressure on the ISP (Internet Service Provider), nothing will ever change.

Apple iPhone: Reality Distortion

Abhishek — Mon, 2 Jul 2007 13:45:38 EDT

The launch of the Apple iPhone was part of Steve Jobs' famous "reality distortion field" and given the hype and hoopla they are able to generate, the hype was perhaps worth it. It has been just 3 days since the iPhone was launched; there were hordes of morons who wanted to be the first in the line for the "iconic" phone that promised everything but sadly delivers not much in terms of value.

For the same reason, I have never favoured iPods. I'd agree that they are beautiful. They can be easily navigable. But they don't deliver bang for the buck. It doesn't always boil down to having the "best" and the "latest" and paying oodles extra for the "coolness" factor. Or that "I have it too".

Apple iPhone generated a lot of "news" online. After all, it is one smart phone that has wowed the geek audiences. Most of the people were willing to ignore the crappy AT&T services that were bundled for over two years. And that the speeds of access negate everything that iPhone aims to sell.

It is a classic Apple approach to sell underpowered hardware and generate sales for incremental hardware upgrades for later versions. Perhaps they would upgrade the hard drive; change colours, have a better camera or make it work on "better networks". I cannot crystal gaze but Jobs needs loads of marketing crap to sell the future versions in the Mac Expos.

However, all this marketing hype has laid focus squarely on the "leaders" like Nokias and Ericssons of the world. With its crappy N series handsets, Nokia has not exactly been able to take the market by storm. Their marketing campaigns are squarely based on rolling everything into one which makes the handsets bulky and unwieldy. I own a simple basic handset that helps me to stay connected; this is the future driver of the growth for developing countries and I believe that incremental improvements in the battery life or menus would help them to retain the market confidence. At best, the Taiwanese/Korean companies are gearing up to meet the challenge from Apple's onslaught. I doubt whether they would succeed in the competitive US market; however no one would deny them the chance to innovate. Nokia needs to update it's Symbian OS which is clunky and slow.

I believe that the sole focus of the iPhone is to test market the mobile media and means to access the same. As the Internet becomes ubiquitous, the content (and the service providers) would chase you wherever you are.

I believe that the porn industry would squarely benefit from the introduction of iPhone. They have been at the forefront of the technological revolution and it would be interesting to see frustrated "jerkins" using the in thing to surf porn. AT&T is no stranger to this and they have been distributing porn earlier on.

It would be hard to do any justice to this post without linking on to what others are saying. Youth Curry raises a valid point about Apple loosing it's sales in India because of it's inept marketing and expensive overheads in form of duties and taxes. Unfortunately, Apple has been loosing sales to illegitimate channels which makes it worse from their perspective. Yet, noting is being done. I wouldn't be seeing this phone till about next year. This means that only the black market would rule with it's prices presently.

Opera Watch says that Opera Mini is a better bet any day. iPhone's zoom feature is nothing new; it was all there in Opera Mini since it's launch. Another added advantage is the ability to use a virtual cursor by just using the keys on the keyboard. This makes is much more universal in appeal. Imagine using Opera Mini on the iPhone. I am not sure whether it would be possible to download and install Mini on your sexy brand new acquisition.

Early reviews on the same blog entry show that the iPhone is slow, Internet-wise. This is to be expected when a "new generation" phone is launched on ancient networks.

Emergic had a series of articles written from across the blogosphere about iPhone. (1,2,3,4,5) Much of it is the adulation of the "iconic iPhone" and makes no sense. However, Cringely hits the nail in the head squarely. He writes :

The iPhone absolutely needs AJAX applications for the phone to be a success on AT&T's EDGE network. By pushing more functional logic into the browser, the bandwidth consumed per http round-trip is significantly reduced, making the phone apps faster and helping to justify that big price tag. The problem with this is that AJAX apps don't always work the same (or at all) on every browser. The iPhone has real browser support, which is good, but remember AJAX is based on JavaScript, which in this case is not so good. JavaScript isn't statically typed and each browser has its own version of JavaScript. Developers are typically forced to hand-code different versions of their AJAX apps for different browsers. With the AJAX economy dictating that browsers with big market share like IE and Firefox get most of the effort, that leaves Safari as a second-class browser and, potentially, a liability for the iPhone.

He feels that iPhones have been deliberately crippled for performance.

Remember that a key component of iPhone marketing is that the device will run a version of OS X, making it more computer than phone. When the iPhone finally ships and some techies have voided their warranties and torn the thing apart, they'll probably find it uses a processor running at a gigahertz or more -- by far the fastest processor ever put in a mobile phone -- a processor more powerful than that in my Mom's PC. With all that power locked inside, of course some users will want to imagine their iPhone AS their PC, which Apple -- at least for now -- would rather not enable because it might hurt Macintosh sales. So they've hobbled the iPhone with essentially the same crappy text entry capability as on any other phone.

Where does that leave the Indian market in all that? Apple has been smart enough to realize that the growth story being talked off here is all hogwash. The number of the new handset sales does not justify the accrued numbers. However, there are no concrete statistics for the second hand handset sales. The number may be higher or lower than the professed numbers.

Further, the market is maturing in terms of people willing to try out the value added services. Yet, the billing hassles have not yet been resolved. Another problem is that we hardly get to see demand for "unlimited access"; I believe that some of the operators have such schemes. It truly defines "world wide wait" (www) as it is intended to be. The speed of access is pitiable as compared to dial up for a contrast.

Lets wait and watch for its debut in India.

Movie Review: Michael Moore's Sicko and the Sick Health Care Industry

Abhishek — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:18:09 EDT

I just finished watching a documentary by Michael Moore titled Sicko. The word presumably stems from the sick American Health Care industry and its denial of legitimate insurance to those who have paid for it.

It is pretty disturbing to see images of the price being applied for attaching amputated body parts, old and infirm patients being dumped on the street in front of homeless shelters because they cannot afford to pay for the cost of the treatment, over medications and what we call as "defense medicine"- over prescription of tests and what have you. Things really don't get that bad in India but nevertheless, the medical profession has slowly become a stooge to the considerable commercial interests.

Everyone needs an affordable health care and universal access to it. The ground reality is different because of misplaced priorities. So far, we have not been able to generate a proper consensus on the way we need to evolve the way we need the health care.

The documentary suffers from an over dose of optimism. It showed images of a middle class French couple who traveled around the world; it discounted the severe unrest against the "aliens" streaming in their nation or the class discrimination against the Blacks. It showed images of a General Practitioner in London who lived in a "million dollar apartment" discounting the fact that they need to constantly look around for jobs. Racial discrimination is a standard norm against the Indian doctors; the health care industry is creaking, huge fees that needs to be paid to private specialists because the universal health care cannot handle the huge waiting lists; their pathological tests being outsourced ironically to India and horror stories that appeared in Indian media that Hospitals in UK cannot afford to change bed sheets every day and thus contributing to the problem of hospital acquired infections.

However, this is not a critique of the film. The point here is that health care is one of the fundamental rights of any human. It is the profession that has become the sacrificial lamb at the altar of commerce. Those of you who can read this can easily afford five star care in a private hospital. At times, it becomes difficult to reconcile the "best" of the health care at your door steps with the degraded and rotten systems in the periphery. India has a lopsided growth model with emphasis being more on the "super specialist" care than the basic primary health with a focus on preventive medicine.

Any big city has mushrooming health care centres whose sole aim is profit maximization. Yet, it is not the intention to lay the blame solely on them. The health care sector has hardly seen any incremental investments over the past few decades. The salaries are stagnant. The working conditions can be at best described as a ghetto. Patients are bundled in as sheep and herded along. Doctors are forced to work in the limitations imposed by the system because no one would listen to them. Those who have entered the Government service are bound by a bond; a little better than slave labour. Why is that your faith in a public hospital is less than a private set up?

Sicko of course, does not answer these even in the context of American health care. These are problems that are unique to India. However, I wish to underscore the fact that health insurance is slowly coming in the mainstream because the "private" health care system is slowly getting out of the reach of common man. I have worked in a private set up whose monthly turnover was in crores. They got subsidized land and tax breaks because the Government wanted to "help" the common man. Yet, the top notch specialist did not have time for the "common man" because his paying clients would get offended.

It is a typical class mindset and it's very difficult to shake it off. I am not a dyed in wool socialist or a communist. Yet, the whole thing strikes as unfair. If public has subsidized the private initiatives, they have no right to maximise their profits at our cost.

Another gloomy prospect is the entry of the multinationals in the health care industry in a big way. They have big and deep pockets; they can easily sustain the recurring costs of running a five-star hospital for long gestation times. They hire the best in the marketing, pay them fancy salaries, cuts to doctors for the tests ordered and a share of profits from the in-house pharmacy by procuring the drugs cheap from the other manufacturers. It gives me no joy to see private health care sector "booming" at the cost of public initiatives. If this is the case, something is seriously wrong here.

However, we don't question this all. Because those of you reading it would not be lulled into consciousness till the time a tragedy strikes. The realization that it's very important for the well being of our loved ones. You would want the best of health care for your own isn't it? What makes the others lesser humans if they can't afford the quality of "care" that you can?

Sicko raises these and a lot of other fundamental issues. Health care ought to be universal though the method of delivery can be debated upon.

This documentary would be out on June 29th; a version of it was supposedly leaked on the Internet and if rumours are to be believed, then it was from Moore himself. This documentary would certainly raise a lot of heat and I am sure the insurers, health care providers, and other powers that be would be definitely on the backfoot.

I really hope that truth prevails.

Software Review: Opera Mini

Abhishek — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:34:02 EDT

The fourth beta of Opera Mini has been released. Amazingly, this is just a 90kb download and brings forth desktop-like capabilities on your handsets.

I am no big fan of Wireless Internet and have long held the belief that tiny screens make no sense to "surf" because it's as good as useless trying to focus on something through such a small screen. However, given the state of Broadband access, the wireless Internet via mobiles would definitely grow. And it makes sense for the operators to market their data plans effectively.

It is in the Indian context that the likes of Opera Mini are enough to generate excitement. There are a huge number of blogs out there who have mentioned about their "wow" experience (not to be confused withVista). A browser like Opera Mini would ease the pains of "browsing" to a considerable extent as compared to the present generation sucky "browsers".

For the technical minded, Opera Mini works by pushing your web address to Opera's servers and it compresses the web page to render it effectively on the mobile screens. There have been concerns about privacy; I feel that most of the accessed web pages are definitely kept as a "back up" for "data mining" or to correlate the preferences. I am not aware of their backend operations but then it's a matter of trust. You do keep a back up of your email online. Imagine something like Hotmail! Trusting Microsoft?

Apart from the privacy concerns, Opera Mini actually allows you to blog, surf, catch up with RSS feeds, et al just like your desktop browser. This, in my opinion, is a great thing to happen because it literally opens up a vast range of possibilities. It would make it easier to develop applications like widgets et al and engaging content. Apple's iPhone was crowing about the "zoom feature" of Safari on their handsets. This, I am told, came in from Opera's version for Wii.

The Internet is all pervasive and at least in the "developed" parts of the world, embedded browsers make sense to access Internet.

I got an email from the Opera team asking me to blog about this once the new version is out. They had specifically requested me to put up the banners online to promote their product. This is in a way a small contribution to the efforts being put in by many others in order to spread the word. indeed, Opera is the only closed source application on my desktop. This does go against my own professed claims of Open Source alone and nothing else. However, the open source "clone" Firefox sucks to the max and it makes no sense to invest my time and energy and to make it work by extensions.

Interestingly, there is no open source alternative to mobile browsers either, as good as Opera.

You could check out Opera Mini simulator in order to check the compatibility for your web enabled handset. There is an explosion of interest online about this new application. Opera Watch links to various other blog sites around the world.

Further, if you like the application, please do consider spreading the word around.

Further details of the features of Opera Mini on Opera Watch.

I must admit that I don't have a data enabled handset; nevertheless, it might make sense buying one given an exciting application like Opera Mini.

Why Bash Hinduism?

Abhishek — Sat, 5 May 2007 15:38:57 EDT

I usually don't react to articles published here on Desicritics. Yet it seems the pseudo intellectuals are running riot here all the while lionising write ups that denigrate Hinduism or it's rich symbolism.

Amrita Rajan has eulogised a "cartoonist" who seems to be drawing parallels between her sorry life and Ramayana. While it would be a personal choice to whatever she does; it does not give her the right to abuse Hinduism or it's symbolism without being challenged.

It seems that these pseudo intellectuals have this idea that it is fashionable to highlight their so called "secular credentials" by writing about demented morons as the topic of discussion. It calls into focus the editorial policies of Desicritics too. Why would you publish something that hurts the sensibilities of people?

I am proud to be a Hindu and I believe that much of the symbolism is lost on the mere mortals. They neither have the depth of understanding nor the aptitude to gauge the timeless classics; something that has been revered for thousands of years. It only seems to give them a kick on their sorry butts to "criticize" a way of life that defined my nation.

Someone as misinformed as the "cartoonist" and the author needs to grasp the deeper meanings of symbolism that emanates from Ramayana. This epic stressed on idealism alone. If Lord Ram left Sita Mata, he had larger interests (and duties) of statehood before his personal choices. He was not happy about the decision that he took. In similar vein, the "victim" too had to accept the decision even if it affected her personally. Indian marriages have always stressed on this fact that decisions taken in the larger interest of the society are mutually beneficial because it was Hindu way of giving. The society came much before your own personal interests.

This is difficult to understand in the present circumstances because each one lives for himself/herself. All the time being self-centred. Ramayana teaches you to give up this cynicism and hence it is a model of how a person ought to live. One cannot interpret an epic that reflected the sense of duties of those times by trying to "distort" the realities to suit your own present personal interests.

Unfortunately, the present modern history is a distorted version of the JNU nuts and the leftists. Having systematically destroyed the fabric of lives in those places where the British ruled, they gave us a permanent sense of inferiority complex ingrained in our texts and sense of history which is deplorable. Unfortunately, most of these "bloggers" have not been able to go beyond the routine and instead focus on ideas that seem to be floating around in the name of "secularism". A product of the present times and the education system would only adhere to those ideas which they have been brainwashed with. A white man's words seem to hold more weight that your scriptures! What an irony! It isn't about a white man trying to "tackle one of our holy cows". It only serves to betray the author's own sense of understanding of her culture and inferiority complex- finding acceptance with such awful ideas of insult to our symbolism. A nation of dead people, intellectually and spiritually, blogs about such "issues" where one seems to find these reprehensible ideas as "classy" and "trendy".

One has to realize that the Hindu way of life has been the ultimate. It stressed on the total well being. As we move towards the "westernised" culture, it is a pity that anything associated with the past is frowned upon.

Why stress alone on the "moral conscience keepers" like the ones protesting on "kam divas"(Valentine's Day)? They take this opportunity for self aggrandizement instead of focusing on the real issues. A nation of half wit people and educated duds does more harm by being the "enemy within". A nation that cannot sustain itself because it's moral roots have been hollowed out cannot withstand the onslaught of the enemy from outside. No wonder, we have been seeing a perpetual war of all sorts.

Hinduism in all it's glory is all encompassing. It needs a dedicated study and "dhayana" to realize it's true potential.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia - Help Save a Child's Life

Abhishek — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:41:38 EDT

I chanced on the news on CNN-IBN about a child suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

From the Wikipedia source:

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), also known as acute lymphocytic leukemia, is a cancer of the white blood cells, characterised by the overproduction and continuous multiplication of malignant and immature white blood cells (referred to as lymphoblasts) in the bone marrow. It is a hematological malignancy. It is fatal if left untreated as ALL spreads into the bloodstream and other vital organs quickly. ALL is most common in childhood with a peak incidence of 4-5 years of age. Now at least 50% of childhood ALL are considered curable. Acute refers to the undifferentiated, immature state of the circulating lymphocytes ("blasts"), and that the disease progresses rapidly with life expectancy of weeks to months if left untreated.

This may sound like as if we are fighting a losing battle. In my opinion though, we could die fighting rather than not fight at all. The child has relapsed from chemotherapy and is being tried for Bone Marrow transplant in Singapore. Here is the brief introduction from the Wikipedia source:

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) or bone marrow transplantation is a medical procedure in the field of hematology and oncology that involves transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). It is most often performed for people with diseases of the blood or bone marrow, or certain types of cancer. Hematopoeitic stem cell transplantation remains a risky procedure and has always been reserved for patients with life threatening diseases.

There is the cost of harvesting it, the storage, infusion and transfusing the stem cells. The estimated cost is $USD 300,000 which is beyond the reach of most of the people who are suffering from it and are condemned to die a slow painful death.

Stem cell transplantation involves infusing, or injecting, donor stem cells through your central line. This usually takes one to five hours. The transplanted stem cells make their way to your bone marrow cavities, where they begin creating new bone marrow and stem cells. It can take several weeks, though, for your blood counts to begin recovering.(source: Mayo Clinic Patient Education)

In my own training, I have seen healthy bodies slowly wilting away, the disease process gnawing the vitals and it overwhelms the bodies' defenses. There is no price that can be paid for a human life. And more so for parents who are saddled with their child suffering from Cancer as lethal as this.

We would like to create an awareness and help the folks to raise money for treating their sick child, Subhash. They have set up a website to cover the fight to save Subhash and are requesting for help. The father himself is a doctor; he feels helpless that his own knowledge cannot save his son's life. They are constrained monetarily for a Bone Marrow Transplant to be done in Singapore. Time is running out for them and they need to raise the resources in 15-20 days. Almost to the tune of 1.4 crores which is beyond imagination for most of the families.

The heartening news is that your contribution MIGHT be able to save his life. Let's get together to spread the word as soon as possible and raise funds for this kid. He may not able to thank you individually but his smile would say it all. The details are on the website here.

(More information on Stem Cell Transplants on Mayo Clinic website