Never a dull moment

Chokhi Dhani has been touted as a must see location in Jaipur and I agree after the visit there this Monday. It is best enjoyed with family and friends. It is a typical village setting with everything except farming thrown in. It is very colourful as Rajasthan is.The variety starts from the check in counter. All the employees are in traditional gear. So are the various performers in the premises. There are low buildings with thatched roof, tiled roof and mud roof. There are several stages for performers spread across the campus. We watched three sets of traditional Rajasthani dancers performing to the tunes of traditional music. Every now and then, the visitors can join the dancers for a few minutes. There are magicians and a puppet show to keep one and all amused. One can ride a camel. There are camel, horse and bullock carts adding to the variety.Elephant ride catches the fancy of the young and the old. Jaipur is a dusty place and the path taken by various animals and carts have been...

It is pretty hot all over Rajasthan with all major cities and towns like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh recording temperatures above 45 deg C for more than a week now. But holidays are holidays for children and we took off for a whistle stop tour of Jaipur-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Jaipur trip in 38 hours covering a distance of 1000 km literally scorching the highways. Chittorgarh fort is the largest in Asia. We spent three hours in the midday braving sweltering weather. The fort which was built around 600 AD and renovated around 1400 AD is a sight to behold in terms of size and grandeur. The history of Mewar region lies buried in this fort. The fort was built by King Bapa Rawal fourteen centuries ago. This was the fort where Bhaktha Meera sang her bhajans praising Lord Krishna. This was the fort where the famed Rani Padmini lived and set herself in flames rather than give herself up to the enemy who laid siege to the fort expecting her to surrender. There are sever...

Singapore, Malaysia , Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan have been hogging the lime light for the scorching economic growth they have been witnessing since early 90s. Being from Orient, they earned the sobriquet "Tiger economies". We were all told to emulate their policies to set our economy in the path of growth and prosperity. The economies of these countries were doing so well that leading Indian companies started exports to those countries denominating them in their on currencies like Baht of Thailand and Won of South Korea. Such was their clout that they could demand deals in their currencies and the exporting companies from India and neighbouring countries obliged. Then came George Soros and his alleged act which saw a run on the currencies of these "tiger economies" which even the experts in IMF, world Bank and the leading lights of all international banks and institutions like Goldman Sach, Lehman Brothers etc could not predict. The economies melted...

There are a large number of buses and mini buses plying in Jaipur. The private mode of mass travel within the city and suburbs is mini buses. The government operates the normal buses for city and suburbs. Recently government has introduced low floor rear engine buses with glass doors in some of the city routes. The long distance buses also have a private government mix with the proportion of private buses being higher in long distance overnight travel routes. The local buses operate from various terminlas across the city while the long distance buses operate from Sindhi Camp bus stand. The roads around Sindhi Camp bus stand are the starting points for private operators. The government buses are never cleaned and washed. They are smeared with dirt and covered with dust and has several layers of it. Even the new low floor buses have become dusty. One gains an impression that punishment would be meted out if anybody drives around a clean government bus. I am sure one would find several em...

The walled city or The Pink City is the original Jaipur which has expanded in recent times with seat of power of the government housed in the sprawling complex which used to be barracks and offices of the body guards of Jaipur Maharaja. The garage of the Maharaja which is situated in the centre of the Central Park ( which is a huge public facility with a outer walk way 4 km long with a Jaipur Polo Club and Jaipur Golf Club within its sprawling precints ) has been transformed into a luxury heritage hotel- Lakshmi Vilas. Walking around Pink city is an experience in itself. Though I can not claim to know all the gates, I have travelled through the major ones- Ajmer Gate, New Gate, Sanganer gate, Chandpole, Ratan Pole...The two major road junctions are Badi Choupad and Chotti Choupad. The need to maintain tradition and uniformity has ensured that all the names of the shops in the Pink City are displayed in a standard fashion- block letters in Hindi of the same fond and size on a white bac...

A lot of youngsters go to USA ( mostly ), UK, Australia and other developed countries for higher studies and stay back in pursuit of their life time ambitions. More often than not, we keep hearing how the freedom , encouragement and professional atmosphere ( the meanings of professional atmosphere, professional organisation and professionalism have not been clear to me. The only thing I have understood so far is that if a male says he is professional, it surely means that he does not sport a moustache ! ) have made them champions contributing their might to development of society in terms of application of their knowledge and such contributions helping them to earn handsomely as well. They bemoan that if they had remained in India they would have achieved nothing because of lack of encouragement and professionalism. I have come across and heard gushing accounts about how quickly things move abroad and how decisions are taken at snap of fingers. The unquestionable freedom to operate on ...

Jaipur is full of Hanuman temples. The stand alone Hanuman temples are a feature of North India.The first time I came across a large stand alone Hanuman temple was on my trip to Mumbai way back in 1983. The Hanuman temples at Jaipur have different names - Dhakshina Mukhi Hanuman, Paschima Mukhi Hanuman, Sidheswar Hanuman.... The various names seem to have been derived from whom Hanuman had collaborated with different points of time. At Chitrakoot , one of the revered spots for pilgrims is on a hill top called Hanumandhara where locals believe that Sita once served lunch to Hanuman. The most astounding name of Hanuman temple is Petrol pumpwala Veer Hanuman. I came across this temple out of curiosity when I found a lot of devout looking people in appropriate dresses milling around a petrol bunk. I also noticed a lot of vendors selling sweets which were generally offered to dieties in temples here. The small Hanuman mandir is within the petrol bunk adjoining the Cafe coffee day shop and b...

I do not keep track of star footballers in the club championships taking place across Europe. I am ardent follower of World Cup football and what sticks to my mind are the stars of the World Cup. I am aware that as professionals, the leading footballers reserve their best for the clubs and do not fare as well for their countries at the World Cup. It is also possible that unlike club teams where the players are together for years, the national teams assemble only a month before the World Cup and there is little time to build up team cohesion and camaraderie. Ego also stands in the way- I remember World Cup 1994 which Brazil won with Romario and Bebeto as forwards and star performers. There was tremendous rivalry and animosity between them and they never used to talk to each other ! Some of the best games I have savoured were those played by the Brazilian team which won the 2002 World Cup in Japan. The way Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho played in the final was unforgetable. Ronaldinho w...

British elections are not being followed in India closely. What dominates the news on international front is the news emanating out of USA and the violence against Indians in Australia. The Oz news vanishes when ever there is a lull in the violence while the American news flows in torrent day in and day out. The British elections had a new innovation this time around. It was three rounds of televised debate in the American style. The outcome of the debate was that Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats leader, earned good points and there was a Cleggmania around Britain pushing the Liberal Democrats a few points ahead in the opinion poll. But there was no change in the overall outcome of the election - a hung parliament. David Cameroon, leader of Conservatives, lost a bit of sheen on account of his average performance at the televised debate. Gordon Brown, as expected, bumbled along in the debate. But the results of the election showed that performance of Nick Clegg on televised debate had ...

Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel are old hands in politics and know the ways of getting out of trouble. They can take care of their interest in one way or the other as far as their "cricketing" interests are concerned. There is Rajiv Shukla Congress MP who is now acting like a saint. He has been through the thick and thin with BCCI for years now and it sounds funny when he says that he does not know anything. He will also survive as he is a veteran. There is Arun Jaitley, the President of Delhi Cricket Association. With his stature and reach, it looks odd that he is keeping quiet. I get a feeling that he is also covered and has some interest. There would be many more in various State cricket associations who have benefited by their "interest " in cricket. The others like Shashank Manohar and Lalit Modi are also keen to have politicians around as there is safety in numbers and the spread of politicians across various parties with "interest" in cricket also ens...

Product liability is an issue which causes extensive litigation from customers leading to financial damages to companies in USA. To tackle this matter at the right earnest, companies started product traceability systems. The net result is the ISO 9000 system which was introduced somewhere in 1970/80s period and has been refined over a period of time. The basic purpose of ISO 9000 system was product traceability and from there it has grown into other areas of activities of organisation. Of course, continuous improvement and exceeding customer delight are the avowed goals of quality systems as things stand. There was a frenzy for ISO 9000 systems in 1990s as it became clear that American companies would not engage any organisation which does not have ISO 9000 certification. If one looks at how organisations work, all that is required is systematic records and flow chart for all activities and at a basic level this is all what ISO 9000 quality systems do. The rest of what one comes across...

While Volvo stayed focussed on their intent of making a mark in Indian market, a number of big international names bruised themselves with clumsy moves and underestimating Indian customers. The company which tops my list of goofers is FIAT for the simple reason that they had a tie up with Premier Automobiles for a long time and would have had hands on experience unlike others like Ford and Daewoo who hit the ground as freshers with inputs from know it all "consultants" armed with their field study feedback.First lemon from FIAT in nineties was 118NE.It was launched around the time Zen was launched by Maruti.Zen was a rocker of a model to hit Indian roads with its jelly bean design and 118NE was a expressionless metal box with wheels compared to Zen. 118NE was a brother of Ambassador in terms of construction and looks and pretty dodgy as far as electricals was concerned.It died a miserable death which was warranted. Then came the next lemon from FIAT in the form of UNO. UNO is...

Volvo - this is a brand name of a slew of products from eponymous company of Sweden. Buses, trucks, construction equipment, earth mover equipment, super safe cars ( this division was sold to Ford Motor Car company four years ago )which are used by several embassies to ferry around their ambassadors. Most of the safety features in cars are pioneered by Volvo over twentieth century- three point seat belt, airbags, reinforcement fenders, anti locking brakes etc.Volvo and Benz are the leading players in buses and trucks worldwide. Volvo products loaded with features are costly but efficient. The per km per tonne efficiency is the highest for Volvo trucks compared to other Indian alternatives like Tata Motors, Eicher and Ashok Leyland. Volvo trucks take two days for a trip from Mumbai to Delhi compared to three days taken by other trucks. It has been a long haul for Volvo since they set shop near Bangalore in 1999. Their aim to sell 1000 trucks and buses in due course sounded ambitious. But...