Sakshat Jhoot. $ 10 Laptop a "WHITE" Lie.

Around six months back this news piece speculated that India is developing a $10 laptop and also a low cost access device. And see the speed of research and development that within six month our HRD minister even unveiled it. And wow! just after first look at this device you want to shout. What a lie and man see the color. It's actually a BIG WHITE LIE and nowhere near a laptop. The name couldn't have better "Sakshat Jhoot" which means total lie.

Kaun hai Garibon ka dushman? Kaun hai jo baar baar garibi ka majaak uda jaata hai? Kaun hai jo bhagwan ke darbaar mein khade hokar bhi jhoot bolta hai, logon ko dhokha deta hai? Well, who is this publicity crazy guy who doesn't even know the difference between $10 and $100 and for that matter the difference between a storage device and a computer? It's none other than our honorable HRD minister whose hunger for publicity has made India and Indian technology a laughing stock in the western and Indian Technical press.

His claim to fame is the famed Indian project of 10$ laptop which was finally unveiled in Tirupati (Bhagwaan ka darbaar). This is an excerpt from what our press reported about the unveiling function.

-----------------
Arjun Singh had an interaction with the vice chancellors of the remote states like Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur to prove the point that the device will be able to bring about high quality networking among the various institutions of higher education and also increase the skills of e learning of the students in rural areas. (Source - Rediff.com)
----------

Out of the three things mentioned about this device - high quality networking among various institutions of higher education, increase the skills of e learning and most importantly the 10$ price tag is all a big bad joke played by minister and his office. The western media was surprised about this project whose details were made public without even a feasibility analysis. Well due to some publicity hungry people the target population is confused and the whole bunch of media is reporting it as a big joke played on student community. Wo to IIT and IISC involve they so maan bhi gaye nahin to pahle se pata tha ki kya hoga.

Anyways, this is election year so you can expect some nuisance but something of this magnitude can come from the stable of this old timer only. His humor is well known but what is sad that this episode will bring a bad name to the partner institute like IIT Chennai and IISC Bangalore. I don't understand the compulsion to go public with the prototype which looks like a cigarette case with cables attached to it. Huh made for each other. I want to laugh at the audacity of same people who go on to put it on record that some components were developed by students. I agree, it do look like a prototype that we use to present during annual model exhibitions. And most of the engineering students know from where the components come from. "Kanhi ka cement, kanhi ka roda, Bhanumati ne kunwa joda" kind.

And our elite press whose technical knowledge comes out very well with this episode. None of them had the modesty to dig deeper into the device, the technology and into the press release. It seems that they published verbatim whatever was handed over to them even before the minister(s) started their bhashan about how this machine will change the life of Indians.

Well everyone is laughing now and those who will see the device will definitely laugh too. Meanwhile one thing is sure that some very very senior people do not differentiate between $10 and $100 and also between a pen drive and a computer. Well, a 2 GB pen drive is available for Rs 200 now (5$). Download a portable free Operating System from web. Install it on a pen drive and it becomes your Government of India laptop at half the price and double the memory.

Next is what?
A 20 $ scooter? Arre bhai kya hua jo tumhe tyre, engine, piston alag se lagana pade, aakhir scooter ka frame bhi ko bhi to scooter hee kahte hain" Kyon Vice Chancellor Sahab? Theek kahe naa?

Chalo! Jaane de jaane de thodi hawa aane de.

Scanadalam Part 1.

What happened, how it happened and who did it? In my earlier post I speculated about more people being involved and well, it seems that some very intelligent people are about to confirm this fact. They might tell that they do not have the liberty to speculate on things but rather have to back it up with concrete evidence. Well, I am sure that they are still speculating only and have not found any concrete proof yet but due to dilly dallying they have given those people enough time to cover at-least a part of their tracks. And kyon naa ho brother, people like IAS officer, Police personnel, senior politicians and many other important person seems to be involved.

Well I have a simple story to tell about how it was made possible. It goes like this. Once upon a time there lived two brothers in a small city. They start a sweet shop as the whole city was crazy about sweets at that point of time. Due to the presence of some famous shops around, not a single customer walked into the shop. The same thing happened on day 2 as well. The local municipality required all the shops to maintain their account books properly and they published a ranking of the sweet shops in the locality.

The weekend was still two days ahead and then the brothers came with a strategy to cook their books. The next day they called all their relatives for a feast in their sweet shop. Their family, friends of family and even neighbours of the family friends came for free sweets. And that was the day when the fortune of the sweet shop changed forever. It topped the ranking based on sales that week, next week and for many weeks thereafter. It became the best shop of the city, district, state and even of the country. Everyone just loved it and liked it. It became a case study in many business schools and the owners became the most popular businessmen in the country.

Only few people knew what happened exactly but as most of them had free sweets on day1 and were having shares of the listed company with them, they kept quiet. What exactly happened that Ram sold half the sweets to Rama and received money. Rama distributed those sweets among his family members. Then Rama sold the rest of the sweets to Ram and got back his money. Ram distributed those sweets among his family members.

Everyone had free sweets, technically all the sweets were sold, money did change hands more than once and the transactions were recorded on the books.

The story sounds simple but then the Satyam Scandal is not this simple. I will be back with more stories and more insights here on this blog. So if you are reading this do come back here.

The Moment of Truth..

Who will steal the concept? Who will bring it to India? Will be able to see another slumdog millionaire in the next few years? Will it be a new kid on the block, or some famous production house or the guys who claim to have the best sense of humor in film industry?

Today I watched the TV game show “Moment of Truth” for the first time and the first thought that came to my mind is that who will steal this concept because it looks like a crowd puller. The show simulates a lie detecting environment and you have to answer questions on your personal life in front of your family members. And these questions are not the comfortable ones but actually will involve lot of grilling and the worse thing is that you can’t even refuse to sit on the lie detecting machine. Another popular show "Hole in the Wall" is already 'adapted' and Syrus is hosting it in Hindi. I am wondering why 'Moment of Truth' which will enter its second season is not copied yet? Maybe, somebody is planning big for it. "Ismein aisa kya daal doon ki show mera ho jaye" type.

The moment you refuse to answer any question, you are out. It is an interesting game show with lots of drama and I am sure that if some of the so called intellectuals from our film industry are watching this show then they must be salivating too hard. This is really one show where there is lot of scope to dramatize things. And mirch masala is something we all love. More about the format is here.

So let’s wait for the show to be presented in India and I am damn sure the funniest question will be for the producer/director “This show is your original concept?” I am sure that there are many filmmakers here who can fail the lie detector with their confidence. So let’s wait for it. To put it more aptly, let's wait for the "Moment of Truth".