The Social Network Effect Amol Mategaonkar9:32 PM 0 comments

Recently I was reading the book - "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick. Its the amazing story of Facebook - the phenomenon that has caught up the entire world since last few years and its effect the world over. I believe, especially in the Indian context, the impact of facebooks and orkuts of the world can be much more significant... I worry... to the extent of being cultural.

About facebook
With 500 million active users and growing at an approx pace of 100 million per 150 days, it the third most populous country in the world, next to China and India, if it was a country. Founded by a (then) 19 yr old Mark Zuckerberg at Harward, it has taken over all of its contemporaries Myspace, Orkut and bunch of others. It is the second most visited website on the Internet, next to Google.com. Its the most talked about Internet company today, loved as well as hated at the same time. It has also inspired a Hollywood Movie, "The Social Network", scheduled to release in Sept 2010.

facebook in India
Facebook is the most popular social networking site in India. It has surpassed Orkut's over last one year. The growth has been phenomenal. One significant observation is that it has been able to reach out to all age groups. Social media (at least India) was always perceived to be for young generation or IT savvies. However, people of all ages, professions, even those who have just learnt to boot a computer, all of them are hoping on to facebook. While its a good sign of IT penetration to the Indian common man, there are some strange observations.

• You can see colleagues sitting next to each other putting stuff on each others walls on facebook. What is so great about the wall that you can not directly talk ?
• Son/Daughters putting comments on their parents wall and vice-versa. This is extreme.
• I get friend requests from people whom I have never seen/met. What does that mean? I know nothing about them. The entire notion of "friend request" is at times misinterpreted.
• There are people who spend 2-3 hrs on facebook every day.
• People tend to use facebook as a medium of chatting.

These are indications of some fundamental changes the facebooks and Orkuts of the world are bringing to our society. They have given a fresh, new and lucrative channel of communication. As a result, instead of picking up the phone and talking to friends, we log on to facebook and write something on their wall. Instead of planning to meet a friend/relative on Sunday evening, people would spend time in reading useless comments others have put on their stuff and even contribute to it.

The Undesired Effect

This is an undesired side effect of the social media. Don't get me wrong. I am a heavy user of facebook. It is a very powerful tool to express yourself to your buddies, share your ideas, your thoughts, happenings in your life, your joys & sorrows. It is a great channel to find those old school friends you never met in last 20 yrs since you completed SSC. It has a potential to influence and move large groups towards a common goal. E.g. Facefook has helped large scale national movements like the one in Colombia a few yrs back. However, it can never substitute the charm and warmth of talking to your friend over a phone or more so, meeting them in person.

Especially in our society, which has traditionally given very high importance to family and social values, a facebook cannot replace the chaukats and nukkads of our bastees. If it does, its a major cultural shift.

So, go to the Profile info of your old friends in Facebook, pickup the contact number and give them a call. You will realize, it is much more satisfying than writing "wats up buddy?" on his/her wall.

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The Terminal Amol Mategaonkar6:46 AM 0 comments

No. I am not referring to Steven Spielberg's Hollywood blockbuster. I am referring to a public infrastructure piece of work in India.

Today, Delhi's International Airport opened its brand new terminal - "T3". The first AI plane landed from New York, although full operations will start by end of the month. This is a giant leap forward for the Aviation Industry in India. Apart from Delhikars and international travellers, we all have something there to be happy about.

About T3 First

Many will be surprised (at least I was) to know that this is the 6th largest Terminal in the world. It has a capacity to handle around 35 million passengers annually. Compare this with 23 million capacity of the entire Mumbai airport, the busiest in the country, until a day go. Together with T1 and T2 terminals, this will take the Delhi airport capacity to 50+ million annually. The state-of-the-art terminal is contemporary in its design, has all the amenities and facilities of a modern day airport including ample parking, passenger recreation, shopping, children play areas, food courts, Internet kiosks and so on. It has been built through the joint venture between GMR Group, Airports Authority of India and some foreign partnership from Malaysia with an investment of 3 Billion USD.

Significance for us

One would argue that how many Indians would even see this new swanky piece of infrastructure with their own eyes and hence why should they care? Well, there are enough reasons to care about.

• Being the 6th largest terminal in world, it certainly puts Indian aviation on the global aviation map.
• It is likely to attract many more international careers to India and setup their hubs in Delhi, resulting into further investment and employment opportunities.
• It is a giant leap for the Indian Aviation industry. After Hyderabad and Bangalore airports, India walks further on upgrading its aviation infrastructure which desperately needs an overhaul.
• Last but not the least. This giant piece of art was completed in record time of 3 yrs. Cutting through the usual red tapes and govt machinery, a public infrastructure project of this size has been executed bang on time and almost within projected budget. This defies all the popular (?) believes that Infra projects, especially those under the Govt fold, take ages to see the light of the day. Delhi once again (after Delhi Metro) has demonstrated excellence. Kudos. This should add to our confidence in our public servants to deliver on their duties. Although, this might be the result of GMR's involvement, it does not make it a lesser exception in the infra projects in India.

I hope Mumbai learns some lessons from this and finally gets through the Govt red tape that is sitting on approving the International Airport at Panvel.

I am happy, proud and hopeful.

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Bharat Bandh Brings India to a halt Amol Mategaonkar7:59 AM 0 comments

The Nation-wide "Bandh" called by the opposition, primarily lead by the BJP, in protest to the recent fuel price hike brought the entire nation to almost a grinding halt. BJP has already declared this Bandh as a huge success. Is it really?

The Intent

The Bandh was called in protest to the recent fuel prices declared by the Govt across the board. With inflation at around 13.9%, the fuel price hike is expected to push it northwards, thereby burning the common man even further. The objective of the band was to protest against the fuel price hike in particular, and the uncontrolled "Mahengai" in general, which the Govt has consistently failed to tame down. Clearly, the stated intent of the Band was very noble.

The Response

The bandh got consistent response from almost all parts of the country. All major cities were shut down. All schools remained closed. No shops opened their shutters (except Pharmacy). Most of the private companies declared off (including mine). With no autos, taxis and private vehicles on the move, the streets of Mumbai were almost empty.

It appears that the Bandh got an overwhelming response. But whether all of these above who theoretically contributed to it, willingly did so or not is a question. BJP and friends (and foes) might claim victory at the end of today, however if one has to judge the success of the bandh based on whether it met its original intent, it doesn't seem to. The fuel prices stay where they were.

The Bandh Effect

• All taxis, autos, shops, construction work, small time taprees, et al, remained closed for most of the day. Apart from inconvenience to citizens, not sure if it had any indirect fatal effect under emergency situations.
• Several buses, trains, public properties were burnt/damaged. In Pune alone, more than 25 buses were damaged. Who's paying for this?
• Sporadic instances of violence happened across the country. There was lathi charge at many places at all major cities.
• Huge police force was deployed across the board. Any guess how much did it cost to the nation?
• Cumulative loss is estimated to be Rs. 13,000 crores.
• BJP (NDA at large), re-established itself as a powerful opposition, a force still to reckon with. It made its national presence felt and demonstrated its abilities to move its alliances as well as rivals like Left towards a common goal, against UPA. Congress has a lessor or two from this bandh. It better not take it for granted.
• Working class took a day off, possibly watched a movie at home along with family and in-between watching the spicy stories on AajTak.
• The Bandh had no effect on the Finance Minister's math. Pranab Da declared categorically that the prices will not be rolled back.
• Last but not the least, the daily wages worker, who earns his daily meal the same day, had to miss his day's produce. The very poor for whom this bandh was intended for, ironically remained the only one who had nothing to gain, but to lose his/her meal.

In conclusion, the intent of the Bandh was noble. However, the question remains whether a nation level bandh of this scale is the right solution to protest? We lost some part of the GDP - resulting into a step back from the ambitious double digit GDP growth rate. We had our public property damaged, many suffered on account of the violence. The BJP had its presence felt. However, the poor had yet another poorer day, while the fuel prices remained as it were 24 hrs back.

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