Mixed feelings ...

I got an interesting experience today.  While traveling economy class,  I got business class feel and then immediately after being in a paranthewali gali.

Indigo flight to Ahmedabad was full. Big group of first time travelers, they were in a  boisterous mood - a burly young man had assumed role of uncrowned leader of the group. 

When food trolley came around,  I was busy with my Kindle.  But I found the air hostess asking me what I would like to have.  Apparently my ticket was booked with meal coupon!  The crowd around me was looking at me like I'm with golden skin... that was a business class feel. 


Moments later the hostess asked the leader in the group if he would like to have something and when told of Masala tea being available - asked for two 'cutting'! Poor girl was left wondering... She offered a chai with extra cups .. The guy bought two cups and paid 100 against bill of 90. 10 rupee change was problem!  Again,  much to merriment of his cohort,  he suggested that he can be paid in Eclairs!!  And that was paranthewali galli feel.

You get to see all types in a travel!

Restart...

After a hiatus, want to start writing again ... Since I am out of Shanghai for some time now, it will just be rambling and hopefully will not make anyone see red :-) More about Bangalore, My crazy ideas, my experiences with counseling (assuming that I do get counselees ... ) etc. etc.

Let us see how it pans out ..

(c) Abhijit Tongaonkar 2009

Life as a Software Engineer

It is a ‘cold’ call on a big-shot in a big MNC. Myself and a colleague – in an attire suitable for such call; are formally dressed. Suit, tie and laptops (loaded with presentations). We announce ourselves at the reception. The area is buzzing with lot of visitors – the company is big and so is the building. Along comes a young man – in his late twenties – askes “… are you ravi ? …”. My colleague who has a name that rhymes with Ravi – mistakenly - answers in affirmative. We think – this engineer has been sent on errand to fetch us to the boss – who must be busy squeezing in time to reply to just one more pending e-mail while we go from reception to his corner office – presumably located on some upper part of the building.

But we are stopped at the security gate – security officer points to the guy accompanying us that he is carrying his manager’s badge and that is KO as per the procedure – his manager needs to come down himself. So we are back to reception and wait – discussing the bureaucracy and ‘process orientation’ of the company. Three minutes down; we see a lady coming in our direction in a hurry – so the manager was lady – presumably the secretary to the big man – she was in a hurry so she pulls us along engaging us in small talk about weather and traffic.

We follow her to her office and find the usual setup – lot of cubicles with young men and women peering intently into the monitors or punching on the keyboards. The young man who first came down is also there. She motions to him for attention and then turning to us says “… I am really sorry for this .. but I need to get into a meeting. I will meet you later..” – we are surprised – why is she wanting to meet us when we really came to meet her boss ! But she was continuing – “… I just don’t know where to find you seats – but just manage till I come back in an hour – you know the interfaces – find more details from Wang ..” here she points to Young-man-who-came-down-etc.-etc. – so his name is Wang – “… and you can start coding!...”. That really rattled us. Then I realize what has happened.

“Maa’m, wait. I think there is some confusion…” – Its me in my feeble voice.
“I am not Ravi – neither is my colleague here …We came to meet so-and-so”.
“…Oh no ! So, where is Ravi?” – Exclaims lady – now in a very hassled state.
“We don’t know what are you talking about !!” – its my colleague – now finding voice.
“When is Ravi going to come? Why is this always a problem!!” – Lady – now very managerial etc. etc. and wanting to exert her authority.

“ Maa’m, there is a confusion. We really don’t know what you are talking about”… This has some force – both me and my colleague are now talking together. By now whole team also has stopped working and turned around – we become center of attraction.

At last the manager gets the gist. I must give her the credit – frustrated though she is – she askes us whom we wanted to meet – arranges for his real secretary to be contacted (again the young-man-who-came-to-etc.etc. is summoned for help! He must be the blue eyed boy of the manager) and makes sure that we are removed ‘safely’ to the desired destination without any more goof-ups.

While waiting (again!) in the corridor – we have a hearty laugh. With smile on lips – and more direct awareness of meaning of term “body-shopping”; we get on to our real call.

Technology cycle – of a different kind!!

Other day, while working I realized that the Skype status is offline – I set to ‘online’ and I got a pop-up message from Windows firewall – stating that this program is blocked. Interestingly, I do not get this message for MSN messenger. I am not on Yahoo! so can’t talk about that.

Windows blocking Skype may be competition issue – but there is something deeper than that. I see that technologies moving in an interesting cycle. A SIP protocol is defined – lot of text chat programs come up – many of them become dominant with varying (and often contested !) degrees of success. Then end user starts getting un-comfortable. She wants to ‘chat’ with someone on another messenger – but does not want to register herself for that messenger ‘as well’. It would mean – another identity, possibly another password to remember. End user pressure forces Yahoo to allow its subscribers to talk to MSN and vice versa. Is it convenience or a ‘forced’ hand holding ?

Take case of banks. Earlier, drawing cash meant a trip to bank and possibly standing in line in front of Teller. Come ATM machines and the lines (mostly!) vanish. Life seems to be easy – Every bank has many ATM machines all over the city. Life rolls along - till one day in some part of city when you urgently need cash and you do not find the ATM machine for your bank and you start wondering about “Universal” ATM machine – that allows you to draw cash from many banks – at a small charge.

Many such examples – take the ‘virtual’ e-mail accounts that just forward the mails to another account that can be changed as and when needed. Or the solutions like e-wallet or Paypal – hide many credit card details behind a single userid-passowrd combination.

In an attempt to make living ‘simple’ or human interactions more effective – technology actually makes it more complicated for some time – till an improvement comes along to make it manageable again !!
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2007

Haircut - a losing battle !

Having a haircut in a new place is always tricky. Hair cut is a rather personal thing and you have to make your barber understand (and get him to agree to it) about what you want. In Shanghai its made even more difficult on two counts - first is the usual reason - language! But let me not cry again for that. Second one is the Shanghainese barbers themselves. Most of these are young girls and boys and they sport hairstyles that gives me a feeling that they need services of barbers themselves !! Weirdo hairdos are norm. Everyone looks like a budding rock star. So when I approach with a moderate hair growth on my head - they look at it with suspicion. Then comes a request from me for a decent hair cut that demands the hair to be trimmed on the similar lines of well maintained garden. For them its more a job of a gardener than gurus like themselves.

First question I invariably meet in a barber shop in Shanghai is "..shampoo..?". Now that means 20 kuai gone from my wallet. However you respond - they conveniently interpret it as yes and proceed with next one. You see, with age, my hair has acquired a respectable mix of gray hair and original black. I believe that this give me the aura of wisdom (that I lack and hence the desperation). But these young crowd looks at it as potential hair color experiment gunia-pig. I am shown all sorts of brochures and pamphlets and varied shades of colors !! I have to make it resolutely clear that my no means a no here.

That settled, the shampooing proceeds. Now that's a shampoo plus head massage together - with neck wrapped in towels, the head massage goes on for about 20 minutes. In the process quarter of a bottle of shampoo is turned to foam - at my cost - and scalp is scraped thoroughly. Then I am led to a wash basin. Its indeed a skill of these operators that they ensure that even the shirt collar stays absolutely dry in this entire process. Shampooing done - I am about to be dismissed when I have to remind them of the original purpose of the visit - namely the hair cut. With great reluctance (looking at me as if I am a spoilsport who wants to cut hair after all that effort of shampoo) someone else takes the charge. Another round of dumb charades to explain what I want and I settle in the chair. Here is where the trouble starts. I am asked to remove the specs. And then the activity begins. Interestingly, the system here is that comb is used to select the hair then the hair are held in two fingers and then cut. Entire head is worked on at the same time - possibly to achieve the symmetry that is desired. During this process, the guy (or the girl - depends on expert availability) - asks me if the cut looks OK or is it short enough etc. With specs removed - I am absolutely unable to make out anything and have no option but to nod in approval :-(

End of the exercise comes with a hair dryer and I get a monetary feeling of head-under-a-wind-tunnel ! Advantage is that it blows away even the tiniest of the cut hair. By then I would normally have accumulated decent bill. Then on to next ordeal. At home, my daughter looks and smirks, rolls the eyes. Meenal - my wife - is more direct. She asks for how much did I pay and then rattles of names of friends (are they really?) - who have had better hair cut at lesser prices. (Why do women share these kind of things ?)

Truly, I have come to believe that my bad hair cut is really not my doing - I did not have the scissors in my hand, right? But its a losing battle; futile arguments. Its best to keep quiet. After all, I do have that experience of similar futile arguments at work - so its one more addition to the 'learnings' !
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar, 2007

Taxi Driver's pit stop
It was early in the morning - about 6 o'clock - I was on my morning walk. Roads were empty, only the taxis zooming past – in their year-round practice of F1 races. [Half the cabbies here believe that if Michael Shumaker calls in sick then they are likely to be called in!!]

And then it happened. About 50 meters from me on the road there was a shop - looked like a mechanic's shop - a taxi screeched to a halt near the shop - almost dashing into pavement. The driver coolly got out and lit a cigarette. Three/four people from shop rushed out - it looked like a fight - one of the guys barked at the driver - who in turn barked back – but with a smile. The mechanic gave a short nod.

His companions were already in action - two of them throwing water on the taxi - another one pouring some soapy liquid - one small boy scrubbing - in couple of minutes someone started looking at air pressure in tyres - tighten a nut here and one there. By the time taxi driver finished his cigarette - this group of four was critically examining now-gleaming taxi - giving the final touches. Money exchanged; the driver got back into the taxi and sped away. That's when I realised that what looked like a mechanics shop to me was in fact a pit stop for taxis!!
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Lost in Shanghai ...
Superbrand mall in LuJiaZui – one of the early malls in Shanghai – popular – and big. The building has big pillars – and these are effectively used for small shops / extensions of the big ones. The jewelry shop near one such a pillar was probably the extension of the big one nearby. I was window shopping – waiting for Meenal to finish her bargain of some cosmetic accessory. The jewelry counter showed some jade rings – small yet intricate work – it demanded a close look. That’s when I saw her – a young girl of about 20 – in a green uniform – sitting on ground , behind the counter – her hands clasped on her knees, head resting on pillar – in a slumber. She was clearly hiding away from stern gaze of her supervisor to catch a quiet moment.

Sensing some presence at her counter – she looked up. Our eyes met. She had a pretty yet undernourished face. Typical Han features - blonde straight hair; slightly ruffled because of sleep – her eyes – totally exhausted – with long hours of work, may be hunger or may be due to dreary existence – where at such young age she had to leave home – likely in nearby village – to work in this giant monster city. This city doesn’t offer a cosy existence to all of its millions. I come across such eyes quite frequently here – they tell a tale that needs no language knowledge. I had seen these eyes in Mumbai footpaths, young boys working in Bangalore restaurants and in platforms in Delhi and many other places..
She scrambled up and started talking glibly about the jade rings – secretly hoping that I had not noticed her attempt to catch a refreshing nap. Those couple of seconds told me of her fear. I pretended ignorance – playing along her sales pitch. The reliving smile I got was genuine – yet haunting enough for me to write about it.
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Cheap thrills ...
If you enjoy cheap thrills, then ride on a motorcycle taxi in Shanghai is a must-have experience for you. Motorcycle taxi is just that - a public transport for a single person from point A to point B. Its about 30 % cheaper and equally faster than usual cabs. More than half the drivers look like ruffins and appear to have taken driving training directly from F1 car drivers. You don’t get to watch Shanghai passing by but Shanghai watches you being zoomed past itself :-)

The thrill starts at very start when you approach one such group. This tribe usually hangs out together outside place like metro station, a bus station etc. So you approach and ask some member to go to the destination - he would ask details, if language is a problem then ask for the address card and once he knows where you are headed, will nod in agreement and hand you a helmet and motion you to sit - ready to go. The newbies make mistake of clambering up immediately. If you happen to do that mistake, then be sure that your wallet will be lighter than necessary. There are no meters and before getting on the back seat, you have to agree on price and enact all the drama associated with negotiations. That too, in full public view and in front of other drivers, watching with bemused expressions. You have to act as if this is the only mode of transportation you use and that you are just feeling lazy to walk to the destination.

Price agreed, you clamber up and put the helmet on. Helmet is strictly for law-book. It usually won't last even a small concussion! You have to make sure that you have something firm to hold onto - apart from your heart - that is. Because, from the moment you are just settling, the driver is deep into traffic - ignoring ALL the rules and probably violating 10 different rules a minute with a single aim in mind - to take you the destination and get that money from you. I have discovered many situations where I thought that now there will be a crash only to discover that we are successfully into next imminent one. You will find yourself wriggling in between two buses – clear that hurdle and you would be facing an oncoming traffic, because you are in wrong lane. Loud screeches by car drivers because this Brownian-motioned two wheeler are very common – but everyone treats it a sport and move on without as much batting an eyelid. Occasionally if you happen to stop at a signal then this guy would chat with his buddy carrying a similar scared quarry. Both of them have eyes on changing signals, a cigarette loosely hanging from lips, accelerator pressed fully, hands on brake - waiting to outdo each other moment signal turns yellow – sometimes even before. If one can get away – its alright!!

Get to destination, hand over the helmet and money - you invariably get a heartfelt “..xiexie..” (thanks) and “..zhaijian..” (bye) with a yellow teethed big smile. Its time to part ways. You move on - thanking God for safe arrival and he, unruffled - an avatar of Buddha; on the lookout of someone else to give him/her a similar opportunity to remember God.
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

So like in India ...

ZhangJiang High Tech Park is the specially developed industrial estate of Shanghai government - for high tech industries like hardware, software, chip design, pharma etc. Its also the terminal station for Subway line number - 2. This is the outer part of Shanghai - that covers many small villages nearby.

The crowds at ZJ station have two very contrasting constituents - first is the young, mobile and mobile wielding, jeans clad, typically-in-pairs, very confident and hence careless crowd and the other from nearby villages - going to Shanghai main city or railway station, carrying huge plastic bags, normally a family together, very unsure of overall metro station operations. These villagers are either cunningly observing the happenings with further narrowing the eyes or are plain simple bewildered and lost – clutching the bags tightly to get some comfort.

The two crowds pointedly refuse to acknowledge the presence of each other - except when the rural crowd has very young or very old member. Indian youth and rural folks – both have company in this respect in China.

Morning in a busy City
My route to office consists of a trip by metro for 30 minutes followed by a best-case 15 to worst-case an hour long city bus journey. When I get a chance to sit (quite infrequent!) and in addition a window seat (tough - but happens) - the journey - whatever the duration, suddenly becomes a pleasure. The roads that the bus travels are vibrant with activity. In the mornings, I typically see an old couple resting in the sun on the footpath - very often the old lady iscwith a some vegetables - chopping / cleaning. Her husband quietly resting with a cigarette in hand. Haven't seen him putting that cigarette to his mouth yet :-)

Then there is a wet market (subjee mundee - difference is that along with subjee this market also has all kinds of meat - pre-cut and in live form!) - which is usually a buzzing place. Next to that market is a roadside eatery where a very young man is busy roasting naans (or something similar) in a tandoor look alike contraption. I also see a big queue outside a shop that looks like a bakery. Must be a popular joint. There is a stretch with many small shops. Its as good as being
in Thippasandra main road :-) The bus passes through many localities of various (and some very dubious) standards. But the common denominator is the continuous activity - watching this as the bus goesby - makes the daily commute a pleasent experience.
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Risk and rewards
Once while roaming I saw a vendor selling something that looked like a pizza. A thin one - but very similar - the topping was some powdered black stuff. I went to him and pointed (no other way :-( ) He pulled out a hot one from an oven wrapped it up in a paper leaving a small portion open - signifying that it needs to be eaten like an icecream cone. "..Duoshao.." ? How much ? He didn't bother to reply to my chinese (it must've sounded like latin to him) - indicated two. Just two yuans? Too cheap - and I was not very sure if I was right in buying that stuff. [This is something I have seen - if you get something very cheap after a heavy bargain, it usually is worth the price :-(] But I paid and hesitntly bit the stuff - it was not a pizza - but a hard roasted nan with black pepper+salt peppered and a dash of soy oil over it - Overall combo was just too great. Once again experienced the saying - risks and rewards go together !!
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Elbow!!
Elbow - you discover this otherwise-forgotten-limb of your body when you take a public transport of any nature in Shanghai - including the taxis !! Very like Indians, people here believe that an opening (in the form of door) is a precious commodity and needs to be made complete use of. As a result, at a bus stop or at a metro stop - both sides - insiders and outsiders - vie for that small opening. Result is a chaos - and that's where you discover this elbow. You learn to use it to define your personal space or use it as shield or in rare cases as weapon !! You learn the real meaning of elbowing your way in.

In case of taxis, you have to use it to prevent someone else from getting into the taxi that you have hailed after a long search. Politeness does not count and only makes you wait longer. Elbow comes (literally) handy. You need to learn the trick to open the door with one hand and position other elbow as blockade for someone trying to sneak in. Its kind of fun to watch this manuvere from a distance andthough it can be quite painful actually enacting it !
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Veggies in China
When it comes to food how much can one be suspicious ? Short answer
is there is no limit. There was this colleague of mine who came to
help me with the work for a short duration. Being an authentic veggie
- I advised him to carry the ready-to-eat packs that need to be
microwaved for half minute before eating. Always a prudent choice.
On day one, I took him to the restaurant and offered a veg noodle -
which is fresh rice noodles in a clear soup with leafy vegetables and
peanuts - it's served hot and has a bit of salt for taste - but it's
the 'flavor' that makes it really delicious. I personally enjoy it a
lot. Out of courtesy he accepted it but refused to touch it - he was
not sure if clear soup was pure veg. A very correct question - but I
had no answer. Now, food is one thing I don't force anyone about;
because apart from causing severe mental anguish; the consequences are
usually smelly and difficult to clean up!! So I left it at that.
The fool that I am, I was still hell bent on saving his R-2-E packs
when there is really no option - and so on day two I took him to
Indian food section where there was one veg set lunch - rice, eggplant
curry, veg salad and a soft drink like coke, pepsi etc. That day,
there was an addition of chutney - an attempt by a chinese cook
looking into recipe book but gone wrong along the way. After we
started eating, I realised that this friend of mine is eating rice
with this chutney-equivalent; a red chilly paste really. The curry was
indeed good with all the usual masaalaas. The problem this time was
the eggplant. Now, chinese egg plant is long thin and deep purple. On
cooking it becomes blackish. So the pieces resemble mashroom and that
was the end of it.
Two days - 30 Rmb gone waste _ i learnt a lesson. I used to eat my
lunch and then enjoyed the authentic MTR R-2-E packs for many days
after that. Probably explains the other mystery in my life these days
- trousers that seem to be shrinking at waist line :-)
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Too many people ?
One thing I will absolutely never will understand about China is their utter disregard for the man-on-the-street !! Despite being exposed to extreme traffic conditions in India – I am surprised. While crossing the road on a zebra crossing with a green light on for pedestrian crossing, I have got into habit of looking at "ALL" directions for an approaching vehicle. There is a right of way for vehicles turning from right even in the conditions stated above. Then there are cycles. Cycle traffic seems to be governed by a very thin rule book – probably written in English (that means a typical local cannot fathom a bit of it) - essentially they come onto you from anywhere, anytime. I have narrowly missed getting hurt / collided couple of times.

Headphone consumption !
China is considered to be factory of world - manufactured goods being cheap - but my guess is that more than half the production of ear phones must be getting consumed within China itself - about 8 out of 10 of young people have either iPod or variant - with ear phones plugged (should I say glued) to the ears.
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Excellent way to pass time !
On the return journy, there was a girl sitting opposite. It was about 3 hour journey - for some time she listened to some music then worked on her laptop etc - then she got her bag out - and from that got out a very small scissors. I assumed it would be for the nails. But no. Like an average-local-25-something she had a funny hair style. She would examine a small bunch - single out a hair or two and snip the ends. SHe killed almost an hour and half in this activity (and I mine - watching her - in between my fits of sleep). A very interesting and novel way of passing time.
(C) Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006

Railway stations in China - Chinese railway stations lack the 'charm' (and potential terror it can create for a newbies) of Indian railway stations. First of all, ticketing area and 'railway' station is separated - Only those with a valid ticket are allowed entry to the station - there is no concept of platform ticket either !(so out goes the army of well wishers and others!) Then you x-ray the bags and wait in a hall. About 15 minutes prior to the departure of the train the passangers are allowed on the platform. And the 'boarding' closes 3 minutes before the departure!! So no thrills of "caught the running train" ! Every train coach has an assistant - dutifully standing in attention at the door. I guess they can help with small things too – I have not had the opportunity because of language issues :-) On a non-stop train, therefore all intermediate station platforms look empty ! I was bit baffled by that at first. May be this is very similar to western European or american systems - but I saw it for the first time.
(C) - Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006