Stretch your limits

Why is it that everytime when I become complacent, or feel thoroughly content with what I have got; I come across something which makes me feel that there is more to be seen. to be read, to be thought and yes to be done.

Not that I am cribbing about this "constantly on the move" attitude as a pain. But yes, this feeling does leaves me with a certain sadness that is beyond explanation. It's like taking away the feeling of joy about one's achievemnets and yearning for more; that "thoda aur".

The only solution which makes sense is that this is what is human, so accept it and may be use this as a wonderful opportunity to Stretch Your Limits!

Welcome to my Sunday Blog:)

After more than 2 years of home cooking, I really really admire my mother for dishing out those lovely breakfasts, lunhces and dinners (and snacks in between:) to me for a whole lot of 22 years. That's really incredible. Coz I have already ran short of receipes and cannot think of making any good dish for myself (leave aside the lovely husband who eagerly waits for some cool dishes to churn out from the kitchen!)

Hats off to you mom.

Book Review "I too had a dream"

“I too had a dream” is an inspiring autobiography of Dr.Verghese Kurien, popularly known as the man behind Operation Flood. Dr.Kurien has in the past served as the Chairman of the NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) and the GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) the orgainsation that owns the “Amul” brand. He was instrumental in foundation of the IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand) and currently works as its Chairman. The book presents his life journey as an ambitious young man to an “employee of the farmers” framing the largest dairy development programme in the world.

Mr.Kurien who is the nephew of the late Mr.John Mathai, the former Finance Minister of India, worked with Telco before joining the Michigan State University course on Dairy Technology, which he saw as an escape route to foreign lands. Thereafter he was forced to work with the Gujurat Government’s cremeary at Anand, where he met his future mentor “Tribhuvandas Patel” and was introduced to the Kiara Milk Cooperative Society. One can find in the book elaborate details on the hurdles that he faced and the methodologies adopted in making the milk cooperatives a success story.

Pages of interest and ofcourse learnings are his takes on the importance of branding and advertising. Also of interest are his views on social development, which according to him is possible in a democratic institution only if “people are involved in the development process from grass root level”. The book also presents learnings on how to run and manage cooperatives. Last but not the least Dr.Kuriens’s life is a live example of what a person can achieve if stood by own dreams!

Debate over IFC's funding of Tata's Mundra UMPP (from Carma blog)

Tata Ultra Mega Mistake: The IFC Should Not Get Burned by Coal
Posted: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:39:36 +0000
[This post originally appeared on the Center for Global Development’s “Views from the Center” blog.]
During the last week of March, the Board of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) will consider the proposed Tata Ultra Mega project, which will construct a huge (4,000 MW) coal-fired power plant at Mundra in India’s Gujarat State. According to the IFC’s own estimate, this plant will emit 25.7 million tons of CO2 per year for at least 25 years, adding another 643 million tons to an atmospheric carbon load that is already driving us toward an environmental catastrophe.

This project no longer makes any sense. In fact, it is obsolete by the IFC’s own standards. Here’s the rationale provided by the IFC, along with the current reality.

1. Claim: The IFC should use scarce international resources for the Mundra project because its efficient, supercritical coal-combustion technology will provide a model for India. According to the IFC: “The project is the first private sector power project in India to be based on the energy efficient supercritical technology.”

Reality: Wrong on both counts. No model is needed, because several other private- and public-sector supercritical plants are already under construction or planned. These include Sipat and Akaltara (Chattisgarh State), Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), and Shahapur (Maharashtra). Figure 1, drawn from our CARMA database, shows the percentage of planned Indian power capacity other than Mundra that will employ supercritical technology during the next five years. For the public and private sectors combined, supercritical capacity without Mundra will be around 60% of new capacity in 2013. For the private sector, it will be over 70%.

Conclusion: The rationale for Mundra is obsolete. India’s public and private sectors are moving to supercritical technology anyway, without IFC subsidies. A big driver is the rapidly-rising price of coal, which puts a premium on combustion efficiency.

2. Claim: The IFC must support Mundra, because India has no scalable, economically-feasible alternative for baseload power. And in any case, India has a lot of cheap coal and should exploit it.

Reality: Wrong again. India does have a scalable, economically feasible alternative to coal. As Figure 2 shows, the region near Mundra has huge solar potential and is one of the most sparsely-settled areas in India. Baseload solar power with thermal storage for 24-hour operation is now technically feasible, as I have noted in a recent paper and blog. As for exploiting Indian coal, Mundra will use coal imported from Indonesia and other countries at rapidly-rising cost.

For the IFC, solar thermal power is also financially feasible for two major reasons.

Coal’s previous cost advantage has largely vanished. Fuel and construction costs for supercritical coal-fired power plants have been escalating rapidly. Both costs have at least doubled since 2005, nearly eliminating coal’s cost advantage over solar thermal power. Since completing my previously-cited paper, I have incorporated these changes into new production cost estimates for supercritical coal and solar thermal power. The gap is now less than one penny per kilowatt hour (8.23 cents for solar thermal vs. 7.65 cents for supercritical coal (up from 4.20 cents two years ago). Power from Mundra will never be sold at the rate advertised on IFC’s website (5.6 cents/kWh), because this would guarantee bankruptcy in short order.
Financing from international clean technology funds can fill the remaining cost gap. Since a solar thermal plant emits no carbon, it qualifies for European Union offset payments under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The current CDM payment rate is about $15 per ton of CO2 averted, and solar thermal capacity equivalent to Mundra’s (4,000 MW) would annually avert 29.7 million tons of CO2 produced by the CDM’s “baseline case” (a low-efficiency subcritical plant). This would qualify the solar thermal plant for $445 million/year in CDM payments — enough to recover most of the total cost difference between solar thermal and supercritical coal before the current CDM arrangement expires in 2012. The rest can easily be covered by the World Bank Group’s new Clean Technology Fund, financed by donor-country taxpayers.
In short, IFC’s proposed Tata Ultra Mega project is obsolete, unnecessary, ultra-dangerous for the planet, and mega-dangerous for the environmental reputations of the IFC and the World Bank Group. Does anyone really believe that donor-country taxpayers will continue supporting the Bank Group if it takes billions for the Clean Technology Fund with one hand and invests billions in coal-fired monsters with the other? Let’s get serious here. The IFC’s Board should take Ban Ki-Moon’s Bali declaration of a planetary emergency seriously, vote no on Tata Ultra Mega, leave coal-fired power behind, and commit to renewable power. They will find a willing partner in the Indian Government, which has already begun piloting solar thermal power and would undoubtedly welcome a big push on renewables.

Figure 1: Planned Supercritical Coal Capacity in India Without Tata Mundra
(% of Total Planned Annual Capacity Installation, Private and Total)
Back to text


Figure 2: Solar Power Potential in the Region Near Mundra
Back to text

World Bank - Private Sector Development Blog

While searching for popular blogs on "Developmental Economics" I came through the blog maintained by the World Bank Group on the relevant topic, with more stress on realising the benefits of Public Private Partnership.

Read through my comments on stories; as I am figuring out how I can contribute articles on the post.

"Possession" is a dreadful word. It creates more agony than pride, the primary reason for creating possessions!

I am though basking in the pride of now owning a home, but nevertheless paying the price for it by way of long (and dirty) commute to and from from my work place.

God help!

Indian Wedding: Another Opportunity lies ahead!

We wonder whether the movies are a reflection of the society or the society emulates what is shown on the celluloid screen. The recent exorbitantly hyped wedding of the Bollywood's power couple has once again raised the question. As a newspaper today read "Abhiash wedding video rights bags 5 Cr from an entertainment company", I wonder whether the power couple or the more powerful couple folks have recently gone through the 2005 Juhi Chawala starrer "7 1/2 phare" wherein the pretty lady who plays a newspaper reporter convinces a middle class Delhi family to broadcast the Shaddi in their house for publicity and some easy bucks in return. The Bachhans are supposedly doing the same though still describing the whole show as a "private and family affair". This is a sheer gesture of ultimate hypocricy or may be the stars have become so larger than life that nothing about them has the right to be "private".

The great Indian Wedding story has been selling around for the last may be generations, be it in the Barjatya films or the grand Balaji sets. Therefore, this is bound to open up a big untouched market and the Bachhans should have possibly patented the business model because even if it is replicated for n number of times, it will still succeed. So in times to come we will track how much our neighbours, colleagues, friends weddings attract. The impact could be huge considering the sheer amount of rivarly the weddings will attract given the fact people alredy tend to compare a lot about services and goods used in each others marriages. I wonder why the big shaddi happened so late because I have lost the opportunity to cash in on my marriage which took place in 2005 and has made it a NPA by now. Oops!!!

Birthday Boy

Read this one on some random blog page...and liked a lot.....to share with whoever reads

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Late night. A glass of rum-coke by my side. Surfing the net when all of a sudden my ICQ window pops up. There’s a message:

From BirthdayBoy_at_20: Hi. I know this sounds kind of weird. I am you ,when you were 20. I just wanted to see if you are online….had some questions to ask you.

Yeah right. This has got to be a practical joke. A few of my friends—the very few I have know its my 30th birthday on the 30th of December and this must be their idea of a joke. Very funny.
I type back. Yes BirthdayBoy_at_20 , this is BirthdayBoy_at_30. Nice joke. Now which clown is this?

From BirthdayBoy_at_20: As I said, BirthdayBoy_at_30 this is going to sound weird. I am actually “you” 10 years ago. I don’t know how this is happening but somehow we are being able to communicate through chat—-and I want to ask you basically—-how did I turn out?

Some people take the gag so far that it becomes unfunny.

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Okay smart guy, I may be a bit drunk but not that sloshed. Buzz off.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Wait wait. I have proof. I am sending you a picture—-no-one else is going to have this picture, at least none of your friends . It feels strange saying “yours” because these friends are mine too. Or will be. See this picture. Recognize the guy?

Holy moly. That’s me at 20. I could not believe it. How the hell did this guy…………………..

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Okay I don’t know how you did this. Or what in the name of Mithun is happening. But it seems you are me at 20. How creepy meeting you again, like this, just when I am going to turn 30. So what do you want to know?

BirthdayBoy_at_20: First up, am I a MBA from Columbia making 7 figures a year, driving a Lamborghini and jetting around the world first-class?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: No you are not. Listen to yourself. What expectations baah !

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Sooo….what am I then? You mean I am not an MBA? Dont joke man…..I gotta be an MBA from somewhere……

BirthdayBoy_at_30: No you aren’t an MBA. The only thing your car will have in common with a Lamborghini is that both of them will have innovative doors—the Lam’s open upwards, your passenger side door will be frequently jammed. It’s a 94 Honda Civic, for your information.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Cool at least a new car. Ooh wait I forgot. You are in 2005 right?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Yes I am. Very clever of you to realize.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: So if I am not an MBA what am I ?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: I am sorry to have to break this bit of news to you dude. But you are a PhD working in a R&D lab.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Haha now you are pulling my leg. You know me better than anyone else and you know I have always wanted to be like Banerjee uncle upstairs with the company car, the Calcutta Club membership and the masseur who comes in on Sundays.

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Immature. Of course I forget you are only 20. You see at the age of 30 I have come to the conclusion that I am, in the final analysis, way too much like my father. I value my freedom and I am willing to make a financial compromise for it. It was tough coming to terms with this realization but it is true.
And this epiphany didn’t come all of a sudden—it was a lesson acquired by walking the path between 1995 and 2005. So straight off the bat, this may be a bit too much for you to understand right now but trust me on this one—-maybe we did not set out to be a PhD but it’s a rather good place to be. Considering the type of person we are and what we value in life.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Please don’t mind but you are kind of sounding like Dad. Change of topic: have I traveled the world? Have I been to all the places I wanted to go?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Well quite a few of them as a matter of fact. You have been to Copenhagen, Switzerland, Barcelona , Vienna and around USA and Canada and all the European countries you have visited has been on funding money (ie not out of your pocket). So you see a PhD is not without its corporeal benefits also. And the thrill of publication, presenting original work in front of peers and interacting with some of the best minds in the world is a heady experience—-something a twenty year old might not value but I have come to love.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Ooh good. Sounds fine. So I do my PhD in US…mm…feels kinda uncomfortable asking someone who is so much older than I am….but since you are me after all….do I turn out to be the super-rocking stud I always wanted to be? You know chick-magnet, party animal, bohemian hedonist without a care in the world. Do you remember how constricted you used to feel at 20 in an all-guys engineering college, growing up in a middle-class Bengali milieu, wanting to break free—total social and ethical anarchy. Do you remember, BirthdayBoy_at_30 ?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Yes BirthdayBoy_at_20 I remember. Only too well. I am sorry to have to break it to you—but things didn’t quite turn out that way. Again what you cannot accept right now is that you have your limitations. As a matter of fact, turning 30 is possibly the stage when you truly realize the magnitude of all the things you cannot do. Its a sobering thought and one which, even though it comes at the cost of heartbreak and much sadness, makes your life that much easier.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Excuse me but could you repeat that in plain English?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: It means “No”. You won’t have that lifestyle because your background and your upbringing and your sensibilities (the ones you are still not aware of) will pre-program you to take a different path. Plus lets face it—-you wont cut a dashing figure in a club, you wont have the cash nor the style. Your time will be spent better staying at home, reading a book, doing creative writing…..”

BirthdayBoy_at_20: In other words, no Ecstasy-induced sandwich dance, no bumping and grinding.

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Well there will be a lot of ham sandwiches. And burgers. Which will bring in a lot of pounds. The bad kind of pounds….not the currency.
There will be grinding work and a few bumps along the way. And oh a factoid: Do you know that Tiger Woods was born same day same year as us? Somebody born that day sure achieved a lot.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: So I let myself go and become fat. Not good. Will I get married?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: Yes you shall. To a lovely person who is exactly right for the type of person you will grow up to be.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Oh ! That’s good…..So summing up, how do you feel now?

BirthdayBoy_at_30: A bit sad. The sadness from knocks sustained, trusts broken and overall cynicism about the institutions I once worshipped. The sadness from seeing ideals break and idols cracking. The sadness from knowing the things you can and cannot do. At 20, the world lay before me—I could be anything I wanted to be. I am not so sure anymore.
A bit afraid. More responsibilities. More thinking of others and less about myself. More aware of my own mortality and those others whom I love.
And finally more than a bit glad. Things could really have been much worse.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Boy you do sound old. I cannot believe I shall grow up to be you. In any case, thanks for all the crap old-timer. I have to go and start watching the cricket match—my favorite cricketer Azhar …Don’t want to miss his batting.

BirthdayBoy_at_30: I am sorrry again to tell you this but Azhar fixes matches—he has put money on the other side.

BirthdayBoy_at_20: Get lost….ewwwwww…….I am better off not knowing.

I sit head in hand. Did I dream that all up? Was it the alcohol? Perhaps.

Feeling emotional and light-headed, I think of the innocence , hopes and the aspirations of the person I talked to right now—so familiar and yet so strange, so present and yet so lost. Caught in the twilight haze of rational thought and hopeless dreams, my hand moves to the keyboard :

To BirthdayBoy_at_40: Hi. I know this sounds kind of weird. I am you , when you were 30. I just wanted to see if you are online….had some questions to ask you.