What to do

Earlier I had contemplated whether I will steal someone else's chappals, if I could not find mine outside a temple. My obvious answer was - no, I will not. I may have to go home barefoot, but I will stop the potential chain of unhappiness then and there. The fact I did not consider while answering was the price of new chappals. Then something happened after I wrote that post.

About 3 months back, my and my friend's laptops got stolen from our hostel room, during our summer internship in Hyderabad. It happened because of ignorance of many people, including us. The police were reluctant to accept the FIR, but we did lodge a complaint against the theft (without any bribe).

Meanwhile, as laptop is a must for academic (and entertainment) requirements in IIMB, I purchased a relatively cheaper one with a decent config, and returned to Bangalore. I occasionally missed the data I had not backed up (the bugger stole my USB hard drive as well, where I had most of the backup. Though I saved few CDs which turned out handy). Otherwise the incident was put in the backseat. Rather it was written off.

Lessons learned:
1) Ensure that your room is locked in an unfamiliar place, at whatever cost.
2) Back up your data on multiple media - CDs, online storage.
3) Do not keep all the eggs in same basket.

Now the twist: earlier this month, I got a totally unexpected call - from the police station, saying that our laptops have been recovered from the concerned person. They asked us to travel to Hyderabad and collect the laptops, no questions asked! We were ecstatic and astonished about their efficiency.

What was the last time you recovered a theft, via police? We were jumping with joy and celebrating. I almost gave a mini-treat to friends.

But wait, what if the trip to Hyderabad turned out meaningless? After all, taking a weekday off from life at a B-school was not that easy, not including the expenditure on travel. What if they demanded money to return the laptops? What if the process took too much time? What if the laptops were not ours?

We called the concerned officer. We enquired about all that. Later we also asked friends in Hyderabad to meet them. The police seemed to be worried about the court-case that was imminent from the FIR. They give us the laptops, we cancel the FIR, problem solved. So bribe was probably not required. About the processing time, they said that we will require at least another trip later, but they promised to solve the things quickly - remember, they had the responsibility on them and they didn't want the matter to reach courts.

And then we realized, that was the precise problem - they didn't want the trouble in their books. We asked them to describe the laptops. From the description, it was clear that one laptop could be ours, one surely was not.

Now here is the dilemma we faced. Should we take the laptops which are not ours? We have the following two options:

Option1: Take. Use in whatever way possible - sell, give to friend/family, donate. Police are also relieved. Live with the choice - possibly few sleepless nights about whom the laptops actually belong to.

Option2: Refuse. No hassle about going to Hyderabad, no time spent chasing papers and no visits required further. Possibly we were the lumberjacks in the folklore. Or possibly the laptops will be scrapped, nobody would claim them, and there was no chain of unhappiness.

We have made our choice mostly. Before revealing that I would like to see what you would have done in this situation. While making your choice, remember the temple connection, the old folklore of the lumberjack and his axe, and the opportunity cost of not taking the laptops.

Your thoughts?

//todo

I have been making todo lists in many formats so you'd have guessed that they work only partially. I have used google calendar, outlook calendar, add-on on thunderbird, post-its on vista sidebar, post-its on paperboard in the room and whiteboard till now. So this is the latest mode of making a todo list and sticking to it - blog. Below are few things I wish to do during next 3-4 months, and YOU are going to remind me :D

TODO in next 3 months (or losely speaking, keep doing it for some time):

1. Find a guitar/drums tutor to come to IIMB to teach interested junta.
2. Listen to more types of music, particularly explore more in rock.
3. Continue mp3-tagging by collection of songs.
4. Start composing, write it down. Explore song structures.
   
5. Try sculptoring soap.
6. Read the books lying in the room (esp. End of Poverty, remaining volumes of H2G2 series)
7. Blog more frequently. Start a series on social entrepreneurs.
8. Translate books into Marathi for GTS.
9. Continue working with Weflap.
   

Now you know why I end up not completing the do part in these lists, they are so long!

No but seriously, many of the above don't even need reminders - I will do them as I find time. At times I will squeeze time to do it. You just need to remind me that I will keep on finding such times. Tell me, call, chat or mail me in a while, and just say that you read this post. I will do the rest.

tired

Frankly I'm tired of the glorified rat race.
Not because we rats join it, but because the race breeds more rats, or so it is designed.
However, I should clarify that rats are the most supreme intellectual beings in the universe, as the conventional wisdom⁽¹⁾ goes.

Frankly, I've stopped looking forward to count Gandhiji's face.
Not because it's the means not ends, but because there's much more to get yourself aligned.
However, you may say that you need to buy that alignment too. I disagree. After me, my alignment goes.

Somehow, I've put my dreams on the backseat
With the faith that the spark⁽²⁾ will live for long
I am taking up more responsibilities, few which are a burden.

Somehow, there are no drums and no beat
With the assurance that my life will be song
I am falling in the trap, and not exploring the garden.

I am pushing time, another month passes
Buried deeply in work, study and classes
Not bothering to take a look outside
Snubbing others' existence⁽³⁾ in my own pride.

I will be another one among oh-so-glorious faces
Looking at the world from my rose-tinged glasses
This poem should become more structured, I decide
I lack the taste, but there's no restaurant I've not tried.


Notes -
1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
2: Chetan Bhagat's speech: Keep the Spark
3: The Disadvantages of Elite Education, by William Deresiewicz

Quota for professors

According to the latest whim from HRD, IITs now need to reserve professorship for categories. Someone who is shaping the future of the country can't be trusted anymore.

I hope some director resigns, standing against this tyrrany. I will feel ashamed to be an alumnus of an institute calling itself elite and not practicing meritocracy.

This is not ending here.

Would you - III

(Previously: Would you part I and part II)

After the introspection, I find myself inconsistent and irrational. For instance,

• I would like to donate part of my fortune (II.5). However I am strongly against giving alms to any beggar (I.5).
• Someone would not give way even when the vehicle behind honks (I.3), but he would connive with colleagues while not accepting bribe himself (II.3).
• Someone would donate a part of lottery earnings (II.5.1), but she would not accept that extra earnings are also windfall (II.5.4).
• Someone may hope to elect unpopular candidate (II.9), but may not choose solar energy (II.10) or may not switch foods (II.8). Yet each one of that set is a vote against a convenient choice.
• I would not require another Rs 100 note (II.4), a beggar will be much better off with it, but I may not pick it up to pass it to him. If I am well off than average person on road, should I let others pick the note lying on road, or should I pick it up and donate it (II.5)?
• I may want to donate a part of my fortune for social cause. How do I make sure it reaches its intended recipients (II.7)? How do I justify deliberate redistribution of wealth (I.5,6,7,8 II.1,4,5,6,7) in case it reaches wrong recipients?

Won't free markets work better than any deliberate redistribution of wealth? Why should I push my opinion strongly if I believe in free markets, and if I accept that the other person is free to believe otherwise (and both can be correct)?

I don't know. I wish I had answers that didn't prompt more questions. I would like to know whether you have thought on these lines, and if you too are short of answers.

Reasons for this apparent inconsistency, I feel are a combination of the following

1. The questions described above are not standalone example of single phenomenon. Saving someone, saving a beautiful person, paying from your pocket and not hurting your arch-rival are a package in single question. It will be very difficult to frame such impartial questions and to answer them honestly.
2. There is inherent limit we set to our deeds. For example - would you kill someone for Rs 100? Rs 1 lac? Rs 100 cr? for survival?
3. We prioritize among money, sex, relations, ideas, recognition, self-actualization etc differently. Not only we see others' priorities as irrational, we ourselves are guided by different priorities at different situations.
   

All this effort is not to point inconsistencies in our thinking (there might even not be any and I am no one to do so). It is to make one think about self and his/her choices, to make him/her introspect.

Would you - II

Previously: Would you part I)

1. Would you demand a bribe being a babu?
• from a poor person who cant pay it?
• from a rich person who can afford, but is known to be a philanthropist?
• from a rich person who can afford, and is known to possess lot of black money?


2. Would you accept bribe even if you don't want to, but because peers pressurize you?
3. Would you connive with other corrupt people instead, but not accept bribe yourself?


4. Would you pick up Rs 100 note lying on road
• when no one is watching?
• when someone is watching you, but you can act as if it fell from your pocket?
• when no one is watching but you know that someone is looking for money lost?


5. Would you donate a part of your fortune
• if you picked up the above note?
• if you won a gold coin in packet of chips as part of marketing scheme?
• if you are earning more than you deserve (in your opinion)?
• if you are earning more than you require?


6. Would you live a simple life, reduce your consumption so that you can donate more?
7. Would you stop donating if you find that your money is being pocketed by uninteded beneficiaries?


8. Would you switch from non-veg to veg because more people can be fed from veg (or from some food to some less tasty food)?
9. Would you vote against a popular (set to win) candidate known to be corrupt, just because your vote may matter?
10. Would you switch to solar power even if it costs more than saving in electricity bill, but saves CO2 emissions?

Next: Part III

Would you - I

This is a series of 3 posts. Basically series of questions, of which I myself don't have consistent and fixed answers. In the end what I have is only more questions.

Answer the following questions. All the questions are of the form "Would you ....... (do something)". Be honest to yourself. There are no right or wrong answers. This is not a test, so there are no results, only more questions.

1. would you skip a signal
• if the signal just turned red and the next vehicle goes ahead?
• if the signal just turned red and the next vehicle stops?
• if the signal just turned red and the next vehicle stops at 3 am?


2. Would you wait for the red signal timer (at ten) to be zero if person behind you honks continuously?
• Would you give way to that person?



3. Would you pick someone else's shoes outside temple if you can't find yours


4. Would you rush an injured beautiful person, lying on road, to hospital?
• if s/he is poor and you may need to spend from pocket?
• if s/he is the person you hate the most?


5. Would you give a rupee to a beggar who doesnt want to work?
• if he is handicapped?
• if he is fully healthy?


6. Would you stop giving a rupee to healthy beggars because they may start to earn by working?


7. Would you resist paying to eunuch even facing harassment?
8. Would you resist paying ransom to an extortionist?


9. Would you you want to be a terrorist ending up killing someone who believes otherwise?
10. Would you criticize other religions because their beliefs contradict yours?
11. Would you you want to be a gangster knowing that you will kill someone just like you?
12. Would you you want to be a soldier knowing that you will kill someone just like you?
    

Next: Part II and III.