A load of crap from an idle brain

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Hyderabad built and operated by the GMR group has been declared the 5th best airport in the world and the Number 1 in the 5-15 million passengers category.

Approach road to the airport

Another example why the Government of India has no business running any critical infrastructure in the country.  Look at the shabby airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and then pass through the Hyderabad airport.

The airport air traffic control tower

You will never realise that its situated somewhere in India.  Top class infrastructure with top class service has resulted in RGIA gatecrashing into the hallowed group of airports worldwide. To be even talked in the same breath as Changi, Incheon, Hong Kong etc is an honour and GMR must be roundly applauded for bringing up RGIA to international standards.

This is how the Airports Council International (ACI), an autonomous body representing world airports, adjudged the airports

1.  Incheon, South Korea

2. Changi, Singapore

3. Hong Kong International Airport

4. Beijing International Airport, China

5. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, India

News source: Economic Times

Pictures source: Blacknwhite, Marie, Vincent Tulio, Bert Roos

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Am a great fan of Aakar Patel and his articles in Mint.  Though i might not agree with everything he writes, i have to admit that he is of a different school of thought.  Here he mentions the difference in the way the Parsis have done their bit for the society and their difference with people of other faith in general in India.

The Birlas built six temples (India always being in urgent need of more religion). They built temples in Jaipur, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Kolkata. Most of these are to Lakshminarayan, and these are only the big ones. No Indian family has built more, or bigger, temples than the Birlas, and that is their contribution to our culture.

Mukesh Ambani is building on Altamount Road a structure called Antilla, the most expensive home in history. Its architects Hirsch Bedner say their estimate for it is around $2 billion. That is Rs9,000 crore, and four people will live in this house. That is Ambani’s contribution to our culture.

The Birlas built schools for the rich, and the Ambanis made a school for millionaires. BITS-Pilani’s fee is Rs1 lakh per year, Birla Vidyamandir’s fee is Rs1 lakh per year and Dhirubhai Ambani International School’s fee just for classes XI and XII is Rs7.57 lakh.

At the Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital (“Compassionate Quality Healthcare”), a check-up for headaches costs Rs2,850. At the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (“Every Life Matters”), the wellness check-up costs Rs5,000.

At the Tata Memorial Hospital, which treats cancer, healthcare is free.

Of Tata Sons’ 398,563 shares, 65.8% is held by charitable trusts (Ratan Tata owns 0.84%). How much money are we talking about? Tata Sons’ net profit last year was Rs3,780 crore.

Tata Sons owns 74% of Tata Consultancy Services and 84% of Tata Motors. If wealthy Indians want to give back to society, they need only buy Jaguar and Land Rover, and not Mercedes and BMW. Tata Sons owns 31% of Tata Steel, 20% of Tata Teleservices and 22% of Tata Tea.

Last year, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust gave away Rs201 crore. Sir Ratan Tata Trust gave away Rs153 crore. This is not CSR (corporate social responsibility) or other corporate varnish: It’s pure philanthropy. Witness its quality: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Energy Research Institute (Teri), Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for the Performing Arts. That is civilization.

Read the rest of the article here

Read all of Aakar Patel’s previous articles on Mint here

An aside, have been reading a lot.  Simultaneously reading business books, magazines and not to mention have been visiting library more often.  Have passed on the reading bug which i had caught from my dad to biwi ji.

Though, its been pretty boring last few weeks of the year.  Its been raining like crazy in Singapore and is good to snuggle in bed with no intention of  going to work.

Its the last month of the year and Christmas is round the corner.  Singapore is all decked up like a pretty girl, still the festivity of Christmas at Hyderabad something that i miss. The smell of cakes being baked, the waking up to cold mornings, blowing invisible cigarette smoke into the wind, the Christmas tree at home, the decorations, the lighting up of home, the star hanging outside the balcony….i miss them all.

At least biwi ji is here with me this Christmas.  We plan to put up a small Christmas tree at home along with some decorations.  After the disaster of baking a cake for birthday, no such adventures are in mind for Christmas.  We just plan to buy one.   Since Christmas falls on a friday this year, its going to be a long weekend.

Hope the rest of the year passes off with peace and happiness all around.

Picture source: Wikipedia & VickyB

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Its also claimed to be the longest flyover in Asia.  Not sure of that title though. At least for the time being, its the longest in India.

Name : PV Narasimha Rao Expressway (PVNR Expressway)

Where:  Hyderabad, India

Total length:  11.63 kms

Connects : Mehdipatnam to Aramghar

Total cost:  Rs 600 crores

The ramps for the expressway are yet to be built.  It means, once you get on to the flyover, there is no getting off till the end.   Also access is restricted to four wheelers only.  Trucks and autos are not allowed.

The maximum speed permissible on the road is 60kmph.  Are you kidding me?

All pictures source: Telugupeople

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The picture in today’s Deccan Chronicle says it all.  Not many urban city slickers might want to admit, but the truth is that Andhra Pradesh has lost one of its most loved Chief Minister.

Though i do have a grouse against him naming each and every project in Andhra Pradesh after the Nehru/Gandhi family, one cant discount the amount of work he did among the rural folk in AP.  From cheap loans for womenfolk to healthcare benefits to millions of poor people, to free power for farmers, to massive irrigation schemes to the tune of 1 lakh crore,  to building a state of the art airport in Hyderabad to building the 160 km Outer Ring Road to decongest the city, there was a reason why more than 40 people died of either shock or committed suicide on hearing YSR’s death.

The only person not only to survive the NTR storm in the 80s and still manage to keep his seat, but also to singlehandedly survive the onslaught of a combined opposition of TDP, Communists, Chiranjeevi, BJP, Telengana crowd in the 2009 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections and still come out victorious is no easy task.

Rest in Peace, YSR.  You will be missed for sure.  Not only by your loved ones, but also by your rivals who in the back of their minds always looked up to you as a rival worth fighting against.

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The city of Hyderabad is all set to hold the prestigious World Badminton Championship starting August 10th, as players from countries across the world have started pouring here. Players from twelve countries have already reached the city for the mega event and another set of platers from twelve countries would reach the city tonight, Punnaiah Choudary, the Organising Secretary of WBC told PTI. Top players like Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark, Lin Dan and Tine Rasmussen have already arrived and the visitors are happy with the arrangements and hospitality, he added.

The seven-day championship will be held at the Gachibowli stadium from Monday. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Police is also busy making tight security arrangements for the high-profile event.

Saina Nehwal

The English team has meanwhile pulled out of the tournament citing security fears.

Badminton England released a statement saying there had been a reported threat against the championships by the Pakistan-based Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Lin Dan & Peter Gade

Chief executive Adrian Christy said there was consultation with the British Foreign Office and British High Commission and local police before making the decision to withdraw from the event – second only to the Olympics as badminton’s leading tournament.

For full schedule of the tournament and to buy tickets for the same, click here.

Above news source: Yahoo & TimesofIndia

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Some good news for the students and the city of Hyderabad.

In what could propel Hyderabad into a premier educational hub of the country, the AP government and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, have informally agreed to set up a ‘seamless’ campus of IIM-A on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

“The decision to set up IIM-A campus in Hyderabad was taken at a meeting between the board of governors of the institute and state government officials in Ahmedabad recently. The top management institution has now set up a committee to work out further modalities,” state government sources told STOI. Dons in IIM-A confirmed the development to STOI.

The move is said to be highly symbiotic. The 110-acre IIM-A campus is virtually saturated and there is no scope of any further expansion. “The AP government has offered nearly 150 acres of land virtually free of cost or at a nominal amount of Rs one per acre as well as a grant of Rs 100 crore. The seamless campus at Hyderabad would be bigger than the Ahmedabad location and have ultra-modern facilities,” the official said.

According to sources, IIM-A can benefit immensely by having an extension in Hyderabad. “The PGDM — commonly called MBA-course is the brand-building one, but not revenue earning. The institute can generate money only through short-term executive courses and the IT, biotechnology and infrastructure hub that Hyderabad is would attract many to join up,” sources said.

According to sources, reputed faculty from abroad are keen to join the institute and would be motivated by the access that the Hyderabad international airport would provide for them. “IIM-A is the top management institution in the country and Hyderabad is the hub of the emerging economy. Both will tremendously benefit with the setting up of the seamless campus,” officials said.

The YSR Reddy government thought of the seamless IIM-A campus after the Centre made it clear that a new IIM cannot be granted for Hyderabad since it already has an IIT. “And there is no provision for an IIM for Andhra Pradesh in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2013-18) as well. A seamless IIM-A campus would be an extension of the one at Ahmedabad and not another new campus. This way, the Union HRD ministry will also have no objection as it need not give any financial assistance,” said sources.

According to the sources, the IIM-A board of governors were highly appreciative of the facilities that were being offered by the state government for the growth and expansion of the institution. “Their efforts in the last few years to grow including opening a campus in Mumbai came a cropper. Besides, former HRD minister Arjun Singh shot down all the expansion plans of the IIMs. Therefore, the offer from the AP government was welcomed with open arms by IIM-A authorities,” officials said.

Apart from the flagship PGDM course, the seamless campus in Hyderabad would offer a slew of new ones as well as optional courses that the student from Ahmedabad can enlist for a short-term, the sources said.

“In short, the seamless campus in Hyderabad can further cement the grip of IIM-A as the topmost management institute in the country,” the sources added.

The committee set up by the IIM-A authorities is expected to submit its proposals shortly to the board of governors after which the institute will seek a formal approval from the Union HRD ministry.

Above news source: TimesofIndia

Above pictures of campus source: IIM Ahmedabad

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A small tea shop somewhere on East Coast Road

Travelled on this bus from Chennai to Velankanni

Masala Dosa anyone?

The bus station at Velankanni

The main church at Velankanni

Shrines at opposite ends of the street

Back side of the church

Shrines at opposite ends of the street

A small chapel at St Thomas Mount, Chennai.  Its believed that St Thomas, a disciple of Jesus Christ who came to India to spread Christianity was martyred here.

A cross at St Thomas mount.  A lovely small chapel at the top of a small hill.  A great view of the Chennai city as well as the Chennai airport’s runway is visible from here

A statue of Jesus after crucifixion

Some engraving at the entrance of the church at St Thomas mount.  I guess the language could be Latin.  Anyone can confirm?

An extension of the above engraving

A 150 year old banyan tree in the courtyard of the church at St Thomas mount

A wind chime swaying in the wind at my home in Hyderabad

A flowering plant at home

The new Hyderabad airport

McDonalds at the new Hyderabad airport

A view of the airport village from the departure level at the new Hyderabad airport

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First a trip to smelly and dirty Chennai, then a trip to equally smelly and extremely dirty pilgrim town called Velankanni (with the famous shrine of Mary) and finally to an extremely clean, cold and windy Hyderabad.

Chennai was sweltering hot, i sweated buckets.  Coupled with that the scarcity of water and a city that is used by its citizens as a garbage dump.  You wonder where the municipal workers of the city are?  If at all they are doing the work.  Whether you are the middle of the city or at the outskirts, one thing that defines Chennai is the consistent crappy smell in the air.  The air stinks in Chennai and uniformly so.  Dont know why and how.  This is in addition to the dirt and filth all around.  Wonder which moron decided to name it a metro.

Velankanni was equally dirty.  For a piligrim town with such a potential for tourism, there are hardly any good lodge/hotels.  The only good ones are the dorms run by the church, but they too offer you rooms for the next day only.  And if you are the ones (like me) who just drop into the town with no reservations, hoping to stay at some hotel, be disappointed with the kinds of rooms you get there.  As for the restaurants, stay away if you dont want to come down with some extreme case of food poisoning or diarrhea.

If you have any plans of going to Velankanni, stay at Nagapattinam, a town near Velankanni.  Take a bus in the morning to Velankanni, see around and come back to Nagapattinam.  This was advised by my friends after i did my trip much to my exasperation.

Took a train from Chennai to Hyderabad.  Was travelling by the Indian Railways after more than 11 years and loved the experience.  Reached Hyderabad early morning around 6am on the 14th (our 1st wedding anniversary).   Was amazed at how clean the city of Hyderabad was at 6 in the morning.   Either the roads were swept clean or at some places the cleaners were hard at work.  Kudos to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the people who work for them for keeping the city reasonably clean.

It was drizzling all through and there was a nice cool breeze.  Loved it. Since we were tired, we preferred to rest.  There was not much celebration for the anniversary as all plans were for wifey’s birthday which was 2 days later on the 16th.  Had a get together at home for friends and family for wifey’s birthday.

Later on in the week, went to the new mall in town, GVK-1.  Good place to hang out, but there was something lacking in the place.  I prefer Hyderabad Central or City Center.  Also the mall is pretty new and the shops are only coming up.  Maybe it will be good once it fills up.

Saw the movie New York.  Not bad i thought.  Better than the crap that Yash Raj is famous for churning out. Saw the movie at the new INOX multiplex at GVK-1.  The seating is good and so is the sound system.

Travelled back to Singapore via Chennai again.  From the superb airport of Hyderabad to a garbage can called Chennai Airport is a perfect example of what the private sector can do to our economy while at the same time, the Chennai airport run by the inefficient babus of Airports Authority of India have really screwed it up.

There were no seats at the international departure.  They simply disappeared.  For someone who’se flight is yet to start check-in, they simply have to stand there waiting for the counters to open.  Can you believe that?  What about the elderly and the people who need to rest?  Have the airport authorities ever thought about their comfort?

And the cafe’s selling stuff in Chennai airport are nothing but daylight robbery.  Tea is sold for Rs 30.  A samosa / aloo bonda costs Rs 60.  Whereas you get a good Cafe Coffee Day coffee at the Hyderabad airport for just Rs 15.

I can go on and on about the pathetic situation at Chennai airport, but its a waste of time.  Its a perfect example of why the airport needs to be handed over to a private player so that they can do a better job of the same.  Anyone with doubts can look at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Bombay airports and compare them to the ones run by AAI.  There is simply no comparison.

Back at office and a mountain of work stares me in the face.  Time to get going.

Chennai picture courtesy: I’m seeing green ;  Hyderabad tank bund and NTR gardens picture courtesy: Hyderabad

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