Kota Travelogue-----24th to 26th Mar 2011

My colleague Siva Kumar accompanied me to Kota where we visited University College of Engineering for GET recruitment.

I had just got back on 24th Mar morning to Chennai from Melkote and rushed home to refresh myself and then take a car to the Airport to catch the 11.45 AM flight to Delhi.

The start was ominous.Half-way to the airport, I got a call from Sudha that I had left my laptop behind so I had to turn back and pick it up. There were no further mishaps and we reached Delhi at 3 PM in time to catch the 4.45 PM Paschim Express from New Delhi Railway Station.The car driver had the tickets for us.

Because the trip was made at short notice, we travelled in Sleeper Class.The train from Amritsar pulled in on time and we soon settled in our seats.The India-Australia World Cup match was going on in Ahmedabad and we were getting periodic updates on the score from our fellow passengers.

The train chugged past Okhla,Hazrat Nizamuddin,Ballabgarh,Mathura,Bharatpur etc.There was a Jat agitation going on in Haryana with the result that the railway track to Jaipur was blocked, so all people intending to go to Jaipur and beyond got on this train.The fact that we had reserved seats had no meaning and we got the impression that our fellow passengers were doing us a favour by allowing us to retain our (reserved) seats.Overall, they were a very decent bunch and we all made the journey in companiable silence with the occasional shout coming forth when we got an Australian wicket.

We had our dinner at 8 PM and then my fellow passengers were kind enough to permit Siva Kumar and I to sleep.The train was to reach Kota at 11.30 PM.
I got up at 11 PM and was shocked to find that the entire compartment was choc a bloc with passengers sleeping all over.I gingerly hopped over some of them to go to the bathroom and then got an even bigger shock.There were more passengers sleeping close to the door and this included some infants.How on earth was I going to get across the door without trampling upon them was the dilemna I grappled with.

Kota arrived at 12.30 AM and soon Siva Kumar and I somehow made our way out of the train without killing anyone.A student volunteer from the college was at hand to take us to the University Guest House.By that time, we were also informed that India had won the match so I went to sleep in a happy frame of mind.

I got up at 7 AM on 25th Mar and had a hearty breakfast of Aloo Paratha with Curd, cornflakes and an apple and set off for the college with Siva Kumar at 9 AM.By 5.30 PM, we had shortlisted two candidates.We came back to the guest house, had a shower and then set off again to see the Chambal Udyavan.The river Chambal flows past Kota and is the only river in India to flow from South to North.Just 80 Km away, there are deep ravines that have been cut by the river in the valley.This is where the famous dacoits such as Man Singh,Phoolan Devi etc operated and was virtually ungoverned territory.Even today, tales are told of the heroic exploits of the dacoits and how they cocked a snook at the Establishment and the feudal Thakurs.

We had a boat ride in the Chambal river and then went to see the Kota barrage.
On our way back, we stopped at a dingy shop to taste the famous Kachoris of Kota.Yummy!!! And the Ratlami Namkeen was even better.

We got back to the Guest House in time to see New Zealand give a pasting to South Africa and then caught the 11.30 PM Mewar Express to Delhi.This time we were in an AC compartment and thankfully didn't have to step over anyone to get into the train.

We got back to Delhi at 6.30 AM on 26th Mar.I went to my company Guest House, had a shower, shave and breakfast and again rushed to the Airport to catch the 10.30 AM flight to Chennai.
End of Kota adventure.

1991------ The second freedom for India

1991 will be reckoned as a momentous year for India.In some ways, it is a more significant year than 1947, when India got its independence. 1991 is when economic reforms were introduced. Today's generation has no clue about how things were pre-1991.Let's say you wanted Hershey's chocolates.You would actually have to wait for one of your friends or relatives to get it for you when they went abroad.Anything that had to be imported required an import license and there were many items ( like chocolates, for instance) that were on the negative list because they were not considered essential for India's economy.
I remember when I had to go abroad in 1988 , I had asked for foreign exchange of US$ 2100 ( 21 days @ $100/day). I was called to the local RBI office in Chennai and an Officer there asked me about the purpose of my trip ( it was for product training) and whether it was really essential for me to go.He concluded by insisting that I should give him a copy of my training report!!

Anyway, let me start at the beginning of 1991.Chandrasekhar ( a Young Turk of the Congress) had become the Prime Minister of India.Karunanidhi was the DMK Chief Minister in Tamilnadu.Padmanabha, a leader of one of the splinter Tamil Groups of Sri Lanka had taken shelter in Chennai.He was assassinated in his Kodambakkam apartment and the general news was that the killer gang was allowed to move unhindered to the sea coast from where they escaped to Sri Lanka.DMK was considered to be close to LTTE at that time and therefore, on the grounds of national security, Chandrasekhar dismissed the DMK Government.
Very soon, the Chandrasekhar Ministry also fell in New Delhi and so elections were ordered both for the Centre and for Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the economic situation had deteriorated. India's foreign exchange reserves had dropped down to something like 300 Million Dollars ( it's close to 300 Billion Dollars today) and India had to sell some gold in its reserves to the IMF.

Rajiv Gandhi had been out of power since 1990 ( mainly over the Bofors scandal) and he was criss-crossing the country in trying to win back power.The Congress appeared to be doing well and it was widely predicted that the Congress would sweep back to power in the elections to be held in June 1991.

Unfortunately, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur on 21st May 1991.The Special Investigation Team headed by R.K.Raghavan immediately picked up clues pointing to the involvement of LTTE.The reconstruction of the events leading up to Rajiv Gandhi's assassination was brilliantly done and the duo of Sivarasan and Dhanu were constantly on the run till they were cornered and shot dead at Konanakunte in Bangalore on 21st Aug 1991,3 months to the day after Rajiv Gandhi was killed and on his birthday.

The Congress rode on a huge sympathy wave and emerged victorious.The DMK was routed in Tamilnadu and AIADMK led by Jayalalitha came to power.

P V Narasimha Rao was made the Prime Minister and he chose Dr.Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister.Soon the Union Budget had to be presented and it was a landmark Budget with the first hint of economic reforms.All controls were abolished and licenses were required for very few industries.

Can you imagine that any industry wanting to increase production above its licensed capacity actually had to seek permission from the Government to do so? The younger generation will hardly be able to understand these issues but these were the very hurdles to the growth rate and India's GDP growth rate of around 3% was derisively called "The Hindu rate of growth".

Meanwhile, the balance of payments position was so alarming that no foreign supplier was willing to execute an order placed by an Indian buyer unless a Letterof Credit was opened up front.Even when a Government Bank like SBI opened a Letter of Credit, the foreign banks were unwilling to trust the LC so the Indian buyer actually had to deposit money equivalent to the LC amount at the time of placing orders.

The Union Budget of 1991 removed all exchange controls and foreign money started flowing in.The cap of 40% on JV holdings was removed and foreign players were allowed even 100% equity in some sectors.

Was this liberalization too late? Perhaps by a year or so, but my personal opinion is that the controls imposed earlier were good for the country.It enabled India to become self-reliant and develop indigenous technology to the extent possible.All this stood the country in good stead when the economy was opened up.If not, we could have perhaps been too reliant on foreign capital and technology and may not have become as strong as we are now.

I've covered the economic situation in some detail because , when India's history is written in the future, 1991 is sure to be reckoned as a watershed year.

Sachin's Munji was performed in May 1991 at the Rama Mandira in Jayanagar.He had completed 12 years and was fast growing into a handsome young man.Sudha was just establishing herself as a dubbing artiste and was also busy with some monthly programs in Doordarshan. Sudha and I did the occasional Kannada drama in the Sourabha programe of Doordarshan.

One of the dramas we did was "Ward No 420"--- supposed to be hilarious but it didn't quite turn out that way. Doordarshan is a Government organization and its staff ( except for a few dedicated men at the top) was notoriously unionized.The cameramen and light boys, spot boys etc went about their jobs mechanically and were not really concerned with the outcome.

The Director for Kannada programs was one Mr.Bhaskar and he would call us up now and then to present a program.We would go there by 9 AM and get our make-up done.By the time this was completed, it would be lunchtime and so the actual shooting would start around 2 PM.If there were any mistakes during shooting, the cameraman would tell us to carry on and said that this would be taken care of during editing.

One such scene involved a person who is supposed to die. Lord Yama comes down with his "Pasha"( Rope") which he would throw  like a lasso and take the hapless person's soul to Swarga ( or Naraka-- depending on the debit/credit of good deeds he had done in his lifetime).

OK, so here was Lord Yama on stage and he throws this lasso to the victim who is off stage.Ramesh was the poor victim.Anyway, when the lasso was thrown, it didn't quite reach off stage so Ramesh put his hand out and caught hold of the lasso and put it around his neck.This action was caught on camera.I pointed this out to the cameraman and asked for a retake.The cameraman assured me that this would be edited. Imagine our horror when we saw the final telecast and the entire scene of Ramesh reaching out, catching the lasso, putting it around his neck and then being "dragged" on stage was shown in glorious Technicolour!!! The people who were watching the TV program with us roared with laughter when this was actually supposed to be a very serious and poignant scene !!

That's it for now.My next blog will cover our drama adventure in Neyveli.