Some of the hazards of traveling around India by air include over-crowded airports, delayed flights, and lost baggage. I was in Bangalore for three days last week and then came back to Mumbai with a day’s stop at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. How I wish I had the option of not flying around the country. Indian (the airlines formerly known as Indian Airlines) managed to mishandle my checked-in bag and as of now (nearly 24 hours later) the bag is still missing.
The signs are not good. …

Hugh Fitzgerald over at Dhimmiwatch says in an article titled “Aurangzeb Road” (hat tip: Tushar) :
“The Danish Embassy in India is located on Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi. So there is still a road in India that is named after the most ruthless and cruel of the many ruthless and cruel Muslim rulers, oppressor and mass-murderer of Hindus. Why is there a road by that name? Change it, for god’s sake.”
Nope. We can’t do that. Bangalore can be changed to Bengaluru for reasons not very clear. Airlines can be …

Here’s a three minute answer from TED.

Some people have way too much time on their hands. Of course, you have got to admire their creativity. Only on the internet can you find such a potent mix of silliness and creativity. Cats listening to music. My favorite is the one listening to Stevie Wonder.

News from Abroad
Gordon Dryden wrote with an update on the Hell billboards which I had written about here:

“Today, the New Zealand Council of Advertising Standards upheld, in part, a complaint against Hell billboards – with the photo of George W Bush, and saying “Even hell is too good for some bastards”.
“Its ruling (seriously) did not find anything wrong with the reference to George B in that context but felt that the term “some bastards” might be offensive to some people.”

The results of the Indibloggies are in. Thanks for the votes.

Imagine a restaurant where the number of employees exceeds the number of seats. Would be a very expensive restaurant indeed. Now imagine an airline where the number of employees exceeds the the number of seats. Actually, you don’t have to imagine that one as India has two such airlines where all the employees cannot be seated in the planes simultaneously. When the two state-run airlines merge shortly, they will have about 132 airplanes — my estimate is around 20,000 seats — and 35,000 employees.

You know what the secret of a great economy is? Markets. Why? Because voluntary trade is beneficial and welfare improving. As if you really needed to be convinced of that, here is an item that my friend Saheli from Berkeley alerted me to: free lodging in exchange for breast milk.
Markets rule. And not just in Berkeley. Everywhere.

Legend has it that Arthur Rubenstein was once asked on the street for directions to Carnegie Hall. “Pardon me sir, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” He said, “Practice, practice, practice.”
Here’s something you may enjoy listening to. A Scientific American podcast (mp3 download ~9.5 MB) on what it takes to become an expert. Anyone can provided one puts sufficient sweat into it and does so smartly over an extended period of time. So all of you who have small children, pay special attention.
The Expert Mind and the …

Hi from Mumbai. Been here for a couple of days, and tomorrow I go to Bangalore for a few days.
Mumbai is not too unpleasant at this time of the year weather wise. Spent last evening in Colaba meeting with a friend. Best way to get there from my office in Lower Parel is to take a local train and then a cab from Churchgate station to Regal theatre.

Liked this email I got from Uday. With his permission here it is:

It began with
So ya thought ya
Might like to go to the show.
To feel that warm thrill of confusion,
That space cadet glow.
I’ve got some bad news for you sunshine,
Pink isn’t well, he stayed back at the hotel
And they sent us along as a surrogate band
We’re gonna find out where you folks really stand.

I was there to see Roger Waters perform yesterday at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. He is the creative genius behind the lyrics and much of the music of The Dark Side of the Moon and …

SaaS: How About a Middle Ground?
Guest post by Sramana Mitra
Last Fall, I wrote a widely read piece called Venture Capital in India, in which I pegged the Indian venture boom to be largely in Real Estate, Retail, and to an extent in Consumer Internet, not much in actual technology.

Don’t know much about history. Thanks to the government control of education, we are not told inconvenient truths. Fortunately, in this day of free information flow, one is slowly getting wise. I think it is just a matter of time before Indians figure out the truth. I find it bitter irony that India’s national motto is “Satyameva Jayate” — Truth Alone Prevails — and the powers that be do all they can to delay the victory of truth.

Just in case you were getting carried away reading Indian newspaper reports about how wonderfully Indians in the US were doing, here is a report that will give you pause. One can be fairly certain that this will not be reported by the main stream Indian press. After all, we cannot imagine home-grown jihadis, can we? We are a secular country.

I worry about the kids. The kids I know hardly have any time for themselves. They are always busy with school, homework, tuitions, tennis lessons, tabla lessons, and preparing for this or that exam. There is no unstructured time for them to just do what they feel like doing, or for just doing nothing. I suspect (just a hunch, no proof) that it could be causing these kids to be unimaginative, non-creative and dull. They need to take a time out. But that means they have to reduce the “academic” …

When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind, I’ll be Your Valentine!
Happy Valentine’s Day.
And speaking of the windmills of your mind, here is one of my Top Favorites: The Windmills of Your Mind — the title song from “The Thomas Crown Affair.” The original movie was made in 1960. That clip is from the 1999 remake of the movie and is sung by Sting. It is not my favorite version of the song.

Vote early and vote often

I want to see Mystic India. (I think that voice over is Peter O’Toole. What do you say?)

Competitions are good. Spoken like a true market economist. Not just economists but biologists would also proclaim the benefits of competition. After all, the great diversity of our living world is the result of intense competition among the gene carriers or living entities. And the great diversity of human artifacts we enjoy is the result of intense competition among buyers and sellers of stuff in the marketplace. So it is great to have the blog competition called the “Indibloggies.”