I’ve been meaning to get to an anecdote about the puzzle that was the Uber business model in Bangalore, India. So here goes.

I visited Bangalore — the city I am from — earlier this year. I’ve been used to driving my parents’ car around town while visiting; for the first time, though, the consensus opinion from friends and family was that I should Uber the entire time instead. I’m a fan of convenience, so I agreed.

It was pleasant: the cars were new, clean and shiny; prices were cheap when paid in USD; cars were abundant. …

I first started swimming when I was 4 years old. It was the summer of 1987. Hundreds of petrified kids would line up in a row on the wall, and ferocious instructors would bark orders at us.

Training generally worked on a premise of fear. My first few weeks involved me holding on to the wall and kicking furiously for fear of being caught out. I still remember one incident when I shouted out “I can’t take anymore!” The coach turned and roared in reply, “Who said that?!” …

Recipes I wrote down a decade ago, when I was fresh off the boat:

Key to Dals

When in doubt, use toor dal.

• Moong dal: Khichdi, Pongal only
• Channa dal: Payasa, Kosambri
• Urad dal/Uddin bele: Idli, Dosa
• Channa dal/Kadale bele: Puliyogare

Bisi Bele Bhath

• 0.5 cups toor daal + 1 cup water
• 0.5 cups rice + 1 cup water
• 2 tsp sambar powder
• tamarind paste, salt, oil, turmeric to taste
• chopped vegetables
• optionally: coconut oil

Pressure cook everything for 2 whistles, low heat for 5 minutes, let it cool.

Dal

1. 0.5 cup toor dal; 1.5 …

This is a strong human interest story that would certainly make it to pg. 107 of the July 2007 edition of Reader’s Digest India, provided somebody rewrites it, of course.

I meet this auto driver in Jayanagar and chat him up. A quick background: he is an 18 year old who has been driving the auto for 3 years now. He has come all the way from Yelahanka to Jayanagar, and expects to get paid fare back “sometime in the evening.”

In his opinion,

• Kids should not be allowed to drive autos because they are “immature”. When asked why he began driving 3 years ago in spite of these strong beliefs, he replies that it is because “he learnt when he was 12, unlike these kids who learn while on the road.” …

On my way back home after applying for a British visa, I stopped off at the State Youth Centre to take a look at Bangalore Development Authority’s Vision 2015: a series of carefully classified and colour-coded satellite images that detail exactly what kind of use will be allowed for all land within a 25km radius of MG Road. As if God were signalling to me, Nrupathunga Road (the road that houses the State Youth Centre) had a vibrant traffic jam at 12 noon. (Autos! A million autos! …

Before it becomes a long past memory, let me quickly post an entry about Anusmaran 2005. I was (proudly enough) in charge of the Mumbai Anusmaran event. It’s a great feeling to run an event, and it reminds me of the last time I was so passionate about something– the lovely Aatmatrisha 2001. This gave me a great opportunity during my stay here in Mumbai.

The Larger Picture:
I spent the two days before Anusmaran as the point of contact for our sponsors BPCL (all India), Pepsi, GM, ICICI Bank and a host of alumni who kept calling me about the event. On Friday, the day before the event, and me spent an evening at Intercontintal The Grand Hotel looking over things with the ICICI credit card people, the GM sponsors and the hotel lady. …

So I, the dutiful son, have been assigned the duty of paying my mom’s income tax by the 15th of March. The form, of course, is like all government forms — 2 pages long, and to be filled in triplicate — one for the taxed, one for the government, and one for the bank. It’s filled up and ready, and I go to the bank to deposit it. It’s the 14th of March, and for the first time in months, I’m ready to submit something a WHOLE DAY before the deadline.

“Sir, this is the wrong form. You have IT Form 270. This is deprecated; you must use Form 280 instead. Form 280 tries to make things thumba thumba easier for you — you can pay wealth tax, corporation tax or income tax using a single form!” …

The death of Dr. HN brings back some nostalgia from my childhood. My mother studied in National College Basavanagudi in the 1950s and 1960s, and I swam at BAC (right next door to National College Basavanagudi) in the 1980s and 1990s. The first two years of my life were spent right across the road from National College Basavanagudi in a house off New High School Road.

I remember her telling me about CR Simha, the theatre personality. (His brother is the more famous Srinath, but he is the more respected actor.) Today, I read in The Hindu about CR Simha referring to how HN had changed his life. …