Capital Lessons for Namma Metro

Also published on Huffington Post India

“Where do you want to go today?”

Forget about poetic license. Anywhere is truly possible with Delhi Metro.

I travel to Delhi almost every month. From HUDA station in Gurgaon on one end to Jahangirpuri at the other, the Delhi Metro becomes my lifeline at least four times a week.

Gliding up escalators, dashing through the booths, running down squeaky-clean platforms and hopping on to cool coaches - the metro makes it all such a breeze. Of course, snaking queues and jam-packed coaches during peak hours take away from a breezy journey many a time. But that's the reality of metro travel in any big, bustling city. (The dozen times that I used the Paris Metro a few months back, I was lucky to get a seat a couple of times).

Down south, Bengaluru is looking to emulate the capital city's success.

The first east-west line was inaugurated in October 2011. With a mere 6.7 km being covered, that little train did nothing to ease the city's notorious traffic congestion. If anything, it was a sore reminder of what the public didn't have.

So, after nearly five years, when the next stretch of the east-west Purple Line was inaugurated on April 29 2016, the city's good people heaved a sigh of relief.

The ribbon has been cut. A new stretch has been flagged off and thousands are now looking forward to a less frustrating commute. Well, at least to some parts of the city.

However, a Metro network that will crisscross the length and breadth of Bengaluru is still a long, long wait.

The Purple (east-west) and Green (north-south) lines of Phase 1 are expected to complete by December 2016. Fingers crossed.

The end date for Phase 2 (an extension of the Phase 1 corridors) is a distant 2020.

Phase 3 that will connect to the Bengaluru International Airport will start only after the completion of Phase 2. That will be a decade and at least two more Lok Sabha elections in between before a metro can take us to the airport. Probably 2026!

What can Namma Metro learn from Delhi’s Metro model that has been hailed globally?

1. Run it like a private company and a profit centre

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was set up like a private company under the Companies Act, 1956, with a Chairman and Managing Director at the top.

The DMRC's vision is simple - "commuting experience to be customer's delight".

The Mission focuses on the most important aspects:

• A deadline of 2021 to cover the whole of Delhi and adjoining areas
• To serve customers, including the differently-abled, with passion
• To be No. 1 in India and among the Top 3 in Asia in Metro Rail Systems
• To make Delhi Metro self-sustainable.

These are goals that are clear, realistic, achievable and most importantly measurable!

The Delhi Metro was delivered on time and within budget. Today, it is a brilliant network of 213 kilometres, 160 stations and six lines connecting to all parts of the city and also to the National Capital Region (NCR). So, you don't have to think twice about going to far-flung Gurgaon, Faridabad, and Noida. The Orange or Airport Express Line that takes you both to the domestic as well as international airports.

Women's safety got a boost after 2012 when the first car in the moving direction of every train on the Delhi Metro was reserved exclusively for ladies. Surveillance through CCTV and patrolling is so strict that this rule is seldom taken lightly.

A call to the Bengaluru M G Road station confirmed that there is no exclusive women's coach on Namma Metro.

A tired Bengaluru citizenry has stopped looking at the distant and already stretched deadlines of 2020 and 2026 for a full-fledged mass rapid transit system. If more delays and the huge losses are to be avoided, this project will need to be run like a private corporation and a profit centre.

2. Find a leader with zero tolerance for inefficiency and corruption

The incorruptible and fearless E Sreedharan, also known as the Metro Man, was appointed to lead the Delhi Metro project. Mr. Sreedharan was given a free hand to run the project with discipline and accountability. He demonstrated zero tolerance for political interference, inefficiency, corruption, delays, and costly overruns. One can say that much of the success story of Delhi Metro can be attributed to this man of unflinching integrity.

3. Ensure last-mile connectivity

For answers, look to Delhi, Jugaad masters of last-mile connectivity for public transportation.

Get out of any metro station and you'll be spoilt for choice for that last commute. Feeder buses, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, and battery operated rickshaws get you to your nearest destination point for just ₹10 per passenger. Some metro stations also provide bicycles on rent.

A great commute in a swanky, air-conditioned metro car that ends in broken last-mile connectivity will have deep and damaging effects to the success of the metro.

Imagine getting off Namma Metro at the Indiranagar station at 11:30pm and wondering how to get home to Jeevan Bhima Nagar!

4. Delhi calling

Forget foreign junkets for the ministers. Delhi Metro should become a living case study to learn from. Study tours of the Delhi Metro will provide crucial insights to make Namma Metro a true success of commute and connectivity.

References
Delhi Metro vision, mission, network length, number of stations:http://www.delhimetrorail.com/

References to Bengaluru Metro completion dates, lines and phases:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namma_Metro and http://bmrc.co.in/ and media reports

Those words, they make me

I sailed the seas with Odysseus
Went with the Famous Five on adventures

Never imagined I would fly a broom

Or see the world compressed in a room

Praying for Dantés, whispering - go, go go…
Relishing revenge with the Count of Monte Cristo
Adoring Atticus and admiring Rhett
Scorning Anna and forgiving Scarlett

Picking oranges with Ma and Tom Joad
Driving the truck on an endless road

Listening to John Galt and Rearden

Vision and steel, these intriguing men

Lying curled up, weeping for Hassan
Will Sohrab smile again; can Amir be forgiven
‘There’s a way to be good again’ – a haunting question

‘For you a thousand times over’ – such a classic expression

Love and sacrifice, I lived it all

War and peace, I saw it all

Magic and adventure, they mesmerized me

Fiction and Fantasy, they enthralled me

Those writers, they wrote for me

Those stories, they were all made up by me

Those books, they made me

Those words, they make me

Those books, they made me

Those words, they make me

WORTHY INTENTIONS. UNWORTHY TITLE

WOMEN OF WORTH 2016

L’Oreal Paris, along with NDTV announced the 2016 Women of Worth Awards on March 28 2016.

Congratulations are in order to the nominees and the winners for the tremendous work in their respective fields. And recognition at a special felicitation ceremony, like the one put together on March 28, becomes a fitting tribute to their endeavour.

However, the Women of Worth Awards shows how a good brand strategy gets diminished with poor execution.

BRAND MYOPIA

First, why is the award for women only? Okay, L’Oreal makes and sells beauty products for women. So they restricted their awards to women. Isn’t that obvious? Yes, but isn’t it also obvious, that when you connect only the dots that are obvious, it demonstrates poor vision? It’s a fantastic example of brand myopia. Of course men are worthy too and making the award gender-neutral would have done wonders for a brand that might be used by primarily by women, but whose results are seen, experienced and felt by men too.

Next, what is with “Worth”?

Simply trying to associate the title name with the L’Oreal brand tagline “Because you’re worth it” is not just poor communication strategy. It’s downright lazy.

So, what happens to the women who got nominated, but did not win? Unworthy? It’s obvious that the communication and brand teams did not look at ‘Worth’ from all angles.

Ideally, the over-arching title Award name should not have an antonym. Examples:

Distinguished Leadership Award
Endeavour Postgraduate Awards
John Maxwell Leadership Award

In the case of ‘Worth’, the “unworthy” connotations that come immediately at the subliminal level are too strong to be ignored.

THE AWARDS NITE

While we were still grappling with the unworthiness of the award title, the event added to the dissonance. The lineup of film stars and beauty queens at the gala nite completely diluted the purpose and vision of the awards. What were Aishwarya Rai, Katrina Kaif, Mandira Bedi and Sonam Kapoor doing there, other than making fashion/style statements, taking selfies and posing with their hands on hips?

While the lineup of panelists to discuss the larger issue of women and their struggles was impressive, the core of the discussion was once again about ‘gender inequality’. The discussion was peppered with the usual suspect phrases “We, the Unequal”, “it’s time men listen to women”, “sports is a male bastion”and so on. The only sensible observation came from author and columnist Suhel Seth when he said – “There is no such thing as inequality. We live in individual silos. Sometimes activism around gender is the biggest hurdle in the way of gender neutrality.”

The opportunity to make the event really unique and memorable was tremendous. By not reducing it to a gender bias and female victory, and simply celebrating the achievement, L’Oreal and NDTV would have catapulted the award to new levels of aspiration for men and women. To dare, to dream and to do.

L’Oreal ‘Women of Worth’ Awards in partnership with NDTV is a great example of perfect intentions going awry with poor brand vision and even poorer communication strategy. The powerful stories of those wonderful women got lost somewhere because some communication managers lost sight of the overall narrative.

Hey! Didn't I just log onto LinkedIn??

Birthdays,  wedding updates,
new born announcements,
quotes, inspirational stories, selfies,
whistles & wows for selfies,
political opinions & commentaries...

No, this is not just your standard fare on Facebook.

It's what one increasingly gets to see on LinkedIn as well.

Slowly, but surely,
LinkedIn seems to be morphing
into a  Facebook look-alike.

Switch now to Facebook. More than 95% of people I know have professional acquaintances, peers and colleagues also as 'Friends' on Facebook. The 'Friends' list runs anywhere between 400 to 1,000+. These are Facebook users between 25 and 45 years, who are happy to share personal updates, photographs and job-related announcements not just with friends, but also distant acquaintances, ex-colleagues, people perhaps they have never met in 3 to 5 years.

Question then:
If LinkedIn is the new Facebook;
and if Facebook socialising extends to  colleagues, ex-colleagues & acquaintances,
why have two different accounts?

Personally, I find it tiresome to see personal updates, selfies and marriage announcements on LinkedIn. (Anyone seen movie reviews yet?). 

However, the answers are not easy.

• How does one regulate content?
• While it is okay to have political leaders or those with strong political affiliations having LinkedIn accounts & publishing political updates, posts, commentaries and opinions - obviously all related to their 'profession', how can we stop political wars creeping into LinkedIn as well?
• If Twitter serves as a platform to discuss any topic and no dissonance there, why not on LinkedIn?

With everyone being everywhere,
can the walls of social media be
clearly demarcated?

May be in the next five years, there will emerge one social media platform with bright coloured buttons for different topics, groups of people and conversations. Power of One? 

That's what happened to the camera,
the DVD player, the digital diary,
the calendar, the PC,
the MP3 device and the alarm clock.

It's called the mobile phone now.

Thoughts?

A BILLION SHADES OF RED BETWEEN 'FREE' & 'NEUTRAL'

An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg

Also published on Huffinton Post

Dear Mark,

Let’s begin with the basics. We (well most of us) love Facebook - all the opportunities it provides for sharing and friendship, the amazing stories of human courage that leave us inspired and full of hope for humanity. And of course the bit of narcissistic indulgence it affords us on the side. All at no cost. So, thank you.

 However, your Free Basics, even in a free market economy, is a different matter.

 I cannot help but hark back to a particular period of the Colonial Era to draw some parallels. The British who ruled India then, ordered our farmers (largely in East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal) to stop growing vegetables and fruits. They were asked to grow opium instead. So, opium grown on Indian soil, ordered by the British, was sold surreptitiously and forcibly by the British in China, for profits that went back to her Majesty’s coffers. Even as Imperial China fumed and protested, Britain continued regardless, basing her argument on the very principles of economy that we operate in today. The rest, as you know is history – China’s rout in the Opium wars, the sacrifice of Indian soldiers, the penalty of Hong Kong for a 100 years and other such obnoxious fall-outs.

 Thankfully, the parallels end there. Today’s India is different. Both the urban and the rural masses are very discerning. After a point, no muscle power, theatrics, sales talk, gimmickry or false promises will work. There may be aberrations in perceptions, choices and decisions. But order will be restored. Term after term, our election results stand testimony to this. Of course, we love it when political leaders demonstrate intimate bonhomie with global corporate honchos. The hugs, selfies, conversations over tea and photo opportunities make for pleasant living room viewing.

 But it doesn’t help to swing policy decisions.

 There have been a few unsuspecting, gullible innocents who signed up for Free Basics or added the tri-color gradient to their profile picture. Most would have, because their friends did it or because Free Basics sounded so noble in its cause or because the tri-color gradient on the DP looked so patriotic.

 Nevertheless, the collective consciousness of an aware India was able to detect some, if not all of the billion shades of red between ‘Free’ and ‘Neutral’. The multi-million dollar ‘Save Free Basics’ by Facebook did not impact the discretion of the larger masses. Everyone understands that there are no Free lunches and the “Free” of Free Basics was somewhat hard to digest. A profit-making corporation, pontificating a social cause for another country, kind of ups the ante, you see? People saw it and came together in a brilliant show of collaboration to evangelize the cause of Net Neutrality. It was called ‘Save the Internet’ campaign. Volunteers (bless their creative genius) uploaded skits, videos, songs and all kinds of information to help people like me understand that Free Basics was fraught with negatives. Soon, the movement became a juggernaut, flattening all the glossies of Free Basics and Zero in its way.

 So, on February 8, 2016, the juggernaut of Indian democracy prevailed and we decided in favour of Net Neutrality.

 We understand you are disappointed. After all, didn’t we look a gift horse in the mouth? But you are determined to renew your efforts.

You should. But not the way you approached it this time.

 We agree that the rural-urban divide should reduce and that the Internet is a great leveler. That the total mobile phone subscriber base in India is touching a billion is great news. That very little of rural India is connected to the Internet is not. But in our efforts to bridge the divide, we cannot have a few 1,000-pound guerillas having monopoly of the pipe or dictating the rules of the game. We also cannot have a twisted version of the Robin hood ideology wherein the already tired and taxed urban class will have to pay the price. That’s what Free Basics will ultimately mean.

 So you will need to play it differently next time. Our Make in India vision also needs to take along rural India. Make in India in rural India can work only with Digital India. So, you have a ready stage. Divert the millions of Free Basics ad dollars to enroll key players in the Internet eco-system. Work with the government to get India’s big, profitable businesses to pledge support for Digital India. Tap into mandatory rules of CSR. “Corporate India stands for Rural India” should resonate. “Community Internet” for rural India will be a great idea to begin with. It will save cost and also act as a driver for civic participation in rural India. More players, reduced monopoly and a strong Public-Private Partnership, could cover a significant percentage of rural India with Internet in five years.

 While that happens, I’m tempted to dwell on a bit of philosophy. Coming from the land of the Buddha, the influences can’t but be strong. Let Internet be the artery carrying information, education, science and knowledge from various fields to every single household in rural India. Till that happens, may be it is the way of Nature to prolong the delay and spare our majority the other side of Internet – pornography, net addiction, self-obsession, cyber-related mental health issues, cyber crimes and cyber bullying.

 Best wishes and better luck next time.
Azra

... AN EXPERIENCE WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD

My work description:

We started four years ago
Brimming with energy and lots of gusto
Some excited freshers, some more seasoned
A plan drawn and a strategy reasoned

Little imagining the thrilling paradox 
Getting marketing off the blocks
For an institution 143 years old 
An experience worth its weight in gold

Inspired by leaders unfailing in devotion
Humbled by engineers undaunted in mission 
Listening to technocrats and academicians
Learning again from scientists and mathematicians

Making a promise to be relevant
New ideas for engagement
Sharing insights and knowledge
Building bridges for industry, school and college

Talks, Lectures, Awards and Scholarships
Associates, Affiliates and rich partnerships 
Conceived Member Matters, today a sweet sixteen
An ode to Members & Partners, their fervour so keen

Cheering a lead here, celebrating a clip there
The joy of click through rates spicing up the campaign affair
Websites launched, not to forget Facebook and Twitter
Helping to spread the word, making conversations better

An eye on the KPI and a focus on the goal
All plans combed, every project made whole
Testing every idea and property 
Asking – 
Will it stand today, tomorrow and for posterity?

ABOVE ALL, AIRLIFT TELLS THE STORY OF HUMANITY

In 1990, we heard the distant boom of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait through a few television channels and read the atrocities in the newspapers. So, the compulsion to watch Airlift and get the inside story was very high.

The film opens by reminding the viewer that it is inspired by true events and is a creative visualisation and re-creation of what happened in 1990 when Saddam Hussein of Iraq attacked a hapless Kuwait.

Most of us might think that Airlift revolves around the actual air evacuation of Indians. But this is no mid-air, action movie. It is intense drama on the ground. It is about the struggles of millionaire businessman Ranjith Katiyal (Akshay Kumar) to help his family and 1,70,000 other Indians in Kuwait to get back to India.

Through a compelling narrative, a well-woven mosaic of visuals and imagery, a sensitive script and punchy dialogues, the movie sets out to be remind us about so many aspects: The inhuman conditions of the Indian labour class slaving in the Gulf to to send some money back home; unemployment so stark that they surrender even what gives them their very identity – their passport; the attitude of the rich Indian diaspora, flourishing, thriving, adopting their new home and ever so quick to criticize their Motherland; the apathy of the Indian bureaucracy; the senselessness and brutality of war; the telling irony that war levels the rich and poor to one class – that of fleeing refugees; and ultimately the fact that it is the Motherland that you will turn to for help and it is the Motherland that will come to your rescue.

The movie is set in 1990. Twenty five years hence, one cannot help but wonder, what of the above has changed today. Producers Nikhil Advani et. al., clearly knew that the myriad stories of the event that began on August 1^st 1990 will always resonate, cutting across time and geographies. Because, above all Airlift tells the story of humanity. Of how people go beyond their beliefs, boundaries, limitations and comfort zones, to do good. Of how circumstances push ordinary men and women to discover their extraordinary selves.

Director Raja Krishna Menon puts together an engrossing 2hour 10 minutes. But it stops short of being a great enduring war movie. The opulence of oil rich Kuwait and the Middle Eastern terrain could have been leveraged better with cinematography. The script has some loose elements. The conversation between Ranjith Katiyal and the Indian Diplomat at the Jordan Embassy is flippant and lacks substance. The bureaucratic bottlenecks were glossed over, without a deeper insight into how the machinery works. After big expectations from Nimrat Kaur, it is a somewhat lacking performance.  Inaamulhaq as the self serving and egotistical Iraqi Major Khalaf bin Zayd was amateurish and forced. One couldn't help thinking how Irfan Khan or Nawazuddin Siddiqui would have essayed this role. Akshay Kumar moves effortlessly from the rich, arrogant businessman to a responsible, sensitive citizen. But pain is clearly not Akshay's forte. The shock and suffering of seeing his driver killed before his eyes was a crucial moment in the narrative, one that could have become the turning point in the film. Akshay simply fails to evoke the intensity of pain and it remains just another war incident. Not the fountainhead that it could have been, from where the rest of the emotions would have sprung. 

All said and done, the astonishing facts on which this film is based makes viewing a big experience. It is about 1,70,000 Indians who were safely brought back to India through 486 flights of Air India. To date, it remains the largest human evacuation in history.

JAI HIND!