2 pts

["Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok" <sabhlok@usc.edu>]

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Please help make the Manifesto better, or accept it, and propagate it!
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[Once more using a borrowed computer: getting on to the internet and
checking out a few basic things from India is possible if one has the
luxury of many hours of time to waste. Today I managed to get such time.
Tasks which take 5 minutes elsewhere can take upto 5 hours here.
Connecting and reconnecting itself takes most of the time. The modem
speeds are not too bad (about 28 kbps), though.]

1. My previous comment a few weeks ago seems to have generated much
heat. I apologize if anyone has misunderstood my attempt to look at the
positive side after undergoing the 'tortures' of the average Indian
citizen: events in daily life which would be entirely unacceptable
anywhere else in the world. I have unfortunately not been able to read
all the comments on my note, and others, but glanced thro' a few. Will
hopefully 'listen in' more frequently in the coming months.

In particular, I read the comment from Vamsi at

../lists/india_policy/1999/Sep/msg00043.html

and found that he has made - as usual - some v. pertinent comments. I
quote him: "I have not advocated a system without checks and balances. A
Capitalist/Free-market system with checks and balances can do wonders
for India." That is precisely what I meant when I was talking of good
policy in my note, in essence. Some of these details are there in the
'manifesto' of IPI. Much work needs to be done on that yet, though. I
don't know how this is going to happen.

2) I want to record one more "first" impression of India on returning
after 5 years. The excessively shoddy workmanship of our craftsmen, such
as plumbers, carpenters, etc., in our ancient and hallowed land is not
only painfully obvious but very dangerous. I have had two injuries in my
leg and elbow while moving about in my house already from this poor
workmanship! Please don't ask me to be more careful than I already am!

We take the mischief - or ignorance - of our careless workmen for
granted. Some of us barely live on. Others die. Electrocutions, rail
disasters, people slipping in badly designed bathrooms and injuring
themselves, children getting scalded in the kitchen, badly designed
stoves and ovens and gas cylinders that are virtual gates of death, cars
whose brakes fail, and steering wheels freeze. Nothing fazes us. We
continue to accept 3rd rate quality in all our goods and services. It is
perhaps time for us to raise our standards and expectations of what we
will tolerate.

Our acceptance of 3rd rate services from EVERYONE around us has now made
us a 4th rate nation.




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