Hari's Corner

Now that the State Assembly elections in four states are over and the results declared, I think it is time that our political classes stood up and paid attention to what the people have to say.

I know it's cliché to say "people's will" in a democracy, but I think in a bigger sense it works out that way in the long run. Even the ancient and medieval rulers didn't underestimate the power of the people: we've all heard stories from childhood of how kings and emperors used to disguise themselves as common folk and walk the streets in an attempt to feel the pulse of the people and their day-to-day problems and issues. The biggest problem, as I see it today, is that the top political leaders of our country are basically disconnected from the pulse of the people. Strange, that in a democracy, the people who rule us are so unaware of what the common man on the street is thinking.

The television interviews of the losers in particular were most enlightening in this regard. Most of them were either in denial mode, or refused to acknowledge the true reasons for their defeat. The common refrains were: change is inevitable in a democracy, that they didn't get our message across well, that coalition arithmetic went wrong or that the opponents/media misled the people. Seldom were real issues acknowledged. Widespread and rampant corruption at all levels of governance and administration as a cause of discontent and simmering anger among the people was dismissed outright by a few politicians while others half-heartedly admitted that it might have played a role. Price rise and inflation was hardly even talked about except by some media experts. Administrative issues and lack of development were touched upon only in the most superficial way in these discussions. But the fact that these issues are slowly starting to gain momentum in the public debate is in itself heartening.

In a way, what the results showed was that people will tolerate mistakes only to a point. Beyond that, they will throw out elected leaders at the next possible opportunity. To be sure, I don't think it's quite as simple as that but one sign of a still-maturing democracy is that issues take a longer time to resolve. It's another issue that India, as a country, is not yet tailored socially, administratively or politically to cater to the needs of a growing middle class. I think that is what makes the recent results more heartening. That issues that were earlier deemed to be only pertaining to the educated classes are now starting to play a bigger role in election results and it shows that even people from the so-called economically and socially backward classes are starting to demand higher standards of administration, less corruption and actual development from our Government. I, for one, sincerely hope that this trend does continue and that our politicians and political parties take note that their support base among the people can no longer be taken for granted.

Here's a new comic after a long time.

I got myself a HP Touchsmart tm2 laptop recently (I decided to go for a new one after all) and I really enjoy the tablet-pen feature. It makes drawing so much easier. Hopefully we'll see a lot more comics (after my law examinations of course).

This one was drawn in MyPaint and traced and coloured using Inkscape.

My present laptop, HP Pavilion dv6314 is currently three and a half years old and out of warranty (in spite of the extended warranty). It still works quite well (except the Bluetooth functionality which appears broken) and is more than adequate for my needs. But the battery is, for all practical purposes, dead. I get no more than five minutes backup and I cannot use it other than with the power cord all the time.

I am presently considering whether I should get this laptop replaced. It is a big, heavy laptop and not at all one that is convenient to carry around. The original battery back-up time (with a new battery) is not all that large. Two hours would be stretching it. This is basically a middle-end home multimedia laptop where the priority is performance and not battery life or portability.

This post is more by way of thinking aloud and asking my readers for an opinion. Since the laptop is out of warranty, is it worth buying a new battery and keeping it around for a while longer or should I go ahead and buy a more convenient laptop, especially since I'm going to be on the move in the forseeable future? The original Operating System is a Vista Ultimate 64-bit and is currently slow as a rock with all the Windows updates and fixes. But I hardly use it anyway and prefer to use Ubuntu even on a new laptop. So I would be very satisfied with a basic productivity laptop without an OS pre-installed and one that would be reasonably convenient to lug around.

Let me sum up then the pros and cons I currently have in mind.

Pros of buying a new laptop:

1. I get the full warranty benefits for a year or two and a brand new system with fully functional hardware to boot.
2. I can buy one that is more in keeping with my present requirements. A basic, lightweight, reasonably inexpensive productivity laptop with a longer battery life would do the job.
3. I needn't worry about buying a laptop for the next four or five years at least.
4. I can save on costs and avoid buying one with a pre-installed OS.

Cons of buying a new laptop are fairly obvious:

1. Higher cost.
2. More e-junk to deal with. I have little space to keep my existing hardware and there is almost no re-sale value for any used electronic goods since prices always are coming down.
3. Hassle of installing and setting up a fresh Operating System since I don't want one with pre-installed Windows.
4. The process of decision making to pick and choose a brand and then deciding on the specs to meet my requirements can be a real time-sink.

Opinions welcome.

In this day and age when you are used to swiping your credit card mindlessly at shops and stores, I think it's an important discipline to keep a book of personal accounts. I have been maintaining my accounts for the past few months and I think it gives one a good perspective of monetary inflow and outflow. To this end, I use GnuCash, a free, cross-platform open source accounts software and I find it a very versatile and useful software, particularly as it's not "dumbed down" and forces you to think about what you're doing (it uses the double-entry book keeping method).

The big challenge in maintaining personal accounts is to determine the proper accounting principles and apply them consistently. How do you deal with income? Under what heads of accounts do you manage your regular transactions? What do you treat as an asset and what do you treat as a liability? How do you manage petty cash or cash in hand? How do you update your bank records (automatically or manually)? How do you account for a temporary or short-term loan? How do you write off certain kinds of losses? How do you deal with depreciation of fixed assets? How do you deal with assets like stocks, securities, bonds and mutual funds? All these are big challenges for people who have no background in financial accounting principles.

I'm lucky that my parents are chartered accounts and I am in a position to clarify my doubts whenever they arise. Of course, I can hardly claim to be a financial expert myself, but I do understand it far more than I used to in the past. For professionals who work on their own and don't get a regular salary from a company, managing accounts is a very important part of their profession. Taxes like income tax and professional tax are levied on certain professions and it is the duty of such professionals to account for all their assets, liabilities, income and expenditure. Managing accounts properly will also allow them to benefit from certain statutory tax exemptions and reliefs. Of course, it is always recommended that a qualified auditor verifies such business accounts. Right now, I'm learning step by step, but I don't claim to know the proper accounting practices in the legal profession. However, as I go along, I plan to expand my knowledge and manage my professional finances in a similar manner so that I can avail of tax benefits and exemptions to their limit.

Wow! After 28 years, India have finally lifted the World Cup trophy!

It's a great moment for the whole country and something special. And against the toughest teams they've shown that they are capable of winning in the most difficult of circumstances. Showed real character, grit and determination.

Coming to the Final, I think what really worked well for India was that they were a confident side capable of chasing big totals as they had shown in the quarter final against Australia. Sri Lanka's bowling was slightly depleted and finally the pitch was a real true one.

India's bowling and fielding had come good over a period of time since the group stages and they did a fantastic job early on in the match restricting Sri Lanka to just 30 runs in the first 10 overs. This turned out to be crucial in preventing Sri Lanka from achieving a match-winning total as it turned out.

Finally, India's fielding really had improved over the tournament and with the inclusion of Raina, both the fielding and the batting was boosted.

Dhoni's decisions may not always be popular when he fails, but he has shown an uncanny knack of picking the right men for the right job. It has to be said that when he chose to bat up the order in the tight run chase it was the correct move. Rightly or wrongly he felt he had to keep Yuvraj Singh in reserve for the final overs and this allowed Dhoni to play the knock of his life with the freedom and fluency he wasn't feeling earlier on in the tournament.

Anyway, enough analyzing. It's celebration time and India have finally another moment to celebrate apart from the '83 World Cup triumph!

After India's loss to South Africa in the Group B game on Saturday, I think the same old problems of Indian cricket resurface yet again. I don't think much needs to be said, but I'll just highlight some here.

• In almost a couple of decades now, India have struggled to find a genuine all-rounder to replace Kapil Dev. Sorry, but without one, the Indian team management will always find it tough to find the right balance going into any match whether we play 6 or 7 batsmen.
• A lower order that cannot hold a bat. The Indian tail has never been renowned for wagging and we still carry single-talent cricketers whose failure to perform in their own specialization can cost us matches. Case in point: Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra.
• Still no fast bowler who can rattle the stumps at will in the latter half of the innings. Almost every Test playing nation has a genuine pacer these days. India still struggle to find one.
• Sub-par fielding unit which has shown no signs of improvement in decades, except a few odd sparks of brilliance on occasion. Enough said.

Every single problem listed above gets exposed in big games against the tougher opponents so I don't really have high expectations of India making it big in a tournament like the World Cup. Dhoni's captaincy is another issue meriting its own separate analysis. If India make it past the quarter-final stage, it is an achievement of sorts.