As part of IBM CSC program, I travelled to the city of Calabar which is located in Cross River State, Nigeria. Cross River State is located in South East Nigeria and Calabar was once a major slave trade port between 17th and 19th century.  The CSC program is one of a kind where IBM sends its employees to help a community address some of its problems. IBM works with NGOs in identifying assignments and sends a group of 10-15 people to handle the projects. The tasks do not have to be necessarily technical. Each team is further sub divided into a smaller size to undertake multiple projects within an assignment. For example, I worked with another IBM’er to help Department of Public Transportation of Cross River state to enhance the skill sets of the organization and get a Document Management system setup. Ten other people who were part of the assignment worked on 5 other projects for the state. IBM also typically sends more than one team (in a sequential fashion) to the same community/city/state to keep up the continuity and ensure that projects are being sustained. This program is part of IBM’s corporate citizen portfolio program and one of the ways IBM fulfills its social responsibility.  And each assignment typically lasts a month. I was privileged to be allowed to participate in one of the assignments.

Cross River State is named after “Cross River” that runs through the state. Weather is tropical and it was rainy season when I was there. The rains managed to cool down the temperature. It was still very humid though and at times I would sweat just standing.   The state itself is very green, though Nigeria as a country has suffered tremendous deforestation.  Calabar, the city where I stayed and worked for a month seemed a lot like a town in Kerala – lots of greenery with homes topped by triangular shaped tin roofs. Main highways and major streets in and around Calabar seemed well maintained with 2 lanes on each side with a divider. Interior areas of the city is lacking in good roads (like village roads in India), but cars do manage to get in somehow. The sewer system in the city was good enough to prevent flooding even with prolonged stint of rain.

Motor bikes have been recently banned in the city of Calabar (a brave move by the Department of Public Transportation) to primarily reduce accident rates. Motorbikes were also used as taxis to commute citizens from areas where cars cannot go. The government has since then subsidized purchase of cars to enable a smoother transition for these motorbike taxi owners. However, this has led to more congestion during peak times. I am ambivalent about this ban, but government is convinced this was the right move.

During such trips, I prefer mingling with the local people, talking to them and getting to know them rather than the canned tours. One the highlights of my trip were a 3 hour walk in and around the market area with few of my IBM colleagues. Most of the local people were extremely nice and would not hesitate to talk to us even though we may be annoying them with touristy questions. A few of the folks, particularly the older generation, were very averse to photos being taken. The aversion I believe is due to the fear of being exploited (perhaps via magazines etc. that highlights the poor conditions of the people).  Once, we explained that we had no such intentions, they seemed OK. However, I made sure I got the permission of parents before I took pictures of their children.

Watt Market

I visited a small museum which is all about slave trade and the suffering the slaves underwent as they were shipped from Africa to other countries. It was a pretty graphic experience with life sized models, scenarios and audio that reminded one of the gruesome cruelty suffered by Africans.  During the museum visit was when we realized why the “N” word is so despised by current generation African Americans. Obviously it is derived from Nigeria (or Niger) and probably reminds them of horrific times their ancestors had as slaves.

Another place we visited was Obudu – a scenic mountain resort (about 1500 meters above sea level) that boasts the longest cable car in the world. The ride down from Obudu in this cable car is heavenly and it feels like you float in the clouds at times. On the way back from Obudu, visited the Drill Ranch situated in the Afi mountains and is a place dedicated to protecting the endangered drill monkey and chimps.  This is a selfless effort founded by 2 Americans Peter Jenkins and Liza Gadsby who have dedicated their life to rehabilitating the drills. Bush meat is coveted by certain section of the population in Nigeria and the government has not been able to protect the chimps and drills from being killed. Thus, the eventual goal of sending these animals back into the wild has not been realized. Irrespective, the work of the 2 Americans is inspiring.  The walk to see the animals (safeguarded in a huge enclosure) is through a section of the forest in Afi Mountains. This forest also boasts a canopy walkway made of 8 bridges and the walk across these bridges while enjoying nature at its best was a wonderful experience. Even though the visit to Obudu and Drill ranch was short, I am thankful for the effort made by Cross River state to take us on this tour (they provided us with the vehicle and security).

Canopy in Afi Mountain

Liza Gadbsy

Drill Monkey

Cable car (in Obudu)

The state of Calabar and IBM made sure our stay was safe and secure and the people in Nigeria made us feel absolutely welcome. It has been more than 10 days since I left Nigeria, and I still recall the good times we had at least few times a day.

In the next post, I will try and cover a bit more about politics (whatever little I know), religion, people, language, food and the project itself.

References:

Articles related to Motor cycle ban:

http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/28404/1/Cross-River-Okada-bad-taxis-good/Page1.html

http://www.transport.crs.gov.ng/newsevents_and_updates/newsandevents.php?topic=2&title=The%20Strategy%20Behind%20Banning%20Motorbikes%20In%20Calabar,%20Nigeria

About Peter Jenkins and Liza Gadsby – http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9OJQ5l6b1-QYA6L9QGJy01GrPcA

Drill ranch and Afi Mountain: http://www.pandrillus.org/projects/drill-ranch/visitor-information/

Cross River state government web site: http://www.crossriverstate.gov.ng/

Department of Public Transportation web site (Department I worked with): http://www.transport.crs.gov.ng/

Other photos:

Hotel (dedicated to God)!!

Land not for sale!!

I will soon be embarking on a trip to Nigeria as part of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps program (https://www-146.ibm.com/corporateservicecorps/). Lots of folks who have been through the program have blogged about their experience as life changing. And this got me thinking – Will my trip be life altering too? My guess – probably not. And here is why – I cannot think of one event in my life where my perspective and principles (if I had any ) has changed dramatically. Yes, there might have been tweaks here and there, but not diametrically opposite view.

When my daughter was born, I was obviously elated, but I did not have that ‘aha’ moment where I looked at my daughter’s eyes for the first time and everything changed. When people say things change for them in such a moment, I cannot grasp what that change could be.  I love my daughter to death and yes certain things changed in my life when she was born (like it does with marriage etc.), but my outlook towards life and for the most part perspectives remained mostly the same.

Recently, my classmate lost his wife and son to a tragic accident and it got me thinking more about my own family and daughter. Is it that for some people it is only negative experiences that can be life altering.  You do not realize what you have unless it is gone and only then does it have an impact?

Or is that I am just a cold hearted person and wired differently?

“Seattle Post-Intelligencer Will Shut Down Paper, Go Online Only”

“Detroit newspapers to end daily home delivery”

More and more I am seeing articles predicting the demise of news paper as we know it. With internet and devices such as Kindle, Sony reader what is the future of news paper business? Newspapers such as NYT, Washington Post have spoilt their readers by offering the www version for free. They probably cannot start charging now, and even if they did, how would that be? Would someone who is used to getting it for free be willing to pay, and if so how much? And how many papers would a customer be willing to subscribe? I do no think online ads are sufficient to keep funding these papers.

Even if the news paper print version becomes a stripped down version of what it is now, how will they survive and what will the business model be? Will it be pay-as-you-go and micro transactions – perhaps 5 cents for each article purchased? What is an optimum value for an article? How much would you be willing to pay?

What are the other value-adds that a paper would have to provide to entice customers? Would newspapers under a conglomerate combine to offer subscription – such as all of Murdoch’s publications for $20.00 a month? SF chronicle has reduced its staff of reporters and even some of the ones retained do not have a space in the print version. They maintain a blog and to add additional value, they have taken to twitter like real-time blogging during sporting events.

I understand the article is U.S/Euro centric in that this is more of an issue where internet access is easily available to a majority of the population. Just like cell phones, would there be a leap-frogging of this business model in countries like India and China? Do you anticipate these readers becoming cheap enough for it to become affordable in emerging countries? Or will readers on cell phones become sophisticated enough? Perhaps, news papers will tie-up with carriers to make data available via such devices?

Please do provide your thoughts on this topic.  Also, if have you tried devices such as Kindle, Sony reader etc., do share your experience.

I did try and read a chapter via the kindle app in my iPhone. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to upload a book/chapter from the amazon website into my iPhone. Even the reading experience was good – no obtrusive buttons or icons; just shows the black text against clear white background. Do not know if I will ever get a kindle, but will certainly use the iPhone to read a few things here and there.

]]> http://www.sastwingees.org/2009/03/26/future-of-news-paper/feed/ 15 http://www.sastwingees.org/2009/01/19/american-politics-and-religion/ http://www.sastwingees.org/2009/01/19/american-politics-and-religion/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:32:01 +0000 Ganesh Vaideeswaran http://www.sastwingees.org/?p=1091 American politics and religion

Barak Hussein Obama will be sworn in as America’s 44th president on the 20th of January 2009. There has been some unneeded controversy around his middle name ‘Hussein’ and if he will take oath using his full name including ‘Hussein’. And I am glad he took the dignified route of using his full name.

This incident made me think about the place and importance of religion in American democracy and politics. The current religious affiliations of members of the senate and house of representative show that they are all of a Christian denomination or practice Judaism. That’s it – No other religion!!.

America has achieved an important milestone by crossing the racial divide with Obama’s election. What about religious divide? When will America be ready to accept a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist as their leader – even as a senator or house representative? What is it going to take for Americans to mentally break-through this religious shackle?

And why are they not ready yet? And why has India been able to accept and elect leaders of various religions? Example – George Fernandez – a Christian elected multiple times and of course the current Prime Minister who is a Sikh (though one can argue that Sikh is just another derivative of Hinduism). We have had many non-elected Muslim leaders such as Dr. Abdul Kalaam as well.

Here is one theory – India, at various times has been ruled by Islamic rulers and has been colonized by Christianity affiliated countries such as England, France and Portugal. So, historically and culturally, we have been accustomed to being ruled by non-hindu leaders.

Or are we politically more mature as a country when it comes to politics? I highly doubt this. We would still blindly vote for anyone with ‘Gandhi’ or ‘Nehru’ as a surname.

As glad as I am about the religious tolerance that India has shown in politics, I am hoping that this is not just a surface level attitude but a deeper level understanding of politics and governance. Given that we have seen goondas and shady elements elected, I am afraid it is the former.

(Sidebar1: If Martin Luther King Jr. was alive today, he might have perhaps modified his “I have a dream” speech to include religion as well and here is my version – I have a dream that my daughter will one day live in a nation where she will not be judged by the color of her skin or the religion of her choice but by the content of her character.)

(Sidebar2: Of course, there has been no non-Christian American president yet. I do know that Mayor Bloomberg is a Jew. Could Mr. Jindal have become the governor of Louisiana if he had maintained his identity as a Hindu? Bobby Jindal claims that his conversion to Christianity was an intellectual process and the words in the bible “jumped out to him” and he felt as though they were just written for him. The cynic in me thinks that the dynamics of American politics made the words jump out to a savvy Bobby Jindal. )

Ganesh

Condolences to all those who lost their dear ones in the Mumbai tragedy.

Thanks and Kudos to the commandos, policemen, hotel staff and others who fought the terrorists to save innocent lives. Special salute to the policemen, NSG and ATS forces who lost their lives fighting for their country. The country is proud of you.

Centered around this tragic event, here are my hopes for India for the year 2009 –

1. World community recognizes India as a country that can fight against and survive such dastardly acts and will continue to do business with us. I am certainly heartened by some of the interviews with the survivors, particularly foreigners. One of them urged countries and companies to do business with India lest we give into these terrorists. Another one, a tourist, insisted that she will continue her tour of India. Such spirit needs to permeate across the world community.
2. Every India becomes more aware of terrorism and considers it their civil duty to thwart it. Become more aware of what is happening in the community and in the surroundings. Do not just rely on the government to provide security and fight this menace. It has to start at grass roots and community level.
3. India continues the policy of non-negotiation with the terrorists
4. Pakistan government takes serious steps to eradicate rogue elements (Dawood Ibrahim for example) and terrorist’s camp in Pakistan. (Do not construe this as a statement of assumption regarding Pakistan’s involvement in this tragedy.)
5. The Muslim minority condemns the attack vehemently and goes beyond to rid itself of radical elements
6. The Hindu majority sympathizes with the state of Muslim minority. A few bad apples are giving the whole community a black spot.
7. Our intelligence continues to improve and prevent such attacks rather than just react to such events
8. Politicians do not take advantage of the situation and will act as leaders of the nation rather than leaders of their party
9. India goes onto become stronger – financially, culturally and as a society.

In US, CNN dedicated almost a day and a half to cover the tragedy. I was particularly impressed with Mallika Kapur and Sarah Sidner’s reporting. There was an unfortunate incident where Sarah Sidner was accosted by a mob, but the way she handled the mob was appreciable. Goes to show the danger these reporters sometimes face to give us the story.

I wish the government had done a better job of dispersing information. At various times, we got information that the siege has ended only to see it continue and that was extremely disappointing.

Some of the sites I visited to get latest information included IndianExpress, TimesofIndia, NDTV, CNN, rediff etc. Of these, NDTV surprised me with their reasonably upto date information. Hindu was extremely disappointing.

Coincidentally, I happened to watch the hindi movie – “A Wednesday” around the time of this tragedy. This is a movie based on terrorism and how it affects the psyche of a common man. Naseeruddin Shah was his usual brilliant self. The climax was certainly surprising. As much as I could not agree with the message of the movie, I could not help but empathize with it. Do watch it if you get a chance.

Ganesh