VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

The wise, discuss weighty regional issues Last month I attended a meeting organised by “Gravity 2.0”. No it was not a new computer game. It was an organisation meeting to deliberate weighty matters. The “Vizag Bay Regional Economic Summit 2012” was discussing how to “develop” the entire region stretching from Srikakulam to Vijayawada into a super city cluster crammed with industry. Speakers from industry and the business world trumpeted their achievements. The main speaker talked of how Vizag Port was serving industry and society. A COO of an automobile dealership told us how rapidly they were expanding.  Everyone waxed eloquent about their vision for Vizag. The dream was to build several ports and miles and miles of industries all along the coast and inland too.  Some wanted to put up more tourist attractions on our beaches. The key speaker also went on to say that farmers should give up farming as the remuneration was too low and they should work in industry where t...

Hi, Please read my article in the Times of India of 6 January 2013. If you are from Vizag this perspective might be of interest to you. In order to make the reading easy I have pasted a rather big image of the news item You will have to scroll to read it fully. Regards. Sohan  

Time of joy This is that part of the year when a spirit of bonhomie, geniality and general joie de vivre permeates the air. Not to mention the spirit of … well spirits … that permeates our veins and puts us all in a particularly amenable mood. With joyous shouts of “Happy New Year” we greet complete strangers startling them and prompting them to shout back “same to you, same to you”. Ah, I love this part of the year. Planning where to go This is also that part of the year when socialites make plans for 31 st night. The plans are generally kept fluid till a couple of days before New Year’s Eve. For those going to hotels it’s straight forward. Dress up – sit there – watch the canned entertainment – drink – eat – burp - slur – get back home and sleep it off. Those going to the “Club” also have little to plan. Dress – take your seat – watch the profoundly intelligent (of course I am being sarcastic) stuff on stage – get your fill of Indi-pop and local rap, get plastered, and ru...

Dear friends, The new year is but 4 days away. One more year, a turbulant one, will be behind us. It is a good time to reflect on how we are faring as a nation. Today instead of my usual Vizag centric post I thought I should publish a speech delivered by my good friend, an exceptional manager and a visionary Mr. T.G.S. Babu who currently lives and works in Chennai. He worked in Vizag in the late '70s then left for greater assignments in other parts of the country. He gave this keynote speech in February 2010 at the  Coimbatore Management Association annual day. Do take the time to read it. Managing India: turning a dream into reality Good evening to all of you. You have chosen to assemble here on a Sunday evening to listen to a speech instead of opting for a movie or an outing with the family. I hope that you will not regret the choice that you made at the end of the event. I agreed to give a short address on the theme “Managing India: turning a dream into a reality” that...

Please first read this news item which appeared today 3 Dec, by clicking on this link: Vizag to become major hub for port activity Vizag Port Trust's Magic Trick Great magicians are experts in diversion. Accompanied by drum rolls, they direct your attention to something exciting and as you watch they perform their tricks behind smoke screens and curtains. This is what the port trust seems to be doing in Vizag. After years of complaints regarding pollution they say that they are cleaning up their act by installing a few mechanical coal handlers in the outer harbour. They hand out press notes and make statements saying that all the coal dust problems are solved. No one asks them and they don't want to say about where the coal is being stored! The major problem has been their archaic storage yards from where coal dust spreads all over the old city and sometimes all the way to Chinna Waltair and Gnyanapuram. What do they plan to do about that? North and West migra...

The peculiar headline   On page 3 of today’s (20 Nov) Deccan Chronicle I came across a very peculiar news item. The headline read “Sand mining gets nod” but the report itself said nothing about this “nod”. Now, the word “nod” in this context means “approval”. So someone scanning the headlines would think that the project is approved and the heavy machinery will move in any time soon to take away all the beach sand. I can only assume that some poor overworked reporter nodded off while writing that ridiculous headline.  The peculiar headline and the nod that isn't Telineelapuram? - Whats that? Ironically the news item appeared a along with another news item on the same page that read: Vizag turns into bird-lovers haven. The other news item on the same page Looking past the headline As we look past the peculiar headline we find that the two stories read together tell an amazing story of greed and stupidity. 97% greed and 53% stupidity. I know that 97%...

A version of this article also appeared in the Times of India, Vizag Edition, today Nov 18, "Forget tourists, develop city for its own people". ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Over the last several months I have been travelling out of Vizag often. Each time I return I am glad to be back. Not only because I am coming home to family and friends but because I come home to Vizag; my stunningly beautiful city.    It is natural that the residents of the city to be proud of Vizag. And from this pride comes the tendency to show off the city to others. That is why we Vizagite say “We should develop Vizag into a tourist spot”. The rationale for wanting tourists is that: tourism brings in visitors who spend gobs of money here and generate employment that makes Vizagites rich . Notice how a subliminal pride of the city is rationalized into what appears to be a good reason. But what is the truth about tourism? ...

Last evening it rained cats and dogs (and I stepped into a poodle!) This morning I went down to the beach road for a walk. I was hoping to walk along our pristine sands breathing in the fresh sea air and watching the sea gulls strutting at the water's edge. Yeah - in my dreams. But what I found was plenty of garbage, quite a stink and thousands of crows (bless them for they help clean our mess). I pity Vizag's beach cleaning brigade, the GVMC sanitary workers -  they have quite a job cleaning up the beach after a storm. But I digress... What caught my attention was a heap of bottles gathered by a couple of beach combers. Some bottles were already filled in large sacks and others were lying in neat piles. I asked them how many they had collected and from where. They said around 300 or so bottles already this morning from the gedda nearby. I was curious and asked him how much they were worth. He said the going rate was Rs. 15 per kg and he hoped to collect around 15 kg at that...

Who killed the Bora caves?     The buzz over Bora Over the last few days there is quite a buzz about promoting even more tourism in and around Bora and Araku. This news is scary. Why? You ask. Well, a visit to Bora Caves illustrates the huge adverse impact of tourism on the area. Gone in a blink In the early 1970’s I have visited the caves, long before it was made into a “picnic spot” and spent time admiring its imposing beauty.  Now, this important and sensitive geological formation has been made into an amusement park, with visitors clambering all over the formations and thousands carving their graffiti on the cave walls.  Guides The freelance tribal guides do not bother about the vandalism. They  are poorly trained and mope around, completely demoralized by their APTDC bosses.  Gone in a flash What took millions of years to form has been destroyed in a mere 10 years ... a blink in geological time. Formations, what f...