House of steel

No, this is not an expressive idiom. It is not to describe the ‘rock-solid’ colonial mansions with magnificent archways that have stood the test of time. ‘House of steel’, for once, means house made of steel. Surprised, eh! Better, don’t.

Come this December, and Kolkata is going to boast of having country’s first steel house at Rajarhat. Albeit a prototype – because the concept is nascent in India – the steel house will be an all-steel affair except the foundation and the floor. This means it will have steel walls and steel columns, complete with glass windows.

The 5-storey building will have 8 apartments, each with an area between 1200 to 1500 square feet. Does it get hot in summer when temperature hovers in forties? No, says the developers, Bengal Shrachi. So, what’s the advantage? Seems there are quite a few.

First of course is that the house will be lighter, compared to the traditional brick-and-mortar ones. Second, it will be practically maintenance-free. This is so since the mild steel structure will not corrode if properly treated, and you don’t need to paint the walls, as the steel plates will come color-coated.



A steel house being made in Australia.
Pictures from : http://www.housesofthefuture.com.au/hof_houses03.html.

Third, it will take very less time to build one for the reason that steel plates are pre-fabricated in factories and will simply need assembling onsite. You order exact sizes of plates you require, and perhaps even local semiskilled workers can put them together. Less time will directly contribute to lessening of overall cost.

For now though, it will be a pretty longish wait before you can have your own steel house. The reason is none else than non-availability of ready items. Unless factories come up manufacturing steel plates, that is unless the would-be manufacturer convinces itself of the demand, a steel house of yours or mine will just remain on paper. Which is why, many fingers are still crossed over whether the Rajarhat prototype can evoke good response! Let’s hope it does.

The saucer, that is Kolkata

The city of Kolkata is a congested metropolis, spaced out on a saucer-like expanse. The city follows a gradual slope from the eastern flank of Hooghly river, which continues through the city and beyond until the gradient increases again up to the banks of Vidyadhari river in the Sunderbans.

This means that should it rain heavily, Kolkata will be a natural accumulator of rainwater, which has to be pumped out to keep the city free from heavy waterlogging. The city’s keepers seem to be severely handicapped from understanding the gravity of the situation. If it rains here like it did in Mumbai last month and last year, Kolkata will be completely deluged. The Telegraph has recently presented a waterlogging log, according to which a mere 80 mm downfall in half an hour will result in over 3 to 4 hours of waterlogging in many supposedly high-level areas, namely Ballygunge Phari, Harish Mukherjee Road, CR Avenue – Mahajati Sadan, Golf Green and so on.


Kolkata floats after a short spell.
Picture sourced from : http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/.

The city’s mayor, a learned practitioner of law, winning last year’s elections with much fanfare, looks a total misfit in the seat he occupies. There has been no concerted attempts to repair storm-water drainage and brick sewers, some of which are centuries-old. Kolkattans have had a fright last week when rainwater accumulated after a few bouts of shower. That the spell did not continue for long was a huge relief.

The present mayor presents a good example of how a famous lawyer (or, for that matter, a famous ‘anything’) cannot be expected to automatically become a good civic administrator. I keep my fingers crossed hoping that better sense prevails upon him sooner than he feels necessary.

IIT, Kgp reaching out

We are practiced to see IIT as an elite institution whose privileged students always look for greener pastures once graduated. This has been the story for a long time, but in recent times the picture is changing. It is heartening to see IIT-Kgp's recent forays into teaching specialized full-fledged law courses, notably Intellectual Property Law, which is a first in India. For this course, it’ll have collaboration with none other than George Washington University of US. On the anvil is introduction of 6-year, dual-degree B.Tech-LL.B program, once again a first in India. IIT, Kharagpur is also in the news for lending its expertise in drawing out a Rs.1000 crore master-plan for the development of 400-year old Burdwan town.


IIT, Kharagpur's main building at night.
Picture source : http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~mpvenkat/insti.jpg.

In India, there isn’t much of a tradition of bonhomie between institutes of higher learning on one hand and the government or industry on the other. Presumably this was because ‘development’ in true sense was yet to be the buzzword. The refrain “of what use is our/their intelligence if it’s not put to practice?” seemed to have been the thin line separating the space between them. Yet, what a magnificent opportunity it has been to have a world-class institute at your doorstep!

The government is at last waking up to that advantage.

Hand-pulled rickshaws

If you want to travel from South City College in Gol Park to Ekdalia Road in Ballygunge, you may walk the distance, or ride on something. 2-wheeler or car may be a preference, but negotiating traffic in small lanes and by-lanes may not be everybody's cup of tea. For Panchali to take her daughter to South Point junior school and back, hand-pulled rickshaw is the ideal solution. Why, Panchali even enjoys the short ride as the carrier sways with the rythmic steps of the rickshaw-puller.

Now, hand-pulled rickshaws face the prospect of obliteration from the roads of Kolkata. The CM says it is inhuman to have had this for such a long time. His point is well taken, but I'm not going to sound magnanimous to spare a thought about those who stand to loose their bread by pulling rickshaws. In a city as big as Kolkata, there are other decent ways to earn living, specially since the city is on the verge of 'taking off'.


A typical Kolkata rickshaw-puller.
Picture from: http://pages.cthome.net/india2/page36.html

The point is that the labyrinthine lanes in the city do not offer much choice. Walking is not a pleasure, nor for that matter is driving. If the absence of hand-pulled rickshaws yields the space to the other menace, that is 3-wheeler autos, it will be more of a headache than relief.

Kolkata’s unconcerned rulers and habitants

For once, the feisty transport minister of Bengal is dot on target. He says the city doesn’t have space to park all its cars. What he omits to say is that the city has not expanded in commensurate with surge in vehicular and human population, and that this happened because of flawed policies of his government in the past.

Just as improvement takes time, deterioration also needs its share of time to be felt. And therein lies the danger. Once you are immune to the decay around, you start feeling as if it has been the same all the time. That however is not true. Kolkata of yesteryears was a majestic city, and people used to throng to it to immerse in its charm and beauty. The urban jungle that Kolkata today is has much to do with lack of imagination and utter incapability on the part of latter-day rulers.

Their inability to see beyond the tip of nose has now alarmingly seeped and spread among masses. Look at New Market’s traders’ ridiculous demand to let cars park on the street so that their business is not marred. They are oblivious that the underground car parking plaza is meant to avoid car parking on the street, thereby giving a facelift to the historic place. They are afraid that the underground shops will take all their business.

It is unlikely that New Market traders will succeed in their demand. Or who knows, they may get what they want. Which means that the authorities will once again succumb to whims and fancies of whoever launches protests, howsoever impractical.

Seats of Learning

For a long time, because of foolishly obdurate education policy of the rulers, Bengal has seen no development in higher education. After passing out HS exams, students left in hordes to other places for higher studies. This has been the picture for over 2 decades. Of late, there is an awakening on the part of powers-that-be that unless the state develops more institutes for higher learning, it will forever loose ground in the field of manpower development.


PM at IISER ceremony, Kolkata, Jul 11.
Picture courtesy Mumbai Mirror.

There is now a turning of tide with the laying of foundation of IISER (Indian Institute of Science, Education & Research) by PM on July 11. Close on its heels comes IIT, Kharagpur’s plans to open a campus in Rajarhat, Kolkata on a 10-acre plot. Will it become IIT, Kolkata? Only time will tell. IIT, KGP receives a handful grant from the union government for the same.

But, there’s more. Both JU’s engineering department and Shibpur’s Bengal Engineering University have been promoted to the level of IITs’. This means the two will now have access to more funds from the government in addition to transparency in decision-making. To cap it all, St. Xavier’s college is also pushing hard to uplift standard of education that was in moribund state for such a long time.

With so much going, it suddenly dawns that education after all is an old forte of Bengal, which has bred a large number of luminaries not so long ago. There is something in the air here that inculcates an indomitable urge to learn. We hail that.

Infosys

Business is never static. There is always a change that is taking place in almost all successful businesses. IT-related business is a proof of that truth. Big Indian IT companies are perpetually on the lookout for fresh talent to add to their bench-strength. This helps when on signing a new contract, there is a sudden requirement of manpower that must be rushed to the new job.

Infosys, the mother of all Indian IT companies, has just declared more-than encouraging quarterly results yesterday. For shareholders, it is a renewed assurance that their stake is in good hands. Though I am not a big judge of financial results, I could still discern from press statements that Infosys’ business has many facets to it, each of which serves in its own way, so as to counter one another irrespective of whether there’s an upturn or a downturn in overall business outlook.

If this sounds confusing, so it is perhaps. But let me attempt an example. Infosys provides consultancy to give inputs to its clients when they want to expand their business. This part is okay, understandable. Now, when the same clients want to reduce their business activities because the outlook is grim, to whom do you think they turn to for help? They of course come to Infosys, this time seeking consultancy to shed overgrown flab.


Infy's HQ and Bengal's IT growth.
Picture courtesy The Telegraph.

In Bengali, this is called eating with both hands, just so you never remain hungry. Great, isn’t it? There is a chance that Infosys may land in Kolkata with its own outfit soon. Bravo to that.

Nathu La

At 14400 feet (4545 meters), Nathu La is almost at the center between Kolkata and Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, a proclaimed autonomous region in China. It is 460 km from Lhasa and 550 km from Kolkata. Going by train from Kolkata, it takes about 12 hours to reach Siliguri and 4 hours to reach Nathu La by road via Gangtok. After the proposed road-expressway between Siliguri and Kolkata takes shape, one may expect a 12-hour journey from the city to Nathu La. Since China’s road communication is better than ours, it will not be unreasonable to hope that Nathu La to Lhasa will be within 12 hours. Therefore, for me living off EM Bypass in South Kolkata, it will take just about 24 hours to reach Lhasa.


A train crew in Beijing-Lhasa train.
Picture courtesy China Daily & Reuters.

But wait. There is more. A week back, on July 3, a high-speed train from Beijing reached Lhasa at the end of 48-hour journey on its inaugural run. The China Daily reports that with this $4.2 billion project (started only in 2001), China hopes to boost tourism in Tibet. Probably, the tourists from their side will make a U-turn after visiting Tibet. But, what about us, the fun-loving, tour-thirsty Indians (specially Bengalis)? I’m sure, if situation permits, we’ll love to go to Lhasa and then to Beijing. After all, the train journey wouldn’t cost heaven and the time to travel is only 72 hours!! About the same time it takes from Delhi to Kanyakumari or Kolkata to Goa.


Indian and Chinese personnel rub shoulders right on border.
Picture courtesy The Telegraph.

As trade commences from yesterday through Nathu La, experts are busy commenting on scope of commerce. It will burgeon, no doubt there, because of hundreds of reasons. However, what will also get a tremendous boost is tourism. The simple reason for this unbridled optimism is that no other border post between India and China is as close to a metropolis as Nathu La to Kolkata. Not without reason that this is one of the oldest trans-border trade route between the 2 great countries. Let us hope the Silk Route will unlock the tremendous tourism potential in a short time from now.