Cockroach Theory for Self Development

Sundar Pichai - CEO, Google

A beautiful speech by Sundar Pichai - an IIT-Stanford Alumnus and Global Head Google Chrome and now CEO of Google.

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me. It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story: “Do not react in life. Always respond.“

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.

A beautiful way to understand LIFE.Person who is HAPPY is not because Everything is RIGHT in his Life.He is HAPPY because his Attitude towards Everything in his Life is Right!

Life doesn’t always throw at us pleasantries, but also disappointments. How we deal with these disappointments is what will determine whether our lives will be chaotic or whether it will be under control, and finding a solution to it. Many people try to blame other people for their problems. A good advice is that you should remain calm in times of stress. This helps you see the problem in a different perspective and helps you think of ways of dealing with the problem. It is much better to respond to life stresses instead of reacting to them. In this way, you will develop the right attitude in enriching your life, despite the challenges that come your way.

One nation, one poll

• There is no question that 'One nation, one poll' will save lot of money and grant freedom to elected representatives to behave or misbehave as they like for next five years. But there is much more beyond that. It is something synonymous to 'One nation, one language' and 'One nation, one religion', with very dangerous undercurrents that threatens unity and integrity of India.
• If Lok Sabha and Assembly elections happen to coincide, it is a natural process. But if it is imposed only to reduce the number of elections and cut costs, it is highly undesirable, because it privileges monetary concerns over democratic principles.
• Frequent elections provide momentary employment, boost domestic consumption, as also prevent transfer of power to a single entity due to a popularity surge that could help annexe both the state and central rule through the dual election filter.
• There is a provision in the Model Code of Conduct for the government to consult the Election Commission to take any useful policy decisions, without interfering election outcome, which is hardly used by any of the governments for political reasons.
• The slogan “one country, one election” is misleading. The Constitution recognises the existence of 29 States which have a constitutional status of their own in matters of elections and government formation. But this slogan deprives both centre and states to go in for mid term polls even for genuine and valid reasons.
• The seeming intention is to force all states, and all local bodies & panchayats, not only seems impractical but also a step in the direction of moving the country towards becoming a unitary state rather than a federal one that the constitution envisages.
• If in a state election, result is hung, definitely president's rule can't be imposed for next 5 years since next elections are that much far away and no chance for mid term polls. If that state goes to mid term poll, the new elected state assembly will have truncated term of less than 5 years till the date next general election. This is gross violation of constitutional provisions which is undesirable.
• There would be no interim option to overthrow if the incumbent under performed, as voter power is limited to being king-for-a-day in the lustrum. On flip side, frequent elections or bye polls deter the incumbent ruling parties from under performance and misbehavior.
• The issues influencing voting pattern for parliament, assembly and local body elections are vastly different and simultaneous polls will only blur the issues and the party having advantage in national arena also gets voted in state & local body elections which is fundamentally misleading & undemocratic.
• If simultaneous elections were to become a reality, it would go against the political diversity which is essential for addressing the social diversity of India.
• The total cost saving of about Rs.10,000 crores, once in 5 years, for central government with an annual budget of over Rs.20,00,000 crores is not a problem at all.
• Like earlier Modi's adventures, this one too might not work for Modi simply because the intention is not for doing any public good but is for narrow minded self aggrandizement. 

In a democracy, every issue has far reaching effects and unintended consequences that hurts lower classes most. Nothing can make a rich man bankrupt or a beggar. Demonetization and GST hurt the poorest most. Rich will sustain just by spending some bucks. By oath PM Modi must rule the nation within the framework of constitution and existing laws. During first two years, he went on roaming the world delivering passionate speeches and our economy was reasonably good. He initiated reforms with selfish intention of 'name & fame' and the nation plunged into economic distress and there is no way it can be halted. He would have done a great service to nation had he not done anything in the past three years. Anyone, including Rahul Gandhi or Manmohan Singh, will do better than Modi. That is what Modi has proved to the nation in the past three plus years in no uncertain terms.

Before You ... William Arthur Ward

Before you speak, listen. 

Before you write, think. 

Before you spend, earn. 

Before you invest, investigate. 

Before you criticize, wait. 

Before you pray, forgive. 

Before you quit, try. 

Before you retire, save. 

Before you die, give.

Poor people don't work. Why?

• Poverty is not just life below the poverty line, its living under financial stress, where it is difficult to maintain quality of life. A life in poverty means living deprived of sufficient food and nutrition, education, proper shelter, sanitation, clean water and so on. This points to the need of seeing poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon.
• We are all children of one and the same God and, therefore, are absolutely equal.
• Poverty in India is attributable to (i) social inequality leading to exclusion and marginalization (ii) illiteracy (iii) population (iv) gender inequality (v) unequal distribution of wealth (vi) faulty economic reforms (vii) corruption and (vii) colonial rule.
• India has more than 400 million (30% of total population) people under the poverty line. In 1947 when colonial British left India, they left 70% Indians in deep poverty. Seven decades later, poverty is down to 30% despite the multi fold increase in population. Despite the progress, even 30% poverty means a huge headcount in a country of 1.3 billion people. 
• UNDP in its 2017 report estimated India’s poverty at 41% i.e. 528 million.
• There are lazy poor people just as there are lazy rich people and laziness is not the only cause of poverty. There are many factors such as economic instability, cultural discrimination, physical or mental disability, or familial problems. 
• Many people ignore the poor, justify their dislike of the poor, or view their poverty as deserved because they think that those in poverty could come into wealth if they just worked harder. 
• Working harder is an useless advice and an even more ridiculous mindset. In a free market society, people are rarely compensated for hard work. They are compensated for valuable skills and smart working.
• Poor people may be born poor, but they don't have to remain that way. They choose to remain poor. Coming out of poverty is neither easy nor hard. External helping hand is essential to come out of poverty quickly.
• A poor person can't think or plan his old age years. Poverty restricts forward thinking and planning. 
• Work is a pillar of our society. It supplies income that enables families to thrive, fosters a sense of pride and belonging, provides dignity and purpose. For these reasons vast majority of prime-age people work for pay. 
• Few of poor don't work, which robs them of this sense of purpose, affects their families’ prospects for prosperity.
• The presumption is that poor don’t earn enough or work hard enough.
• The reasons poor not working primarily is females with children citing family and home responsibilities, and others citing disability and illness.
• To meaningfully reduce poverty, public policy must focus on improving the health of poor, decrease work disincentives and providing work supports to poor parents such as disability assistance.
• But when a lack of employment leads to poverty, it raises important questions about the role for government. Government can make poverty less painful through income transfers etc, but the question is whether government can encourage those who prefer not to work.
• We can either accept the status quo of leaving millions of people in poverty, or continue funding large government programs that transfer income from working taxpayers to the nonworking poor.
• In India, the labor force participation rates* among prime-age workers have declined over the past three years from 48% to 43% suggesting that India is facing a work problem. China's labor force participation rate is 71%, in USA it is 64% and world average is 63%.
  *The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is either employed or unemployed.
• The children growing up in a poor family just need to work hard to escape poverty.  Poverty has been proven to be a leading contributor to a child’s social, emotional, and behavioral problems. For children, poverty is an extremely difficult situation to overcome; and even if the children overcome it, they run the risk of being damaged by it for life. Children living in poverty are at an extremely high-risk for mental and physical disorders, due to lack of nutrition, physical stimulation, and emotional development.
• In USA, the reality is that one in six Americans lives in a household that is “food insecure”.
• The rich are great beneficiaries of poverty. It is very cheap to be rich in India. In a poor nation, the social elite can pass through life without facing any competition. The less democratic a nation, the safer it is for the rich.

Poverty is easy to spot, but hard to define.

Those parts of India which have been longest under British rule are the poorest today ...  Nehru

India is a rich country inhabited by very poor people ...  Manmohan Singh

As opposed to the western ‘trickle down’ capitalism India needs a comprehensive “human development” plan in order to really crush the widespread poverty. The present economy based on GDP growth, India is only promoting inequality that sustains by keeping the poor in poverty. It needs an economy that supports millions of small and medium enterprises that are suitable to employ low skilled poor people. Agriculture must be made sustainable and remunerative. Focus on good governance to root out corruption. Promote women empowerment through education and healthcare to deal with population growth. 

Gandhi's 100 teachings

Here are 100 teachings drawn from Gandhi's writings. 
There will be greater opportunities to put them to good use.

1. A civilization is to be judged by its treatment of minorities.
2. A Government that is evil has no room for good men and women except in its prisons.
3. All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect.
4. All fear is a want of faith.
5. All other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
6. A nonviolent resister cannot wait or delay action till perfect conditions are forthcoming.
7. A nonviolent revolution is not a program for the seizure of power. It is a program for the transformation of relationships ending in a peaceful transfer of power.
8. A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
9. By our actions we mean to show that physical force is nothing compared (to) moral force.
10. Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil.
11. Civil disobedience without constructive programs is bound to fail.
12. Cooperation with good is as much a duty as noncooperation with evil.
13. Do not undertake anything beyond your capacity, and at the same time do not harbor the wish to do less than you can. One who takes up tasks beyond his powers is proud and attached. On the other hand, one who does less than he can is a thief.
14. Do not worry about what others are doing! Each of us should turn the searchlight inward and purify his or her own heart as much as possible.
15. Each step upward makes me feel stronger and fit for the next step.
16. Every one of my failures has been a steppingstone.
17. Every right carries with it a corresponding duty.
18. Everything is done openly and aboveboard, for truth hates secrecy.
19. Evil can only be sustained by violence.
20. Exploitation is the essence of violence.
21. Faith does not admit of telling. It has to be lived and then it becomes self-propagating.
22. Faith is nothing but a living, wide-awake consciousness of God within.
23. Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral.
24. For a nonviolent person the whole world is one family. He will thus fear none, nor will others fear him.
25. Freedom won through bloodshed or fraud is no freedom.
26. Given the opportunity, every human being has the same possibility for spiritual growth.
27. God is conscience.
28. [God] reveals Himself daily to every human being but we shut our ears to "the still small voice."
29. Good government is no substitute for self-government.
30. He who is ever brooding over results often loses nerve in the performance of duty.
31. I am a Christian and a Hindu and a Moslem and a Jew.
32. I am an uncompromising opponent of violent methods even to serve the noblest of causes.
33. I believe in the essential unity of man and, for that matter, all that lives. Therefore, I believe that if one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him; and, if one man falls, the whole world falls to that extent.
34. I believe that no government can exist for a single moment without the cooperation of the people, willing or forced, and if people suddenly withdraw their cooperation in every detail, the government will come to a standstill.
35. I can retain neither respect nor affection for a government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality.
36. I did not move a muscle when I first heard that the atom bomb had wiped out Hiroshima. On the contrary, I said to myself, "unless now the world adopts non-violence, it will spell certain suicide for mankind."
37. If a father does an injustice, it is the duty of his children to leave the parental roof. If the headmaster of a school conducts his institution on an immoral basis, the pupils must leave the school. If the chairman of a corporation is corrupt, the members thereof must wash their hands clean of his corruption by withdrawing from it; even so, if a Government does a grave injustice, the subjects must withdraw cooperation wholly or partially, sufficiently to wean the ruler from his wickedness.
38. If one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself.
39. I hate privilege and monopoly. Whatever cannot be shared with the masses is taboo to me.
40. Individuals or nations, who would practice nonviolence, must be prepared to sacrifice [everything] except honor.
41. In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.
42. In nonviolent resistance, success is possible even if there is only one nonviolent resister of the proper stamp.
43. In the secret of my heart I am in perpetual quarrel with God that He should allow such things to go on. (written in September 1939 at the start of World War II) 
44. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.
45. It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
46. It is a million times better to appear untrue before the world than to be untrue to ourselves.
47. It is not nonviolence if we love merely those who love us. It is nonviolence only when we love those who hate us.
48. It is sinful to buy and use articles made by sweated labor.
49. I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.
50. Love is the law of life.
51. Love never claims, it ever gives.
52. No human being is so bad as to be beyond redemption.
53. No man could be actively nonviolent and not rise against social injustice no matter where it occurred.
54. No matter how insignificant the thing you have to do, do it as well as you can, give it as much of your care and attention as you would give to the thing you regard as most important.
55. Nonviolence, in the very nature of things, is of no assistance in the defense of ill-gotten gains and immoral acts.
56. Nonviolence is never a method of coercion, it is one of conversion.
57. [Nonviolent] struggle is impossible without capital in the form of character.
58. Nothing enduring can be built on violence.
59. Our aim is the establishment of the kingdom of Righteousness on earth.
60. Peace has its victories more glorious than those of war.
61. Real disarmament cannot come unless the nations of the world cease to exploit one another.
62. Recall the face of the poorest and the most helpless man whom you may have seen and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he be able to gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny?
63. Religions are different roads converging on the same point.
64. Religion which takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.
65. Rights that do not flow directly from duty well performed are not worth having.
66. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.
67. Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.
68. Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant in spirit glory in fighting alone.
69. Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong but of the weak.
70. That line of action is alone justice which does not harm either party to a dispute.
71. The acquisition of the spirit of nonresistance changes one's outlook upon life. It puts different values upon things and upsets previous calculations. And when it is set in motion, its effect can overtake the whole world. It is the greatest force because it is the highest expression of the soul.
72. The best politics is right action.
73. The danger is greatest when victory seems nearest.
74. The fabled godly Elephant King... was saved only when he thought he was at his last gasp.
75. The first principle of nonviolent action is that of noncooperation with everything humiliating.
76. The fullest life is impossible without an immovable belief in a Living Law in obedience to which the whole universe moves.
77. The highest moral law is that we should unremittingly work for the good of mankind.
78. The movement of noncooperation, if it may be considered a revolution, is not an armed revolt; it is an evolutionary revolution, it is a bloodless revolution. The movement is a revolution of thought, or spirit.
79. The problem is a world problem. No nation can find its own salvation by breaking away from others. We must all be saved or we must all perish together.
80. There is a power now slumbering within us, which if awakened would do to evil what light does to darkness.
81. The right to err, which means the freedom to try experiments, is the universal condition of all progress.
82. To believe that what has not occurred in history will not occur at all is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man.
83. To benefit by others' killing and delude oneself into the belief that one is being very religious and nonviolent is sheer self-deception.
84. True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding out the true path for ourselves and fearlessly following it.
85. Truth never damages a cause that is just.
86. Violence is suicide.
87. We are all children of one and the same God and, therefore, absolutely equal.
88. We hug the chains that bind us.
89. We leave things to Fate after exhausting all the remedies.
90. We may attack measures and systems. We may not, we must not, attack people. Imperfect ourselves, we must be tender toward others and slow to impute their motives.
91. We may not be God but we are of God -- even as a little drop of water is of the ocean.
92. We must combat the wrong by ceasing to assist the wrongdoer, directly or indirectly.
93. Western democracy as it functions today, is diluted nazism or fascism. At best it is merely a cloak to hide the nazi and fascist tendencies of imperialism.
94. What is possible for one is possible for all.
95. When we disobey a law, it is not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of conscience.
96. Where Love is, there God is also.
97. Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.
98. Whilst... [conscience] is a good guide for individual conduct, imposition of that conduct upon others would be an insufferable interference with their freedom of conscience.
99. Whomsoever you follow, howsoever great he might be, see to it that you follow the spirit of the master and not imitate him mechanically.
100. You should be pioneers in presenting a living faith to the world and not the dry bones of a traditional faith which the world will not grasp.

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem 

brings us face to face with another problem ... Martin Luther King, Jr.

Modi's thinking big has style and no substance.

• For Modi, “thinking big” is essentially about showcasing “our strengths” [like bullet train] and not necessarily bringing any benefit to the people.
• Modi's another big idea is building a Statue of Unity to commemorate Sardar Patel, India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, and fixing its height at 186 metres, twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty (United States), exposing fascination for spectacle that the politician, termed widely “as the most powerful after Indira Gandhi”, nourishes within his political self.
• Modi’s penchant for thinking big has a chilling similarity with Mussolini’s Fascist Italy is that in the Mussolini regime, politics starts to be less concerned with the act of governing people in an efficient way, for instance, in solving their economic problems. Instead, it is focused more on the spectacle of power, on the visual and impressive display of symbols, myths and rituals. In terms of everyday life this anesthetization of political power takes the shape of a domination of form of visual appearance, effects over the content. It also means that politics ceases to be measured by political criteria. Politics itself assumes the form of an artistic act; to govern means to Mussolini to create a new Nation and a new Empire and Mussolini views himself as the creative soul of the nation, the propeller of new ways of living. 
• Modi and other leaders of the BJP had repeatedly promised, through the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign and even after the formation of the government, that the farmers’ income across the country would be doubled by 2022. Three years into that promise, while FM Jaitley said it was for State governments to initiate measures to double the farmers’ income, Modi has exhorted cooperative societies to come up with their own facilitation.
• Modi regime has been repeatedly claiming that India’s economic situation is good and that it has the potential to improve despite global recession. But Jaitley had to admit that the economy had decelerated to the slowest pace in three years and that there was a need for more concentrated and specific efforts to revive growth. The demonetisation by Modi in Nov 2016 which aggravated economic deceleration, was strongly denied by government but were eventually forced to admit it.
• RSS has taken note of the repeated reverses suffered by the Modi government.The RSS leadership warned the BJP to be wary of a repeat of the 2004 electoral defeat suffered by AB Vajpayee who faced the 2004 elections with  “India Shining” campaign only to be humbled by a practically leaderless but united opposition. The BJP leadership, including party president and Modi’s close associate Amit Shah, has taken the RSS warning seriously.
• First, they would fall back on their time tested ploy of communalising society and polarising communities in the name of religion. Now that Modi and his Ministry are increasingly displaying their inability to live up to their development vision, they would revive the Ayodhya Ram Mandir agitation for this. 
• The second response would be by appropriating gains made by other governments as their own through clever propaganda and media management. Even as Chief Minister, Modi had shown his mastery over this stratagem when he took credit for the Amul dairy, set up originally in 1946, and nurtured under several regimes, including the Congress but then Modi’s propaganda and media management is what prevailed in the end.
• Arun Shourie terms the Modi Ministry essentially as an event management company where everything is turned into a spectacle for one individual and a clutch of political courtiers.
• The opinion that the ruling BJP in Gujarat needs a booster to face elections in 2018 and that is why Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar dam and initiated the work on the bullet train. But field reports suggest that the BJP continues to be on a strong wicket in the State because of the absence of a cohesive opposition and a popular leader in the Congress.
• New spectacles on display in Sep 2017 are aimed at reinforcing the omnipotence of the big leader. That task is of utmost importance given the warnings emanating from different quarters of the country and the RSS.

Essentially Modi's propaganda machine produced results in 2014 based on anti-incumbency factor faced by Congress/UPA. But in 2019 elections Modi's propaganda machine without any other support might not be able to repeat 2014. On the contrary, one more mistake by Modi, similar to failed demonetization or badly implemented mangled GST and some improvement by Rahul Gandhi & Congress could spell doom for BJP & Modi. Another 18 months to go, Modi leader of a dud team, will surely do one or two or even more blunders because one can't expect Modi doing nothing as he gets wonderful ideas on and often. Modi won't realize that he will do least harm to BJP and himself, if does nothing till 2019 elections.

Bullet train: Another oxymoron of Modi

Modi (PM Of India) and Shinzo Abe (PM of Japan)

• 508km Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train (HSR) project's estimated cost is Rs.110,000 crores. 80% i.e. 88,000 crores is a soft loan (0.1% interest payable from 16th through 50th years) from JICA, Japan and 20% i.e. Rs.22,000 crores to funded by Govt of India. 
• The JICA is notorious for funding projects in which Japanese companies are in the fray and there are often hidden costs.
• This Rs.22,000 crores will easily go up to Rs.50,000 crores, or even more, in due course.
• This project has been awarded to Japan on a “nomination basis”, without any competitive bidding process and with the direct negotiations by Modi with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. It is expensive when compared to Chinese rates by 59% to 97%.
• No competitive tendering, no cost benefit analysis or any other due diligence for minimizing costs and maximizing benefits was ever undertaken.
• Modi highlighting that "it is virtually free'' tantamount to lying and misleading the nation and doesn't befit his occupying PM chair.
• JPY/INR exchange risk is also going to be a huge burden. No one will hedge exchange rate risks beyond 6 months. INR is always a depreciating currency where as JPY an appreciating currency.
• The pricing of tickets would be close to flight travel tickets and hence useles for common man.
• Worldwide all bullet train projects are loss making and supported by government. This HSR project will be a white elephant and big drain on tax payers money for many decades.
• Mumbaikar's demanded 'we want basics not bullet trains' in response to Elphinstone Bridge stampede incident where 23 people lost lives on Sep 30, 2017.
• If we don’t dream big, we will never achieve big ... But these trophy projects drains scarce funds which otherwise rightfully would have gone for education, healthcare, drinking water, sanitation, transportation and welfare - benefiting lower strata of society. 
• Development with poorer classes funds is an outrageous model of development.

Gandhi's Talisman: Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.

Lemon Socialism ... socialise losses and privatise profits 

Commonsense tells us that we get best price only when we buy things with our own cash. Any kind of loans & financing will erode our bargaining capability and we will be saddled with not only interest charges but also hidden costs and front loading. Government borrowing money with soft interests with long term repayments is ok for investments in infrastructure benefiting masses and accelerating overall development in that region/ state/ country but not for nonviable political projects just for ego satisfaction and showcasing and displaying to foreigners and publicity devoid of any merit. Sardar Sarovar Dam's incomplete canal systems during his 13 years as CM of Gujarat, is a testimony for Modi's incompetency. GIFT city project is another white elephant. Like demonetization and mangled & unprepared GST roll out - bullet train will add to woes of nation. If it turns out to be scandalous, no one will be surprised. With Railway safety at its worst, priority is not bullet train but to invest and ensure safety of passengers. Finally, we don't have to compete with any one in the world; we just need to improve ourselves year after year, carrying all sections of people together.