the first step. the counting, the rhythm – instinctive. sand crushing under feet, giving way. the rhythm. control and beauty, as  result thereof. an inexhaustible will. the road might as well not end. conscious slowdown. who said the control was yours? remnants of motion. stillness, almost.

the sky, opened up. buildings, in the full grandeur of their intended design. man and nature. a bird that walks on water. a chance encounter. force, often unnecessary. strength, the only necessity and prerequisite. return. calm. good morning.

I had absolutely no clue I shall come up with the following:

Disclaimer: These are the works of a tired, hungry, sleep-deprived mind which shall not tolerate critical comments of any kind

Hence, in this age of NeoSolarism, we measure the day in hours of ‘darkness’. So, on an average day, you will live 26 hrs of darkness.

Yes, 2 hours of darkness have been traded by us in the supra-temporal intergalactic hypermarket. Hence, you needn’t worry, my Son. Live long.

———————————————————————————————

Random motions in this Special Universe, long for SpUniverse, are so perfectly coordinated that they seem to resemble the entire life-cycle motions of a hypothetical species called humans.

This strange phenomenon has troubled scientists in our time as well as those visiting us through future-to-past wormholes. The simple, genuine and most elegant insolvability of this problem presents the human species with a unique difficulty – it can live in only one hyperverse throughout their lifetime.

Hence, there is no way a human can even begin to understand the multi-hyperverse that really makes up the Universe.

Keep learning, my Son.

Looking at a different picture. Interference, lovely song.

Dark, blackie-violet world, this story is set in a strange land. Mountains move and the world is mega-zoomed in & replicated.

Jupiter and beyond the infinite. Best-selling album all over.

Sunrise from Jupiter. Infinite-1. ‘Dhan dhan dhan’ go the beats.

Roaring white reflects from the distant stars. Flames burst into the point of view. Large galazies continue to be created and destroyed.

The ‘Purples’, as they’re known, are the most blazing galaxies of the Univers, radiating the most light. However, 5.2 Pegallion years ago, there existed a warm world, a world where the Sun was yellow. The yellow light that burst on the entire OlUnivers was complete and caring. The OlUnivers, raised on this diet of warm Sun, but then, what happens to almost every other tale happened to this one too.

The bright, optimistic years gave way to darker, evil times. The ‘Purples’ had captured the Univers. The ‘Purples’ absorbed all the light in the world and radiated it at ultra-high intensities. So much so that the Univers became, for the most part, a lightless zone – leaving a few intensely bright ‘Purples’ which were named so owing to the color they glowed.

The ‘Purples’ reign ended eventually, yes it had to happen. It was destined, you could say; but then destiny had no role to play in the Univers, as you shall soon find out.

The times changed. The bad was defeated by the Good.

‘The Good’ was the name of the Univers which had the special, amber Sun. It launched an all-out attack on the currently ‘Purple’ Univers in the hope of regaining control. In an explosive, inter-stellar war, ‘The Good’ banished the ‘Purples’ to absolute darkness.

The ‘Purples’ vanished into their tubular Univers and owing to their lack of energy, began to collapse into itselves. The energy levels dropped to a minimum and the ‘Purples’ had formally ceased to exist outside their micro-pico second thick tubular boundary.

As this process of infinite internal collapse continued, a most unusual event occurred. The ‘Purples’ mass, now forced into a microcosm of itself, gained criticality and exploded on the world.

To call it an explosion would be an understatement. The ‘Purples’ had finally arrived on the MegaUnivers scene. Their new found power had driven ‘The Good’ to momentarily take refuge in a secluded corner of the MegaUnivers.

When observed over a few giga-trilliano munites (musical-minutes, the smallest unit of time in the MegaUnivers), one realizes that this change, this cycle between the ‘Purples’ and ‘The Good’ was inevitable.

Not only was it based entirely on a collective dance of radiation called music, it was essentially periodic and cyclical in nature.

“The MegaUnivers Government had continued to overlook this serious conflict between the ‘Purples’ and ‘The Good’. Continued negligence on their part resulted in the conflict escalating to a thousand-Univers level. Such a large magnitude event could not not have created a significant impact on the MegaUnivers.

After all, there was only one order of difference in magnitude between the two.

A higher authority had to be called upon to assimilate this anomalous, erratic disturbance and restore the MegaUnivers to normality. It was simply the way humans appeal to a higher order (God, some call it) to fix their problems.

GigaUnivers was alerted and came to the rescue. The crisis was resolved for almost short of perpetuity. Till such time, the reign of ‘The Good’ would prevail. The ‘munites’ enabled this transition in a most gradual, synchronized fashion.

Gradual Transformation had been initiated with a music Voyage level of 34. It was no easy affair – every instant had to be transformed quasi-statically to another state.

The greatest rock band of the MegaUnivers has volunteered to orchestrate this transition, the basis of what is now known as tale of the ‘Purples’ vs ‘The Good’.

]]> http://aniketpangarkar.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/purple-vs-the-good/feed/ 0 aniketpangarkar The Purple World The Good http://aniketpangarkar.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/managing-global-infrastructure-projects/ http://aniketpangarkar.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/managing-global-infrastructure-projects/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:54:46 +0000 aniketpangarkar http://aniketpangarkar.wordpress.com/?p=202 ]]> My second journal entry as part of the course on Infrastructure Planning and  Management.

Introduction:

The reading of the Montreal Olympics Complex case study last week made me appreciate the multifarious issues and obstacles firms must overcome in order to successfully accomplish global infrastructure projects. During the discussions that ensued in class, we went on to broadly classify the factors affecting such projects into the following categories: 1. Design-related 2. Planning-related 3. People-related and 4. Environment-dependent (including economic, political and environmental interventions).

While the case study in consideration focused majorly on issues that lacked adequate design and planning (Unique design of components, new construction technique, scheduling etc.), it also highlighted the impact of labor strikes, resource shortages and the lack of coordination between client-engineer and constructor as some of the other factors that resulted in delays and cost over-runs.

Interestingly, a review question at the end of the case study asks the reader:

‘If you had been in charge of the construction of the Montreal Olympics Complex, what would have been your approach?’

I attempt to answer the same through this journal and seek to extend the philosophy to other global infrastructure projects of a similar nature:

My Approach:

I begin by calling into account the fact that planning for the project started about 2 years later than it should have, giving authorities lesser time to get their act together than that would have ideally sufficed. [Case Study: Course Reader] At this juncture, I would have strongly argued in favor of a relatively simplistic design which allowed the use of replicable construction members and leveraged economies of scale instead of stubbornly sticking to a complex design which understandably demanded a meticulous and carefully planned approach.

A simplified design would allow for greater time to be spent on actual construction planning – as a result of which, obvious flaws (accounting for weather conditions, scheduling etc.) would have been detected and resolved well in advance.

Second, an uncooperative and organized labor union troubled the authorities to no end and resulted in delays uncalled for. A contract, mutually agreed upon in advance by the labor unions and the City of Montreal would have acted as a deterrent for the work-force to go on strike and curb their erratic demands. Further, a performance linked bonus or similar strategy that would award the workers if the project were completed in advance would have most likely served as an incentive for the workers to perform their duties.

Third, the long-term nature of the large project made it self-evident that the region would face a resource crunch in terms of materials and equipment. Had this been perceived earlier, it would be prudent on the City’s part to sign price-proof agreements with its suppliers to shield the project from escalating costs thereby maintaining a check on the overall expense of the project.

Last, the gap in client-engineer-constructor relationships contributed notably to confusion and delays with the Province of Quebec having to take over the project mid-way. In my opinion, it would have been wiser to have third-party controllers / auditors advise on the project from day 1. These advisors would have signaled the need for further corrective action when it was still possible to change course swiftly and accurately.

I think the case study serves as an important spring-board to appreciate the challenges involved in large, global infrastructure projects and propels us to devote further time and effort to research on specific problems in the classes to come.

Infrastructure in India: Opportunities and Challenges

Introduction:

The first few classes of the course served to extend my notion of ‘infrastructure’ from merely being a set of basic civic amenities to that of an indispensable link between the economic and social development of a region. Quieroz’s study [Queiroz ‘92] of the relationship between per capita GNP and road infrastructure reinforced the ideology. Further discussions demonstrated the nature of the linkage to be strongly reciprocal – it became amply clear that while a vibrant economy will significantly contribute to adding infrastructural capacity, improvements in the quality of infrastructure will result in increased investments and greater industry-confidence leading to economic growth [Lou Harris ‘88].

Sector-wise Status:

Over the next few classes, we examined the current status of development in transport, telecom, power and urban and rural infrastructure. Each sector presents a unique set of opportunities to be leveraged for economic gain as well as a plethora of challenges which threaten to undermine the pace of socio-economic development in India.

Consider roads for example: While public-private partnerships and new toll policies encourage private participation and often greater efficiency, difficulties in land acquisition and long delays discourage fresh investments resulting in slow growth. In the aviation industry, the ‘open skies’ policy has resulted in low-tariffs and improved customer services owing to the increased presence of the private sector. However, the lack of adequate ground-based infrastructure questions the extent to which air-travel will effectively account for transport share in the country.

In stark contrast to most other infrastructural sectors is Telecom which has scripted a bold success story. The entry of private players in the cell-phone market has resulted in more than 250 million subscribers by 2007[TRAI, ‘07a]. The challenge here is to ensure healthy competition between the players, distribute bandwidth in a fair process and provide richer content to the user.

The Power sector does not present a rosy picture. There is immense scope for capacity addition, notably in renewable energy sourced plants which will lead to a lesser carbon footprint of the country. However, this is not easy as over sixty percent of the current capacity is coal-based [TERI ‘07] and we face an acute energy crisis.

Unanswered Questions:

As we explored the current status of development in key sectors, a few critical questions remain unanswered. For example, should efficiency take precedence over equity with respect to investments in transport infrastructure? For example, should we invest in enlarging existing roads / air-sectors which link major economic centers or in adding highways and new routes?

Secondly, what interests me is the allocation of Government expenditure to types of infrastructure investments. To be specific, should the Government build better airports for a richer few or build more railway lines to better connect the many rural poor? In other words, which user-groups’ interests take precedence over the others? Lastly, I seek to understand the extent to which we can sustain the growth rates in certain sectors such as telecom. Unchecked growth may sap precious natural resources and result in wasteful use.

It is questions such as these that I intend to explore over the course of the remaining classes and I am hopeful that further reading and discussion will introduce me to the intricacies of the issues at hand.

Download the PDF Aniket Pangarkar Journal 01.

The first phase of the project involves gathering data on ‘current accounts’ – figures concerning activity and energy intensity levels in a particular reference year, in our case 2005-06. As I strive to distil relevant and accurate data from a heap of papers and reports, it becomes apparent that dealing with macro-figures is no mean task. There are endless choices to make. Which data-source is more accurate? What parameter represents the variable adequately? How much detail does one incorporate?

On the way to meet Prof. Chella today, it occurred to me that our facts and figures resembled broken pieces of glass. Each with it’s own distinctive shape, tinge, size and edge.

I have to put these together.

The skill, of course is to identify each piece for what it stands and assemble all of them into a composite, meaningful portrait. One that describes the present as it is and the future as it will be.

What lies beyond.

Images courtesy DixonBaxi and Malinkrop.