Incredible India: Usurping Sly Bastards (USB)

These are no deals

I remember writing years ago about deals that people get from hawkers of fake watches and gadgets that roam the social outlets around Gran Canaria commercial centres.

In my view, greed is almost always at play, the hawker looking almost too respectable to be true, sweet-talking patrons about an unmissable deal.

The patrons out for some fun are caught in the trap of viewing what they do not need and depending on how pliable they are will almost always acquire what they do not want.

Weeping in silence

If the deal is struck, the hawker makes away with the cash, a veritable confidence-trickster who has taken advantage of the gullible who have irresistibly allowed they vanity to get the better of them and in so doing acquired a dud with no guarantee but the word of a stranger with no address, shop or traceable from of contact.

When the dust settles, the patron realises they have been taken for fools, though they silently mourn their stupidity and in self-flagellation and self-pity swear to themselves never to be caught in such a scam again, but they do.

Usurping Sly Bastards

Now, in New Delhi, as I went for a walk, I was accosted by persons hawking off 64GB USB sticks for prices that made your eyes pop – surely, those goods must have fallen off a lorry.

I did not need a USB stick and there was no reason to add to my collection of sticks just because it looked like a deal. The best deal is one where you can return it if you are not satisfied.

A few days ago, I was told those USB sticks were duds, now, I did not know how dud they were until this afternoon after lunch, a trainee colleague showed off his bargain buy.

Another colleague took it off him and prised it open to show an empty cavity – that blew me away, I expected some circuitry, at least – nothing but a USB connector and a plastic case pretending to be a product of Kingston Technology, one of the market leaders in memory and storage products.

Bang them up

It is one thing to sell counterfeit products, maybe another to sell stolen goods but to be a purveyor of goods where the hawker deliberately sets out to cajole, deceive, extort and dishonestly con unsuspecting tourists on the streets of New Delhi, one is well advised of the need to walk with caution and offer no acknowledgement to persons unknown, no matter how attractive their wares.

One would hope these people are taken off the streets but it probably is part of the mystique of Incredible India to which some have unwittingly become the fool soon parted from their money and left holding a dud for a souvenir of their dumbness.

Incredible India: A Close Shave at Koenig Inn

Air ran out of the taps

The backstory to the vivid picture of me in a bathrobe with shaving foam all around my ears and over my head is that as I was shaving I ran out of hot water completely.

This was at just a few minutes past 7:00AM and barely a week after I was told hot water will be available for 24 hours at Koenig Inn.

Things had in the space of just a day moved or generally acceptable to precipitously untenable with no Internet access overnight and then this.

As the water then began to trickle out of the tap I used my hand cloth towel to wipe off all the foam and then had a hand cloth wipe in the place of a shower.

Meanwhile, for whatever reason after the staff came up to see the problem, there was a leak in the bathroom, I went down for breakfast and gave my key to the staff not returning to the room as I left for the training centre.

The new Internet Policy

I could not wait to get out of the Koenig Inn this morning to start at the training centre where I hope no construction firm had inadvertently dug up the cables again like they allegedly did a few days ago.

A new notice had appeared on the wall in addition to the many notices that we have to read, this one might well add insult to injury – whilst I appreciate that the provision of free wireless Internet service comes at a cost for the training centre and the abuse of it for other purposes is not fair, it is one thing to have a poor service and quite another not to have it at all.

Nowadays, we select hotels for the simple reason that wireless Internet is available and free; much as one would expect that a training centre of the calibre of Koenig Solutions will not impose extortionate costs on access for purposes as voice chat (Skype) since being far away from home is partly compensated for with the ability to communicate affordably with friends and family back home this might become a core consideration in choosing this training centre in the future.

If anything, the new Internet Policy is a radical disincentive, a service downgrade and an unfortunate development, especially after last night.

Conversely, I think I am now reading the sign clearly; it reads - "Welcome to India"

Incredible India: Without Internet Access, Koenig Inn is a Prison

My connection was down

When in a distant land, well away from friends and family there is one bond that we take for granted because we have taken it in trust and it factored into all the decisions we made to leave the comfort of our home for the adventure which might well be the one of a lifetime.

Away from those I know, I am four and a half or 5 and a half hours ahead of their own daily timeframe, it means ones bears it in thought that one will not call to speak in the morning because they will be asleep, neither can one during the day because the overlapping times of work mean the pleasantries of interaction are reduced to more business-like conversation.

The window of opportunity between my getting to bed and they having the time to chat is reasonably around 8:00PM their time which is just after midnight here or an hour later.

In terms of cost, we have found that Skype suits us best and that needs the Internet as the carrier, its availability is critically paramount.

A prison of life

The lonely world that is framed within the confines of the little room that is a prison of convenience for a month is opened up into a vast and limitless place through the Internet which serves as the beast of burden for email, social interaction, news retrieval and again a critical research resource that underpins the reason why we have left our homes for this place.

Whatever discomforts, nostalgia, loneliness or isolation is somewhat ameliorated with the feeling that one can through this invisible but tangible medium, touch the world and be in touch – at will and without let or hindrance.

However, this night will count as one of the least comfortable I have had in a long time, the darkness settled in figurative and literal sense at the doors to the world were closed like one were in a maximum security prison.

Freedoms lost

The guards knowing we should be free could not open the prison gates and we were completely constrained, our freedom lost and the silence of the night stilled to the hearing of sounds from outer space if ones ears were so attuned.

From about 9:45PM when I noticed, the wireless connectivity between my netbook and the wireless access point was fine but the wireless access point could not take me beyond itself into the world of the Internet – it was down.

An idea for partnership

The staff could not resolve the problem and there I was, cut off and thinking fast about what other alternatives were available at the loss of this service – none easily came to mind apart from one good idea – the need for a contingency plan which should come at no additional cost.

There are many hotels that are in the vicinity of my hotel, all broadcast the presence of their wireless access points, where the service in one hotel fails, there should be an arrangement between hotels to allow for guests in other hotels to hop on their systems whilst steps are taken to expedite repairs of the service we used to have.

A rotten moment

This must be the lowest point in terms of my sense of comfort; the absence of Internet access, the last resort is to switch the SIM card in my phone back to my home SIM card and roam – not the best but this situation must definitely not happen again, it just must not, again.

No, sooner had I changed my SIM card and began to roam, my 10MB of data was used up without having done much.

Thought Picnic: Do Africans so hate heaven on earth?

So, E.T. on returning to earth asked me a question. "Why do Africans have high moral standards and Westerners have high living standards?"

I was stumped for answers, but in true African logic redolent of my co-religious, co-traditional values and co-cultural norms with the great people of Africa whose decency far exceeds that of Westerners that there is no vice, corruption or deprivation in their societies, I foolishly averred :-

"Maybe Africans prefer hell on earth and Europeans prefer heaven on earth."

E.T. was puzzled, he felt that moral standards did not seem to be helping Africans at all, in fact, he thought Western high standards were borne of a greater cause to humanity that is it is almost considered immoral for a Westerner to live in the kind of low living standards that Africans have decided to embrace in thumbing their noses at the West with regards to aid when it comes to same-sex marriage.

Much as I was quite ready to agree with E.T. it became evident to me that Africans will rather eat their religious books, live with their culture, sleep in their norms and gather to lynch the people that are different than work to improve their living standards.

Maybe Africans are ready to lead a new global moral crusade, it does not seem the rest of the world will be following that great exodus back to the Dark Continent.

E.T. really got me thinking but I knew he will never get Africans thinking about what is really right for them today; and that is a great shame.

Every child has the right to happiness

“This post is part of a series inspired by the Prevent Abuse of Children Today (PACT) campaign, hosted by Stepping Stones Nigeria. Please add your name to the PACT petition to prevent abuse of innocent children in the Niger Delta and visit the site to find out more at http://www.makeapact.org”

My own enchanted childhood

The rights of a child are sacrosanct and that is one cause dear to my heart. Compared to many of my peers in Nigeria, I had an enchanted childhood. I was well provided for, I attended the best schools, I was encouraged to explore, enquire, question and discuss.

My parents, and I cannot tell about the sacrifices they made to make my life comfortable, we had servants, drivers, chaperones, helpers and yet we were not spoilt, what was needful was provided but nothing to excess.

Below the surface, there were problems but none took away from the love and care that I received at home and make for fond childhood memories.

They could afford it that I had a bicycle to ride out to adventure, when I had to travel long distances, I was put on a plane when my other colleagues travelled unaccompanied by train from the North to the Southwest.

We must make the happy child

Though the times in Nigeria might have changed, the need to ensure the happiness of the child has not. Too many are abused, neglected, buffeted and challenged; exposed to unimaginably harrowing life experiences and almost without hope or respite but they have spirit and they have courage in such dire circumstances and hardship where the adults that impose such conditions are worthy of excoriation, shame and punishment as severe as Jesus once advised – that a millstone be hung around their necks and they be dumped in the middle of the sea for their cruelty towards children.

A child needs love and love is more than food, shelter, clothing, schooling and scolding, the child is human first, young, needing, trusting and yearning.

A hug, a kiss, a listening ear, a show of kindness, a merciful act, a helping hand, wiping away a tear, an encouraging word, a joke to make them laugh, be compassionate, allow some play, go on some holiday and maybe grant a wish – the memories of a child endure, the most insignificant act of good can be a life of lasting gratitude.

Show them all the beauty they possess inside

In the words of the lyrics written by Christopher Tiongson made into hits by the likes of Whitney Houston (Performed at the 1986 Grammys) we must remind ourselves of the following words:

I believe that children are our future;
Teach them well and let them lead the way;
Show them all the beauty they possess inside;
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier;
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be.

Every child has the right to happiness.

Incredible India: Happier with things at Koenig

Concentrating on the detail

The days at training seem to have settled into some sort of routine now though I am yet to kick into serious study mode.

Yesterday started well, I arrived early enough to at least socialise before my class started and soon we got into a topic I am not only keen of covering or learning, I was determined to understand the full detail of the subject.

This was quite pertinent because it was one in which I could find direct application and realise I had not been opportuned to use – my trainer took his time too to ensure I that I got the best grasp of the subject, it ended up being my longest day at the training centre.

Feedback on feeding back

Besides, early in the morning, as I logged into the “Center Automation System” that allows for a whole range of interactive activity with the organisation, I was presented with an “Interim Feedback” survey covering all aspects of my experience in India.

My trainer in my honest opinion obtained full marks other matters bordered from average to good but I did have a good few opinions about things that needed to be improved upon and felt it was best to reference my earlier 3 blogs on my experiences than itemise each issue again.

In terms of the survey, I felt the user experience was poor for the following reasons; it was not intuitive, the design was perfunctory and each of the rating elements lacked imagination in presentation, we were to offer most of our subjective opinions in terms of numbers from 0 to 10 and that was just not how to set up such surveys.

Words convey thoughts better

The redesign, if they so attempt to be so inspired and responsive is to change the answering model to modal words that in some cases will be one or a combination of the following sets of responses, {true, false}, {very satisfactory, satisfactory, unsatisfactory}, {good, neutral, bad}, {strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree} or {happy, unhappy}.

They could stretch these out to match a range of 10 radio buttons whilst the backend of the survey invisible to us might still use the numerate weighting if they so wish. The simple fact is words and phrases convey thought a lot better than numbers.

I also observed that for a training organisation they did not seem to be eating any of their own dog-food, for instance, if they offered CRM training they should be able to create useful surveys; as one that offered networking training, Internet access downtimes of almost 24 hours were just beyond the pale and most importantly, the labs which could be labour intensive and eat into essential class time to be remotely accessible to students to review and work on after-hours.

One would think that would help the reinforcement process considering most of the training manuals had content of up to 40% labs.

No sleepwalking into food bugs again

After the rite of passage in terms of my Delhi belly, I decided to be less adventurous with regards to food, I will stick to hot rice meals and make curd with honey part of my daily diet.

For my Tuesday class, I struggled to keep awake; the night before for restless and sleepless than I resorted to alarm-patting putting my wake calls into snooze mode every 10 minutes until I had to crawl out of bed and make for the training centre.

My trainer has not mastered the art of teaching into the dreams of nodding students, a skill I think he will do well to acquire.

The virtual prison of Internet down

Meanwhile, Internet access was down for a few hours but the centre proactively had someone bring round a notice to inform us of the problem and why. The road in front of the centre is being repaired and it appears the constructors had dug up the cables – the service was restored just around lunch but informing us ensured we did not end up being frustrated by the inability to access the Internet.

I was able to borrow a mobile dongle for about 15 minutes to check my email and other social networking sites and for short breaks I just go up to the terrace at the top of the building to take in some polluted air and smog, but then, that is New Delhi for you.

All over the world

I am meeting people from many places, as Angola, Tanzania, Cameroon, Eritrea, England, Germany, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Nigeria evidently and so on. There is no doubt that the training is excellent; even those who came here with very little Information Technology knowledge, training or career backgrounds are passing their tests at first sitting – it is commendable.

What is also interesting is the number of people who have come here who do not live in their countries of origin, people like me who are in some ways world citizens and those with US military backgrounds; listening to some of the conversations, that setup appears to be an inscrutable bureaucracy rivalling the License Raj in the demotivation of personnel and absurd politics but awash in tax payers’ money expended on atrocious projects – enough said.

Some praise is due

After classes I was on a white-knuckle auto-rickshaw ride to the tailors to consider bespoke suit shopping, you had to be determined, not to be persuaded to buy what you do not want for needs that do not exist.

Dinner is now served as a buffet, the chefs constantly improving the menus and the setup now makes for less waste; that again was a suggestion that was heeded to. It would appear more people are moving from the apartments to our inn; word must have gotten out that things are at a standard that can be appreciated.

Well done to the staff at Koenig Inn and also to the Koenig Solutions team in New Delhi.

Other related blogs

Incredible India: Incredible Dissatisfaction

Incredible India: Honest to Koenig Solutions

Incredible India: We lost power to internet (sic)

Incredible India: The rime, the downtime and what not

Incredible India: Koenig Solutions being responsive

Homosexuality: They stood ready to cast stones

Introduction

I have consistently laid out my stall on the matter of human rights as they pertain to the way society, religion, culture, values or laws fail to protect, enshrine and pursue the primary secular tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

It is for that reason that I did not need any persuasion to put my total support behind the petition to Help stop Nigeria's anti-gay bill - SIGN NOW which I posted as a Facebook Status on my wall.

As it transpired, one of my friends who from times past earns my gratitude and respect during a time of serious life issues decided to make his views known on the matter which draws its foundation first from some radical Christian perspective and that disingenuously merges that with some concept of African values that on scrutiny are really not ones we should espouse.

Whilst, I will invite you to read the whole thread of the exchanges that ensued on my Facebook page, I have taken the parts that have written creating a blog for purposes of recording for posterity my views. The audience for this is without apology the perfect Christians who have sided on the part of accusers of other with the premise that they God either rightfully or arrogantly – A good number of them are Nigerians or fundamentalist religionists and basically, it is war against intolerance from this time on.

African values and Christian diktat

My first response went to the heart of my friend’s attack, his surprise at my stance had to be routed with a clearly addressing what informed his flawed premise, that of extreme religious piety pretending to moral untouchability and that vague but explored concept of African values in detail.

I am saddened that your stance on this reeks of bigotry and hatred that exudes what has become modern day Christianity but nothing of relevance to the gospel of Christ.

What African values are those that you so espouse and celebrate to the hurt of your fellow man because they are different?

Our land because it is yours, mine and that of homosexual Nigerians too has a right to not only protect all its citizens, it is incumbent of its leadership to raise the bar beyond the ignorance that pretends to false moral rectitude.

Misplaced priorities

The more important issues like corruption, sexual violence against women, human rights for kids that affect the majority of Nigerians are all left unsolved for an issue - gay marriage - that hardly has the hope of reality in the country but engages the idle mind in mass mob hysteria - if not for the so-called whites, we will still be killing our twins, selling our enemies off to slavery, burning our widows, using our albinos in fetishes, worshipping idols with bizarre sacrifices and eating ourselves for supper - and those were all once great African values.

I have nothing to apologise for, the law is wrong in Nigeria, in Africa and anywhere else humanity exists.

Views that promote societal discordance

In response to my niece’s question about how people become gay and in the light of the drift of the conversation, I averred.

But @Grace, how many gays in Nigeria are really thinking of marriage if we are honest at all? Even in the Netherlands, gays are not trooping down the aisle in "unholy" matrimony, the matter of commitment and love is still a strong issue regardless of pairing of sexes.

This, for me is a human rights issue, the religious slant to it excites all the agitation of the mob for blood and never for healing and reconciliation - it breeds fear, negativity, terror and hate - none of which are the core tenets of the religious decency we all assume we have.

Putting today’s Christians in context

In response to my friend’s further comments along with others that were made, it was important to home in on the core attitudes that give homophobia it’s oxygen by showing the historical parallels between the gospel times of Jesus and modern day religiosity.

I think I had already made my point at the beginning of this thread about unChrist-like Christians who like are all read up on the law, the jot and tittle but have no compassion, mercy or heart - they were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and Scribes who continually withstood Jesus at every point of His ministry.

Jesus and the notorious

They could not bear to see Jesus heal the sick on the Sabbath [they would rather follow tradition than see the relief of the oppressed] or mix with the sinners (See what was said in the NLT version of Luke 15 1-2), they were ready to cast the first stone, they would rather sacrifice humanity on the altar of their long held traditions, principles, values and what not; the same people who plotted to have Jesus killed because they feared they will lose the political power of their religious influence. (See John 11:47-48)

(Luk 15:1 NLT) Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.

(Luk 15:2 NLT) This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

It is important to note that Jesus had something to say that made as it were notorious sinners draw near to listen to Him, and it is interesting to see how the religious people hated the idea – the parallel is in the fact that there are very few Christians if any who have any words to speak that can attract notorious sinners – one might conclude they have more in common with opponents of Jesus Christ in the day than they have with the Master.

(Joh 11:47 KJV) Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

(Joh 11:48 KJV) If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

The parallel today is how politics and religion is used to oppress a minority whilst galvanising the majority to unfounded moral outrage – the crowd cleverly corralled under the power and spell of their leaders.

Devoid of compassion

Indeed, there is much to see in the Book of the Law [with literally impossible rules for modern day], in the Prophets [whose prophecies of doom and gloom suited theocracies than democracies] & in the Acts & Epistles [all off-shoots of the ministry of Jesus Christ] but when you return to the gospel [the story of Jesus Christ amongst men, His message, His lifestyle and His sacrifice], the greatest challenge the devout Christian faces today is to minister love to humanity like Jesus did to the vile sinners, the demon possessed, the ostracised from society as the woman with the issue of blood, the Gadarene or the lepers amongst the many miracles of Jesus.

There was need for Jesus to die, however it was facilitated by the hardness of heart of the core religious people of that day, the same core religious people would have today strung Jesus up on the cross because He most definitely would NOT have condemned the homosexual just as He did not condemn the woman caught in adultery - it is what this law does too and as much as the "holier than thou" people who fulminate on my timeline - you might be Christians but you have NOT the love of Christ in you.

Loving and hating – choose one

After this, there was a lull in activity until one came with that mantra of loving the sinner and hating the sin. To which that can only have been the following response.

‎@Ola When you produce the bible chapter and verse of “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” you will have a point.

If you are using a saying which has become the tradition of men to make the effective power of the gospel of Christ of none effect and excuse unChrist-like behaviour, then you have hated the sinner more than the sin.

(Mar 7:13 KJV) Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

The fact is no such reference in the holy books about loving the sinner and hating the sin, a parallel analogy would be to be complaining of the darkness in a well lit room, not only is it plain stupid, people might wonder about the sanity of the person.

However, there are many instances of colloquialisms and sayings that have become common place watering down the truth of the Scriptures for the convenience of people seeking to express the worst of their humanity in a show of contemptible piety – it is to those people and many who stray into this cachet that I address this blog.