Bakwaas Mandli @ Pi de dhaaba

Team in Training and LLS

2011-11-12T00:51:00.004-05:00

OVERVIEW

WHO: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. Founded in 1949, we are relentless in pursuit of our mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

WHAT: Investing in blood cancer research: LLS has invested more than $750 million in research, approximately $72 million in fiscal year 2010 alone. Programs like the Specialized Center of Research (SCOR), which brings together teams of scientists from different disciplines and our Translational Research Program, which funds research with a high probability of producing innovative patient treatments in an accelerated time frame, have directly contributed to many breakthrough cancer treatments.
Research funded by LLS has led or contributed to advances such as chemotherapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation and new, targeted oral therapies such as Gleevec®, Rituxan®, Velcade®, Thalidomid®, Revlimid®, Dacogen® and Vidaza®.
Providing critical information and support for patients and their families: We made 4.7 million contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals in fiscal year 2010, through our Information Resource Center (IRC), our award winning Web site and community-based patient service programs. We put people together with experts through Web-casts and teleconferences, and provided professional education through seminars, to extend the latest findings to a broader professional audience. Advocating for issues impacting blood cancer patients: With more than 50,000 advocacy volunteers throughout the country, our voice is being heard by those responsible for legislation to fund blood cancer research and educational programs.

WHY: The need is critical: An estimated 957,902 people in the United States are living with,or are in remission from, leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma. Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes, someone dies.
Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of 20. Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers and incidence increases with age.The survival rate for myeloma is only 38.5 percent. Incidence is nearly twice as high among African Americans as for all other races.

HOW: As a nonprofit, we rely on the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations.Seventy-five percent of our total expenses support cancer research, education, advocacy and patient services. Major, annual fundraising campaigns include Team In Training®, Light The Night® Walk, School & Youth ProgramsSM, Man & Woman of
the Year and The Leukemia Cup Regatta.

WHERE: In addition to our national headquarters in White Plains, NY, we have a network of 59 local chapters across the United States and Canada. Information on blood cancers and support is available through our IRC and at www.LLS.org.

Stories of Hope: Eva Hooten

Man Proposes but Nature Disposes

2009-01-18T15:45:00.004-05:00

Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day
- Anton Chekhov

Here's an interesting article on a mud volcano that started from a Gas drilling site but is now affecting the whole district in Indonesia.

NY Times article on Mud Volcano in Indonesia

Satyam or Asatyam

2009-01-11T10:42:00.004-05:00

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. - Lincoln

Here’s a recap of what happened in the past month.

December 16: Software major Satyam decided to buy Maytas Properties for USD 1.3 billion & 51% stake in Maytas Infra for USD 0.3 billion. Satyam’s ADR plunged 55%

December 17: Satyam called off the deal; stock was down 30%, Maytas locked at 20% down circuit

December 18: Satyam announced Board meeting on December 29 to consider buyback

December 19: Post Maytas U-turn, Upaid filed motion against Satyam for USD 1.1 billion. Earlier in October, Satyam had filed a case against Upaid alleging it of ‘business disparagement’

December 23: World Bank admitted to put a ban on Satyam for data theft

December 25: Mangalam Srinivasan, Non-executive and independent Director resigned

December 26: Maytas ended its downward journey of six consecutive circuits

December 28: Prof. Krishna G Palepu, Non-executive Director and Mr. Vinod K Dham, Non-executive and independent Director of the company resigned

December 29: Satyam Board meeting postponed to January 10

January 3: A sale of pledged shares by lenders of the Ramalinga Raju family led to the family’s stake in Satyam falling to 4.4% from 8.27%

January 6: Satyam clarified news item of merger with Tech Mahindra; ILFS announced sale of 2.45 crore equity shares of Satyam

January 7: Mr. B Rama Raju, Managing Director, admitted fraud; resigned; Satyam books inflated of Rs 5040 crore; DSP Merrill Lynch terminated its engagement with the company. Satyam down 78%

In this period, Satyam has lost market cap from Rs 15183 crore to Rs 2662 crore, a fall of 82%. It has certainly raised questions on corporate governance standards of Indian companies. If one looks at the whole scenario, then it is clearly visible that Satyam never had cash of USD 1 billion. By buying Maytas, Raju wanted to transfer company’s dummy entry of cash reserves from Satyam’s book to Maytas balance sheet. However, strong opposition evident from its ADR fall forced Raju to take a U-turn and then the stock started falling like a pack of cards. Raju revealed that balance sheet figures were manipulated for the last six quarters. It is indeed a sad day for the Indian markets. Satyam’s historic journey ends on a tragic note.

Following is the text of the letter Raju wrote to the Satyam board:

From B. Ramalinga Raju
Chairman, Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
January 7, 2009.

Dear Board Members

"It is with deep regret and tremendous burden that I am carrying on my conscience, that I would like to bring the following facts to your notice:

1. The Balance Sheet carries as of September 30, 2008,
a) Inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances of Rs 5,040 crore (as against Rs 5,361 crore reflected in the books);
b) An accrued interest of Rs 376 crore, which is non-existent
c) An understated liability of Rs 1,230 crore on account of funds arranged by me; d) An overstated debtors' position of Rs 490 crore (as against Rs 2,651 reflected in the books);

2. For the September quarter(Q2) we reported a revenue of Rs 2,700 crore and an operating margin of Rs 649 crore(24 per cent of revenue) as against the actual revenues of Rs 2,112 crore and an actual operating margin of Rs 61 crore (3 per cent of revenues). This has resulted in artificial cash and bank balances going up by Rs 588 crore in Q2 alone.

The gap in the balance sheet has arisen purely on account of inflated profits over several years (limited only to Satyam standalone, books of subsidiaries reflecting true performance).

What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years.

It has attained unmanageable proportions as the size of the company operations grew significantly (annualised revenue run rate of Rs 11,276 crore in the September quarter, 2008, and official reserves of Rs 8,392 crore).

The differential in the real profits and the one reflected in the books was further accentuated by the fact that the company had to carry additional resources and assets to justify a higher level of operations thereby significantly increasing the costs.

Every attempt made to eliminate the gap failed. As the promoters held a small percentage of equity, the concern was that poor performance would result in the takeover, thereby exposing the gap. It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.

The aborted Maytas acquisition deal was the last attempt to fill the fictitious assets with real ones. Maytas' investors were convinced that this is a good divestment opportunity and a strategic fit.

One Satyam's problem was solved, it was hoped that Maytas' payments can be delayed. But that was not to be. What followed in the last several days is common knowledge.

I would like the board to know:

1. That neither myself, nor the Managing Director (including our spouses) sold any shares in the last eight years - excepting for a small proportion declared and sold for philanthropic purposes.

2. That in the last two years a net amount of Rs 1,230 crore was arranged to Satyam (not reflected in the books of Satyam) to keep the operations going by resorting to pledging all the promoter shares and raising funds from known sources by giving all kinds of assurances (statement enclosed only to the members of the board). Significant dividend payments, acquisitions, capital expenditure to provide for growth did not help matters. Every attempt was made to keep the wheel moving and to ensure prompt payment of salaries to the associates. The last straw was the selling of most of the pledged shares by the lenders on account of margin triggers.

3. That neither me nor the managing director took even one rupee/dollar from the company and have not benefited in financial terms on account of the inflated results.

4. None of the board members, past or present, had any knowledge of the situation in which the company is placed. Even business leaders and senior executives in the company, such as, Ram Mynampati, Subu D, T R Anand, Keshab Panda, Virender Agarwal, A S Murthy, Hari T, S V Krishnan, Vijay Prasad, Manish Mehta, Murli V, Shriram Papani, Kiran Kavale, Joe Lagioia, Ravindra Penumetsa, Jayaraman and Prabhakar Gupta are unaware of the real situation as against the books of accounts. None of my or managing directors' immediate or extended family members has any idea about these issues.

Having put these facts before you, I leave it to the wisdom of the board to take the matters forward. However, I am also taking the liberty to recommend the following steps:

1. A task force has been formed in the last few days to address the situation arising out of the failed Maytas acquisition attempt. This consists of some of the most accomplished leaders of Satyam: Subu D, T.R. Anand, Keshab Panda and Virendra Agarwal, representing business functions, and A S Murthy, Hari T and Murali V representing support functions. I suggest that Ram Mynampati be made the chairman of this Task Force to immediately address some of the operational matters on hand. Ram can also act as an interim CEO reporting to the board.

2. Merrill Lynch can be entrusted with the task of quickly exploring some merger opportunities.

3. You may have a 'restatement of accounts' prepared by the auditors in light of the facts that I have placed before you.

I have promoted and have been associated with Satyam for well over 20 years now. I have seen it grow from few people to 53,000 people, with 185 Fortune 500 companies as customers and operations in 66 countries. Satyam has established an excellent leadership and competency base at all levels. I sincerely apologise to all Satyamites and stakeholders, who have made Satyam a special organisation, for the current situation. I am confident they will stand by the company in this hour of crisis.

In light of the above, I fervently appeal to the board to hold together to take some important steps. Mr. T.R. Prasad is well placed to mobilise a support from the government at this crucial time. With the hope that members of the Task Force and the financial advisor, Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America), will stand by the company at this crucial hour, I am marking copies of the statement to them as well.

Under the circumstances, I am tendering the resignation as the chairman of Satyam and shall continue in this position only till such time the current board is expanded. My continuance is just to ensure enhancement of the board over the next several days or as early as possible.

I am now prepared to subject myself to the laws of the land and face the consequences thereof.

(B Ramalinga Raju)

Copies marked to: 1. Chairman SEBI 2. Stock Exchanges.

Satyam Computers Chief Ramalinga Raju's revelations about a Rs40 billion fraud committed by him have sent shock waves across the corporate world. India Inc's biggest fraud is bound to have a ripple effect on many sectors. The Indian IT outsourcing industry, which is thriving on the goodwill and reputation it has built over a period of time among the global clients, is expected to bear a major brunt of the Satyam episode in coming quarters.

The market capitalisation of Satyam fell to Rs 1,607.04 crore today from Rs 15,262 crore at the end of trade on December 16, 2008, the day when Satyam announced an $1.6 billion acquisition deal of two firms promoted by the kin of IT firm's former chairman Ramalinga Raju. However, the company aborted the deal hours later after the investors dissent. The meltdown in the scrip wiped off as much as Rs 13,655 crore in just 19 trading sessions.
The share price of Satyam plunged to Rs 23 from over Rs 200 levels on December 16, when the fiasco began. Investors received a rude shock on January 7, when Ramalinga Raju tendered his resignation and confessed to close to Rs 7,800 crore accounting fraud in the company. The stock had nosedived close to 80 per cent to Rs 39.95 after the starking revelations on that day.

At least 12 class action lawsuits have been filed in the US Federal Courts on behalf of shareholders who purchased American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of Satyam Computer Services between January 6, 2004 and January 6, 2009.

The Govt. had to step in, dissolve the board and has nominated noted banker Deepak Parekh, IT expert Kiran Karnik and former SEBI member C Achuthan to Satyam Computer's Board. The new board will meet at Hyderabad to chart out the future course of action.

With a big questions mark on its cash position and a minimum outgo on salary estimated at Rs 500 crore a month, Satyam may lay off over 10,000 employees next month, says a recruitment firm. On the day the scandal was unearthed, 15,000 resumes were uploaded on the net on job websites.

The Auditing firm PWC has tried to stay away and has not made a lot of public statements. It is not possible to do a scam of this magnitude year after year without having the auditors in cohots. PwC does not seem to have learned anything with Enron, MCI and others that they are yet again in the eye of the storm. The RBI has blacklisted PwC in the list of recommended auditing firms for the banking industry.

With no companies seeming to be coming forward to take over Satyam, the future of Satyam seems bleak.

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect!

2008-10-25T13:21:00.003-04:00

They say 'Nostalgia is a seductive liar'.... but it feels so good. 9 Years out of MIT.... A look at a MIT video always opens up a smile of the good old days that is now just a memory........

Hats off to the creative team behind this video..Mighty Mighty MIT !

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealized past. I guess I'm just one of them :)

It's not Personal; It's Strictly Business

2008-06-16T01:28:00.002-04:00

Ranbaxy is being sold to Daiichi for $4.6 Bn as Malvinder cannot succumb to the family saga.
The Ambani brothers are back at fighting it out over the MTN deal.
There's rumors that the Sanghi brothers might split....

Hearing all these news within a week makes me wonder... I can think of two quotes:

It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business ~ God Father

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply... ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Do these quotes really hold true today!!!

The family business seems to be killing the family relationships as well as the business prospects. It takes deep commitment to stay in business and also maintain relationships.

Business is turning to be massive corporations listed on stock markets across the globe and owned by desperate investors. On the other hand, the family managed firms is often portrayed as an early part of a corporate lifecycle that is soon bound to outgrow the ability for the family to finance and manage.

The reason most business tend to split is because the families are not making a mental leap to separate management from ownership. In the world of Mergers & Acquisitions, competitive pressures and rapid rate for Concept to market is extremely important. The search for talent and ability to retain talent is the key to success. Well educated and hard working people can outperform the staff brought in on grounds of nepotism.

To be continued....

Star Dust

2008-06-15T16:43:00.001-04:00

The Bollywood tinseltown seems to be at it's glory as it did the IIFA awards in Bangkok this weekend. I couldn't help but think about the politics within the Tinseltown. I seem to be at a loss to understand what is the definition of Bollywood and what constitutes a Bollywood movie.

SRK seemed to rule with Chak De and his home production Om Shanti Om. Of course no award ceremony is complete without the Bacchan family being there. However, what seemed amiss was the Best movie of 2008 - "Taare Zameen Par". Amir Khan has been the rebel in Bollywood who hasn't cared for the Filmfare award and I guess hasn't been to one in over a decade. He is an idealist who does not care for the fancy publicity stunts. He is now ostracized not just from the Filmfare but also from IIFA!!!

Is it fair to not consider the good movies because of the politics or is the award just another staged reality show!!!

Funny Ad - iBeer

2008-05-09T23:57:00.002-04:00

IPL - Viva La Carnival

2008-02-29T21:57:00.004-05:00

Indian Premier League (IPL), the mega melodrama starts this April and will go on for 6 weeks at prime time. The franchise for the eight city has been sold to some of the most respected names in the Business and Bollywood. The best of the players have been bought in auctions and the media rights have been sold to Sony for a sweeping 1 billion USD for a decade.

The advertising slots for the main sponsor is about 2.5 crores with a 200 min ad slot and the last minute ad slots might be as steep as 4-5 lakhs..

The matches will be held across India with entertainment package in the intervals. You can see shows from the bollywood stars, some of whom own these teams to the cheer leaders. If shah rukh can perform for his team.. am sure Vijay Mallya can hold wine tasting sessions during the break or organize a fashion show with the KF calendar gals...

The cricket is packaged to be a family entertainment than a sport.. welcome to the carnival.

Download IPL Match Schedule 2008!

Match Schedule

History ka Mystery - Jodhaa Akbar

2008-02-24T11:39:00.002-05:00

Definition:
HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
- Ambrose Bierce

Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory, for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake.
Robert Penn Warren

Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
- David Ben Gurion

I happened to watch Jodha Akbar this weekend inspite of all the controversies around it.
After awesome movies like Lagaan and Swadesh, I had better expectations from Ashutosh Gowrikar. The movie was worth a watch but not as thought provoking as Swadesh nor had the chutzpah of Lagaan.

The movie has been banned in Rajasthan, MP and a few other states. Historians (read politicians) claimed that history has been distorted in this case.

History definitely is not one of my strong points and I used the tool I use the most for my research.. Google :)

While Wikipedia showed Jodha as Akbar's wife and Salim's mother; other sites talked about the controversy being discussed. I could not get a real site that has documented history.

Some excerpts that I found are:

Abul Fazal wrote the Akbar Nama, Abdul Qadir Badayuni wrote the Mutakhabutawarikh and Nizamuddin Ahmed (also called Nizamuddin Bakshi) wrote the Tabqat-i-Akbari. None of them have mentioned 'Jodhabhai' in their books.

None of Akbar's 34 wives were named Jodhabai. Akbar married the former maharaja of Amer, Bharmal's elder daughter Karkbai alias Heer Kumar in Fatehpur Sikri on Feburary 6, 1562. Prince Salim was born in 1569. Jodhabai was the daughter of Moteraja Udai Singh and she would have been three years younger than Salim and hence, in no way could she have been his mother.

With all these controversies, I guess the movie should start with the disclaimer:
All roles played in this movie are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead is just co-incidential ;)

On the other lines, it is true that Akbar did bring in a lot of reforms for the aam admi (with the budget a week ahead aam admi and taes are in everybody's mind). He tried to bring in religious harmony. His openess for the quest of truth in religion led to his founding of Din-i-ilahi.
Was Jodha bai the woman behind the tranformation of Akbar and the thought process leading to Din-i-ilahi!!!

The Best of Cricket Sledging

2008-02-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

Viv Richards v Greg Thomas
This incident took place during a county championship match between Glamorgan and Somerset. Glamorgan paceman Thomas had beaten Richards' bat a couple of times and informed him: "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering."
The very next ball Sir Issac Vivian Andrews Richards gave him the royal treament and smashed the ball out of the ground, into a nearby river - at which point he piped up: "Greg, you know what it looks like. Now go and fetch it."

When Botham took guard in a Ashes match, Marsh welcomed him to the wicket with the immortal words: "So how's your wife and my kids?"

Worth remembering Ian Botham's reply"The wife's fine. The kids are retarded !"

Sunil Gavaskar
Once, during the tour of West Indies, a young bowler was trying to get under Gavaskar's skin by sledging. Gavaskar, a senior player retorted "Son, don't waste time sledging at me. I have been sledged at more often than you have taken a piss".

Glenn McGrath & Eddo Brandes
Glen McGrath, employing gamesmanship tactics tried to get under the skin of Zimbabwe player Eddo Brandes. He ran up to Brandes during a follow through and enquired: "Oi, Brandes, why the hell are you so fat?" Without missing a beat, Brandes replied "Cos every time I f**k your wife she gives me a biscuit"

Mark Waugh standing at second slip, the new player (Adam Parore) comes to the crease playing and missing the first ball. Mark - “Ohh, I remember you from a couple years ago in Australia. You were sh it then, you’re f (_)cking useless now”. Parore- (Turning around) “Yeah, that’s me and when I was there you were going out with that
old, ugly sl(_)t and now I hear you’ve married her. You dumb cuuntt”.

Yet another Australian witticism with this time porky Sri Lankan batsman Arjuna Ranatunga the victim. Shane Warne, trying to tempt the batsman out of his crease mused what it took to get the plump character to get out of his crease and drive. Wicketkeeper Ian Healy piped up, “Put a Mars Bar on a good length. That should do it.”

Malcolm Marshall was bowling to David Boon who had played and missed a couple of times. Marshall : “Now David, Are you going to get out now or am I going to have to bowl around the wicket and kill you?”

The year was 1989, the little master had recently made his debut in Pakistan. Sachin not even old enough to get a driving licence Sachin Tendulkar was facing the best bowlers in the business. As the Pakistani crows jeered and mocked Sachin holding out the placards saying ""Dudh Pita Bhachcha ..ghar jaake dhoodh pee", (hey kid, go home and drink milk), Sachin sent the then young leg spinner Mustaq Ahmed hiding for cover (he had hit two sixes in one over. The frustaded mentor of Mustaq Ahmed the legendary Abdul Qadir challenges Sachin saying "Bachchon ko kyon mar rahe ho? Hamein bhi maar dikhao` (`Why are you hitting kids? Try and hit me.`).
Sachin was silent, since then we all have come to know that he lets his bat do the talking. Abdul Quadir had made a simple request and Sachin obliged, and how. Sachin hit 4 sixes in the over, making the spinner look the kid in the contest. The over read 6, 0, 4, 6 6 6, David had felled Goliath ... and a legend was born.

Mark Waugh was standing at second slip, Adam Parore relatively new to cricket came to the crease played & missed the first ball.
Mark Waugh- "Ohh, I remember you from a couple years ago in Australia. You were sh*t then, you're fu*king useless now".
Parore- (Turning around) "Yeah, that's me & when I was there you were going out with that old, ugly sl*t & now I hear you've married her. You dumb c*nt". “

In one of the tour matches in South Africa, Australia played Hansie Cronje's province. Cronje was at the non strikers end, there was a short chubby batsman on strike.
Ian Healy yelled to Warne, "Bowl a Mars Bar half way down...We'll get him stumped"
The Aussies and Cronje were all in hysterics, all this was before a classic reply from the batsman.
The exact words: "Nah, Boonie (David Boon) fielding at short leg will be onto it before I can move."

In an England v Australia Test during early 1960's Trueman was fielding close to the gate from the pavilion. As a new batsman came out he turned to shut the gate,
Trueman said "Don't bother son, you won't be out there long enough."

In the 1980's Ian Botham returned early from a tour of Pakistan, and on radio joked "Pakistan is the sort of country to send your mother in-law to." Needless to say the Pakistanis did not find this amusing, and when Pakistan defeated England in the 1992 World Cup Final, Aamer Sohail told Ian Botham "Why don't you send your mother-in-law out to play, she cannot do much worse."

Freddie Trueman & Raman Subba Row
Fearsome English fast bowler Fred Trueman extraced an edge from the batsman, which flew straight into the hands of Raman Subba Row at first slip. The ball however went right between Row's legs to the third man boundary. Fred didn't say a word. At the end of the over, Row ambled past Trueman and apologised sheepishly. "Sorry Fred. I should've kept my legs together". Trueman retorted in classic fashion "Not you, son. Your mother should've!"

Ravi Shastri v/s the Aussie 12th man , Mike Whitney
Shastri hits the ball towards Whitney and tries to steal a single. Whitney snaps up the ball quickly avoiding the single and yells "Get back into your f***ing crease or I'll rip your f***ing head off". Unfazed, Shastri responds, "Mike, if only you could bowl as well as you can talk, you wouldn't be the f***ing 12th man"

Bill Lawry & Richie Benaud
While commentating during a match in which Pakistan was faring badly in all departments of the game, Bill Lawry, offering a solution said "I think Pakistan's problem is they've got to relax", to which
Benaud replies nonchalantly, "I don't agree. I think Pakistan have got to learn how to bat, bowl and field. It's a simple game."

David Hookes & Tony Greig
Centenary Test in Melbourne 1977. A young David Hookes makes his way to the crease in his debut test. The English captain was South African born Tony Greig.
Greig : "When are balls going to drop sonny"
Hookes : "Don't know but at least I'm playing Cricket for my own country"

James Ormond & Mark Waugh
James Ormond (England) had just come out to bat on an ashes tour and was greeted by Mark Waugh(Australia).
Mark Waugh :"F*** me, look who it is! Mate, what are you doing out here? There's no way you're good enough to play for England"
James Ormond : "Maybe not, but at least I'm the best player in my family"

Daryll Cullinan & Shane Warne
South African Daryl Cullinan was making a comeback into the team after spending 2 years on the sidelines due to injury and poor form. As he made his way to the wicket at the start of his innings, The "porky" Aussie leggie Shane Warne tried to unsettle him and play on his nervousness "I have been waiting 2 years for this opportunity to humiliate you in front of your own crowd". Cullinan, not new to such tactics replied "Looks like you spent it eating".

The spontaneous retort sent even the aussie slip fielders into delirium who were seen lying on the ground clutching their stomach all the while as McGrath retraced his steps to the start of his run-up for his next delivery

Robin Smith & Merv Hughes
During 1989 Lords Test, Smith plays and misses a few, at which Hughes comments: "Robin, you can't f**king bat". As luck would have it, Smith dispatches the next ball to the boundary and replies "Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can't f**king bat & you can't f**king bowl."

Merv Hughes & Javed Miandad
During 1991 Adelaide Test, Javed Miandad called Merv a fat bus conductor. A few balls latter Merv dismissed Javed and as he ran past the departing batsmen in his victory celeration, called out "Tickets please"

Merv Hughes & Viv Richards
During a test match in the West Indies, Hughes at the end of every delivery would stare at Richards without saying a word. After a few of these stares, Richards chides Merv saying "This is my island, my culture. Don't you be staring at me. In my culture we just bowl." Merv didn't reply, but sure enough, had him dismissed and announced to the batsman: "In my culture we just say f**k off."

Ian Healy & Arjuna Ranatunga
Arjuna Ranatunga called for a runner on a particularly hot night during a one dayer in Sydney. Seizing a chance to indulge in mind games, Ian Healy made the legendary comment which was picked up by the Channel Nine microphones for all the world to hear: "You don't get a runner for being an overweight, unfit, fat c**t!!!"

Steve Waugh & Parthiv Patel
This happened during India's tour of Australia in 2001. The series was level at 1-1. It was the 5th and final test at Sydney and India was 4 wickets away from a historic series victory on Aussie soil. However, the aussie Captain, Steve Waugh was proving a thorn in India's back. Playing in his last test match (as he had announced retirement), he mounted a rear-guard action and was fighting for a draw, and was the only one who stood between India and victory. In an attempt to induce him to do something foolish, the 16 year old Indian wicket keeper chirps " Hey Steve, how about one of those famous slog sweep of yours before you leave forever?". Waugh, a veteran of such tactics replied " Sonny! You better show some respect! You were pooping in your diapers when I made my debut"

McGrath to Ramnaresh Sarwan: “So what does Brian Lara’s dick taste like?”
Sarwan: “I don’t know. Ask your wife.” McGrath (losing it): “If you ever F(_)cking mention my wife again, I’ll F(_)cking rip your Fing throat out.”

How Stock Market works

2008-01-27T03:17:00.000-05:00

This short story is doing the rounds on the Internet.

It was autumn, and the Red Indians on the remote reservation asked their New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a Red Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the Weather Bureau and asked, “Is the coming winter going to be cold?”

“It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed,” the meteorologist responded. So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood. A week later, he called the weather bureau again. “Is it going to be a very cold winter?” “Yes,” the man replied, “it’s definitely going to be a very cold winter.”

The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later, he called the weather bureau again. “Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?” “Absolutely,” the man replied. “It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever.” “How can you be so sure?” the chief asked. The weatherman replied, “The Red Indians are collecting wood like crazy.”

This is how stock markets work!

And they call themselves Secular !!!!

2007-12-16T06:54:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article written by TJS George for newindpress:

WE live in a racist world. At immigration counters, we accept this as routine. But at the higher levels of international finance and business, manifestations of racism do cause surprise in this age of globalisation.

The world saw a nasty example of colour-culture discrimination when L.N. Mittal tried to take over Arcelor in Europe. He was already the ‘steel king of the world’, yet an executive of Arcelor refused to deal with ‘monkey money’. That was a crude reminder of Europe’s white football hooligans who put on monkey imitations when black players score goals. That the executive had to eat his words and watch Arcelor becoming Arcelor-Mittal is another story.

Perhaps more significant is the mentality that made the US-listed luxury hotel chain Orient Express ridicule Tata’s suggestion of a tie-up. The CEO of that company, appropriately named Paul White, explained that ‘any association of our luxury brands with your brands would result in a reduction in value of our brands’. White Saheb took umbrage that, despite an earlier rebuff by Orient Express, Tatas dared to write again expressing an interest in the alliance. Hence his expression of contempt for
`your predominantly domestic Indian’ chain.

A week earlier an American automobile chief had scorned Tata Motors’ bid for Ford’s luxury models. ‘I don’t believe’ he said, ‘that the US public is ready for ownership out of India for a luxury-car brand such as Jaguar’. He said ‘there are unique image issues’ with Tatas and Mahindras that the third bidder, a white American, did not have.

All of which is of course asinine white rubbish. For one thing, Tata is a globally respected brand. For another, the US public last week was ready for Vikram Pandit as the boss of Citigroup, America’s largest financial conglomerate, just as it was ready for Indra Nooyi as head of Pepsi, a symbol of American nationalism. Before them Rajiv Gupta was GM of Hewlett-Packard, Arun Netravalli was President of AT&T, Rajat Gupta headed McKensey, Rana Talwar led Stanchart, not to mention Vinod Dahm who created the Pentium chip, and Sabeer Bhatia who founded Hotmail.

Clearly, when it comes to brainpower, the White man wants what the Brown man has, and there is no image issue there. But when it comes to simple racial arrogance, even bureaucratic factotums in American consulates show their colours. Not long ago scientist Kesavan, duly called for visa interview in Chennai, was made to wait an hour in the midday sun, then two more hours inside, before he was given a questionnaire and told, ‘fill it up or you won’t be interviewed’. Scientist Govardhan Mehta was told that he was lying about his research; visa denied.

Perhaps the fault is ours. Finance Minister Chidambaram recently complained that America discriminated against Indian banks that wanted to open branches there. Instead of complaining, would he make American banks run from pillar to post when they come to do business in India? Remembering how Defence Minister George Fernandes was body-searched in Washington, will our Sarkar subject Condoleezza Rice to a frisking in Delhi?

The way to get respect in this mixed-up world is to do unto others what others do unto us.

Articles on Mangalore

2007-12-09T09:35:00.000-05:00

Here's an article on Mangalore in the Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060619/mangalore.html

Pakistan's Sanity Hangs by a Thread

2007-11-10T23:07:00.000-05:00

The common dogma [of fundamentalists] is fear of modern knowledge, inability to cope with the fast change in a scientific-technological society, and the real breakdown in apparent moral order in recent years.... That is why hate is the major fuel, fear is the cement of the movement, and superstitious ignorance is the best defense against the dangerous new knowledge. ... When you bring up arguments that cast serious doubts on their cherished beliefs you are not simply making a rhetorical point, you are threatening their whole Universe and their immortality. That provokes anger and quite frequently violence. ... Unfortunately you cannot reason with them and you even risk violence in confronting them. Their numbers will decline only when society stabilizes, and adapts to modernity.

On November 3, Pakistan's President Musharraf declared a state of emergency and martial law in Pakistan, suspending the Pakistan constitution, stating that Pakistan's sovereignty was at stake.

Reasons:
This emergency declaration was made as the continuing growth of power and influence of the Taliban has turned the area of Swat into a mini-state within Pakistan, as Pakistan army and police are surrendering to Taliban, and as the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. (NWFP) government has publicly offered to meet the demands of the Taliban to enforce Shariah throughout the Swat area.

This grim news also comes after repeated polls taken among the Pakistani public which shows between 60 to 76 percent of those polled favor the growth of Islamist Shariah law throughout Pakistan, as well as news reports of growth of Pakistan Taliban armaments and tolerance of Taliban in major cities within Pakistan.

This emergency declaration also comes less than a week after a suicide bomber attack near the heavily-fortified Pakistani Army HQ in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which houses President Musharraf's office. Pakistan's internal security has been challenged in the past several months with a continuing series of suicide bombings and attacks, including one on Benazir Bhutto's convoy last month that killed 145 people.

Threats from Fundamentalist groups:

The September 2006 peace pact between Pakistan and the Taliban has allowed both the Taliban and Al Qaeda to regroup in Waziristan and carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In August 2007, while President Musharraf was holding meetings with Taliban representatives, encouraging the Taliban to become a mainsteam political organization, the Taliban has continued to solidify a base in the North-West Frontier (NWFP) Province of Pakistan.
This NWFP base of the Taliban is centered in the Swat area, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have created a mini-state within Pakistan, where pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah uses FM radio to broadcast the Islamist ideology of the Taliban to the public.

On November 2, the Pakistan NWFP government announced an initial appeasement to the Taliban to help it achieve its Islamist goals in enforcing Shariah throughout Pakistan -- the creation of a committee to enforce Sharia law in Malakand Division. The Pakistan Daily Times reported that the "provincial government has directed the committee to submit its report as soon as possible for swift implementation of Sharia law".

On November 3, prior to the emergency declaration, NWFP governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai announced that Pakistan was considering enforcement of Shariah in Swat valley to meet the demands of pro-Taliban militants, stating "[t]he government is considering the implementation of Sharia law in the view of the demands of the local people."

Today November 10, The islamic fundamentalists have shown a repeat telecast of what they did at Bhamyan, Afghanistan by destroying another Buddhist Heritage.

Where are we heading:

Even though Musharaff's declaration of emergency seems to be displaying his autocracy. Considering the rise of fundamentalism, maybe his staying as the general makes sense. A known devil is better than an unknown friend.

Bhutto's alliance with Musharaf seems to be making some rough waves.

Sharif's call on suspending all contacts with musharaff and taking the country towards democracy is novel but does not seem to be promising considering the recent changes.

The failure of American leadership to have a policy on Islamism has prevented the ability to provide a pro-active coherent policy in Pakistan that addresses both the strategic issues of pro-Islamist Pakistani public sentiment along with support in areas of the government

Indian Govt seems to be supporting Musharaf as far as he can keep the fundamentalists at bay.

The industry whiz'z are preparing to take their stakes out of Pakistan as the country loses its stability yet again.

However, with all fairness to Musharaf, the avant garde general did help Pakistan increase its GDP, improve trade defecits (thanks to US aid) and did start a lot of development for Pakistan.

How long will Musharaf last!!!.... I guess my money is not on him

Mums the Word

2007-10-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
- Oscar Romero

India has been silent on the human rights violation in Burma.

The issue began when the monks started demonstrating the 500% hike in the gas/power prices by the dictatorial junta. Over 150 political activist groups including the 88 generation student groups led the protest.The autocrat crushed the protest thr' brutal voilence which has caused a bug uproar in the international community.

This kind of violence is not new to the dictator genral Than Shwe. He had crushed the protest in 1988 by the university students and the had killed over 3000 people at that time.

While the UN Human Rights Council and the others have passed on comments. The EU has imposed more sanctions against the Junta. Japan, one of the biggest donors has threatened sanctions to the Buddhist nation. India and China, two of the largest trading partner of the Junta govt. have turned a blind eye to the whole affair.

Why is India, a peace loving nation, who in the past has supported the Dalai Lama, the Tibet cause, the Bangladeshi cause etc... silent on the whole deal.

Indian Govt. had a deal with the Junta a couple of years back that India would make it a trading partner. In return, they would help India in removing the training camps in burma that train the insurgents in the North-East. They would not support the rebel groups in the NE.

India trades with Burma on military supplies. Recently, India has sold a maritime defender from the 80's that India brought from the Brits. Other items also include the tanks and other artillaries. There are talks of selling that helicopters made at HAL. China has been their other major arms supplier which today supplies them the helicopters and the other artillaries.

Indian oil companies including ONGC has large investments in the Oil & Gas exploration in the burmese oil rigs.

India is already having different problems with each of its neighbor Pakistan, bangladesh and Nepal. Looks like it is reluctant to add one more to the list by
adding Burma to the list.

Should we stay mum or support the efforts of Aung San Suu kyi's democratic efforts?

Unforgiven
- Metallica

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man strugggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away
Chorus

What i've felt
What i've known
Never shined through in what i've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been
What i've felt
What i've known
Never shined through in what i've shown
Never free
Never me
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN

They dedicate their lives
To RUINING all of his
He tries to please THEM all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares
The old man then prepares
To die regretfully
That old man here is me
Chorus

You labeled me
I'll label you
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN
Never Free
Never Me
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN
You labeled me
I'll label you
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN

Indo - US N Deal

2007-10-10T17:02:00.000-04:00

Over the last few months, the India- US N deal or the 123 Agreement seems to be in the headlines every other day thanks to the left.

This deal would get India recognized as a civilian nuclear power and the US will aid India with its status with IAEA and shall help in lifting the sanctions imposed against India.

In return, India, would have to:
i. identify and separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes;
ii. declare its civilian facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA);
iii.voluntarily place civilian facilities under IAEA safeguards;
iv. sign an Additional Protocol for civilian facilities;
v. continue its unilateral nuclear test moratorium;
vi. work with the United States to conclude a Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty (FMCT);
vii. refrain from transferring enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do not have them, as well as support international efforts to limit their spread;
viii. secure its nuclear materials and technology through comprehensive export control legislation and through harmonisation and adherence to Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and NSG guidelines.

All these seem to be fine.. So why are left creating Havoc on this?

Current Capability:
The 15 functioning reactors produce abour 3K MW. Of these, 4 of them are already under the IAEA safeguards. The US wants all the reactors including the Fast Breeder Reactor in Kalpakkam to be under the IAEA scanner.

India's Stand:

Scientific Community:
Indian scientists are not willing to keep the Fast Breeder Reactor Programme under the scanner as they feel it would jeopardise our strategic interests; Leak our IPR on these reactors and could affect the scope of on going research in India

Political Community:
The left has vehemently opposed to the 123 agreement and have claimed that the Hyde act could affect india as they could use this as a pawn to steer India towards thier national interests.
They feel that operationalizing this deal could make India succesptible to the US policiies and could lead towards NPT
However, of late there have been some fagments within the left who have openly supported the bill
BJP has asked for a parliamentary committe to review this so that it is in the best interest in the country
Congress has favored this. Manmohan Singh took a great daring stand (for a politician) on the issue and sensationalised it. Since then Congress has been awry but taken small steps towards it. The recent move to have an open and non commital review with IAEA is one such step. Sonia's recent comments in Washington however have caught the wrath of the left.

Business Community:
With India's GDP growing at close to 10% Power and Infrastructure is at most concern to the Indian business community. We need to more than double our investment on Infrastructure and Power if we need to maintain this growth rate.

So it seems like the only opposition is coming from the Left and has caused enough damage that the Congress-Left marriage seems to be headed for a divorce. Will India sign the deal or will it go on hold.... Only Time can tell

We are the Champions

2007-09-29T22:10:00.001-04:00

Here's an hilarious fictional version of the factors by which we became the world champions for T20.

Dhoni "Thanks Ravi, the match was pretty close encounter between two great teams and our guys held the nerve to win the game and cup."

Shastri, "Who was the main reason for this thrilling victory?"

Dhoni, "All us played well but I would say the main reason and man behind this great victory is Ajit Agarkar"

Shocked Shastri..., "Agarkar ? ? .. how come Agarkar... he didn't played in the final"..

Dhoni, "Yeaph.. that's the reason we won this low scoring match.. if he could have bowled in final, Pakistan would have scored the winning runs from his 4 overs...."

Shastri, "ok.. fine, To whom you want to thank for winning this final..."

Dhoni, "The team doctor deserves the credit... he really helped us to prepare for the final..."

Shastri, "Is it? ?.... how the doctor helped to prepare for the final...
he is not the coach or physical trainer...Dhoni.. I am getting confusion"

Dhoni, "Ravi... nothing to confuse... he has failed Sehwag in the fitness test according to our game plan and we managed to pick a good playing team.. thus we weigh the doctor's contribution as very high...
infact its better than our team effort in the field.. our game tactic worked well"

Shastri, "To whom you want to dedicate this World Cup?"

Dhoni, "The entire team including myself wants to dedicate this cup to Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly..."

Shastri, "I really really appreciate you... its good that you have so much respect to the seniors....and you ...." Dhoni interrupts....

"Ravi.. let me complete... India would have exited in the Group matches if they decided to play in the series... thank god they opted out and we managed to play cricket and won the cup.."

Shastri, "The match was thrilling encounter and was concluded by a single mistake of Misbah.. Isn't it? "

Dhoni, "Yes you are right, after lofting the ball Misbah told me that he has sent the ball to where there was no one....but he didn't know that there is a malayali in every corner of the world.... This single mistake has coasted the game and won the cup..."

Shastri faints and Dhoni receives the CUP and thats the end of the great Twenty-20 world cup...

Dhamaal Da Kamaal

2007-09-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

I guess it is a little too late to write a review on the movie nor do I want to have just another review out there. I happened to see Dhamaal this weekend and this is certainly a hilarious laugh riot. What I liked about the movie was it was clean fun, simple jokes, a lot of PJ's; No Double meaning or cheesy stuff. Asrani and Javed Jaffrey were at thier best, they seemed too natural for thier roles. Arshad Warsi seemed to be a bit lost and was not his usual self. What I did not realise during the movie but something that struck me when I was driving back home.. was that the movie had no heroines.. which is pretty unique for a hindi movie.. I can't remember any other bollywood movie which did not have any heroine in it.
The movie certainly makes itself in the all time comedy list along with the likes of Andaz Apna Apna, Hera Pheri, Golmaal, Angoor and others...

The Bridge (Ram Setu)

2007-09-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

Science is What we know; Faith/Philosophy is what we don't know

Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.
- B Fuller

Ram Setu, the controversial Bridge at this time does not seem to be bridging the divide between the Govt. and the peoples opinion. The question might've been out there for ages, but it certainly seems to be gathering pace as it is going to become the biggest election slogan next to BJP, fully supported by their allied services like RSS, VHP and the likes. With the Congress- Left alliance seems to be heading for a divorce this issue could tilt the scale towards the NDA. This could be their biggest campaign slogan since the Ayodhya issue.

Rama Setu, is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India.
The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m) deep in places, which hinders navigation.
Sethusamudram, a project to create alternative shorter route for ships to cross the Gulf of Mannar, is a wonderful idea -- one which is more than 150 years old.

I've been reading a lot of opinions on the Ram Setu and the best report is the report done by the ex ADB exec Dr Kalyanaraman. This report digs into the various historic and scientific facts and lays out things that might've been missed by most researches.

Objective:
The official web site of the project says, 'Ships originating from the west of India and destined for Chennai, Ennore, Vishakapatnam, Paradeep, Haldia and Kolkata have to travel around the Sri Lankan coast resulting in increase of travel distance and time. Apart from this ships belonging to Indian Navy and Coast Guard need also to traverse around Sri Lanka. In order to reduce the steaming distances between the east and west coast of India and to improve the navigation within territorial waters of India, a navigation channel connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay through Adam's Bridge has been envisaged so that the ships moving between the east and west coasts of India need not go around Sri Lanka.' The total cost of the project is Rs 2,427 crores (Rs 24.27 billion).

Here's the list of issues that is affecting this project:

Mythology:
Ramayana, is one of the religious epic which is very dear to every Hindus heart. Ram has been the center of controversy and the Ayodhya issue has certainly shown how the nation feels about it. That is yet another issue. This bridge is an important event in the rescue efforts of Sita and is hence an heritage from a religious perspective.
There are a lot of debates going on whether the Ramayana is a fable or a reality. There are no scientific evidence available that says that Ramayana did happen and is not another epic. The carbon dating has shown this bridge to be about 3,500 yrs old which kind of puts in inline with the age as described in the Ramayana. However, the Valmiki's description that describes the events of Ram's life does hit upon a number of places that do match historically in terms of the places and the events. So althought we do not have any direct scientific evidence, the events portrayed does point to physical heritiages across the nation.
The skanda purana, Brahma purana and the ramcharitamanasa all make references to this bridge. Whether factual or not, this certainly is a religious monument.

Economic:
Although this canal is supposed to help the shipping industry big way in terms of time and money, there are other related industry that could take a hit.
Local fishermen, Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike oppose the present route and are demanding alternative channels, which are available. They say the present channel would destroy marine life and corals. This will kill the trade in shankas (shells) that has a turnover in excess of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) per annum.
Invaluable thorium deposits would be affected, which are too important for our nuclear fuel requirements.
Costs of managing this area would have huge cost implication on the Indian Navy.

Environmental:
Tsunami assessment was not done
- Removal of the proven Tsunami protector in Rama Sethu
- Opens up serious potential damage of entire Kerala and Tamilnadu coast when next tsunami hits (per T.Murthy, leading Tsunami expert and advisor to GOI)
- Thorium deposits in Kerala (Aluva, Chavara), Tamilnadu (Manavalakurichi) that support nuclear power source for India will be desiccated
- Tsunami protection measures NOT incorporated in the project
Here's another opinion from Dr T S Murthy, an eminent tsunami expert:
"The Sethusamudram canal has many characteristics similar to the Alberni canal, and this is the reason I am concerned. In the March 28, 1964, Alaska earthquake tsunami, outside of Alaska the largest tsunami amplitude was at the head of the Alberni canal well inland and not at the open coast as everyone expected. Later, I explained this was due to (a phenomenon known as) quarter wave resonance amplification,"

Marine life:
Though there has been a demand from various quarters for the implementation of the project, there is also opposition to it from environmentalists. They point out that the dredging of the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar, by modifying habitats, could affect the ecology of the zone by changing currents. This could:
* cause changes in temperature, salinity, turbidity and flow of nutrients
* cause oil spills from ship and other marine pollution to reach the coastal areas and specifically the sensitive ecosystems of the Gulf of Mannar
* lead to higher tides and to more energetic waves, and hence to coastal erosion.
* affect the local sea temperature and thereby alter the pattern of sea-breezes and hence affect rainfall patterns.

They also point out that dredging the canal would stir up sediment the dust and toxins that lie beneath the sea bed, smothering corals and affecting marine life. The emptying of bilge water from ships travelling through the hitherto impassable areas could diperse invasive species through the ecosystems of the area.

These effects could endanger precious marine species and wealth. The Gulf of Mannar has 3,600 species of plants and animals and is India's biologically richest coastal region. Mammal species which abound in the area are sperm whales, dolphins and dugongs. The Gulf of Mannar is especially known for its corals: the portion in Indian territorial waters has 117 species of corals, belonging to 37 genera.Associated with these ecosystems are many varieties of fish and crustaceans. Marine life on the Sri Lankan side, which is better protected, is even richer. The Bar Reef off the Kalpitiya peninsular alone has 156 species of coral and 283 of fish; there are two other coral reef systems around Mannar and Jaffna. There are extensive banks of oysters, as well as Indian Chank and Sea Cucumbers, especially in the seas adjacent to Mannar. The pearl fisheries south of Mannar, which inspired Georges Bizet's opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles, have not been productive for many years, indicating the fragility of these ecosystems in the face of overfishing and of relatively minor changes in the habitat.

Despite these concerns, official environmental clearance has been given for the project. The contention that the Sethusamudram Canal will cut through coral reefs and disturb the ecology has been dismissed as a mistaken fear.

The Indian government has conducted various environmental studies which has concluded that such issues are overblown and not based on science. However, skeptics have noted that environmentalist objections remain, including:

* the Environmental Impact Assessment carried out by the Indian government was done by a body inexperienced in projects of this nature, was insufficiently detailed and did not consult with all the stakeholders, which included the government and people on the southern side of the proposed project,
* no proper survey has been carried out of the sea bed to be dredged, and
* no proper scientific modeling of the effects of the project has been carried out.

After environmental objections were made in Sri Lanka, the Indian government decided to carry out modelling, but this had not been done before clearance had already been given for the project. A modelling exercise carried out by Sri Lanka's National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) indicated that the project would increase the water flow from the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf of Mannar, disturbing the inland water balance as well as the ecosystems in the Gulf. There have also been judicial observations against this project.

Political:
The Current UPA Govt. did submit an affidavit to the Indian Supreme court stating that there was no scientific evidence of Ram. This has caused a huge uproar on the govt. They did withdraw the affidavit and amended the controversial lines to make it more amicable.
With the Congress-Left govt, headed for a seperation, an election seems to be in sight and this could be the issue changing the scales (as Congress seems to be having the upper hand at the moment). BJP might use this as thier trump card to victory.
Dr. Badrinarayanan, former director of Geological Survey of India and a member of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) says the Adam's Bridge was not a natural formation."Such a natural formation is impossible. Unless somebody has transported them and dumped them there, those reefs could not have come there. Some boulders were so light that they could float on water."

Security:
With the new canal, this could become the de facto border between India and Sri Lanka. We need to ensure that the Navy is up to speed as they would have to regulate the traffic here as well as potential conflicts/ Pirate ships/ Terrorist acts from LTTE are deterred. This would add additional load on the Navy as well as BSF to cover these areas.

With all these issues in the discussion, This project certainly has a lot of benefits but I would not expect this project to turn over any time in the next 10 years unless we decide on the alternate route that seems to be amicable to all parties and non controversial.

If you want to sign the online petition, here's the link.
http://www.petitiononline.com/ramsetu/petition.html

SOA: Is it just another buzz word

2007-08-16T16:53:00.000-04:00

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
~Charles Darwin

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit

Since, I've been doing only non technical blog.... I thought maybe I'll do a technical blog for a change.. hey, maybe my hit ratio might increase ... after all they don't need to come to my site to read just another stupid review on the latest movie!!!

Service Oriented Architecture popularly known as SOA has been making its buzz around for a while IT and corporate circles. Is it just another buzz word.. that people will forget in a year or two. Maybe yes, Maybe No; but SOA certainly promises to be the direction in which technology is headed.

What is SOA?
SOA is a collection of services that can be attributed back to business processes. These could be mutually exclusive calls having no realtions to each other but might follow the workflow in a particular scenario.
SOA is an architecture that aims at unifying business processes from a business perspective rather than what the techonologists think it should be. It structures large and complex application as ad-hoc chunks of small services.
SOA does not seem to have an exact definition which leads to the assumption that SOA is just another term for web services. Well, to a certain extent purley from a techincal aspect, I guess that's true.

How does it work?
SOA works on the basic integration framework. It advocates to be a loosely coupled integration although it can be a tightly coupled integration. The best of SOA can be leveraged when it is in a publish subscribe mode where we have a Service Provider, a broker and a requestor.
This also helps for the fact that if yet another external service requires the details of the service in question. It can subscribe to this service. This will not involve any changes on the host but only the changes on the requestor.
Although SOA can be implemented using SOAP, DCOM, CORBA etc.. the best in todays world is the web services. The WSDL breaks it down to a format that can be consumed by any language. So it does not matter whether your requestor is going to be on a .Net framework or a J2E framework.

Why SOA?
SOA is not a new invention or a revolution. It's just the evolution of services structured around business needs. The world has changed from choas to structured. It went from HTML to XML to WSDL on Protocols and from COM/DCOM to corba to SOA
This promises to be the cost effective way in this constantly changing and highly demanding market condition. SOA's guides its principles on Re-usability, modularity, encapsulation, efficient use of system resources and EAI.

What are the challenges that it would have?
As this becomes more technology centric, security would be a major concern especially if the broker is on a public domain.
A lot of buzz around reduced TCO maynot show up immediately making it difficult to justify the cost benefits.
As this could end up being a series of disparate systems calling each other, debugging an issue in production maynot be easy.
Infrastructure costs on maintaining system test and development environments would high, if we want to maintain exact replicas.
Performance of one system (especially older systems) could impact the overall performance in the workflow of the application. This could lead to a perception that the perception of the current system is bad although the issue lies with the legacy systems.

To conclude, SOA has been gaining grounds in its power to define business services and operating models and deliver IT against actual business requirements and adapt itself closer to the current business process.

The only thing certain in life is death and Change.
-Anon

Winds of Change

2007-08-14T16:00:00.000-04:00

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action....
into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.”
- Rabindranath Tagore.

As India gets into it's 60th year of independence, the country seems to be basking in the attention it is getting in the world press. It's no longer a country of snake charmers and the elephants; Where we stand today is on a promising path to glory.

A look at the 60 years shows the success of democracy, the worlds largest democracy has stayed well and prospered; except for the few weeks of emergency, thanks to Indira Gandhi and her ego.

The last 20 years has seen more progress than we have in the first 40 years. But let's look at some of the intiatives that took us to where we stand today.

The Greeen Revolution during the 60's focussed om increasing the productivity of the farm sector. Being an agrarian economy, it is important for us to improve the productivity and the quality of the food grains. The era concentrated at increasing the productivity, there were a lot of subsidies given on the fertilizers and on hybrid grain seeds. These helped us improve our output and took care of our food deficit. A lot of these subsidies have still stayed on over the decades.

The Industrialization era led by Nehru's vision focused on the core industries. The govt invested in steel, iron and coal plants which provided a lot of employment as well as helped us in improving the infrastructure of the country. As part of this, ports were created and shipping saw a huge growth.

Malnutrition was another big problem on the growing nation. The govt health agencies took the help of the media to advertise this. I remember the ad's 'Dudh dudh.. piyo glass full' as well as 'Sunday ho ya Monday.. roz khao ande' so that the children had more protien rich food. Dr Verghese Kurien who started Amul was a pioneer in this revolution where he created a co-operative society and made a organized society out of the predominently small farm owners. Amul since then has grown leap and bounds.

The telecom revolution was another huge bridge that gapped the divide between the Urban and Rural communication. The telephone exhanges where formed on small EPABX systems and they linked it down to the ubiquotous local STD/PCO booths.Sam Pitroda's vision got us connected much faster than the prior di-da-di-da telegrams. The second wave of this was the mobile revolution where the mobile service providers have been expanding thier network and the bandwidth.

While all these efforts earlier were concentrated in improving the domestic industries, the vision that brought us into the competetive world was the opening up of our economy in 91. Dr Manmohan Singh's vision fully supported by the late Narsimha Rao govt. launched us into the global arena. Our economy till then followed the commie pattern of state owned enterprise. The opening up of economy promoted the private enterprise. It promoted and rewarded entrepreneurship; increased our exports and brought us on to level fields of global competition.

The Technology revolution which was envisioned by visionaries like Dr Homi baba, Prof Yash Pal, Dr Abdul kalam and Dr Kasturi Ranganathan was what aided the revolution in all other areas. Dr Baba's conceptualization of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and the satellite designed under Prof Yash pal aided the telecon revolution.

The opening up of the economy brought us into the upcoming technology which was the software revolution. Though we got out there as cheap coders for y2K issue, we have since grown up the value chain and are today providing software solution. TCS, Infosys, Wipro and the likes are competing hand to hand with the global vendors. The whoz who of techonoly companies like IBM, HP, Capgemini, Accenture and the others have opened up shops in India and have been growing thier headcount by the day. This industry has gorwn from $0 to a $30 billion industry today and has provided jobs to the millions of youth.

Gone are those days when we used to gather to watch the news on DD at 8:30 followed by serials like yeh jo hai zindagi and Nukkad. Today, you have the choice of over a 100 channels most of them serving niche areas. This has given a big boost to journalism, film making, acting and other associated industires.

While these things have bought us to where we are today; the future looks very bright for the Gen X. We seem to have the largest youth in the world. The education system has been churning out resources educated in niche areas. We have seen a lot of entrepreunial spirit in upcoming industries where we are competing head on head with the developed countries. This includes IT, Biotech, R&D, etc...

What we need at this is for the govt. to provide the kind of frame work that would facilitate further growth in economy. This includes:
Better policies to help entrepreneurship, promote business and ease the export/import process.
A stable govt. that works for a common cause for the growth of the country than thier own agendas.
Better law & Order that would give a sense of security to the citizens of India.
Better healthcare for the general public. The govt. hospitals that are set-up for the lower middle class and lower does not have good hygiene or basic facilities. This needs to be improvised.
Better insurance or social security for the people of India
Promote new areas that has a lot of potential. THis includes sports, tourism etc... India has good potential for tourism, it needs to be harnessed better. Sports is still treated as hobby than a career choice. For a country with over a billion people, we do not have enough representation in the olympics or the Asian meet. While we have the one off like Rana, Sania and Anand.. there's a lot more potential for these areas.
The infrastructure needs to be improvised that would include road, train, air, ports, telephone infrastructure...
Technocrats and beaurocrats who can take us thr'the next phase of revolutions.
Less of stupid politicians with a dozen criminal cases against them who only care about making money.

You can check out the 2020 vision that Kalam has laid out for India. I have it on my earlier blog on Kalam.

In a nutshell, things have not been better for us to play on a level playing ground. It's out for our generation to get out there and rule the world. India rocks :)

vande mātaram
sujalāṃ suphalāṃ malayajaśītalām
sasya śyāmalāṃ mātaram
śubhra jyotsnā pulakita yāminīm
phulla kusumita drumadalaśobhinīm
suhāsinīṃ sumadhura bhāṣiṇīm
sukhadāṃ varadāṃ mātaram

Ab Tera Kya Hoga Kaaliya

2007-08-09T12:43:00.000-04:00

A classic dialog from Sanju baba's Naam: Yeh One way street hain; yahan sab aate apne marzi se hain par jaate Don ki marzi se.

The controversy of the Dawood and the confusion within the D gang seems to be getting interesting by the day.
It all started when Dawoods men heard strange voices taking the Bhai's phone and asking for thier name n number so that Bhai could call back. This led to the speculation that Dawood, Tiger Memon and Chotta Shakeel were in the hands of ISI while Anees is on the run.

Then the ISI denied this and said Dawood was in Kazakhistan. The kahakiztan embassy has vehemently refuted this as a media coverage with no substantial evidence.
For quite a few years now India has been claiming that Dawood has a house in Dubai (surprisngly called the White house) and one in karachi where is based in. He is supposed to be operating from karachi as well as from North Wazaristan on the border.
Pakistan has been refuting India's claim of Dawoods existence in Pakistan.
This certainly seems to be an ISI operation, as President Musharraf would not like Dawood to be caught in pakistan if there is any huge lockdown on the terrorists as his words are at stake.

This could go many ways:
ISI might move him out of Pakistan to a safer haven and refute that he ever came to Pak.
ISI could eliminate him and take over all his property and bank balance in pakistan.
They would not want to hand him alive to the Interpol, Indian agencies or the US forces as he holds the key to a lot of political activities including the Mumbai Bomb blasts that led to his exodus.
To a large extent the Indian politicians may not want him to be captured as he could disclose a lot of political nexus with the underworld.

RAW and IB can only hope to get more info on his possibility of still being alive and how his operations would go.
This certainly could be a big blow to the Mumbai underworld as it could now dis-integrate as each of his lieutenant tries to build thier own gangs and territory.
But as for the Bhai, Ab tera kya hoga kaaliya!!!!

One slip
- Pink Floyd

A restless eye across a weary room
a glazed look and I was on the road to ruin
the music played and played as we whirled without end
no hint, no word her honour to defend

I will, I will, she sighed to my request
and then she tossed her mane while my resolve was put
to the test
then drowned in desire, our souls on fire
I led the way to the funeral pyre
and without a thought of the consequence
I gave in to my decadence

one slip, and down the hole we fall
it seems to take no time at all
a momentary lapse of reason
that binds a life for life
a small regret, you won't forget
there'll be no sleep in here tonight

was it love, or was it the idea of being in love?
or was it the hand of fate, that seemed to fit just
like a glove?
the moment slipped by and soon the seeds were sown
the year grew late and neither one wanted to remain
alone

one slip, and down the hole we fall
it seems to take no time at all
a momentary lapse of reason
that binds a life to a life
the one regret, you will never forget
there'll be no sleep in here tonight
one slip...one slip...

No Remorse

2007-08-05T14:27:00.000-04:00

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free
- HH Dalai Lama

While the court has given it's verdict on a lot of people associated with the Mumbai Blasts in '92/93, has justice been served for the victims of the blasts.
The people who have been convicted are foot soldiers while the architects of the blasts roam free.

Dawood is known to own homes in Dubai and Karachi and is supposed to be in pak-afghan border. Musharaff has long denied the existence of Dawood in Pakistan.
Tiger Menon, is in Dubai and has even opened a hotel with some Mumbai hotelier.
His brothers have surrendered and have been convicted even though they did not truly have thier hands into it.
Anees Ibrahim and some of his associates are still scott free in Pakistan.
Abu Salem's case is still in progress.
It took 14 years for justice to take it's course. For one of the biggest terrorist act in the financial capital, this is way too long.

Talking of which, the Mumbai riots case seem to have been forgotten and the victims of the riots have not been given any retributive justice. The Sri Krishna Comission was de-comissioned and the contents have been long forgotten.
The political nexus with the underworld has been ignored while some of the victims of the bollywood nexus have fallen victims to the political agendas. While Sanjay Dutt has been punished for posession of a firearm, Sarpotdar's case for possesion of explosives was dropped. Shiv Sena pramuk Bal Thackrey, the then Chief Minister Murli Monaohar Joshi and other prominent Shiv sainiks who were instrumental during the Mumbai riots have not even been booked.
The cases of bias by the police where they let go some of the hindus and turned blind eye on crimes happenig on muslims are still open. A lot of these were seen at the lower cadre officers. Some of the police officials and the customs officials have been convicted, a lot of them have been vindicated.

We, being the largest democracy, it is our duty to uphold the rights of the citizens. We need to make real effort to deport the terrorists like Dawood, Tiger Anees and the others so that justice can be served. The centre seems to be taking a lot less interest in dealing with UAE and the Pakistan to deport these people. We need to work with the Interpol to achieve these needs. There is a larger concern that they do not want to do this as a lot of political nexus with the underworld could surface.

As for now, it might seemed delayed but there has been some amount of justice served to the mumbaikars. No Remorse.

No mercy for what we are doing
No thought to even what we have done
We don't need to feel the sorrow
No remorse for the helpless one

War without end
No remorse No repent
We don't care what it meant
Another day Another death
Another sorrow Another breath
No remorse No repent
We don't care what it meant
Another day Another death
Another sorrow Another breath

Blood feeds the war machine
as it eats its way across the land
We don't need the feel the sorrow
No remorse is the one command
- Metallica

Men of Honor

2007-07-24T10:45:00.000-04:00

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
- Lao Tzu

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is one of those rare presidents that have the honor and respect from every citizen of India. A respect well earned over his years of dedicated service to the country. He is the only president too have been honoured with the three highest civilian honors before he took to the post of the president. This includes The Padma Bhushan, The Padma Vibhushan and the Bharat Ratna.

As he bids farewell to the Presidentship, here's some points that make him stand out from the rest:
- He cut down a lot of beaurocracy.
- He believed in Simple and austere living
- He opened up the Janpath to common man and the childrens
- He put the country before himself
- He is a apolitical person to hold this post since the 70's
- He was a apolitical leader, who had earned the respect thr' his years in ISRO
- A great technocrat, who was very open with his views
- He put simple and practical plans
- He represents the common middle class man who has achieved success thr' hard work and not thr' political affluation.

You wouldn't find a single soul who would ever criticize this man.

Here are some interesting speeches (and excerpts) from him over the last few years.

Here's his vision for 2020
1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.

2. A Nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water.

3. A Nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony.

4. A Nation where education with value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination.

5. A Nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors.

6. A Nation where the best of health care is available to all.

7. A Nation where the governance is responsive, transparent and corruption free.

8. A Nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated.

9. A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path.

10. A Nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership through creative and effective leadership in Parliament, State Assemblies and other institutions of the State.

Another interesting speech he gave in Hyderabad that applies to each one of us.

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We ARE such a great nation.
We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them.

Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.
There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck.

But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary.

It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.

Why are we so NEGATIVE?

Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India .

For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed

nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say.
What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS.
YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best.
In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores.
YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.
You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 135.00) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road ) between 5 PM and 8 PM.
YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity...
In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?
YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .
YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'
YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?).

I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.'
YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .?
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ?
Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ???
We are still talking of the same YOU.
YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own.
You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements.

What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog Feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He'sb right.

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.
We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse?
'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?? What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU.

When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system.

When New York becomes insecure we run to England .
When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf.
When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country.
Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE
DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN
COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Here's another great speech that he gave on the Republic Day

Dear Citizens,

On the eve of the 56th Republic Day of India, my greetings to all of you, including those living abroad. I convey my special greetings, to the members of our armed forces and the paramilitary forces, who guard our frontiers on the land, the sea and the air and also the internal security forces. While we are saddened by the wrath of the Tsunami waves, we are not disheartened. The Central and State Governments, with utmost seriousness and sincerity have reached out to those who needed help and are in the process of providing relief that will at least partially wipe out the pains caused by the Tsunami. During this period of active relief operations, my heart was with you, but I did not make a visit because the members of the Govt. and Non-Government organisations were deployed in large numbers in the relief operations, which were in full swing. Reviews were taken by our Prime Minister, Governors, the Chief Ministers of the respective states and Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Now, I feel that the time has come, for me to join you, my fellow citizens, to study the process of the reconstruction of homes, and bringing back normalcy.

Smile of youth

I met, more than six hundred thousand children from all parts of our country, after becoming the President. During my interaction with them, they posed a series of questions, with affection. They asked:

?Mr. President, you saw us smile, when we were five years old. We smiled because we were blossoming innocently. When we came to our teens, smiles slowly faded away and the signs of concern appeared. You said that it is because of our anxiety about our future. This anxiety, almost took away our smiles. When we complete our education, the top most questions in our mind were, what would I do after my education? Will I get an employment? Our parents, who have spent all their savings on our education, also share the same concern. Mr. President, will I get a proper employment and be able to contribute to India, to make it a Developed Nation?? Their questions really made me to think and think.

The concerns about employment are not only for those who are fortunate enough to have school and college education. It is the same fading away of the smiles, the shattering of the dreams and the weaning away of the gleam in the eyes that we see in every cross section of the youth in the country. The only answer to retain the smile from the child to the youth is to generate employment. It represents the aspirations and anxiety of nearly 540 million youth of our nation. Hence I have selected the topic for the Republic Day address as ?Action plan for employment generation.?

Societal transformation

In my earlier address to the Nation on the eve of the 58th Independence Day, I talked to you on “Education for Dignity of Human life”. The whole purpose of education in a country like India is to develop and enhance the potential of our human resource and progressively transform it into a knowledge society. The knowledge society will be a society producing products and services that are rich in both explicit and tacit knowledge, thus creating value added products. The real capital of this knowledge society will be its knowledge workers. The society will be highly networked to create knowledge intensive environment along with enabling process to efficiently create, share, use and protect knowledge. Our education system should re-align itself at the earliest to meet the needs of the present day challenges and be fully geared to participate in the societal transformation.

Changing Pattern of Society

When the world was moving from the industrial to information and knowledge era, we witnessed a changing pattern in the sectoral share of GDP and the number of people employed in each sector. The share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) percentage has undergone a considerable change. Contribution of agriculture to India’s GDP has reduced from 39% to 22% during the period 1979 to 2004. During the same period contribution of manufacturing sector has moved from 24% to 27% and whereas the contribution from the services sector has increased from 37% to 51%. There has been considerable change in the employment pattern also. The percentage of people employed in agriculture has come down from 64% to 54%. Simultaneously, the percentage of people employed in manufacturing has gone up from 15% to 19% and in the service sector from 20% to 27%. This trend has to continue and by 2020 our employment pattern should aim at 44% in agriculture, 21% in manufacturing and 35% in service sectors. The displacement of 10% people from agriculture sector has to be facilitated through skill enabling for undertaking value added tasks in the rural enterprises so that migration to urban area is reduced. Instead of the person from the rural areas going to urban towns in search of jobs in manufacturing and services sectors, PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) facilitates creation of employment in the rural areas itself. PURA achieves this by providing physical, electronic and knowledge connectivities to a cluster of villages thereby leading to their economic connectivity and prosperity.

National Employment status

National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill 2004 was tabled in the Parliament in its last session to create employment opportunities in the rural sector. What is needed is a coordinated planning and linking the spirit of this Bill to productive and sustainable employment generation scheme to the unemployed youth. Now I would like to discuss the national employment scenario. As per the estimate of the Planning Commission, the total number of people eligible for employment at present is approximately 400 million. Out of this, nine percent are unemployed which works out to around 36 million. In addition, there is a need to find value added employment for 10% of those employed in the agriculture sector in the rural areas. Our attempt hence should be to find gainful employment for around 76 million people. This will add to our productivity and will ensure a sustained 10% GDP growth for the decade, which is an essential need for India to become a developed country before 2020. Dear Citizens, a nation of billion people that is capable of exporting food grain, a nation that is recognized for its software products and services, a nation that can build its own aerospace systems and nuclear power plants, a nation that is leading in Pharma and automobile industry, I am sure, will be able to put all its think tanks together and come up with many innovative wealth generating schemes for the productive employment of 76 million people.

Employment generators

Let me share with you how to generate employment. The most important sectors for sustainable national development are Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Water and Energy. The common thread that will run across these would be the three connectivities of PURA. One of the ways by which the rural agriculturists could increase their earnings is by value adding to the agricultural produce by processing and manufacturing. The farmers, either individually or through their co-operatives would market processed and value added items instead of marketing the raw materials. This increase in the value-addition taking place in the rural area itself is an indicator of the society moving towards prosperity and knowledge era. I would like to suggest a few schemes that can bring large-scale employment and prosperity to our people.

Bio-fuel generation

We have nearly 63 million hectares of wasteland available in the country, out of which 33 million hectares of wasteland have been allotted for tree plantation. Certain multi-purpose bio-fuel plants can grow well in wasteland with very minimum input. Once cultivated, the crop has fifty years of life. Fruiting can take place in these plants in two years. Bio-fuel plants grown in parts of the waste land, for example, 11 million hectares, can yield a revenue of approximately Rs. 20,000 crore a year and provide employment to over 12 million people both for plantation and running of the extraction plants. It will reduce the foreign exchange outflow paid for importing crude oil, the cost of which is continuously rising in the international market. The Bio-fuel is Carbon mono-oxide emission free. The oil can also be used for soap and in candle industries. De-oiled cake is a raw material for composting and the plantation is also good for honey production. We should absorb best of the technologies available worldwide and start commercial operation immediately. One time investment needed for bio-fuel plantation to production in 11 million hectares will be approximately Rs. 27000 Crores. The capital equipment and investment in plant and machinery can come from bank loans and private sector entrepreneurs. I have seen the progress in bio-fuel plant cultivation, preparation of seedlings, tissue culture and development of non-toxic hybrid varieties in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. They have also worked from processing of seeds to bio-fuel production by the indigenous design and development of bio-fuel plants. Anand Agriculture University at, Anand (Gujarat) has also made progress in the bio-fuel cultivation and processing in Gujarat. Bio-fuel plants can be grown in a number of states in the southern, western and central part of the country.

Waste Land Development – opportunities

ICRISAT with its international experience of working in arid regions, have developed short duration, disease and drought resistant varieties of important crops beneficial to our farmers. They have introduced various tillage practices and nutrition management techniques, to boost crop yields even under drought stress. This technology will enable us to reclaim 5 more million hectares of the 33 million hectare of wasteland allotted for productive farming. As per the experts, this will result in the deployment of 15 million people for the dry land cultivation.

Water Harvesting and Recycling

Water harvesting should become mandatory for all. To improve water table, we need to build check dams, develop water sheds, desilt ponds and rivers, clear the inlets and outlets to the ponds and water bodies and recharge the wells. If our rural areas are made to have the operational water bodies, recharging of the wells will take place. The task is totally labour intensive and nation wide implementation of this scheme will provide employment for six million persons for more than three or four years. The scheme will result in increase in storage capacity of water bodies and create additional irrigation potential of the land in the region and enhance agricultural productivity.

Bamboo Mission

This mission envisages an integrated programme of expansion of plantations of Bamboo species, the scientific management, and promotion of community level value addition and entrepreneurship. This will enable presenting the raw material for the industries and the industry to access and apply modern technology for producing globally competitive new generation bamboo products. This includes setting up of clusters of small value addition processing units, near the resource for employment generation and benefit to the local small entrepreneur. Processed raw material suitable for ultimate use in industry / handicraft sector will be required, for economizing handling cost of raw material to the location of industry proposed to be set up in different parts of the country. The programme envisages the cultivation of bamboo over two million hectares and promotion of technology and networking for enhancing the trade. The economic and social benefit from these activities, will lead to the creation of 8.6 million jobs and the market opportunities worth over Rs. 6,500 crore with an investment of Rs. 2600 crore. This will be useful for the additional development of the north-eastern region. We should use the management personnel, industrial experts and business houses to provide international market connectivity for our bamboo products leading to sustainable growth, wealth generation and positive contribution to the growth of GDP. The institutions like National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Indian Institutes of Management, Industrial houses, State government and Ministry of Agriculture can work together to generate number of Bamboo enterprises in different rural clusters.

Converting the fly ash as Wealth Generator

As you are aware, the use of coal for power generation results in increased quantum of fly ash production, which has reached about 100 million tonnes per year. All out efforts are needed to utilize this fly ash not only from environmental considerations, but also to avoid land usage for fly ash dumping. Though there has been a steady progress in fly ash utilization from 1990, we have a long way to go to reach the target of 100% fly ash utilization. It is reported that the agricultural increase of grains is around 15%, green vegetables 35% and root vegetables 50%, when fly ash is mixed with the soil. Toxicity tests have proved that there is no toxic element due to fly ash. But it has higher nutrients due to increased availability of iron and calcium. The fly ash can become a wealth generator by making use of it for producing “green building” materials, road, agriculture etc. For full utilization of the generating stock, will provide employment potential for three hundred thousand people and result in a business volume of over Rs. 4000 crore.

Textile industry

Textile industry is very important for the Indian economy. The basic raw material is cotton. India is the third largest producer of cotton in the world. However, compared to the world average of 700 kgs of seed cotton per acre we produce only 350 kgs of seed cotton per acre. It is indeed a technological concern for the nation. Some of the industries have adopted a village in Punjab, which has brought out a cooperative movement of the farmers, scientists, trainers and the industry and launched for cultivating cotton in over 1200 acres. A training programme was launched for farmers starting with soil characterization, matching the cottonseed to soil, water and fertilizer management. The project resulted in increasing the average seed cotton yield of the village from 450 KG per acre to 950 KG per acre. This led to the seven-fold increase in net return per acre, due to considerable reduction in input costs. It is worth noting that in this case the yield is above the world average. This model has already been replicated in ten villages and can be emulated by many cotton-growing regions of the country. India can definitely produce 25% of the total world production of quality cotton compared to the existing 12% leading to revenue of over Rs. 25000 crores a year for the nation. I would like to link cotton production to garment export business, which is a low investment and large volume employment generator. India is presently, exporting six billion dollars worth of garments, whereas with the WTO regime in place, we can increase the production and export of garments to 18 to 20 billion dollars within the next five years. This will enable, generation of employment in general and in rural areas in particular. By tripling the export of apparels, we can add more than 5 million direct jobs and 7 million indirect jobs in allied sector, primarily in the cultivation of cotton. Concerted effort is needed in Cotton research, technology generation, transfer of technology, modernization and upgrading of ginning and pressing factories and aggressive marketing strategy.

Healthcare

Another area, which is an employment generator, is the health care industry. We have only one doctor for one thousand eight hundred people, whereas in some of the developed countries the doctor to population ratio is 1: 600. For providing quality health care to all of our citizens, we would need at least doubling the strength of doctors and paramedical staff in the whole country. The investment for this, need not necessarily come from government alone. Hospitals can be setup by the private sector with certain tax concessions and subsidized infrastructural support. Setting up of 30,000 static tele-medicine stations distributed in 30,000 key locations, within the zone of 3 lakh villages and providing 20,000 mobile tele-medicine units will enable reaching of quality healthcare closer to every home, which are connected to the district, state government hospitals, corporate hospitals, super specialty hospitals in the country. This is possible as India has a network of satellite communication. How to reach healthcare for the large number of our population? An innovative method has come into action in certain states. This system provides free health cover to the citizens who are members and pay Rs. 10 per individual per month as an insurance premium. State and Central Government can sponsor this insurance scheme involving payment of a small premium of Rs. 10 per individual per month by the citizens in different states of the country. Such an insurance cover should be able to provide for all types of diseases including expensive open heart surgery. A consortium is required to be formed, in different states between the Government, insurance agencies, corporate hospitals and NGO’s for providing integrated cost effective health care. The scheme when fully operational, can provide direct employment for additional 600,000 doctors and 1.2 million paramedical staff. Apart from providing healthcare to citizens, these corporate hospitals can attract large number of medical tourists to the country in view of our competitiveness in treating complex diseases. I am very happy to know that the scientific community for health is working on anti HIV vaccine development, which is in an advanced stage of development. The success of this programme will be a breakthrough in containing the HIV virus.

Village Knowledge Centres

With the kind of awareness and opportunities available in ICT, it will soon become a reality wherein every one of our villages will have computers and connectivity available. These would be the window to the world of knowledge for our villages and also to reap the benefits of our e-governance, tele-education, tele-medicine, e-commerce and e-judiciary initiatives. In spite of the all pervasive nature of the computers they would still be far away from being a truly friendly access device for our villagers. We would need in such cases, a human intermediary who would act as the village information officer. He will be the extended eyes and ears of the villager to the world of knowledge. India has approximately 2.3 lakh Village Panchayats. I visualize establishment of village knowledge centers in these Panchayats to empower the villagers with the knowledge and to act as a nodal center for knowledge connectivity for the villagers. The knowledge center from which the villagers would access the information through the village information officer can also be used for collection, digital storage and dissemination of village specific information pertaining to any relevant information to the villagers. This will provide direct quality employment to over one million who will be instrumental in promoting higher level of wealth generation in our rural sector. The schemes discussed so far, have the potential to generate approximately a total of 56 million direct employments during the next 5 years. This does not include other employment avenues in the government and the private sectors. Together creating 76 million jobs in the next five years looks feasible if only we take up each of the above schemes in mission mode.

Integrated Action for people

Dear Citizens, I would like to give ten suggestions on the eve of this Republic Day, the role of different constituents of our society in implementing the various programmes leading to creation of employment opportunities and wealth generation:

1. Education system should proactively build entrepreneurial and vocational capacities in students. When they come out of educational institution, they should have the confidence to start small enterprises and also possess the skill to do it. Above all the education system has to impart the spirit that “we can do it”.

2. Rural development has to be a mission mode operation through PURA programme, which will enable provision of maximum benefit to the villagers in a cost effective way.

3. Banks have to provide, hassle free loans to rural enterprises and those who have creative ideas. The banks have to assist them with venture capital. The existing agriculture and agro processing credits have to be increased so that the agriculture communities are empowered for enhancing the productivity of the agricultural produce, food processing and marketing.

4. The Tsunami has caused severe damage to our coastal regions and islands. Our fishermen and others living in those areas have lost their dwellings and livelihood. While planning the reconstruction of homes it is important to take the task as an integrated PURA complex for promoting the prosperity of the coastal region. This can include infrastructure for fish storage and chilling plants, sea food processing and marketing centres; boat and fishing net maintenance centres, schools, hospitals, water sources and other small scale industrial units.

5. In our country we have experiences in certain government departments in the field of defence, space, nuclear, agriculture and Metro railway in executing mission mode projects. That has resulted in the empowerment of the programme and removal of normal administrative delays through empowered management structure. Major programmes of the country, should use this mission mode management for employment generation schemes.

6. Since the broadband fiber connectivity has reached beyond block level of districts and our satellite communication density has also increased, this is the time for all our IT R&D and ICT industrial establishments to reach out to the rural areas. The e-governance GRID should be established between state and central governments with the National ID as the primary database, linking all the parts of the country for providing Government to Government, Government to Citizen Access and extending the tele-education, tele-medicine services to the people in the rural areas.

7. Small scale Industries are widespread in our country with tremendous employment potential. For the dynamic and competitive performance, the technological upgradation of these units is essential in the national planning.

8. Media is indeed a dynamic and a creative system in our democracy and all the more it is important that the media constituents reach out to, six hundred thousand villages of the country and be active partners in the rural development. Artists have a great role to play, in the societal transformation.

9. Youth have to create a movement, of making their own home righteous, make their environment clean and excel in their studies and their tasks.

10. The national parliamentary system, should become the role model for the nation: in legislative performance, in clean and progressive administration and nobility and speedy judiciary.

Conclusion

A new situation is emerging in the national scene in the year 2005. In the Indian history, very rarely we have come across a situation, all at a time, an ascending economic trajectory, continuously rising foreign exchange reserve, global recognition of technological competence, emergence of our 540 million youth both men and women as a dynamic positive force for national development, umbilical connectivities of 20 million people of Indian origin in various parts of the planet, and the interest shown by many developed countries to invest in our engineers and scientists including setting up of new R&D centers. This is the time the nation should launch series of missions in the five areas that is Agriculture and food processing, education and healthcare, information and communication technology, infrastructure development and self reliance in critical technologies, leading to transforming India into a developed nation by 2020.

Dear citizens, let us rededicate ourselves on this occasion of the 56th Republic Day to build our nation as a nation which provides employment to all, leading to economic prosperity and a nation of civilizational heritage with value system.

May God bless you.

Jai Hind.

To conclude, we could've had this great man to serve a second term; only if Congress was prudent enough to place the country before thier own political agenda ( that my friend would be my next blog).

The War of the Titans

2007-07-08T11:36:00.000-04:00

The was of Dragon vs Tiger has been going on for a while. Our GDP's were almost same in the 90's but the Chinese GDP seems to be almost double oursat this time. While China dominates on the infrastructure and the shop floor, India dominates in Technology and process outsourcing. I wanted to spend time on this blog not to go over the economies of the 2 rivals but talk about other soft areas that both countires are promoting

Yoga vs Tai-Chi
Both Yoga and Tai-Chi seem to be gathering a lot of interest in the west. Lot of people have tried patenting asanas and is facing flak from the Indian Govt., these include Bikram Yoga, Anusara, Ashtanga and Iyengar. tai-Chi while is talked about is not as popular.

Feng sui Vs Vastu Shastra
Feng sui seems to far outlaw vastu. While Vastu has predominatenly intrested the sub continent, Fen Sui has gathered the international interest.

Ayurveda Vs Chinese Medicine
While the ayurveda export has been growing, a lot of ayurveda proffesors ahve also been visiting colleges across the globe to teach ayurveda. The Traditional Chinese Medicine seems to be a $40 billion herbal market and is available across the US. Call it a fad or lifestyle choice, these seem to be on the move.

Bollywood Vs Chinki Movies
Bollywood movies cater to a wide audience across the sub continent, the gulf and the Africa. Though they are not making as much money as Hollywood, the box office bookings seems to be growing by the day. The Chinki movies have been growing internationally not just in terms of revenue but also in terms of good critics. They have been winning a lot of oscars and the likes while we have been straying away from it.

Buddha Vs Confucius
While the fad on buddhism seems to be on the downturn, India did not encash well on the buddhism tourism. Buddha is still highly percieved by the west and has great number of fans if not followers.
China has been promoting its guru Confucius by opening institutes across the globe. They have opened up institutes in Delhi and Seoul to promote this. India too built a Indian style buddhist temple in Louyang, China.
On the other hand, the buddha bar and the Goan trance have been kind of promoting a different kind of message across the lounge scene.

Diplomacy
Chinese seems to have been making better diplomacy in the last 5 yrs than we have in the last 50 years. An example being India's big China jolt came in 2004 when it lost out on a huge oil bid in Angola. China blew India away with a $2 billion grant in comparison with a measly $200 million Indian offer to develop Angola's railways.
Even though Indian population has been there in most countires running small enterprises and have created good will, China seems to be more generous and gaining diplomacy

Brand Building
China has been building Brand China in much better way than India. China being a part of the UN Security council has helped them in the political sphere. They have been competitive in other areas including sports and gymnastics. China hosting the next olympics is yet another huge achievement.

In a nutshell, the Tiger has a lot of catching up to do and lot of restructuring and reforms that needs to happen at political level but we certainly are in the race.

"On The Turning Away"
- Pink Floyd
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

Terror sans frontiers

2007-07-08T09:10:00.000-04:00

The recent car bomb scare in central London last week has brought the terrorism to a new level. This is the first time when a person of Indian origin was found in terrorist related activities. It just end at that, the person invovled were all doctors. Traditionally, high skilled people including doctors and engineers were always viewed as low risk as they are not the typical mercenaries or brain washed people trained to kill or do suicide bombings. This has certainly elevated it to a new level.
This reminds me of the Al Banna's brotherhood in Egypt, which was made up of middle class muslims most of whom were professionals inclding doctors, engg, architects etc... Sayyid Qutb the guide for the brotherhood is also supposed to have inspired Osama in his early days.
On one hand this seems to be an amateur operations and not backed by Al Qaeda and the likes as he seems to have done his research and operated on his own, the comment by one of AQ leaders saying "Those who cure you will kill you" could mean a possibe connection. Even if not, thier network seemed to have caught this that the MI-5 did not.
The bigger concern is the Indian muslims had never been involved in the world of terror outside. This Indian connection seems to be scary... Al qaeda seems to be spreading like a Mc Donald franchise. They are backing up groups from Indonesia to Kashmir to Iraq to London. I think we need to re-think and take a new approach to curb this terrorism. But one thin is certain; Contrary to the generally accepted dogma, education does not stop terrorism !

"The Dogs Of War"
- Pink Floyd
Dogs of war and men of hate
With no cause, we don't discriminate
Discovery is to be disowned
Our currency is flesh and bone
Hell opened up and put on sale
Gather 'round and haggle
For hard cash, we will lie and deceive
Even our masters don't know the web we weave
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
Invisible transfers, long distance calls,
Hollow laughter in marble halls
Steps have been taken, a silent uproar
Has unleashed the dogs of war
You can't stop what has begun
Signed, sealed, they deliver oblivion
We all have a dark side, to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
The dogs of war won't negotiate
The dogs of war don't capitulate,
They will take and you will give,
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door,
But wherever you go, you know they've been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain.
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world

Ban Chinese take out!!!

2007-06-02T19:12:00.000-04:00

Be it India or the US, you can't be a mile away from a chinese take out. There are more hakka noodle stalls in Mumbai than the junka bhaker stalls.

Yesterday's ban on Chinese made tooth paste in the US is yet another to the list of tainted food materials being discovered over the past few weeks.

A poison used in anti-freeze and brake fluids was found in toothpaste. FDA has asked consumers not to use Chinese made toothpaste and has withdrawn the toothpaste from the market. US estimatedly brought $3.3 Million worth of tooth paste last year.

Last month the market was flooded with the withdrawal of pet foods after a banned chemical was found in the pet food. This seems to have come thr' the use of melamine in the protien supplement. This also started a scare as similar protien glutamates are supposedly used in the cereal bars too.

Even though these are the one's that made news and might bring a lot of companies into legal pursuits, the list does'nt end here. There were 107 food imports from China that was detained by the FDA, along with over a 1000 shipments of chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfiet chinese medicines.
This includes
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical
Frzen catfish laden with banned antibiotics
scallops and sardines with petrefying bacteria
Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides

With the chinese imports in the food sector crossing $7 billion this year, this raising a big concern. Even though the senate went to the extreme of considering banning all food imports from China, the lure of the cheap imports is too much for the US capitalistic market. The FDA is negotiating with Chinese diplomats to add more stringent tests and regulations on the imports. They want to impose more tests in the shop floor so as to avoid huge contaminations.
What would this mean to the consumers? Would the food items be more expensive just because it needs to go thr' all these tests? Should we go more organic?

But in the interim, should I resist the chinese take out!!!

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
- Albert Einstein

Socialistic Myth

2007-05-27T23:29:00.000-04:00

In continuation of my previous two blogs on how the so called socialism can turn against you; here's yet another parable that depicts our so called socialistic justice.

________________________________________________

OLD VERSION.....

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast alongwith other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).
Opposition MP's stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengaland Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and,having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden'
Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

*****************************************************
Many years later...
The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley.

100s of grasshoppers die of starvation somewhere in India.
_______________________________________________
So Mr Prime Minister, you want to make sure that you stay on the right course. We are at a stage where the brain drain is on a low and a lot of guys are looking at making a come back to India. You do not want this trend to stop.

Jago manMohan Pyare

2007-05-27T11:26:00.000-04:00

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!

I have immense respect for our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He has been an extraordinary technocrat who has always kept the country ahead of himself (except for the political compromizations thanks to Sonia Gandhi!!). However, I am terribly dissapointed by the comment he made in the latest CII meeting where he quoted the following:
- The CEO's are paid way too much
- They shoudl not do a lavish display of money in society for family events and weddings etc..
- Media should not display these vulgar display of wealth
- rising income and wealth inequaltiies, if not matched by corresponding rise of income across the nation, can lead to social unrest.

Let me tell you the basic facts
The CEO's as well as the entrepreneurs are the people who help the society by providing jobs, creating wealth for the nation, keeping us on par with the world, making us competetive with the rest of the world.
Simple economics tells us that the mroe the people (read rich) spend the better the economy as the money flows down the chain. If they just saved and saved then the service industry, the tourism industry, the infrastructure etc.. would all be affected.
Thier vision, focus and execution is important to keep us in the race.

The general public should look up to these leaders and get inspired by them and not instigated by thier social standing. We are not in socialistic old Russia. Entrepreneurs and CEO's should be rewarded. I am inspired by them and wish to follow on thier footsteps. Let's learn to generate wealth and not be a leacher.

The government should make policies that help conduce a better environment for entreprenual spirit. They should decrease red tapism, corrupt administration, vulgar spending on loss making government enterprise, excessive IAS babus.
They should promote entrepreneurship, make pur policies more flexible to encourage new business, promote FDI into newer sectors including infrastructure and energy, try to put a long term plan to social security, better health initiatives accessbile to all.

It is not right to curb down the business man to bring thier income down coz the govt failed to provide polciies to increase the income of the poor.

Dr Singh, you turned around our economy by opening up our economy and making us globally competetive. Why try to take a step back!!! Don't go left Mr President.

The poor do not need charity; they need inspiration. Charity only sends them a loaf of bread to keep them alive in their wretchedness, or gives them an entertainment to make them forget for an hour or two. But inspiration can cause them to rise out of their misery. If you want to help the poor, demonstrate to them that they can become rich.

Taxation Demystified

2007-05-25T01:55:00.000-04:00

An article pulled off the net but awesome.....

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings) .
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings) .
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We! didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, dear people, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

This was developed by Prof.David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

Time of your Life

2007-05-20T19:01:00.001-04:00

I went on a nostalgic trip this weekend as I was talking to some friends of mine and listened to some good old favorites. I was on you tube and was surprised when I saw some cool videos of MIT Manipal, my alma mater. Check out these cool videos.

I could go on and on about the good times we had back in those days. No lyrics can capture the fun, passion and the moments. Here's a couple that really get close...

Time of your Life
- Green Day

Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.
It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.

Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.
For what it's worth,
it was worth all the while.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

----

Promo for the Manipal Group:

This is where I spent the best days of my life:
It starts from the cottage where I spent my final year although a few things displayed have changed from our days

Yet another Promo:

I some cool videos of all the idiosyncracies that we used to do in the hostels, called as Bakch**di in our lingo.. a name that i really wanted to keep for my blogspot Id. It certainly bought a few smiles and memories down the path. Here's my advise to u guys who are in college... This is the best days of ur life... Enjoy them.. coz later in life travelling down this memory lane is what soothes ur heart n mind.

Hum, rahen ya na rahen kal
Kal yaad aayenge ke ye pal
Pal, ye hain pyar ke pal
Chal, aa mere sang chal
Chal, soche kya
Chhoti si, hai zindagi
Kal, mil jaaye to hogi khush-naseebi

Hum rahen ya na rahen yaad aayenge ye pal

How Bizzare !!!

2007-05-14T18:29:00.000-04:00

Can you imagine,
You can't take a flight out of Blore at night, coz it ain't legal for the air hostess to work!!!
You can't get a nurse to attend the patient in the ICU coz Hey, she's gotta be home!!!
A lady can't deliver a baby at night coz the lady doctor will not be available till 6AM!!!
You cannot arrest any ladies at night.. coz u need a lady cop to escort her and the lady cops will be at home as they are not supposed to work at night !!!
The economy in the IT/ITES sector shall go down..but that's ok!!
The prostitutes/ bar gals will still be available at night, coz they have never been legal!!!
How Bizaare !!!!

That's what I felt when I saw the latest ban by the Karnataka govt. on Women working past 8PM took me by surprise. How dumb can you get Mr Ansari. You are the minister of Labor after all.

In the modern times when we talk about equality and equal employment rights... the step back to stone ages with a rule like this seems so preposterous that I wonder if this was even discussed and approved by even a sub set of ministers.
Let's be practical guys, what we need is
- Better Law and Order Regulations.
- Safety for commuters across the city (incl Women)
- More awareness for ladies and some self-defense skills (even it is a pepper spray)
- Access and response to 100
- Less red-tapism in police stations
- More aggressive stance and faster resolution on rape cases

These would give a sense of safety to all the people be it Men, Women or children. We need better governance and not stupid Laws !!

Sab Maya hain

2007-05-12T22:00:00.000-04:00

The UP election seems to have taken everybody by surprise. After a decade of patch work coalation govt. and presidential rules, UP seems to have unanimously voted for the Mayawati's BSP. BJP, SP and Congress all were far too behind to even give a worthy notice.

Mayawati who after 2 maybe three failed attempts as the CM now comes onboard as the Cm of UP. Probabaly the stint with BJP that lasted 18 months was her longest stint as CM as the first one was harldy for a few days.

Maya bought about a new turn around as she went away from the party to the dalit image and bought in upper caste brahmins into her party. This has improved the image of the party and made her standup in the light of the current events. Mulayam Singh had to take a huge beating as the SP was no-where close to be noteworthy. THe media friendly Amar Singh seems to have gone under-ground as the poll results were declared.

Maya seems to have bought about a renaissance into the party's image and is now seen as the party commander than the founder Kanshi Ram.

Let's hope that this is for the good of the people of UP, the largest state in India. This means a huge change into the Indian political arena as the UP constitutes the highest # of MLA's into parliament. How I wonder what's in fate for the coming elections.

Obituary - Freedom of Speech

2007-05-06T15:15:00.000-04:00

A few events that I read in last couple of weeks prompted me to write this one.

Last week, the Mumbai police negotiated with Orkut to block/ban groups that they felt were not nationalistic.
I do agree that they need to be moderated and that this should not be the center for terrorism, prostitution and scams. However, we want to have a free press and a place where people can express thier feeling as well as vent out thier frustration against the current state of economics, politics; gossip on Page 3 etc...

Half way around the globe, post the Don Imus episode, where he was suspeneded from msnbc after the controversial statement he made on his shows where he called a Rutger's basket ball team as ho's brought in another drama. The Afro-American leaders got together and protested against the record companies in NYc demanding that record companies have been promoting crass lingo into the Hip Hop culture.

Hip Hop or music in general has had a long lasting relationship with radicalism be it sex, drugs and voilence to abusive language, anti-war/politics. Again, this is not limited to music but would be applicable to all forms of art including literature and paintings.

Free speech is a boon and a bane. On one side, we need people expressing thier views/ opinions and on the other, we want them to remain within the societal norms. Sometimes just dont work. Time and Time again we have had artists play a crucial role against various subjects. Singers have talked about safe sex when sex was a taboo (Including our very own Remo Fernandes in Everybody wants to uhh..). they have talked against the wars (My fav on this being Zoombie from Cranberies which is against the IRA); post-war trauma (Final Cut- Floyd). Bono, Bruce Sprigstein etc.. have talked about politics. Our own poets have been crucial in spreading messages during the freedom movement. So history has been the proof that we do need free press for the betterment of this world. We don't want to be yet another berlin wall or the iron curtain.

Some of the sites that they are talking about banning are hate sites against Gandhi, Nehru, Indian cricket team and the likes. These are personal views and should be respected. If need be, we need to regulate it so that children below 18 cannot join these sites. But, the social sites build the social network in the virtual world. The world is a global village and the net brings us together irrespective of the social status and the geography.

Hey Moderators, leave these sites alone......... what beats me is Google joined them and agreed to it so easily!!! I also saw google de-activate a lot of accounts on youtube where people had uploaded movies. This one I support as it is impeachment of the intellectual rights and the copyrights.

We need Laws without boundries to govern these issues as what is legal to one is not legal to another. The global bodies need to decide on the code of conduct and not just another so called social police.

Our Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman is back

2007-05-06T15:10:00.000-04:00

Our friendly neighbourhood spiderman is back with a bang. This time it's a mega melodrama with all the right ingrediants to keep the audience on the edge of thier seats for the 2.5 hrs. There is humor, Action, Emotion, Love, Jealousy and Hatred.

Spidey seems to be attracting more villians. They add two more nemesis, the Sand man and another arachnid Venom apart from the second gen Green Goblin (Harry Osborn)

Spidey gets taken over by an outer space host that enhances his super powers but the one's on his dark side. We can see spidey turning into a casanova. He gives some groovy moves, flirts around and gives a spidey kiss.He has to fight a internal battle a kinda Dr Jekyl n Mr Hyde... the super hero vs sycophant.

Sandman comes out as a result of a phsyics experiment where he is de-molecuralized and resurrects from sand.
When spidey finally gets to sway away from his dark side, the host takes over Topher and makes him venom (his dark side).Venom has an arachnid suit similar to Spidey but has a vicious face.

The film is filled with a lot of humorous moment as spidey tries to be a casanova, who gives some saturday night groovy moves. The Boss of Daily Buggle is also entertaining.

The movie is full of feel good factors; Peter Parker forgives Sandman, who had killed his uncle; Harry turns away from the effect of Green Goblin and turns around to help Spidey fight Sandman and Venom.

Overall, it's a movie that is worth watching. The movie seems to be the last of the series as the character trail ends here.

Alag - Zara Hatke

2007-04-30T13:16:00.000-04:00

Casting: Akshay Kapoor, Diya Mirza, Mukesh Tiwari, Jayant Kriplani
Rating: 4, rating is high as the concept is good and not Bollywood ishtyle.

I saw this movie called Alag over the weekend. This movie hasn't seem to have done well on the box office, but I was pretty impressed with the non mainstream topic. This sci-fi had a good story line and the acting by Akshay Kapoor is awesome.
The story line is off beat, the kind i appreciate than the conventional movie themes.
The death of a retired professor and the mysterious way in which he was staying at his bungalow was a mystery to the neighbours. The police during thier investigation find a hidden basement and they find the protagonist Tejas (Akshay Kapoor). Tejas is fully bald with not a hair on his body including eye lashes. He has been down in the basement for the last 18 years of his youth.
The Police decide to move him to the rehabilitation center run by Purvi (Diya Mirza). This rehab was opened by Purvi's mother and after she went into a coma was being run over by her father.Diya extends a hand of friendship to tejas and initiates his exposure to the real world. Tejas had some kind of disease which made his eyes very sensitive to the sunlight. This and his near death experience with death due to an electric shock. Post these expeiences, his father decided to home educate him and kept him in the confimes of the home with no social life. Tejas proves to be well read as he had read books on every possible topic and had an excellent memory.
Did all this reading prepare him to face this world? As he joins the rehab, he tries to make friends. People around him start to realize that not only does he looks wierd, but that he also had extra sensory powers that made him very sensitive. This is displayed by some cool production around him being able to attract all the butterflies to him and magnetizing a spoon to attract all the spoon in the mess.
His display of these tricks and display of his knowledge kind of puts in on the wrong page with the boys and the dean (Purvi's father).Purvi becomes his saving grace and they fall in love. They go to a picnic to a park, The security guard shoots a dove . Tejas does not like this agression towards the dove and holds the hand of the guard in one hand and the dove in the other. The guard seems to go in a state of shock and he feels the electicity thr' his body and has a near death experience.
The boys try to take revenge with him and try to give him a electric shock. On the contrary, Tejas stands thr' the high voltage strike and one of thier buddy gets electrocuted in return. This becomes a turning point in the relationship with the group. In the mean time, the guard tells his experience to the dean and mentions that it was more of a spiritual journey for him as he could feel the soul of the dove when he had his experience. Tejas then proceeds to cure Purvi's mom just by spreading his hand over her head.
This miracle seems to excite the medical scientists and they wish to experiement on him. On the other side, a rpgue scientist (Tom Alter) captures him in order to finish his experiment on cloning of the human brain. Tejas survives this with the assistance of Purvi and family, but loses Purvi in the process and returns back to lead his life back in solitude in the confines of his basement.
Overall, a nice movie decently directed and produced with a good story line. There were some stuff done to conventionaliize it by adding a couple of songs and some rugby scenees and stuff. It looked too good to be an original Hindi movie. I had to google around to find that this was a copy of an english movie called Powder produced about a decade back. When will we get the originality in our art!!!
Inspite of these, a movie that's worth a watch for the un-conventional storyline and the awesome acting by the rookie Akshay Kapoor.

Wolfowitz - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

2007-04-29T15:25:00.000-04:00

The Wolfowitz scandal seems to have brought the World Bank into limelight. The board led by the european union wants the current president of the world bank to step down amidst the scandal.
Wolfowitz is accused of giving a promotion and a huge raise to his girl friend Shaha Riza.
Shaha Riza, a Libyan born and brought up in Saudi, is a big advocate of the female rights. As per Time magazine, she shares the American passion in spreading democracy in the Middle-East.
Paul Wolfowitz, an American has been of the opinion of striking and eradicating a threat before it becomes a threat. He was a strong supporter of the War in Iraq. It is speculated that he was made as the President of the World Bank by the White House as an award to his contribution to the War on Terror.
It is also told that the relationship between them pre-dated his joining the World Bank. The world bank has a rule that a couple cannot work in the bank together or people dating each other cannot be in each others chaing of reportee. This would've been a conflict of intrest to Shaha and hence the external assignment.

Now back to the scandal, after Wolfowitz became the president of the world bank, Shaha was put on an external assignement with the US State Department with a huge raise and promotion and was routed thr' the ethics committe. The then chairman however says that the committee was not aware of her previous salary and the extent of raise.
This is also backed by the employees of the bank who seem to have been averse to Wolfowitz style of management.
American backed journalism however advocates that the middle management is percepting a threat from some of the new initiatives started by Wolf including anti-corruption drives. The White House is backing Wolfowitz. This couldn't have been more ill timed as the US President is also being crushed on the War on Iraq and the time table to bring back the Amrican troops. The African continent seems to be supporting Wolfowitz, for his keeness to help Africa (or maybe driven by the White House), while the European Union and the Nordic countries which are promoters of the bank want him to step down.
The White House is also seeing this as a threat to the US. As the biggest share holder, the president of the United States has been always been choosing the president of the World bank and it now seems that they might want to bring in a non US president to cool down the storm. The EU is also showing it's dominance and is being percieved as a hostile behavior by the US.
Wolfowitz has hired a lawyer with international reputation to take him out of this hell hole. The coming weeks should give more clarity into the issue as the board of directors would be deciding on the fate of Wolfowitz.

Quota - The death knell for meritocracy

2007-04-28T11:06:00.001-04:00

The quota system has been a boon for the politicians to capture the vote banks and with UP having a huge number of SC/ST/OBC, this decision might help them prove a point.

Professional education should be run on merit and not on caste, class or economic stature.

Let's look at the objective behind this. If the real objective is to ensure that backward caste needs to get equal opportunity, then they can get into colleges run by the Govt. It need not be the IIT's, IIM's, AIIM's and the REC's.

If the candidate is capable, provide them free education, i don't mind that but keeping a certain percentage reserved for them will not solve the objective.

The objective is not to have a sub standard Dr, engg or a manager. The objective is to provide them equal opportunity to have the education, provided they have the capability.

If they are so desperate to get the IIM title, they can open a IIM-jumhritalaya and only admit candidates of thier choice. We can then see how the institute works and whether or not they get placements.

If India wants to become a world power, then we need to increase the standard of living and provide equal opportunity. This is not by reserving seats for diff caste; it would be by rewarding the capable people and providing incentives for people to improve and display thier capabilties, else we would end up as yet another commie nation run by beaurocracy and red tapism.

We are in a point of time where Indians who had migrated to other countries are coming back or promoting India. We do not want more brain drain.... we want to attract them and let them promote the entreprial spirit.

You Tube - The Web 2.0 world

2007-04-23T17:11:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite past times has been you tube. The yet another networking site is house to video blogs, snippets, ads and much more. Quite a lot of people have been enthu enough to upload desi movies. I've happened to see quite a few movies though on the small screen.
I've seen a few movies which aint worth seeing in the theater on you tube. This has become by replacement for the cable tv back home. More intresting has been availability of some of the old serials online. This includes the desi sherlock holmes Byomkesh Bakshi from the old DD days as well as Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show. you can also find a lot of episodes from the Great Indian Laughter challenge.
Apart from this I have been able to get a great deal of videos on travel, funky inventions, Indian history as well as religionism. Overall, if you have the right bandwidth, there are tons of things that can be explored on You tube which has become my replacement to the regular tube- my Idiot Box.

Delhi Heights - The heights of movie making

2007-04-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

Delhi Heights seems to be a pathetic effort at making a Delhi production. The only good part about the movie was the theme which revovles around how the corporate lifestyle affects family life and how compromise needs to happen from both sides to make it happen.
The protagonist starred by Jimmy Shergil is an creative director in an advertising form. He is in love with Neha Dupia who is also a creative director at a rival form working on the same product line.
An intro to the other residents at the Delhi Heights:
Right next door is Bobby who flirts with every woman he can lay his hands on, which his wife abhors. Om Puri is a reeal estate agent and a father of a young daughter. He is friends with a bookie and has a peculiar laughter. Then there are some college going kids who like to have fun.
The marriage of the ad gurus soon turn sour as the work life starts affecting the family life. This includes business development dinners and last minute travel plans affecting thier original plans. The apex of this relation happens when Neha Dupia happens to approach the same star for the campaign as Jimmy. Jimmy misunderstands this as a sabotage and turns away from the relation without listening to what she has to offer.
Then comes the drive for happy ending where bobby realises that he needs to be faithful to his wife and he comes back to life. Jimmy then patches up with <> to make a happy ending.
The songs have the Rabbi Shergil's sufi influence except for some punjabi numbers. overall an ok story with pathetic movie production. Dilli waloon .. leave the movie direction to the mumbaiya dons...

The Virginia Massacre

2007-04-18T22:06:00.000-04:00

In the last 3 days, The TV news channel haven't shown anything but the virginia massacre. The tech school turned to a slaughter house with the Cho killing 33 students including a desi. Cho went thr' a series of shooting in one side of the dorms and then in the classrooms in Noris hall.
What seemed at that time like a fit in rage turned out to be a well planned out suicide killing. The killer cho had well planned this. he shot 2 people in a dorm, he then recorded his diatribe to this world and mailed his manifesto to MSNBC. The interviews were recorded in snippets and the diatribe written as a PDF.
Here's a piece of his suicide note

You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy’s life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people.

• Do you know what it feels to be spit on your face and to have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave?
Do you know what it feels like to have throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive?
Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon on a cross? And left to bleed to death for your amusement? You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life. Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?

• You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren’t enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn’t enough. Your vodka and Cognac weren’t enough. All your debaucheries weren’t enough. Those weren’t enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything.

In retrospection, it turns out that the killer had a history of mental illness and was known to have gone through psycholical problems. This opens up big questions on Campus security, Gun Control rights at the time when the presidential elections are on the heells.

Is the world becoming more voilent. There have been a dozen of killings reported in schools lately. A lot of it seems to have been simulated from TV, movies and voilent video games. Are these mis-directing our kids. Are people taking off thier frustration by voilence!!

At a time when the world seems to be in distress with all the voilence and terrorism; I guess it's time for mass therapy. It's time to spread the message of love and peace around the world.

One of the professors heroic effort saved a dozen of students by sacrificing his life. He was awarded as the star of Romania posthumously.

May thier soul rest in peace as Cho rots in hell

Shine on You Crazy Diamond - A Tribute to Pink Floyd

2007-04-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the
steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend,
you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the
steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper,
you prisoner, and shine!
- Shine on you Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here (19975), Pink Floyd

No other band has influenced me so much as the Pink Floyd. I stand as a Die-hard fan of the Floyd. I dedicate this as a series of blogs as we go thr' thier history and lyrics and discussions.

While most people (read non-fans) know and love Another Brick in the Wall; with the controversial lyrics "Hey Teachers, Live those Kids Alone".... for the fans there are qute a few numbers which take the top slots.

I first heard Pink Floyd when our college band played Comfortably Numb at our college Rock Show. I loved it so much that I borowed the tape from a friend that night and then went on to become a floydian.

Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved into a progressive rock music. They are known for philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art, and elaborate live shows.

Unlike traditional boy/gal bands that dis-integrate at the slight sign of misunderstanding between the team members, the Floydians have survived thr' the era under the leadership of different lead singers.
The era can be broken into
- The Barett Era (65-68)
- Experimentation (68-71)
- Breakthr' (71-75)
- Waters Era (76-85)
- Gilmour's Era (86-95)

Barett Era
Syd Barett is the official founder of the Pink Floyd Sound, when Bassist Roger Waters, Drummer Nick Mason and wind instrument player Rick wright joined him from sigma 6. Syd started writing psychdelic lyrics that was poular as the underground music and got them into fame with psychdelic numbers like 'Interstellar Overdrive', 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play'.
Life on road and heavy dozes of drugs soon made Barett unstable and he ruined a few live shows. This was the time, the band decided to move him out of the group.

This bought the group into the Experimentation Era. Waters and Gilmour now started writing lyrics and composing music. They made albums like 'A saucerfull of secrets', ' ummagumma' and 'More'.

The Breakthrough came with albums like 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'Wish You were Here'. Dark Side of the Moon has the record to be on the billboard chart for 741 weeks .

Water took reign for the next decade as they grew on fame. The group saw albums like 'The Wall' and 'The Final Cut'. The Wall made big on the billboard with the numbers like 'Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)' and 'Comfortably numb'.

Waters decided to get out of the band and Gilmour took over and produced albums like 'The Division Bell' and 'Momentary lapse of Reason'. The band released PULSE as thier live album as they did thier world tour and won fame.

PULSE stands as my personal favorite as a album with amazing video collection. I can still remember the days we spent watching this show at Movie Dome back in my college Town Manipal.

As parting lines to this blog....... here goes another favorite number

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground. What have you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here

- Wish You were Here,(1975), Pink Floyd

Sin City

2007-04-08T10:36:00.000-04:00

Las Vegas, the Sin City, is a city where the lights shine all night long. Casino's are so well lit and crowded that you never realise whether it is night or day. Most of the poular one's are based on unique concepts and are pretty well made. I was quite impressed with the Venittian (my personal favorite) and Paris Paris.

The venittian needless to say is based on Venice and has a river that runs thr' the casino and you can even have a boat ride in here... pretty cool eh..

While you can spend time here gambling, you could spend a week without gambling just visitng the various free shows and broadway shows.
However, the main reason why people flock here is to gamble and addictive it certainly is. While, I've played black jack and craps before, i kinda got better insight into the game this time as I was able to spend more time on it (or should I say more money)...LOL. As one of my friend says play by the book and you can't go down too steep. One certainly needs to put some limits as one could keep going on this roller coaster ride or wins n losses. This is where craps becomes more intresting. If you have a great shooter you could go for 10-20 minutes and make more money than most other games.
For high rollers there are table with 100$ starting limits while people like us flock in search of the $5 tables.
In my mumbaiya lingo all I can say is Black Jack can make u feel Jakaas or make u feel Jack Ass...... Keep on dreaming

Tracing my roots

2007-04-07T16:27:00.000-04:00

India is a country with a blend of many religions and communities. The country is divided by languages, casts and sects. India has 23 official languages; hundreds of casts and sects divide us; but the spirit of India unites us all. This blog is to give a flavor of the history of my community, the Goud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) whose population is about 0.3 Million.

Saraswats are people of Aryan descent who had settled down on the banks of the Saraswati River and were the followers of the Saraswat Muni. The river Saraswati eventually dried up (1000 BC) and this led to the migration of the Saraswats to the plains of northern India. Though the exact dates of this migration are unknown, the Rig Veda eulogies the river Saraswati was huge.

During this exodus, the brahmins spread in 3 directions. One group moved to the North and East into Punjab and Kashmir. The second group moved to the East towards Bihar while the third group went down south west towards Gujrat. Our ancestors were with the group that moved over to Bihar.

Around 1000 AD, they moved again this time to Goa, where the land was fertile and trading was begining. It is believed that Lord Parshuram, a Brahmin, also counted as an avatar of Lord Vishnu brought the Saraswats from the northern Indian plains to Goa for the purpose of religious functions.

Between 10th and 13th century the trading community spread across through the sea ports and established bases in Bombay, Thane, Kalyan, Honnavar, Mangalore, Cochin etc.. while the muslim rulers attacked Goa (then Gomantak), some people started migrating to Kudal desh (Ratnagiri) to the north; the Vijayanagar kingdom in Dharwad/ Belgaum to the East; The Kanara to the South; and some down to Travancore in Kerala.

As narrated over the history; Those who migrated to Kashmir called themselves as Kashmiri Pandits, Sind-Sind Saraswats, Kutch-Kutchi Saraswats, Rajapur-Rajapur Saraswats, Punjab-Punjab Saraswats, Rajasthan-Rajasthan Saraswats and Chitrapur-Chitrapur Saraswats.

This in a nutshell is the mythological and historical background of the Gowda Saraswat Brahmins popularly known as GSBs.

References
http://www.gsbkonkani.net
Wikipedia
Kamath.com
http://www.gsbkerala.com/gsbhistory.htm

Konkani - My Mother Tongue

2007-03-28T07:30:00.000-04:00

Konkani, my mother tongue is not a very well known language. It got the official status in the Indian constitution in 1992. Hence, I thought of publishing some facts and figures around this.

The language is spoken all along the Konkan coast spanning the coasts of Maharastra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. There are about 7.6 million konkani speakers covering all major religions i.e Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Each region has its own dialect, tone, vocab and grammatical differences.

As the Indian culture, the Konkani language has gone thr' a lot of transformation and localization. The Konkani community has Aryan roots (wait for my next blog on my community GSB's), the community came into India and were in the north on the banks of River Saraswat (600BC). A drought there forced them into Goa. During the Porutguese colonialization was the time when the community was forced to fled from Goa for the fear of conversion to Christianity and the community spread to differnt parts especially along the western coast thr' the sea ports of Goa. The communities started at this time (15th century) started gettting local accents and words into the Konkani languages and hence resulted in the various dialects that exist today.

Konkani is a language having its roots from Sauraseni Prakrit which is also the root for Bengali and Assamese.
If one has to see the diversity of today's Konkani language, one should travel the Indian west coast. In Bombay, they speak in Marathi accent whereas in Konkan, they stretch the words so that no outsider can understand!. The Hindus of Goa liberally use the Portuguese words whereas the Christians use it as if it's a Portuguese dialect. In Karwar and Ankola (locate), they emphasize the syllables, and in Kumta-Honavar, they use consonants in abundance. The Konkani spoken by Nawayatis of Bhatkal is very melodious with smearing of Persian. People of South Kanara do not distinguish between nouns of Kannada and Konkani, and have developed a very business practical language. They sometimes add Tulu words also. The Konkani of Kerala is drenched with Malayalam, and the Konkanis of north Karnataka add Kannada verbs to Konkani grammar. The city-bred use a plenty of English. To write Konkani, Kannada, Nagari, Roman, Arabic, and Malayalam scripts are used and this way, Konkanis declare themselves as members of world family (Vishwakutumbi). There is no other language with a possible exception of Sanskrit that a language is written in so many scripts.

The communities that speak konkania are:
Hindus
Marathas
Bhandaris
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins
Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins
Daivadnya Brahmins
Konkani Lower Castes
Muslims
Kokani Muslims (Costal Maharashtra)
Navayath Muslims (Bhatkal, Karnataka)
Christians
Goan Catholics
Roman Catholics (Mangalore/Canarite)
Others
Janjira Siddis
Yellapur Siddis

References
Wikipedia
Kamath.com
http://www.gsbkonkani.net/

Don - The Remake or Remix

2007-03-28T06:46:00.000-04:00

Don ka remake karna muskil hi nahin, na munkin hain

When I saw the New Don, a few months earlier, I felt it was kinda different from the Don I remember; So I spent the weekend watching both the Don movies; the 1978 Javed Akhtar and 2006 Farhan Akhtar versions. I would classify this a remix rather than remake. Farhan is obviously INSPIRED by a lot of movies and has made a mdeley into the original plot of Don.
The main plot has been inspired by DOn (obviously) as well as Face off. The stunt scenes have been inspired from The Matrix, Rush Hour and XXX(the action movie.. don't get any wrong ideas here).
Some salient differences are
1. In the original movie Don dies, but in the remix version, he is replaced.. call it the face off twist.
2. In the end, Inspector D'Silva turns out to be the Vardhan as opposed to the Interpol Malik ... playing the public mindset i guess
3. Jasjeet has been promoted from a small time treasury crook to the upscale computer expert aka hacker.
4. The seventies slogan was Hum Do Humare Do, the new slogan is have a single Kid. This idea is promoted by Jasjeet having a single kid as opposed to 2 kids.

Now the bigger question, Whoz the Don of the Indian movies Big B or SRK... seems to have been the buzz with media a few weeks back. Although am not a mega fan of the Big B, there is no denying that pretty boy SRK is nowhere close. While Big B plays Don and Vijay with 2 different personalities; SRK does a cliche job at it.
As far as acting is concened, I believe Aamir and Ajay Devgan are much above SRK's rank. Abhishek bacchan has been evolving a lot and his versatile acting in the Bunty n Bubli as well as Bluffmaster shows an evolving star.. SRK... face it... You can't do a stereo role and try to call yourself the Baadhshah

Opening Statement

2007-03-19T19:08:00.000-04:00

It was a Monday morning and I was out on the road on a long drive to orlando, except that it was not for disney land but to work :( . On a typical long drive I spend an hour on a conference call with my team and then the rest of the time goes pondering over stuff discussed. But today was different. It was a holiday in India. So here I was on the road driving for about 200 miles with nothing to do.
Empty mind is a devil's workshop and I started thinking over my to do list and so on... The radio was playing Pink Floyd's Keep talking
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling..........
I then started to think of all the times I've wanted to blog. I had registered here over a year or two ago...... Did I blog... The answer is obvious.... I'm the king of procastination when it comes to these things. So I decided that I was going to start blogging ...
My topic for the next few months is going to follow 2 different series.
First would be dedicated to the people who've shaped up India's economy. This would not be limited to Industrialists but would span across Politicians, Technocrats, Literary gurus and visionaries.
Second, would be on topics that come as general issues ailing us.. which is general tp stuff

Then came the topic of the site. What should I name it .. I thought of a lot of names that rhyme with the most fav talk shows going around; but in the end I thought why not name it after something that we used to call our late night discussions back in the college days... Bakwaas Mandli.
As casual as it might sound, bakwas mandli can be very informative.We've had many a good times over hours of hearty discussion. It could start with gossip and then get into debates over politics, life, future, economy.. sky is the limit.... Actually this idiom doesn't make sense here coz there can be trippin' sessions where sky is not the limit ...LOL Anywyz... All this thought is making me nostalgic and that might be my first topic of the blog or should I say second.
I guess I stretched it too long.. adios for now..

Iraq War and the 2008 elections

2006-11-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

The war on terrorism started with the war against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The upbuild of the Bush image made him take the next step; the war on Iraq.
What he set out to do:
- Bring an end to the Saddam regim which was supposed to have nuclear and bio war capabilities.
- Liberate the people of Iraq
- End the linkage with Taliban/ Al Qaeda and other terrorist activites
- Get a cheaper source of Oil (oops is this classified !!!)
- Build modern Iraq with liberal values (read bring in capitalism and promote companies from allies to re-build Iraq)
- Destroy the Nuclear and Bio war facilities.
- Win the support of the American people.
- Build a US base that could be leveraged for any future war with Iran.

What he achieved:
- People of Iraq are liberated. But they sleepless nights as there is more voilence than those at the time of Saddam.
- No linkage were found to Al Qaeda except for a few province n tribal lords who do not pose a lot of threat.
- Neither nuclear nor bio facilities found.
- Instability as Civil war could spur anytime
- He lost support as people see America not gaining anything out of this war as it seems more like yet another vietnam.
- A US base doesn't seem to be what the US people want.

The GOP election opened up his eyes and the voice of the public was strong.... Where is this war leading us.. Are we winning... why should America support the re-building of Iraq.
What are the options avaialable right now?

Withdrawing the troops will only worsen the problem as the civil war would open up and bring destability in the middle east.
Only time will tell.

P.S: This was one of the posting drafter long back that never made it on time... but with nancy Pellosi trying to put a deadline to pull back the troops, I felt this could be published as is...