Why Mohammad Afzal should get one...

Pardon Mohammad Afzal.

Not because he deserves it.Clearly, he does not.

When Mohammad Afzal was recruited, he was probably told that he might perish in the mission and should he get killed he would attain Jannath (virgins and all that).If he got arrested and hanged, well he would still attain Jannath.

By hanging Afzal now, we are probably giving him what he wants. Does granting someone what he wants amount to punishment ?

Enough hype has been created by the media. A hanging if it were to be happen would probably even by covered live and broadcast internationally. And produce counter-productive results!Afzal's death by hanging is likely to infuriate and hence motivate jehadis-in-the-making. It might even be cited by terrorism trainee recruiters to promise the Jannath.

Commute the sentence to life-imprisonment. Teach him Yoga, Art of Living. There exists an outside chance that he might be reform. If he doesnot, he will still possibly lead a miserable life and would still not have achieved Jannath.

Cyanide Cyanide…

Cyanide is the first Kannada movie I watched in a cinema in over a decade.

Narrating the journey of the Rajiv Gandhi assassins post-assassination is the only motive of the storyline. The director does a very good job of sticking to it. No moralising the assassination, No sympathy to the Tigers, No venting the nation’s outrage, No comment on Sri Lanka.

The only tongue-in-cheek remark that the movie lastly resorts is the tribute to the Indian Police for having captured (if dead) the ‘terrorists’.

Brilliant acting depict the we-are-expected-to-believe- true events. The movie belied my expectations on one front. The language used right through was Kannada which was obviously not what the Tigers spoke. A judicious juxtapositioning of Kannada and (Lankan) Tamil would have lent more credibility.

The movie deserves to reach a wider audience than Kannada speaking. I wish and urge the producers to give it the reach that it deserves.To its credit Cyanide, unlike most real-life portrayals, does not issue an “its fiction” disclaimer.

Psst.. Post movie we lunched at ‘Grameen’ a restaurant that promised to provide rural amenities in urban areas. (reverse Abdul Kalam!!)

Go paperless

Lot of talk about E-governance and paperless initiatives. My own suggestion to encourage the janta to go electronic.

As a measure to encourage paperless transactions SEBI should direct Companies going ahead with IPOs and lead managers for a more favourable pro rata allotment ratio in case of over-subscription to the applicants who have applied online. This should be as against investors who have applied on physical application forms.Applying through physical application forms leads to large scale consumption of paper as well as associated cost, time and labour expended in processing the same.

Online application is hassle-free to the investor and relatively easier to process also (I presume) eliminating costs and reducing time for both the investor and the investee company.The SEBI may consider encouraging Online Trading and Online Application and instruct /direct/order the companies to introduce this measure.
The transparency that electronic application brings is the added bonus.

SEZ for T.Nagar

SEZ in Haryana, SEZ in Gujarat.... Why not SEZ in T. Nagar.

Hey! I am not kidding. I am talking of a Special Economic Zone status for the roads of South Usman Road, Panagal Park and Ranganathan Street. Of course not of the manufacturing kind but of the shopping kind.

Let us look at the compelling reasons

1. T. Nagar is the World Capital of Hindu wedding jewellers
2. T. Nagar is the World Capital of Hindu wedding Silk Sarees Shops
3. T. Nagar -based Saravana Stores is a pioneer in his brand of retailing. (Wait till Wharton hears, it will make it a case-study)

Ranganathan Street is tourist destination for rural-folk. The traffice snarls have to be seen to be believed. The peculiar geography of the area is like no other.

The Big Idea :
.... is after making Panagal Park-UsmanRoad-Ranganathan Street an SEZ,..

1. to conduct Chennai shopping festival (say, on the lines of Dubai Shopping festival) to attract international shopping travellers
2. to stimulate shopping tourism into Chennai
3. to provide opportunity to local outlets to scale up
4. to allow multi-storey ( and I mean really mulit-storey , 15 floors plus) building to come up with adequate parking and other facilities
5. a framework for governing T. Nagar traffic and civic service is evolved. Though this is no panacea to the traffic problem a framework with special interest in T. Nagar can be a start
6. Pedestrain and Parking issues to be addressed by the SEZ
7. Government may not lose much revenue, because "regular customers" of 'Thanga Maligais' know how much tax is paid.

Think out of the Box !

Free WiFi everywhere ?

WiFi enabled laptops are gaining popularity but are not yet the standard. But where does one find Wifi hotspots to use them ? College libraries.Er.. Not exacly the most useful of places, considering that the libraries are already equipped with Net-connected computers.

As private players like Dishnet RED roll out hotspots all over the city ( i.e. all over all Barista, which incidentally, is a recently adopted sister-concern) usage really has not spread like wildfire.

One suggestion by a technology-illiterate.

Make Wifi internet accessible at two speeds-

1. At broadband minimum 256 Kbps at existing rates of access
2. Free ! at 56 Kbps

Anyone with a notebook should be able to access the internet. (56 kbps may sound cruel but wth it is Free) It is expected that while free Wifi access will bring more notebooks to the coffee table (and hence footfalls), over time this move will put more cash on the table. Moreover, the move if standardised universally will lead to perceivable improvement in sale of WiFi cards.

Free Wifi access is supposedly being provided at the Chennai Central and the Chennai Airport free. The proposed move will make free access at public places sustainable, rather than a burden on the service provider.

Will the evangelical telecom minister take the initiative ?

Chennai Metro - Tragic Comedy

The idea of this blog , lest you misunderstand, is not to question the status of the city of Chennai as a metropolitan city. That in the era of emerging newer cities, the question may not be totally irrelevant is a diferent issue.

The issue is that of the "panacea" to Chennai's traffic woes, The Metro Rail. Fortunately for Delhi but unfortunately for the rest of India, teh Delhi Metro is a success. Unfortunate for rest of India ??? Stupid politicians ( now,is there an intelligent politician?) donot have the originality to think up unique and customised solutions for each city. Cut-Copy-Paste is all they can understand.

The result is that Chennai will have 4 incompatible systems of rail transport. The Beach-Tambaram line cannot interconnect with the lines to Chennai Central. The MRTS ("Flying Train " in Tamil) donot interconnect with any other suburban rail system. The Ambattur-Chennai Central suburban line will not interconnect with other systems. To add to the incompatibility, the Metro is proposed. The metro is neither metre gauge nor broad gauge, it is standard gauge. It cannot "talk" to other networks even if it wants to. The commuter is expected to travel strictly on routes on any single network only.

The talk of the metro would have been hilarious if they governments did not seem serious about it. Now, it is a tragic-comedy (with apologies to P Chidambaram). But of course, politicians who never use public transport cannot be expected to do any better.

PS Whatever will happen to plans to extend the MRTS ?
Will Park Town -Chennai Central connectivity ever happen ?

Rhyme and Reason

Recently, the Madhya Pradesh State Government decided to replace 'English nursery rhymes' with Hindi patriotic rhymes. Predictably, the English language media took up the cudgels, opposing, as is their wont, every action by any BJP Government, accusing the party of saffronising ( a word contributed to the English language by the secular Indian press) Education. The BBC made a seemingly balanced coverage talking to urban "academicians" and "educationists". The Times of India played the more-British-than-British card and called the move churlish and emphasised the "importance of English" and in summary called it regressive. (see link below)

This blog believes that the MP Govt. move that has come not a moment too early. Nursery rhymes are meant to,amongst under-5 year olds, encourage speech, vocabulary, creativity while entertainingly engage them in the process.

The "English nursery rhymes" can do no better than the ones in any other language. The great Indian fancy for English has lead to the adoption of the British rhymes.
Many educated people are upset that their favourites rhymes will not be taught anymore (says newspapers). Please,the rhymes touch an emotional chord as we ( yes, it does with me too) learnt it during our blissful childhood and about which all of us (with normal childhoods) are nostalgic. Any rhyme of any other language would do just as well.

Having said that, is it not logical to begin one's education in one's mother tongue as opposed to a foreign tongue, however much it might be globall used. The first words learnt by most children the world over are in their mother tongue, well, except for children of Indian yuppies who find it below thier dignity to converse with their children in the native.With due support to learning English (globalisation, "child's future", "computers" and other 'reasons') it is unfortunate when someone's best language is not their mother tongue ( as it, admittedly, is with this write and his generation (x?) of ppl- blame it on Macualay).Now, for a nation often divided does it not make more sense to learn patriotic jingles as kids and be nostalgic about them when one gets older.
Moreover, most English nursery rhymes are - disaster oriented. e.g. Jack broke his crown, Jill came tumbling; ..bow breaks,the cradle will fall; London bridge is falling down; Humpty dumpty had a great fall,...plucked her nose etc. and don't really have much value except for the anglo-saxon tune recall.

Secular press... Give us a break. There are several things that BJP governments get it wrong. Go after them. If you can't get yourself to commend them , ignore them.


Psst...1.. The British Kindergarten Association of Kindergarten teachers would gladly endorse the MP Govt.'s move if the could hear the accent and tone of the rhymes as taught and as recited at schools proclaimed as "English medium" schools.

Psst..2.. Glad that Hindi seems to have creative writers to churn out KG poems. In Tamil Nadu, translations of English rhymes are passed off, many a time, as Tamil. (Intellectual Property lawyers Alert !). But thats hardly a surprise, for a state which has thrived on the "dubbing" culture.(Junoon effect !)


For news articles which prompted this critique :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5079002.stm
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articlelist.asp?msid=584497758
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1665143.cms
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articlelist.asp

Is Shashi Tharoor worth it ?

Should India support Shashi Tharoor for secretary-general of the UN ?
Is the fact that he holds in Indian Passport, was educated in India.(st. stephens, as NDTV telecast live) sufficient for India to support the candidature.
He is not from the Government of India, never served the Indian diplomacy establisment. This might be the best chance for a career UN diplomat with an Indian passport to ascend to the position, but his ascension does not assure India of any benefit.

Shashi is , admittedly, vastly experienced in UN affairs and may even be the right candidate for the job.Yet is it strategic for India to have him there ? Is it worth losing negotiating powers on other issues to secure this promotion to Tharoor

S-06 Unreserved Class

Dear Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam,
President of India

This is regarding the present raging controversy of ‘Reservations’.
Sir, The present system of Reservations has been institutionalised to achieve what is called ‘Social Justice’.The concept of Social Justice has been misused by the politicians to achieve Votebank ends.
The Constitution, when drafted, has taken into account scenario prevailing in 1950.It was probably, in the context of that day, desirable. Subsequently, much water flowed under the Yamuna.
The socio-economic patterns have changed a lot. The two tumbler system, untouchability, barring of entry to temples and many other social evils have been abolished. While ‘castes’ as a social denominator could probably have been a reasonable basis in 1947, today clearly they are outdated. Even if one does not agree to this , one has to agree to the fact that the Mandal Commission was drafted so long ago that, its findings on socio-economic indicators are .today, challengable.
There are many today belonging to castes which enjoy Reservation in Educational institutions and Government employment but who are wealthy enough to not deserve Reservations. Yet, they claim the crutch of reservation, at the cost of a meritorious student.

The Constitution was drafted to aid the so-called downtrodden castes of the society at the cost of the other castes, who are also Indian Citizens and who contribute to the Nation and yet are denied the right to equal opportunity.

While one must admit that the Lower Castes have during the Pre-Independence era has suffered discrimination, two wrongs do not make a right.

Brain Drain
Sir, you are a scientist par excellence and have worked for ISRO and Indian Defence programmes and you have seen many young Indian scientists working for India. I am sure; you have also watched helplessly when brilliant Indian minds go abroad and work for Foreign Governments and even worse, Foreign Space and Defence. I leave it to you to wonder why they left India and what caste they belonged to.
Sir, you are a qualified person to estimate the kind of progress, India would have made if all these persons had been provided opportunity in India.

Brain in the Drain
The immediate impact of Reservations in Higher Education is the dilution of quality of students. An impact of this will be the motivation levels of a teacher. The global reputation of an institution say like an IIT, IIM or IISc is badly affected.
Candidates who have secured seats in premier institutions through quota have been known to commit suicide because they have not been able to cope up with high standards of excellence. Any argument of Social Justice is Absurd here.

India- Education is Revered
Indian society has always revered education in all its forms. Which is probably one reason why Governments in India subsidies Higher Education. Poor Meritorious Individuals (whatever the caste) have utilised these subsidies and made a mark in their career thereby uplifting themselves and their families.
In other societies, say American, State does not subsidies Higher Education. However, they take it upon themselves to provide free and compulsory primary education to every child. Even meritorious students need to pay for Higher Education.
However, our system provided for subsidy and meritocracy resulting in Brilliant output.
Now, the policy of ‘social justice’ will destroy the same. So-called social justice is now Social Injustice.

Votebank Politics
In the face of severe protests, clearly, sir, you can see that the proposed policy of Arjun Singh and Co. is not ideal and not welcomed by most students and large sections of society. In fact refusal to consider some of the alternatives is a clear indication of Votebank Politics practised by Arjun Singh and Manmohan Singh of the Congress Government.

Some of the Alternatives that can be considered are-
Free and Compulsory Education
The arguments of Social Justice and right to equal opportunity have some relevance considering historical backgrounds. However, this can be compensated by providing free and compulsory school (primary and secondary) education. This provides a young person with enough skills to take up a career and earn his bread. Higher Education is no place to achieve Social Justice.
The innovative Finance Minister recently introduced an all pervasive Education cess collecting several hundred crores. This money can be easily utilised for purpose of free and compulsory education to EVERY child in India.

Economic criteria for Reservations
Social Justice is achieved when economically poorer sections of Society are empowered to live a dignified way of life. Poorer sections of society may belong t any caste. The present policy and the proposed policy is CRIMNAL injustice to the poor amongst the castes not entitled for reservation
Stop with First Generation beneficiaries
If Social Justice has to serve its purpose the fruits of Reservations should stop with the First generation beneficiaries. Else it might lead to intra-caste wars.
Limitation on Reservation
Reservation, as envisaged by Ambedkar, was for a limited period. What is the limitation period proposed now?
Sir, Did you check on this before you assented to the Bill?
Right to Equal Opportunities
The phrase “Right to Equal Opportunities” is (deliberately) misunderstood. So-called Activists are raising demands for reservation in judiciary and civil services. You will agree with me, sir that it is the state’s responsibility to provide for a dignified life to all its citizens and the means for them to earn a honest living. However, it is not and SHOULD NOT be the concern of the state to expect or even aim that all denominations of its citizenry should be represented in all walks of life in the same proportion as the population.
Sir, Communities have inherent strengths and weaknesses. It is most often found that communities operate in their domain of strength. That is why, some communities are entrepreneurial, while some are academic, while some other communities may excel in physically-demanding professions. India needs to build on its strength, not weaknesses.

The Constitutional Amendment has undesirable consequences for India and upsets the level playing field.

Reservation in Private Sector
The Government has no moral right to impose quotas on the private sector which began thriving after the Government decided to become less interventionist. This move can hit the core of our competitiveness and lead to flight of capital by FIIs and FDI investors.

President of India – Unique Position.
Sir, we have read that you have assented to the Bill only after seeking explanations from the Prime Minister. Yet, we are disappointed that you have approved the Bill. Sir, please think about the future of India, the merits of our argument and please revisit your conscience.
You, as educationist, as space scientist, as defence expert are in a unique position to assess the needs of India.
You, as President of India, are known to be impartial and known to take decisions where no political party can accuse of as being partial.
You are in yet another unique position. You are, by religion, a Muslim. None can accuse you of taking decision that are favouring either this caste or that caste.
Kindly do whatever is possible to protect the rights of those who have no protection of Reservation. Kindly save India.
I, represent a whole set of young citizens who demand to know. Your response is keenly awaited. We would not mind meeting you to impress on you our concern of the situation whose gravity we believe you know.

Thanking you
Regards,

Pavan N Rao
and other Concerned Citizens

aarakshan , meeslaithi

Labour Leader ?

The thorn in Periyar’s heart will finally be plucked out,’’ said a Tamil Nadu government order today permitting people belonging to all Hindu communities, with the required training and qualification, to become archakas (priests) in temples.

Periyar was an atheist and a Buddhist. He is well known for his antitheistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." - Wikipedia

'Thanthai Periayar' man had no faith in God (in all its variants). One wonders what his concern was as to who were the priestly class. As he rabidly propogated "Rationalism" why was Periyar concerned with permitting people belonging to all Hindu communities to become archakas.

Was Periayar,after all, only a labour leader ?

Know your Roots

The BJP would not have be in the mess that it is had it been careful in retaining its RSS values while taking on modern ones.

The underplayed RSS value of 'One Man One Post' has enormous merit. Had the party followed it in toto, the BJP could have taken the moral high ground in the 'Office of Profit' Controversy.

Goes to show that one should know one's roots before making policy changes.

Reel -n- Real

Watching on Television the horrid visuals of policemen assaulting medicos , I was reminded of , No Not Jallinwallah Bagh but actually of Rang de Basanti.(click link)
In which case, my intutive self tells me, 'Danger flag is hoisted for' Arjun Singh.

Good Riddance, it will be.



"A Case for Reservations " byt he same blogger http://thoughtpaisa.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_thoughtpaisa_archive.html was set in a different context. The blogger reserves the right to change his views.

Karu..

During the hard-fought election campaign Shri Karunanidhi had apparently promised not to be vindictive . Karu had gone on record asserting that a "good" government was one which built on the schemes of the old ones and respected teh previous regime.

Cut to after-swearing in. The CM Karunanidhi appoints Syed Munir Hoda , suspended officer, as a secretary on the day the Government took charge. Syed Munir Hoda is charged of acting in a sensitive case without informing the Government.

Surely, The DMK government could not have completed an enquiry and declared him "not guilty " in under a day. Which compels one to ask "Under whose instuctions was the former Home Secretary Syed Munir Hoda acting ?"

Surely, Karu could have been less blatant about the whole show.

Damned if you do, damned if you dont

Question of the day on CNN IBN.
Do you agree that Indian society is guilty of endorsing moral policing ?
SMS Y to agree N to disagree.

Polls are supposed to reflect opinion, not a space to editoralise. Either way, the respondent is forced to concede moral policing is a criminal offence. I suppose Rajdeep Sardesai is an advocate of immoral policing.

Editorialise, Call it a poll , make an hour's show on this basis and make money through SMS. Rajdeep you are a master.

Interesting... MGR legacy

An interesting titbit most pollsters missed is the fact that this elections ,young electors who were born in the post-MGR era will vote for the FIRST Time.
Will his legacy still hold sway ?
We will hafta wait.

Post script: First half-hour trends foretell a record turnout.

Obit : PM

Await my obituary to Pramod Mahajan , a big hero to me ( Thalivar in Tamil , Guru in Kannada)

The mother of all battles

The battle royale for Fort St. George is possibly the biggest and bitterest ever fought in Tamil Nadu (as far as bitterest is concerned, mybe even the world). The media, the coverage, the mercenary-campaigners, the sudden shift of loyalties ( to use a corporate managementspeak, HR turnover).
It is make or break for DMK dependent on octegenarian MuKa. Equally crucial for Amma. Vijaykanth seems to be an also-ran. However, there are no popular heirs to either Ayya or Amma.And no one is getting younger. The "go-it -alone' decision of Vijaykanth, apparently foolhardy, may be to lose the battle to win the war.

My fav. line this elections (atributed to Simran): No prizes for guessing loyalties.
Amma is Amma, Baaki ella Summa

Mens Rea - The Dayanidhi Files

It took the newspapers 2 years to reveal the mystery of the appointment of first-time MP ("nincompoop" as Jayalalithaa would have it) as the Communications Minister in the Union Cabinet when it was prima facie all along.
The denials lack credibility. Dayanidhi ( For heaven's sake, Maran is his dead father's name) does not have the guts to tell the media "Go and ask Ratan Tata" . That is enough proof for me.

Brand IIT

Well, I had to choose whether this title of this blog would be about branding or about politics, then decided- Branding wins.

5 people form a political party. All newspapers carry the news. Several Thousand youth see hope.
All because the the 5 persons went through undergrad at one of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Lok Paritrana is known as the party "started by IITians".I must have received atleast 6 email fwds before I decided on this blog. There are political parties with educated people in them and am sure that all the Executive Council of every major parties have educated people on them.

But IITians must be different goes the unvoiced argument. Almost none of the people who forwarded the email to me knew any of the founders. Yet , a virtual campaign is being run on their behalf. It is attributable directly (and only) to Brand IIT. Would 5 Chartered Accountants receive the same kind of response. Or 5 brilliant engineers from Non-IIT institutions for that matter.

I hate to be pesimisstic when so many young ppl seem to smell fresh hope. But do a bunch of super engineers deserve my vote because they are super-engineers. Performance, Experience, Manifesto Anybody ??

From Scott Adams' Asok to Lok Paritrana, brand IIT rulez.
The developments also goes to show how much the youth are fed up of the existing establishment and the hope that they look fwd to from IIT.(sic)

Is election ka kharcha kaun dega ?

Who will bear the cost of this election ???

Sonia Gandhi , on her own volition, early this month resigned from the office of Member of Parliament. The same lady wants to contest from the same constituency in the by-election caused by her own resignation. Should the bewakoof exchequer foot the bill for the election. This Rae Bareli by-election is being forced onto a nation ,solely, by the actions of Sonia Gandhi. She, should foot the bill from her pocket.

The story would have been different had the Election Commission disqualified Sonia Gandhi and she contests the elections after having resigned from all the other Governemnet of India establishments named after the Gandhi family. In those circumstances, it might have been argued that she had a point to prove.

Will somebody file a PIL ?

Ad India

However busy one might be, However, close the exams may be one cannot but stop and watch the bees , smell the roses and observe the ads.

Voltas, a Tata brand, has been reduced to play the India card to regain marketshare. What a pity ! SOmebody told me that the little girl actually says "India ka AC. Korea ki nahin" . Poor Voltas. LG, Samsung and Hyundai must have given them hot competition. (Psst : Business Standard says Voltas ahve actually staged a comeback)

E-serve comes up seemingly stupid ads. I learn that they are targeted at University students sitting for Final examinations. Message being that however you perform at the examinations we at eserve are only too willing to hire you. The return of the eCoolie ?.

Interesting , but I suppose that E-serve's ad budget for HR purposes must be greater than its budget for Marketing purposes

No, Prime Minister

Speak for yourself, Mr. Prime Minister

Mr. Clean Manmohan Singh,
Dear Sir,
Admittedly you owe your present designation to the lady who repeatedly insists on reminding the nation, rather dramatically, that she is in fact a saint. And a little bit of gratitude is definitely good manners, no it is even moral and ethical. Being the Mr. Nice you were bound to make a statement extolling the virtues of the Saint "tallest leader and has a rare commitment to moral values which you do not find in plenty in our country".
Considering your debt to her the reference to your patron saint Sonia Gandhi as "tallest leader" is understandable and one who has "a rare commitment to moral values..." is also tolerable. But what is NOT tolerable is your ingratitude to the citizens of your nation when you uttered "...moral values which you do not find in plenty in our country".

This Country , my motherland, (well you dont seem to think know much about India) has enough moral values and more than all of the Congress Party put together several times over. If your remark were in the context of the Congress Party make that clear or if your remarks were in the context of the political class make that clear.

Whichever context you have made the remark, it does not do India any proud and I am ashamed of your remark, Prime Minister.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/23pm.htm

Openers and Rahul

Atlast official cricketing wisdom backs me and my Guru Rahul Dravid.

Geoff Boycott, in his felicitation to Rahul Dravid, on the eve of his 100th Test wonders why Rahul does not consider himself to be good enough to be a regular opener.

Because, Geoff, the cricketing critics will not let him. Every time Rahul opens the batting critics will say that he can, at best, be a stop-gap opener. The critics seem to believe that the opening batsmen can only belong to a different species than ordinary cricketers. So, much that when an ODI opener Saurav is not even considered to open Test games.

“Openers are born, not made” the critics seem to believe. There is a constant look. Tons of performance does not seem to convince critics that Rahul Dravid can possibly open the innings.

One childhood-mate of an Ex-captain who was regular No.3 opened for India once and failed. The ostensible excuse was that he was not used to the ‘opener’ slot. Pray, what role would he be handling if the first wicket fell of the first ball ?

Traditionally, thanks to this critic-viewpoint, India has constantly looking to recruit openers for it national team from the regional openers caste.

Admittedly, Opening an innings can be a specialist task. But consider the fairness of pulling out First-class cricketers to meet the like of international speedsters on their debut. Thus went Vikram Rathore, Sujith Somasundar and several others whom history may not even remember to meet Allan Donald, Wasim Akram and Courtney Walsh on their debut.

The story will go on…
… Unless RD decides …

Psst : Speculation is that RD asked Saurav to open in Pakistan and ( am not making comments here) Ganguly mouthed “Why me” and Dear RD led by example.
PS: When Irfan Pathan opened in the second innings of the third Test at Wankhede the commentators heaped criticism on Rahul claiming that he was sending bowlers to do a batsman's job and that he must have come in himself. Poor Rahul !!

The Next President of India

I beleive, like most young people, I have spoken to that APJ Abdul Kalam was the best thign to have happened to Indian Politics in a long time.Old-timers like my Grandad rate him next to Dr. Rajendra Prasad And Radhakrishnan amongst Indian Presidents.Admittedly, I am amongst his innumerable fans and will drop whatever I am doing to listen to his speeches.
Listing out his credentials is not neccasary. Listing out how different President he ahs been is also pointless. . The purpose of this blog is to urge him to have a second term in office. Our dear President has already claimed to get back to teaching after his term. Let su impress upon him that by teaching he will be of use tot eh Science student community but as President he can inspire an entire nation.

A hunch tells me that he will not agree. Maybe a fair decision considering his age and even maybe a personal policy of single-terms.

So, what do we do next. We, teh ppl of India have been truly inspired by a worthy President. Should we risk the arrival of Gadha-Ghoda as our President. The spoof that Indiatimes has created http://people.indiatimes.com/holiarticleshow/msid-1448674.cms is a SUper-suggestion. Lets push for N Narayana Murthy as the next President of India. Why him ? Because he is honest, intelligent, intellectual, International Public Face of Indian Industry and yet earthy in his stands and care for community.
He is already THE ambassador of the most-admired Indian company that he heads. The President of India will be a natural extension of his role.

Remember. A right President can move the nation, the wrong one can stall it.

Questions that I want to ask but dunno whom to ask ?

Questions that I want to ask but dunno whom to ask ?

The Justice U C Banerjee report claims that ‘of the 250 passengers in the (S -6) coach , 59 died and the rest escaped: “ How could it happen if the entry doors were locked?” (Hindu Edit 7 Mar 2006)

I have travelled by the Indian Railways, predominantly by sleeper class. The Letter ‘S’ is in Railway parlance, I suppose, used as a prefix to denote the 3 tier sleeper. That , I suppose further, makes the ill-fated S-6 a three-tier sleeper coach.

The coaches that I have travelled in South India (Nope, I have not travelled much in North India and not at all in Gujarat) could carry 72 passengers in 3 tier sleepers and much less in higher classes.

The second class sitting coaches, I am told can carry a maximum of 108 ppassengers.

This gyaan begs me to know as to why the coaches that can carry 250 persons in compartment not been introduced in South India. Why Southern Railways must be given such step-motherly treatment. Should not more South Indians travel?

That’s enough of me being selfish. Now, that an “accident” has taken place (Nobody seems to know what accident took place much less how) should not the Railways reprimand itself for building unsafe coached that can carry 250. I forthwith demand the withdrawal of all coaches built and being used that can carry 250 passengers. If that is not done, such coaches must be used all over India so that all Indians can benefit from them.
I demand to know, through, the Right to Information Act the number of three-tier coaches that exist of such capacity.

If the honourable Mr. Banerjee and armchair (air-conditioned, I may add) Editors of newspaper ever travel in a fully occupied compartment meant for 72, and then imagine 250 on board the same compartment…

Thanmaana Singam – Hahaha

Thanmaana Singam – Hahaha
(literally, Self-respecting Lion or man of Honour)

The MDMK Chief V. Gopalasamy (now called Vaiko) recently broke off his alliance with the DPA in Tamil Nadu and joined hands with “Anbu Sahodari Dr. Puratchi Thalaivi Amma avargal” one wonder how one can be Anbu Sahodari and Amma at the same time.. but I am digressing.

Of course, in politics , (to quote Jayalalithaa who quoted some great thinker) “ there are no permanent friends or foes”. Fair Enough, except if one bothers to remember, not so long ago, Vaiko had been incarcerated by the Jayalalithaa government for nearly 18 months on POTA charges.

One view ( to which I subcribe too)is that Jayalalithaa needed to break the DPA alliance more than she needed Vaiko herself. The strategy aside, it is hilarious to find a politician make a U-turn. More so when the turn is from Vaiko who had been personally humiliated by the Jaya govt. for being an LTTE Tigers sympathiser.

The most hilarious part comes here. The cries that accompanied Vaiko when he met the honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was “Thanmaana Singam vaiko Vaazhga (Hail Self-respecting Lion, Vaiko)”

The tiger has apparently changed species.

Tch tch Sachin-Laxman

If I am not mistaken natural light conditions, in sub continental India during the afternoon can only deteriorate over time. So ,when light was offered to Sachin and Laxman did they have to take it. Could they not, have played a few more overs and who knows a 20:20 like game could have made this Nagpur Test historic.
In case the wickets fell, the batsman could then have taken the “bad light” route. Was it the decision of the duo on the field or had Dravid-Chappel instructed Laxman. Surely, the team management are better tacticians than that.

I am sure no other Indian Captain but for Rahul Dravid would have taken the bold decision to press for victory inspite of the conditions. So, I am flummoxed by the “bad light” choice.

Or am I totally mistaken with the light rule. Is it like if you donot take it if offered you can’t choose the excuse at your convenience.

Psst : In a match in Dhaka, Md. Azhauddin had played on despite pathetic light conditions to win the OD match.

Jessica Lal

In the Jessica Lal case, raising a petition to the President for a retrial may not help as long as the eye-witnesses donot speak the truth.
The only way to get the eye-witnesses to speak the truth would be to mount pressure on them.
Newschannels and Newspapers can spearhead it by publishing names of the witnesses along with their photographs, occupation and address. They can also do the same for all those who were present at the scene of murder. Media should also highlight all the high-profile "connections" of the accused and shame the persons involved.
The public can then build pressure on the witnesses who turned hostile and appeal to their conscience.
Newschannels soliciting (yes, soliciting) SMSes only fill their coffers.

AOL Silver Jubilee - Bengaluru loses branding opportunity

• The 3 day celebrations of the international organisation Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore was an amazing branding event.
  
  It was Brand Art of Living shining bright and carrying along with it Brand Hinduism, Brand Carnatic music and er…Brand Bangalore.
  
  While the first two were well projected, Bangalore could not achieve what it should have achieved. Before I am misunderstood, let me put it on record that Bangalore and the government did an amazing job in accommodating lakhs of visitors, arranging for their long commute of Jakkur-, yeah overall hospitality was good.
  But was it good enough. Unfortunately No !! Bengaluru- the city of the future- lost several opportunities that it are unlikely to knock in a hurry. Two events ,which brought centrestage to Bangalore were happening – The AOL Fete and the Shravanabelagola Jain Mahamastabhisheka.
  
  The ideal scenario would have been if …
• the Bangalore International Airport had been ready
• The Road Infrastrucure in place
• A functional metro/monorail
• The Tourism Office going the Full Hog
  
  Now, my idea will make sense if I tell you that most of the 10 lakh + visitors to Bangalore were first-time visitors with enough disposable income to make the trip and more importantly, Senior Government officials of various nations (including Heads of States) who too, in all probability, visiting for the first time.
  
  Airport Bangalore could have attracted direct international traffic. Infrastructure, when flaunted, would attract investment from the high-profile leaders of global industry and government. ( How ? The same logic that says that having better pubs and nightlife attract expatriates and hence FDI. Pious expatriates might want to build businesses in the City of “Guruji”)
  
  
  Conceded that AerodROMEs are not built in a day but the city could have atleast
• Repaired its roads . (Remember the Oct 2005 rains wreaking Havoc)
• Cleaned up the garbage on roads that the visitors were likely to pass through
• and simply put on its best clothes.
  
  Karnataka could have generated enormous publicity/ awareness about Belur, Halebid and its sites of amazing tourist potential. (Thankfully, Brand Hampi got some prominence but that was thanks to HHSSRS)
  
  The AOL and Gomateshwara shows were ready made opportunities to showcase Bangalore to the world.
  Bangalore managed a Just Pass but it failed to reach where it could have.
  One cannot really blame Bengaluru for the short-sightedness of its politicians. Does the youngest Chief Minister of Karnataka signal hope or is he too on the wrong side of Chalees.

Joy Gurudev ! Ńośtradamvs Mìstákë ??

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s (HHSSRS for short) Big Bash concluded with over 1 million visitors to Jakkur near Bangalore. I was witness to the respect, reverence and adulation that lakhs of people expressed. In twenty five years HHSSRS has won over millions of people in nearly 200 countries. Makes me wonder…
The AOL Foundation (Art of Living, not America Online) expected 25 lakh visitors at Jakkur from all over the world for the silver jubilee extravaganza. Assuming 25 % of AOL members were expected to make it that puts the number of ‘devotees’ (shall we call them) at 1 crore. The Sudarshan Kriya being as effective as it is, one would expect heavy Word-of-mouth advertising. I presume every member will bring in one person every year into the fold (Now, one person a year is not an outrageous assumption). And that every new person brought into the Art of Living fold will continue to induct one new member a year.
Now, I suppose the World population in Year 2050 will be 900 crores (projecting from India now at 100+ crores expected to be 150 crores by 2050).
Given that 44 more years ahead of 2050 and using the higher secondary formula of n(n+1)/2 we find .. Hallelujah… the entire global population constitute the membership of the Art of Living Foundation.

Which begs me to ask the question… Was Nostradmus confused between celestial bodies when he predicted about the Messiah from the East “He will have a name related to the moon” ? (Chapter15 - C.2, Q. 28)

Interesting Links
http://www.otoons.com/osho_nostradamus.html
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/nostradamus/cent2.html

PS for dummies: Ravi = Sun

Rang de Basanti

Rang de Basanti

Passable

Strictly for those who have watched RdB

For all that pre-release publicity extravaganza, Rang de Basanti turned out to be just passable.

For what did RdB convey. The youth must be willing to lay down their lives for the nation. Fair enough. But no more. Except that MiGs are bad aircrafts and India’s armed forces deserve a better deal.But how did they convey that. The storyline is weak, ie. for teh effect it intends to create.

RdB does not take a stand on corruption. Nor any of the things that contribute to India being a “hopeless” state. An one off-line suggesting filling up of IAS and IPS by determined youth is only just that- an one off line. For the entire hype, one expected the medium to be the message.

The DJ gang had never suffered in life because of “all that was wrong with India” and had even bribed the cops themselves. They weren’t any different to take up the moral high ground and shoot the Defence Minister.

RdB is anti-establishment, not just anti-politicians. RdB does not offer suggestions to the youth, nor does it particularly exhort. The Bhagat Singh-Azad excuse (though admittedly, inspirational) was handy to bring in the religion equation. A narrative (though technologically brilliant) left the audience with a lot of guessing to do.

There have been better movies exhorting the youth- The Tamil flick starring Sidharth- Boys , to put in their mite for the nation – Swades . There have been better movies tackling corruption – Muthalvan (Nayak in Hindi) and Ramana (reasonable inspite of Vijayakanth) and how-can-I-forget Anniyan (Yet to be remade in Hindi) probably my favourite movie of 2005

Nevertheless, RdB is a well-made movie with all actors and actresses (I am still old worldly) putting up a good show. While the Crew got the religion equation right they missed the regional equation. A southie could have been thrown in somewhere, atleast as one of the radio callers. But of course, UTV, the producers, needed Madhavan for the movie to sell in Chennai.

For that heavy Media-budget and the mutual IOUs with NDTV and other brands, the movie was a BIG letdown
Finally, the one line that redeems the movie…

Is par bhi na khaule jo vo khoon nahi vo paani hai

jo desh ke kaam na aa saki, bekaar vo jawani hai

PS. If the media and some ppl still go gaga over .... just goes to tell you how opinions can be influenced with a big Ad budget .

Ms C

Ms. C. I cannot live without her. She marks the start of my day. She is the biggest feature of my afternoon. Oh! I love her. Call it puppy love, if you will but it is no infatuation to have lasted all through pre-teen, teen and now tweens. She is hot (believe me) and my folks like her so. And she really turns me on.

She is not extremely fair. She’s brown. So what ? So am I. And now, suddenly, these people ask me to give her up. Who are they anyway? My family approves of her – hey infact introduced her to me ;) – what else matters. Now, it is not particularly unanimous. My father likes her light; my mother likes her darker. I have always found her sweet (as sweet as two spoons of sugar) andmy granddad, approvingly, calls her “strong”.

“But for you, she is upto no good”, they say. But why, for God’s sake. “Because you are dependent on her.” But, I love her. “Love her by all means” but “don’t be an addict.” “What if you had to travel. She cannot be everywhere. You would be a wreck if you couldn’t find her there.”

“So what should I do ?” asked I. “Deaddict” was the advise. So I did. Today I still love her but can live a life without her. I love Ms C. Coffee.

rompQuaker

Aruna, a young CA student, twenty-something, (it might well be twenty-nothing) gets top marks for initiative.
A Chartered Accountancy PE 2 student, Aruna, took some advise adversely and came up with an innovative idea. Her Accountancy Professor had advised students that, in the run up to their examinations, they had better avoid cell phones as their normal use cause distraction. Fair enough. While one is desperately attempting to ‘tally’ the balance sheet, arrives the double beep. ”Roses are red, violets are blue, my friendship for you is definitely true.” The balance sheet goes out through the window.

That sparked off an idea. Aruna thought up something to make productive use of the ubiquitous mobile phone. She decided to deliver CA syllabus oriented content, everyday, through SMS. 6 subjects form the CA PE-2 (professional examination 2) examination and hence 6 messages originate from her mobile and are sent to over 170 members across Chennai.

But Aruna is quick to be modest. She says she works with the help of friends. She works with a team of 5 ‘contributors’ and 15 distributors. The Contributors formulate the content –no more that 450 characters per subject. She has about 15 ‘distributors’. These distributors receive the message from Aruna and forward it to members on their assigned distribution list.

rompQuaker , as her service is called, is about 6 months old. The service is on 7 days a week except for a scheduled suspension for the examination. This free service while, directly serving only Chennaiites is indirectly reaching all over India, claims Aruna.

Each member forwards it to as many people as he wants to and so it pans all across the close-knit CA student community. A small handheld initiative began impacting her fellow-students.

What Next ? She doesnot know. I suggest she look for a business model to generate a revenue stream. She is not interested. That’s a pity. For entrepreneurship commences where initiative concludes.

Ps. If you want to subscribe to rompQuaker's free service , message to +91 98413 88852

This blog will, at all times, celebrate initiative and entrepreneurship.

A dissertation on Comparative Analysis of patterns in Humans choosing their mate and investors’ behaviour towards stocks.

A doctoral thesis

It is an uncanny similarity. Which came first ? Relationships or Investing ? There is a weird resemblance between the pattern in which man (including woman *) invests on the stock market and the pattern in which he (including she*) chooses his mate or shall we say- to be politically correct and inclusive- his significant other.

Some investors hold on to stocks because their grandfathers had bought them and had passed it down the generations. (Fair enough. Correspondingly, some men marry within the same family that their father married from. South Indian Mama or Athai’s daughter)

Some investors buy a stock and hold on to it for life. Fair enough, some marriages last a lifetime.
Some other investors invest for the long term. At an opportune moment (when the going is good), they sell-out booking long-term capital gain, now Tax-free. (alimony, did some one say…)

Some investors buy shares for the short term (less than 12 months) ! exit the investment once they see a more promising stock( booking short-term CG, tax only @ 10 %) ! (Pick up- Drop- Escape..)

Some investors are actually speculators. They Buy today sell tomorrow. They don’t even take delivery!!! (One night stand, anybody)…
And some do intra-day trading. That is, buying and selling within the day.
They even sell first and then buy!! (Oh oh !!!...

But every young man better know, that historically it is proven, that long term investments in carefully chosen equities create maximum, enduring value. Short-term gains are just that –short term and are taxed at higher rates. Constant speculation can lead to losses. Even if they don’t, the brokerage shelled out is likely to exceed the gains.

* Intrepretation to the General Clauses Act.

Sania-Kamal Affair: 1 crore involved

Sania’s one crore affair with Kamal

G. Kamal Vardhana Rao is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP).Over the last 5 years SAAP has spent nearly a crore of rupees in directly supporting Sania Mirza. Today, Sania Mirza is World No. 34 vindicating SAAP’s support her. What does SAAP, a Government of Andhra Pradesh outfit get in return ? “Acknowledgement of its support by displaying SAAP’s logo on its attire”, say Kamal Vardhana Rao.

Celebrity management firm Globosport which manages Sania’s off-court career has restricted Sania’s endorsements to six, each fetching 1.5 crore rupees (per annum presumably) according to sources. Clearly, Sania no longer needs monetary support from SAAP.

Talent spotting and supporting—which is what SAAP has done to Sania amongst others—is not far from Venture Capital. Venture Capitalists spot budding entrepreneurs with visionary ideas and a burning desire to succeed. They take the risk and put their money on the idea, put their money on the entrepreneur and wait patiently sinking more money for the cause if need be. VCs do the same with many promising entrepreneurs, diversifying their risk. Eventually, one of them strikes it big and the VC makes enough money to cover for those who did not.

For every Sania Mirza that a SAAP creates there are others who did not make it so big. It is a risk that SAAP takes and it is its job to promote talent. But when Sania does strike it big should the Government department be satisfied with an acknowledgement.

Not, in my opinion. The VC does not just seek an acknowledgement. He needs a reward, a reward for risk. SAAP need not profiteer, but they can build up their coffers to support the next set of sportspersons who may do India proud. SAAP should have ideally, negotiated a percentage of her earnings; It can do it even now, if the corporate managers of Sania are magnanimous enough.

SAAP can even monetise the acknowledgement on Sania’s attire and sell it to the highest bidder, well, atleast negotiate a reasonable price for it.

G. Kamal Vardhana Rao, please wake up, it is not enough to back the right horse; One must also collect the moolah !

http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/28/stories/2005092809142100.htm