If there was no Orkut, would friends wish you on Birthdays

Wanna check how many people actually remember your Birthday ?

Do this mini-experiment. A week before your Birthday go to all the networking sites - Orkut, Hi-Fi etc that you are a member of and "switch off" the birthday indicator or mark it 'private'.

Wait for your birthday and check out how many actually wish you.

You will get Interesting (if disappointing) results.

Not that birthdays matter, just an index of how people rely on technology so much that they do not care for personal touch

Will Advani be a statesman ?

Television News Channels are predicting the doom of the Manmohan Singh led , nay, prime ministered UPA Government, in the wake of the Manmohan-Sonia's pro-nuclear deal stance vis-a-vis the defiant Left front.

All sorts of arithmetic are being worked out, by television channels, to see how, and if, the Manmohan Singh government. A lot of gyan on 'sacrificing power for national interest of nuclear deal' psephology versus inflation psephology verus other miscellaneous theories are floating around.

If Manmohan Singh, in all his 4 years as Prime Minister has stood by conviction on any issue, it is possibly the nuclear deal with US. Interestingly, the deal was mooted by the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government and the deal progressed until the elections intervened and Manmohan replaced Vajpayee.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not oppose the deal in the manner that the Left does. One means that the BJP has no 'matter of principle' objections to the deal. (yes, the swadeshi sentiments and nuclear deal are mutually exclusive) . THe BJP's opposition to the deal is the traditional 'opposition for Opposition's sake'

With elections due in the USA in the next 4 months, a possible change of guard may fade hopes of the nuclear deal irredeemably.

Lal Krishna Advani, has a golden chance to play naughty politics, topple the government and cause an elections. Hell, he does not even have to play politics. Internal fissions within the UPA may cause disintegration.

Lal Krishna Advani, has a golden chance to play the statesman, and emerge a taller politician. He should place national considerations above short-term opportunistic views and endorse the deal.
If Advani will assure Manmohan that the BJP will vote in favour of Manmohan in case of a Lok Sabha vote (atlease abstain) it will further the nuclear deal, Advani will emerge taller and the BJP a party that keeps national interests foremost.

Why Manmohan is persisting with nuclear deal ?

Manmohan Singh is a good man.

The prime ministership was thrust upon him and he accepted it.

Manmohan Singh is an honest man. There have been cases of moral turpitude amongst his Cabinet colleagues but none dare raise a finger against him.

What is the use of a leader of intergrity if he cannot discipline his lieutenants ? Not much, except a stable government.

Manmohan has tolerated, withstood many a disgrace possibly because if he did resign the nation would be in a political turmoil.
HOwever, Mr. Singh does want to leave legacy, his footprints on the sands of Pokhran. He very badly wants to do the nuclear deal and if there is one cause he is willing to go the full length for, then this is it.

Inflation happens no matter what gymanstic he and his cohort perform, Manmohan singh will not be able to leave footprints on sands od time.

Has Devanahalli done It ?

That is the question. Has Devanhalli done it ? Has Devanahalli done what advisories could not ?

Devanahalli's Bengaluru International Airport has brought the elite to use public transport. The Junta who would turn up their nose and use a personal car or a taxi are now using BMTC buses and Taxipools. Of course, to be fair, new air-conditioned buses are being used by the BMTC. The routes operated cover the city in a broad-brush. The pick-up points are centrally located and have convenient feeder services. Families have stopped visiting airports to see-off or receive relatives.

Another realisation is that the connectivity to the airport is not as worse as it was made out to be (This writer has not visited BIA and this post is based on anecdotal evidence). After the airport was finally thrown open, Bangalore Mirror's (a Times of India publication) much touted Devana yelli ? campaign for better connectivity to the new airport fizzled out. Also, it might proves that if you let people expect the worst and perform better than worst, everyone is happy.

The BIA airport and BMTC together have helped the classes take to public transport. Can this be replicated for the rest of the city ? A mammoth task indeed but the benefits may be manifold.

Mumbai Indians ? duh !

The DLF IPL conception-to-execution seems to have happened faster than one could imagine. Literally.
This is apparent in the lack of creativity in the way the teams have been named, oops, branded.
There are 2 'royal's in the Royal Challengers and Rajasthan Royals. Two kings, in Chennai Super Kings and Kings Punjab. The Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore team's 'royal' name is understandable not the Rajasthan team's plagiarism.
However, Mumbai Indians, take the cake. What are the rest of us. Pakistanis ? And it is not as if this team has not hired expatriates.
But then What's in a name ?

The Rs 60,000 Crore Waiver

The Rs 60,000 Crore Waiver

As a common man I object to the large scale largesse to the agricultural community.
The measeure will not bring any relief to the marginal farmer in the clutches of the private moneylender, it also disincentivises the farmer who is repaying the loan.

While the government may goahead with the proposal, citizens seek to know who the biggest defaulters.

The entire list of defaulters in the descending order of loan outstanding should be published on a website.

Some of the reforms I suggest are-
All new loans should be granted only to PAN holding farmers.
All procurement should be made from PAN-holding farmers.
Farmers earning more than 10 lakhs pa should pay tax at peak personal Income tax rate for all income in excess of Rs 10 lakhs pa.

Why Bhajii is unlikey to have abused Symonds

Bhajji is unlikely to be guily to Racial abuse. That ICC's system of jurisprudence is unlikely to take cognizance of that is a different matter.

Why ?

Harbhajan is an Indian Sardar. In the abuse lexicon of Indians, certain zoological species are frequently used. Monkey, Donkey, Dog et al are some of them. We Indians value birth, parentage,lineage, caste, race and hence abusing one of these is considered a good insult.

Having said that, Bhajji is unlikely to have "racially' abused Symonds, because we Indians do not care what race a foreigner is. They are all 'mlechchas'. Had the abused been another Indian, one might have been tempted to assume "racial abuse". After all, we use abuse castes, don't we.

But Symonds is no Dalit and hence Bhajji could not have cared less whether Symonds was native aboriginal or Black. ( am not sure whether Bhajji can pronounce "aborigine")

And about the monkey business, come on, that was a fair comment !