22 Dec 2006

The bidding war


The Tata CNS bid for Corus has dominated business headlines for days. The price war started with the TATA’s offering 455 pence per share (company value at 4.3 billion pounds) The present offer is 515 pence a share from CNS compared to 500 pence per share from the TATA’s (company value 5.7 billion pounds and 5.1 billion pounds respectively).

The media has been awash with speculations of what the TATA’s might do and what CNS might do. Theories and counter theories of market dynamics. About which company would be a better suitor. Which company would be able to synergise with the company better and what not. Some people have even gone as far as saying that Corus felt it was undervalued by the TATA’s and wanted to increase its valuation by getting CNS to offer a better price.

But there is one important statistic that has hardly been talked about since the first report. Since CNS already hold a 3.8% stake in Corus, even if they fail to win the price war they will still laugh all the way to the bank. 3.8% of 0.8 billion pounds (difference between the two TATA offers) is a comfortable 30 million pounds.

A related article on Canary Warf that had the same price war

20 Dec 2006

Malt March


After being a NITwit four years, people regularly ask me how do people from Surathkal manage to live in a place like Surat. When asked to define what they mean the answer is usually to the effect "Emmm, u know, dry state and all."

Well, for the ignorant out there, Gujarat is the only state in India where the sale of alcohol is illegal. The reason given for this is that it is Gandhiji's home state. "So what?" you may say. Well, the government took it upon itself to impose Gandhiji's philosophy through the rule of law.

But as we all know, when you tell some one don't touch something, it exponentially increases the chances that the person will actually touch it. Bootlegging is as common here as it was in America during the Prohibition. Incidentally it is idea that is said to have fascinated Gandhi (Prohibition, my friend, not the bootlegging)

With prohibition miserably failing to attain what it set out to, many people are questioning the government's policy. One enterprising group has actually come out with the idea of a MALT MARCH. To imitate Gandhi's salt march with a difference. Will it succeed in creating a wound and rubbing salt on it? Only time will tell.

P.S. I plan to post more about this Malt March as and when I get details. So stay tuned.

19 Dec 2006

Black or white?

Rs 50 lakh were paid as ransom for the release of Anant Gupta, the son of Adobe India Chief, who had been kidnapped this Monday. This was revealed on late Friday night with STF launching an operation at Kakod Near Bulandshehar.

Naresh Gupta admitted that he had paid Rs 50 lakh to secure his son's release, a fact that even the Noida police were not told about.

full article

I guess most people assumed (like the kidnappers did i'm sure) that the head of India operations of Adobe would have that much to spare. On the other hand, it looks like our Income tax Department had no idea that there was that much money involved in the business.

The Income Tax Department has slapped a notice on Adobe India CEO Naresh Gupta, who had allegedly paid a huge ransom to kidnappers for release of his three-year-old son Anant in November. Additional Income Tax Commissioner Amar Vir Singh has asked Gupta to appear before him on December 28, informed sources said.

The department has sought from Gupta details about his property, bank balance and other things to determine that the alleged ransom amount was not part of any hidden income, the sources said.

full article

While the media kept portraying the helpless family during the 3 day ordeal the second news item was buried somewhere inside. Black money or white money? Your guess is as good as mine.

18 Dec 2006

Who gets to decide what is good for us?

A blanket ban on junk food and colas in school and university canteens countrywide and mandatory yoga classes in schools — that’s Union health minister A Ramadoss’s prescription to fight rising obesity among India’s youth.

"Colas with or without pesticides are harmful for health and should not be consumed. We want all forms of junk food like pizzas, chips, samosas and burgers banned from canteens," Ramadoss said here on Thursday on the sidelines of a conference on nutrition.

And, it’s not merely a statement of intent. The minister is aggressively pushing the proposal. He has written to state health ministers, asking them to plan and implement the ban on junk food — seen as one of the main causes of the rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer among India’s 300-milion-strong, and increasingly wealthy, middle class.


Man. This is like we are NIT wit's (excuse the pun). That we cant decide what is good or bad for us. That we need someone else to take care of us. Teaching us is one thing. Forcing it down our gullets is something else

Winning is everything


Indian athletics plunged into further gloom and embarrassment as news came through on Sunday that S. Santhi, who won the silver medal in the women's 800 metres in the Asian Games, had failed a `gender test' at Doha.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has decided to withdraw the medal from the Indian athlete and was in the process of officially intimating the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

Click here for full story


When i was growing up, i often heard statements like "It doesn't matter who wins or loses. It matters how you play the game" Looks like that was just a load of trash since cut throat competition seems to rule the stage.

How far are we willing to go? I mean, sports and games were meant to be means of relaxing after a hard day's work. But with competition on the sports field hotting up (not just olympics or asian games) ; seems that the only time a person rests is when he is 6 feet under.

Chalk one up for the MODERN way of life.

15 Dec 2006

Pesti Cola round 2

When the CSE went public with "its findings" of pesticide in cola's it was on the front page of almost every newspaper in the country (did i say almost? more like ALL)


Ditto, when the court asked them to reveal their ingredients

Coke and Pepsi told to spill secrets or face ban
INDIA’S highest court yesterday demanded that Coca-Cola should reveal its secret formula for the first time in 120 years.

But yesterday, the Supreme court made a statement during the PIL hearing to the effect "who is asking you to drink it (the colas)? If you have a problem with it, stop buying it!!" The small text of this news article was buried on page 8 of yesterday's Times of India. I thought I would post the whole text here. But guess what???? After half an hour of trying different combinations on google, I still can't get the text.

Am I suprised? I guess not.

14 Dec 2006

Dhoom 2


I watched this much hyped movie yesterday and I can sum it up as mission impossible + a vin disel movie + Bollywood love masala. Oh. i forgot, you will have to divide it by three to get the average.

I agree that the stunts are awesome from a Bollywood perspective. However, the story line that connects these stunts will leave you scratching your head like an ape. Possibly that is what they expect; you to behave like your most primitive ancestors and go "goo gah" over the skin show that happens. Many scenes in the movie seem to be just fillers in between its stunts, the Hrithik - Aishwarya kiss and the figure revealing costumes. If you want to watch this movie, I would recommend leaving your brains outside the theater.

12 Dec 2006

Guilty until proven innocent???

Mr Periera and his car crash have been talking points of the media for weeks now. How the cops have been galvanised to action is commendable. But isn't there something called as overdoing it? Judges are also human and can get influenced by the media if they aren't careful. If the judge can go to the extent of making him pay 35,000 to each of the legal heirs of the dead (in addition to a bail bond on 25,000) before the case is tried, isn't it already assumed that he is guilty?

I quote:
The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Alistair Pereira, accused of killing seven persons when he ran his car over them while they were sleeping on the pavement in Bandra on November 12.

The court, which granted bail for a surety of Rs 25,000 to 21-year-old Pereira, directed him to pay compensation of Rs 35,000 each to the heirs of the dead within a week.

Pereira was charged under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), while the other five were booked under the Bombay Prohibition Act and released on a bail of Rs 5,000 each.

Full article

6 Dec 2006

Much ado about nothing

Well, well, well. What have we here?




Rajasthan Chief Minister has come in for scathing criticism from several quarters for posing with Biocon's Kiran Majumdar Shaw in a 'lip lock' position at the India Economic Submit in New Delhi. But what really happened? Was it a deadly embrace in front of the cameras or just some trick photography???

Either way i feel the media and opposition have blow it totally out of proportion. It is her life. She is allowed to do what she wants. Doesn't she? Or as a public figure she has to behave as the masses want her to behave? Those faceless souls who have no life of their own but feed on the ups and downs of celebrity lives.

2 Dec 2006

Lazy britons?

The Mayor of the London borough of Newham recently made a comment that the Britons are too lazy to work. His comments came as most of the 50,000 jobs created as a result of the 2012 Olympic Games to be held there were being given to foreigners. Not just the ones already in London, but hired in Europe and being brought over.

What relevance does this have to India? Well, his reasoning on why such a situation has occurred is that most people are mediocre in school and then tend to live on the unemployment benefits that the government gives. They are not employable and don’t have the motivation to work or the skills to work. This is a very interesting observation since it states that such schemes along with providing “dignity of living for its citizens” also promotes mediocrity.

Makes one think if reservations in schools and jobs in India which are supposed to “uplift the downtrodden and the marginalized” is really good for India in the long run

29 Nov 2006

Surat - Part I - Autorickshaws

OK. I know I have spent three months in Surat and no news about the place. So in an attempt to answer this, here goes the first of many posts on the topic.

People used to exorbitant rates for auto rickshaws will love this place. I used to pay 30 rupees in Bangalore to travel distances as short as a km. Here I travelled 12 kms from my residence to the railway station paying only Rs 12.How? Read on.

Running on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), these auto drivers charge you at around 3 rupees a km. It gets better. Tell him you want to travel to a place with “share” system and it goes down to Re 1 a km. It basically works that the auto driver will load “any number” of people moving in the same direction into the rickshaw. All paying at re 1 per km. Usually, they take up to 5 persons in the rick (one person sitting on either side of the driver and three at the back) it works out for the drivers too. However, if you are in a penny pinching mood you can load as many people as you are comfortable with. At one point of time 7 of us have squeezed into a rick. The cops are all too happy to look in the other direction as long as they get their cut. However, come the end of the month and then the share system drops to only three people in the rickshaw as the cops are out with their fine books.

One must be warned though. Auto drivers seldom have their eyes on the road. No. They aren’t looking at the pretty young thing making out on the side of the road with her boyfriend; (more about this in my next post) they are looking for possible customers.

City buses are specimens. In three months here I haven’t seen a single one. But my friend tells me I should be thanking my lucky stars. He had the “experience” of travelling on one. He recalled it as having spit, pan stains etc all over and worth of being preserved as a specimen of the “I don’t give a shit about anybody else” policy. His experience also included an elderly gentleman taking off his shirt to dry it on the bus window as he was sweating so much. Considering that he wasn’t born in the generation of deodorant users, none of us have had the guts to attempt a bus ride again.

With a bus system nearly non existent, the auto rickshaws are crawling all over the place. With disco lights, loud Hindi / gujarati music blaring, etc they come in all hues and colours. But you have to be on your guard. If they realize that you have no idea of the fares or the distance, instances of charging 150 rupees for a 10 to 15 km journey are aplenty. So make sure they don’t take you for a ride in ways other than you intended.

20 Nov 2006

The FIRST

Over the past one week I have kept hearing the phrase “the FIRST democratic congress in the last 12 years”. I can’t seem to fathom the idea behind “the FIRST”. Wouldn’t it rather be “a democratic congress AFTER a gap of 12 years”? Ahhh…. But that doesn’t sell you see. Artificial hype like this is necessary for the media to survive and maintain its viewer ship ratings. Whatever happened to just presenting the cold, hard facts and letting the viewer form his own opinion? Guess it has got buried under sensationalism that brings in the moolah.

11 Nov 2006

Beauty is only skin deep


Most people (especially the fairer sex) are very beauty conscious. There have been a lot of studies on people aspiring for model like features. This shows you that model like figures are just that. "Models". Not real.

9 Nov 2006

The first time I did IT

“The first time I did it!!!” No you pervert. I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about the U.S. advertisements to get voters out of their offices and homes to vote in the mid term congressional elections. As in India voter turn out is very low. So this time they came up with an ad campaign that had celebrities talk about the first time they did “IT”. If that wasn’t enough they had a lottery attached to voting!!! One lucky voter would get a cash prize of $10,000.

Can u go any lower??? To exercise ones franchise and to take part in the democracy of the country we need money and sex???? We can’t take an active part in our “modern civilization” without it having to appeal to our most primitive instincts???

3 Nov 2006

Team players?

The BCCI has made a statement that the players would be give performance incentives. That their pay would depend on their performance in the match. Does anyone else find this corny??? I mean in a team game like cricket you want to introduce individual incentives? How are you going to stop someone from getting the other person out just because he can continue to play? Or wasting 20 balls to score a half century etc?

seems to me that the BCCI is trying to cover up the fact that they cant select a good team. They can always add and remove players on their performance. And the match fees are incentive enough don't you think??

2 Nov 2006

freedom????

Had written this sometime back. But worth a read anyway.

There has been a recent furor in the papers about pope benedict the 16th's comments. Certain groups have denounced the statements and called for the killing of all worshippers of the cross.

I say certain groups because I don't believe it is the opinion of all people of the faith. Nor do I believe that they are the representatives of all the people they claim to speak for. The freedom of speech has always been the corner stone of democracy. I agree that even these groups are entitled to freedom of speech. But is it sane for someone to incite murder just for another's opinions?

Women's voices have always been stifled in these nations. Now they are crossing barriers and asking even others to shut up??? And "THE CHAMPIONS OF DEMOCRACY" are saying we are sorry?????? Cant they see the foolishness of allowing these people to dictate terms????

The pope actually went all out to issue and apology???? Heads of state were fence sitting???? Has terrorism become so real that we are afraid to stand up for in front of them???

doesn't this mean that we are slowly degenerating into a civilization where might is right??? One can only hope not. Because as this continues it is the innocents who suffer. (Attacks at churches that weren't even roman catholic)

Really makes one think about where we are headed.

1 Oct 2006

google it

Google it!!!! I was Orkutting at office. Sound familiar???? I’m sure that for most active internet users this has become a part of their vocabulary. Google that derived its name from Googol, (which was the name given to the highest named number, ten to the power of hundred ) has become an integral part of the World Wide Web. After their search engine which became very popular, Google started with an email service called Gmail. It offered 1GB of storage space that was unimaginable at the time, since most of the other free email service providers were giving hardly around 10MB. Users rushed to obtain Gmail ID’s.

However, this came at a price. There would be content specific advertisements (ads) next to the mail. A lot of hue and cry was made about Google being able to go through our “personal” mail. When Google released a statement that it would be done by filters and not human intervention most of the privacy debates subsided.

After this technology was tweaked, it transformed into ads at sites. A web site administrator could add code to his site that would perform the same function as delivering content specific ads. To promote its use the administrator was given a percentage of the profits which the site generated for Google. Earlier only very popular sites would get paid advertisements. Now it was open to everyone. With the advent of the blog craze, Google ads began appearing everywhere.

Then came Orkut. An online community which has everyone hooked for its ease of use and aesthetic appearance. A networking site whose popularity has grown in leaps and bounds.

“Yeah, yeah!! I know all this. What is your point?? Where are you going with all this?” well, as I was thinking about the popularity of these and many more Google products a strange idea passed through my head. That of Big Brother is Watching you. I know this may sound crazy. But humor me for sometime. Suppose, heaven forbid, some scrupulous person was to become the head of Google. What would be the amount of personal information that he would have about us?

I mean, I was recently invited to join a program on the net where every click you make surfing the web generates money for charitable causes. You guessed it right, it’s a Google venture. Now one wonders what they would gain out of doing this. I know it is said that they will gain good will. And that the agreement says that they won’t collect any identifiable data. But just for a second assume that one person who wrote the code is. He would know whatever we do on the web. He would be able to see what are friends think of us and what we think of them (Orkut). He would know about the correspondence that we share with our friends and relatives (gmail). He would know how we respond to advertisements at sites we visit. He would be able to understand our personal choices and what affects us the most. Pretty much everything that makes us who we are. Our decisions, choices and preferences are out there. In other words our whole virtual profile is out there and can be potentially exploited.

Am I insane??? Ok. Let me put it this way. Many of us have used Google Earth or heard about it. It can show us any place on Earth in fine detail. This includes our military and naval bases. The American government forced them to remove the white house from Google Earth and many governments followed the precedent. But I myself have seen the whole layout of the Rastrapathi Bhavan (The President of India’s official residence) and the two houses of parliament. It may not be available to the general public now. But say it is still available to a select few. Say maybe me. Imagine then if I were also able to find a way to show every person on this map. I could pretty much have everyone under my thumb

Not really you say. There are other modes of communication like phones. Ok. So what I will do is I will offer a service where people get a percentage of my profits for calls received by them on such phones. Won’t a majority of the people opt for this???? Also supposing I were to offer a banking service that provides superior services and lesser charges. I could then have the financial details of a huge number of people too.

Sound too much like a work of fiction???

Well, let me redefine my assumptions then. What if the scrupulous person were the government? Recently I have seen people give up more and more of their rights. In the war on terror, one can be detained for an unlimited period of time for being a suspected militant. Companies have to cough up confidential information like bank statements of people. Reporters are made to reveal their confidential sources “in the interest of public safety” by court orders. One can be made to undergo a strip search at the airport for “suspicious” behaviour. Freedom of speech has been curtailed for fear of violent repercussions.

Am I being paranoid? I am not sure But when I think of it, Google has expanded so much into so many different important spaces that it is unsettling. We used to rely on other human beings for information on various products and places. Now we look it up on the net. Our human relations are being reduced to the bare minimum for the emotional aspect that has yet to be duplicated. More and more people are looking at the internet for doing everything in their lives. This includes education, classes, novels, movies, reviews, shopping, banking etc. It could reach a critical level that without the internet we would be at a loss of how to go about things. In such a scenario I shudder to think of what the consequences of one group having a controlling interest in every ones lives could do.

Still sound like fiction?? Well let us hope it remains so.

25 Sept 2006

Noa Haviv

You haven't heard of Noa Haviv???? Well guess u haven't been following the papers recently. There are rumors of her being tried for conspiracy to her being a secret agent.

for the uninitiated she got into a El - Al flight from Israel to India. She got out of the flight. Cleared customs and security and went to the jet airways counter for her onward flight. There the security person sounded the alarm as there was a clip of bullets in her suitcase. Today's paper claims that the ammunition is legally registered to her brother. She had "borrowed" his suitcase, dumped her clothes in it and had no idea about it.

While there are lots of angles being discussed one point has been skipped in all articles I have read. HOW DID SHE MANAGE TO CLEAR CUSTOMS AND SECURITY while boarding and disembarking??? I mean after 9/11 we had a bunch of "extra security measures" that make us have to report an "extra' hour in advance. So is this to say that the extra security measures are all an eye wash? That they are plainly harassing us in the name of security? I mean, my dad's suitcase was broken because he had locked it when traveling from USA to India. Supposedly "for the security of all on board".

Makes one wonder doesn't it??

link to article 1

link to article 2

22 Sept 2006

lagae raho munnabhai

After a lot of delays we were really determined to watch this movie that has been so talked about. I'm generally not a fan of prequels because they fail to live up to the original. It is usually cashing in on the fame and name of the first.

But i was presently suprised to watch the movie. The script is amazing. I rank it as one of my favorites. I mean, how easy would it be to come up with a script that is hilarious but still delivers a social message? It is really amazing. I was reminded of the tamil movie Annyan. However, since i hardly know any tamil i could just about follow the course of the movie with the help of some tamil speaking friends.

The movie is a must watch. It has awoken people to gandhi once again. There are reports of gandhi clubs spouting all over the place. Whether you like gandhi or just a good laugh I highly recommend the movie.

18 Sept 2006

Pyar Ke side effects

Ok. One week in Gujarat and after daily training from 9 to 5 (which includes catching the company bus at 8 and similarly returning at 6) we needed a break. So we all went to the theater to watch Munna Bhai – Lagae Raho. But since it was a Sunday and it’s a big hit, we didn’t manage to get tickets. Thus we ended up at a Pritish Nandy production “Pyar Ke Side Effects”.

Starring Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat, the movie line is predictable and seemed to have borrowed heavily from “Meet the Parents” (Robert De Niro, Teri Polo and Ben Stiller – 2000). Though Mallika’s acting leaves a lot to be desired it was an amazing adult comedy. It had us rolling over the aisles. This is totally a guy’s perspective. I’m not sure if the fairer sex will find it as hilarious. It may not be worth a 100 or 150 buck ticket, but it still is a bundle of laughs.

6 Sept 2006

A much ado about stem cells

Since time immemorial people have always dreamed of living on, of becoming immortal. Stem cell research has been directed towards this dream. Of being able to cure diseases like Alzimers, ParkinsonÂ’s, nerve damage etc, that are fatal (at least for the time being).

While the debate rages on about how ethical the practice of storing stem cells I cant help but wonder about this cycle of diseases and cures.

Around ten years ago TB(tuberculosis) was the number one killer. It was fatal to those who contracted it. Cancer and AIDS weren't even heard of then. When we cured TB, cancer took over as the leading killer and more and more people succumbed to it. Now as we "control" and "cure" cancer with chemotherapy and broad spectrum drugs, AIDS has gained more victims. I feel that however much we try to evade this disease and that disease nature will always find a way to keep the population in check.

If anything, this will just increase the gulf between the haves and the have nots. And some other disease will come up that will attack the "haves". When we are born, we have already been sentenced to die. Sooner or later we WILL bite the dust.

The philosophers of old mentioned that men will come and go. But stories of their exploits; their words and deeds will endure. While we spend huge amounts into research to combat diseases, maybe we should learn to spend some time in simple things like making a difference in the lives of people around us.

29 Aug 2006

Healthy paranoia?

It so happens that a bunch of family friends come down from the US of A and we go out for lunch. As we are ordering, the waiter asks whether we want "mineral water" or ordinary water. Now ordinarily, ordinary water is fine. But no. We need "mineral water". When it comes it is religiously put into glasses and drunk for good etiquette. Wait a sec. Were these glasses washed in "mineral water"? Yeah. I guess so. Tap water in India should have lots of dissolved minerals in them!!!!!

Have we gone a little too far with this safe, clean, healthy meals? I mean, look at a daily wage labourer digging the side of the road. The construction site labourers. Muscular and fit. Working in the sun for hours together and back at work the next day. Do they even know what a balanced meal is? Do they have any idea what proteins, vitamins and carbohydrates are? Yet, I believe they have more strength and stamina than we "healthy" people who complain of having to sit for eight hours at work.

12 Aug 2006

George Galloway Vs. Sky News - SKY NEWS KO'D!!!

The media has always been a means of generating and moulding public opinion. "Who will gaurd the guards? " is an often asked question. Biased reporting has been a problem for a long time. Sky news had this one coming and boy, oh boy, GG really knocked out this pathetic reporter

4 Aug 2006

Pesti cola

Head for the hills!!!! The aliens have landed !!! They seek to wipe out our entire race by poisoning our most widely consumed brands!!!!!!!!!

Thats the kind of impression one would get if you were to read into the news reports on how there has been an increase in the amount of pesticides in Pepsi and Coke over the last three years. I mean, the way it was being reported made me visualize a big vat where these people are making a big cocktail of these pesticides and then spraying it into each bottle before it left the factory!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds ridiculous? Yes it is ridiculous. A normal cola has water, sugar, carbon dioxide and essence. Logically, if they aren't spraying a pesticide cocktail into the drink, it has to come from the raw materials. So where does that leave us?? The ground water and the water used to make sugar cane (from which we get the sugar) has much higher levels of pesticides.

Hence the CSE and citizens like us should first find out what is the pesticide content of the water that is being supplied to us.

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This post is dedicated to my bro-in-law as it is the result of a conversation with him.

28 Jul 2006

Chupa rustum

Well, well, well. I switch on NDTV 24x7 today at 5:30 pm and i see a new program called chupa rustum happening. Expecting to see something like the political satire (called the great indian tamasha or double take) that they run i watch it.

What do i see? i see a remake of MTV bakra in action. This guy goes out with a scooter that doesnt have a stand or petrol. He asks a passerby to hold it (as it doesnt have a stand) while he goes to pick up some petrol. The quick five minutes turns into more than an hour and there is still no sign of the guy. When the guy decides he has had enough and wants to leave he comes around trying to get him to HELP him out for some more time. Only when the guy is fed up does he admit that he is on candid camera.

Well, for myself, i would rather suffer the fires of hell for the rest of my life for not helping a person in need, rather than be made a laughing stock on national telivision. Not to mention the waste of my valuable time.

24 hour news channels were a bad idea from the start. But when reporters star acting like Cyrus Broacha one wonders where we are headed towards.

13 Jul 2006

BOMB - BAY

I was reading a friends blog and he asked what can we do about terrorist attacks.

It is actually kind of funny. Because every time I hear about some attack like this, I hear about security being beefed up and all that. why couldn’t that be done earlier? does it take a disaster to show us what a farce our “security” system is? And if security is beefed up how does it help after the attack has been committed? are they going to attack the same place again?

What is the point in putting security at Bombay airport on red alert? shouldn’t they always be on high alert? If terrorists were going to attack they are going to give us 8 warning blasts and then launch an attack on the airport?

Is it just a sham to make us feel that "the government is doing everything in its power to ensure that the innocent people are safe?"

One common excuse mentioned is that security guards are human. they get bored by the routine nature of work. Then why don’t you do something about it? keep mock drills or something to keep them on their toes. Give incentives for being found alert and punish for being slack. The traditional carrot and stick approach.

This is what the security forces SHOULD be doing in the first place. It is their duty. And if they are slacking it is because we are slack in pulling them up when they don’t do their duty. After a major attack there is the usual transfer of officials, to Timbuktu and other God forsaken places. Is that enough? I feel it is a eye wash. Nobody is asking for how long is the transfer. One week later the person maybe back in another plush job and the public is none the wiser.

We shrink from doing what we should. Come elections and even though a holiday is declared at most workplaces, the turnout at election booths is poor. Elections seem to be won by the lack of ballots ‘against’ rather than that ‘for’ the candidate.

What can we do you ask? I say we have everything to do with it. We are the ones who complain that the system is flawed but are too lazy or scared to do anything about it. We are the ones who think that terrorism is the governments problem and not ours. When the terrorists attacked the world trade centre what did we do? when they attacked the London subway what did we do? Now that it has come to Bombay what are we doing? We are the ones who are not bothered about it, till it affects us. It is this careless attitude of ours that has cost us lives. Their blood is on all our hands, but we prefer to live in blissful ignorance till it takes something dear to us.

Are we ready to wake up?

11 Jul 2006

An expected Nuclear attack!!!!???

Though i wish i this post were mine, i actually got it from a friend of mine.

During the Cold War, if USA launched a nuke-loaded missile, Soviet satellites would inform the Soviet army in 3 seconds and in less than 5 seconds Soviet counter missiles would be on their way.This was their scenario.................

But if there is a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan army decides to launch a nuke-missile towards India.



They don't need any permission from their government, and promptly order the countdowns.

Indian technology is highly advanced.

In less than 8 seconds, Indian army detects the Pak Countdown and decides to launch a missile in retribution.

But they need permission from the Government of India.

They submit their request to the Indian President. The President forwards it to the Cabinet.

The Prime Minister calls an emergency Lok Sabha session. The LS meets, but due to several walkouts and severe protests by the opposition, it gets adjourned and adjourned indefinitely.

The President asks for a quick decision.

In the mean time, the Pak missile failed to take off due to technical failure. Their attempts for a relaunch are still on.

Just then the Indian ruling party is reduced to a minority because a party that was giving outside support withdraws it.

The President asks the PM to prove his majority within a week.

As the ruling party fails to win the confidence vote, a caretaker government is installed.

The caretaker PM decides to permit the armed forces to launch a nuclear missile.

But the Election Commission says that a caretaker government can not take such a decision because elections are at hand.

A Public Interest Litigation is filed in the Supreme Court alleging misuse of power by the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court comes to the rescue of the PM, and says the acting PM is authorized to take this decision in view of the emergency facing the nation.

Just then one of the Pak missiles successfully took off, but it fell 367 miles away from the target, on its own government building at 11.00AM.

Fortunately there were no casualties as no employee had reached the office that early.


In any case, the nuclear core of the missile had detached somewhere in flight.

The Pakistan army is now trying to get better technologies from China and USA.

The Indian Government, taking no chances, decides to launch a nuclear missile of its own, after convening an all-party meeting.

This time all the parties agree.

Its three months since the army had sought permission. But as preparations begin, "pro-humanity", "anti-nuclear" activists come out against the Government's decision.

Human chains are formed and Rasta rokos organised.

In California and Washington endless e-mails are sent to Indians like Kalingaa and all of you, condemning the government and mentioning "Please forward it to as many Indians as possible".

On the Pakistan side, the missiles kept malfunctioning. Some missiles deviate from target due to technical failures or high-speed wind blowing over Rajasthan.

Many of them land in the Indian Ocean killing some fishes.

A missile (smuggled from USA) is pressed into service.

Since the Pakistan army is unable to understand its software, it hits its original destination: Russia .

Russia successfully intercepts the missile and in retaliation launches a nuclear missile towards Islamabad.

The missile hits the target and creates havoc.

Pakistan cries for help. India expresses deep regrets for what has happened and sends in a million dollars worth of Parle-G biscuits.

Thus India never gets to launch the missile.

Pakistan never gets it right.

And

we live happily ever after!!!!

10 Jul 2006

Zidane controversy

Ok. If u weren’t watching the match live like I just did, u will probably see it some time soon. I predict that this is going to be played over and over and over again on international telivision.

Zidane, who has long since announced that he wont play football after the world cup, just executed a amazing stroke. He is going to have people talking about this for weeks to come. It will get him more publicity than what he has had over his whole career. And if he refuses to come clean about it soon after the match, his autobiography will be a bestseller.

Looks like I’m doing just what he expects everyone to do. Howl over it and gain him even more publicity.

9 Jul 2006

electricity

I switched on the news to day to find people in Delhi breaking into a power distribution station and setting cables on fire to protest against the power cuts that have been occurring in India’s capital. People are complaining that what kind of capital is it, if power cuts like these happen.

I couldn’t help but wonder, have we become dependent on electricity so much that we cant live without it? I know that when I don’t have power at home and I’m without my computer, I become extremely fidgety. I feel uncomfortable not having a computer that’s playing music. So I switch on my mobile phone that can store and playback mp3’s. Why, just the other day, at 12:50 AM power in our apartments went. When the generator did not come on for 15 minutes, I walked down 10 floors (as the lifts don’t work without power) to find the watchman sleeping. Boy, did he get a piece of my mind.

Electricity has so become a part of our lives that we have almost taken it for granted. Can you imagine life without electricity? Imagine that for a day, there is no power anywhere in the world. Our cell phone batteries and laptop batteries would die and we wouldn’t be able to recharge them. That would mean that all the contacts that we have stored wouldn’t be accessible. No computers to work on and get the data either. No share markets to trade on. No lights to do any work after sunset. No television!!!! No telephone lines working. No mixers, grinders, microwaves to help with the cooking. No lifts to carry us up the multistory buildings we have built.

Hold on. We have generators and inverters. Yes???

What happens if they are also destroyed? How long do u think we will survive if all over the world we don’t have sewage treatment plants, water purifiers, hospital services that depend on electricity?

Do u think I’m being paranoid? That such a thing cannot possibly happen? Well, think again after reading this article and this one

Makes you want to think about what things in life are really valuable.

edit: another interesting link

4 Jul 2006

knee jerk reaction?

Some time back an uncle of mine was in a bad accident. It resulted in him being paralyzed from the neck down. In the following weeks, as news slowly spread among family and friends, we got a number of calls from well wishers. While a few offered to help in their own small way, most were at a loss for words and just said that they would pray for him. As a way of offering support, people who seldom talk about God and were in the least bit religious were promising to offer prayers on his behalf to God.

It made me ponder over what my science teacher, in primary school, once told us. He said that what man couldn’t explain, he attributed to God. Our ancestors are believed to have worshipped fire, rain, solar eclipses, volcano eruptions, lightening etc to various Gods and their activities because they were at a loss to explain them scientifically.

Does this hold true even today? Do we remember God only in times of need or difficulty? Or is God the name for the unknown? For a power that we are yet to understand completely? Or is God an excuse when we feel inadequate in dealing with certain situations?

Thoughts like these keep recurring in my mind. So I would like your opinion. Also, if such a calamity were to befall someone you know, how would you go about consoling them or helping them out?

13 Jun 2006

ant and the grasshopper

Got this from my sis


The modern version of ant and the grasshopper

The old esop fable:

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.



BBC, CNN, EURO-NEWS, NDTV, FOX NEWS 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.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.



The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper.

Opposition MP's stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.



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 Bush Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by BBC,CNN, AAJ TAK and NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice".

Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly...

Got The Answer...???

YES... You Got It Right...

Some call it RESERVATION n some call it QUOTA!

30 May 2006

The nonsense file

Well, here I am watching the news and I see the court telling the students to stop striking, ministers telling the students to stop agitating, the Prime Minister and President of India appealing to people to stop agitating .................. But I don’t see anyone telling Arjun Singh to stop talking nonsense!!!!

Why do I call it nonsense???

He says we will make it 50% reservation. When we strike he says we will increase the number of seats so that the general merit students are not losing out. New seats are being created, but we are told that "NO!!! You can't have that seat. Its reserved." So if we aren’t losing out who is?

We complained that the quality of education would decline, he says he will hire more staff. Well, I have a different opinion. I have personally seen in my branch, back in KREC/NITK that even though we have a sanctioned staff of X members, we are much below that value, since the GOVERNMENT HASN'T GIVEN THE GO AHEAD TO ADVERTISE for those vacancies. I'm not talking about a week or a month. I'm talking of it being delayed for more than a YEAR.

Also, the original constitution envisioned only ten years of reservation to help the lower castes escape the atrocities that had been committed towards them. This has been extended for more than 50 years now. If it hasn't been possible in 5 times the set time limit, isn't it a valid point that the whole idea itself is inherently flawed???

However, I have a larger complain. Over the last few weeks of this controversy, I have seen thousands of chain letters and article FORWARDED against this reservation. But, I haven't seen this translate into more people actively working against this. Does our responsibility end with saying, no this is wrong???????

I see a lot of communities springing up all over the place like its the dot com boom. Everyone is saying this is wrong, we will do this, we will do that. But are we going to be able to sustain this???? I see medical students taking on the ridiculous policy, but I hardly see any engineering students take part in this. Are we also not going to be affected by this??? Or are we just going to sit back and say, no I’m on holiday, I’m not going to ruin my vacation on it???

Our very future is at stake and we say to hell with it, let me enjoy my holidays??? This, I believe, is the very reason why our country is going to the dogs. We expect divine intervention to sort out all our problems.

Arise, my friends. Its still not to late. Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.

15 May 2006

The Generation Awakes?

Sometime back I watched an amazing movie called Rang De Basanti by Omprakash Mehra. I'm sure many of you would have too. Considering that it was one of the hit films this year catch line rang "The Generation Awakes" and I believed that it was just that. A catch line. Where will any one of us take on our politician?

Well, I guess am not the only one. Come elections and I have seen my own friends say, who will go and stand in the hot sun to vote? What will my one vote do? Elections? I haven't even enlisted myself on the electoral rolls. Let alone waste my time choosing between The Devil and The Deep Sea.

Guess as we sow, so shall we reap. Since we are not willing to clean up the mess, its only getting messier. Though everyone is busy playing politics in his or her own small way, no one is interested in entering mainstream politics that decides the fate of our billion strong country. Thus we ended up with a political "LEADER" coming up with the reservation of 50% of the seats in the IIM's and IIT's.

The furore that this has caused is amazing. Suddenly students everywhere seem to have woken up to defend our coveted portals of higher education. The demonstrations, the articles, the slogans, the interviews its mind boggling. Has the generation finally woken up? Our we going to try the clean up this mess in the corridors of power? Or am I just getting carried away by the media hype that I, oh so recently, criticized? I hope it is the former. I dream that maybe we can recreate the situation in Nepal where the autocratic rule was brought to its knees by a powerful public outcry. Or am I just dreaming ????


P.S. If you would like to check out what you could do to help, u might want to take a look at project coffee

11 May 2006

Media Hype

Have u ever noticed how every disaster "Is the WORST EVER disaster to occur since *insert a period of time here*"? Do they fully comprehend the meaning of EVER?

I find it ironic when the media complains that people have become insensitive to the suffering of others. Tell me, everydays headlines talks about so many people have died, so many people injured, so many people killed etc etc and u expect them to react?

With 24 hour news channels having nothing to show and competing with a thousand other channels haven't they ended up losing the essence of what they are? I mean, they are supposed to be the watchdogs of the society and the ones forming public opinion. But right now they seem to be only interested in ratings, gaining a greater audience and hence greater revenues.

Front pages of newspapers showing starving kids and mutilated bodies. Is that what we wish to get up to? Start each morning with the horrors of the world we live in?? Wouldn't it be better if we got up to news of how someone helped making the world better? Some act of courage or bravery? Inspiring stories rather than depressing ones?

I'm not saying don't report whats happening. Just present it better. With these pictures of dead terrorists buried deep inside a paper or at the end of a broadcast ( why have pics at all?). Can't we have stuff like Readers Digest's Everyday Heros or people trying to make a difference? Am i asking for too much???

edit: A friend of mine sent me a link to another blog that has a related post.

7 May 2006

mundane musings

Passing out of the county's "top colleges" in three weeks and thinking what were the people who gave this ranking thinking?

Its been 4 years of lots of ups and downs. Its been filled with interaction with a wide cross section of people. From Kashmir to ........"yada yada yada". But what have i learnt?????

Well. If u allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to put meaningless nonsense into your head, your going to end up worse than a robot.Most of the stuff in the syllabus can easily be accessed at any time from the internet. But there have been the exceptional gurus who have taught me to think. To think, to create my own own thoughts and to confidantly express them. And what better way than to blog????