Mid-day lists the items that it says were recovered from the PostMaster General's house and we thought indian post office's are loosing value
Quoted"
The loot: Spectrum fixed deposit receipt of the Punjab National Bank, New Delhi for Rs 1,10,000
Over 12 debit and credit cards
Foreign currencies including 10,722 dollars (Rs 4.97 lakh), 3,050 pounds (Rs 2.16 lakh) and 3,470 euros (Rs 2.17 lakh)
Over Rs 34 lakh in cash in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 500, Rs 100 and Rs 10
Gold ornaments, along with seven passports, 12 mobile phones, seven high-end laptops valued at over Rs 5 lakh
45 imported liquor bottles. Apart from the alcohol, details of 22 bank accounts and PPF accounts with a cash balance of over Rs 26 lakh, two luxurious cars and imported cigars were seized from Bali
Irony is one of the post office clerk has been caught for a bribery of Rs 500.
Quoted"
Their arrests also exposed the different levels of greed between a senior and junior postal staffer. Bali was nabbed accepting Rs 2 crore as bribe, while the clerk was caught taking a bribe of Rs 500 on Wednesday.
Lesson learnt : study hard and be at top otherwise chances are that you will be caught with rs500 only
Friday, February 26, 2010
walked out!!
You have got to read this to believe it
Quoted
"Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala delivers his budget speech sitting on chair for last two years. He sits next to Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Congress alleges that Vajubhai delivers budget speech sitting on chair to accommodate Narendra Modi in photo and video frame of budget speech. If he delivers his speech standing on foot, only his face would be visible in photo and video frame and Chief Minister would be left out!
Quoted
"Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala delivers his budget speech sitting on chair for last two years. He sits next to Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Congress alleges that Vajubhai delivers budget speech sitting on chair to accommodate Narendra Modi in photo and video frame of budget speech. If he delivers his speech standing on foot, only his face would be visible in photo and video frame and Chief Minister would be left out!
After coming out of assembly house, Congress MLAs burnt copies of Gujarat budget. Earlier Congress walked out during discussion on law and order situation in Southern Saurashtra’s Kodinar area. The walk-out staged on camera-frame issue was second one on Thursday."
At the same the the media is lecturing BJP on its walkout from parliament... :)Monday, February 22, 2010
Wheat & Rice Economy
Quoted from an worth read article in Business Standard
what is it that makes wheat and rice special, such that even though they contribute barely 3.3 per cent to the country’s total GDP, they absorb something approaching 2 per cent of GDP as subsidies? It could be that they form the bulk of the consumption basket for the poor, but then the poor are separately being promised food security (which, if there is total coverage, will probably cost another 1 per cent of GDP).
Nor can it just be that you need to protect/subsidise millions of poor farmers (70 per cent of the 100-plus million land holdings in India are under a hectare), because only about 40 per cent of the country’s cropped area is under wheat and rice. The rest is under coarse cereals, oilseeds, pulses, cotton, fodder, sugarcane and the like. How is it that farmers can grow all those other crops without the scale of government support that wheat and rice growers get?
Most of these Wheat & Rice growers have strong lobbies or share enough mind space to sway policy decisions. And i think this same subsidy game is what keeps some of the states like Bihar poor. I do not have direct correlation but if you look through the grain storage capacity of two states Bihar & Punjab and two further data like their Grain production & GSDP (gross State Domestic Product) Data for each of these two states you can notice the disparity. I believe because of this substantially high proportion of subsidy for these two corps some of the central money again goes to states which produce more of wheat & rice.
Grain Storage Capacity based on FCI data : Punjab = 57.66 Lac Ton, Bihar = 5.1 Lac Ton (almost 1/10 of Punjab)
Production Foodgrains During 2000-01(Could not find later years data there although this link has 2006-07 data) : based on Central Govt data: Punjab = 24.89 Mil Ton, Bihar = 11.85 Mil Ton (almost half of Punjab)
GSDP (gross State Domestic Product) Data due to agriculture : Punjab = 26 Bihar = 16
Just goes on to show how this subsidy has created a kind of disparity which forces Biharies to Migrate & Search for Agricultural work in Punjab.
Further on .. i have not read anyone paying any attention to forest dwellers (many of them categorized as adiwasis) and i believe most of these forest dwellers are in our most backward areas like Jhharkhand, Chhatisgarh or Orisa (incidentally they all are mineral rich as well). One reason of Govt not paying enough attention to Forest dwellers is that they are still not organized or they do not have formed associations to look after their welfare. So the govt is while keen to dole out subsidy to Wheat and Rise growers its does not care much for others.
Quoted from the same article
In any case, it is not just farmers who are poor; there are 50 million forest dwellers (to take another category of poor) who make do as best they can without state support. If anything, the forest department is hostile to them. Besides which, it is the success of dairying that has helped boost rural incomes far more than growing wheat and rice; milk is now the single-biggest commodity to come out of Indian agriculture, and most milch animals are owned by small and marginal farmers, landless workers and shepherds — all poor people.
Yet on one side we have growing food prices and the govt's cost on storage of wheat & rice has gone up as
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Worth Reading
As quoted from the Washington post article
India has recently moved troops away from the Pakistan frontier while increasing deployments into border areas that China is claiming in pugnacious and offensive rhetoric. In a break with its past opposition to foreign bases in the region, India has secured military transit and stationing rights at an airbase in Tajikistan.
Thats an interesting development (Not sure if thats correct) . I guess we lost that in indian media.
India has recently moved troops away from the Pakistan frontier while increasing deployments into border areas that China is claiming in pugnacious and offensive rhetoric. In a break with its past opposition to foreign bases in the region, India has secured military transit and stationing rights at an airbase in Tajikistan.
Thats an interesting development (Not sure if thats correct) . I guess we lost that in indian media.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Same Same but Different
Blast --> TV crew --> Police Comm --> Home Sc --> Chief Min / State Home Min --> Central HM --> Press Conf --> TV debates --> Dust out the old blast tapes
Same, Same
1. Following leads
2. Inputs / no specific input
3. Assurance: we will do something
4. Selective news telecast
5. TV news: how the Govt is seriously pursuing this
Different Different
1. Place is different
2 ....................??
Same, Same
1. Following leads
2. Inputs / no specific input
3. Assurance: we will do something
4. Selective news telecast
5. TV news: how the Govt is seriously pursuing this
Different Different
1. Place is different
2 ....................??
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Olympic Medals for Money
Interesting read on Olympic medals vs GDP of diff countries
http://images.businessweek.com/mz/10/07/20100215_numbers.pdf
Australia & Russia has the best record for their Trillions and India (no surprise) has the worst record. Our tight fisted approach on spending money on sports is well reflected.
http://images.businessweek.com/mz/10/07/20100215_numbers.pdf
Australia & Russia has the best record for their Trillions and India (no surprise) has the worst record. Our tight fisted approach on spending money on sports is well reflected.
Friday, February 5, 2010
How successful is RG's visit to Bihar
Something which probably went unreported in leading papers and picked up in a bihar centric website
http://jaibihar.com/bihar-students-force-rahul-gandhi-to-flee/201016809.html
"Protesting students shouted, “There is Congress government in Maharashtra and you also have the government at Centre, but why do you keep your mouth shut when Biharis are beaten in Bombay. Don’t ever come to Bihar to play your cheap and hypocritical politics.”
"Referring to the tight security blanket thrown for Rahul Gandhi's four-hour trip, Thackeray said Shiv Sainiks all over the city were prevented from their democratic right of protesting by waving black flags."
http://jaibihar.com/bihar-students-force-rahul-gandhi-to-flee/201016809.html
"Protesting students shouted, “There is Congress government in Maharashtra and you also have the government at Centre, but why do you keep your mouth shut when Biharis are beaten in Bombay. Don’t ever come to Bihar to play your cheap and hypocritical politics.”
Gandhi had to apologize as Congress leaders present at the venue failed to calm down the angry students. He, finally, had to leave the campus as students refused to listen to him."
Also for a change Maharastra Govt was able to keep Sena folks in check!!
The same Govt, during the Rail board exams or during the time when the same S went around smashing the taxis in Mumbai, had failed to keep Sena folks in check (??)
"Referring to the tight security blanket thrown for Rahul Gandhi's four-hour trip, Thackeray said Shiv Sainiks all over the city were prevented from their democratic right of protesting by waving black flags."
Thursday, February 4, 2010
370 for Mumbai
Really liked the article by Jug Suriya in TOI blog.
my quote "The liberal quandary now is how to continue to make a special case for Kashmir while siding, however uncomfortably, with the parivar's assertion that all of India should be equally hospitable to all Indians."
Mumbai and 370
worth reading ..my quote "The liberal quandary now is how to continue to make a special case for Kashmir while siding, however uncomfortably, with the parivar's assertion that all of India should be equally hospitable to all Indians."
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Man & Child
You got to read this .. I felt sick after reading .. the comments are even 'too much'
Thank god there was no IIT Hyd when i was studying.
Thank god there was no IIT Hyd when i was studying.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Indian Flag at Lal Chowk
I missed this news.
"No Flag hoisting this year at Lal Chowk"
Anshul Chaturvedi in a TOI blog has an interesting take on that
"I do not understand the point behind discontinuing the 17-year old practice of hoisting the Indian flag at the Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Reports suggest that the government saw the practice of hoisting the tricolour at the chowk as “needless provocation’ to the separatists in the area. And those opposing the move were sold the line that it was just a “symbolic gesture”. (What is the flag hoisting at every single place in the country on R-Day, if not a “symbolic gesture”, pray? The flag IS a symbol, remember?) "
??
"No Flag hoisting this year at Lal Chowk"
Anshul Chaturvedi in a TOI blog has an interesting take on that
"I do not understand the point behind discontinuing the 17-year old practice of hoisting the Indian flag at the Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Reports suggest that the government saw the practice of hoisting the tricolour at the chowk as “needless provocation’ to the separatists in the area. And those opposing the move were sold the line that it was just a “symbolic gesture”. (What is the flag hoisting at every single place in the country on R-Day, if not a “symbolic gesture”, pray? The flag IS a symbol, remember?) "
??
Friday, October 2, 2009
Change
Although have been absent from (writing) blogs for quite a while something clicked while watching the movie "Gandhi" on Sony Pix. Certain things which like
1. The roads that we have today are still the same as it was during his time .. Dusty and potholed
2. Villages are still the same .. offlimit ... hard to reach .. haven't changed even with our own country (wo)men ruling us
3. The rulers .. they are looking similar to what we had at that time ..
4. Media still reports only what it wants (asked) to report.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The first month: Renting a house
Now that I have spent almost a month after returning and have almost secured a house on rent (This was a big achievement for me in last one month). This was certainly an achievement after seeing almost 25-30 houses of all types. Although I consider myself very experienced in searching a house on rent ( have done it in most of the metros except Chennai ) still I received some very very useful tips by a friend of mine who accompanied me on many of my house hunting 'expeditions'. Most of these are tested with real situations.
1. Never say that you have returned back to India from outside. If asked mention some Indian city from where you are getting re-located. Most importantly do have a phone number from that city where anyone can call and inquire for you. Explain the person who might have to answer the call about you that they should never mention anything about outside India. Otherwise any such mention will just make either the deposit or the rent or both double.
2. When asked, quote the lowest possible budget for rent to the brokers. This will make them explain you that it’s very very difficult to get a decent house in that budget in that locality and also very important is to allow them to advice you to consider some other localities. Once they have talked at length about other options ask them to look something in your budget in the area that you initially asked. Do not assure that your budget can go up .. give him hope by saying that please show me the house first.
3. The broker will ask if you are ok with a fully furnished house at a higher rent. Remember fully furnished houses are not very common in India and also mostly available in a very up-scale end of the market. This is yet another question to gauge your 'haisiyat'.
4. To the house owners or to the brokers maintain your 'deen-heen-awastha' . Bargain .. Make a poker face and quote the half of the rent that the owner has asked. Be ready to be thrown out or for situations where owners turning impolite to you.
5. Never fail to 're-visit' the same house from where you were thrown out two days back. Inquire owner’s health .. weather .. but do not talk about the house again.
6. Mention your company as you will be asked but never mention what you do there. Keep mentioning lowest end of the ladder to everyone without mentioning your salary or your designation. Now for salary part, its tricky as after mentioning that the owner might pity you (most of the time he would be earning far more than you with what would seem to be no-work for him at all) or in certain cases might discourage you from renting his/her house and can advice you some cheaper options that he knows.
7. Always maintain a poker face and even if you like the house try to find faults. Beat it down.
8. Count rooms carefully.
9. Don't get into Vastu stories. This one comes from a similar house hunting experience we had in Bangalore. Where we went to see a house(Flat) in BTM layout near that Bannerghata road. This guy showed us three rooms and he counted them as well. Then we realized that the third room looks a bit small.. also one of the friend remembered that he didn't notice any 'balcony' as it was on third floor so we inquired the owner .. pet came the reply .. actually saar according to vastu the 'balcony' was not good for house so we closed it and converted that into a room. So is it a four room flat ... no saar the third room was the 'balcony' we converted it into room so that you can have complete peace of mind... aayio and 2k extra as rent for your peace of mind ..
10. Discuss and ask again and again .. as after lot of questioning one owner mentioned that he might require one of the rooms for few days in a month as his mother is old and is on some type of medicine and she is staying in some other place and visits to see the doctor. just couldn't ask why can't his mother stay with him/his family.
11. No matter what the owner will always slip-in something into the contract to keep you un-comfortable and then blame it on the lawyer who wrote that. But then they would not like you to propose another lawyer.
12. Most of them would not be very keen to give you rent receipts and would slip in very innocent looking lines .. I do not like keeping papers so you can e-transfer it into my mom/wife's account so that even you will have a record in your bank statement. They would not like you to ask so who owns the house its you or your wife/mom. If you own the house then how can I pay rent to your wife and then how should I show my e-transfers to income tax department as they still like to get papers as proof of rent.
13. No one wants to discuss the pending electricity bills. It will be dealt with sweeping statements like yes yes we are very very prompt with all our bills.
14. Check the loos carefully. During my expeditions saw a house which had one washroom with both types of commodes, which the broker mentioned as .. saar two proper commodes English as well as Indian ... but forgot to mention that they are co-located as if you get bored reading news on the English one then put the paper on that and then move to the Indian one without changing the room or anyone knowing outside.
15. Never get lured by any mention of society or club. They are common tools to justify the price. Swimming pool is even bigger wastage as no-one would be changing the waters regularly and remember a great man once said 'a Gentleman is one who comes out of bath to pee' but then there are very few gentlemen.
16. You might have to appear for interviews to check if you are suitable to stay in that society or not. In one house the owner had gone out and had left the task to find a renter to his brother who was staying in the same apartment. That guy showed me the house and then started reeling off the rules of the society. Then he mentioned that I will have to appear for an interview in front of society members and then they will decide if I am suitable enough to stay or not. I wondered if he really wanted to rent that house (as the money would go to his brother ) or just happy to report back to his bro that he is not able to find a 'suitable-match' for the house.
17. Never discuss politics with owner or the broker.
18. The biggest NO. Never look (normal indian stare) at the lady (wife/sister/daughter or anyone ) in the house even if she is really beautiful. If you get the house you will get more chances so don't try to maximize your benefits in the first meeting itself. Never ever try to impress ladies while you are searching a house. There are execptions to this rule but they are too few to take a chance.
19. Show respect for father-in-laws. As there are chances that the house that you want might have been 'gifted' to him by his father-in-law.
1. Never say that you have returned back to India from outside. If asked mention some Indian city from where you are getting re-located. Most importantly do have a phone number from that city where anyone can call and inquire for you. Explain the person who might have to answer the call about you that they should never mention anything about outside India. Otherwise any such mention will just make either the deposit or the rent or both double.
2. When asked, quote the lowest possible budget for rent to the brokers. This will make them explain you that it’s very very difficult to get a decent house in that budget in that locality and also very important is to allow them to advice you to consider some other localities. Once they have talked at length about other options ask them to look something in your budget in the area that you initially asked. Do not assure that your budget can go up .. give him hope by saying that please show me the house first.
3. The broker will ask if you are ok with a fully furnished house at a higher rent. Remember fully furnished houses are not very common in India and also mostly available in a very up-scale end of the market. This is yet another question to gauge your 'haisiyat'.
4. To the house owners or to the brokers maintain your 'deen-heen-awastha' . Bargain .. Make a poker face and quote the half of the rent that the owner has asked. Be ready to be thrown out or for situations where owners turning impolite to you.
5. Never fail to 're-visit' the same house from where you were thrown out two days back. Inquire owner’s health .. weather .. but do not talk about the house again.
6. Mention your company as you will be asked but never mention what you do there. Keep mentioning lowest end of the ladder to everyone without mentioning your salary or your designation. Now for salary part, its tricky as after mentioning that the owner might pity you (most of the time he would be earning far more than you with what would seem to be no-work for him at all) or in certain cases might discourage you from renting his/her house and can advice you some cheaper options that he knows.
7. Always maintain a poker face and even if you like the house try to find faults. Beat it down.
8. Count rooms carefully.
9. Don't get into Vastu stories. This one comes from a similar house hunting experience we had in Bangalore. Where we went to see a house(Flat) in BTM layout near that Bannerghata road. This guy showed us three rooms and he counted them as well. Then we realized that the third room looks a bit small.. also one of the friend remembered that he didn't notice any 'balcony' as it was on third floor so we inquired the owner .. pet came the reply .. actually saar according to vastu the 'balcony' was not good for house so we closed it and converted that into a room. So is it a four room flat ... no saar the third room was the 'balcony' we converted it into room so that you can have complete peace of mind... aayio and 2k extra as rent for your peace of mind ..
10. Discuss and ask again and again .. as after lot of questioning one owner mentioned that he might require one of the rooms for few days in a month as his mother is old and is on some type of medicine and she is staying in some other place and visits to see the doctor. just couldn't ask why can't his mother stay with him/his family.
11. No matter what the owner will always slip-in something into the contract to keep you un-comfortable and then blame it on the lawyer who wrote that. But then they would not like you to propose another lawyer.
12. Most of them would not be very keen to give you rent receipts and would slip in very innocent looking lines .. I do not like keeping papers so you can e-transfer it into my mom/wife's account so that even you will have a record in your bank statement. They would not like you to ask so who owns the house its you or your wife/mom. If you own the house then how can I pay rent to your wife and then how should I show my e-transfers to income tax department as they still like to get papers as proof of rent.
13. No one wants to discuss the pending electricity bills. It will be dealt with sweeping statements like yes yes we are very very prompt with all our bills.
14. Check the loos carefully. During my expeditions saw a house which had one washroom with both types of commodes, which the broker mentioned as .. saar two proper commodes English as well as Indian ... but forgot to mention that they are co-located as if you get bored reading news on the English one then put the paper on that and then move to the Indian one without changing the room or anyone knowing outside.
15. Never get lured by any mention of society or club. They are common tools to justify the price. Swimming pool is even bigger wastage as no-one would be changing the waters regularly and remember a great man once said 'a Gentleman is one who comes out of bath to pee' but then there are very few gentlemen.
16. You might have to appear for interviews to check if you are suitable to stay in that society or not. In one house the owner had gone out and had left the task to find a renter to his brother who was staying in the same apartment. That guy showed me the house and then started reeling off the rules of the society. Then he mentioned that I will have to appear for an interview in front of society members and then they will decide if I am suitable enough to stay or not. I wondered if he really wanted to rent that house (as the money would go to his brother ) or just happy to report back to his bro that he is not able to find a 'suitable-match' for the house.
17. Never discuss politics with owner or the broker.
18. The biggest NO. Never look (normal indian stare) at the lady (wife/sister/daughter or anyone ) in the house even if she is really beautiful. If you get the house you will get more chances so don't try to maximize your benefits in the first meeting itself. Never ever try to impress ladies while you are searching a house. There are execptions to this rule but they are too few to take a chance.
19. Show respect for father-in-laws. As there are chances that the house that you want might have been 'gifted' to him by his father-in-law.
20. Check the surroundings. As for one house the broker said .. saar very beautiful view from balcony saar .. you will see lake with good greenery saar ... now what he didn't say that the lake was actually a pond and people who do not have a comfort of a walled area for bath will be taking bath there throughout the day and also your laundary-wala would be washing your cloths in front of your eyes. It might be appealing if you want to do research on bathing habit of people.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
On a break!!
Sometime back had decided to return back to India before it gets too late .. so will be away from blogs while i make the journey back home and settle myself back into the daily life of 'home'.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The tough achievers
One of the most positive stories that I have read in recent times. From India-Today. Highly recommended. Hats off to their perseverance and dedication.
Even though the number of seats has gone up multiple folds and the question papers have changed and people cry of dilution in the brand but I would bet that still only those go through the toughest exam who really deserve it. And the seats and number of IITs should have increased long time back.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Taxi driver in Kolkata. as we(me and my wife) jumped into one of those big Ambassador taxies in Kolkata i was greeted with one of the 'whom-I-thought-was-very-talkative' taxi drivers.
He was around 45-50 and had lot of question for me like what do we do, after that what have I studied, a bit surprising was when he asked my branch. Then he asked if I am happy with my job and would I recommend others similar job as mine... I was very amused with all these questions and his keen interest in keeping the conversation going So I asked him on how he is very conversant with all this.
His answer was 'mera ladka bhi engineering me hai (my son is doing engineering)
I was impressed.. then asked him where is he .. wo sir IIT kanpur me hai (he is studying at IIT Kanpur).
I was at the edge of my seat leaning on the front seat .. ohh kis branch me hai (whats is branch) .. wo electrical me hai (he is in electrical) .. wow .. means must be under 200AIR.
Then rest of our discussion focused on me asking him how his son studied. Where did he do the schooling.. and all that .. and most of the answers where 'wo padhta tha aur hum to bas help karte the' and with us now rather than a Taxi driver there a was proud father who can keep talking for hours about his son and his achievements.
By the time we reached our destination we were really feeling very very happy and were proud to meet him.
Even though the number of seats has gone up multiple folds and the question papers have changed and people cry of dilution in the brand but I would bet that still only those go through the toughest exam who really deserve it. And the seats and number of IITs should have increased long time back.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Taxi driver in Kolkata. as we(me and my wife) jumped into one of those big Ambassador taxies in Kolkata i was greeted with one of the 'whom-I-thought-was-very-talkative' taxi drivers.
He was around 45-50 and had lot of question for me like what do we do, after that what have I studied, a bit surprising was when he asked my branch. Then he asked if I am happy with my job and would I recommend others similar job as mine... I was very amused with all these questions and his keen interest in keeping the conversation going So I asked him on how he is very conversant with all this.
His answer was 'mera ladka bhi engineering me hai (my son is doing engineering)
I was impressed.. then asked him where is he .. wo sir IIT kanpur me hai (he is studying at IIT Kanpur).
I was at the edge of my seat leaning on the front seat .. ohh kis branch me hai (whats is branch) .. wo electrical me hai (he is in electrical) .. wow .. means must be under 200AIR.
Then rest of our discussion focused on me asking him how his son studied. Where did he do the schooling.. and all that .. and most of the answers where 'wo padhta tha aur hum to bas help karte the' and with us now rather than a Taxi driver there a was proud father who can keep talking for hours about his son and his achievements.
By the time we reached our destination we were really feeling very very happy and were proud to meet him.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
For respecting individual rights!!
A bit of contradictions. Recently French President Mr. Sarkozy's remarks on Burqa. Quoted from TOI article
A very good article by TOI on the same subject.
"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," he said. "That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity."Another one exact opposite to this remark was made by President Obama in his speech in Cairo. Again quoting form the full text of speech in Guardian
"That is why the US government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it."Interestingly all this sounds from a different world when we have in India debates on Western vs Indian cloths. But then most of us restrict ourselves to comparing only Western vs sarees.
A very good article by TOI on the same subject.
Edited to add: just a thought in my mind. Do maulavis approve of Valentine Day or if Bajrang Dal has a company from the other side of spectrum?"In a world where sexual-crime is rampant, the burqa denotes comfort, security and allows a woman her dignity, they say. "
"Denying that the burqa has any oppressive value to it, they say modern burqas are quite fashionable, with gems and jewels embroidered on them. Fancy ones can be priced as much as Rs 50,000, and these aren't the bridal ones."
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Anybody can be a father ... but it takes somebody to be a DAD!!
Among the lot of junk mails that daily clutters my mailbox one really caught my eye. Now this one was from the Indian phone company whose services i use for my international calls.
The subject line said "Anybody can be a Father...but it takes somebody to be a DAD!"
Apparently we even have a Father's Day now and the mail was a failed attempt to sell me something for my dad for Father’s Day. On a footnote looks like we will need to redefine our relationship as I have never wished Father’s day to him and I suspect he remains as ignorant as he is on these special days.
For me the most catchy part remained the subject line which was not making any sense to me .. "Anybody can be a father ... but it takes somebody to be a DAD"
Who is a father and who is a DAD?
And what happens to those Appa, Babuji, Pitaji variety? Where do they fall in? But then marketers probably think that it will take sometime before they are ready to target that segment. As usual they would be laggards.
In and out of our workplace we get loads of jargons ... very often you hear someone saying "we need a paradigm shift" .. or "we need to pull right value drivers/levers" ... or even better combining multiple of them like "we need to organize ourselves to bring innovation and be in a position to pull right value drivers" .. a more simpler but often used is "we need to think out-of-box on this one"
To me these sentences never sounded English and very often i do not resist the temptation of stopping the speakers and asking them meaning of these sentences. Very often i find an annoyed look or even more 'un'-english answer.
But then again for me such meetings remain fun as they provide loads of laughter once you are out of those meetings .. paradigm shift .. huh!! .. value drivers .. wow!!
It was the same puzzled moment for me through that mail. My first reaction was to write a mail back to them asking them the difference between father and a dad .. but somehow i didn't ..
Looks like your 'DADness' would be lot low if you do not get lot of gifts from your sonny/daughters .. unless the juniors spend loads of money on buying gifts fathers can not claim to be dads ... and ofcourse they need to be marked for father’s day.
I think Doors had the same thought when they wrote that line in their song 'The End' .. “Father, yes son, I want to kill you” .. I guess their father was not enough DAD!
AP:crimes against women & PCC
Immediately i thought of calling the PCC (Pink Chaddi Campaigns) brigade. For uninitiated more info on PCC here & here
Mangalore happened. Someone arranged for a TV crew at a pub and started beating up women. We discovered that we have a group called Sree Ram Sene(SRS) and all 'forward' women devised a 'fool'-proof plan and ran a PCC. Media called for shame shame for SRS. Minister shouted Taliban. Some other shouted for reports from State Govt. Media again shouted how the reports are needed.
PCC was a success. Blogs were running pink. We showed our affinity to pink. The 'beautiful people' were talking pink and declared how SRS need to be 'pinked' and put behind the bars so that we can freely walk into the pubs.
Switch to AP. lets quote from Article
"Sri Laxmi, Lakshmi Sujatha, Ayesha Meera, Bhargavi, Swapnika and now, Sameera. Brutal and savage attacks on women are happening in the State in quick succession. The reasons might differ but in most cases, women are victimised by the lovelorn or the greedy."
The war cry: Bring on the PCC. Lets teach these attackers a lesson.
Hang on!! how about answering these questions first to see if PCC really applies in this case or not,
- Do we really need to pay attention to these as have they stopped any women from going to pub.
- Isn't that state ruled by a good government who are pillers of secularism.
- How can we dub these attacks as Talibanization .. naah.. Mangalore was as they attacked women in pub that too they had arranged a camera before attacking them so that we can see them and then 'pink' them.
- These attackers are not even arranging for a camera before they attack. how can we ascertain their crimes.
- Lets find out if these attackers shout 'that ugly H' word or not. How can we do a PCC if they are just attacking and not shouting that ugly word.
- Looks like they are just petty criminals as they do not even shout 'H' word.
- Has SRS reached AP? you do not know? then how can we run PCC? Let SRS reach AP. Let them own up responsibility for any/few of these attacks then we will run PCC.
I am still searching for answers. Till then you can read on further quoted from the main article and prey that SRS owns some of them so that we can send the saviors for women in AP as well
"As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics published in 2007-08, AP is `a highly unsafe state for women.’ The State topped the list of crimes against women with 24,783 cases, accounting for 13 per cent of the total incidents in 2007. Of these, 3,316 cases were sexual harassment cases putting AP on top of other states.The State has also accounted for about 83 per cent (about 1,000 cases) of the total cases against indecent representation of women. Among 35 cities with a population of more than one million, Hyderabad recorded 1,755 cases next to New Delhi which registered highest cases of crimes against women - 4,134 cases.About 13,000 cases on human rights violation against women are still pending in Andhra Pradesh."
I am planning to call up some of my friends in AP to check if any of these are remotely associated with attacks in pubs or near the pubs.
[I have no intension for 'jibe' as these are serious crimes but could not resist the contrast]
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Who was Ram?
This is a bit off topic and there are many people who believe that he is GOD (including my parents and all my close relatives) or an incarnation of Vishnu might not like it. For me I am not too sure who he is (was).
A recent chilled out Saturday evening discussion with a friend sparked this, which also brought out some of the books that I had read when I was a school going kid. Do I really believe in Ram? I am not sure. What I do know is that I do not believe that there was no one like that. Was a he a GOD or was he someone like Lord Buddha or Lord Mahavir who were real but were so ahead of their time and had such a lasting impact on history that we have to believe them to be GOD.
Long time back when I was just a school going kid I had read a book written by Bhagwan Singh "Apne Apne Ram”. And after that discussion I did a simple Google search to find about that book or if I can find it on net to read it again. Google does not throw a big light on that apart from confirming that there is indeed such book and one of the sites says that I can buy it for INR 250. Also this book is offered in some Hindi Literature course in some University.
While it’s been really a long time back but I still remember reading also discussing that book with my parents.
What Bhagwan Singh has written is a novel, which positions the story of Ram in contemporary context and makes you believe that most of the things attributed to the story of Ram could have happened.
Through the eyes of Bhagwan Singh you can easily identify some of the places that are associated with Ram. Like who could be king of Gods (Indra). Why is that story of Agastya asking Vindhya not to grow any further and crossed it and stayed south of it. Who was Ravan and why he behaved the way he behaved. This was one of the most engrossing books on story of Ram that I had read at that time and it was almost as if I read a true story without any doubt on existence of anyone of the characters.
Then after some time Narendra Kohli(A trivia: he has studied in the same school as me) came along and I got a chance to lay my hands on some of his books. Wiki says that Narendra Kohli is
"widely acclaimed as the most prominent Hindi language author of modern times[citation needed][1]. [2] Leader of cultural renissance in Hindi literature in modern times [2], he is credited with reinventing the ancient form of epic writing in modern prose. [3]. His contribution to Hindi literature is often compared to the legendary writer Premchand[3],"
He had written his story of Ram in multiple parts each defining one big part of his life as well as showcasing he achievements and his struggle. To me Narendra Kohli's Ram appeared to be a person who is trying to break the barriers existed in the society at that time, trying to unifying the country and a person who is pragmatic enough to negotiate deals with different kings, inventor and innovator of arms, someone who is trying to build an equal society for everyone. Again yet another narration which makes you believe the existence and tries to explain many things which seems impossible for normal human beings. In this narration again Ram through his deeds and character brings confidence into public and slowly gains that aura where he can be compared with GOD.
While these two stories had good impact on me and somewhere made me think of Ram as a person who was so ahead of his time that he almost appeared like a GOD. We are yet to get to that part of history and history experts are yet to get enough evidences when they can say with certainty if Ram was indeed a historical person (which I think he was) with amazing abilities and not a very very beautiful creation of Valmiki.
Some of the people I know, while on a trip to Rameshwaram made it a point to go to that part of the sea side which is supposed to be that bridge, although seems like it was not easily accessible. One of the pages from official SriLanka tourism site tries to explain their story.
[This is purely based on my thinking]
Monday, June 8, 2009
Why Woman Reservation Bill is bad ..very very bad!!
There is a buzz going around on Woman Reservation bill which was first muted in 1999 and had seen dramatic events whenever it was placed on LS. Key would be once passed this bill would ‘reserve’ 180 odd (33%) of the seats for women in Lok Shabha and similarly 33% in state Vidhan Shabhas as well.
While there is a need to get more women in apex decision making bodies of governance but I feel this ‘back door entry system’ would do more harm to the country.
Vinod has already written how rather than empowering common women it will empower Gharana’s and could make those 180 seats almost exclusive for political families and out of bound for common folks.
Another key aspect we need to take into account is the roles played by the institutions were we plan to have Women reservation.
Over the years with liberal dose of criminals and dynasties, decision making capabilities of Parliament has reduced. There are far more walkouts and slogan shouting rather than healthy debates on policy decisions. If we reserve 33% (or rather de-reserve 33% seats from men as few have started calling it) there is a real chance of these women rather than being true representatives of public would be ceremonial heads of their families.
So if a criminal is barred from contesting his wife/daughter/mother would be contest from reserved seats.
All the seats which get marked for women lets say in 2014 will see wives of current sitting MPs contest the elections.
What is the objective of the bill? Is it to empower women? I guess yes.. is this the best way of doing it?
If we make reservations in highest decision making institutions of our country will that enhance the decision making capacity of these institutions? Why do we have a parliament and such a rigorous election process for entering into parliament? Isn’t that to provide policy directions to the whole country? Are we by reserving seats for special groups enhancing or reducing its efficiency?
Before we start taking sides as pro- or anti-women empowerment (or anti feminists) imagine the situation or who will be entering into parliament in near future?
Does everyone really believe that this reservation will allow Meera Sanyal and likes of her to enter into Parliament? I am pretty sure they have not reached to the position where they are through reservation but through their hard work and because they are the best in their chosen field.
We have a woman President and now a woman speaker even without any such reservation. They are there not because they are women. Our biggest state is ruled by a woman and she has reached there through her hard work not through some reservation. Our capital is ruled by another lady and people are voting her back to power everytime she had asked for vote. I do not find anyone discriminating against them because they are women.
Do we need women like them or do we need more WAGs of political families?
I would like to bet that after the Bill WAGs of political families & criminals will have better chance of entering the Parliament than likes of Meera Sanyal, atleast in next couple of decades.
Do we really need to cripple our Parliament further (after dynasties and criminals) when we badly need to send best of the breed so that they can take best possible decisions irrespective of their sex, caste or religion?
Empowerment needs to happen at the lowest level in schools, colleges, by not denying them education, by not discriminating against them in jobs.
For Parliament we need people who are already empowered & are proven leaders not people who will get empowered by entering there.
While there is a need to get more women in apex decision making bodies of governance but I feel this ‘back door entry system’ would do more harm to the country.
Vinod has already written how rather than empowering common women it will empower Gharana’s and could make those 180 seats almost exclusive for political families and out of bound for common folks.
Another key aspect we need to take into account is the roles played by the institutions were we plan to have Women reservation.
Over the years with liberal dose of criminals and dynasties, decision making capabilities of Parliament has reduced. There are far more walkouts and slogan shouting rather than healthy debates on policy decisions. If we reserve 33% (or rather de-reserve 33% seats from men as few have started calling it) there is a real chance of these women rather than being true representatives of public would be ceremonial heads of their families.
So if a criminal is barred from contesting his wife/daughter/mother would be contest from reserved seats.
All the seats which get marked for women lets say in 2014 will see wives of current sitting MPs contest the elections.
What is the objective of the bill? Is it to empower women? I guess yes.. is this the best way of doing it?
If we make reservations in highest decision making institutions of our country will that enhance the decision making capacity of these institutions? Why do we have a parliament and such a rigorous election process for entering into parliament? Isn’t that to provide policy directions to the whole country? Are we by reserving seats for special groups enhancing or reducing its efficiency?
Before we start taking sides as pro- or anti-women empowerment (or anti feminists) imagine the situation or who will be entering into parliament in near future?
Does everyone really believe that this reservation will allow Meera Sanyal and likes of her to enter into Parliament? I am pretty sure they have not reached to the position where they are through reservation but through their hard work and because they are the best in their chosen field.
We have a woman President and now a woman speaker even without any such reservation. They are there not because they are women. Our biggest state is ruled by a woman and she has reached there through her hard work not through some reservation. Our capital is ruled by another lady and people are voting her back to power everytime she had asked for vote. I do not find anyone discriminating against them because they are women.
Do we need women like them or do we need more WAGs of political families?
I would like to bet that after the Bill WAGs of political families & criminals will have better chance of entering the Parliament than likes of Meera Sanyal, atleast in next couple of decades.
Do we really need to cripple our Parliament further (after dynasties and criminals) when we badly need to send best of the breed so that they can take best possible decisions irrespective of their sex, caste or religion?
Empowerment needs to happen at the lowest level in schools, colleges, by not denying them education, by not discriminating against them in jobs.
For Parliament we need people who are already empowered & are proven leaders not people who will get empowered by entering there.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
26/11 & inquiry commission
I started reading this news as yet another typical news and yet another demand by the opposition. Looked like Govt and opposition are back to their normal service of demands & denials and accusations & counters.
What really got me a bit nervous was the reply given by the Home Minister. Quoting from the article
Demand "Leader of Opposition L K Advani of the BJP on Friday asked the government to share with Parliament the dossier of 26/11 evidence given to Pakistan and also called for setting up an inquiry commission - a demand the government rejected."
Reply "However, home minister P Chidambaram ruled out setting up any probe commission and said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had not set up any commission after the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar in December 1999."
This reply sounds fussy: 1999 was bad and the Govt response was not really glowing either. But what is bad is using that as a reference.
Does that mean that if the Govt in 1999 faltered in its response to a particular situation the Govt in 2009 must do the same? And then claim that you didn’t do it either when you were there.
How about learning from the past mistakes? While I feel that HM was so far right in not sharing the details with Parliament because of the sensitivity of the issue. But now situation has changed as Pak has gone ahead and freed the person whom India thought was the chief planner of 26/11. I think now making the evidences public in Parliament is better. After all US have it. Pak has it. It’s only Indian Parliament which does not have it.
Pak has improved its position, with US aids, it has got out of the hole it was in immediately after 26/11 and now probably will not do anything to bring the culprits in 26/11 to book Govt would be better of having a public debate as it would increase their credibility and also allow them to make any mid-course correction into the response. I do not see this position of no-dialogue-till-a-concrete-action continuing for long as very soon US would be pushing India to sit across the table with Pak as they need Pak forces to concentrate in Af and would like India to slow down on its offensive.
India needs to device a new plan as the dossier hasn’t worked and what better way of doing it than starting with an honest public debate rather than pointing to old omissions that others have done.
What really got me a bit nervous was the reply given by the Home Minister. Quoting from the article
Demand "Leader of Opposition L K Advani of the BJP on Friday asked the government to share with Parliament the dossier of 26/11 evidence given to Pakistan and also called for setting up an inquiry commission - a demand the government rejected."
Reply "However, home minister P Chidambaram ruled out setting up any probe commission and said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had not set up any commission after the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar in December 1999."
This reply sounds fussy: 1999 was bad and the Govt response was not really glowing either. But what is bad is using that as a reference.
Does that mean that if the Govt in 1999 faltered in its response to a particular situation the Govt in 2009 must do the same? And then claim that you didn’t do it either when you were there.
How about learning from the past mistakes? While I feel that HM was so far right in not sharing the details with Parliament because of the sensitivity of the issue. But now situation has changed as Pak has gone ahead and freed the person whom India thought was the chief planner of 26/11. I think now making the evidences public in Parliament is better. After all US have it. Pak has it. It’s only Indian Parliament which does not have it.
Pak has improved its position, with US aids, it has got out of the hole it was in immediately after 26/11 and now probably will not do anything to bring the culprits in 26/11 to book Govt would be better of having a public debate as it would increase their credibility and also allow them to make any mid-course correction into the response. I do not see this position of no-dialogue-till-a-concrete-action continuing for long as very soon US would be pushing India to sit across the table with Pak as they need Pak forces to concentrate in Af and would like India to slow down on its offensive.
India needs to device a new plan as the dossier hasn’t worked and what better way of doing it than starting with an honest public debate rather than pointing to old omissions that others have done.
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