Anu Jane's Blog

Do Wars & Battles have an element of Bravery now ???

2011-05-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

As the sounds and dust of the over publicized Osama killing dies down, I wonder if wars and battles are less to do with bravery now ?

Recently while watching a movie which is based on a traditional indian war weapon , I was wondering if anyone would be brave enough to use a weapon like that in the present day. To use that weapon the person needs to be in physical contact with the enemy or at an arms distance.The image of a sword swashing soldier on foot or a horse riding straight on to the enemy or returning back to his home in all its glory can be seen only on some soaps on legendary war heros in Television. Gone are the days of a soldier armed with dozens of artillery and backed with fiery camoflagued tanks also.. From a direct battleground warfare, it soon became tanks and air warfare where the soldiers are atleast masked in some comfort and now it has become closed room wars with live satellite telecast into the operation room.

Where are the wars and battles being fought these days ? Is it only in Iraq and Afghanistan ? In the old days, wars were fought on geography, or for imperialistic plundering or to spread an idology or religion.. how about it now ? Are battles being fought on the premises of the Rightful and the Rogue ? or like in Osama 's case , targetting one person ? Gadaffi, Sadam are all examples of a country or allied nations against one person..

In this time and era, wars and battles are fought on other levels, on the internet, on social media, closed room meetings, silent drone attacks, the Oil war, financial war and so on and so forth. Soon after the second world war, warfare through sanctions and bans began. Essential commodities like food, oil , medicine etc also came under sanctions by the powerful few on the so called rogue nations. Then came the era of diplomatic , closed room warfare where a few representatives agree to disagree , pose for a few photo op's and decide on what needs to be told to the outside world. Years later, these discussions are telecasted on secret wikicables.

The financial war is another of the kind.The developed markets are on huge budged deficits and being financed by the third world countries, currencies are either propped up or maintained low and the whole aspect of global investment portfolio ensures that the whole financial market is a huge tangle. Any day if China decides to stop funding the US deficit, the next recession would be in row, bringing in unprecedented effect on the millions of american lives.

Another interesting aspect is to look at those who are fighting the present battles - there are nation conglomerates like US led " cleansing war " in Afghanistan, then there are People or public movements like the Arabic uprising in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Baharin, then the diplomatic tussles without much intended progress like the Indian Govt. vs the Pak Govt vs the ISI, ofcourse the highly effective select group wars like Mossad, Hamas, Taliban and so on and not to leave out the Chinese Govt and its stranglehold ( which it can tighten at any point) on the global market.Wow..that's quite a variety..

Are there enough anti war agencies to regulate these battles. After WW I , the League of Nations was set up and considered a failure, then came the United Nations after WW II.. does the UN have any serious role in the present day battles.. I have my doubts on that.. For that matter, can any agency actually regulate these battles ? again not a very feasible possibility.. So what can be the alternate, how to form a code of conduct steeped in the principles of live & let live or transparency.. some questions which are far beyond my overtaxed brain to answer...

"Missing Girls" Phenomenon in India

2011-04-15T00:11:00.000-07:00

The " Missing Women " phenomenon is a widely discussed topic especially in Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's paper. The 2011 Indian census has further alleivated this highly prejudiced aspect of the Indian Society. " Missing Girls" in the population is an issue not only in India, but also in other countries like China, West Asian ( Arab nations). This was a problem in Korea earlier , but with the economic development of the region the problem has been sorted.

Both India & China are much touted as the economies of the future with growth rates double of the World GDP growth rate. The question is how much more developed should we be to give respect and protection to the girl babies? Does increase in GDP Growth rate really affect female infanticide ? Here are some facts.

Haryana & Punjab are relatively the richer states in India, but scrores worse in protecting its girl babies..
Kerala, a foreign remittances based state has the best sex ratio
Indian NRI's in USA score low in sex ration and has dipped further as compared to earlier census

Its hard to believe that economic growth would be the single factor. What is more important is education and a shift in a deep psychological attitude towards woman.We see woman work in all fields of life these days. Actually the poorer they are the more they work, whether it is as house help, low level civil work , activities like agriculture, fishing etc and save more money for their family than their male counterparts.

The deep rooted " Dowry " system is another main reason for such vices. Girls are considered as taking away the family heirloom whereas Boys bring money from other families.This is more prevalent in the north. What is worst is that this practice is so much publicized and well known and there is hardly any action against that . The groom's parents consider it their right to demand dowry and the bride's parents consider it their obligation.Guests for the wedding revel in the party and love to hear about the rich presents given.

Hope that soon there would be some young men who can stand upright on their own and support their family without the bride's father 's hard earned money. I cant understand how men with all their giant sized ego actually admit that he needs that money.

Speaking about psychological shift, it is education , freedom of speech and media which can bring about this shift. Look at the myriad serials that are aired post 7.00 PM in all those chanels. It all revolves around sari clad , home bound, oppressed & depressed women. Why cant it show a progressive woman who handles issues related to work place & her home with grace and poise ? Does only teary eyed girls rake in the TRP ratings and moolah ? Is it a psychological vaccum that we have which needs to be filled seeing depressed woman fighting amongst themselves on whimisical issues ?

With the trend of 2 or 1 child per family, the pressure to choose boy babies is even more. There is an increase in girl children left at orphanages. A good measure would be to have orphanages interact with IVF centres, it may atleast increase the adoption rate.

If the sex ration continues in this manner, another social issue which could come up in the next 20 years is frustrted & depressed Men in the 20 to 45 years age group. Some parts of China already report about 20% excess males in their population and there have been reports of men in parts of Haryana not finding brides to marry in their community. Some socialists term this as " Testosterone Glut ". This may affect in more crimes against woman and other habits like wives sharing.

The laws of nature are impartial and give equal probability for both sex offsprings with a simple XY chromosone and XX chromosone combination. As always human tinkering with nature causes adverse results which are too difficult and beyond our capability to fathom. Hope we realize before it is too late as making demographic corrections needs decades of change.

Few Numbers

Female literacy ratio as per 2011 census is 65.46% as against 82% in males, working on increasing female literacy and girls enrollment in government schools is a key area for improvment. The sex ratio for India is 940:1000, Paksitan : 952 : 1000, world ratio : 1000: 1001

Cheers to the Gandhian - Anna Hazare

2011-04-07T01:20:00.000-07:00

After Dhoni, the world cup & his leadership supremacy, here is another leader of a different genre - a 72 years old veteran Gandhian & social activist who single handedly is raising eyebrows and headlines across the world on India's fight against corruption.

Reading the news & watching this elderly person with a strong resolute on matters he believes in makes my eyes well up with patriotic spirit mixed with shamefulness and joy. Shamefulness because inspite of having 60% population below the age of 35 which includes me , a 72 year old man had to lead the cause.Joy to see my fellow countrymen support the cause, the spread of the message across various cities, unison and ofcourse pride that India does offer freedom of speech & expression to people who know how to use it.

Recently in a discussion forum at work, a very senior executive mentioned about the definition & meaning of integrity. As per him, integrity is not only about not stealing or being on the right side of the law - its about standing up for what you believe in, be clear on your conscious for voicing your thoughts and bringing the benefits of your opinion for a good debate and hence decision.

By this definition & meaning, Anna Hazare is a person with high integrity. How many of us, so called youth would fall in this category is beyond me.How come none of us noticed the Lokpal bill being rejected by 8 consecutive governments languishing in the beauracracy awaiting corrupt politcians approval ? And Sharad Pawar - " member of Govt. Anti corruption cell " what was that about.. how dare ??

Already political parties in the opposition are scouting around like vultures to latch on to the theme and gain self momentum. What a mockery that politcians in BJP & others like Uma Bharati tried to share stage.

Sir, though I lack the courage to take up such a task single handedly like you have, I extend my support and wishes to hope that your mission continues to win support of millions of people around the world and forces action from the Government..

Quoting from the famous poem ' Abou Ben Adham " - May your tribe increase...

A different take on Cricket

2011-03-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

Considering that the mantra is cricket these days with the concluding World Cup Matches & the 51 day IPL at the anvil, It seems inappropriate if there is no post on Cricket…

Does Cricket have more value than all the glossover by the media, the brand ambasssodors, BCCI and its clout and of course the billions of people for whom cricket is religion ? Looking at it more closely, I think it does.

Cricket was earlier known as a gentleman’s game. Though it still is referred to like that sometimes, it has lost its angelic qualities in many ways. One custom that I particularly like is that the highest run taker leads the team back to the dressing room at the end of the match & all the others follow him in line.Well, since my quest is to what else cricket offers, let me get straight to the point.

In many ways there are many learnings that a game of cricket offers to a business scenario.

Cricket is one of the longest competing sports especially the test matches. This tests the endurance of the players to withstand the grueling conditions and strive to win. Matches are all about strategizing & execution. The selection of players for the match, role of each player, early gains strategy is scripted before the match and the on the spot changes to rival the competition’s onslaught is done during the match & quickly implemented. This indicates the adaptability of the strategy and the agility that the team needs to change to suit the market.

Teamwork without mention is the top quality that the game has to offer.No matter what singular performances lead to, the cohesiveness of the team and working together is what gives them victory. The infamous team huddles and the constant encouragement that the team members give each other during the match are some examples of how this works.

Cricket is also an example of trusting your instincts & experience. The batsman tries to read the mind of the bowler & makes his decision of the shot between the split second the ball leaves the bowler & approached the crease whereas the bowler places his fielders and tries to judge the temperament of the batsman.

Speaking about temperament, most cricket matches especially the recent world cup matches have been games of capabilities & temperament. The team that is able to keep focus & cool headed at the most tense & precarious situations wins the game. Some examples are the South African team, a highly capable team but known to be chokers.

The Capatin’s Knock is a fine parallel of the management theory Lead by Example.

More importantly the game is about passion & aggression. Let me quote some examples, Brett Lee returning to the India vs Australia QF after a deep injury, Anil Kumble playing with a broken jaw in a match against WI. Sachin’s century in 1999 right after his father’s funeral is another classic example of the passion & love for the game that the players need.

The environment present at the match venue is also akin to a business situation where the match is the market, the crowds & fans are the customers who have paid for the entertainment & win, the teams represent the oligopoly players at the time, umpires are like stock analysts with final verdicts.

No wonder they say that Cricket captains would make world’s finest CEO.. that is if they have time between playing & endorsements…

Centenary Celebrations of the Indian postal service

2011-02-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

Sending letters is a thing of the past now..its been so long since I penned a letter or bought stamps to send it.Though many times I have tried to start a stamp collection, its never progressed, so was gladly surprised when I came to know that my husband has a stamp & coin collection. True to his hobby, he does not believe in buying old stamps, he thinks it needs to be collected through exchanges or friends..buying ready made collection is no fun for him. There are vintage shops in places like Ooty which sells old stamps/ coins etc.

Recently while browsing, I came to know that Indian Postal service would be completing 100 years this year and then I digged a little further to find some facts on Indian postage.. India Post will release a set of four commemorative stamps to mark the centenary, coinciding with a re-enactment of Pequet’s Allahabad flight and the launch of the Indipex World Philatelic Exhibition, at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.

The 13-minute journey on 18 February 1911 by 23-year-old Frenchman Henri Pequet on a 50 horsepower Sommer biplane from Allahabad to Naini carrying around 6,500 letters was India’s first airmail flight and only the second in the world—a day earlier, American adventurer Fred Wiseman had taken off from Petaluma, California, and claimed first place.

India Post is the largest postal system in the world and issues around 70-80 commemorative stamps a year as well as its regular (“definitive”) postage stamps—significantly more than the UK’s Royal Mail, which produces around 12-15. Since 1852, when the first postage stamp (known as the Scinde Dawk) was introduced in India, until the present day, India Post has faced the mammoth task of administering to the country’s 35 states and Union territories.

Though philately as a hobby was introduced by the British, it captured the Indian imagination with a tenacity that has outlasted the influence of its instigators and continues to be popular today. It remains the only hobby recognized as an Olympic sport. It used to be the hobby of kings because it was expensive, But that idea is not so prevalent anymore.

In theory, anyone in India can apply to have a stamp made, although in practice only those personalities who have national or international renown are approved. Each stamp takes about 18 months to produce, from concept approval to printing. The approval of a theme for a commemorative stamp (the kind most commonly collected by philatelists) is ultimately made by the incumbent minister for communications, but an advisory body exists to submit its recommendations on each proposal. The reasoning behind these choices can be political.

Unlike the UK or the US, where royal weddings or politicians are frequently the subject of commemorative stamps, India Post steers away from approving living figures.

In 2008, after the financial crisis, the GB30 Rarities Index—a collection of classic British stamps that Stanley Gibbons recommends for investment—beat the Sensex.

Though not as stable as gold prices, stamps & onions seems to be a better option than stocks and even land.

Cheers to people who have been able to continue to their beautiful stamp collection hobbies thru the din of urbane life...

The year gone by

2010-12-29T22:56:00.000-08:00

I love looking at THE YEAR GONE BY articles and news which generally populate most news channels and newsprints..they come in all variety and sizes, and covers a wide variety of topics including, sports, politic moves, tragedies, celebrity gossip, Page3 parties and so on..

These are few things that I can remember ( borrowing some MBA jargon, Top of the mind recall)...

1) The Dad of all scams in India = Telecom Raja ( 2G + 3G = couple of billions of rupees)

2) Most luxurious house in the city which also houses the largest slum in the world = Antilla , owner Mukesh Ambani

3) A heroic and brave resuce of trapped miners in Chile - a lot of solidarity seen across the world at the time of tragedy

4) CWG in Delhi - The coming of age of India " the fast paced economy" to show its capability in putting up a worldclass event..though entangled in myriad Kalmadi scams..

5) India in Sports - One of the best years for Indian Sports, both cricket & non cricket ( the two key sports segments in India).. from winning some good haul at CWG & Asian Games.. and of course the best 20-20, Test & 1 day side in the world

6) Icelandic Volcanic Eruption - How nature completely threw world travel, airlined industry and many more into doldrums by its fury... there is a popular joke on how the ashes of the Icelandic economy was distributed across Europe

7)Australia turned to Ashes - This was a far bigger blow that the volcanic ashes..the formidable Oz side had to beat the dust at home against arch rivals England

8) The Football Worldcup in Africa - Waka , Waka & all eyes tuned to the beautiful game in the dark continent..

9) The historic, land mark and much awaited Ayodhya judgement - The much awaited judgement and the reaction that Indian public gave clearly enlivens the Fasttrack accesories tag line - MOVE ON..

10) The leak of all Leaks , Wikileaks - There is a bible saying, nothing will remain hidden for long.. it will all come out to the light.. this cant be more true in this case

What's special about 00:00 AM Jan 1st ??

2010-12-29T02:20:00.000-08:00

New year & new year's eve is one of the best examples where pre-concieved notions are best practiced by almost all humans.. well what I mean by my blabbering is that.. what is actually new about new year ? well its the new day, new beginning of a fresh year.. now who decide's the year.. well we do either its the Julius Calendar , the Greogrian Calendar or the Chineese Lunar Calendar.. whichever it be..there is a compelling need to celebrate, and start afresh.. a new day & new moment at 00:00 AM..

So what I mean is that, its just in our head that 00:00 Jan 1st of every year is a harbinger of good times, a time to let go of old things, make new resolutions & start afresh..

A New Year's eve could be just about any day for that matter.. it can be today, yesterday or tomorrow.. If each day, we could let go of old buried hurt and hope for a bright new dawn.. how beautiful would life be...

Being a Monkey

2010-11-28T23:08:00.000-08:00

Life sometimes is like being a monkey in the matser's hands.. something like those impromptu circus that is seen in thouse myriad cross roads & junctions in Indian villages & small towns..

The monkey does various tricks depending on its masters instructions. It may laugh, cry and all the other gimmicks which entertain people and then the master's mood may change suddenly and the monkey would scurry of from his vicinity, to be away from the wrath of its master..

Soon enough master's mood changes again and there the monkey is back to its gimmicks

Few Nostalgic Moments

2010-11-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

I was checking out the racks at the local grocery store to find what's new and cook inspiring and suddenly I saw the various bins of staples & provisions like rice & wheat. I thought its been ages since I saw loose wheat grains.We have been buying packeted atta for so long that this seemed like a distant memory. Taking those wheat grains in my hand it reminded me of those days when I used to go with my dad to a nearby grinding place to get wheat flour. He used to buy large quantities of wheat when the crop and price was good and then take it to the nearby grinding store to get flour done and the store it away for later use.This would be done for red chilli's, rice flour, coconut oil and sometime coffee powder.

Those days seem like a long time ago now.

In these times of instant chappati's it is defintely a faraway moment..

Today is International Men's Day..

2010-11-18T22:20:00.000-08:00

Today is International Men's Day.. well atleast that 's what this morning's Times Paper mentioned.. Now I'm a completely throughbred feminist.. and love all the attention poured on us on Women's day, Mother's day, Friendship Day and not to mention Valentine's day.. In all these years however it never ocurred to me about not having a Men's Day or any specific celebration related to Men.So it came quite as a surprise to me to learn that there is after all a Men's day.

The celebration of various " Day "s or a need to have these xyz Days is a much debated topic. Some take the view that it is absolutely unneccesary as it is that Mother's are remembered only on Mother's Day or proposals can be made only on Valentine's day. While others believe that is is good to have a certain day becuase then people remember to make the life of someone you love special.

On reading that it is Men's Day today, I wondered if the whole thing is a marketing gimmick. There are no big billboards announcing this as in Women's day, no related cultural events taking place this week, no shopping coupons in malls and absolutely no advertisements related to how much men contribute to this world. May be Women, Mother, Friendship & Love are all aspects where people splurge to keep the women in their lives happy and these things strike an emotional cord with the fairer sex. Women generally love the small tokens of appreciation from family & friends and just make them feel more special.

Or is it that it is difficult for men or the society to come out and celebrate a Men's day becuase of the negative image that may potray especially in the light of today's feminist society. Now is the age of reservation for women, from parliament, to many office postings, train coaches and what not. Marketing companies may feel that celebrating Men's day may not go very well with their brand image..

History says that International Women's day ( IWD ) has its roots in the garment factory workers' strike in 1857 on poor working conditions which then began as a start of a long fight against equal rights for women.Though IWD was initiated as a class war, it soon took the shape of a gender war and then finally something like a liberation day or a day to make women feel special..

However International Men's day (IMD) has a much more recent origin.It was conceived by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh in 1999 as a forum to promote a positive role of men in the society.

Is this a start for another gender discrimination but in the other way, would there be a time when Men would feel oppressed..its hard to believe that something like that could ever happen.. either way, I think women have pretty large hearts and can definetly accomodate a Men's Day celebration... See that's the feminist in me speaking :)

Passion for Work

2010-11-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was watching Masterchef Australia and this time it was Masterclass by Heston Blumenthal, known as a culinary alchemist.. It was mind blowing and by the end of the session, I added a meal at Fat Duck or Dinner ( the to be opened restaurant in London ) as part of my wanna do list sometime this life.It was truly innovation at its heights. His speciality is in engaging the various senses while also eating.. Amazing to say the least!

This set me wondering as to what actually creates this fire of passion in humans, how is it that some people just love what they do for their living and simply excel themselves every day. Looking back at some great works, we can quickly conclude that it can be recreated or highly logical and clarified in concept. But what is important is that these guys thought about it first and stuck on to their thought to create their own legacy..

So how do they get this passion, may be its a professional calling, but how do u listen to this calling, how do you know what excites you most and do you have the capability to pursue your calling or do we listen to all those mundane other voices which simply throw more road blocks..

I can list so many things I would want to do, from travelling to promoting Indian traditional art forms, to cooking, to starting my own company..but have I done anything on this list, atleast a small step & the answer is a big No..

Well..perfect musings for a rainy wintry day like today.. may be I should just stop typing and get back to some real work :).. So long

Cities & Their Personalities

2010-10-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Yesteday, while driving back after a particularly long day in office, a colleague and me were talking about cities and its personalities, or features that stand out and make you either fall in love with or stand out like a sticky thumb waiting to jump out.

Quite a philoshpical topic considering that the sun had already set, but as we spoke, it was interesting to see how both of us percieved the same about certain cities.Actually come to think of it, even offices & homes have the acquired personalities.And often it happens that certain employees or married into in case of homes stick out for the same reason.

Certain homes have a very welcome, sunny and bright look which immediately makes the visitor comofortable. Sometimes houses are filled with their past memorablia as though the residents simply are unable to move on to the future , whereas some homes are intidimating and some lack any sort of personnel touch and completely looks like a hotel suite.

Anyways here is a gist of our mumblings on the cities & their personalities..

Banglore has the history of an erstwhile summer hangout + retiree's home background. From this history it has grown into a IT Technopolis.So essentially there is a good crowd of old banglaoreans and a big chunk of new adoptees who are in the 20- 35 age group.Laid back would be the personality for bangaloreans. Any coffee shop would be a success in this city where people like to sit back, enjoy a coffee with freinds preferably in an out door setting. Book stores, theatre etc are other favorite pasttimes.

At any time of the day, you can notice people at Coffee Day's, Barista or just about any other coffee shop in the city. The crowd in the city is young and ready to spend variety. Walk down the streets of Koramangala or BTM Layout and you will immediately catch the vibrance of the young.

Chennai as per us has this amazing combination of a true east city, it has deep traditional roots with all the goodies of a city. Dance, Music, Theater, Tamil cuisine, Brahmin culture and extended families are the core of this sprawling metropolis which is yet to become cosmopolitan truly.It is also one of the few cities where neighbours still know each other.

Mumbai is the fast city, highly professional and of course the Promised Land for many. Look at the many many people who come to Mumbai everyday, living on the streets and you can see hope in their eyes of better tomorrows.That's the promise that Mumbai holds to India. Extremely professional , safe and forever on the move.

Delhi kindles the patriotic spirit in me, its a mix of patriotism and red tapism that is evident from the moment you land there. You can find old crumbling ruins standing amidst the glass towers. I always wonder the battles these ruins have seen. Red Tapism & Show off go hand in hand here, its completely un cool to have a low profile wedding, or drive in a small budget car or go to a hotel in a rick. Money impressions needs to be made at the first meeting to get the message across.

Most cities seem to be loosing this culture streak in them as globalization continues. Different variants seem to blend in but certain charectristics still stand out.

The Caw Society

2010-09-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

Over last weekend while I was enjoying the few late mornings that I am blessed with, a few hundred crows decided to spoil it for me. There was continuous cawing in one side of our neighbourhood and I woke up sleepily to check what it was.

I was quite stunned to see the hundred odd birds perched across our building , neighbourhood apartments and the trees or electric poles in the vicinity.All of them were cawing in unison and there seemed to be good communciation between all of them.

It took a few minutes for me to realize the cause of their agitation. There was a dead crow on the terrace of the next door apartment and all the crows were apparently were mourning its death. This continued for about half an hour. After some time all the crows departed. About 1 hour later there was another similar assembly. Here couple of ravens came near the dead bird and started plucking its feathers.

I have no idea what this behavior meant, but it set me thinking of another story that a recent aquintee mentioned.

He was working in a reputed law firm in Mumbai and was a regular on the Andheri - Churchgate local train. Though he did see a person lying on the tracks near Andheri, he like other fellow travellers took it in their regular stride. 2 days later, while he was reading the Mid-Day paper, it mentioned that there was a decompoising body near tracks in Andheri which people realized becuase of the stench...

Well..are we humans have declared ourselves as social, emotional and intelligent supreme beings... now maybe its time to contest that...

Chinese Neo Colonialism

2010-08-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

New Age Imperialism or Neo Colonialism is all about controlling Finance and Trades.. It is vastly different from the earlier variety of slavery down right looting, but this is about creating a sense of freedom while there is someone always controlling the strings..

During the cold war times, both US & Soviet followed a policy of divide and rule where all nations had to take a stand on which side lies their loyalties. But post the fall of Soviet Union, its the era of embargoes and aids till about the last recession. While US is going through the throes of the recession and fiscal deficit, China has been silently and strategically positoning its spread across the world.

A good chunk of the US fiscal deficit is financed by China. This could work as double whammy considering the exchange ratio's, the large imports of chinnese manufactured goods into US and ofcourse job creation in US on account of manufacturing.

Commonly known is the Chinese support given to most African nations where there are bilateral ties between the government for supporting developement and prosperity in the dark contienent. In many ways this is like a business deal on " Customer Relation Management". It is a back door entry for building a very stable trade position in the future with access to natural resources. In the earlier years US had adopted a " Big Brother " attitude whereas the Chinese approach would be more welcome to the country.

The best part of the Chinese approach is that it caters to countries in distress which has a long term potential for either growth or is strategically positioned. I was recently reading an article about China building a port in the southern tip of Srilanka at the cost of $1.5 Billion. This is part of the support extended to the Srilankan government during the LTTE war.The total Chinese investment planned here is to the tune of $6Billion. Srilanka is an optimum location for strategic interest considering its location at the southern tip of India. Many security analysts fear that this is another step for Beijing " String of Pearls Strategy" for setting up many ports in the Indian ocean.

Next is the recent example of the Greek fiasco and the assistance provided by the Chinese to the bolster confidence through bilateral ties. In the short period there were two visits planned by the Chinese Premier and about 14 deals are reporterdly signed which totals to the largest investment in Europe by China.

Another example is Africa. There has been an increase in Chinese settlement in various countries is this continent. The beauty of the Chinese offer is that it is unconditional, there is no pre condition on economic performance, and they do not interfere with the type of governance in the state, be it a democracy or a Pariah state. China is incidently the largest energy player in Sudan and has build considerable construction expertise in most of the other countries.These investment do not neccesarily bring in more african jobs becuase most of the contractors bring in laborers from their home.

China is also active in the other countries including Nigeria and Angola the continent's largest oil producers as well as countries like Equatorial Guinea and the republic of Congo.Also there are many countries to which Chinese military and financial support is exteneded as in Sudan, Zimbabwe, Zambia & Uzbekistan. Africa's 5.7% GDP growth last year is also largely credited to China. I remember reading some news articles stating - Can one country build a continent ? The article stated that there are about 800 Chinese companies in Africa.

These are definetly not examples of Chinese philanthrophy but a strategic plan for increasing its footprint. This is quite an amazing example of Neo colonialism where most super powers will suddenly be stuck with the realization that for the smallest of decisions in their country there will suddenly be a Chinese twist.

Where does all the money come from ? Well China has stated its deficit as 20% of the GDP, but like most other government statistics , this looks highly impoverished. Some estimates state it as over 40% of the GDP. Hence the money is largely funded by the government banks rich with the savings of the hardworking 1.6 Billion population. At any time if there is a huge run, then it will cause another world recession and disorder. But as of now there is no reason to predict such an exodus considering that China is one of the few economicly stable countries.

The Sonia Factor

2010-07-30T02:38:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot read & written about Sonia Gandhi , the outsider in India at the helm of the government.In the earlier election, BJP played the foreigner card and fell flat ( That;s not the only reason for loosing elections, but it dint work as a trump card either).\

Many times, I ask myself, how can Sonia be an outsider, according to me she is an astounding woman, & one of the best leaders that our country has had. She has been single handedly capable of uniting and leading the congress party which is a group of veterans from pre-independence era each having their own variant of the party manifesto.The whole congress juggernaut rode into power under her leadership.If not for her, there is no other leader who can unite the grand old party of India.

An astounding woman, who married into the first family of india and survived many personal disasters. Her husband & mother in law were asssasinated. and instead of going back to Italy, which she easily could have, she continued to bring her children up here as indians and then after a long stoic silence entered politics. Even now, she would be the prime target of many assasins out there. I dont know how many indian woman would do this?

I adore the way she handles herself, any small speck of dirt would be magnified in india and looked at through evilsh eyes, but she never gives way for trouble or controversy. Whether it is her remarks, interviews, dress sense and so on..it is always within the limits set by the public and her sphinx like silence is yet to be broken.

A good manager, she has picked and chosen a set of close aides who abide by her at all times. Here no polictical games, or public laundry wash is seen.

Sonia is a good strategizer too.She has learnt "what wins here" and played her tactics accordingly.Whether it is the "support from outside"factor or being the chair person of the UPA, the congress allies, the power vote on 123 agreement and so on.

No wonder she was featured in the most powerful women's list by Forbes. Presiding over the grand old party of India and being the hand behind the Central Government's wheel for the largest democratic and second fast growing country in the world can be no small feat...

Hat's off to her...

Corruption Wealth Games

2010-07-30T01:43:00.000-07:00

CWG hosted in Delhi in Oct would have the pride of the 1 billion population country..a reason to show off the talent in the country, welcome thousands of tourists and sports enthusiasts..but now it is expected to become another farce..

The stadiums are far below perfection, it is yet to be completed on time, all the allied infrastructure is yet to be ready and we are going to be short of 10000 rooms. Delhi Government is hoping that the friendly people of Delhi give the option of home stays to the tourists and they can escape the fiasco in this way.

All that remains now is a lot of contractors and middle men who have made bags of money. To the utter dismay of the tax payer, crores and crores of money has been wasted away and siphoned off. The organizing committee chairman Mr. Kalmadi feels that the reponsibility of corruption or of showcasing a standard event is not his, but it is with the government.

Now the Government is a group of people entrusted with the job of governance..but there has to be one person, minister, which is responsible & accountable..heads have to roll..its people & attitude like Kalmadi who make hurdles for India to become a great nation..

Chimney's on the Streets

2010-05-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

If you take a swab of cotton with any cleanser & wipe your face at the end of the day..hmmm. it will look like you have just walked out of a coal mine. The cotton will be a rich grey color and these days the streets are filled with auto carbon spewing machines.

Pollution is quite a wide wide topic, one issue which irritates me so much that my friends joke about it is the complete apathy of vehicles on emission. These days travelling in our cities is quite a toxic affair, the amount of Carbon Monoxide inhaled along with precious amounts of other items and of course the effect of pollution on skin , hair etc.

The main culprit s are the smoke billowing vehicles, usually Govt. Public Transport Vehicles or Private Vehicles meant to transport public. Its chimney would be sprouting smoke especially while waiting at the umpteen signals and traffic snarls.

Auto’s, bikes, old trucks, Taxi’s, BPO vehicles and Govt. busses are frequent chimney’s on the road. I sometimes wonder why such a highly evident emission lag is not catching the police eye.

Usually our traffic police staff, especially by month end when the coffers are nearing empty, they are out looking for all sorts of traffic miscreants but you will never catch them booking on emission control problem. This too when the traffic police perched on their traffic islands are the worst affected by the same.

There are strict restrictions on emission control with the certification expiring every 6 months but enforcement of regulation and random checks is missing. Let ‘s forget government apathy for the moment, but public awareness is the key problem. Govt. vehicles especially busses must have strict rules on age of fleet size. LNG vehicles would bring in some amount of change. Companies need to ensure that their vehicles are strictly within the emission norms and there needs to be overhaul of fleet to ensure that vehicles with stricter norms are enforced.

For eg: if a manufacturing company which is committed to environment and sustainability needs to get proper assurance from the logistics provider that the trucks / trailers they use have proper emission control. Similarly I think it is the responsibility of the BPO companies to ensure that the vehicles which they have outsourced are proper. In this manner the industry will be forced to change as it involves their business.

With the increase in population and industrialization this problem is only bound to increase and in a power starved company electric cars and not in sight in the foreseeable future. However some amount of public awareness and commitment towards society can make a sea change.

Sania Wedding - A national breaking News

2010-04-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

The latest breaking news of a country which dreams of being a superpower by 2050, with a staggering population of a 1.2 Billion Plus ( the jury ( census) is still out), was caught in a catch 22 situation last week with the announcement of Sania's & Shoaib's wedding...

Of course there is a Maoist wars in one part of the country, municipal elections, water crisis, power cuts, ongoing census, bio metric identification program, US-Nuclear deal clauses, hundreds of corrupt officials cases, women's reservation bill, Maywati's elephants, increase in summer epidemics, in-complete stadiums to host the commonwealth games and many more such issues which did not excite the country or the media as much as Shoaib's love triangle...

I completely fail to understand how a very personal issue can be brought to such limelight , and be the single most discussed issue , ( IBN 7, Headlines today & NDTV claimed it as " Breaking News") in the media.

Does anyone really care who Sania is getting married too ???

May be I should not have such a pessimistic view on the wedding..Let me list out why this is indeed breaking news,

Sania, Shoaib wedding is a prime example of how the heart knows no boundaries or Kargil wars and need no pacts for being together..
Further enhancement to the India - Pak.. bhai bhai concept...
Some level of speedy justice given to a muslim lady in hyderabad
Monetary help to some business houses like Taj Krishna, Air travel companies and the myriad other shopping houses
Help to artisans who can use their ability in encrusting swaroski crystals in the lehenga
A good script which our Bollywood writers/diectors can copy.
Of course, news & TRIP ratings for news channels who are otherwise starved of any breaking news
Push Markeing for the millions of "eye balls" glued to the TV's & breaking News
And of course more importantly, a whole new generation of Indo-Pak citizens to be born...

See, there is after all a long list of worthy clauses for the wedding being Breaking News..It is just that poor normal brained citizens like me could not appreciate it !!!

Aye's & Nay's for the Women's Reservation Bill

2010-03-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

As a person I’m seriously against reservation of any kind other than financial / economic classes, and similar is my stand on woman reservation…I don’t think we women need any sort of “ you are here because of our big heart to give away a seat and the so called “ Seat Liability” from any of the male gender…and don’t quote me wrong, I’m very much for woman development and quite a bit of feminist ( it runs in my family).

The woman’s reservation bill which is getting introduced now is just a politico-management sham, BJP and Congress have devised this tool for maintaining their market share and a temporary brickwalling, as other parties like RJD, BSP don’t really have too many women to field or active in their party ranks..

Both Congress and BJP had less than 10% of woman in their MP’s last year, if they were so much committed to woman emancipation, then the count of women candidates fielded should have been much higher.

Also the bill entails that some seats will be randomly selected as “ reserved for women” which means that an MP selected form one constituency this year, may not be under reservation quota from the same seat next year and hence the party will not be interested in building up a mass connect for the poor lady contesting from that seat.

On the other side, Scandinavian countries have high woman participation in governance and in these places the levels of corruption, woman liberalization and development is much higher, so may be there is some way forward in this bill.

I think these reservations must be first done at the panchayat, district, municipality & state levels first before attempting at the central level. In this manner, women will be able to build a mass appeal and have some “good stories ” to campaign by herself and will also build up party ranks. Also the issue of woman emancipation is bigger in rural areas, in urbane locations, there is financial independence and people are somewhat aware of their rights.

In essence, I think the bill should not be treated as some sort of management brick walling, instead if there is commitment to include woman in governance and build the woman’s team from grass root level, then here is an “ Aye” to the women’s bill…

Socialism & Capitalism..

2010-03-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Maoism and their cause ( Sympathizers View) is one of the main topics of TV shows these days. Sympathizers feel that Maoism is a result of capitalism in the country and lack of even development for all sections of the community..
I find this thought hard to digest because the more I think of it, I cant understand what really does these two ideologies profess & who follows them…

Couple of years back, during the age & times of USSR, may be this was an active ideology splitting the world into loyalty towards the two super powers…

But What about now.. what does US profess.. the superpower of the capitalist world, believes that profits are for keeps by the multi billion asset companies and if there is a loss then it is borne by the tax payers ( the 1 Trillion debt waive off / or stimulus package).. and wars are surely paid from the tax payer’s money.. This is surely socialism turned upside down… Profits to the companies & Losses to the nation community…

How about the Socialistic Country China… Companies belong to the state.. but the community is suppressed by the be-all’s & end –all’s of governing bodies.. They decide who speaks what, what to wear, how to communicate, what to learn, where to work, what to eat and everything else which a basic human being should be able to decide without help from the “ community ”.. So here is an example of twisted capitalism… “ Power to the people, but no power to think or decide by oneself”…

And of course there are countries like India, which is capitalistic & socialistic..it is caught in between.. Declaring Capitalism will create unrest in CPI ( nearing extinction)..some flares like Maoists.. & professing socialism means declaring yourself as Anti – Development and non futuristic country and also bring on the wrath of FDI’s & FII’s…

Isn’t this confusing enough….

Bangalore has caught the flu...

2010-03-01T19:00:00.001-08:00

Bangalore or Bengaluru ( I cant bring myself to call this lovely & classy city that name) has caught the flu.. She has been hovering in between 21 & 36 degree temperatures for the whole of last week , which is a sudden shift from the dormant 14 – 20 degrees till February…Of course you wont find this as breaking news in any TV channel, unfortunately they prefer to make it news after the patient is dead. But it is definitely a topic of discussion amongst the people of Bangalore.

Combined with the low humidity climate in Bangalore, she cannot bring in enough precipitation to bring about rain. There were thunder showers in Mysore & Kerala but nothing crossed over to Bangalore..

All the vehicle pollution has led to a chemotherapy type environment and the trees that Bangalore has nursed over the last so many years is looking bald, dry & whithered.

There are symptoms of jaundice too with the 800 odd lakes in Bangalore sighting a yellowish color. Ulsoor lake in the heart of Bangalore has a mix of colors which may soon turn brackish black.

But the spirit is still alive and she tries to sport a bright new day look every day with a slight early morning chill, chirping pigeons, misty fields and dew on the thousands of trees which still exist…

Hope she get’s well soon and the days of wearing a sweater to work and the charm of walking under glorious tree lined streets with a mist in your breath returns soon..

Horn OK Please OK Horn

2010-02-22T18:54:00.000-08:00

" Ok Horn Ok" , " Horn Ok Please" , are some of the very popular signs on Indian road otherwise devoid of any other road signs..All trucks irrespective of whether it was built during British Era or the more recent ( in truck age, recent is 10 years old) will sport this sign..

I guess the " noise" part is well blended with Indian culture, be it a wedding , a funeral , a festival or even a bandh, making noise is an integral part of well being.

The practise of " horning" is also quite unique to India. Abroad it is considered rude if the person goes on honking for no particular rhyme or reason. Here even if there is a one mile traffic jam which is visible to all or a one of the few working traffic signal flashing red, honking is considered as a way out of all this.

The origin of this phrase is not known, but it is assumed that about 50 years back, when some vehicles ran on kerosene which was considered unstable, and a small accident could cause the vehicle to blow up, then to indicate that it is a Kersose vehicle, the sign " Horn On Kerosene Please" was there, which was later compressed to " Horn OK Please". Some have even modified it to, Horn OK Please Tata.. These are also four words which are some of the most commonly known english words in India..

Whatever be the origin of this phrase, It is one of the myriad and colorful things that have come to stay.Though I like the graphitti on the trucks and the names, I sure hope that no body follows the urge to honk, and Indian roads would be a slightly less noisy place...

Save Our Tiger...

2010-02-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Saving the Tiger from Aircel is the most recent " Sustainable Development Marketing Propoganda "..The campaign consist of a Tiger cub waiting for its mother to return, and of course Dhoni, Bhatia announcing their support and intent to Save the Tiger..The campaign asks people to log on to the website http://www.saveourtigers.com/ , join in the " roar", and web posts of how the Indian National Animal is on the verge of extinction.

I must agree that this is a very respectful idea, but sadly there is a serious lack in execution. I fail to see how couple of second's of TV Ad's, and about 50000 Roar's ( the last time I checked) on Face book for Strippy the Tiger cub, and wearing the campaign T shirts would actually help to save the tiger. May be some Face book savy poachers would log in, read the comments and be teary eyed, repent and swear to save the tiger...Or the other chance is of poachers seeing many poachers see people wearing the T Shirts and become overwhelmed with guilt and turn up their hunting weapons.. Or poachers may realize that as there are only 1411 tigers left, their profession will soon become extinct too and may be it is time to shift jobs..

Another plausible case is that poachers are fans of Dhoni and will get moved by his commitment towards saving the tiger..

How much ever I have whack my brain, I cant really see these options really saving the tiger.

Alternately if there was some more pains taken, for eg : Aircel can donate money, say " 100 rupees" for every new aircel connection to a fund which will be used to improve the communication equipment of Forest guards, work with establishments to rear tiger cubs and release them into the wild, improve security in our Tiger Reserves etc..Or may be work with a legal NGO's in establishing fast & strict closures of poaching cases...there are many more such options which will actually help in saving Strippy our tiger cub..

However the campaign has truly increased awareness on the state of the Royal Bengal tiger.

Facebook campaigns and roars may be more useful for some other tigers in India like Thackeray's, Muthalik ( he roars only on dates close to Valentine's day and remains in his den on all other days).. It would do good to both of them to increase awareness on their existence, that is if they are not opposed to the myriad things related to T shirts ( it is not ethnic Indian wear), or Face book ( completely western, socializing place, young innocent people meet and can get provocated) and websites ( english language) and so many more issues which logical minds cannot concieve...

Attention Deficit Syndrome ( ADS)..

2010-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

If AIDS was the scariest syndrome of the 20th Century, the forecast is to be ADS ( Attention Deficit Syndrome ) in the 21st Century. Medically it is situation of being less attentive, restless and inability to focus and so on..
I’m sure it affects most of the urban people, the bigger the city or lower the tier ( Tier 1).. the more acute is the infection and hence the paranoia…
We often get to see people with 2 phones, ( or one phone with 2 SIM’s), blue tooth attached to the ear, hitting away on the laptop and of course an I-Pod hanging from the other ear all the time doing something else like either eating, watching TV, reading newspaper and so on..
Now where is the person concentrating ? it is hard to say...
Another eg : , an average person has atleast 1000 different marketing messages coming in a day.. It can be plain old classifieds, hoardings & bill boards at the traffic signal, TV ad’s, Scrollers on TV, Leaflets, Radio Jingles, Persistent Tele –Calls, Emails, Google Ad’s, Banners in the Shops, Point of Sale ( Billing Counter) Promotions, and even the carry bags of shoppers scream out some kind of promotional message ( SALE!!!)…And then there is the trust worthy “ word of mouth” promotion…Marketer’s around the world innovate everyday on a new way to get the average consumer’s shrinking attention span…

I remember my Dad telling me that in his time, students joined engineering after their degree course which is mostly in science for engineering & medicine. This way, there is higher maturity and understanding when they join for the professional course. During my time, I joined straight after 12th std, and engineering college was basically fun. I passed out with honors without even knowing the basics of what I can engineer…

That’s a whole 3 years of my life which got compressed. There are courses where bachelors + masters engineering is completed in 5 years ( compressed 1 year).. and of course crash courses.. 21 days MBA, 1 week diploma’s and so many more..

The effects of this syndrome are there to see in many ways. Most people of the present generation change job’s easily..During the vedic ages, we read about “ Kula “ jobs ( All people in the certain Kula keep themselves busy in a single family job variety), then more recently you have parents who join & retire from the same company and often children follow same footsteps.. Now it varies from anywhere from 3 months to 5 – 6 years maximum.. after that I guess you become part of the company furniture and rusting…

An average middle class family changes their Car atleast 3 times in their lieftime, other white goods are changed more often, interior deco and renovations are changed once in 3 -4 years..and some even start re - settling in a whole new place after some time.. These are some things which are supposed to be permenant for a long long time.
We blow hot & cold on interests, activities, hang out areas, friends, and so on.. Everytime the interest is to try out something new, again indicating inability to focus for long period of time..

I guess divorces also happen because of sheer boredom when the novelty wears out after some time..

I dont think there are any permenant cures to this fast spreading disease.Of course there are many " find your inner self" mechanisms like meditation, yoga, vacationing etc which helps the person expand their focus for some time. But these dont last for long, when we get back to realty there are the phones to attend and the high priority mails streaming in, a boss breathing down your neck, home chores, EMI's to pay and so many more all wanting immediate & urgent attention...

Some outdated facts...

2010-02-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine that many of the fad's which we follow now like Cigs being bad for health where actually promoted amongst public in the mid 20th century.. I found that interesting. What caught my interest was that these things where popular as recent as 1950 - 1960 period, which is the life and times of maximum 2 generations prior..

While in school I remember learning that population growth was the bane of India, because of which all typical problems happened here. "High population" was the topic of so many debates and root causes and always helped in adding some extra papers for school exam papers. Now population or demography is the Indian advantage, Availability of labor, young working population is touted as the next big thing for India to become super power by 2050!..Countries like Japan, Singapore, European countries etc with fast dimishing populations are supposed to be on demographic decline & the govt. rewards the family for bringing up more number of kids !! whatever happened to the " We are One, we need one" campaign..

Many such facts and fads that people swear by now, gets overwritten in just 20 years! is n't that timeline really fast..

Here are some ad posters of the 1930's - 1960's.. Santa Claus promoting Cigs :)... how about TV being good for Children ?? A company," Camel" even interviewed 113,595 doctors in 1950's and claims that majority of the respondents promoted their product.Now not a single doctor or an affaliated organization will go on record promoting smoking.

How about cocaine in drug stores... I guess there was trust and general goodness feeling in those days, that people knew their limits. Even now many drugs are used as pain killers and during operations, but strictly under doctor supervision

There was this instance of US postal service, delivering mail through rockets :).. fore runner of the email..:)This happened in the 1930's, through the regulus missile, typical of many government investments large sums where invested to launch missile mail, till a brainy person realized that wrong deliveries and explosions and cargo hazards may also become popular :). This was promoted as peace time use of Missiles.

There are so many funda’s that our generation swears by.. Green Tea Fads, right BMI ( Body Mass Index), Yoga as the fitness mantra, Organic Food concept and so many more.

Who knows, may be the next generation may prove these wrong too!!

Exodus from Agriculture

2010-01-31T23:31:00.000-08:00

Agriculture is one sector of the GDP which is often criticized for dragging the Indian growth story. It is still the biggest employment sector, offering jobs to half the Indian population, though the numbers are far reducing now.Not too many years back, agriculture or farming was the main employment skill in India. My own family, 2 generations back are farmers. Rices, pulses , spices and even coffee, sugar & jaggery were farmed and after storing for the family, surplus was sold in the market. In my childhood days, I don’t remember any surplus being there, farm output was largely for family use as the next generation ( my parents) moved out to earn a living from industries. Nowadays there is no farming as the present generation ( me & my siblings) are completely away from the family tradition or the farm land.

In short, in 3 generations, there has been a complete shift from selling farm products to buying from supermarkets. This is the case in many other families too, some in 2 and others in 4 generations.

This is as I see it the exodus from agriculture.

Recently there was a declaration by the PM on reducing food prices and being self sufficient, but I wonder how that’s possible. There is a whole rural – urban shift happening, farm land is being sold for commercial purpose and the young don’t think that farming is a viable option, so where is the output going to come from ?

I think Indian agriculture has remained static since 1970’s when the Green revolution came to an end. There was a brief stint of revolution with the e-choupal, agri retail, development focus of Tier III cities etc. Below are few steps which could reverse this exodus

- Provide Infrastructure for transporting farm produce to the consumer ( fast & preserve quality) – like refrigerated trucks, cold storage system etc.

- Clarity in prices - There must be more systems for hedging like tea futures, pepper, cotton, and most cash crops should be traded like a commodity market.

- Irrigation – Linking of river is a much touted project, yet to see the light of the day in many states. In Kerala a state which receives plentiful rainfall, water flows into the Arabian Sea in a maximum of 48 hours ( 2 days), and many districts lack fresh water.

- Educate people in the different facets of farming , for eg : organic farming, cash crops, animal, horticulture, orchid farms, fishes and so on.. Traditionally people stick to high labor, low profit areas like rice, wheat depending on the region.

- Bring Globalization to rural India, through developing source bases for retail giants

Instead of giving away different subsidies, if it can be used for irrigation & Infra support, half the battle in won without any extra costs on the exchequer.

Having said that, both my husband and me like the idea of a rustic life, with farming as the main option, coupled with some eco-tourism aspects. We believe that if done right, and if risks are placed well, then there is a good chance of pulling it off.. But having being used to the glamour & glitz of a bustling metro like Bangalore and the comfort of a salaried bank account, it is not easy to throw it all away...

My Take On Ad's

2010-01-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

This is my list without the obvious chart topper's like Zoo-Zoo campaign...

Interesting Ones

1)IDBI Bank - The elephant & kid story line is an old idea but looks very fresh.

2)VW Beetle ad - The Valet paying to the car owner for parking his car is a nice idea. The yellow coloured Beetle actually looks desirable

3)Servo Ad - Kid's play car with tweeky sound ad..simple & nice

Sad Ones

1) Amaron Battery - Chicken immersed in H2SO4, and the researches eats the chicken story line I actually felt like throwing up after seeing the ad

2) Dish TV - Shah Rukh Khan Ad, he looked unreal and I feel that Shah Rukh is an overused brand

3)Good Knight - Rani Mukherjee Ad series, I can never get this right. The latest being on the coil not having smoke...pah..

4)Amir Khan Chips ad - I cant remember the name of the chips, this is supposed to be a variety of roasted potato chips which are healthier..I'm sure the chips are as bland as the ad.

Fourth Estate...

2010-01-20T00:29:00.000-08:00

I've been on a search for the perfect news paper for a long time now. There are many choices related to the fourth estate whether it is print, or the tube..but yet to fit into my scheme of things.

I like my news in black & white, with not to many atrocious pictures in pecking order. The highest priority news should be on the first page and so on..This is a very simple requirement as per me..

In search I have sampled most of the newspaper variety and the channels..Most bangloreans would swear by the Times, as is rest of India. But I find that paper a colorful bash of words with the most “sensational” news on the first page. You have to really score the paper well to actually catch a good piece of investigational journalism or actual breaking news.. Newer generation print media like DNA, Mint seem to be much better. The Hindu is a good one, when I was in school , my parents used to insist on reading this paper to improve Vocab. But an issue here is they have few editions and local news is mostly missing.

Business newspapers are also not far left behind in “ sensationalization”. In college we used to get a free copy of ET ( Economic Times). Every now and then there is an award function organized by ET and this would cover more than half of its paper weight. I fail to understand how self proclaiming can be done to such an extent.

English News channels usually have the same breaking news flashing across the entire spectrum at the same time. These headlines are usually limited and it is more to channelize people interest. Recently there was the “Rathore Case” being flashed on TV.While this is on, you can forget the Haiti Quake or the Kashmiri Terrorist or just about anything else. The whole team would be focused on relaying various footage of this case and constructing how the plot would have worked. If it is cricket season ( it is always season in India) then all channels and programs sound like sports news. Here I’m talking about high TRP rated channels like CNN IBN , NDTV , Times Now etc.

There are many more regional channels which seem like a mouthpiece of the movie industry. This is entirely devoted to Page 3 and nothing else.

I was recently reading an article on the sale of Fourth Estate and paid news articles.. This is entirely devastating. Now where does this place China & India ? China it is filtered or censored media, but India has paid & sensational media, I cant really decide which is worse.

2009 in retrospect

2009-12-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

It is that time of the year when the media starts either a count down or reminiscising the year's incidents.I was thinking which are the main incidents / ideas / innovations or just about anything which stood out this year when I think back. Here is my list ( it is in no particular order).

Recession - Uncertainity and recession where the key words at the onset of the year 2009. This started some where in mid 2008 and was touted as the next Great depression after 1929. The financial sector was in doldrums and the stalwart companies where either getting closed down or declared themeselves bankrupt and were on government aid.The source of the recession is supposed to be the house mortgage / securitization tools originating in North America.I remember reading an article where the English Queen was trying to understand the underlying cause of recession and then she remarked " this is so simple, how come no one saw it coming ".

Swine Flu or Influenza H1NI - The most recent outbreak originated in Mexico and soon spread across the globe and threatened to be a global pandemic.The spread of the virus was rampant and quick mainly becuase of air travel. Soon the swine flu mask became a popular accesory especially amongst school students and travellers. The number of deaths estimated this year because of swine flue is 13000.

Micheal Jackson's death - As in life, his death was also shrouded in controversy. I think in retrospect, MJ's life was sad and lonely , he had fame and wealth but his quest was to find "Neverland", he build his fantasy home and lost his life in drugs to satisfy his quest but dint achieve it.

Obama as President - Obama became the American president early this year with the promise of hope and change. He has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on the grounds of " hope for change". A brilliant orator, his acceptance speech has been much read and talked about. During the first quarter of the year everything about Obama made news, starting from the dress of Michelle Obama to his blackberry. I think Obama stands for aspiration, youth, freshness and a certain aspect of the american way of life.

ZooZoo the Vodafone star - There is a certain cuteness of Zoo-Zoo which caught the world's attention.The semi alien semi human beings became an instant hit during IPL - 2009. These ad's where targetted to advertsize the value ad services from Vodafone. Not many know that Zoo-Zoo's or egg head's are not animated character's but actuall human beings wearing body suits.

Gold Rush - Gold rallied to its highest price ever and is still going strong. Some analysts predict a similar rally in the next two years. The gold rush is because of a weak economy when the most safe asset becomes gold. The price of bullion is inversely propotional to the strength of the US dollar, hence a strong bullion prediction for next year indicates a weak dollar and weak economy

Indian cricket became numero uno - India has emerged as the top test playing nation and has a chance to grab the ODI numero uno table after the Srilanka series win recently. In a land where cricket is religion, this year was a blessed year.

The DoCoMo revolution - India already has the cheapest mobile calling rates in the world, the entry of DoCoMo in the market has further revolutionized call rates.With the number portability policy coming into effect from Jan 2010, it is going to be a virtual price war to gain market share.

Chandrayaan - The launch of the Chandrayaan expedition was one of those moments which united the whole country on grounds of pride and patriotism. Although the space vehicle was lost couple of months later, it did gather various samples from moon which indicate signs of water on the moon

Satyam Fiasco - The Satyam accounting fiasco rocked the IT world and caused a bear run in the already bearish market outlook. The falsification of account statements and the inability of a renowed accounting firm like PWC to understand the error caused a riot amongs the CA's.

Cricket for Nobel Peace prize

2009-12-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

Well, if games or activities can be nominated for Nobel prize then cricket should win the Nobel peace prize ( this can be backed by real case studies unlike the Obama case). Cricket actually fits the bill as a Leader, Mediator, Visionary, and so on..

Leadership- It can unify an entire nation irrespective of religion, age, caste and creed. This nation constitutes 1/6th world's population, so it is sizeable for a peace prize quest. Cricket inspires patriotism in any Indian, recently in Shiv Sena's paper ( Samna) there was an editorial against Sachin's remark , now that was real bad publicity for the paper.. the bad publicity was not for being against the " indian first remark ", but for going against " Sachin's remark.
Peace Mediator - Warring countries show their zeal to peace by playing cricket. There have been umpteen cricket matches between India & Pakistan towards this nobel deal. That is cricket displaying its mediator role
Networking Role - It is an immediate conversation starter in India. Any 2 strangers who otherwise dont smile can start talking about cricket and be friends.
Visionary - Most kids have wanted to become a cricketer and emulate Sachin or Ganguly or Kapil sometime in their life. In most cases this is the first ambition / vision that they have had.Cricket is also in line with the modern biz adage of change and evolution to match the market. There have so many versions and evolutions in the gentleman's game with the newest being T20
Charity - With the shorter version of the game in practice, matches for charity are bound to increase and cricket has always been a money making tree

Having written all this gyan let me admit that my knowledge of cricket is limited. It does ignite the patriot in me but I simply fail to understand how you can watch repeats & re - repeats's of old matches while completely knowing the outcome from a ball by ball perspective.
I got educated in test cricket very recently, till then my definition of test cricket was " to be played in white sportswear for a long long time".
But even people like me with less than primary education on the hallmarks of cricket fame sit addicted to TV and net sites while India is playing which proves the unification role of cricket..

Cheer's to the Nobel Peace for cricket....

The Evergreen....

2009-12-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of our first Christmas tree and nativity crib…

We bought our first Christmas tree this month after a lot of loitering around in commercial street to get the best tree which would be just right for the house. Then we convinced ourselves that this can be used at least for 5 – 8 years and if you divide the cost of so many years its pittance… ( secretly I wish I could buy a tree every year).What I love the best is the decorating part, there is so much variety in the market, starting from drums, stockings, candy canes, garlands, ornaments, bells, stars, snowflakes, Santa Claus caps, mistletoe, colored figs, blinking lights and so much more.. just the joy of walking into a Christmas shop and seeing all the decorations variants is pleasure by itself..It is not necessary to always buy decorations, any thing ornamental, desired, colorful , favorite objects, photo's of loved ones, children's craft etc can be hung on the tree.

Families have various traditions and many stories related to the tree. This year at my Mom’s place she had put up her Christmas tree on the verandah only to discover the tree on the floor in the morning. The guilty here is our pet dog Bruno who just could not understand why the lights on the tree were blinking at him and he did the only thing he knew, attacked the lights square and center, now he is sure to be locked up for the whole christmas season..

The Evergreen tree is associated with a pagan festival in celebration of hope and life during the cold days of winter solstice. Christmas also is based on the same virtues where the birth of the baby boy is seen as a sign of hope for mankind. Slowly the evergreen tree ritual was associated with Christmas celebration. Actually Christmas day itself is not recorded in the scriptures or in apostlic writings, most people believe that Christ was born during the spring time.The early church is said to have adopted the " birthday" of the pagan sun - god Mitra to celebrate the birth of Christ. Actually Christmas was banned in certain states of Amercia like Massachusetts as it was called a pagan festival.

Whether the origin is pagan or not, I think it is the mood of Christmas which is important. The festival is about happiness , cheer and hope, celebrating it with loved ones the generosity and the warm hearted feeling is what it makes this special..

What is 350ppm

2009-12-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

350ppm ( 350 parts per million) - That is the level to which climate scientists believes we need to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide (and by implication, other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere if we want to avoid a series of catastrophic climate tipping points.

The bad news? Atmospheric carbon is already at least 387 ppm, and the rate at which we're spewing greenhouse gases is increasing.Presently it is increasing by 2ppm every year.

For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Parts per million is simply a way of measuring the concentration of different gases, and means the ratio of the number of carbon dioxide molecules to all of the molecules in the atmosphere. 275 ppm CO2 is a useful amount—without some CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere, our planet would be too cold for humans to inhabit.

So if we have already crossed 350 ppm and the life on earth continues, where is the problem ? - well this is like saying that an overweight person or a person with cholestrol would die as soon as the diagnosis is made...he will start showing symptoms and the body is already ill. this is similar.. 2009 is recorded as the highest temperature year since it started rising ( from 1990). This is the tenth consecutive year of high temperature, artic ice caps have shrunk from its previous size and many animals / plants are on the verge of extinction, cases of drought & floods have increased, drinking water is a scarcity and so on

Climate Change.. & the Coppenhaggen Summit

2009-12-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

The success of the Copenhagen summit is much touted in the media as the cause of the human tribe.. I think " climate change" has become a fashionable statement amongst diplomats of all countries and this is leading to a major money deals ( Billions of $) where treaties are made and then delibrated without any real steps...
Let's leave the diplomats & bearucrats to do what they do best... but there are many things that normal people like us can do to save the human tribe....
Here are some ways to generate Home Carbon Credits -

Starting with planting trees, I think one family should atleast own the same number of trees as their family members. There are org. in B'lore which help in these like http://www.iownatree.org/ , on paying Rs 365, they plant and take care of a tree for 2 years. Indoor plants is also a good option.Cost of planting trees is hardly anything and is a good and interesting hobby too

Rain harvesting - this is a good water harvesting technique which can be done with just couple of pipes , hoses & joints.Why wait for the city authorities to make a mega plan for water conservation, when you can do in your house, apartment or society.

Turning off running taps / lights while not in use - Simple but effective method. Actually this is more of discipline and should be taught early to children.

Do not Litter / keep plastic and wet waste seperatly - This is a cleanliness issue particuraly with Indians.What's the points in littering and then commenting that this place is dirty, I think it is the typical caste menatlity where we expect other's to clean our wastes....

Use of natural Light - I'm not talking about re-designing the house with skylights, but when possible use sun light and air instead of turning on the AC. Use light coloured curtains and positions study desks near windows to make effective use.

Turn off the engine while not in use - It directly contributes to Carbon Credits

Maintain your vehicle well - Do pollution check & certification regularly ( irrespective of the law), and drive well ( optimum gear and acceleration ) to get good mileage. This is easy on your wallet and on nature.

Car pool & Use of public transport - A train / bus can replace 1000 and 70 cars/ bikes on the road. Isn't that worth it

Finally it is Christmas

2009-12-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Defining what Christmas means is very difficult, it means celebration, genorosity , hope, light, family time, no work :)... and so much more..the best part , is the happiness which remains through out the month..

Somehow I tend to feel extra genrous, and friendly, and all smiles this time of the year. The carols, christmas tree, choclates, mistle toe, gifts, choclates , cakes and of course Sale!..simply make u warm large hearted person, i guess that's the magic of this month.The feeling of love and hope and happiness lingers around till New Year's eve.

It get's difficult to be at work during this time ...half the time I'm googling for the best recipe for brownies and cookies and so on.. my only worry is that the delicacies I cook would turn out horribly wrong and then I will have to devour everything by myself and will add another 10 Kilo's by new year's eve...