Is India truly Independent?

On the Road to our 60th year of Independence, lets look back to see where we really stand.

Is India truly Independent? Mahatma Gandhi once said that only when women wearing all her jewels can go out safely at any time of the day, is India truly Independent. Yet 59 years after India got freedom from the British rule, she is yet to find her path to true Independence.

We talk a lot about India’s growth and achievements in the last six decades, we have at our disposal an array of Industries in every known sector and we’ve proved time and again about our potential to excel in all fields we lay our feet on. Our GDP has grown, we have become economically self reliant, and by all means we changed the way the rest of the world looks at us, and you bet I am proud of this. But the big question is “Are these just smoke clouds concealing the harsh reality beneath it?”

Let me illustrate, On 15 August 2006, in view of the Independence day celebration, the national capital was declared a No fly Zone (height of insecurity), Public coming to watch the parade were not allowed to bring their mobile phones, radios, and worse even water, the Prime Minister was on his way to address the nation, the whole area is fit with signal jammers, he travels in a bullet proof car, and his escort convoy was as dramatic as the parade itself. Are we calling ourselves Independent? Whom are we trying to fool?

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, respectfully known as Mahatma Gandhi, is the father of our nation, although I don’t subscribe to many of his Ideologies, he is definitely a National Icon in my eyes, but is the country anywhere closer to accepting his ideologies? Easier or hard, Gandhi was Instrumental in a non-violent freedom struggle and in creation of an independent India 60 years back, but on this very day every year, our Prime Minister accepts a Military Guard of Honor! Except on October 2nd when the youth remember him for many reasons but for his birthday, and our leaders garland his otherwise crow-befriended statue, we hardly recognize him and his much talked about contributions. Is Gandhi good enough only for the currency notes? A recent ad-hoc interview by a leading news channel of few of the members of our honorable Parliament revealed a lot of disheartening facts. Many didn’t know who wrote “Jana gana mana” or “Vande Matham” and more horrifying the full name of Mahatma Gandhi. When a question was asked to a sitting MP as to who wrote our national anthem, the MP said “There are many who wrote it, I am getting late for the parliament session, we’ll sit one day and I’ll tell you in detail who wrote what”, another MP was asked, “what is Mahatma Gandhi’s full name” and he replied “I call him with respect as Bapu, how can I spell out his name” and when he was insisted all he said was “um…mm…um…”, and we entrust these morons (forgive me for using an un-parliamentary word here) to decide our fate? Is this what we envision for Independent India?

India is the world’s largest Democracy, and we get a pat on the back for being “Of the people, by the people and for the people”, and till date the only contribution this democracy has give us is, over 900 political parties split across every division of Religion, caste, creed known to India. On an average every state in India has 30 political parties and more are coming up for every friction in ideology. Interestingly, close to 90 parties have the word “Congress” in their name in some position or the other. Surprisingly almost all of them will have a huge turn over when they make public speeches; it’s a shame when crowd is gathered for Rs. 25, a pack of Biriyani and a bottle of local liquor. The members who get elected may know nothing about economics and development but are masters of vote bank politics. It has more than just co-incidence that in most of the electorates, tickets are given to a person belonging to the religion or caste that has a vast presence there.

This was in news some days back, The Home Ministry ordered all the states to crack down a banned outfit that was linked to many terrorist activities in the country, but still one state gave a deaf hear to the order since election was round the corner. More recently when a death sentence was passed against the primary accused on the 12/13 parliament attacks, a section of people of Kashmir, many leaders and even the Chief Minister of Kashmir requested a Presidential pardon. When a minority religion after 60 year of being Indians suddenly said they won’t recite Vande Matham since the words meant worship the nation, the ruling party was more than happy to make it optional. Is this only because all of them belonged to a Minority religion? Is that community and votes bigger than the country itself? How many more days are we going to tolerate this cheap politics to woo those votes? People who know nothing about history and economics can write white-papers on hypothetical minority oppressions, demand for reservations in every place they know public have access to, and can talk hours together about (pseudo)Secularism, but still have no privy to what this polarization can cause to the nation. While India continues to fight anti-Indian Terrorist attacks in the north, anti-government militant attacks all over central, south-central and eastern regions, underworld dons controlling the western region, our humble representatives would be busy (just) playing blame games on one side and having high-tea on the other. Is this what Independence gave us? Did we free ourselves from the clutches of a lion only fall prey to a vampire?

Yes, India has grown multifold, its is an emerging superpower, we did have over 8% growth for the past five years, but we still are fighting our battles and until every Indian starts to think rationally, every step we take towards a better tomorrow, we will be finding far more powerful issues to deal with. It is as the saying goes, “It’s the duty of science to make better mouse traps, and it’s the duty of nature to create smarter mice”.

Jai Hind.

BACK or KCAB ??

If you were wondering whether I’d said that I was back or was I showing my back after my over hyped “I’m back” article way back in August, we’ll I am not to be totally blamed. My office in India blocked all blog sites and message boards and my home system was down with viral fever for a long time giving me no access to the site. I just got past one hurdle and wanted to show my attendance.
Expect more soon!

Tryst with Technology

Yesterday my brother had left Chennai on a pilgrimage tour, and couple of 100 kms on his way he tried to contact my mother back home. He kept calling but all his tries to the land line and the mobile were in vein and the only message he got was “Network busy”.
So, called me up and told me that he’d been trying to reach her but couldn’t and wanted me to call her and pass the message. Ok, what’s so great about this? Well I was just 10,000 miles away in Toronto and his call came to me as an uninvited wake up call at 6-ish on a Sunday morning. I called my Mom and the line connected, I passed the message to her and told her to call him.
It may be a desperate move or sheer audacity, but for making the world smaller it’s definitely “Bravo Technology”.

I am back!

I am back!

Yes, after a particularly long deserved hibernation, I finally gained enough courage to face the blog-ing world. While I was out, the world had a lot of interesting things happening to keep readers busy even while my blog was asleep, viz:

Government got ready to reserve seats of OBCs, Vote bank showed its power,
It had to increase seats, pay and infrastructure, Government goes under cover.

Amma and Kalaignar changed seats,
They have also changed seating arrangements.

7 years back in Kargil Indians fought,
7 years later, Indians forgot.

Mittal’s bid good enough for Arcelor takeover,
Still, Arcelor delays Mittal’s makeover.

The Sensex crashed like never before,
It crashed again.

To increase accountability RTI (Right to Information act) was enforced,
The act was deflated as the government was getting exposed.

Israel goes on war with Hezbollah,
Give me a break, says Nasarallah.

Indians lost to WI in the one-days,
India does came back to win the Test some days.

In 2006 F1 GP, Alonso as yet won six races,
Schumacher too made the best in five chases.

I am back and I am back for good,
I am here to give my thoughts some food!

Trade Over

Do you have the flair for the share market? Want to play with Big Money?
Ever wished you buy Shares of Microsoft, Google, BMW, Pfizer and Nokia all for a hundred thousand dollars each?
Do you like playing with Tons of Gold, Platinum or Crude Oil? Wondered how it will be to buy Indian Rupees for a million Dollars and sell them when US dollar goes down?
Then its time for your dream to come true. Enter the world where only the fittest survive.
Enter www.tradeover.net

Trade Over is a share market simulator that gives you a Million Dollars to start with. You can buy stocks of all your favorite companies from around the world at current market prices.
The latest prices are updated from the Stock exchanges world wide and you get a taste of the real world market with no real penny at stake. You can short sell products based on speculations and Market sentiments and make money.
You can create your own league and compete with in friends and also against thousands of players globally.

Indulge, Invest, Involve and Increase.

Enjoy!

Super தத்துவம்s.

This is a consolidated list of some funny தத்துவம்s (Thathuvams) I came across lately.
It's really hilarious, so take a break and laugh out loud.
Folk who don't understand Tamil, Sorry about that.

தத்துவம்s:

Mechanical Engineer Mechanic aagalam, aana,
Software Engineer Software aaga mudiyaathu.

Paaku marathula paaku irukum,
Thaeku marathula thaeku irukum, aana,
Panamarathula panam irukaadhu.

Tea cup-la tea irukkalam, aana,
World Cup-la World irukkuma?

Cycle-la poana cycling,
Train-la poana training-a?

Pant Pottu Muttipoda mudiyum, aana,
muttipottu pant poda mudiyuma?

Fan-ukkum rekkai irukku. Paravai-kkum rekkai irukku,
Fan-ala parakka mudiyaathu, Paravai-ala sutha mudiyaathu. Aaanaa,
Fan-a amukina suthum, Paravai-a amukina kathum.

Tool box la tool la parka mudiyum,
match box la match a parka mudiyuma?

Irukkurappa enna daan Complan, Bournvita kudichalum,
sethadukkapram ellarukkum pal daan.

South India-la Narthangai kidaikkum. Aaana,
North India-la Southangai kidaikuma?

Mezhuga vechi mezhugu-vathi seyyalam, Aana
kosuva vechi kosu-vathi seyya mudiyathu.

Kovil maniya namma adicha saththam varum, aana,
kovil mani nammala adicha raththam than varum.

School testla bit adikkalaam,
College testla bit adikkalaam, aana,
BLOOD testla bit adikka mudiyaadhu.

Vaayala "naai"-nu solla mudiyum, Aaana,
Naayaala "Vaai"-nu solla mudiyuma?

Enna than naai nandri ullatha than irunthalum,
Athala "Thank you" solla mudeyathu! Idhuthan valkai.

Aayiram than irundhalum,
Aayirathi onnu than perusu.

Yennathan Ahimsavathiya irundhalum,
Chappathi-ya SUTTU than sappidanum.

kasu irundha call taxi!
Kasu illaina kall than taxi!

Train yenna thaan fasta ponnalum,
Train ode kadaisee potti kadaiseeya thaan varum!

Bus poita bus stand angayae thaan irukum, aana,
Cycle poita cycle stand koodavae poogum!

Cellula balance illana call panna mudiyathu, Aana,
Manushanukku call illana, Balance panna mudiyathu.

Poison 10 naal aana payasam aaga mudiyaadhu ,
ut, payasam 10 naal aana poison aagidum!

Meelendhu vizhuntha aathu Aruvi,
eeszhenthu parantha aathu Kuruvi.

Finally one in English:

If you drink ethanol you will dance
If you drink methanol others will dance.

The Global Indian

The story begins with Lakshmi Metal (sorry Mittal), the Indian born billionaire, steel tycoon and the chief executive of the world’s largest steel maker Mittal Steel, bidding $23 bn (€18.6bn) to acquire his closest rival Arcelor of Europe. Arcelor is the product of a merger four years ago between three steel companies -- Spain's Aceralia, France's Usinor and Luxembourg's Arbed. Luxembourg is the largest single shareholder with a stake of 5.6 percent. France which is a major player in this has expressed serious concerns over this bidding. Other governing bodies including Belgian, German, Italian, Luxembourg and Spanish unions have expressed "unanimous opposition" to the takeover.

While the apprehension over job cuts as the primary concern, Arcelor has strongly criticized Mittal's "hostile" approach, claiming the two firms' businesses and cultural values are incompatible. And although France tries to avoid looking arrogant over Mittal, since that might jeopardize the diplomatic relationship with India, the obvious hint behind the disinclination could be because Mittal is an Indian.

There are two arguments to this issue.

The less significant side: Why is India so keen on this? Why is the Indian government is closely monitoring the issue of Lakshmi Mittal, who operates in 17 countires including Algeria, Bosnia, Germany, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa and the U.S but nothing as yet in India? When I say “as yet”, am I hoping he would have a set up in India soon? Is it so typically Indian?

But the more significant side: Why is there so much insecurity among the French and the other European counties about a bid? Lakshmi Mittal may be Indian by birth but he has nothing yet to do with India and his company is as European as any other. A lot of questions have been raised about him, his Indian-ness and his way of doing business. Are they worried if this takeover would monopolize the European steel Industry or is it because it’s done by an Indian?

Being Indian, I know it’s very difficult when you just keep thinking of the days when you were on top and doze off in the present (Who better than us to talk of that, we've been and still are talking about how susrutha was the world's first surgeon and how we founded astronomy before they wore clothes in Europe).

Anyways, it’s more apt to say, “Hello World! You may love or hate India, but you just can’t avoid her”.

So wake up Europe and smell the curry. The global Indian has arrived.

Outsource to Out of Source

Why is India the best choice for outsourcing? Because we are English speaking, we deliver quality work and most of all, we are cost effective.

Countless companies mainly from North America chose to outsource all their IT and ITES (IT Enabled Services) jobs to India to save valuable bucks. There were large scale job cuts in that continent as they were all moved to cheaper locations in India. This made both the players happy since the giver got the job done for peanuts and the taker was able to do a lot with those peanuts. However, things are now beginning to look different and soon we’d be moving form being a victor to a victim of the same thing.

Over the time, many IT companies in India began increasing the pay package of their engineers and the greed to get more money made well paid engineers feel they are underpaid. This led to higher demands, high attrition and greater efforts by organization to hold on to the resources. Even people who worked all day collecting status in Excel sheets began demanding annual compensation in 7 digits. And in no time these peanuts grew to become watermelons, defeating the cause of this whole outsourcing exercise. The Source of work and money that felt the bite of this expense has began searching for alternate destinations like China and other East Asian countries.

Is this Shining India just a lamp that’s going to go off? Did we count our chickens before knowing whether the eggs will hatch or become omelets?

Just when countries like China are emphasizing more on learning English, if things go the same way, we will soon move from the “Destination to Outsource” to a “Destination Out of source”.

Also read: SAP finds Indian techies too costly

Governmentium

I got this as a forward, and its really hilarious.
While I was Rolling On The Floor Laughing, I wondered, Is that all I can do? Are we going to live with it just making fun?

Anyway, for now, let's have some fun.

Governmentium:
A major research institution (MRI) has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named Governmentium. Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of three years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

I am Clueless…

I was rather bored of being bored during weekends and decided to beat the lull. How best can one spend the weekend during peak winter if he doesn’t know skiing? Go to pubs? Well if he doesn’t drink? Hm, may be a movie should lighten up the spirits. After careful scrutiny of all the running movies and their reviews, I opted to go for the movie that had the maximum review score. To answer your curiosity it was ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ that had scored 8.9/10.

I and my friend reached the Paramount Theaters well in advance to book our tickets. And, what do you know, the movie runs in an IMAX facility (without 3D and of course for few extra dollars). Having never been to an IMAX before, I was curious to see what all the hype is about. We entered a rather empty theater and took the central location for best view. The movie started.

The screen was massive and I couldn’t fit the whole picture in one view, and watching those spectacular visuals with great precision on the BIG screen was a treat to the eyes. The 3D surround sound surrounded us. The movie went on for two and half hour without intermission and we sat there in comfort.

The movie got over and we were out, just then I realized I hardly remember any scene of the movie. I lacked the feeler one generally has after a movie. That’s when this question came up. What makes a movie deliver the punch? Is it the IMAX clarity, the flawless graphics, emphatic sound, a best selling story or the $15 you pay to watch it? What makes a movie leave an impression that lasts at least a day? How are movies rated then?

All of a sudden, I was clueless…

How fast is an F1 car?

We’ve all seen or heard that the F1 cars are really fast. But how fast are they anyway?
Wanna see?