cloud no. 9

Flexing the Guns for the big guns

2011-10-12T21:40:00.000-05:00

Usually I never post about anything that happened at work, but I will make an exception in this case.
I was on my way back with a friend from a coffee break. As we got into the elevator, we were joined my two gentlemen in suits. I paid no attention to them, since I work at a bank, and well everyone wears suits.
I dress down by bank standards, usually sticking to a polo and formal trousers.
I also have this rather unfortunate habit of stretching my arms out behind my head.
Unfortunate, since it gives of the impression I am flexing my biceps.
The 2 gentlemen got of on the second and we got off on the fourth floor.
My friend immediately turns around and mentions to me that those 2 gentlemen were the big bosses in our division. Guys I had only ever seen on video.
So if I don't get a raise this year, at least I can say I tried everything.. Including flexing my guns at the top management(even if it was inadvertent).

A modest proposal to save the Indian cricket team

2011-08-24T02:23:00.000-05:00

If you have any idea what cricket is, you probably know that the formerly first ranked Indian test team went over to England to be summarily thrashed 4-0 . This was a shockingly unexpected result to put it mildly.
The Indian side was beset with problems such as injuries to key players, an aging middle order and youngsters with neither the technique nor temparament for seaming conditions.
The culprit behind the Indian teams poor performance, even though the players might be to admit to it, is the IPL.
The way the IPL is set up, each team criscrosses the country playing 16 or so 20-20 games in little over a month and a half.
Whereas the test stars of other countries, in some cases have kept away from the IPL, the entire Indian side bar none, play for the entire tournament(fit or otherwise as Sehwag and Gambhir proved)..

Without further ado I am going to present my proposals to save Indian test cricket from the advent of the IPL.

1. Roster sizes are impractical. This needs to be trimmed. Which will mean fewer players involved in the tournament. Hopefully , fewer Indian test cricketers will be picked(especially if they do not particularly suit the demands of T-20)

Teams should be allowed to cut and bring in new players at some pre-determined times in the season.

2. Travel with fewer players than the roster size... Its a 11man game.. how many reserves do you need while travelling? Why this matters... Players complain that more than the actual playing time , its the travel time that completely exhausts them.

3. Introduce a hard salary cap, and make sure if there is to be an auction, everyone can participate.
This can practically be achieved , by allowing every team to vote on wheter they would be insterested in seeing a player on auction... if more than 1 team shows interest, they end up in the auction...
If not the players get the minimum allowed, by whicher team actually showed the interest.
All this matters because, by allowing only certain players to appear in the auction, and posing limits on the number of overseas players allowed to play in a game... An effective caste system was created.. with the Indian test players on top and domestic players on the bottom, with overseas players in the middle.
This artificially inflated the price on Indian test players..above everyone else...
$900K, which is what Ishant Sharma got in his first contract, is hard to walk away from, but say the market determined his value was a lot lower... maybe its an offer he could refuse, just to play for country.

4. In case of injuries to Indian players... they have to be examined by BCCI appointed doctors... whose responsibility it will be to ensure , injured players fo not take the field.

5. Remove restrictions on the max overseas players per side per game.

Has Osama's death changed anything?

2011-05-08T10:22:00.000-05:00

We call all agree that 9/11 fundamentally changed the world. At the very least it changed America, and in the last decade that virtually meant changing the world.
But did the the killing of the perpetrator in chief of 9-11 change anything?
Since I am from India and I live in the US, my focus is on these 2 countries.
The big hope is that Al-Quaeda, would disintegrate without Osama, and while that remains to be seen, even the most optimistic American, would agree, we cannot go back to our pre 9-11 ways.
America, still has many non state enemies, there is a vast pool of willing recruits to their cause, and as 9-11 showed us, it does not cost a lot, to unleash destruction of unimaginable proportions by a crazed few.
As far as India goes, the Osama killing has renewed calls for India , to go in Commando style, to neutralize the many Hall of fame enemies of the Indian state, that Pakistan, so lovingly hosts.
There have been warnings of how the Al Quaeda , will turn its anger and vengeance to 'soft' targets such as India.
The Indian political leadership, no doubt aware of the likelihood of Nuclear weapons being used in any conflict, have so far resisted such calls.
So futile talks will continue.
We will 'extract' a commitment from Pakistan to jointly fight terror.. and absolutely nothing will happen.
If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to see a repeat of it.
India , finds itself in exactly that situation.

Rage against the .....

2011-04-09T12:42:00.000-05:00

Pick the object of your choice to complete my incomplete title. We have all felt rage and anger, and those we care about and those we don't care about. About those things in life we can't control and those things in life we wish we had done differently. But if you look at it closely enough, rage is all about yourself. Its a choice you make. You can chose to let things go, but you don't always.. Sometimes you let them linger, till they explode.
Why am I suddenly doing a Dr Phil, on rage?
I was at the gym the other day on the elliptical and watched a video of Chris Brown(Forever).
I absolutely loved the song when it came out. And watching the video, reminded me of the enormous potential the 19 yr old Chris Brown had as an entertainer.
Why do I talk about it in the past tense? He is probably only 22 and probably hasn't forgotten how to dance or sing.
He let a moment of rage label him forever, when he beat up Rihanna. And now anytime anyone thinks of him, it will be in that context.
Does he deserve a second chance ? Everybody does. How about anyone of us? Do we deserve second chances? Maybe. But it is a given , that we will get it? I think the awnser to that one is obvious.
So rage all you want against a punching bag in the gym, or how unfair the BCS ranking system is, but before you direct some of that rage at the people around you.. take a deep breathe.. and let it go..

Japan's nuclear predicament

2011-03-27T21:19:00.001-05:00

The recent Tsunami and earthquake that struck Japan recently, brought along with them another disaster, potentially even more devastating , the radiation leaks at multiple reactors. The full extent of the damage is not known (or at least known in the public domain).
On cue commentators of 2 types have leaped up to kick Japan while its down. The environment activists who view Nuclear energy as evil, at least have some intellectual honesty , when they go about criticising Japan for suffering the consequences of its pursuit of harnessing nuclear energy. The second kind of critic , I find far more annoying and plain, mean spirited, are the type of critic , who points out how Japan, as a nation was so confident of its technology , but even their technology was no match for Mother Nature.
There is an undercurrent of glee in that observation, I cannot palate.
But I am going to address both , categories of critics..
With the invention of the internal combustion engine, and almost simultaneously that electricity..before the commencement of the 20th century, the world had been divided into the Haves and Have Not's of energy. With the end of the second world war , having your colonies supply your energy needs was no longer an option.
So for the last 70 years, countries like Japan, with no real energy resources, have been shipping over the money they earn by being amongst the most hard working and innovative people in the world, to countries like Saudi Arabia, so that they can keep their economies running..
Are the Japanese , not justified in at least trying to seek an alternative?
Especially in times, where we fear the World Oil production has peaked..
What alternatives did Japan really have?
Go back to the stone ages?
They use a lot less energy per capita , when compared to America... (I haven't looked at the figures but anecdotal evidence, does bear out my assertion).
And as far as misplaced pride in their technology goes.. Why should they not be proud, they have certainly showed the world the way.. in many technologies endeavours, while there are many nations, whose only contribution to the world has been suicide bombers and child soldiers.
All this doesn't mean the Japanese are above criticism, but before you criticise , step back for a second, imagine that their compulsions are your compulsions and their circumstances are your circumstances.. Could anyone else have done a better job?

Donating to Japan

2011-03-27T09:59:00.000-05:00

I recently donated to the Tsunami relief in Japan.. It got me thinking, since I had made no donation to Haiti. Haiti was clearly less capable than Japan, to take care of its own. So why did I donate to Japan and not Haiti?
I don't know if I came up with the the right reasons, but here is what I have so far.
I have visited Japan, and feel a connection to the place, which I do not feel to Haiti. I have a great respect for Japan and the Japanese for the manner they powered themselves to the number 2 economy(until very recently) from the devastation of World War II.
How many civilizations have done so much with so little?

The Turkish Getup

2011-03-27T09:46:00.000-05:00

When Gray Cook mentions the Turkish Getup as the one free weight exercise he would recommend over any other, you pay attention. The mechanics of the move are best explained by the man himself. I have been dying to do this in the gym, but have been holding myself back, since I only had knee surgery a little over 2 months back..
Also this move has a lot of parts so after much youtube repeats, I finally tried it out at the gym... And though I topped out at the 18lb kettlebell, I can say I do not feel any ill effects.. I am definitely adding this to my routine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-MMnltV1h8

The absurdity of complaining about US action in Libya

2011-03-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

While the World watched, Col. Gaddafi, the despot who has ruled Oil rich Libya for close to 40 years, used an iron fist, and by some accounts , mercenaries, to crack down on dissidents, who threatended his hold over the North African nation.
Finally under the aegis of the UN , a no fly zone was finally imposed, so that Gadaffi , could not atleast use war planes against the over-matched rebels . As part of the effort to impose the no fly zone, it has been estimated, this would cost close to $800 million.
Such spending has come in for criticism at home , where there is a new conciousness of the state of the deficit..
All this consternation, is at the very least perplexing and in my opinion misplaced.
Firstly, the reason why America, spends as much as it does on the military is to protect and project American interests abroad. If this was not the objective, America can get by spending the same as Canada and Mexico.
Some of the media attention on spending on the hostilities in Libya , has focused on the Tomahawk missiles (hundreds are being used).
I also saw an estimate on how much it cost to operate a military aircraft for an hour..
A couple of points need to be made here. Missiles have a shelf life.. If they are not used in a certain time frame, they will eventually have to be scrapped.
So firing off a tomahawk, is closer to using an egg once you have bought it , before it spoils.
Also what exactly do you believe the military does in peace time? They train and practice.Would anyone question the cost of operating military aircraft for such purposes in peace time?
Coming to think of it In have never heard a single protestation of the pointless fly pasts during the Superbowl.. Do you believe the NFL pays for that?

The $10.6 billion dollar question

2011-03-09T01:59:00.000-05:00

For most of this decade, India has been in the process of acquiring a 'Medium' Fighter aircraft in large numbers(approx 126). The size of this deal makes it the most eagerly anticipated decision(for the manufacturers in the fray)
But there are no easy options. Here are the drawbacks of each aircraft as I see it.
1. Eurofighter : at $100 million a piece, this might be too expensive.
2. Rafael: No way Rafael, wins this over the Eurofighter.
3. Saab Gripen: This might be a good solution, but Sweden is a politcial light weight
4. MIG-35: Does not find place in the Home Airforce (Russia)
5. and 6: F-16 and F-18: If we buy American and America turns around and supplies Pakistan with free airplanes to 'fight the taiban', I am not sure How we will live down that one.

No democracy for you

2011-02-21T09:54:00.001-05:00

For the last month or so America has been captivated by the many pro-democracy demonstrations taking place in much of the middle east. For a region thats been battered by dictatorships for so long, such a transition is long overdue. I imagine most freedom loving and fundamentally democratic individuals would agree.
To a large extent, it would appear popular sentiment in America has backed the demonstrators in Egypt and the the other Arab nations.
This has however left many in Israel, and many Israeli backers in America squirming.
Since 1973 , there have been no wars launched by the Arabs against the Israeli's in large part due to the pro-American dictators in power.
So any regime change seems to be threatening he very security of Israel.
Lets set that aside for a second.
Go back to the second gulf war and 9-11. When the question was asked , whether America was paying too high a price for backing Israel over the Arabs, we were told , that we had to back the only democracy in a neighborhood filled with autocratic regimes. Nobody mentioned that the autocrats were in power partially due to America's backing..
Now that those very same autocrats have been overthrown, and these Arab nations take their first tentative steps towards democracy, how can we not back them?
How are one kind of people capable of democracy and another kind are not?
Backers of the theory, that democracy is good for us and not for them, will throw Hitler in your face, by saying "Wasn't Hitler elected democratically? Look how that turned out.."
Yes Hitler won some 30% seats in parliamentary elections. But he was no democrat.. He violated every principle of democracy and used decidedly undemocratic methods on his opponents.
He was destined to lead Germany down the path of destruction, one way or another.
Will these Arab nations elect governments hostile to Israel?
I imagine that is not outside the realm of the possible. But a lot of the anger on the streets is for economic reasons too... That economies thrive in peace times, is no secret. How the Arab street will behave after this transformation is compete , I cannot predict, but I think there will be enough of breathing space, for work to commence on a two state solution , thereby ending the Arab-Israeli conflict..
Yes we are a long way off... but democracy in the arab world is not necessarily a bad thing.

Don't hate on the crunch

2011-02-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

Anytime you see an informercial, for a product that purports to solving your flabby abs woes.. the recurring theme seems to be , why that piece of equipment is better than the crunch.. Invariably the the explanation veers around to how crunches hurt your neck... and how the equipment in question(unimaginatively named Abs something)
does not hurt your neck. I am no fitness expert, but I have done my share of crunches.. and done right, they really shred your abs.. Not once have I felt any discomfort in my neck.
So people the next time you pull your credit card out to buy the Ab thingamajig.. remember , don't buy it because its safer than a crunch.. (in all likelihood thats not true)...

How Bush was half right

2011-01-30T11:18:00.000-05:00

When Bush invaded Iraq , the motives attributed to the invasion kept changing. First it was that Iraq was on its way to assembling a nuke... that was proved to be incorrect.. The term WMD was introduced into our lexicon, and also meant chemical and biological weapons(The same kind that Iraq used in the Iran Iraq war...).
That bogey was also disproved. And finally we were offered the Bush vision of a democratic Mideast, which would then not be such a hotbed of disgruntlement and extremism.
Its too early to tell, but the events in Tunisia and Egypt, might have set the ball rolling for a democratization of the mideast.
But this is how it was always meant to be , the masses revolting against the rulers... Not democracy imposed from the outside by Uncle Sam.
How things will play out in both Tunisia and Egypt is not clear... What is , clear, there is a belief amongst the populace that by not accepting status quo they can change things..
That belief might have been missing or lacking upto this point.
Solutions imposed from th outside are typically resented by all parties.
Ask the Indian government who brokered peace between the LTTE and the Lankan government in the late 80's. How did that end? With the Lankan government supplying arms to the LTTE to take on the Indian Peace keeping force.
So in conclusion, Bush had one right idea (manybe in a thousand).. but he sure went about it the wrong way.

Rehabbing from my second ACL(Knee) reconstruction surgery

2011-01-26T01:33:00.000-05:00

I went in for an ACL reconstruction on my right knee on Jan 17th 2011. The procedure was performed by Dr Robert Marx at the HSS.
Today is T+8 days since surgery and I am able to walk around without crutches for the most part. I have to keep the crutches as a precaution. I have started physiotherapy today. I have also been following the exercies outlined in the "Knee Crisis Handbook". I started going to the gym a few of days back and have not missed a a single day since.
I have decided to maintain some sort of a record of my activities on this blog, so it might be of some help to others in a similar situation.
So far as far as the PT goes I have focused on

Leg raises.
Heel Slides
Leg extensions
Quad Sets

Other exercise not related to my rehab I have been able to do are

Bench Press
Upright Rows
Preacher / dumbbells curls.
pushups
lat bar pulldowns.

So far the focus has just been on figuring out what I can do , without putting my surgically impacted knee at any risk or discomfort.
By the weekend I intend to try pilates. I am not able to bend my knee comfortably, but there should be more than enough exercies I should still be able to do.
The PT has also promised to try out cycling and a whole other bunch of exercises the next time I see him.

Teaching a lesson you say? Oh well thats alright

2011-01-21T20:34:00.000-05:00

Jan 22nd 1999, an Australian missionary Graham Staines along with his sons aged 10 and 6, were burnt alive , while they slept in their car in Orissa (one of India's poorest Provinces). The main culprit, Dara Singh was apprehended and sentenced to life in prison, a sentence that was recently upheld in the highest court of the land

I would be unfair to not give any background on this issue. Graham Staines had been involved in converting poor and uneducated tribals in some of the most impoverished parts of India. Such activities have been going on for long. Hindu organizations have long objected to such activities, and even in a country like India with its long history of tolerance to various religions, such activities are not exactly welcomed. There has been a build up of anger in the tribal belt helped along by political organizations that can be described as Hindu right wing.
In trying to explain the background of this , I am in no way trying to condone , the grave injustice that took place on the night of the 22nd Jan 1999.
Quite the opposite actually.. No matter what your views on conversion.. as a decent human being you have no option but to be outraged at the murder of a missionary and 2 kids both below 10 years.
Here is bits from the Supreme Court judgement that overturned the prosecutor's plea for the death penalty.

“Whether a case falls within the rarest of rare case or not, has to be examined with reference to the facts and circumstances of each case and the Court has to take note of the aggravating as well as mitigating circumstances and conclude whether there was something uncommon about the crime which renders the sentence of imprisonment for life inadequate and calls for death sentence,” said the bench.
“In the case on hand, though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity. All these aspects have been correctly appreciated by the High Court and modified the sentence of death into life imprisonment with which we concur.”

Note that the judges thought the intention of teaching a lesson , somehow was enough to save the perpetrator from execution..

If this isn't a miscarriage of justice.. I am not sure what is. If this is not grounds for execution , I do not know what is..And if this does not meet the requirements for a rarest of rare case I am not sure which case would.

Wikileaks: more bad than good?

2010-12-13T03:34:00.002-05:00

Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange have evoked all manner of reactions. The American government which clearly has been at the receiving end of these revelations has clearly been the most vocal critic and with the help from its friends in Europe has done the most to shut Wikileaks down.

Wikileaks has no doubt received support from a lot of people who have always bristled at the seemingly endless hypocrisy with which the worlds only superpower runs its affairs.

Wikileaks has played its part in bringing this hypocrisy out.
As long as wikileaks released documents pertaining to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, I think they did more good than bad. Why? The American public had been subject to all manner of obfuscation as to why they needed to go to war with Iraq (all of which have since been debunked) , how the war was going etc.

The ordinary American who either enlisted because they thought they were defending their country or the American tax payer who shouldered the burden of paying for 2 very expensive wars in foriegn lands deserved to know the truth.

The leaking of diplomatic cables however was mostly pointless. What did we learn?
That nations did not always hold each other in the regard that they displayed in a public fora?
But did'nt we already know that?
What the wikileaks of diplomatic cables seem to imply was, that diplomacy was better conducted in the open.. But is this really ever an option?

In the hours leading up to the gulf wars i assume there were hectic diplomatic parlays between the soon to be combatants .. Does anyone believe these could have been broadcast live on CNN?

If the answer to the above is no.. then why leak diplomatic cables?
Also it should be pointed out that all leaked cables are American which implies clear targeting of the American state. All this asserts to me is a hatred for the American state, not a noble desire see the truth prevail.

Having said this I think its despicable in the manner in which Assange has been accused of rape ..
But I suppose its a little more civilized than the manner in which most countries that are not america would have dealt with this.

Idiot's guide to hate crimes

2010-10-10T22:57:00.003-05:00

The title is misleading, I do not intend to provide a guide of any kind related to hate crimes, what I can tell you with some degree of certainty is that if someone cannot tell what a hate crime is , they are idiots.
Recently the very tragic suicide of a Rutger's freshman(Tyler Clementi), has been in the news. The specifics of the case are, his roomate , all of 19 used a webcam to web cast a sexual encounter the individual had with another man. This gross and criminal invasion of privacy, spurred the young victim to take his own life. Various quarters have labelled this a 'hate' crime. I do not mean to trivialize what happened , which seems such a waste of a promising young life. Having said that , lets assume the same scene playing out in 1980 before webcams and webcasts, lets imagine the roomate walked in on Clementi Making out with a man, and he goes on to tell someone else and soon everyone on campus knows, would this still be a hate crime?
So what about the roomates actions suggests that he hated gay people? Yes he was a moron to do what he did, but are you so shocked in a era where Big Brother like shows are a staple?
Finally to put my arguments in perspective a hate crime in the classical mould

Donating to the flood victims in Pakistan

2010-09-07T23:57:00.002-05:00

This is no appeal to donate to the Flood victims in Pakistan. Despite my opinions, I cannot possibly argue about what you do with your money, I do know I wont be giving to this cause.
I imagine my arguments will be considered small minded and down right cruel. But before you rush to judgement , ask yourself this question, Can the nation of Pakistan take care of its own?
If not why not? Too much money spent on nuclear weapons and supporting proxy wars in India and Afganistan , perhaps?
Can you guarantee that your dollar in charity does not go towards feeding and clothing the next Ajmal Kasab? Its not as farfetched as it sounds, considering how active Terrorist Organizations are in the affected areas.
All these arguments might or might not influence you. But hopefully they will make you think.
Ironic as it maybe my prayers are with the people of Pakistan, but sadly thats all, I am willing to give.

Vertical Farm: An idea before its time or soaring idiocy?

2010-08-25T00:28:00.003-05:00

I came across an interesting article which basically mercilessly beats up on the Vertical Farm concept.
Assuming you have'nt clicked on either of these links , here is my quick rundown. If you have(my , it must be a slow work day huh?), than skip past this paragraph.
Vertical Farm concept presented as it is , makes a compelling argument about how Man needs to learn how to grow crops indoors , and closer to where they will be consumed, despite such superflous points such as the one about how this could be integrated into refugee camps. However , it does have some major flaws as ably pointed out by the Monbiot article. Some glaring ones are
1. How the plants are supposed to get light.
2. How this whole venture would make sense at the current urban land rates.
3. Other fanciful claims about how Vertical Farming would not need fertilizers or pesticides.
There are more reffer Monbiot's article.
Not for a minute am I trying to defend Dickson Despommier, but I don't think his idea can be dismissed of hand just because its missing so many important details. A lot of problems need to be resolved by minds far more brilliant than Despommier, before his concept can become reality.
Clearly such a farm only makes sense for crops that have a limited shelf life which would mean primarily frutis and vegetables. Wheat and Rice can be stored for long periods and it hardly makes sense to grow them in controlled environments close to where they will be consumed.
Though a Vertical Farm in Midtown Manhattan will never be a good idea, one on the outskirts of a less expensive city might be worth exploring.
There are a couple of ideas I can think of to make sure multiple floors recieve natural light simultaneously.
1. A series of lenses concentrate light from floor to floor, in addition to the light coming in from the glass walls.
2. The floors can be designed as non-overlapping triangles or some other geometrical shape so light makes its way to multiple floors simultaeously.
3. If there is a provision to rotate these floors , parts which might not have light earlier can be exposed per a fixed scedule.
All this falls in the category of spitballing I admit, and need to be researched.
Finally , the vertical farm idea if it ever achieve frutition, will be because the economics warrant it, which means, when 2050 comes, and we have no way to feed our vast populations, vertical farms might not seem like such an expensive and wasteful proposition(though I doubt , we will see one in Midtown Manhattan)

What does Religious freedom mean really?

2010-08-17T22:13:00.004-05:00

If you have followed the furore over the proposal to build an Islamic center 2 blocks from Ground Zero, you probably have already formed an opinion. Such worthies as Obama and Palin have weighed in on this debate, so naturally , so must I.
I get a queasy feeling in my tummy, it could be the street meat I had for lunch , but more likely its actually agreeing with Palin on something. Clearly her motivations in taking stand against this proposal are political, mine however are not.
This has become a debate about religious freedoms , which it clearly is not. The choice of location, for the Islamic Center is odd to say the least. There are only 2 possibilities , either this is the best location for the price they could find, or its been done for the symbolic value. I find it hard to believe an alternate sight could not serve their purposes just as well.
The defenders of this proposal are right in saying , a mosque should be allowed to be built anywhere in the country, not just because the Constitution protects, religious freedoms, but because of the overall, pluralistic character of the nation. But surely some quarter should be given for the emotions such a move would generate.
If the intention of the proposal is to show the Islamic World(as if there is such a uniform monolith), how Kind and accepting America is , such intentions are doomed to failure.
People who not favorably disposed to the US are not going to change their opinion based on the construction of one Islamic Center.

Test Cricket , the way forward

2010-08-12T17:15:00.003-05:00

There has been a lot of chatter about the future of cricket with the advent of the 20-20 version. With empty grounds the greeting tests the world over, and with dull draws like the witnessed recently between India and Sri Lanka , Test cricket s grasping for air.
For the longest time Test cricket was propped up not by popular demand, but by both officials and players insisting that Test cricket was the real deal.
But like any other sport, Test cricket has to make its money or its an endangered species no matter what.
The biggest weakness of test cricket are :
1. Its played over 5-days which might have been acceptable when it took a month to sail to England, but now its clearly too long.
2. How infuriating , is it that after 5days, there is no guarantee of a result.
3. Finally there is no contest, there is no , championship, no trophy . Save for a few rivalries, there is really no goal to the whole Test calendar.
There have been some suggestions about a Test championship based on a point based system. This in my humble opinion is doomed to failure, since any point system will be overly pedantic to be effective.
Whats the solution I propose you ask?
Quite simple really. Tests are allowed to meander because there is always the option of a draw.
Take that away, and a result is a must. Basically a test would be a 4 day affair, with each side batting 2 times for 90 overs each. If you bowl your opposition out in less than 90 overs you get the remaining overs from your opponents quota to bat. That way no matter how a side approaches the game, they have to go for the win.
One more suggestion is the allowance of a super-sub. Every once in a while a side that carries 4 bowlers loses one to injury, and is effectively trying to take 20 wickets with 3 bowlers. Cricket is the only game that expects its players to play over 5 days without subs. Most other sports last about 1hour-3hours with subs.
If the counter argument is that subs undermine the importance of all rounders , so be it. How many genuine all rounders does cricket produce anyway? And most of them are blighted by injury due to the increased and varied demands of their bodies.

A war in hand, is better than two

2010-08-02T20:33:00.004-05:00

If you have been following the news lately, the situation in Iran seems to be slowly but surely heading towards conflict. How the US could be considering entering another war zone with the economy the way it is and the overall war fatigue is beyond me. What is even more ironic are the reasons. The immediate provocation seems to be Iran's nuclear weapons program. Admittedly there are a lot of countries who are going to be uncomfortable with Iran possessing Nuclear weapons, but nobody really expects that Iran has the US in its cross hairs.
For all its failings the Iranian government is not the Al-Quaeda. They have a lot to lose. They are not about to sacrifice their entire population to take a shot at the US. Any attempt to acquire nuclear weapons is at best an effort to stave off invasion ala Iraq.
Can Israel be just as confident that they wont be attacked? Probably not. Even though Israel does not acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons, its widely believed that they are in possession of nuclear weapons. Iran too expects retaliation, should they attack with nuclear weapons.
Any pre-emptive strike on Iran to eliminate its nuclear assets is unlikely to succeed, unlike Iraq in the 80's , Iran will in all likelihood be well prepared.
Sure Ahmedinijad acts crazy, but its unlikely he is doing anything more than playing a part. He is not the be all end all in Iran's polity.
If you took an opinion poll of US analysts on whether the US faced more of a threat from an Iranian nuke or a Pakistani one, I speculate, you might find that most would consider a 'stolen' Pakistani nuke a bigger threat. Iran and Al-Quaeda are natural enemies both due to the Sunni Shia divide and due the Persian-Arab rivalry. There was every chance to exploit this , but it has not been. In international politics there are no permanent friends .. its time the US re-examined its choice of friends.

Who wants to be punched by the bachelor?

2010-07-29T23:58:00.002-05:00

That's the name they should have given to the Indian TV equivalent to the popular show in the US.
Let me put in my disclaimer early, I do not follow Indian television , apart from what I read online once in a while, so my details might be a bit iffy.
The particular 'bachelor', prone to domestic violence, I am referring to is Rahul Mahajan.
He is the son of the late BJP Politician Pramod Mahajan, and that in a nutshell is his claim to fame. That's if you don't count the time he nearly od'ed on coke , his fathers personal secretary his partner in crime wasn't as lucky and did actually od.
Since Pramod Mahajan in his pomp was one of the most powerful men in the country, Rahul Mahajan despite his shenanigans probably lead the good life.
He can be called India's Paris Hilton, famous for being famous, (just a little more vicious)
With this background, to add to a failed marriage( apparently domestic violence was to blame there as well) , you have to be wondering whether the Indian version of bachelor should have been named Finding a Bride for Chucky.
Sure the producers played up the redemption aspect of the whole spectacle, and sure our 'hero' made the right sounds about appreciating the opportunity.
But a few months post show and marriage, the 'lucky' girl runs into a bout of hubby temper along with the attendant beat down. And I get the sickening feeling , due to the utter predictability of this all.
Fine , everybody bought into it, but as a girl looking for a husband(even if its on TV) , would you go for this work of art? Was this the best India had to offer?
No woman should have to experience domestic violence and it annoys me no end that a TV show would put these young women in harms way fully knowing the kind of person they selected. I think the young lady who did agree to marry chucky was dumber than a door knob. However , it feels bad to rail against a victim, and tell her she deserved it.

Time for change

2010-07-28T18:23:00.002-05:00

With the Indian test team getting handled in Sri-Lanka, its time to talk about the elephant in the room. Yes the Indian test team has been ranked No.1 for the past several months, but with the lack of bench strength and a toothless bowling attack it is perhaps time to bite the bullet and look ahead rather than myopically try to maintain an undeserved No.1 ranking.
Tendulkar , Dravid and Laxman cannot be expected to play beyond another couple of years. Of these modern day greats only Tendulkar can be certain of commanding a place till he chooses to call it a day. If the other two are allowed to choose their time of departure, Indian cricket will be left with 3 rookies about the same time. Sure Raina and Yuvraj will probably occupy 2 slots and can hardly be called rookies, but it would serve Indian cricket if they would be eased into the scheme of things rather than pushed into the deep end. All this means that its time to start rotating the middle order batsmen.
Now to focus on the bowling. Well I have nothing there, the best I can come up with is offering a few Pakistanis Indian citizenship, after all there have to be a few who would be classified as Person's of Indian Origin.
Jokes apart, there has to be a concerted effort to manage the workloads of the faster bowlers. Regular tours of the A Team need to be organized for those who have fallen by the wayside. Also though this will not have an immediate impact, there should be some fairness in drawing up contracts. Fast bowling is a far more injury prone profession when compared to batting or bowling offspin. This has to be recognized. Fast bowlers need to be compensated adequately for subjecting their bodies to the rigour they do. This might in some way encourage them to keep the hostility and pace up.. since it invariably seems to drop once a bowler has been with the team for a while.

Its better to Jaw Jaw than to War War... Really?

2010-07-25T13:49:00.002-05:00

India and Pakistan , neighbours by compulsion , have just concluded a round of talks . What were they talking about? Precisely that, the agenda of what they should be talking about. That talking to Pakistan is an exercise in futility should have been established by now. But when you have a leadership that publicly, states that talks is the only option, well talk is what you are bound to do, however futile it is.
The latest round of talks was 'derailed' due to the release of information by the Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai, which revealed that the ISI (Pakistan's Intelligence agency) was beyond the attack on Mumbai in 26/11. To most with half a brain , this should have been evident. Sure, uneducated kids can be taught to shoot a gun. But an k like the Mumbai one needs more than the ability to shoot a gun.
What stands out is to me is that the Indian establishment appears to be aware that the attack on Mumbai had the backing at the higher levels of he Pakistani establishment, much like Kargil.
If this is in fact the case, why exactly are we talking? There are only 2 possibilities. Either the people we are talking to encouraged the attack of 26/11 and would be more than willing for repeats or they are too weak to prevent attacks. In either case, it becomes the Indian Governments duty and responsibility to act to defend its citizens from future attacks emanating from Pakistan. This will possibly lead down a slippery slope to war. But what choice do you have as a nation? The very basic expectation of any nation state is to be able to defend its civilians is being called into question time and again. Time and again Pakistan has played the school bully and punched India in the nose.. Time and again India has backed away from a fight, paying heed to the possibility of a nuclear war. At the very least end this charade of talks. People point to the seemingly unending rivalry between Germany and France , which has now morphed into an inseparable union as a model for future Indo-Pak relations. But they forget the many horrible and crippling wars that preceded the current state of affairs. As things stand now the Republic of India cannot reconcile with what Pakistan stands for. So really is the Jaw Jaw really better?

The Burqa ban in France

2010-07-17T10:55:00.003-05:00

Last week, the lower house of France's overwhelmingly voted to ban the burqa in public places.Why is this a big deal? Well a Muslim population that already feels hounded and looked down upon,will further feel the West is out to get them.
I have mixed feelings about this Being born and brought up in India, where secularism means accommodation of every religion,(its a unique brand of secularism.. found only in India) I personally would not support the burqa ban. On principle, why stop someone from wearing a burqa when we don't stop them from wearing a mini-skirt. But you can turn around and say, why allow the burqa in Paris, when you can't expect to see a mini-skirt in Saudi Arabia?
But saying the burqa is a mere article of clothing like the mini-skirt is an understatement.
Its a reflection of attitudes towards women. From what I understand, a burqa is supposed to keep Men from having impure thoughts about women. So women are objectified as mere vessels of temptation by one interpretation. Its a reflection of the truly unequal status accorded to women. On principle I cannot find any reason to condemn France's burqa ban. But any true reform cannot be imposed from outside , it will have to come from within.
On a side note, I found it interesting that 2/3rds of Americans did not support a ban on burqa's while 80% of Europeans support it.
So maybe its time to revise the opinion n who the Great Satan is?

Can I get some goals to go?

2010-06-19T01:10:00.002-05:00

The one thing everyone can agree on about the worldcup 2010 is the severe paucity of goals.
The theories doing the rounds are a football thats hard to control and teams being overly defensive since they have but 3 games.
My take on this can be summarized from the goal that was denied to the US in the 85th minute with the score tied 3-2.
The play in question was a setpiece free kick with 3-4 US players in and around the goal.. Now since the replays have been shown a million times , the one thing that stands out is the tight man to man marking by the slovenians. In one glaring example.. there is a Slovenian defender with his arms wrapped completely around Mike Bradley the scrorer of the second goal. Leaving aside for a second the end result, you have to realise that allowing defenders to bear hug attackers is not in anyway going to help produce goals.. For the life of me I can't understand why its even tolerated. Holding someone to prevent them from taking a legitimate shot at the goal is illegal and should be called as such. Once the officials make it clear they wont stand for it thepolayers will fall in line.. and finally we might have a situation where for once the talk about football wont center around the lack of goals.

How the IPL ia destroying Team India.

2010-05-11T23:24:00.002-05:00

I am not the first person writing on this and certainly wont be the last person. And after yet another embarassing exit from a 'world-cup' , it would be obvious to most that the IPL is infact affecting team India's performance in the international arena.
Some reasons are obvious, player fatigue , exposure to only batsman friendly pitches, ability to target the weaker domestic bolwers in every team.
Some reasons are not so obvious. The rules put in place by the IPL to ensure that Indian domestic criketers would not lose an opportunity to play have inadvertently caused a lot of damage.
There is a restriction on the number of international cricketers allowed in every game(4 per side). There was also a fixed salary for India's domestic cricketers( a pathetic $30K , when you compare that to the 1million that the likes of Dhoni makes).
These restrictions meant that those Indian cricketers who have played international cricket are the highest paid in the league(barring the odd Andrew Symonds and Kevin Pietersen).
The lower salaries for international players makes it easier for some to totally skip the IPL (like Mitchell Jonhson and Micahel Clarke), Indian internationals on the other hand find it a lot harder to turn down the money.
The 4 man restriction also means that players of the caliber of Paul Collingwood have spent a good portion of the IPL season on the bench.
All this means that every team other than India post IPL is well rested and have had time to prepare , while the Indian's were busy walloping Indian domestic bowlers around while playing out the few good bowlers every side had.
How can things change?
Firstly IPL will have to have a window where no other ICC events are hosted a month before and after.
There has to be serious consideration given to removing all restrictions on player salaries, thereby abolishing the caste system that exists currently. This will bring down the artificially inflated salaries of Indian internationals and bring some semblance of balance to their priorities.
Teams should be able to cut players and not be stuck with non performing ones.
Teams must follow the rest and rotation policy for Indian internationals handed down by team India management.

Who needs an election manifesto?

2010-02-10T23:33:00.002-05:00

If you've been following the news in India's financial capital Mumbai, the big story is that of the principal Opposition Political Party(I almost shudder to call it that), the Shiv Sena, is busy opposing the release of a movie starring Shah Rukh Khan who is India's biggest film star.
So what is so objectionable about a movie to raise the ire of the good people at Shiv Sena?
Nothing at all, frankly I would'nt be suprsied to see Shiv Sainiks lining up to watch the movie when the dust settles.
The provocation, if it can be called that , is a rather silly if painful narrative.
Sporting ties between India and Pakistan had been snapped by the barbaric incidents of 26/11.
In India where cricket and politics intersect more than one would like, we have the IPL (Indian Premier League) which is essentially the NFL with no salary caps.
Now recently the IPL held an 'auction' to select players. The Pakistani's who are world champs at this format of cricket, were up for auction, but did not attract a single bid.
There was much heartburn about this on both sides of the border.
Shah Rukh Khan, who is a owner of one of the teams, did'nt put in a bid himself, but did express sentiments along the lines of the Pakistani players would be welcomed and so on.
All perfectly legit. This has raised the hackles of the Shiv Sena, who have gone to the extent of calling Shah Rukh a desh drohi(traitor) not to mention engaging in violence to stall the release of his movie.
So far Shah Rukh has stood his ground and refused to 'apologise'.
Now that the background is done I cna move onto my take on this.
The Shive Sena has been in the opposition for the last 3 election cycles.
Its not like they have been kept out by great governance(The ruling congress has been disastorous ).
"How shit do you have to be for me to beat you?" , seems to be the Congress theme to the Sena.
Is it a political party's job to enforce what people say in a free society?
It sounds an awful lot like Hitler's SA.
Are people supposed to vote for you, because you tear down movie posters?
How does that help anyone? Call the electorate what you want, but in the end they seem to have made the best of 2 bad options.
The second aspect of all this that I hate is the standards Sena is applying to Shah Rukh.
Why does he have to prove his loyalty to the Nation by denouncing Pakistanis?
Does Bal Thakeray have to prove his loyalty to the nation?
The partition happened. India has a 120million+ muslims(those numbers might be off).
I am sure there are a few bad apples, but do all of them have to keep jumpoing through your hoops to prove how Indian they are?
Its not just unfair , its plain stupid.
Alienating such a big chunk of the Indian population will probably do a lot more harm to India, than Shah Rukh Khan saying something nice about Pakistani's.
Disclosure: I don't really like Shah Rukh Khan, and I have never watched a complete movie featuring him.

In Pursuit of Happiness

2010-02-05T22:52:00.004-05:00

Yes I shamelessly borrowed from Hollywood, but the title was way too apt and I couldn't help myself.
Recently I was told that I was a happy person by someone who had known me not too long. I was taken aback, mostly because I have always viewed myself as someone who is just as happy or just as sad as the next guy. I always viewed myself as a critic, someone who could poke holes in anything. Sure I am happy go lucky , but I was also a brooding contemplative type at times.
I wanted to say at that point "Walk a Mile in my shoes" . Wisely I chose not to.
Cut to today. This week and the past one have been difficult for me . Just as things looked like they couldn't get any worse, they just did.
So when the guy sitting next to me on the subway asked me "Why are you smiling, you look happy." , I was taken aback. Though I had no fathomable reason to be happy with life, I apparently was happy enough that a stranger could see it.
He went on to ask if I was happy with my life. I almost instantly replied yes.
I guess what I was thinking for better or worse was , "Is this life worth living?"
And the awnser was a 1000times YES!
So how could I possibly be not happy with my life.
After a little contemplation I replied that I was not where I wanted to be in life, there are a lot of people a lot better of than me, and a lot more people far worse off. And for that reason alone I concluded I was happy.
I got off soon after after shaking the strangers hand.
I never did figure out why he asked me what he did. But I am glad he did. It made me realise something entirely precious, I was happy even though I thought I was unhappy.
I guess a very cynical way to look at it could be no matter what your condition is be thankful, cos it could be a lot worse.
Sure this wisdom is not new and you hear it a 100 times over(not necessarily from a stranger on the subway) , but realisation is something that can come about internally.
In conclusion I am Happy, Happy for the lives I have managed to touch in some minuscule way(I am hoping I have made more than one person laugh or smile),
Happy to see happiness around me, Happy I have massive biceps(I am always happy to flex em), Happy for the opportunities in life that have come my way, Happy in the Hope that there are more coming, Happy for the music I love so much, Happy for all the love I have received(and given) , Happy that Jon Stewart's single handedly keeping Fox News's at bay. I can go on and on But you get the point!

I am either really lucky or really unlucky

2010-01-02T16:49:00.005-05:00

For the last month and a half the locker rooms in my gym have had to be shared between the men and women. So men have had the locker room on even days and women on odd days.
This sad state of affairs finally ended today when the men's locker room finally opened after renovation. After a particularly exhausting workout I headed to the locker room, not entirely focussed. I walk in and see a woman in their. It still took me a moment to realise , what had just happened. At which point i involuntariy screamed "shit" and turned tail and ran. As I contemplated what had just happened, I thanked my stars that there was only one woman in there, who did'nt seem to notice me(untill that scream). She was onld and fully clothed(Thank God!) ....
As a second thought would I mind terribly if it was someone younger and not quite so fully clothed? I guess we'll never know.

What's a Giant fan to do in bye week?

2009-11-15T14:58:00.003-05:00

Clean up your room.
Pray that Dallas , Philly and Atlanta lose today.
Pray Eli Manning can break out of his mid-season funk.
Pray someone other than Bill Sheridan starts calling plays on defense.
Look forward fondly to the 2010 draft.
Curse your luck that your punter is going to be 2 weeks older by the time your next game comes, which means the punts might not even end up at mid field.
Pray Justin Tuck heals.
As my boxing gym says "We are closed on sunday, so go to Church". Just kidding , go to whichever place of worship I don't care.

What a season for the Giants

2009-11-12T22:13:00.002-05:00

If you follow Giants football, you are probably wondering about what happened to your previously solid looking team. Not that they can always be relied on, but the reports out of training camp and the Team's performance in the first 5 games meant that everyone assumed that the Giants were a contender for the Suerbowl and at the very least a shoo-in for the playoffs. Now 4 heartbreaking losses later and staring at an extremely tough schedule, no one really knows where the next win is going to come from.
There is plenty of blame to go around and most of it has been laid at the door step of an under-achieving defence and the new DC Bill Sheridan.
Surely you can't admit your QB is not a top 10 QB rigth after signing him to a huge year contract.
If you've watched the last 4 games you would have seen this pattern repeating itself.
The Giants offence comes out and has a series of 3 and outs, Feagles comes out to punt the ball to near mid field and the opposition proceed to merrily score after driving 50 yeards or less.
Want proof?
How is this for proof. The Giants defence is 1st overall in the NFL in yards conceded but 21st in terms of points. So its obvious that while the opposition is scoring , they are not racking up the yards, since Eli and Feagles are conspiring to the give the gift that keeps on giving, field possition.
So before you get on OC and Tuck, maybe apporition the blame to where it truly belongs.

See Something Do Something.

2009-06-24T22:44:00.006-05:00

Most days are like other days, some good some bad, but mostly indistinguishable from another. Don't believe me? Ask yourself what you did last week this day(without peeking at the appointment book). You get my point.
Today was not such a day.
The events that transpired were both disgusting and uplifting at the same time.
The last three days have been tough and stressful, I have been getting in early to work leaving late, and circling back to work after my 2-hour stint in the gym. Today I was exhausted, so exhausted that I didn't even think of heading back to work. Instead I left the gym at 9:45pm to head back home and hopefully to Sushi in a nearby restaurant I was craving(Yes we have sushi in Jackson Heigths, as strange as it may sound).
As I got my keys out to enter my building I saw what appeared to me a confrontation between a boy and girl.
The girls back was to me. And my first instinct was to think it was between 2 individuals who knew each other.
This happened barely 10 feet from me.
The girl was a petite Asian girl , the boy a South Asian teenager.
There was some shoving and suddenly the boy slapped the girl. Before I had time to process , he slapped her again.
At this point I walked towards him and basically put myself between the boy and the girl.
and asked him what was going on.
Some lady thought it best to drag the girl away from the situation. The guy also crossed the street and started walking away. At this point though shocked at what I had witnessed (and not prevented) and still unclear as to what really went down, I turned around and started to head back to my door. I was stopped by a Bangladeshi gent who was with his daughter who asked me why I let the guy get away.
I tried reasoning with him saying that I had just gotten there and I didn't really know what went down, so when the girl left I considered the matter closed. His daughter who was with him piped in saying that she wouldn't have stuck around if she was the one caught in the situation.
As we talked something happened that I wouldn't expect in a a 100 years.
The girl who was assaulted thus on a busy street came back.
She came back to find the guy. She was not the type to take shit like that. That to me was the most uplifting part about this experience(disgusting as the situation was).
I did what I thought was best and walked with her as she tried to locate the guy.
I tried to talk her into calling the police(I had left mine at home).
As we rounded a block I spotted him and made the same mistake that I make fun of at the movies. I pointed at him and told her "there he is". he spotted us and made a dash for it. he had a good lead on me, but luckily for me I had my running shoes and workout clothes on so I managed to gain some on him, sadly it was not enough. He got away. A Passerby pointed us to a building. When I entered the building I noticed that there were only 2 South Asian names on the buzzers. I also spotted that there was a way out the back.
By this time the girl had caught up and she finally called the police. The cops came took down statements. I was put down as a witness. I told them of the only 2 South Asian families on the buzzer. Clearly the kid either lived there or had been there before(to get out the back)
The police ignored the implication and definitely didn't go ringing any door bells.
I was asked to ride in an unmarked vehicle (which I did, so Now I can say I have been in the back of a police vehicle) to try and spot the guy in the neighborhood, like he'd actually be dumb enough to show up.
The one saving grace as I found out later was the store in front of which the assault took place had cameras. I called the cops to try and tell them that. But surprise surprise, I was told that they would call me if they heard anything.
As I got home, i tried asking around to see if anyone recognized the guy or his friends. One dude had the temerity to tell me "Why did that girl leave, in the first place?, Why did she not ask for help"
Also asked me "How is she related to you?"
Talk about blaming the victim.
What surprised be was the level of hostility reserved for the one guy who actually tried to do something about it.
Talk about no good deed going unpunished.
The hero in this piece is The Asian girl Erika.
How many girls you know would fight back after being eve-teased on the street(for those who are wondering what eve-teasing is, its euphemistically named - sexual harassment)
I guess its so rampant in south Asian societies that we actually have a name for it.
I feel compelled to ask myself the question, if this was not Jackson Heights but was the Bronx, if it was not some Bangladeshi teenager but a big African American dude, would I have done what I did? I'd like to think so. But Both you and I know better .
Finally if you've stuck it out this far, there is no mistaking the message. If you see Something do Something. True I would not like to get knifed over some guy playing grab-ass some girl on the street, but you have to do what you can do, and do it even if no one else will.

Racism and Australia

2009-05-30T08:07:00.002-05:00

Racism is a touchy topic, and rare is the country that has no issues with racism at all.
Australia and racism in Australia has recently hit the headlines in India, following the series of attacks on Indian students studying there.
Some of the attacks might be copy cat types and others might be opportunistic preying on a vulnerable section. But the undercurrent of racism in all this has been dismissed by the Australian police. This I find appalling. Its almost as if they are saying "What? Racist and us? You must be joking".
Well if you don't believe those Indian students were attacked because of the color of their skin or their accents, maybe we should check in with the Aborigine's about the Australian attitudes towards racism. Maybe Muralitharan the Sri Lankan spinner who has been given a horrendous time in Australia each time he plays there can testify.
My aim is not to malign all of Australia, but when racial prejudice results in Physical violence , it is probably time to examine attitudes to racism within the country.

Let Vick Play

2009-05-28T00:58:00.002-05:00

Michael Vick former the Atlanta Quarterback, who has done jail-time for involvement a dog fighting operation, is now out, and knocking on the door for NFL reinstatement.
Its not entirely clear how long of a suspension he'll have to serve if he is allowed back or for that matter it isn't quite clear if he'll b allowed back. My hunch is economics will eventually get him a look-in.
What Michael Vick did was appalling and he has served time for that. There will be a lot of people who will want to see him banned completely. I am sure the level of passion n the anti-Vick side will be a lot higher than any fledgling pro-Vick side.
I couldn't care less if he ever played again.But there is an element of natural justice that would be violated if he weren't allowed to play. After all once a man has served his time, shouldn't e be rehabilitated in society? We extend that courtesy to people accused of crimes including murder.
So why deny Michael Vick the right to earn a living?
There are no guarantees, but chances are he can do a lot more good to society thought the value he generates on the field rather some other profession.
So in conclusion Let Vick Play.

Upon further review - General Elections 2009

2009-05-16T01:20:00.002-05:00

Yes Conress and the UPA has won big, but I do not believe this is a ringing endorsement for their governments performance, its a case of the other guy doing worse(like the left in Kerala and W Bengal) or a convenient proxy undercutting the main opposition(like the PRP in Andhra and MNS in Maharashtra.
Hats of to Rahul Gandhi for putting in the effort he has in reviving the Congress organization. The proof is in the pudding and if they do end up winning 20 seats in UP, its hard not to give credit to Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP screwed the pooch in Rajasthan, it would be hard for them to recover the ground they lost in the last assembly election, and they never did.
I guess getting black money from Swiss bank accounts as a point on the manifesto is more philmy than evocative after all.
I think the Congress missed a trick by not projecting Rahul Gandhi as PM(don't be shocked if Manmohan Singh , quits midway due to health concerns). It would have made quite a contrast to the octogenarian Advani.
Cosying upto Kalyan Singh wasn't such a brilliant plan now was it , Mulayam?
Whatever happened to big bad Mayawati? I guess building massive parks and statues dedicated to yourself and Kanshi Ram , did'nt impress the electorate after all.

Thougths on the early trends Indian General Elections 2009

2009-05-15T23:06:00.002-05:00

Here are some quick thoughts based on the leads information currently available.

Congress is holding its own in Andhra Pradesh, looks like the Chiranjeevi factor bit the TDP in the ass more than the Congress.
Congress leads big in Kerala . the Vijayan vs Achutanandan ugliness is hurting the Left big time.
Rasjasthan looks like its swinging for the Congress. I'd like to think it was the Gujjar agitation.
The UPA seems to be holding its own in Tamil Nadu, which means the Vijakanth factor took a big chunk of anti-DMK votes.
Looks like the exit polls were not too off the mark this time.

Born Again Virgin

2009-05-12T01:34:00.002-05:00

India the world's largest democracy(yes a democracy's size is actually measured by the number of people eligible to vote) is reaching the end of its 5-phase election that spanned 6 weeks.
The principal coalitions doing battle are the "secular" UPA and the "communal" NDA.
There are possibly another dozen regional parties that represent various caste groupings.
So why the unusual title?
The Congress party the principal constituent of the UPA has taken upon itself the Divine right and duty to issue "secular" or "communal" certificates to all and sundry. The absurdity of such classification is , that groups who have been allies of the BJP(the "communal" party which is the principal opposition party) in the past , are courted just us vigorously as any other party.
So the if you are with the Congress you are secular and you are communal if you are against it.
Its the absurdity of concept of a born again virgin. If you've lost your "secular" virginity to the BJP, going back to the congress can give it right back.

India no threat says Zardari

2009-05-10T23:51:00.003-05:00

I get a bitter sweet feeling on hearing that one line. Actually more bitter than sweet. After the carnage in Mumbai, one would hope that the Pakistani establishment would at least consider the possibility that India would not hesitate in taking military action if the culprits of 26/11 were not brought to book. But the Pakistani establishment has quite smartly recognized the Indian establishment's reluctance (some might call pusillanimity) in striking at Pakistan.
So why is it sweet? India ever since its indepence has had to reassure a hysterical Pakistan, that India was no threat to its existence. Pakistan on the other hand has evolved in the manner it has, as a response to the percieved threat from India.
The Military which has ruled Pakistan for the majority of the time since Partition, has acquired its power an pelf by shouting from the rooftops, that it was the only institution that stood between Pakistan that beacon of hope for the Islamic world and the Kafir Indian's who threatened the nations very existence.
Hardline Islamic groups were encouraged to be used as a weapon against India.
If Pakistan is on the verge of being a basket case , its because of the Military and the Mullahs, who in turn achieved their power by labelling India as the bogeyman.
And its only now that finally wisdom dawns on the Pakistani's that India is not a threat.
Ironic would'nt you say? And somewhat sweet.

Break Me , Shake Me Take Me

2009-03-10T23:07:00.007-05:00

So went the lyrics of a Savage Garden song that I liked(I took some liberties with the arrangement).
Seems kind of appropriate to the Rihanna Chris Brown drama.
Why does it matter? For more than a couple of reasons.
Rihanna is a gorgeous and talented young woman who has the world at her feet(an overstatement , but you get the point).
She definitely isn't with Chris Brown for his money, since she has enough of her own presumably.
Yet after a highly publicised horrific beating at the hands of Chris Brown,t there are reports of them making up, and getting married.
Picture a young woman of modest means in a relationship which though passionate, is marred by domestic violence. What would she think of this situation?
Let me give it a shot .. "If a woman of Rihanna's stature could forgive a indiscretion such as Chris Brown's , what chance do I have?"
What's the young woman's partner thinking?
"Hey if Chris Brown, can do that to a woman like Rihanna, then I can too"
A little overly dramatic, but its not entirely inconcievable.
There is also the matter of a little something I read in the Tipping Point.
The story in question involved suicides in a tiny polynesian nation(the name I cannot recall).
Researchers found a high incidence of suicide amongst the young, over stuff that would be considered relatively minor.
A little more digging unreathed a local celeb(maybe a royal) who had committed suicide oer matters of the heart. Overnight something with negative connotations(suicide) had gone to being cool.
This arguably lead to a spike in the suicide rate.
This example was used in the book to make a point about how ideas achieve traction and finally explode.
If we do have a spike in cases of domestic violence, wonder we will think to link it back to Rihanna and Chris Brown.

Gandhi's effects

2009-03-05T00:30:00.002-05:00

A private individual claiming to be a disciple of Gandhiji's teachings has plans to auction some of his personal effects. This has been taken as a slight by some.
The Government of India has pledged to do what it can to prevent an auction.
The latest news of this front indicates that the would be seller has placed some stiff conditions including spending more on the poor and less on weapons.
On the face of it , this is in line with Gandhiji's teachings , and seems noble indeed.
But look a little deeper and it would appear that this is nothing but a money grab. The seller wants his payday but also wants the moral high ground. He should know that the fates of a billion people cannot be decided by his word. India is no bannana rebuplic.
Some have criticised the rich Indians(many of whom are worth billions) who haven't publicly come out and said that they would'nt allow these effects to get to the auction stage.
I wonder what Gandhji would consider more important, spending money on the betterment of his people or buying his effects so that they can be placed in a shrine.
I think we all know the awnser.

Jai Ho

2009-02-28T16:06:00.002-05:00

Not the most original title in these Slumdog crazed times I agree , but hey it's probably increased this post's ranking on google some , so I'll take that.
I was just telling someone how I had nothing to say about Slumdog since I had not seen the movie. To be honest I don't expect to be blown away, since I have seen a 100 bollywood movies and its not a unique experience for me as it would be for a western audience(that by the way is the same logic I used not to see Bombay dream's). And unlike some others I also do not see it as my patriotic duty to "support" Slumdog Millionaire(like it really needed my support anyway).
Coming to the point of this post. I am not quite sure I have heard Jai Ho earlier, but I did today.
It was in a spinning class. Maybe it was the unexpectedness of it, I felt the blood rush to my face. And it kept me pumping well beyond my capacity.
So I guess inspite of my protestations to the contrary, I do feel good about Slumdog Millionaire achieveing the success it has.

Do you have a first aid kit handy?

2009-02-22T23:50:00.003-05:00

So go the lyrics of a song I have heard in the gym repeatedly, it has a catcy tune and I believe its called "Damaged".
There were also such pearls as "Can you patch up a wall for me?" "Are you patient and understanding?" .
I also had the great misfortune of watching the video while on the step mill. And it was a bunch of really dolled up women in extremely skimpy outfits(so whats new right?)
Now the lyrics of the song seem to place certain demands on the man , including such inanities as patch up a wall. All he can expect in return(since the lyrics don't specify) is a dolled up skimpily clad hottie. A deal I must admit most would go for in a heart beat, despite the uneveness of the trade.
I thought of writing this bloag a while back and never got around to it. But now with Chris Brown smacking up Rihanna , it seems like the dolled up hotties knew what they were talking about when they list having a first aid kit handy as man selection criteria.

The idiocy of the IPL

2009-02-06T01:10:00.003-05:00

The IPL is the Indian awnser to the NFL. Where the world of cricket collides with the world of glamor accompanied by a flood of money.
The NFL draft which any fan looks forward to is sought to be mimiced by the IPL auction.
So while top prospects of the NFl are drafted or picked, cricketers are auctioned like heads of cattle bought by the highest bidder.
Ignoring the distasteful terminolgy for a second, lets focus on some specifics.
The IPL which is the brain child of the US educated Lalit Modi, is the favorite son of the BCCI which for all practical purposes has a monoply on world cricket.
But like all good monarchies you have to keep the your Nobles happy. So it is with the IPL and BCCI.
The boards of England , Australia and South Africa must be kept happy since they are the ones that matter.
At this point it might be useful to introduce the concept of the reserve price. Each player comes into the auction with a reserve price(now I am not sure how that reserve price is decided)
ie. the lowest bid has to be for that amount.
The thing that took me by suprise was that stars from weaker teams such as Mohammad Ashraful and Mashrafe Mortaza from Banagladesh who have performed against the best of opposition for years attracted a reserve price of $75K and $50K.
While such unknowns or atleast unproven performers like Samit Patel and Owais Shah of England attract reserve prices of $100K and $150K .
I would juxtapose their career statistics but You can always look that up.
My point is this display of disregard for bangladesh and bangladeshi cricket and fawning of England's cricketers is apalling. If this isn't brown on brown racism I am not sure what is.

Michael Phelps - Olympic Hero,Pothead

2009-02-06T00:09:00.002-05:00

Recently the man who won 8 golds (more than the gold medal tally of all but 9 countries) in a single Olympics was caught in the eye of a mini-storm when he a photo of him smoking pot .
And suddenly the man is losing endorsements and copping suspensions.
So in a country where pot smoking is culturally front and center, where shows like that 70's Show ruled the air waves not too long back, we recline in horror when a 23 year old who has achieved more at that young age than most of us would in a few lifetimes, is caught in film smoking a bong at what was doubtless a private gathering.
Sure he has benefitted from being in the public eye, so should'nt he be ready for the consequences?
In my opinion its silly to hold our heros to moral standards that most of us cannot apply to ourselves. Phelps did not make a name for himself preaching about how marijuana was bad for you. He made his name training tirelessly and delivering on the biggest stage there is.
I have not done the research required to comment on the smoking of pot itself. But I can safely say there are a lot of people out there who have smoked pot and have no qualms doing it. And they lead rewarding and successful lives.
So America get of our moral high horse and give the Kid a little space to breathe.

People invested with Madoff did not have a CFA did they?

2009-02-01T12:55:00.002-05:00

Quoting from one of the many voluminous books that one has to go through to appear for the CFA exams:
The investor needs to be intimately familiar with the investment process of the manager's organization(where manager means fund manager which is what Madoff was).. Futher .. Before selecting a manager the plan sponsor needs to spend time asking questions of several key people in the organization.
Clearly the funds and rich individuals who invested with Madoff , missed this para.
As the saying goes "A fool and his money will be soon parted".
I know this might sound like kicking a guy when he is down, but when you are dealing with the kind of money these people were, surely they should have asked more questions.
On a slightly unrelated note, I read an article of how a wealthy Jewish community in Chicago was devastated by the Madoff scandal.
It brought to mind certain thoughts I have had in the past.
For some reason we tend to trust somebody solely on the basis that they belong to the same community. I guess its human top an extent, to be a little suspicious of the unknown.
But it is quite illogical to base our trust on which community someone belongs to.
Scoundrels comes in all shapes sizes , colors , speak many different tongues and worship many different Gods.

Give Obama some space

2009-01-28T23:56:00.002-05:00

The one side-effect of the euphoria created by Obama's election is that expectations have been raised sky high. In the campaign, Obama promised to right many wrongs, and not unjustifiably, a lot of people expect him to deliver on those promises.
Nobody undertakes the mother of all repair jobs without serious intent and we can expect Obama to do his darndest. But to expect one man to do it all is naive at best.
What Obama achieves should not be judged on a day to day basis, rather the evaluation period has to be the leght of his full term in office.

When will the British realise that the Sun has set on the British empire?

2009-01-16T03:14:00.002-05:00

In an article published today in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, Miliband wrote that during his visit to South Asia, he would be arguing that the “best antidote to the terrorist threat in the long term is cooperation”. “Although I understand the current difficulties, resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms, and allow Pakistani authorities to focus more effectively on tackling the threat on their western borders,” he wrote. ---Indian Express
That, David Milband had the temerity to offer such prepoterous advice(given the background of the terror attacks in Mumbai, should come as no suprise. After all the British do beleive that different standards apply to them and their masters The United States.
Mr Milband if you start going down the path of "denying extremists of their main calls to arms"
You might have to start with telling the US to withdraw from Iraq, and Afganistan and abandon its bases in Saudi Arabia.
Oh yeah don't forget to mention that the Americans and the rest of the western world should probably not support Israel, since not a lot of extremists like that.
And last but not the least, the western world should probably take up Islam en masse, since the extremists do aim at world domination, why allow them that clarion call? Why not lay down our arms and prostrate ourselves.
Try selling that to western audience Mr Milband.
What did you say? No can do?
Well then don't try forcing that drivel down Indian throats.
Sure you ruled us for 200 or so years, and we have'nt gotten over it completely,
but we do count for more in todays world than you. So as the Brits say bugger off mate.

Coud'nt have said it better myself , Condi

2008-12-20T23:17:00.002-05:00

In a recent intrerview , Secretary of State for the United States of America Condi Rice said that "Only an idiot would trust North Korea". Let me amend that a little. Only an idiot with a death wish can trust Pakistan with regards to its commitments to dismantle the terror infrastructure.
Who knew, I guess I can say it better.

The long term game plan of the Lashkar E Taiyaba

2008-12-18T04:06:00.002-05:00

The truth often stares us in the face and yet the best and the brightest either miss is it or are unable to comprehend it. The audacious attack on Mumbai by a band of 10 terrorists was one has invoked a lot of chess beating "why do they hate us" type of analysis. The more cynical of us dismiss "it with the its all politics" feint. There are those bleeding heart liberals who actually believe their own speil about "non state actors".
So amidst this logjam of reasoning one angle that has'nt recieved sufficient attention is the angle that I intend to discuss in this piece.
In one of his speeches made in 1999 , Moammad Hafeze Sayed, the then head of the Laskar E Tayba , declared that the ultimate aim of the Laskar was to dismember India and establish Islamic rule over the sub-continent. This should not shock anyone , who hasn't lved under a rock for the past 20 years.
What he went on to add next was of a little more significance. He compared the 'Jihad' against India to that against the Soviet Union. Just as the Soviet empire had fallen when nobody saw it happening, India would go the same way. Now its not like a modern daySalluddin rode into Moscow and conquered Russia. The Soviet Union's was a collapse precipitated by economic reasons(i know thats an over simplification).
So tha leads me to believe that that is precisely the playbook that the lashkar is planing to follow against India. The attack in umbai furthered hat aim in the following ways.
It warned international investors that inbvesting in India was a dangerous proposition.
The reaction it triggered within the India establishment, is the creatio of 4 different NSG hubs.
That will require a massive investment in Infrastructure men and arms.
Coporate India will also have to start paying for a higher level of corporate security.
All this asymmetrical costswere imposed in the Indian economy for the appromiately $100,000
which is what in all likelyhood it cost to carry out the terroist attack on Mumbai.

Rush to war

2008-12-07T19:17:00.002-05:00

The recent terror strike in Mumbai, has quite justifiably raised the spectre of war between the two nuclear power neighbors India and Pakistan.
Very few on the Indian side have actually demanded that India go to war.
But almost as if to pre-empt that stream of thought, the peaceniks are already out in force.
Particularly appalling was an article by Kausar Ahmed a professor in some God forsaken College in Connecticut USA.
He approaches the possibility of war from the point of view of the imminently sensible question , what does India hope to achieve by going to war.
He then stumbles badly when he compares an Indian declaration of war with the American policy of pre-emption which he labels as imperialistic.
There are a couple of things I'd like to point out to Mr Ahmed and those of his ilk.
There is no element of pre-emption involved in action against Pakistan. Any action would have been made necessary by repeated aggression against India from Pakistani soil.
Secondly since when did defending the lives of those who call India home, become imperialistic?
I am neither a hawk nor a dove.
Common sense dictates that an adversary has no reason to change behavior if there are no costs involved. Pakistan and its rulers have operated under the impression that as long as a certain threshold is not crossed, India and its rulers can be relied on to act in a rational manner.
India has a lot more to lose than does Pakistan in case of open war.
So the options for India are limited. If full scale war is ruled out as an option, then India must find other means to impose costs on Pakistan when its territory is used to carry out terrorist violence against India.
To those who believe that India must rally world opinion in its favor, all I can say is wake up and smell the coffee.
World opinion is no match for world interests. By all accounts both America and the rest of the world is aware of the danger a nuclear armed Pakistan on the brink of anarchy poses to the rest of the world.
But you can trust the world will not do anything, as long as the violence originating in Islamabad stays confined to India. To summarize, if India cannot tolerate terror strikes against its citizens, either we find some leverage agaisnt Pakistan fast, or we have to consider the possibility of war and the costs it might impose on us.
I know its easier contemplating war while living in new york (like me) or inaction while living in connecticutt(like kausar ahmed).

A police force stretched to it seams: How it can be redeemed

2008-12-03T23:26:00.003-05:00

Now I am descending into serious the arm-chair critic role, so bear with me while lay my ideas(nothing but common sense out).
If the carnage in Mumbai proved anything , it was that the Mumbai police was ill equipped to deal with the terrorists that held the city to ransom for 60 hrs. Call it intelligence failure or systemic failure, it was definitely a failure of massive proportions.
And since its the Police who are supposed defend the failure will be rightly assigned to them.
There is no doubt that the Police lacked the weaponry, the protective equipment , the training or for that matter the organization to deal with such a situation.
We can only hope that these issues will be studied by someone a lot wiser than myself and addressed appropriately. I am going to do my bit and lay out what I think needs to be done(being constructive as opposed to purely crictical).
The one thing that has to be noted here is that Mumbai a city of 18million people has a police force of 40,000 or so which is, 1 cop for 45o residents.as opposed to NYC whic has approximately the same numbers policing a population of 8 million or so.
Also NYC does'nt have politicians like Raj Thakeray to deal with.
A simple search for the Mumbai police on wikipedia reveals an interesting fact. Mumbai has no commando/SWAT team . The closest thing they have are the Local armed Police or the Anti-Terror Squad(which is basically an investigative unit).
This is something that has to change fast. In fact its appalling that this state of affairs was allowed to continue, with Mumbai being in the cross hairs of the terrorists for so long.
Every cop in mumbai has to be armed with a weapon and must know how to use it.
This might seem like a no brainer, but it has to be said, since the of the a 60 or so cops present at CST station a majority were equipped with batons. We do not live in British India anymore, where the biggest threat a cop might have faced was a non-violent Gandhian trying to burn british merchandise.
Off duty cops must be encouraged to keep their small arms on them. You never know, that might be the difference in a terrorist attack in the future.
If we expect cops to lay down their lives to protect their fellow citizens, we have to atlast give them the kind of protective gear that would give them a chance.
Sufficient care has to be paid to the physical fitness of the cops. An hour every day of duty time must be set aside for physical fitness. Anyone who has seen a pot bellied cop in Mumbai knows why this would be needed.
A chain of command has to be identified for any such operations to take place in the future.
The police leadership is better off directing operations from a control room, than providing target practice to terrorists in the case of attack.
Wel thats all I have , feel free to add suggestions

Open letter to the Prime Minister of India

2008-12-03T02:08:00.002-05:00

Dear Dr Singh,
Before I launch into what no doubt will be a tirade(who ever hear of an open letter that was not), id like to point out how much, I and a majority of my countrymen admire and respect you.
If today India stands poised to take its place as a world power, it has a lot to do with what you did as Narsimha Rao's finance minister. You are rightly viewed as incorruptible and brilliant.
Now that the nicities are out of the way, let me get down to why I am really writing.
As opposed to your stint as Inida's FM, your stint as PM has been far from sucessful. There were a few things that only you could have done. I absolutely loved that you graded your ministers perfomance. So why was Shivraj Patil not booted out as Home Minister when he was consistenly scoring an F?
Why was this attack in Mumbai allowed to happen? Are you all spent out from the Rural employment Scheme, that we cannot afford to get our commandos on a plane before 5am 7hours after the terrorists first struck in Mumbai.
There is a whole littabny of things that went wrong, not all of which should be blamed on you.
But what followed?
You went on television and assured a jittery and angry nation that action would be taken.
So what happend? Not much later, you foriefn Minister says , that the military option with regards to Pakistan is rules out.
So whats the Plan Dr. Singh?
Wait for the next attack? Or are we supposed to wait till Jihadi terrorism goes out of fashion?
If those are infact ur solutions ie. do nothing, at least be honest enough to admit as much to the long suffering people of India. So atleast if a majority disagree with your approach, they can go out an elect someone else to do your job.

That did'nt take long did it.

2008-12-03T01:22:00.003-05:00

India's foriegn minister issued a statement saying that India was not about to go to war with Pakistan over the terror attack in Mumbai. Less than 24 hours later, Pakistan's President, Asif Zadari, virtually backtracks on his earlier assertions of full co-operation with India's investigation. The demand to extradite the 20 terrorists/criminals sheltering in Pakistan was rejected. And comically, the captured terrorists Pakistani orgin is being questioned.
None of this should be the least bit surprising to anyone with mental faculties of a 11 year old.
But I am sure this has taken the collective Indian leadership by surprise.
The initial assertions of co-operation were made under the assumption, that this was the incident which would finally stir the Indian government to deal with Pakistan militarily. With the Pakistan army on its heels there could be no worse time for them to faceoff with the Indian army.
Now that the military option has been taken off the table right off the bat, Pakistan has no reason to co-operate with India. And they wont.
Now if someone had only explained this to Pranab Mukherjee, before he went off and blew India's chance to do get some real concessions out of Pakistan.

News flash:Terrorists don't usually come armed with pea shooters

2008-12-01T03:21:00.002-05:00

The more details emerge about the Terror Attacks in Mumbai, the more embarassing it becomes for the Indian Security Apparatus in general and the Mumbai Police specifically.
Now it emerges that there were 60 or so policemen patroling CST(railway station) a site that was attacked by 2 gunmen armed with AK 56'es hand grenades and hand guns.
Given that most of these cops were armed with lathis and antiquated weapons, they still should have been able to take the terroists out, given their vast numerical superiority.
Having said that, I do not quite see the point of a cop without a gun. At the very least I expect a cop to be able to protect himself, only then can he be expected to protect the public.
Why exactly were there 60 policemen at CST? Most likely that its a transportation hub, and terrorist strikes there are not unexpected.
If you accept that argument, what exactly do you expect a terrorist to be armed with?
If yout awnser is anything like the weaponry the actual terrorists possessed, should'nt the cops (at least some of them) have been equipped to deal with that?
This points back to one of my previous posts, which wondered how the two terrorists were able to escape from CST after their rampage, which later resulted in the ambush which killed Hemant Karkare along with Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar.

Caught between a rock and a hard place.

2008-12-01T01:50:00.003-05:00

After a 60 hour fire fight that left closed to 200 people dead, the Indian security establishment declared victory against the terrorists. Essentially they are caught between a rock and a hard place. Admitting that 10 gun men could hold up the Indian commandos who probably outnumbered them 1-20( not to mention Mumbai police and the army), for close to 3 days , is probably admitting that our capabilities are not quite where we would expect them to be. On the other hand admitting there were more terrorists involved who managed to get away, would disturb to no end a highly jittery public. So for now the theory that 10-12 gun men could hold up India's finest seems more palatable.

Boy do we have our priorities straight

2008-12-01T00:04:00.002-05:00

I did a quick google search for the "Major Terrorist Attacks India". I got the following link mostly detailing attacks from 2001-2007. So this is not counting the multiple incidents we have had this year, which include, Mumbai Jailpur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
All told there were approx 470 fatailities. So I am not including anything from the 90's or anything since the end of 2007, nor the profusion of violence that is common-place in the north east and in the state of J&K.
Now let me ask you how many top politicians have died in terrorist violence?
You have to go back all the way to 1991 and the Rajiv Gandhi assasination.
Ever since we have provided security , to each and every two bit politicians, so much so that terrorists don't even think of looking in their direction. Its either that, or the terrorists are content to let the guys we have as our leaders , run the country into the ground.
Just to put things in persprective, it costs 154 crores a year to provide security to the Prime Minister, prime minister's family members , former Prime Minister's families and a handful of SPG protectees. This is not counting the protection accorded to the various union ministers, state ministers and every other Tom , Dick and Harry politician.
So I am tempted to ask, what would I rather have tax payer money spent on?
Politicians or protecting the common man?
And I have a feeling I know how the common man would respond to that.
Pity we cannot have a referendum on this issue and inrporate it into law.

The terrorists are dead, let the blame games begin

2008-11-30T10:00:00.002-05:00

Now that operations against the terrorists who held Mumbai hostage for 60 hours is over, the spin masters are out in full force. If only they realised that the people are beyond spin, it would also help if the spin was not as comical. Exihbit A Maharastra Home Minister RR Patil's claim that the terrorists were out to kill 5000. Now by all accounts the terrorists dead or captured number 10-12. Do you think theor handlers expected them to have the success they had? Or to humor the good minister, were they expected to kill 5000, even by those who sent them?
There are also noises of how the terrorists were trained for atleast 2-3 years. This should explain how they manage to best the security establishment. Only problem is the interrogation of the captutured terrorist has revealed , that the training period was far shorter than that(closer to 2-3 months)
I also read the minister saying that the cops reached CST within 7 minutes of the shooting there. Now tha actually brings into question why there were'nt cops with guns there in the first place. Thats like saying the cops got to Penn station 7mins after shooting started there.
I know for a fact that CST has a police post. So where were the cops? Were they neutralized by the terrorists before they went on their rampage?
We will mourn the loss of the 14 cops from the Mumbai police who lost their lives. But we also would like to know why they died. Preferrably with no spin.

The Mumbai Massacre , an analysis too soon

2008-11-28T10:06:00.002-05:00

The massacre , thats what the attack in Mumbai is being called. An apt definition, considering the defenceless of a city of 20 million people in the face of what appears to heavily armed well trained madmen, who numbered approximately 12.

There will be statesmanly like calls saying "This is not the time to point fingers" , "Its time for us to stand united". You can't argue with that kind of sound logic. But I can, and I must.

Candle lit vigils are not going to stop the people who perperated the mayhem in Mumbai.

Mumbai has been hit by terrorists more often than most cities, starting 1993.

One would imagine that its police would have evolved to handle terrorist threats by now.

Whenever an incident such as this happens, the first to be blamed is "intelligence failure".

All manner of sins are swept under the same rug.

Intelligence failure or no intelligence failure, it was a general policing failure.

Exhibit A.:2 Heavily armed men enter the biggest commuter railway station in Mumbai, start shooting up the place. But no cop in the vicinity are able to get a shot off.

Exhibit B:The terrorists hijack a police van no less , and proceed to shoot at bystanders. This goes on for atleast a matter of hours.

Exhibit C: Heavily armed men attack the Taj and the Oberoi, and enter the hotels unchallenged.

I am willing to accept that the attack , its scale and planning were unprecedented.

What I am not willing to accept , is that the terrorists proceeded unchallenged.

I am willing to accept that putting an operation together to take out well entrenched terrorists takes time.

What I cannot accept is that NSG commandos had to be flown in from Delhi.

There should be a permanent detachment of commandos in Mumbai.

There is no good time or bad time to accept ones short comings. The only way we can prevent or atleast have a chance to prevent another embarrassing and emasculating attack, is to learn from our mistakes and work towards correcting them.

As a force the mumbai police force has been stretched to the breaking point.

The force is not equipped or trained to tackle terrorist threats of this magnitude.

Raising an ATS is not enough, since an acronym is not enough to stop bad men in their tracks.

Mumbai needs to raise/maintain a commando team for any such operations. Training for such eventualities is a full time occupation, not a course you take once in your 20 year career.

You need both the investigators as well as the whip hand.

Hemant Karkare the chief of the ATS, was a fine police officer by all accounts, but he was not the whip hand I am talking about.

Finally the backbone of the force, the lower rung, needs to be trained and equipped with handguns. A lot of the force, patrols the streets unarmed, that has to change.

A similar incident in New York city would be unfathomable, since every cop has a gun and knows how to use it.

Finally its easier to say all these things and do them. But do them we must. As a people we have a right to life, and if history has taught us anything, we have to stand up and be counted. Ironically as the whole world celebrated the end of George Bush's reign and he beginning of Obama's I can't help but wonder , if India would have been better of with a little more of Bush's single minded arrogance than the Mr Nice Guy image we have worked so hard to cultivate.

Electoral College reform

2008-11-17T23:49:00.002-05:00

The debate about electoral college reform has never really gotten off the ground. Sure there was outrage when Al Gore lost the Presidency even though he won the popular vote. But that quickly dissipated, and the John Kerry debacle four years later meant that George Bush won another election but this time with a lead of some 3 million votes.
And thats how its usually going to be the guy who wins the Electoral College, likely gets the popular vote, so why bother changing it?
The one reasoning I have heard in the past for having an electoral college is that the smaller states(population wise) would not get the short shrift from the Presidential candiadates.
And its a reason I'd be willing to accept if it was not for the fact that even larger states get the short shrift currently from one candidate or the other or sometimes from both.
I have'nt gotten figures, but it would be safe to say That States like Texas, New York and California, did not get the attention that was heaped on Swing States, from eithe candidates. If you were Obama, why waste precious resources on a states thats already been sewn up. And if you were McCain, why waste prescious resources on a state that you did'nt have a prayer of winning.
The winner takes all approach is responsible for this state of affairs.
What it has done effectively is render republican votes useless in a state like California, that almost always goes Democrat, and a similar story unfolds in Republican states. From media reports it would seem that a record voters came out for the first time to cast their votes. Part of this is due to Obama's magnetic appeal, part of it a desire for change. But surely one has to ask the question, how many of these people did not vote in past elections , since they believed(quite rightly) that their vote would not affect the final outcome.
If I have made the nature of the problem apparent, Id like to suggest a potential solution.
There are currently 2 states which allow their electoral colleges votes to be divided proportionally between the candidates. Extend this to all the 50 states.
What are the chances, that McCain would have taken his message to California if he knew that he had a shot to pick up 20-25 electoral college votes there or that Obama would have made his views known in the Republican South?
My guess , pretty good.
As Obama rightly pointed out , he was elected to be President of all Americans. So next time , let a few more American's have a genuine say.

It can only be my fault if I did something right?

2008-10-06T23:38:00.004-05:00

That's what Dick Fuld seemed to be implying in testimony to the congressional committee.
I hate to kick a man when he is down, and heaven knows I know enough people who have been effected by Lehman's collapse. But somethings , you can't run away from.
Mr. Fuld might be right in many of his observations about why his venerable institution had to file for bankruptcy, but come on Dick when u've made 1/2 a billion dollars in less than a decade, can't your company at least expect that u wouldn't be asleep at the wheel a this time of crisis?
The very fact that matters were allowed to reach such a state after a full year had been provided as warning(collapse of the Bear Stern funds, that gave the first inkling that something was terribly wrong), reflects poorly on you and other members of the management. Sure you can accept responsibility or you can blame everyone else, but ultimately neither will affect the comfortable life that 1/2 billion dollars can buy.

Why the Beast of east might be cut down mid-roar.

2008-10-02T23:48:00.003-05:00

Over the first few weeks of the NFL season, there are a few trends that have emerged.
The AFC powerhouses New England and the Colts are not the shoo ins we have all come to expect season after season.
And the NFC east has looked by far the strongest division. So strong in fact that its being assumed in most quarters that the 2 wildcards from the NFC will be from the NFC east.
Now while this is entirely possible, its not a certainty as some would have you believe.
The NFC as a whole after being dominated by the AFC, for most of this decade , is seeing a renaissance.
NFC North will have Minnesota , Green Bay and Chicago in a dogfight, while NFC South has the Saints and the Panthers looking good. Tampa Bay wont be counting itself out of the race just yet.
Now the advantage the other divisions have , is that they have at least one team that they can collectively beat up on. No such luxuries for the beasts of the east. So NFC East fans, don't be too disappointed if an NFC east team with a winning record fails to make the playoffs.

Here we go again

2008-09-14T20:37:00.002-05:00

Serial Bomb blasts rocked the Indian capital taking 21 lives and leaving scores of others injured.
The ineptitude of the administration is borne out the fact that this blast follows close on the heels of similar blasts in Bangalore,Jaipur and Ahmadabad. If you go back further in fact no convictions have been obtained in blasts that happened in 2005.
So while the United States has found to its detriment, that invading nations under the guise of pre-emptive action or the Bush doctrine has serious drawbacks, one thing they can say in their defence is that there has not been a single attack on US soil since 9/11.
Not for a minute am I advocating the need for military action against some of India's neighbors who have no doubt harbored elements behind these blasts. However one has to point out the typical Indian response of condemning the blasts, pleading for communal peace, and breathing a sigh of relief when no riots take place, is not going to put an end to these blasts.
India's current woes have many reasons and I don't know that I'll have a chance to touch on all of them , so I'll list them as I go along.

Treatment of minorities:
One of the sad repercussions of the manner in which our independence was accompanied by a most bloody and brutal partition, is that there is a certain hostility towards minorities within sections of Indian society. That hostility has only sharpened in the recent past with the the rise of Islamic terror the world over.
Sure Hinduism preaches tolerance, but somewhere in the past 60 years relations between the two major communities has frayed. This has not been adequately acknowledged so the chances that this situation would be remedied anytime soon are remote.
Economically Muslims are relatively disadvantaged by a large portion of the population not having access to a modern education system. And the ones who have had educational opportunities have no doubt faced a subtle and sometimes not so subtle discrimination in the job market.
Recently I read an article of how certain housing societies discriminate against Muslim tenants and owners. For the life of me I can't understand how that would be legal or permissible. We aren't talking about some back room practice, but a widely prevalent practice.
We complain of ghettoisation while ignoring the causes.
None of the state police forces have adequate representation of the Muslim community, which makes intelligence gathering difficult.
The community often perceives the state as being partisan in going against its interests as it saw in Gujarat 2002.
Such issues cannot be solved by police alone. Reservations , I don't think will have the desired affect either. A more concerted effort to work towards integrating The Muslim community into the main stream is needed. More money has to to be spent on education in areas where Muslims reside. Laws that protect against discrimination in housing, education and employment must be invoked and enforced. Laws currently protect Scheduled Castes and Dalits from insults, slurs and atrocities in general. Such protections should be extended to the Muslim community.
So will all this fix the issue?
No , since the animosity amongst the majority community against the minority community has its origins in the way the community has been handled by the administration in general.
Uniform Civil Code , can't be forced down people's throats, however laws which are imposed in modern moderate Islamic Republics such as Indonesia should be fair game for us. There is no excuse for our personal laws being more regressive than an Islamic nation , when we are a "Secular" nation.
Subsidies for pilgrimages of any and all kind should be withdrawn.
Now all this can only be achieved in partnership with an enlightened Muslim leadership which actually believes that these steps are indeed directed towards the betterment of their community.
The message has to be sent out to the right wing loonies, that no re-jig of the partition is possible. Close to 15% of India's population is Muslim and there is no way they can alter that reality. So the only way in which we can move forward as a nation is together. Leaving behind such a huge chunk of our population is neither conscionable nor wise.

A demoralized police force and an overwhelmed judicary
The backlog of cases in Indian courts is stuff of legend. The police in most parts is feared but not respected. The quality and training of Police forces in India vary from state to state. However the mediocrity is frighteningly consistent.
Being a policeman in India usually means you are overworked and underpaid and defintely under-trained. Politcial interference means that the few in the force who are both capable and honest have very little scope for advancement.
Just recently Israeli Police interrogated their Prime Minister on bribery charges. Would this have ever been possible in India.
Most people go about their day today lives praying that they wont have to encounter the police or the legal system in any way, shape or form.
I just finished reading a book which basically applies the broken windows theory, to explain how crime in New York suddenly dropped off in the 90's.
So though you can argue(quite effectively) that the broken windows theory can't be applied to the bizzare logic of islamic terorism, surely there are things on this front that need fixing which will allow us to respond to law and order threats affectively?

Need to foster a give and take relationship with our neighbors
Like it or not India is viewed as a bully in the neighborhood.
And often enough its the small things that make a difference. I am not advocating the Gujral doctrine of buying love from the neighbors, but surely there are certain issues on which we can give without losing much.

I don't expect that Anyone of consequence is going to read this and sit up and take notice.
So dear reader its incumbent on you to pass on the good word, till it reaches the ears of those who matter.

And you have the right not to be .....

2008-08-29T01:14:00.002-05:00

I read a story today about how the Supreme Court of India had to clarify that just because a woman had a past history of promiscuity, it did not give anyone the licence to engage in intercourse with her without her consent. I am not sure how to react. The Supreme Courts judgement though right calls into question how such a defence was mounted in the first place.
The Supreme court's intervention was required because the High Court acquitted the accused on the basis of the past sexual history of the victim.
We are not talking about some Kangaroo Court. That the High Court of an Indian state can pass such a judgement is appalling and outrageous and sadly betrays a very unenlightened view of a woman's role in society But more imoportantly it takes away a more fundamental right, a right not to be sexually assaulted under any pretext.

Irony if there was any

2008-08-29T01:08:00.002-05:00

I recently read a story about Barak Obama's half brother who grew up in Kenya.
I wonder if only I am struck by the irony of Barak Obama's father , naming the son who was to grow up in Kenya George Obama, while naming his son who was to grow up to be canidate for President of the United States, Barak Hussien Obama.
Can't imagine little Barak had it easy in school, but it sure has payed of now. Barak is now uber cool, while George well, that name isn't doing to well right now, along with Dubya and Bush.

The democrats are coming!

2008-08-26T22:13:00.003-05:00

I just finsished listening to Hillary's speech at the Democratic convention. The convention closed with a prayer from a Korean pastor from Colarado.
So now that the democrats have the Korean vote sewed up, now the heat is on for the Republicans!

Phelps is the greatest But .....

2008-08-24T09:04:00.002-05:00

The Beijing Olympics is drawing to a close and depending on which country you reside in, each has a certain view of the story of the Olympics.
In the US , its been Phelps all the way with the 'Redeem Team' serving as a sidebar.
Now if the US men's basketball team had failed to secure the gold , then that would have garnered a lot more media coverage.
I hate being a sourpuss and at the same time, I do beleive that Phelps has done the unfathomable, But .....
It has to be said that the number of medals awarded in various discplines is disproportionate. Swimming is a case in point. They have medals for the free-style,butterfly,breaststroke,backstroke in various permutations and combinations of distances. Which basically allows a phenom like Phelps to have an almost disproportionate impact on the Olympics. Team sports such as Basketball,Hockey,Volleyball have one medal for their trouble.
And for those who don't beleive that medals don't count, well just repeat that to your self slowly in ftont of a mirror, and I guarantee you will burst out laughing.

Delusions of Granduer

2008-08-17T21:44:00.003-05:00

Now this post is about the Olympics, and for once I couldn't think of an eye catching title that would say it all.
I have been following the Olympics though not as closely as others. Swimming doesn't exactly get my pulse racing as a spectator sport and that seems to have been the story of the Olympics, if you live in the States.
So while we were all collectively obsessing over Phelps, his feats his , his diet and his i-pod playlist, China has taken an unassailable lead at the top of the medal standings.
The thing is you wouldn't be able to tell, since most of the medal standings on American websites are sorted by total medals, rather than gold medals as it has been for the ages.
All you need to do is pull up a non us website and you see the truth for what it is, the winner in these games has been crowned. And it ain't U-S-A.

Father time comes calling

2008-08-10T18:23:00.004-05:00

When life passes by at the rate if knots its often tough to fathom how we age.
But there are always somethings that remind you. Whether its the impeding retirement of a childhold sporting favorite, or the hearth throb who now plays mom roles in movies.
I can safely say that every Indian old enough to follow cricket from the early nineties, will collectively get that feeling about time having flown, when the inevitable happens, and India's favorite son Sachin Tendulkar retires from the game of cricket.
Indian crickets misery will be compounded by the fact that the rest of the Indian batting middle order is around the same age as Tendulkar. The firm of Ganguly,Laxman and Dravid have been eased out of the one day set up and the time approaches, when they we will no longer be able to delight in their exploits on the cricket field.
Test cricket played over 5 days expose the tiniest of weaknesses and can be a brutal to a young team. So the Indian administrators have the unenviable task of easing out these greats gradually, though individually , it might not be fair to set one and not the other out to the pasture.
The Indian in the past year or so have been nauseatingly following a familiar script, where the runs are scored by opener Sehwag and if the bowlers do well we win. If either or both these elements fail we end up on the losing end.
In the latest tour of Sri Lanka, the middle order has collectively failed. And to add insult to injury, the fielding has been unspectacular.
I am not sure who will draw the short straw, but to save Indian cricket the pains of losing a generation of its best at the same time, we have to do something very un-indian and show the door to a legend before his time.
I am not sure who that would be be, but its guaranteed to be painful.

Carbon Credits for air travel.

2008-04-15T20:39:00.003-05:00

A while back I read that taking a single long distance flight was worse in terms of carbon emissions than driviing an SUV for a full year(for a single person).
And I said to myself, yeah right, what do you want me to do about that.
After all man has been travelling ever since we learnt to walk erect I imagine.
And which damn fool would be willing to shell out money on buying offsets after spending a fortune on a ticket. Well out of curiosity I checked how much it would cost me at this website.
http://www.terrapass.com/. Turns out its not the bundle I thought it would be.
A return trip from New york to Delhi would set you back by $40. Not exactly chump change. But possibly 1/30 the price of the ticket.

Afganistan Idol Ok, but no Dancing with the stars.

2008-04-05T11:45:00.003-05:00

Not one nation questioned the American(coalition) invasion of Afghanistan.
Ridding Afghanistan of the Taliban seemed like a good idea to most.
Stories routinely came out citing how regressive the Taliban was, they banned music on the radio for , dancing on tv. They were intent on taking back Afghanistan into the Stone Age.
So most supported the notion that America had done the right thing.
Now almost 6 years later. Where does Afghanistan stand?
Well I'll keep it short.
Afghanistan's fledgling Parliament just passed a law banning dancing on television.
Need I say more?
As they say the path to Hell is littered with good intentions.

Dialogue the way forward in Tibet?

2008-03-30T12:26:00.002-05:00

Tibet is slowly fading from the headlines but for those who have been following this topic, theo ne thing that must have stood out in the incessant invective being hurled by the Chinese administration at the Dalai Lama. Now I feel no personal sense of attachment to the Dalai Lama, but by all accounts he is a man of honour and doesn't deserve the constant abuse.
And whats the carrot that the Dalai Lama is after? Talks with China.
Even for the lay observer its not hard to spot why the Chinese will never negotiate with the Dalai Lama.
The world as a whole as given up the Tibetean cause as dead for a long time now. There is no violent insurgency raging. There is no external power actively using the Tibetean case against the Chinese. Hence there is no incentive to negotiate.
China resembles the USSR of old. A disparte collection of nations held together by an iron hand.
But the Chinese have learnt for the disintegration of USSR, and have certain that that would not happen to them.
Autnomy/self rule etc are all a pipe-dream for now. The CCP is not made up of humanitarians.
So then on what basis does te Dalai Lama seek negotiations?

Obama the champion of the round toss?

2008-03-23T14:26:00.002-05:00

In terms of a Presidential canidate with charisma, Obama stands second to only Bill Clinton.
He certainly would represent an upgrade over the incumbent.
I can't positively say that Hillary is a better option either.
Then why am I a little hesitant at the prospect of him running off against John McCain?
Partly because its my considered opinion that America is still not ready for a Minority Community President.
And the second reason goes back to by school days in India.
We were a class of approximately 100(if I remember correctly). The girls were'nt hot enough to hold our ineterst and they were probably 20 in number. The one thing we could do in break time was to rush to the 3 ping pong tables. Now some 60 guys rushing for a 30 minute break to 3 ping-pong table made it a tough task for everyone to gain access to the said Shangri La.
So to decide who got to play, we Had a round toss.
Basically all of us going around the table keeping the ball in play. When you could'nt you were no longer in contention.
Now I wasn't particulary good at ping pong. But mastered the round toss. So I always got to play.
Coming back to Obama, my fear is he has mastered the primary round toss, but will he falter in running the nation?
I guess that kind of doubt can be directed at any canidate. But Obama of "Yes we can" has staked an awful lot on his likeability.
Well I guess only time will tell.

The Mahatma and Tibet

2008-03-22T12:06:00.002-05:00

If you have read Tibetean writing on their affairs prior to thier forceful "liberation" by China, thehy make a convincing case for thier independence.
But is this thier ultimate aim? I mean they will be the first to acknowledge that China is not going to not just grant them independence, especially on moral grounds, in response to a non-violent struggle.
There is no military solution possible either, China is much too powerful militarily.
The Dalai Lama has often cited his admiration for Mahatama Gandhi and the non-violent means he adopted to secure independence from India from the British.
So it might be interesting to examine wether a Mahatma could have made a difference in the Tibetean struggle. Or wether the Dalai Lama can forge a resoultion with his current tactics of non-violence.
Mahatma Gandhi had at his disposal a nation much larger than their rulers and our sheer numbers were always wieghted in India's favor. Not so when you compare the 5.5million Tibetean population to the 1billion Chinese.
Geography was another factor, the British realised that it had become increasingly less profitable to run an empire long distance. Again Tibet doesn't have that luxury especially with the railway line China has built to Tibet.
At the time India gained its independence, Britain was a power in decline badly crippled by a war that ha claimed an entre generation of its best and brightest.
China on the other hand has been on a spectacular growth streak, that shows now signs of abating.
Finally the British had a free press and a parliament, and enlightened people who were capable of asking for the moral justification in running colonies when they had just fought of the Nazi's in a brutal war to preserve freedom, democracy and equality.
No such qualms on China's side either.
I have no access to a gallup poll, but I'll wager that a majority of Chinese, are in favor of strong arm tactics to put down demonstrations in Tibet. Well even if I was wrong, it not like there is free press in China to tell me about it.
So in the ultimate analysis , Mahatma Gandhi would not have been able to do jack for Tibet.

The Tibet situation Again...

2008-03-22T10:18:00.002-05:00

Looking at the Chinese government's predictable reaction of "crushing" the unrest in Tibet, I am reminded of a story I read while in school.
The story was of the might oak and the reed. And this gist of it was that the oak stood firm and looked strong and was strong, the reeds on the other had were weak and swayed in the slightest wind.
And then one night in a mighty storm the Oak because it stood so firm was uprooted. The reed despite the buffeting, since they swayed, managed to survive.
So standing firm is not always the virtue its made out to be. Maybe once in a while a little swaying is in order.

A tale of two civilizations

2008-03-21T01:41:00.004-05:00

The two civilizations that fascinate me the most are the Indian and Chinese.
Having lived in the states for a while and having had the opportunity to interact with some Chinses people I can say we have probably more in common then say and Indian and an American.
The histories of both nations follows a similar pattern too. Both were powerhouses(cultural,economic and scientific) in ancient times, ruled by feudal warlords for the most part.
Both were bullied by colonial powers before starting out their futures as modern nations at rougly the same time.
But something went seriously awry at that point. While India chose the path of representative democracy, The chinese went the way of the authoritarian communism.
Why repeat a past everyone is aware of?
Merely to point out the extent of the gulf that exists between these 2 neighbours.
While China has Tibet , India has Kashmir.
China as has been witnessed over the last one week, will brook no dissent for its rule in Tibet.
The population has no channel to vent, so occassionally you will see these bouts of violence.
The "cultural genocide" description used by the Dalai Lama is spot on. The Chinese government has shown no inclination in preserving Tibetean culture.
Tibeteans can survive as long as they are willing to accept their fate.
To be honest I can't see things improving for the Tibeteans. In todays world, there is not one nation who isn't wary of China at some level.
Now to come back to the comparison I was drawing.
Not many will know that There is a law that debars Indians from buying land in Kashmir.
So as an Indian citizen, I can buy land in preety much any part of the world, but not in my own country(a part of my own country ie)
Whatever the merits of this law, it was enacted to pacify the average Kashmiri and reassure him that he would not be over run by millions and millions of indians.
China has shown no such restraint with Tibet.
I can't expect the Cinese government to change the way it deals with its problems,
But really would it be so bad to give the Tibeteans a voice?
Whats a few peaceful demonstartions with no media coverage going to accomplish in the larger context?
Allow peaceful demonstartions will go some way in ensuring this does'nt turn into a violent struggle(which would just lead to more dead tibeteans)

Hillary vs Barak

2008-03-09T16:13:00.003-05:00

I wont pretend to be anything more than a weekend analyst.
And none of the views expressed hence will can be entirely original given the relentless scrutiny that this face-off has received by the media and political pundits.
Let me start off by tackling the most sensitive question first.
Is America ready to have a black president? Or for that matter has this nation reached a point where that issue does not matter?
Its been an observation of mine, that no matter what we think about ourselves , we do tend to pre-judge people based on their origins their appearance etc. Which would mean we are all atleast a little racist.
I know , that nobody reading this will be thumping their desks in agreement (How can anyone be a little racist , its like saying some one's a little gay!!!)
Despite what we see in the Democratic primaries my feeling is that a country that's 70+% white is not quite ready to be run by a black man.
Now it would be a grave injustice to Obama to look beyond his credentials and go right for his race. After all he never appealed for votes on anything other than his credentials for the job.
Well he did'nt have to. based on some reports around 80% of the black vote in the primaries went Obama's way. Hillary on the other hand did'nt have the benefit of the "white" vote.
But then how do you explain the Obama victories in overwhelmingly white states?
My weekend analyst flippancy allows me to drag out this theory.
Obama's victories in white states has been due to superb organization and also the low overall democratic votes being cast. Not a whole of states Obama has won in the primaries are going Obama's way in a presidential election.
But what about Hillary?
She has won democratic strong holds like California and New York that would swing democrat no matter what.
So whom to pick?
Who can go toe to toe with McCain is the question.
McCain , has the independent anti establishment aura that is Barak Obama's turf.
So he will be able to attract a fair share of the independent vote.
His perceived weakness has been the conservative base of the party.
But nothing is more likely to bring out the conservative base to vote, if not for Obama running opposed to him.
My educated guess is that young educated urbane voter will plump for Obama.
But what of those with families and bleak economic prospects?
Ultimately ,it might just boil down to which democrat can win in Ohio and Florida , the 2 states that have time and again been responsible for electing a US president.
Bottom line don't read too much into Barak Obama's stunning primary success , this is a dog-fight and no matter who wins, a battered Republican party has chosen the right man maybe eight years too late.

With great power comes some responsibility

2008-02-25T12:50:00.003-05:00

I got a chance to flip through a few pages of "The Walmart Economy" and a couple of things that tended to stick out were , Walmart had tremendous sway over its suppliers and that its margins were shockingly low(niether observation is earth shattering I am sure).
But it got me thinking about how Walmart could influence what the consumers bought.
Take the example of CFL's over regular light bulbs. Nations such as Australia are actually moving lesgislation in this regard(based on a quick googling effort)
Since CFL's use 66% less electricity then incandescent bulbs. Now figure that into the number of times the average individual forgets to turn lights off.
I am not trying to make the case for CFL's since I think this is a well beaten path.
Consider for a moment the propostiion that Walmart simply chose to stop selling incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLS's(In concert with other huge retailers)
Would't this go a long way in ensuring millions switch to CFL's?
Its all well and good to offer people choice and let them decide , but just as we have come to the conclusion that smoking is injurious by way of second hand smoke, why can't we agree that a individual's injudicious environmental choice affects us all?
So how about it Walmart? Would you be willing to discontinue one of your thousands product lines 3-4% margin for the greater good?
And how about it Target you think you can chip in as well?

The folly that is ethanol

2008-02-24T09:38:00.003-05:00

I walked into a small bakery/deli and decided to get a muffin(non-fat and no sugar chocolate if you wanted to know, and as you can imagine it tasted nothing like what I would want it to taste like)
As I was paying, I noticed a sign by the register. It was a notice informing customers of a price increase due in a couple of days. The sign went on to explain that this was because the steepling input costs (sample this tripling of egg prices in 7months).
This brings me to a well known problem we are facing and will probably worsen in the immediate future.
With Iraq not looking particulary good and under fire on other fronts as well. In his state of union address in January 2007, bereft on any other big plans President Bush outlined the need to use ethanol as a part substitute for oil(used as an additive). Ethanol would reduce the use of fossil fuels and thereby reduce green house gasses, so that evolutionary, his ideas were'nt on the surface moronic. (a term one has used in context of the Iraq war)
But here is the catch, in a bid to get his conservative base excited he cast it as an attempt to reduce dependance of "middle eastern oil".
So America is supposed to produce corn based ethanol. So whats the problem you ask?
It requires more energy to produce ethanol from corn than would be produced by useing the ethanol so created.
Also corn happens to be a food crop that ties into the entire food cycle, its used to feed livestock and also feed us directly.
Bush's stress on ethanol without allowing for imports from efficient cane based producers of ethanol like Brazil is one of the major reasons basic food items are a lot more expensive in the US.
Now would'nt a tax on fuel at the pump that would be used to fund research into cleaner and renewable energy sources work better?
What would people preffer? More expensive gas or more expensive everything else,. Admittedly the choise isn't as stark as I make it out to be.
But what astounds me is people responsible for running this great country do not seem to think things through an old failing I might add.

The Indo-American nuclear Deal

2007-09-28T14:16:00.000-05:00

I am cutting into seriously needed sleep time to post this. So forgive factual errors if any.
I just read that The UPA government has finally given into the presssure exerted by the Left Front and decided to 'go-slow' whatever that mine mean on the nuclear deal.
Let us first examine the facts at hand.
India carried out a set of nuclear tests in 1998 and in response the US and preety much the rest of the potrntial nuclear suppliers imposed sanctions on high-technology trade with India. After years of negotiaitions in which India was never in a position of strenght we got a deal which the Americans admit will not be offered to anyone else.
Circumstatial evidence I admit, but exhibit A , Pakistan asks for a similar deal and China cries foul. Sounds like the deal might actually be in India's interest after all.
Now last I checked we have a nation of a billion growing at a rate of 9%. Last I checked we were importing 70% of our oil requirement. So based on just those 2 facts we are a nation with a serious need for energy. Where does this energy come from? $80 a barrel of oil (mixed with kerosene in India) is an option. The third and most promising option is for someone to invent a way to harness energy from all the Hot air that the communists so ceaselessly generate.
Since the aam aadmi can't pay for the real price of oil,
maybe just maybe we can generate some nuclear energy(To be honest I am not comepletly sold on the environmental aspects of nuclear energy, But since this hasn't figured in the protestations of the left , we will let it be for now).

Not if the Left can help it though , they have put a spanner in the works based on something to do with India mortgaging its soveriegnity. This is rich coming from an organisation that critised the nuclear tests in the first place.
What galls me most is that the left hasn't pointed out anything inherently wrong with the deal.
So all it boils down to is another 'cholbe na' protest that has no rhyme or reason. Only this time it costs the entire nation.
Make no mistake , Indian communists , every time they have had a chance , have proved that they are guided more by outmoded ideology, than any sense of what might be India's national Interest. And here am being less than harsh lest I really reveal what I think of those idiots.

Gee Whiz!

2007-06-19T12:09:00.000-05:00

This very much a "I can't believe I did'nt think of this earlier" moment for me.
I knew people have been touting electric cars over gasoline ones for ages. I understood that the vehicular emissions would be reduced, but would this really help? Since we were already burning fossil fuels to generate that electricity, not tkaing into account the generation losses.
So why/how then can we use electricity sensibly to power our vehicles?
Another fact that I was aware of leads the way, in this regard.
Electric plants produce a fixed amount of electricity over a day. And that electricty is put on the distribution cables(there is more to it I am sure). Now wether all that electricty is used or none of it is, the same amount of fuel was burnt to generate it.
Efficiencies of operating generation equipment dictate when and how many generators can be fired on and off.
All that really means in times of non-peak demand , there is a significant wastage of the electricity we generate. Why not plug in our cars at that time., to utilize the electricity.

Who wants to be president of India?

2007-06-14T13:21:00.000-05:00

The perks of the job include being the titular head of a country of a billion people and the commander in chief of an armed force 1.7 million strong(I might be off a little).
U get palatial accommodation(that includes of all things a zoo and a veterinary hospital) and a presidential body guard.
A jet and a fleet of cars.
Your responsibilities include rubber stamping every decision that the government of the day makes , showing up to great foreign dignitaries and making trips abroad .
Sound good? How do u apply? It would help if u have never trod on any toes. It would help still further if ur Dalt/woman/Muslim or disadvantaged in any other way. Cos then we can say we are progressing We have a Muslim/woman/Dalt/Sikh president.
It doesn't matter what state the actual community is in , if one member of that community has done well for themselves , we can hold it up as a shining example that draws attention away from even more glaring failure.
Another prime qualification would have to be the complete lack of any spine/charisma or personality , which politician wants to be outshone by the ultimate sinecure , the President of India. And who wants to deal with a President with some spine who will actually voice his opinion against patently illegal ordinances that are so much in vogue with the government of the day?
So now that the presidency of one of the most admire men in India , Abdul Kalam
is at an end, its time to elect another 'minority' to the post. A political lightwiegth at best and a sycophant of the Nehru Gandhi dynasty at worst. Turns out that Pratibha Patil fits the bill.
Trust politician after politician to praise the 'wise' choice made by Sonia Gandhi, who is doing so much for the uplift of women by delivering all the comforts that tax payers money can buy to a career politician, who can scarcely claim to be known in the country let alone be admired.

Exercise Physiology page.

2007-05-16T23:14:00.000-05:00

I have'nt had the time to go thru this toroughly, but seems preety comprehensive.

A funny analogy

2007-05-05T11:03:00.000-05:00

Indian cricket's present predicament of being one of the weaker sides in world cricket but easily the financial life-force of cricket reminds me of a childhood analogy.
As a kid playing cricket in the neighborhood, there was always one rich kid (or one who had indulgent parents) who owned the bat/ball and stumps.
Almost invariably that kid was not as good as some of us who turned up with nothing other than a grin. No prizes for guessing which kid I preferred to be.
I wonder if Indian cricket has been reduced to the kid with the stumps while the others nations flash a grin at out predicament.

Coldplay "Fix You" lyrics.

2007-04-24T09:24:00.000-05:00

Could'nt have said this any better.

COLDPLAY LYRICS"Fix You"
When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you
High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worthLights will guide you home
And ignite your bones And I will try to fix you
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your faceAnd I...
Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your faceAnd I...
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

32 young lives extinguished

2007-04-16T22:15:00.000-05:00

32 young lives extinguished,
with each died hopes and dreams of a future so bright,
32 families in pain, so much anger so much pain.

There will be prayers there will be candles,
There will be Talk of healing and moving on.
None of which can dull the anger or the pain.
Anger unlike pain is a funny beast,

Pain is far more private still.
Tragedy it is in many ways,
Whom do we question and who do we blame?
The madman who fired the shots ,
or the law that allowed the madman to have a gun?
Temples of learning and enlightenment,
turned to killing fields.
Whom do we question and who do we blame?
For all the Anger and Pain.

The anguish of the wooden spooner.

2007-03-24T14:35:00.000-05:00

In India, (and amongst Indian's abroad) most can be classified as either in love with the game of cricket and those who don't care much for it. I'll stick my neck out to say, that "those who don't care much are in a minority.
So though I am slowly drifting towards the minority, I would like to articulate the anguish If I can the anguish of a billion people at their one great hope of getting some "Feel good" going for them.
The Indian Cricket Team with more combined experience than a few other nations combined , was unceremoniously dumped out in the qualifying stages of the Cricket World Cup yesterday.
I have a million things to do, but I find myself constantly scanning for news stories on the aftermath of this most ignominious exit.
The post mortem to follow will have the saner voices reminding us that its "just a Game" and that "Nobody died". They will caution us against "Overreacting" and "Chopping and Changing".
Dire warnings will be given with respect to the talent pool .
They will blame the media for raising expectations too high and the adulation of a billion fans as being unbearable pressure.
So 2-3 months from now we will see the same bunch of incompetents save one or two, doing duty for India. Murdering teams at home and doing just enough abroad to create "History"(how does a test win in Ireland sound?).
We react strongly when told of by the likes of Malcom Speed, about our lack of infrastructure for paying spectators , lack of an assemly line of good young players and a lack of results in major tournaments.
We react even morre strongly when Ricky Ponting rightly taunts us about our results.
But make no mistake excuses run their course after a while. No One wants to hear team India's sob story. They are not held to the same stanadard as the rest of us dimwits when it comes to taking home a pay check and delievering results.
Unlike professional footballs teams in the US or the european soccer teams. We have no draft or acquiring players with better pedigrees, to turn this ship around.
So after public anger has died down the same people who criminally spent millions to bring home a wooden spoon will be rehabilitated.
Our 34 year old triumverate who have failed so often in unision , you would believe they are joined at the hip will happily retire on the millions they have earned. Move one to braodcast journalism perhaps, and nothing will change.
This is not just a game and it never was. Those who put on Indian colors know it. On the positive side those in India will have a whole lot less sleepless nights than they had anticipated.

Poor little Rich kids.

2007-03-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

So Fortune magazine has gone through its ritual of identifying the worlds billionaires.
Thanks to the ferentic pace of growth witnessed in India, 36 Indian billionaires find themselves on the list. 10 years back I would put this number at 3.
A lot of these freshly minted billionaires have come under media scrutiny as to how they spend to share their billions with the rest of the country for the greater good.
Naturally they have drawn comparisons to billionaires such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Who have pledged their billions to Humanitarian efforts the world around.
No that this affects anyone in particular , but I find this comparison both illogical and unfair.
Warren Buffet and Bill Gates have Billionaires for the last 20-30 years. Their approach to philantrophy has evolved over the years. To expect the same of an Indian paper billionaire is foolhardy. Maybe charity has forever been a game of one upmanship. But for what its worth , its just that, charity - A voluntary generous act or donation to aid those in need.

His excellency The ambassador of a brand

2007-02-23T15:36:00.000-05:00

Almost all of us , who have'nt been livign under a rock, have seen a celebrity endorsement of a product. Naturally if a celeb can use a product, its certainly good enough for me.
Maybe a decade back, I heard the term brand ambassador being bandied about. Usually it was to assosciate one celeb in particular with the brand, and the brands were usually premium brands(at least by Indian standards). The term ambassador, had to stand for something regal right? Wrong. I just read that Priety Zinta has been decalred a "Brand ambassador" for something as mundane as Rexona Deo.
For the life of me I can't figure out how a deo will make its way into a classy converstaion.
"Damn , have u heard of deo" doesn't count. Nor can I quite imagine anyone associating apreety lass like Priety with deo either. "God Priety makes a perfect ambassador for Rexona Deo, she sweats like a hound dog on a hot summer day , but u can't tell, cos she has a life time supplyy of rexona deo".
So marketing folks who make a lot more than I do, take a moment and maybe a breath or two, before u decide to get a brand ambassador for the next ,mousetrap.

Oh yes ! We made it.

2007-01-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

I took 3 local flights within europe on "low cost" airlines.. And the one thing I noted in each case was that when we landed , people broke into frenzied clapping. As if they didn't expect to land.
Ah well we were flying budget can't be too harsh on them for clapping.

Welcome aboard Mr. Ottawa Dhulipala

2007-01-08T14:00:00.000-05:00

I was on the last leg of my european trip flying from madrid to paris. Checking in at the Ryanair counter I handed over my passport over as identification. All this is routine so I did'nt pay any attention till I got back my boarding pass. As I stepped Away from the counter , I saw Ottawa very clearly written as my first name. The security environment at the airports being as it is I headed back to the counter to get this error fixed.
The clerk at the counter pointed to my US visa which had listed Ottawa as the issuing location right above my last name Dhuliapala.
I can't figure out whats funnier, the fact that he made thew mistake or thought that Ottawa was a fine first name to go with Dhulipala. I am sure Ivana Humpalot would have gone past his vast intellect just as easily.

Oh what tangled webs we weave

2006-11-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Wandering through life wthout a sense of purpose,
Stopping only when we see a treat,
Empathy is not for we
Oh what tangled webs we weave.

Walking through life as a child in a candy store,
Unsure of what we want, grabbing at what looks good.
Only to realise that it tastes not nice.
Oh what tangled webs we weave.

Searching for love searching for succour,
But how do we do that when we cannot trust,
Life is hard and we make it harder still,
The more we connect the more we are alone.
Oh what tangled webs we weave.

Conclusions you will not find in this languid,
little verse of mine.
Here's to hoping we find a resolution
To this game we call life ,
and if you don't just remember what a wise woman said,
Hate not the player when its really the game that u hate.

So why do we need God really?

2006-11-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

A rather alarming title for a rather innocous piece( I can't help it, thats what I learnt from most newspapers).
Personally I have always believed in the presence of an almighty God , but then I also accept Darwin's theory. So how can I recncile these two ideas? Quite simply by acknowledging all the scientific proof in front of us points to there having been an Evolution. God on the other hand is an idea for which there is no proof, truly a matter of faith.
I have experienced highs and lows like most, and the idea that there was a God helped in the bad times by providing hope that times would improve. In good times it gave me a reason to be grounded. I have never been overtly religious since I don't believe that the idea of aGod , is dependant on any religion.
So now to come down to why I am writing this piece, a sudden realisation. The realisation that we need the comforting idea that somebody is watching over our actions(as well as those around us), so that no good act goes un-rewarded (in our case) and no bad act goes unpunished (in the case of the rest). Without that knowledge(somebody is watching) there is no incentive to do the right thing and in cases where u can get away wth it, no disincentive to do the wrong thing.
But wether u call it karma or "what goes around comes around" , nature has found its ways.

Why this is significant

2006-10-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

Ever since i read this CNN article I have been on a forwarding spree. Seemingly displaying excitement beyond what one would usually reserve for studies such as these which are usually a dime a dozen. For every study that plumps for one intution, there is one that goes the opposite way. Starting with this healthy dose of cynisism, I will go on to illustrate why this study has me hopping.
The premise of this article for those who would rather not click out haha, is that greatness is a function of hardwork.(hardwork thats directed at generating continuous improvement).
Now this might be hard for most of us to accept , are'nt certain people born to greatness? Surely we have seen it in our own midst, some kids pick up things quickly while others struggle. There is one Tiger Woods and then there are the rest. Surely hardwork can achieve only so much.
It is these very statements that seem to be true , that the study debunks.
At birth we start a proces of learning that ebbs and flows with time. And ends only at death.
When we start something new , the learning always is fast in the beginning and then tapers off. Some of us keep at it while most of us are satisfied/bored enough not to.
No prizes for guessing who gets to be the best.
Now motivation to keep at it is something that we are either born with or not. But I can live with that, what I can't live with is somebody being better than me on the basis of birth.

So you must be from India

2006-09-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

I look Indian enough, and sound Indian enough that I expect people to guess quite accurately where I am from. Now recently I was out with an Indian friend of mine meeting some people I knew. As we were introduced to someone neither of us knew, the guy in question guesses quite rightly that I am from India, but he is thrown off a little and guesses that my friend was raised here. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked him how he had come to that conclusion. He replied that it was the accent. rowing up in Bombay I was exposed to a whole variety of accented english(and hindi for that matter). There was the telgu,tamil,malyalam , north indian , marathi and gujrati versions, each distinct from the rest(all of which I can proudly imitate). Naturally it never dawned on me that I too had an accent. But why then did'nt I develop an imitation of the american accent after living in the states for 5years(trust me there are benefits to be had)?
Well quite simply it was this converstaion I overheard at Hyderabad airport between an Indian settled in the US with his born and raised in US daughters. That grotesque blend of the texan drawl with the telgu pechnant for appending "OOO" at the end of every word was all I needed to convince me that there was no way in the world I was speaking like that.

And the wheel turns a full circle.

2006-09-07T00:03:00.000-05:00

The US open is in town and it brought to my attention a few interesting facts. Namely that the top women's tennis player(Maria Sharapova) makes more in endorsement deals than the top mens player (Roger Federer) for reasons that don't have anything to do with tennis ofcourse. Though my tone might indicate otherwise I have no issue with that. I mean if you are still wondering why thats the case, you have'nt seen a photo of Sharapova. The market has decided that Maria Sharapova is more saleable than Roger Federer and its as simple as that.
Then why am I writing this post? Well not too long back women won pay parity with men on certain Grand Slam events(I don't remember that all the 4 grand slam's implemented a pay parity) after a long and hard fough battle. For them the principle at hand was how could a woman be paid less to do a job , play tennis in this case than men.
Now Since my reading on this matter is not extensive I apologise for any holes. But to me it would seem a misplaced argument. Surely the men were getting paid more cos more people turned up to watch them. Wonder what those women who fought the good fight think now. Was it worth it? Since anyway now women are on top for the very same reasons the men got more prize money.

Strike now or forever hold your peace.

2006-08-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

Those who have been following events in the Indian Sub continent, whould have realised the importance of recent developments namely the elimination of Balochi Nationalist(tribal warlord as per the Pakistani version) leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Most of the material I have read suggests that this might prove a catalyst to the nationalist movement in Balochistan.
For India this would seem like a God sent.
For decades Pakistan has been exploiting the various fissures that exist within India. Not to say that India hasn't returned the compliment, but the sheer size and the disparate nature of its people means that there are a lot more fissures for Pakistan to exploit.
There will be those in the Indian leadership who will want to steer clear of this conflict. Their argument will be that India would lose the moral grounds on which it asks Pakistan to stop meddling in its aaffairs, stop arming terrorists etc.
To those people I have something to say. Make no mistake , all your moral posturing has yielded India no divedends. Insurgencies in India continue to rage along with regular terrorist strikes all which has happened with the Pakistani leaderships assistance. Even if geo-politically you do not see the case for an independent balochi state, do your utmost to exploit the situation.

Spare us the bullshit

2006-08-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

I started blogging precisely for this reason, to vent theonly way I can against the idiocy that some people indulge in when they have the ability to have their opinions read by millions. One such idiot is Praful Bidwai. The self appointed flag bearer of secularism in India and beyond.
His article in Rediff is an abject piece by any standards . Most commentators intellectuals and common folk are appalled at the degree to which the Israeli war machine has been coming down upon Lebanon.
Mr Bidwai has the gall to compare that situation with India-Pakistan situation. Even to one with the thinking capacity of Mr Bidwai, it should be apparent that the presence of nuclear weapons in this region make the possibility of open conflict well nigh impossible.
But to think that peace overtures will stop terrorist attacks as Mr Bidawai seems to think would be possible only in Alice's Wonderland. We have been at the recieving end of a covert war, and circumstances have made it difficult to bring our conventional weapons superiority into play. We can't rely on the 'World Powers' to do anything, if the last 20 years has been any indicator. We need not accuse Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism, they have provided suffiecient evidence to the world about that. The only way we have left to respond is respond with a covert war of our own.
Just as our civilian populace has realised that there are no innocents to be spared in such a war, the same realisation must dawn on those who target us. Raise the cost of each strike to unbearable levels. Israel might not have stopped the attacks, but neither will w eif we stand by and do nothing.

The fighting in Lebanon

2006-07-27T15:42:00.000-05:00

I guess what struck me at first about the fighting in Lebanon was how qucikly it pushed the Mumbai bomblasts off the frontpages of CNN.
Generally speaking on the intractable Israeli-Arab conflict I have always viewed Israel as the agressor, In fact I have always felt that Israel flouted international Opinion and norms with impunity knowing that big brother was watching theor back and Uncle Sam's was the only opinion that mattered. At times even that did'nt matter. Almost as if the world owe-ed them something. Even in this conflict there are signs of Israeli heavy handedness, wiping out Lebanons painstakingly rebuilt infratructure was neither necessary nor do I believe it will help Israel in any particular way.
Having said all that it must be unequivocally noted that the further continuance of the Hezbollah in its military avtaar wont contribute to peace in the middle east. Admittedly on their own terms, but if anyone has been making moves towards peace in the middle east its the Israeli's. They have a right to demand Hezbollah's disarmament. The Hezbollah is a group formed with the sole purpose of the destruction of the state of Israel, and Israel has a right and duty to see that does not happen. This is a fight between David and Goliath true, but can we really root for the underdog everytime irrespective of who is right.
The origins of the current fighting can be traced back to 2000 when Hezbollah captured 3 israeli soldier and managed to secure the release of hundreds of lebanese prisoners in exchnage of 3 Israeli bodies. Hezbollah tried a repeat of that tactic and this time Israel decided to take action.
It is not always possible to correct the wrongs perpeterated by history, the Arabs in the middle east who have not as yet reconciled themselves to the existence of Israel, are merely deluding themselves. A lasting peace can be achieved if and only both sides agree that they have an equal right to the land on which they live and die .

Bombay blasts , why those bleeding heart liberals are idiots.

2006-07-21T16:14:00.000-05:00

Now by american standards I am a liberal(my pal megan might take issue with that). But then Americans have different standards.
World over there is a consensus that no cause can justify the the killing of civilians , there is also a consensus that all nations can and should co-operate to irradicate the scourge of terrorism. But when it comes to India all such consensus does not apply.
India has been shouting itself hoarse for ages about Pakistan sponsored terrorism , and yet nobody took it seriously.
Pakistan's complicity in Afganistan and in the supply of nuclear bomb making know how to just about every rogue state in the world have all been forgiven or atleast gone unpunished.
This however does not infuriate me, because the world will not change to suit India and why should it. Every nation does and should act in solely its interest(the folks at the UN will disagree but who listens to them anyway).
What does infuriate me is those idiot liberals in India, who after every major terror strike will trot out the same tierd list of excesses of the Indian state some real and some imagined.
Time and time again those idiot liberals have had the nerve to value the lives of Indian civilians and military personnel as less important than those of terrorists. I view this as a manifestation of the Stocklholm Syndrome, where an abductee identifies with his captor.
Admittedly there are things about the Indian state that need to change, but right after a major terror strike , to say anything other than that the perpeterators should be brought to book is flirting with treason. No terrorist checks the identity of those he intends to kill( true they target certain sections) but Mr/Ms Bleeding heart idiot liberal , you might be an unintentional casualty as well the next time you use public transportation, of wait my bad, you probably have an A/c car with a driiver no doubt paid for by an "NGO", so you can turn up after the next terror strike to berate the "heavy hand of the Indian state" that has "forced frustated young men to adaopt the path of terrorism".