Askar memukul taliban

The 20k fiasco, again

Let us not be moved by sudden Western euphoria

 Let’s do some idle thinking on 20k. Stock markets aren’t the most dependable of institutions around the world, but this is where you get indicators of where your country is going. If lessons have to be taken from the 2008 fiasco one must not read too much into this rally. It’s a question of hot money and hotter decisions, and while it certainly reflects on the general health of a nation’s wealth, the same hot money would run to Russia, for example, where P/E ratios remain extremely favorable. There won’t be a second thought as to the general socio-political health of the nation.

 I feel it is good the rally hasn’t happened in the blue chips. Domestic investors, traditionally (except for some Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh days) have been careful in pushing up or hammering down a stock. These are domestic jewels, and rampant speculation can only harm or even kill the goose that lays golden eggs year-round. Our own investors, retail or large, do understand that.

 Foreign investors, however, will not carry the baggage of nationalism. When the going is good, they will invest, even if its sub-prime, and squirrel out as much as possible in quick time before the exit. I feel there was no need for the finance minister to issue statements of satisfaction over 20k. in my opinion there should have been studied silence from his end. The RBI Governor D Subbarao has been very pragmatic in his approach, especially in the tweaking of the interest rates which he has been adjust ting for the last several days.

 This is a world yet to recover from the recession, and however much insulated this economy may have been so far, a surge of  $ 16 million hot cash is surely not going to do much good for the country’s economy in the long run. Domestic investors have started profit-booking, some eroding value from blue chips, and RIL’s treasury shares may be sold. This isn’t good news on the face of high global oil prices. There is also this pressure from the government to sell fuel in the country at pre-determined prices, all looking ahead to the elections.

 These may just be variables on an FII chart, but are broader issues as far as our country is concerned. I would not feel comfortable with a mid-cap stock shooting through the roof. There aren’t enough fundamentals to back it up. Speculation has to be within acceptable price bands, and within acceptable business criteria.

Let us look back at the image of the country -- in the index of doing business, India ranks poorly, in the index of regulatory hindrances, India ranks poorly. There is acute scarcity of infrastructure, and political imbroglios are adding to the mess. Natural resources mining has become a political hot-potato, and mega industrial projects are tied up in tight red ribbons. Corruption is rampant and there speed and quality has been long abandoned for foul consideration.

I feel happy that domestic investors have learnt to be patient and not be moved by Western euphoria. Let those who speculate in troubled waters perish in the same. We need our waters free from such pollutants. We need FDI, solid gold-based futures, for us our children and for the immediate world around, in general.

Let’s walk towards that.

Where would you be when the lights go out?

How do we see news today? From up and  down and fro0m the side and we also get a top view. The only thing we don’t see is news as it is, looking it straight in the eye…. Here are two versions of the same news in two US famous publications, and you will realize how we can read life.

It teaches us many lessons, actually. It tell us how we can be and walk through life, desperate, as if all is falling away behind you, or we can walk through life, hopeful, realizing that even though everything is falling away behind you, there remains a lot more intact for you to experience and enjoy.

You are where you wish to be. You will be where you wish to be. And you came from wherever you never really should have been.

Take care…

HERE ARE THE NEWS ITEMS

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Fri, August 06, 2010 -- 8:37 AM ET
-----
U.S. Shed 131,000 Jobs in July, but Private Payrolls Grew; Jobless Rate Steady at 9.5%
With the American economic recovery hanging in the balance,
private employers added 71,000 jobs in July, down from 83,000
in June and below the consensus forecast of 90,000. The
unemployment rate remained steady at 9.5 percent.
Over all, the nation lost 131,000 jobs in July, more than
expected, as federal Census Bureau workers left their
temporary posts, and as state and local governments cut back
their work forces. The unemployment rate, which economists
predicted would rise to 9.6 percent, is driven in part by the
number of workers who re-enter the labor force to look for
work, a number that has bobbed around for several months as
job seekers alternately despair and renew their efforts to
find positions.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

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News Alert: Employers add 71,000 jobs in July; unemployment rate unchanged 9.5 percent
08:21 AM EDT Friday, August 6, 2010
--------------------
Private employers added new workers at a weak pace for the third straight month, making it more likely economic growth will slow in the coming months.
The Labor Department says companies added a net total of 71,000 jobs in July, far below the roughly 200,000 needed each month to reduce the unemployment rate. The jobless rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent.
Overall, the economy lost a net total of 131,000 jobs last month, as 143,000 temporary census jobs ended.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/TNGYL1/OJSWPM/955HNP/JH7O9D/GPQUK/UP/t

Small steps to big success

 How do you nurture that seed ot desire in your mind? How do you reach your destination?

 Every big success story starts in that small seed of an idea that turns and tosses inside your head, threatening to destroy the rest of your life’s work if it isn’t set free and nurtured to its logical end.

There are two problems, however. The first is realizing that such an idea does actually exist in your head, and that you are being able to recognize it, give some shape to it in your mind’s canvas.

The second problem is more serious. Assuming that you are willing to set it free, are you willing to make those essential sacrifices that it demands, to nurture it and guide it towards the path of success.

The second problem is what stumps 99 percent of us. We believe what we are doing is of so much value that it cannot be ignored for a moment. Good enough, and part of it is probably true. But if your desire to be much, much better than what you already are is overpowering, then you need to give less time and attention to what you are involved in, and transfer the excess attention towards your internal desire, that crave.

In this I must bring to reference what many Multi Level Marketing systems tell you. They tell you it is a part-time job, a safe and easy way to riches, and so many have already done that. You believe their sales pitch that two to three hours a day will bring you untold riches; you join up. And lo! In no time, you are using up between 30-80 percent of all your time. Your regular income falls, your mind stays elsewhere, your attention span drops, there is trouble at home, and you are out of the system in quick time.

That is not to say that MLMs are a bad thing. They are well thought plans of sales and development, and there is a lot to learn about astute teamwork and excellent delivery systems. However, when your senior gave you that sales pitch, he probably overstated the one-two-three hour involvement thing. He should  have been more honest with you, and told you to shift 60 percent of your attention span to this. He should have shown you how you would be better than what you are, richer than what you are, even with a 40 percent attention span towards your current preoccupation.

Once you accept the position that this IS the way to riches and happiness, you will commit. Else, you will keep at it as if it actually were a part-time occupation. Nobody, nowhere has given less for more returns. The equations of life are very balanced. Unless you have inherited untold wealth (and such cases are rare enough to be not discussed here), or have won a lottery (again too rare), you are bound to obey the laws of nature.

Laws of nature clearly state that wealth is accumulated in small packets, but, over the years, in many such small packet volumes. If your target is a million dollars, you need to break it up into more manageable thousands first, or maybe hundreds. Then you need to find a way of earning those hundreds in plenty. Tell yourself, you are earning that million, but these are the initial steps towards that million. These hundreds.

The work is hard. Nobody will tell you about safe, simple, and easy means. No free lunches, remember?

As soon as you have been able to decide on a method to earn a hundred, you look around to see how many more of those hundreds can come your way. You will NOT think of earning a million in one go. Because then you will be left with way less and pretty dispirited too. When you aim for the hundreds, you reach there quickly, and it boosts your ego.

So you have earned your first hundred. What to do next? You need to multiply it. You need to multiply those units of hundred each. You need many of those hundred units.

Can you possibly do so much alone that multiplies those hundred units to reach your million? No, you can’t. so you involve into the system of hundreds. Only, they will be working for your hundreds, while earning a portion of the receipts, or for a fixed salary. Hence, you have a overhead issue. But that is a necessary issue, because you are looking at many such hundreds.

Manpower multiplication does not necessarily erode profit orientation. In most cases, it adds to it. That is why top organization around the world employ many such people. One day, the returns grow to be so much, you can actually look beyond that million target of yours.

Nurturing that seed, therefore takes time, passion, care and a lot of good attention. Let me develop this over many blog posts. If nothing, it will surely enrigh me! J

Where do you live?

Dare to look inside your head

Read the news article below. I have struck out certain places and references. If you had read the same article without those struck out portions, or with other city etc names in those portions instead of what is there, where would you think the article was written about?

Sitting in India, it is difficult to digest, sometimes, the incredible ignorance certain societies have about their own community, even as they throw barbs at other, less fortunate peoples. Think about the setting of the event – an international event with the top 20 nations’ leaders discussing serious policy. In any democracy there is bound to be dissention, disagreements and protests. That is the way all democracies have always worked and always works. Throttling voices will not help, threatening with rape will not help. Read first and more comments follow.

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Toronto Police Threaten G20 Journalists With Rape

http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/toronto-police-threaten-g20-journalists-with-rape/

The Toronto Police are already facing heavy criticism for how they handled the G20 riots and for their alleged abuse of citizens. Now several journalists have come forward with horrific allegations of sexual abuse.

Amy Miller of the Dominion and the Alternative Media Centre was arrested as she stopped to see a group of people being searched and detained. At a press conference, Miller claims she was throttled at the neck and stripped of her press pass as she was being arrested. She was then taken to a prison cell, where she spend nearly 13 hours with 25 other women.

During her detention, "I was told I was going to be raped. I was told I was going to be gangbanged. I was told I was never going to want to act as a journalist again by making sure that I would be repeatedly raped while I was in jail."

In addition, she witnessed many young women being completely strip searched by male officers, with one underaged girl confessing that an officer inserted his finger in her. 

She notes it was evident that police were profiling young women, typically under the age of 25, who were more likely not to know their rights.

Maryam Adriangi of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network has also accused the police of threatening her with rape, as well as making racist and sexist comments. The Winnipeg Sun reports, "She claimed she was picked up by police in Parkdale and placed in a prisoners' wagon and driven around for five hours and released without charges."

Miller, Adriangi and other journalists are calling for a thorough investigation. Meanwhile a spokesperson for the Toronto Police says they will use surveillance footage to refute the claims.

=-=-

How did you like it? Interesting, wasn’t it? And you thought such things happen only in faraway places in the eastern hemisphere. Well, yes, a lot of those happen hereabouts as well. But in places like India, they are dealt with seriously (cannot vouch for countries like Pakistan), and though such crimes are not really growing, they are far from abolished. There are people and there are people, and the lawmen have never really acquitted themselves well anywhere. We are all governed by bullies, and let us accept that before we point fingers. We should also gather strength from each other in fighting such bullies, such criminally inclined men in uniform.

Wish you all the best.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

The Devil has a permanent seat in the detail

The Washington Post has made a big story of a factual detail. Check it out here:

U.S. indirectly paying Afghan warlords as part of security contract

By Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062104628.html

  

Why is this news item surprising? Afghanistan, in fact has seen several such in the past, especially around the Soviet occupation and post occupation scenario where frontier warlords were paid off to oversee equipment/supplies retraction.

From the Sub-continental point of view, it is a given. To say it roughly, the buck needs to be as big as the bang. You quietly accept these as collateral damage. At least lives are saved, situations are straightened out in quick time. Somewhere journalism has lost touch with reality. It has happened before – everywhere—and will happen again – everywhere. If I am a battling warlord, with starving minions to feed and clothe and protect, I will demand my pound of flesh. Every move of an occupying force, since times immemorial, has been paid off. The good news is that in most cases it is paid of the fat off the land occupied. The Brits did it for 200 years in India.

Basically, I see little reason for the US army to move out quickly from Afghanistan, especially with the huge mineral wealth unearthed (actually the Soviets did it before they fled). Those commodities WILL be dug up, if the US don’t do it, maybe a consortium of countries will. The Afghans can’t and Pakistan can’t either. .

So let us stop being hypocritical and call a spoon a spade. Lets understand the ground realities and work around obstacles. You don’t HAVE to blow everything up in your way on your way to truth and peace!

Obama, BP and the Indian Bhopal shame

As the Obama regime comes down with a heavy hand on BP over the Gulf of Mexico ecological disaster, one cannot but remember the shoddy state of affairs at of India’s own fiasco – the world’s largest ever industrial disaster – the Bhopal gas tragedy.

It is to the Obama administration’s credit that not only has BP been forced to give a massive $ 20 billion as a no-strings-attached donation for its lack of alertness in this fiasco, but crimila proceedings have been started as well. It shows extraordinary commitment on the part of the administration, and deserves credit.

On the other hand, it was sad to see the peanuts offered by way of compensation and by way of ‘judgement’ to our own people in the Bhopal Gas tragedy, by far the largest and cruelest ever industrial tragedy in the world.

Look at the two stories: President Obama said he had to take this strong step to correct

“what individuals couldn’t do and corporations wouldn’t do.” It is a bold statement, by any standard. And what does the Congress government in New Delhi say about the then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson’s escape route out of this country? It says it was due to a "systemic failure".

This is the reaction of a government to a disaster that exposed over 5,00,000 to the poison gas, resulting in 15,000-25,000 (on various versions, because even this figure has not been maintained in accordance with law) deaths. the tragedy persists even today, with deformed births still happening in Bhopal. The government, of course, does not care for a few ignorant and wayside lives.

Let us take stock of the disaster today: On the night of December 3, 1984, the huge pesticide plant at Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), Bhopal, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, there was a major leak methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins which induced such asphyxiation in the city’s marginal residents that many died even before they could be removed to hospitals. Children and aged suffered the most. The inhalation of the toxic gas has resulted in continuous deaths of up to 25,000 people so far. Many are permanently disabled, and children are still being born deformed, and with extreme psychological disorders.

It isn’t the end: 25-plus years after the gas leak, 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region (agency reports) and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it, this is disaster of titanic proportions.

At that time, UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of the US company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which then became a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company.

News reports have confirmed that the reason for the disaster was poor maintenance after the plant shut down production in the early 1980s and the failure of several safety systems (due to poor maintenance and regulations). The shocker was that safety systems were switched off to save money—including the MIC tank refrigeration system which alone would have prevented the disaster.

Who were to blame? Obviously the two owners, Union Carbide Corporation and the Government of India, and to some extent, the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

Arjun Singh was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh at that time. It is being said that though CEO Warren Anderson was arrested, he was released by the Chief Minister, presumably at a phone call from New Delhi. It is not sure who made that call, but the then foreign secretary has told a news channel that he had passed on the responsibility to the home ministry, because they were the competent authorities.

As a result Warren Anderson escaped all summons from Indian courts and lives outside tgeh purview of Indian jurisdiction.

What did the court do? It has handed out TWO YEAR sentences to a few. TWO YEARS for a death toll of around 25,000 plus many paralytic generations! And among those punished is Keshub Mahindra, non-executive chief of the company then. By what stretch of imagination is a non-executive chief responsible for ground-level mismanagement? And how has the government agencies been left out?

I  only hope that the Obama dispensation’s tough arm-twisting of BP (BP also did indulge in poor maintenance and cutting corners for profit’s sake), adds a new dimension to the Indian shame.

Losing control

The word knowledge is often misunderstood. Knowledge isn’t a synonym for information. Knowledge is wisdom derived from information. Information, therefore, needs to go through a fine sieve to before it can be sorted and then assimilated in the context of the necessary detail needed for a particular job.

A lot of information, therefore, isn’t like a lot of money. I love a lot of money; more the merrier. I never lose sight of them and I always know how every penny will be spent (it always does get spent). Information, on the other hand, leaves kilos of hard copy remainders and occupies gigabytes of hard disc space. The insecurities within us (it is, with me) often prevent us from throwing it all away (unless it is a book, which then becomes a holy cow, not to be tampered with) or deleting it en masse. What if I lose this? And what if tomorrow I need it again?

The argument is simple. If you haven’t needed a piece of information (unless it is important personal and family, or company data such as municipal records) in a couple of years, you can be sure that you won’t be needing it again. There are a few reasons for this. First, such data will become dated in this fast-paced world. Second, and more important, you will not even be remembering that you actually had such data in your grasp. And third, you will gag on your past records, and refuse to update to paradigm shifts in application.

First rule of thumb: never get sentimental with data. You will suffer from data overload, or information overload. There was a time when, to be able to access the vast pool of information in National Geographic magazines, I used to keep an index of subjects, marking them to different magazine dates and page numbers. It worked wonders for a time, before the Internet became commonplace, and before search engines became so smart that my indexing methods looked like a toddler’s attempt at indexing his favourite toys.

What was my option? Should I have mourned the death of my indexing method and cursed Google? Or should I have just been happy that I did what I could when I could, patted myself on the back, and turn full time to Google? Google it was.

So what then? And why am I writing this anyway? Google became too efficient, that’s what happened. For every search on ‘world drinking water supply’, for example, I was getting 10,900,000 results in 0.23 seconds flat! Now starts the big task of sifting through them, peeking into my screen, trying to understand the tags before I clicked, and so on. By the 18^th page, I somewhat forgot what I was looking for and digressed into some other interesting subject. This is a process, you see.

So, would I go back to my leisurely days of indexing NG mags? Probably not. I will still be wallowing in my oversupplied sorrows, trying to make the best of a bad situation. So am I losing control over my desires, my needs, my inner cravings? The best way to find out about that, I guessed, was to Google ‘losing control of self’. 2,220,000 results in 0.17 seconds flat!

What am I going to do with myself?

Sweat it out!

(Content may be offensive to some: Reader discretion is recommended)

Sweat it out. Sweating is the most natural thing to do, I am told; it’s also the most disgusting, I am sure, in polite society. Therefore those sweat gland caps, the anti-perspirants. They let you burn in peace, no sweat, no evaporation, no cooling, no stink, no sweat. What is my theory on raising an arm in the sun? You need your supply of deodorants, not anti-perspirants. Your armpits are wet and it shows, but they smell, aha, good! Can that ever be a come-hither sign? Think of it from the fairer sex point of view: fragrant armpits! Just a few letters off ‘hairy’. Doesn’t it sound like that?


Every hot, coarse, humid, sweaty, callous summer in Kolkata (Calcutta), you get sick of perspiring, wiping your brow, looking as unkempt as the tramp at Tiffany’s. I remember in Atlanta, once, long years ago, temperatures had just crossed 30 degrees C, and rising. The city was in turmoil! Children were falling sick, their parents too. Citizens were requested to avoid the sun, keep to the shade, and special water atomizers were deployed at street corners so you could stand there and let your soul (perhaps your body as well) cool down to peace levels. Then you move onto the next street corner, and so on. This poor Calcuttan had more of his share of sweaty bodies than he can care to remember, and I was rather amused.


Then there are air-conditioned bus-stops in Dubai, Germany was sweltering at 40 degrees C because they had never seen a fan! It happened to me once, in the Indian hill town of Manali. Those days the place hadn’t become so cosmopolitanily crowded, and you could get board and lodging for cheap. After a long bus ride that summer I retired to my cheapo lodge, had a bath and realized I was sweating. I was sweating in Manali! Asked for a fan and was politely told there aren’t any. The global warming media drama hadn’t started yet, but the signs were there, on my sweaty palms and, of course, in my armpits.


The most interesting part is the city bus ride, especially in a city like Calcutta, where, I am sure, every body sweats like pigs. Now just a second…. Do pigs sweat? I am trying not to be offensive to the animal farm, especially pigs, you see, but I thought that was the ‘usage’. Isn’t it? Anyway, let’s get back to the bus ride. Actually, travel in the Calcutta afternoons are pleasanter in a bus – pleasanter than in a cab. The heat doesn’t kill you so heartlessly, and you can still hang on the footboard and catch the ‘breeze’ (the diesel fumes are a bonus). Then you get a seat, not quite beside the window, because that squat brat wouldn’t give up his little squibbly right to that spot, and you settle down.


The first drop on your arm is the warning. You look up into a sweaty face, looking down at you, smiling, almost, and you see the next stinky globule form, somewhat yellowish, or are your eyes jaundiced? Plop, it falls straight onto your spectacle lens. (I have deleted many words after this, they were what we call expletives. Pretty decent words, otherwise, except that my blog would then be otherwise categorized. I need to monetize this, some day.)


Before you can wipe that off with your already sticky handkerchief, comes the fragrance, from his armpit. He NEVER bathes, you can be sure of that. He never… who cares? The guy has no business smelling like this in a bus. Then you turn around and squat brat is as smelly; the waft is carried with the breeze that enters from the window.


You why air-conditioners were invented? To prevent smelly sweat. That’s the same reason cars are getting the air-do these days, more fuel consumption and damage to the ozone layer notwithstanding. They say cattle farts add a substantial amount of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere. Doesn’t armpit stench?


I have plans to conduct a full-fledged research on armpit stench (now there are professionals who do that, I read in NG, but that is too academic, and is a subject of smell). I need a fund source. I promise to recruit able armpit-sniffers who would categorise such stench in different stages, including the UNBREATHABLE.


That’s a lot of nonsense for a serious blog like this. And I thought I was trying to make some money for all of you. Read this, anyway, and comment if you wish.


Till then, sweat it out!

Indian age.. take it now

Observation

The Eurozone calamity needs to be solved in quick time, for India’s sake. America is India’s biggest trading partner, but that market is already under a squeeze and is redesigning alignments, specifically observing the Eurozone crisis. In the long run, the eurozone crisis, if not contained quickly, could spell a bigger disaster for the Indian economy – especially in the export and forex trade sector – than the sub-prime issue in the US ever did.

India is  staring at a multi-billion dollar deficit funding through FII, and FDI. Money has gone to dollar-backed units and intends to stay there for the unforeseeable future. Whatever the return in India, corporate India should be aware of the international exchange regimes that are taking a big beating today.

Conversely, though, if big moneybags decide to launch into M&A’s in the Eurozone at this point, there seems scope for good deals. These will, of course be at limited corporate levels, with the overall scenario remaining gloomy. In that case, though, the cost of money will also come into account. With the impending rise in rates in India, funding will be expensive. Eurozone banks are anyway wary of forwarding loans and even credit rating agencies will now be under strict commission watch.

Domestic demand could land in diminishing a utility basket, and one day saturation would be stifling. The windows of export bring in fresh technology and views, they are the wings of serious and fast growth. If India are a services based economy on the whole (agriculture apart), there is sense in tailoring economic policies to wards that.

Services, of course, are a bigger name for intrinsic technology that drives it. 3G for telecommunications, for example. There is the royalty factor in such tech imports that make already slim margins (because of low tariffs) loon slimmer still.

Way to go, of course, is a nice mix of both.

Government policy towards R&D is limited and undefined. There should be major incentives towards this so that bigger corporate entities can really get set the ball rolling in inventing, instead of re-stamping existing product profiles.

This is to develop the original demand base into a better appreciator of technology. The eurozone is a solid base for hot and changing technology in the world. This, probably is the time for tech tie-ups, for collaborations that would bring to this part of the world services and technology associated with them that could yet again change the face of Indian commerce.

=-

I was reading about the relevance of G20 somewhere, and someone said it has become no more than a talking shop, with no real issues being settled. The basic decision making body is still G7, and one even suggested a smaller group of representatives from the US, the eurozone and China, to handle exchange and currency issues worldwide.

In this I see a lack of Indian initiative. For two decades this part of the world and this domestic demand has been rising, taking in its stride all the recessions and such around in the ‘developed’ world. India has failed to get the best benefit out of such a loyal domestic demand. It has failed to tell the world – especially during these severely depressed times – that there is a price in being able to access this happy market.

Somewhere the arrogance of China has won, in the face of meek Indian protestations.

Lets think aloud.

Premier screw-up

The Indian Premier League is in a league of its own. So much was promised – fun and frolic, booming stock charts (if you wanted to list at an exchange), deemed returns, over and under-invoicing facilities, parking (fund) facilities, special drawing rights (and nobody would notice), official  scalping rights (‘have ticket will sell at any price I get’ policy), (did somebody say ‘betting rights?’, well, I haven’t heard that), and many more ‘options’. And, oh, a bit of cricket as well.

The system was good, the players weren’t. Greed is good say Wall Street-ers, but John Paulson and Goldman Sachs screwed the investors. Now who’s the good man? That’s the case with IPL. All is good when the going is good. Were those living off scraps, living on the footpaths being fleeced in the IPL scam? No. were the children of the country, most of them without pure drinking water and hardly a square meal a day being cheated of their rights? No. Were the hapless politicians not being able to serve their constituencies with best intentions? Sure they were. So what the hell did the IPL spoil? India’s nuclear treaty, as far as I know, is on track, India’s huge deficit financing policy is on track, India’s massive forged currency racket remains unhindered. What the hell was the problem? Why cant a few well-mannered, well-heeled people make a few extra bucks on the side? So they failed to pay the taxes. They will, you know, in the long run.

Let sleeping (of playing) dogs lie. The general corruption will persist. Why slay few stupid ones who try to do it openly – maybe give their girlfriends a few million – and then get caught? That is the tip of the iceberg.

Now Obama is after the financial system of the US. Let us be clear on one thing. Money matters where money stays. Where money hasn’t been for a long while, it has no importance.  John Paulson and Goldman Sachs are beings and things from a different world. And Paulson was clever enough to know that the harebrained idea of pouring money into where money has never been was stupid, stupid. So he used a legal handle to bet against. And he used the legal long handle, so to say, to have Goldman Sachs pay him to do that too. Paulson is to be honoured. He is not Michael ‘Junk Bond’ Milken, you see. He is a decent man trying to make a decent living, the very American way.

The sad part will be the hundreds of millions that will suddenly vanish from circulation – could have finally given some sustenance to areas where money doesn’t ever go, you see.

Clean up the system before you can clean up the people. You go to the ‘loo’ only when you need to. Other times you are probably, well, not doing the right thing at the right time. There are a lot of unclean noses around these two places.

Whatever is the truth, we were having a good time, weren’t we? Why spoil that?

Just One thing

Just found out The Secret of Life. 'Just one Thing'.... Good  idea. Be linear,maniacal, blinkered. Ok Ok those are bad words, very narrow words. Be focused, monomaniacal focused, forget the rest of the world. That's good. Now HOW the hell do you do that? Suggestions please??

The New Media

me·di·a
MEDIA, is the plural form of MEDIUM, a word borrowed from Latin. MEDIUM, early developed the meaning “an intervening agency, means, or instrument” and was first applied to newspapers two centuries ago.


The meaning of the word has evolved. If the stated objective of being a ‘medium’, is accepted as the true meaning, then whatever correlates and interacts would be media.

Newspapers and the entire print medium (including books) would be media, so would television, radio, the Internet (the biggest media conglomeration today), PR activity, public speaking, interactive travel, interactive areas in IT, and, with phones pushing the limits of technology, we can accommodate SMS, MMS, streaming videos, even voice calls as media activity.

In short, it has become rather confusing. No, I am not attempting a Unified Force Theory in the Media atmosphere. I am just wishing there could exist a common interface which is simple, yet accessible and affordable that could ease this multiple access point issue.

I invite you join in the discussion and place comments on new media avenues (even newer avenues) and possible conglomeration, and its or their possible monetisation. Let ideas not be restricted by available walls of separation; we should all live outside the box.

In order to find some order in this chaos, let me start the issue at one point, if I may be allowed. Please do not e-mail me. Just go to my blog: http://sujitbhar.blogspot.com/ and leave your comments against this upload.

Idea 1 (for today):

1. The handset or cellphone will replace daily newspapers in the near future.

That is the Motion. Please mention for or against while you write.

Thanks for taking the pain to participate.

Looking forward to a lot of media activity.

Rgds,
Sujit Bhar
91 9830824570

women!!!!!

The Top 10 Contestants For The 2009 Women Drivers
Award 10th Place Goes to:

9th Place Goes To:



8th Place Goes To:

7th Place Goes To:

6th Place Goes To:

5th Place Goes To:



4th Place Goes To:

The Bronze Medal Winner:

The Silver Medal Winner:

Her helmet is being worn backwards

..... and finally, here is our 2008 Women Drivers Awards

WOW ! ! How the heck...?!?
Oh never mind... CONGRATULATIONS ! !

This concludes the
2009 Women Drivers Awards Ceremony.
Thank you to all contestants for giving us all a reason to laugh smile

Nuclear Boo boo

The Nuclear boo boo has struck again. This time it takes the form of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage. There are mailers doing quick rounds, saying how much the US is exploiting the world by capping liabilities. I agree, it is bad to cap the liabilities. But wait a minute. What was it like yesterday? There was no cap, because there was no accepted liability. So if your country, while transporting nuclear items, does mess up, you got crapped upon. Instead, security agencies would have rounded you off for radiation risk and posted you to Santa Claus for recycling.

This at least makes a point of paying you something. Let the bill and act be in place, ladies and gentlemen, then we can act to make the booty bigger.

One more thing.. all this has had nothing to do with US interests. If anything, the bill will address a huge gap that we have lived with for so long.

Let us also accept, as educated and enlightened individuals, that nuclear energy needs will only grow in the coming years with more protests against fossil fuels. This is a cheap source of energy and we need to supplement our requirements here. Accepted that nuclear energy sourcing is fraught with risks, but if we look back at the Bhopal Tragedy, we realize regulation installations can also pose as big a threat. No liability issue has been established in those so far, so in that sense the atomic energy commissions of all countries have gone a step ahead. This must be lauded.

We need to also realize that India is on the verge of getting into the top nuclear energy league and how many of us can really say that we don’t need the extra energy that could come our way in such methods?

Please go to the following link for a relevant Pdf file that you can download:

http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC48/GC48InfDocuments/English/gc48inf-5_en.pdf

I understand Greenpeace is a great organization, but instant petitioning, raising the US spectre isn’t in the best interest of the population. What does Greenpeace say? We go back to the stone ages?

I request all thinking individuals to please think before signing any such petition. Read up relevant documents and then act, whichever way it is necessary to act.

I will be glad if you could please pass this around. Of course I am not acting in behalf of the US govt J that we all should know….

Regards

Having Fun

Life is full of fun. Like when temperatures in Kolklata touch 40 degrees, and the car a/c breaks down. You trundle your dilapidated vehicle to the garage and you find all the coolant has leaked out, the water pump having leaked (that means it has to be changed). How much work can you reschedule in a day? Having fun come pricey.

A bad day

Looks Like it will be one. Starts with a delay and then goes over the a financial crunch and so much more. Some days it never gets ok...

Khan-dani

Just walking past the bookstall and noticing the Khan fiasco, I decided to buy a rag. Khan is king, it said, even in Mumbai…. That’s great, wouldn’t have been nice had it he been hailed so in Jhumritaliya, would it? That means another boring SRK tear-jerker (nothing more, I hope) will bore us to death. Unless we decide to laugh it off, of course, or engage in serious monochromatic discourses over the right and wrongs of it… Choti Moti problem sab, yaar, All Is Well…. You see? And no, you don’t get a second chance, no second chance to laugh your head (and your tail) off, just as you would have when you had the spunk to speak loud, laugh loud, cry loud, fight hard and digest quickly. Think of a world without SRK. Peace…

Then, as an afterthought, think of a world three idiots less. Think, of a world sans Amir. Uri baba! Ita ki khono hoy naki? Bangali bhadralok saab, aur meyera debate karte rahe jayegi.. agar oh na hoti…

Enjoy baba, look at the streets and go behad beserk…

Till then, happy Valentine’s Day Eve…..!!

Stay with yourself

Events in world space are very indicative - each and every one of them. They are signs, to be read, to be internalized and acted upon. These may be opportunities or warnings, these maybe physical or subconscious, but when they come up to you and look you in the eye, out of the ordinary, normal existence that you may have planned for yourself, you need to stop and think, you need to be able to take time to look deeper into the event or series of events and understand the nature of such activity.

It isn't as if every out of the ordinary occurrence will offer you and opportunity, it may be the means, or doorway to something else, something bigger, something that you may have always craved for. The initial appearance of it may not reveal what the great power above has designed for you, but in deciding to overlook the signs you may have given this a go by. Such events do happen to everyone – chance meetings, making new friends, a sudden, unplanned change in direction of activity, a stoppage of work etc. these are signs that you look into.

For the physical type, you take care of your health, you get yourself checked up and you believe that there is somebody looking after you, because he has sent you here to do a specific job for him and you are required to do it to the best of your ability.

Talking about ability, one must understand that almost every person that has walked the earth and will for ever, has something special in him/her. It may be small, it may be big, but there is this uniqueness that God has given you and he wishes that you use your intellect and acquired knowledge to find such talent, such uniqueness in yourself and act upon it.

No, there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of it all: there’s just your Nirvana, your personal satisfaction. How many can boldly say that at the end of his/her journey in this world he/she has achieved what he/she set out to achieve? More importantly, he/she may not really understand the nature of his task and end up being successful in something he wasn’t supposed to have concentrated upon.

So is he losing out on life’s objectivity? Not really. Every life cones with multiple choices attached. Every objective has several paths leading to it and every action has several reactions. Not all may be acceptable. But if you have been able to find the right solution to a problem, one not in your right path, you have achieved somewhat more than you set out to achieve: if you finally find your right path and travel that one as well in the end.

Life is simple, and complex. You have the ability and freedom to decide that. Choose well, decide well, have the best of all worlds acting for you.

In the end it will be the basic instincts of a man that needs to be realized, understood and if necessary amended to better ways, better thinking. Your associations of life will tell you.

Therefore, read the signs, every sign, carefully. Take time to study and act; keep your energies intact for such times. Be attentive to nature and your body.