Lasting Rose

How to Write a Blog Post in One Hour That Is Guaranteed to be Published, Get Noticed and Even Go Viral!

2013-05-16T20:37:00.003+01:00

If you are one of those who keep staring at your desktop and flipping through the tabs for hours, even days, wondering how to write your next blog post, you are not alone! The web is full of tips and advice for bloggers like you on how to write smashing posts that will go viral, bringing you zillions of hits and thousands of dollars in your account.

If you are not an expert blogger who blogs for a living, on your own expertise, have tried out all of the advice and still wonder how some people like Andrew Sullivan consistently post pieces the rest of the world go gaga about, this may be for you.

The truth is, writing a good and interesting post is not all that difficult, if you don't worry too much about it.

Chances are you may be already doing most of the work as a matter of routine.

Unlike all those numbered instructions and steps from the tipsters and experts, which sound like a chore and a pain in the butt you would rather put off, writing good blog posts can be real fun. You may think this is a The Onion post, but it isn't.

The trick is to keep constructing your article or blog post as you keep spending your time browsing. Unless you are an expert on something you blog about, that is when you really get the seeds of your post.

You are likely to spend most of your browsing time on topics, events, people, objects, places and sites of interest to you, on things closer to your heart or something you are passionate about. You may even be a practitioner or dream to achieve great things in whatever that may be. So there you are, you already have the most important ingredient for a great post -- your own emotional involvement and commitment!

No doubt, you get hooked on to the screen when you feel very strongly about something, most probably something just happening and catching big headlines. You may be subjected to a strong positive emotion, like joy, like when your favorite team won a game or negative one like in the aftermath of a tragic event. You want to shout out and get it out of your chest. Your headline!

Now is the time to open your favorite word processor, unless it is already open, and just type in what you wanted to get out of your chest and save the document. You see, your blog post is nearly ready because all gurus on blogging will tell you that the headline is the most important part of your post.

If you are really perturbed by the subject matter, you are likely to persist and read more either immediately or over a period of a few days and follow up on the event to satisfy your own information crunch and driven by your own emotion. You may even save an article or picture or video for a future look if you don't have time. Actually you are unknowingly preparing great content for your blog post.

All you have to do is to keep adding all that on the document you have saved, under the headline you just typed in. The best thing is to copy and paste the URLs from the address bar under your headline so that you can reopen the page at a later time with all its content. It will be a good idea to copy any vital quotes, opinions or tweets that you agree with or that upset you, as you continue to read so you don't have to go all over again.

Of course you can keep adding on bits and pieces you feel like blurting out from time to time to all those stuff you are adding while browsing. Very soon, you will see you have already a great part of it your post.

If you are someone who likes to dig deeper, you are likely to do some search as you go along. Those might exactly be the stuff anyone who reads your articles may be searching for. So you have also your keywords for your SEO. Just keep adding all those links to the bottom of your post.

So you see, you now have not only the skeleton but also some body for a emotionally driven, compelling content you want to share with your readers. The best thing to do now is put it away and forget it till you are ready to spend that one hour adding more and refining what you have to say, annotating and referencing with the links you have collected and embellishing with the quotes and tweets you have copied.

Now that you have your post in front of you, it is time to apply all those check lists the experts have recommended, to refine and fine tune your article. Almost certainly you will find that your post already takes care of most of them and "improving" further might destroy the natural flow and readability of your content.

If you are looking to get your post published elsewhere, chances are your post will be accepted by any sensible editor, as it will have great content supported by relevant references as well as interesting and current information everyone is talking about.

If you are aiming to get your post go viral, a check with the following checklist and guidelines of Carson Ward from SEOMOZ, detailed in his brilliant article can help.

A viral checklist
Two months from now it's going to be easy to sit down and create content in the same habits we always have. Not all content needs to be viral, but when that's the goal, make sure that you accomplish all of the following.

Did you sufficiently cover the topic? Is it long enough? (24)
Does the content inspire a high-energy emotion like awe (16), anger(18), or anxiety (18)?
Did your tone convey emotion? (12)
Is it practically useful? (16)
Is it interesting? (14)
Is it surprising? (8)
Does the author have fame/credibility? (8)
If it's supposed to be funny, is it actually funny? Are you sure your friends aren't just being nice? (∞)

You can't always have all of these factors, so I've added a maximum score in parenthesis to help prioritize those factors that research has shown to be most important to sharing. If you rate your content at or near 100, it's likely that it has a far greater chance of going viral.

You will be surprised to see that the post you just put together has a lot of the essential ingredients listed above as it will have an emotionally charged Headline with relevant key words and content which your readers will find interesting.

What you need to remember is that you can always go back to the post and fine tune it in most cases even after you post it, before it goes live. But what is important is that you are able to write your post without putting it off and carrying an unpleasant burden of an undone job.

As an example of putting all these in practice, you can check out this post which started as a bit of scrap like the picture of the draft above and the post published by HuffPost.

White Goat and Caged Parrot - How the Indian Media Failed to See Facts From Fiction.

2013-05-11T17:51:00.000+01:00

Like the rest of the industrial sectors which see a future in the huge untapped Indian Market, the Western Media has also partnered with Indian upstarts. However, unlike in other industries, the lack of substance and quality in the daily output of the Indian brands, which carry names like CNN-IBNcan actually dent the credibility of the western Media very quickly.
Though in a country of 1.3 Billion people, the direct influence of these channels remain restricted to the urban elite and is minuscule, their viewership and influence now stretch globally thanks to the internet. Besides what they show on a daily basis becomes the fodder for a huge number of local channels and printed media the next day, often adding more colour and crazy interpretation when translated in to local languages, as can be seen from some weird postings on facebook.

The Indian Supreme Court and The Caged Parrot.

During a hearing last week on the progress of investigation by CBI (Indian equivalent of the FBI) the Supreme court of India made a few euphemistic references to assert that the CBI should operate independently, comparing it to a caged parrot which merely repeats the voices of its different masters, the supreme court itself also being one of them.
The Indian media at large latched on to the 'Caged Parrot' euphemism, for its dramatic and mass consumption effect, merely repeating it like a parrot though the reference itself doesn't mean anything in itself without the reference to the masters or the events leading up to it.
Though agencies like Reuters reported factually, no one in the Media had shown any understanding of the deeper and under lying checks and balances of the Indian constitution which squarely place the agency under a government of elected representatives, to ensure its power is limited and subject to control.
In fact only a few months back, the independence of the CBI was the bone of contention of the anti graft agitators and the opposition who wanted to place it under the Lokpal, a new constructional body with unlimited powers, clearly removing all powers to control it from the elected representative of the people and subverting the essence of Indian democracy.
Though the current government led by Sonia Gandhi's UPA and Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh has adopted a ' laissez-faire ' policy with the agency, overseeing the work of CBI is clearly the prerogative of the government despite instances of nepotism, which the CBI is investigating. Its director had asserted that neither the central theme of status reports got changed after meetings nor any deletion of any evidence against any suspect or accused took place.
The Media has failed to impartially report the whole issue, which has relevance to the so called Coalgate scam and loss to the government, which in itself is wrong interpretation by the CAG of government policy of allocating coal resources without auction, which began way back in 1993.
The government actually has every right to see that the investigating agency take cognisance of these facts in its reports and has only ensured that as was done in all previous cases before the supreme court.
The fact that the CBI is investigating execution of a government policy for incidence of corruption can't take its democratic duties away as being demanded by the judiciary.
As the fourth pillar of democracy, it is the duty of the Media to expose and bring such anomalies for public scrutiny and debate and there is no sign of such mature conduct other than blatant sensationalism.

White Goat which has gone viral!

No one knows if a goat which was noticed in the compound of the Indian Railway Minister Bansal only a few hours before he was sacked has anything to do with Goat sacrificed for Chicago Cubs curse.It probably had more to do with Hindu astrology and its remedial measures of donating animals to ward off evils. But this goat whether it knew or not, soon became not only a 'scape goat' for the minister's sins to be fed first and then to be sacrificed by him but also internationally famous!
The sensation hungry India media, showed live coverage of the goat and the video reporting by leading channels, who had no clue of what was going on but chose to assume and report it as some sort of animal sacrifice went viral.
Such reporting, which was clearly intrusion of privacy of the minister, without permission and devoid of facts was clearly unprofessional, even if such acts are part of a culturally diverse Indian life.
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/390829/railway-bribery-case-pawan-bansal-feeds-goat-to-ward-off-bad-luck.html

Timing and political intrigue of last week's events.

While drawing conclusions, the channels have clearly failed to analyse the week's events in context and look deeper in to why they happened, choosing for wild guesses instead.

IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai says that by sacking Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal, the government has made a last ditch attempt to restore its fading credibility. Clearly serious questions will be asked as to just why the Prime Minister took so long to take this decision to sack his ministers. "Clearly there will also be questions as to whether the Prime Minister can completely insulate himself after the sacking of Ashwani Kumar,"

A deeper analysis would have proved that , the government action was a well derived strategy in the wake of the regional elections in the state of Karnataka. which took place in the week.

The fact that the opposition which lost the state election had every reason to draw political punches to upset the Government on the eve of the elections and the UPA government managed to successfully thwart the opposition ploy and win the election can explain last week's events more logically.

The media would have done much better by digging in to those questions of why the CBI chose to bring out the Bansal case which they had been investigating for long just on the eve of the election rather than surmising on the plight of a Prime Minister who had no compunctions to resign from his post for lesser things like getting his way on the Nuclear Pact with the USA against stringent parliamentary opposition.

Is Andrew Sullivan's Way the Only Way for Bloggers Who Want to Make Real Money?

2013-04-28T05:37:00.000+01:00

Amidst a raging debate, stemming from a recent PEW report on the state of News Media, whether it is theGolden Age of journalism or it is barely breathing its last, the journalistic world is keenly watching Andrew Sullivan's recent 'pay wall' experiment with his famous blog, 'The Dish'.

Though the unfulfilled expectations in advertising revenues of main stream digital news media is widely perceived as the motivation for this venture, the Blogoshphere, at large, is not holding breath, thanks to the respect bloggers are gaining as influencers in brand promotion.

Contrary to the gloom and doom perception among News bloggers, a Technorati report on digital influence in 2013 place Bloggers as an influential tribe on the up, whose real value is not grasped by those who splurge massive budgets on brand promotions.

Though blogs and influencers don't get a large portion of brands' digital spend, they rank high with consumers for trust, popularity and influence. When making overall purchase decisions, for consumers, blogs trail only behind retail and brand sites.

In fact, like the state of the media, there is much overlapping here thought he Technorati report doesn't seem to draw any distinction.

However, there is much convergence in the findings of the two reports as to the diversion of digital advertising resources from digital news media to other the digital media including blogs, with display ads, video and search claiming bulk of the spending.

Though the Technorati report further identify the preference for mobile, social and video, where the buck gets the maximum bang, as the preferred technologies, Blogging has a 30% share, only behind Facebook, twitter and Youtube.

Clearly there is huge distinction between Blogging in journalism like that of Andrew Sullivan's, which influence politics, at least in the developed world, and hugely contributes to focus on issues and change the shape of the world and Blogging as a channel to stream world's accumulated expertise for the benefit of consumers, which seem to benefit from the current trend.

In reality, with the sticky amalgam, which the TV, Print and Digital media as well as the social web tend to become, bloggers as a tribe, to remain to remain influential, may find it necessary to go behind a pay wall to win back credibility, the fundamental virtue in journalism, something money can't buy.

In fair criticism of the erosion of professionalism and standards which over a period of time will only destroy the trust, much like the paper advertisement lost its mettle decades ago for the same reasons, Bob Garfield of the Guardian rightly states:

All of that fantastic content Yglesias was gushing about is paid for by venture capitalists making bad bets, established media companies digging into their savings accounts to pay the bills, displaced workers earning peanuts, amateurs, semi-pros, volunteers and monks.
Then, there's e-payola: pay-per-post, pay-per-tweet, pay-per-review - and their cousin, affiliate advertising, which gives bloggers and tweeters incentive to steer readers toward transaction. In broadcast TV, there's the serial incest between the news divisions and entertainment divisions, and on local TV, video news releases camouflaged as reportage.
Yet, none of these gimmicks is on the way out. Au contraire, they're all growing. Which is terrifying, for what they all have in common is that, to one degree or another, they compromise editorial integrity. Readers and viewers have no way of knowing that they are being marketed to, or that the content is inherently untrustworthy.

If anything, the social web, which in the case of Facebook which has grown over one billion members only accelerate this pernicious erosion of integrity.

For example, information put on the web can go viral irrespective of its factual nature merely by human and emotional reaction, very often producing unjustified results. This is further complicated by the level of education and evolution of the society.

However, over a long term the trust deficit from this onslaught volume over quality will be compensated by economic reasons, much like the manufacturing industry is slowly returning from China.

The demand for quality and veracity will inevitably grow due to scarcity and bloggers will be no exception to this trend. This of course implies that not only News Bloggers like Andrew Sullivan but anyone who wants to keep high standards and quality will have to start expecting to be paid for it in some manner.

When Bulls, Hawks, Cubs and Bears Start Playing Hail Mary Like Lady Gaga, It Is a Different Ball Game!

2013-04-28T05:34:00.000+01:00

CSN Chicago, a part of NBC Sports Regional Networks, is changing the meaning of sports forever!

Sports used to be something a few celebrities engaged in for the rest of us to watch and the press used to have a field day about.

However, a new feature introduced by CSN called Team pulse is on its way to transform how games are played out, enjoyed and reported, with active participation of everyone and with greater and unprecedented mass intellectual and emotional involvement. Can we call that sports anymore?

The nature of sports and its explosive emotional upheaval has changed a long time ago by the infusion of music which has immense mass appeal. The emotional swaying power of music and its celebrity creators have blended well with the turmoil of sports, taking it to exhilarating heights in the past.

The Three Tenors Concert of Los angel Super bowl remains a musical moment etched in the history of sports. Numbers like We will Rock you by Queen still reverberate in stadiums around the world. The bears have even turned music celebrities in the past by performing Super bowl Shuffle for charity.

It is the genius of music celebrities like Lady Gaga in turning technology and the immense influential power of the ever expanding social web, to pamper and keep hold on their fan base, which the giants of sports have borrowed this time.

#Kobe Bryant: Heart of a lion.Derrick Rose: Heart of a shivering chihuahua.notsportscenter.com/koberosefacebo…
— Haceb Ehcen (@Possessed_OG) April 14, 2013

The interactive social experiences technology CSN Chicago sought out for their new social engaging feature Team Pulse is the same as the one which Lady Gaga employed with great success to engage with her fans in real time through her website, provided by ARKTAN, specialised in creating engaging user experiences on the social web and TV.

However, unlike the massive benefits such interactive features bring to celebrities like Lady Gaga in the entertainment field, the Team plus feature of CSN has far deeper and wide reaching power to convert all sports to mass sports.

For example, real time interactive facilities provided for the 'Bulls Pulse', the official site of BULLS, include real time curated time lines of Bulls Talk for fans, Press Box, Player Tweets, Official Bulls & NBA and Instagram photos. The feature also includes a Trending list of players with mentions each get during the event.

What this means is that everyone involved and watching a game live and all those away from the venue but engaged through TV or other media can express their views, opinions and criticisms, which everyone else can see and react to, anywhere around the world.

The revolution in smart phones and tablets, which has rendered such interaction easy and enjoyable and platforms on the social web like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and numerous Blogs and forums take the game to the level of a global event.

What does this mean in reality? Spectators can now influence players during the game. Someone can pass a valuable tip or advice the coach is missing. The commentator can see the trend and focus on a player if he is doing well or making mistakes because the tweets are benign or nasty. Everyone can see how much attention the game is catching so everything including the live ads can be changed. See where this is going ?

In fact the Instagram stream brings much fun to the experience by letting everyone express their feelings of the 'moment' before, during and after the event in an unprecedented and unique way, giving a sense of one to one community participation in the event.

Adding short video streams like 'vine' can add depth to this experience if added to the page, leveraging on the immense addictive power of this new social media platform, something CSN and the technology provider need to consider.

Further making the streams scrollable can enhance participants experience by being able to revisit and 'miss' nothing, especially if they want to share at a later time.

It is only just the beginning of a trend how the sporting world is going to change. Pretty soon, such features can become standard for several other games like football and cricket, basket ball and hockey popular in other parts of the world.

The impact of interactive features like Team pulse can be much far reaching changing the laws of the games, their engagement, betting industry, entertainment and TV and even the popularity.
Pretty soon, like Psy of South Korea who has taken the world by storm with his 'Gagnam Style' and now his follow on 'Gentleman' which had over 10 million Youtube hits under 24 Hrs, locales and national boundaries will disappear for sporting events.

One thing is sure. The way people will live and relax during weekends will certainly change. There may be nothing of interest about a game you watched over the weekend to talk about aound the Monday morning coffee in the office!

Delhi Was In Flames, Not Long Ago!! Have Forgotton, Why ?

2013-03-31T10:20:00.000+01:00

An Angel Was Brutally Raped

"Victims of sexual violence anywhere, in any part of the world require our compassion, care and a space for healing My fear is whether all this outrage will pass of…not just for the media but for all us when the next story comes in... I am suitably amused by the number of comments on the facebook, tweets etc on how everybody is feeling guilty and ashamed. The time is not for guilt and shame…the time is for action. Can we all join hands to form the largest movement of real men that will engage with men to sensitize…transform…reform…treat…so that they do not turn as perpetrators of crime. It could be as an eve teaser…molester…abuser…rapist. Can we engage with men so that do not become ‘buyers of sex’…because as buyers they rape… for the girl who is being bought for sex has absolutely no bargaining power on the needs of the man who is buying her. Is this such a tough proposition… we do not need to go searching for men…they are all around us…our fathers, brothers, boyfriends, husbands, uncles…We can start now within our own families" These are the words of Dr.Suntha Krisahnan, a living legend according to a Washington Daily, a brave girl who was gang raped and discarded.

Sunitha was brutally gang raped when she was 15 by 8 men. " I dont remember the rape part of it so much as much as the anger part of it. " This gang rape had stigmatized her for several years and had let her become isolated. She says in her speech sighting the plight of the victims "In [India] and across the globe, hundreds and thousands of children, as young as three, four, are sold into sexual slavery. But that’s not the only purpose that human beings are sold for. They are sold in the name of adoption. They are sold in the name of organ trade. They are sold in the name of forced labor, camel jockeying, anything, everything." And when they are resucued they are considered as victims and isolated from the society. “My biggest challenge is society. It’s you and me. My biggest challenge is your blocks to accept these victims as our own. It’s very fashionable to talk about human trafficking in this fantastic AC hall. It’s very nice for discussion, discourse, making films and everything. But it is not nice to bring them to our homes. It’s not nice to give them employment in our factories, our companies. It’s not nice for our children to study with their children. … That’s my biggest challenge.”

Sunitha was inspirational because even though she was a victim she did not let it get the best of her life and ruin everything that she has dreamed of. Today Sunitha talks to people about sex slavery and helps them build confidence for a better future and to take away the power of the pain that they are faced with. Sunitha Krishnan has recused over 3, 200 girls, as young as 3 years of age to 40 years of age. Many minors who were rescued after gang rape succumbed to death because of brutal sexual abuse. It is people like Sunitha that have a big heart to take a stand and help project others from what she has been through and to help build confidence to the ones who have been through it.

Dr. Suntha Krisahnan is the co-founder of ‘Prajwala’, an organization which rescues and provides shelter for sexually abused and trafficked women and children. Most of the rescued victims were forced into prostitution by their own relatives and hence go through sex slavery and are faced with the life time disease of either HIV, AIDS, gonorrhea, or other sorts of disease.

I was raped, but it didn't end my life,
I'm a phoenix. listen to her speach:

To all the citizen of the world who are reading this, this is not a piece of wonderful literature, this is not a note to create social media attention, but this is a hand-out to all those who believe they can be instrumental in changing this barbaric social stigma, before it becomes the part of our deteriorating civilization. It’s easy to say “Bravo, Sunitha you a doing a good job” or “Hats off to you”, but the question is how many of you can be a Sunitha or rather how many of you can bring in a society like Prajwala. It’s time to act than to sit and applaud.

It’s my right to protect,
I’ll do it,
Adarsh Damodaran

Is Sonia Gandhi a Real Indian Saint Accused as an Italian Carpet Bagger?

2013-03-20T06:11:00.000Z

Rajiv - Sonia File Photo Courtsey https://www.facebook.com/malayalamlive

Few women in history had to undergo a life as dramatic as that of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian born Chair person of the United Progressive Alliance, which had been governing India for the last 7 years.
In fact, the personal and emotional turmoil Sonia was forced to face on account of her own personal choices are harsher than those experienced by many of India's great saints.

Today, Sonia Gandhi, like her countryman Caesar, had to do the ultimate sacrifice by taking a double stab for the sake of India, a country of saints, which must earn her sainthood.

In a single speech, Sonia had to acknowledge the cause of the Tamils who murdered her husband for their cause and denounce Italy, her country of birth which is in a dispute with India, a country she has adopted.

Italian waitress

Many in India believe, based on the western media which has proclaimed her the 4th richest politician and powerful woman in the world, that Sonia is a corrupt foreign intruder, out to destroy India. Her detractors however cannot explain what she and her family are doing in the heat and dust of Delhi, leading a frugal lifestyle, rather than basking on a sunny Mediterranean Island if she owns billions.

Not a lot is known about the circumstances in which Sonia met Rajiv, the scion of the Gandhi family and agreed to marry him despite great cultural and social differences. For a young Italian bride, hardly aware of the prejudice and taboo of archaic India, the very thought should have given nightmares.

Yet, to the credit of the young Rajiv, who made good on his promise and took her home, it turned out to be a story of great romance, sacrifice, tolerance and a great Indian tradition of welcome and acceptance of foreigners as their own.

No one called Sonia an Italian waitress at that time. If anything, it is a measure of how much the Indian society has reneged in to narrow minded nationalism and its insecurity that, fanned by parochial politics and ill education, Sonia is often referred to as an Italian waitress, especially on the social media.

In a country where hardly any work is respected and students, pampered by parents, never have to work to pay for their own education, it is relatively unknown that if you visit Cambridge, the waitress who serves you could be a student of the great university, though Sonia was just a language student.

If you are the leader of the ruling alliance, it is doubtful which Indian will stand being abused like that.

Oh My God! My Mother in law is shot and dying in my lap!

Not many women had to cry that out to themselves, except during the wars.

When you are close to the pinnacle of power and personal security is something one takes for granted, the enormous shock of something like the assassination of Mrs Gandhi is not something many Indian women would have taken.

Instead of fainting herself, Sonia had the courage and presence of mind to carry and rush her to the hospital revealing the innate strength of her personality to face toughest of situations in life.

However, no can correctly fathom the personal trauma the family had to undergo, though the anger of the collective nation against the Sikh community who members committed the assassination and the angst of the world on that day will never be erased from living memory.

Yet, when the time and need arose years later, Sonia showed no compunctions in renunciation of the power of the Prime minister and in foisting a very deserving Dr Man Mohan Singh, a Sikh, to that position without batting an eye lid.

There aren't many saints who can be credited with much lesser personal sacrifice.

It is your husband madam, in the bag!

Lightening strikes once in many peoples lives.

But in the case of Sonia it struck twice, with the assassination of her Husband Rajiv Gandhi by the Tamil militants of neighbouring Sri Lanka. (One might say it struck thrice with the accidental death of Sanjay Gandhi, her brother in law and brother of Rajiv).

Not many women had to welcome husbands literally in parts, in a body bag. Not many people can even take a guess of what might have gone through the mind of Sonia Gandhi on that fateful day, especially about the Tamil terrorists who sent her husband in smithereens.

Still, over the years, Sonia and her children have publicly come to terms with the Tamil Elam issue and, Sonia's daughter Priyanka has even visited the culprits in prison, in a sign of conciliation and forgiveness.

It is a real tragedy that despite all that, Sonia Gandhi, as the chair person of the ruling alliance has to undergo the political brinkmanship of an alliance partner, who has decided to leave in support of the very Tamil issue which took her husband's life.

The fact that Sonia Gandhi had to take the brunt of the political manipulation of a party who was the sole source of corruption charges which put her own Congress party in great difficulties and stalled her programmes for the poor of the country is a real personal tragedy, only compounded by the fact that they stand for her husband's assassinators.

What can you call this lady who perhaps is bearing a cross heavier than the one Jesus himself carried?

You too Brutus?

If all that is not enough, Sonia has finally put an end to "You are Italian" cry of hysteria of the Indian masses, heightened by the recent diplomatic stand off between India and Italy by publicly warning |Italy not to take India for granted.

The fact that, Italy actually has case in its favour against India, from the fact that its marines were just doing a job protecting from Somali Pirates, in international waters, makes Sonia's sacrifice even more adorable.

No woman of any country ever had to take such a stance against her country of birth for the sake of the country of her dead spouse.

History will no doubt one day record that as the perfect love of a leader for her people, worthy of sainthood, though the current generation of Indians can't see because they refuse to see.

Three Reasons Why Two Italian Marines Can Smile While India is Burning.

2013-03-13T15:12:00.002Z

Are the Italians ruling India now? That is what a growing number of Indians start to ask themselves even though there is no government in Rome. However two Italian marine commandos, whose life has been ruined, have reason to smile.

The amazingly plight of two smart Italian naval commandos, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, whose freedom is in peril for doing their duty, has grown from a storm in a tea cup to become the hottest political furore and diplomatic stand off of recent times.

When they fired a few round of warning at an approaching boat, which they mistook for a pirate vessel, they thought they were doing a heroic job while earning a decent livelihood! Surely they would have defied orders even from the pope if they knew what they were getting in to!

They probably knew nothing of the little Indian state of Kerala, the only place still left in the world which believes in the ghost of communism, which turned the death of the two dead fishermen to a worthwhile cause to hammer the political opposition in power.

They certainly knew nothing of the Indian paranoia about all Italians. They had no clue how the fairy tale romance and marriage of an unfortunate Italian girl called Sonia to an even more unfortunate Gandhi scion has turned in to national Italian phobia.

They didn't know that the Somalian pirates, from who they were protecting their ship, don't count in India even if many Indians have been taken hostage or killed by the pirates.

That, it is nearly impossible to shoot to kill from a bobbing ship to accurately hit two fishermen on a bobbing boat and that the boat was listing towards the ship with a sleeping driver, defying warnings by the marines also didn't cut mustard with the Indian public.

So the Italian government had so far put up with the Indian claim of "wrongful" murder of its citizens in its territory and let the Indian police retain the two marines pending painfully long and inefficient judicial process of India.

Diplomatic and other conciliatory efforts had lead the Indian Supreme court to grant bail and permission for the two marines to leave the country for Christmas and more recently for voting in the Italian elections and celebrate Easter. So what has changed now and why the commotion and turmoil in India and the Indian parliament?

The obvious cause of the recent furore is the refusal of the Italian government to send the two marines, who are currently in Italy, back to India to face trial, raising a dispute as to India's right and demanding International mediation.

However or Machiavellian minds and probing observers there could be several plausible reasons behind the current development

What is election for Italy is election for India.

The ruling UPA bashing power of the shooting incident with an Italian connection, rampantly used by the Indian political opposition during the course of last year, and being ruthlessly used before the elections due in a year, is pretty evident.

However, that, there was political mileage to be made also in Italy was not clear until the high profile Italian rescue kicked in before Christmas, eventually securing bail and homecoming for the two marines.

The pomp and circumstances with which the marines were given a heroic welcome back home, turning a relatively minor incident to a major national issue, whipped up enormous national pride. The national heroic welcome which reflected the sentiments in India defied any signs of electoral campaign, but was part of one none the same. In the confusing political landscape of Italy, it is not clear who was the major beneficiary.

It looks like the same political forces are having a second go at the "national pride" commodity by whipping up and creating a stand off with India, posturing a protective role for the benefit of Italians. The timing, before another round of elections, is what gives the clue, as the Italians could have refused to send the marines back when they visited in December, if it were for the reasons now being bandied.

Augusta Westland Helicopter Scam

A raging storm of a major scam, which most likely have political reasons and justifications to surface just before the Italian elections, unfortunately and most inappropriately is also most ill timed for the ruling UPA of India, due to face elections soon.

A major diplomatic stand off, blocking revelations and communications can seriously benefit the two governments. It is mere commonsense to attribute reasons to a foreign country when you can't give explanations and justifications, at least until the elections are over.

Besides diplomatic stand offs, when it creates uproar in the parliament prompting stern warnings from the country's prime minister and creating a huge bump in the media and social web, have an amazing capacity to drown the fall out from major scams in both countries.

Hot potato for the Indian Government.

However, the most ludicrous explanation going the rounds on the social web, yet so plausible is the Indian dilemma of having to make a judgement in the case. Knowledge and cogniscence of the unreasonableness of the case makes the judiciary and the government look ridiculous before an international audience to give a guilty verdict.

On the other hand, the political fall out if the marines go un punished, especially in an election year could be costly in the best of times.

In an year, when the Italian phobia is whipped up by new scams with in India and in Italy, resurrecting old ones like the Bofors, settlement of something like the shooting incident, even by absconding of the culprits can be a blessing in disguise. Chances are both governments have decided to bite the bullet and forget.

In reality, it could be all of these which has put a smile on the faces of the hapless young men, whose life is being ruined by powers they have little control of.

.

For £39, Sandstrom is a Real Plastic Princes You Will Fall in Love With.

2013-02-20T15:33:00.001Z

If you wonder what the heck a Sandstrom is, it is my new Bluetooth headphone. If you ask what is there to write about it, the answer is, with a Sandstrom, you can experience the feeling of falling in love at first sight. If you don’t get it, mate, it is the headphone itself I am talking about.

Sandstrom SBTHP11X is a stunningly beautiful headphone!

In fact Sandstrom SBTHP11X has all the romantic qualities of someone you will easily fall in love with in real life. Weighing a mere 102 g, it is so delicate; Hilary Mantel might have called it precision made and a plastic princess.

Sandstrom is one of the best precision made pieces in plastic I have come across since some time.

It was indeed a stroke of luck. Looking out for a cordless headphone for my aging Nokia 900, which is the only Maemo5 phone ever built, I decided to take a trip to the local super store. I was shocked to see the array of head sets displayed, nearly a hundred, yet couldn’t find what I was looking for, a light weight, comfortable, blue tooth head phone with audio controls and active noise cancellation, which I could carry on my head for hours without wanting to take it away.

After spending an hour testing the audio experience from nearly all of them, some of which was really impressive, I was about to walk away as I didn’t see what I was looking for, when a young sales guy cornered me.

On hearing what I was after, he bent down and pulled out a flap packed box and suggested it might just be what I was looking for.

It was a Sandstrom SBTHP11 and amazingly he was right. The box had an impressive image of a stunning pair of ear cups and a very nice, expensive feel about it.

‘What make is it?’ I asked, not seeing a brand name or logo on the box. ‘Sandstrom’ replied the sales guy. Having never heard the name I asked ‘Where is it made?’ ‘No idea.’ said the sales assistant.

Turning the box around, both of us discovered it was made in China. Something didn’t add up. Stunned, we went through the list of features, which sounded unbelievable for something as light as feather I was holding in my hand. It read like my own list of what I intended to get.

· Portable wireless headphones for stereo sound

· Bluetooth 2.1+EDR digital wireless transmission technology

· Integrated track, volume and call control

· Padded swivel cups and adjustable headband for added comfort

· Integrated microphone for hands free calling

Though active noise cancellation was on top of my list, after a fair bit of investigation and audio testing of some top of the range headsets in the store, I came to the conclusion that I can’t have it unless I go for a bulky one or an ear bud, except in a few. Besides it looked like the inherent loss audio quality in lower frequencies associated with this feature wasn't worth.

After a week of testing, including some driving around and hour long conversation with friends 5000 miles away, I am excited that what I have on my head is not just a piece of exquisite Swedish design but also a headphone which packs some sharp, high end technology.(Not sure if that is Swedish as well!)

The audio quality and the loudness you can take it to is easily comparable or even better than some of the others I had tested.

I have never accessed my music on anything by just one soft touch or cut it off by just two. Sandstrom gives you the real feeling that your music is always there with you.

You can relate to the music creator as each of his instruments come alive as distinctly as the vocal chords so much so that you become aware of the distortions and disproportion in mixing of audio levels. Suddenly music you thought was heavenly is no more flawless. You become music critic from a connoisseur.

Enjoying all of this or hour long conversation should take a heavy toll the battery you think. Amazingly, the Sandstrom battery which gets charged fully in an hour, through a US b port of your laptop or PC stays alive for more than three days on stand by or a few good hours on full use.

However there is no instruction how you can change the battery. It is also not clear how the ambient noise is eradicated, which means that you really can retreat into your own world when listening to your music, by the passive noise isolating technology.

Nevertheless, the proof of the pudding in the case of this superb piece of technology is in the very high quality and fidelity of sound it produce with very little power consumption.

The location of the microphones which will face to the rear when the headset is worn is intriguing, but they work so well, the people I spoke to had no idea that I had not actually been speaking in to a microphone.

Over all if you are looking for a petite headphone you can carry around and use with amazing ease, Sandstrom is for you.

As icing on the cake, I was indeed shocked when I paid at the check out, a measly £39 after a incredible discount of £40 for something I thought had value for much more.

I love my Sandstrom, my Plastic Princess; irrespective of What Hilary Mantle will like to call it.

It's Now Or Never to Rename Valentine’s Day as Elvis Day!

2013-02-12T10:45:00.004Z

If you are someone who feel a tightness in your chest and tear drops swell in your eyes as you listen to any of Elvis songs, perhaps no one but Elvis can make your Valentine's Day! You are almost certainly a baby boomer and you owe this to Elvis before you go; it is time to rename Valentine's Day as Elvis day.

Valentine's Day is the ultimate celebration of love, the most precious of human feelings, personified by Elvis as no one else has. This is borne out by the titles he chose for his songs and their lyric, almost all of which had nothing but love to sing about. Why are we then waiting for the Kind Bishop St Valentine to abdicate to place the King himself on the throne of love?
What makes Elvis uniquely deserving is the emotional avalanche of each of his songs, delivered with powerful voice, intonation, timbre and mountains of emotion to someone in front of him, making you feel that someone was no one but you. Arguably even Luciano Pavarotti's superb delivery of the original "O Sole Mio" has never achieved the emotional turmoil of "Now or Never by Elvis" in listener's minds.
If 35 years after his death, in the age of social media, we still haven't done it, only the commercialism and short sightedness for immediate profits must be blamed.
As some one said "You can bet that Col Parker, Elvis' manager, would have been all over social media: for a price. It would cost money to click onto the official Elvis page, or even his website. If not that, you'd have to pay to use it, with a teaser front page leading to a pay for Elvis main section. Nobody got to see Elvis for free, the Colonel saw to that."
In reality, even without the Colonel around, the situation is exactly the same. Despite the social web being a free for all world on its own, nothing about Elvis is really free, which virtually destroy any chance of the legacy of Elvis being passed on to the future generations.
In today's competitive world of modern electronic media and entertainment, with different values and buckets of emotions of anger, hatred, lust, fame and glitterati, dominated by Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, the softer qualities of love, romance and angst of separation and loss, which endeared Elvis and his music to a generation, do not find much of chance to survive.
In the broken down social fabric of today, which is being dominated and reshaped by social media, where the Pope can tweet to his sheep and you can even find friends you can bang with just by a click, there is less and less people to listen to and experience the inexplicable emotional trips to fantasy worlds of joy and sorrow only Elvis songs can take you.
It is sad that whole new generations are really missing out on something which generations of parents and grant parents were granted to experience but have no real means of passing on, like lessons in text books or in curriculum. It is indeed a shame that future generations might not even know Elvis ever lived and graced the earth.
Numbers like "Can't Help Falling in Love", "Always on my mind", "Love me tender", "Are you lonesome tonight", "I will hold you in my heart" or "You don't have to say you love me" which are indeed immortal will be most probably forgotten.
When everyone is concerned about preserving and protecting our environment and a clean world for future generations and billions of dollars spent on efforts, there must be a ways to stop this being happening.
Releasing a royalty free album of memorable, evergreen Elvis songs as an ELVIS DAY album, free for all and downloadable on the net will be a good start.
Renaming Valentine's Day as Elvis day must certainly make awareness of his music and legacy for years to come.
With platforms like Facebook reaching over a billion memberships, with 6 billions more to join, the enormous power of the social web can definitely help to rekindle the dying memory of this great singer and human being among the younger generation.
For business minds in the know of the enormous power of the social web, that in itself must be ample reason for releasing at least part of the treasure on the web.
Sadly, the onus is on the baby boomers, who lived to experience the miracle in the voice and life of one of the sweetest of human beings, who gave us some of the greatest of music which could really touch heart and soul of humans, to make it immortal for the sake of future generations.
Let us show our love of Elvis, for a start, let us call this Valentine's Day as ElVIS day!

Could Romantic Elvis Presley Have Shaped the Social Web Differently from Daring Lady Gaga?

2013-02-04T18:57:00.000Z

Facebook has amassed a gigantuan membership of over a billion people and Twitter aims to catch up with new features like Vine, taking micro Blogging to new levels. This spectacular growth of the social web, no doubt, is largely due to its nature as a free place for social interaction.

However, the role in the growth and evolution of social web, of pop stars and celebrities like Lady Gaga andJustin Bieber who have enhanced their fan base and interact with their fans through social web, is also undisputable.

But what about Elvis Presley, who sent millions around the world in a frenzy hardly ever stepping out of the US soil and just by singing I can't help falling in love with you, when no one had even heard of the social web? Could he have shaped the social web to be a totally different place from as we know it today?

There is no denying that without the Television neither Elvis Presley nor Lady Gaga would have reached the level of popularity they attained. So the integration of the social web with television by most recent technological advances like social streaming and social DVR, which allows for real time interaction over social media with time shift would have evolved naturally.

However, the popularity of Lady Lady Gaga, who is a singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and activist on the social web is largely based on her daring stage appearances and the issues like bullying and causes like lgbt which the artist actively support.
Her achievement like being invited to speak at Harvard is more of a reflection of her belief and support of the issues she has chosen to champion for. As a result, the technology she sought was some means to interact with her fans on the web on those issues, enhancing her presence among her fans, which created her famous back room chats with her fans and which rendered her role of counselling her fans possible.
But in the case of Elvis Presley it was his talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humour which endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. He has been described as the sexiest man of his generation, so manly yet beautiful!
In the words of music historian John Robertson, Elvis was a flirtatious teenage idol with a heart of gold, a tempestuous, dangerous lover, a gutbucket blues singer, a sophisticated nightclub entertainer and raucous rocker.
Years after his death, fans continue to yearn for him with comments like "We will never have someone like him again... Elvis, unique, wonderful, our king forever!!!!"
Obviously, the persona of Elvis Presley, which had no need of a social web for the entire world to swoon for him, might have attracted the entire world to Facebook, if he were to have a fan page!
Given the wild passion and infatuation his fans felt for him as was evident from his concerts, It is conceivable that tactile technologies like the remote kissing devices would have found their place in Facebook much head of simple chat.
May be you could have enjoyed an on demand virtual concert by Elvis Presley singing I can't help falling in love with you, just for you.
Perhaps a new version of the Aloha from Hawaii music concert that was headlined by Elvis Presley, and broadcast live via satellite around the world on January 14, 1973, in which fans could rejoice by touching Elvis, using this invention, wherever they happened to be could have been broadcast through Facebook or whatever name the media would have been called.
There is of course many things one can imagine as was possible. The predominant factors would be the key elements which made Elvis irresistibly humane and accessible to millions. One thing is sure, whatever shape the social web would have assumed, it would have done more to bind people of the world in romance, love, passion and compassion, qualities which Elvis was graced with in abundance.

Addicted to Facebook? There is Hope. Now You Can Get Addicted to Vine with Vinepeek!

2013-01-29T12:40:00.002Z

Vinepeek has the potential and power to replace Facebook and Twitter in your life. For that very reason, no one can say how long it will last. However before you read this further, you must be aware that Vinepeek brings to you people's lives in uncensored, raw, six seconds shots. If you don't want to watch what people do in real life and share with others, better not take a peek at Vinepeek.

Simply put, Vinepeek is a website with a small window which continuously shows a stream of 6 seconds long micro Blogging videos embedded by people in their tweets by a video sharing feature called Vine, recently introduced by TWITTER.

Vine, which is a video sharing service of TWITTER, needs software currently available only on Apple's products like iphone, ipod and ipad, for you to embed your 6 second videos in your tweets. Once embedded and tweeted, the clip which has its URL can be clicked by anyone who can see your tweet, to watch your video which loops continuously, in a little window.

According to Twitter vice president of product Michael Sippey, like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine inspires creativity. Dom Hofmann, co-founder of Vine, said the Vine embeddings are little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life.

In fact Vinepeek is actually more ingenuity than technology, As a matter of fact you can easily get a widget from TWITTER to pull up the stream with tweets with Vine videos. But with the power of Vine and the enormous popularity of TWITTER, sites like Vinepeek can take millions of users of the social web to a new phase and level of addictive dependence. Here is why:

In real life, if you are depressed, dejected or hopeless about your life, you head to your local pub where you can meet up with your pals and share your life with them. In reality, that is the reason most people get hooked to Facebook and Twitter where they can meet up with their real friends and hundreds of others who they have never met, with the convenience of a desktop or handheld device. However they still need to read, type or do some work to take in the updates of their buddies or watch the stream on the wall, not entirely conducive with the mindset. Vinepeek practically removes that element of unpleasant work by having to do nothing but watching to get the same level of enjoyment.

In fact the constantly changing and unpredictable short videos on the by Vine stream, with amazing visual and sound quality, are like info graphics on steroids. You are taken in to a never ending whirl wind of time, space, and motion full of life, engaging your mind as never before, offering an experience entirely deserving to be called a new form of entertainment. It is always there, you feel like taking it in, you watch it. You don't, you simply ignore it and carry on with whatever you are doing. There is always the next one. In fact Vinepeek actually brings the Social Web to life!

Vinepeek in fact even makes the raison de etre of sites like Tech crunch, Mashable and a lot of others where we constantly check for "NEW" things a little bit questionable, bringing a series of objects and ideas we have never heard of or imagined, quenching our thirst for "novote" in life.

The exponential power of the video compared to the rest of the media in the development of human communication and understanding of life around us has not been fully understood. Vinepeek in fact brings a new dimension to this quest by pumping up an unusually high volume of imagery, sound and emotions to our brains, consciously and unconsciously in the shortest time. This alone can explain the enormous addictive power of Vinepeek. In time there can be hundreds of valid reasons to support sites like Vinepeek.

It is quite normal that initial glitches can be deterring. It looks like Apple has temporarily taken the Vine software from their store. Weather Twitter will continue with the development of Vine or not, utilities like Vinepeek are sure to pop up as any one who has enjoyed it even for a few hours will now find anything else unsatisfactory. For now My Facebook window is closed and the little Vinepeek is open in a corner of my second screen.

Tweets With VINE

Why Won’t the Indians Accept Rahul Gandhi as Their Own Obama?

2013-01-24T18:33:00.000Z

I think he (Rahul) is one of the most talented, able and insightful of the younger generation of politicians worldwide, but how he ends up in your politics again, that's for you, for him and for his party to decide. But I think he has got first class mind and great commitment to India.

That opinion of Tony Blair, given during a visit to Delhi in 2008 as an ex Prime Minister of the U.K, turned out to be as much intuitive as it was prophetic.

Four years on, Rahul Gandhi has proved his worth as a political leader in his own right and not just as the son of Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress Party. He has been favoured as a leader who can take the party to win the next election and foisted by a majority of the Party leaders to the position of the Vice President.

His insightful mind and commitment to his country could be glimpsed from the pathos of his acceptance speech which the Indian media has ascribed as the "Obama moment" of the party. His speech, revealing his personal anguish and hinting a lack of avarice for power, which he could have grabbed anytime he wanted, is seen as a rare one in the Indian politics.

Despite this, why is India, especially its youth, judging from the chatter on the social web and the Indian media, so sceptical and suspicious of the young Gandhi?

Karma - the Indian perception of life.
The reason, perhaps, lies in the Indian perception of life which writes off fellow human beings and their achievements and failures as the reward for the rights and wrongs of past births, something they call Karma. Indians have scant respect, admiration or gratitude for stuff others do in this life and don't care why people behave or act in the way they do.
The tragedy of India is the hollowness of its youth. If only they could stop to think for a moment and look in to the psyche of Rahul Gandhi, who rarely smiles and appears more melancholic than angry, if only they try to look deep in to the make up of his personality, perhaps they could see like Tony Blair did, the making of a great future leader.

Rahul Gandhi - Indian or Italian?
Rahul Gandhi, still a bachelor at forty three, is a young Indian much different from any average youth of modern India. In fact there are many things "Obamasque" about him which a majority of the Indian population fail to grasp. For a start, like Barack Obama, Rahul Gandhi is born with an identity crisis, being born to a Caucasian mother and an Asian father.
A mixed parentage is rare in modern India after the departure of the British. While Rahul Gandhi is an Indian for millions of Indians, for political mileage, he is often depicted as an Italian prince, out to lootIndia's poor. As Obama had discovered, finding an identity must have been truly an excruciating experience for the young Gandhi, with never ending arguments with himself.

Being born in to terror and brutal violence is not for everyone.

"I was taught to play badminton by 2 security guards. Then one day, they killed my grandmother and took away the balance from my life."

A few years later the young Gandhi lost his father in a suicide terror attack and had to live under commando protection ever since. How many of India's young can even imagine growing up like that and still being sane?
Yet Rahul Gandhi had no choice but live through it and endure being ridiculed as an "Amul Baby" by his political opponents.

Coping with the high and low of absolute power
Coping with gaining and losing power is a nightmare for most people. It is almost impossible to imagine having to grow up in the lap of a family which has only tryst with absolute power and tragic death for decades. Knowing one day it may be your turn and live with the thought is nerve wracking enough to drive anyone really insane.

There is no pressure like the pressure of political legacy.
One might say Rahul could have escaped from it all, perhaps by leaving the country. Not an option if you had to bear the immense political legacy of the Nehru family, especially if you had accusation about your late father to disprove and meaningless political murders with no villains to avenge.

The notion of dynasty is actually nasty politics.
A dynasty is something in which sons are anointed or fathers are annihilated for power. The facts are starting from Rahul's grandmother Indira to Rahul; each Gandhi was foisted in to the position of the leader of the Congress party, in tragic circumstances or in the face of political decimation. Yet each of the Gandhi has been accused of dynastic ambition. That is also why majority of Indians can't grasp what Rahul meant when he said in his speech:

"Last night, everyone congratulated me. But my mother came to my room and she sat and cried. Because she understands that the power that so many see is poison. She can see it because she is not attached to it (power)"

All of these should explain why in country in which dynastic politics is the norm, with regional and local politicians practicing it without shame, Rahul Gandhi was seen as a reluctant leader, despite having been given the power on a platter. Chances are you may never see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India even if he will win many more elections for his party.
For those who really admire Rahul Gandhi and for those millions who believe and clamor on the social web that everything about him is phony an attempt to understand the makeup of his persona may be worthwhile.

You Don't Have to Chuck Your DVR in the Bin If You Are Addicted to the Social TV

2013-01-09T06:00:00.000Z

Here is a relatively obscure snippet of news, which could have made the corporate honchos of the leading makers of DVR like TiVo, Motorola, RCA, Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba and cable companies like Time Warner, Comcast and Cox which offer TV packages that include a DVR, sit up and take note.

DVR Falls Victim to "Social TV"

"Social TV," in which young viewers use cell phones to communicate with friends about shows they are currently watching, is reversing the trend to record shows on DVRs and watch them at some later time, according to a survey conducted in the U.K. by Digital Clarity. According to the study, 80 percent of users below the age of 25 communicate with their friends while watching TV, with 72 percent using Twitter, Facebook or other mobile applications. "Rather than social networks and television competing for attention it seems that young people are happy to embrace both and use one to enhance their enjoyment of the other," the study said. Digital Clarity founder Reggie James suggested that Social TV's actual victim has been the DVR.

"Social TV has changed this completely by turning programs into online events where you have to watch them as they happen," he said.

If the DVR marketing guys didn't take note, at least their dwindling sales projections should have given the first warnings of the changing trend.

However, ARKTAN, a Silicon Valley technology upstart, which has pioneered the social streaming technology, which enables the Social TV, has seen the writings on the wall and has come up with innovative solutions which allow social streaming to integrate with the DVR technology, which they call Social DVR.

So all those, who don't want to miss the fun of sharing what they watch in the privacy of their homes, with their friends on the social web, don't have to really give up their DVR just because they can't share their joy, excitement or anger with their friends on the social web unless they are glued to a telly.

With groundbreaking stuff like Social DVR, anyone can have his cake and eat it too! You can have the fun of watching your telly with social web and the convenience of a DVR when you want it, when you are ready for it and not as dictated by a channel's pre-determined schedule.

Keeping all the exciting features of DVR like pause, fast-forward, add, skip, etc. in tact, the Social DVR, with its time-sync capability is a technology enhancement that brings you the convenience of the DVR with all the fun and excitement of the social web. If you were at work and missed that climax of your favorite serial or a clinching moment your favorite team missed a goal with your friends, as and when it happened, you can still enjoy the moment as if you were with your friends, with SocialDVR bringing you their live tweets, comments, etc. as it happened at that moment.

So how do such amazing features become a reality? For a start, the developers have already successfully implemented their social streaming solutions with integration and curation technology for various platforms like social TV, celebrity homepages and curated social hubs.

TV shows like Dallas and Falling Skies and interactive web presence of celebrities like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and a host of others, powered by this social streaming technology implemented by media groups like UMG, place this technology provider ahead of the pack.

The developers have simply added additional features like time sync and support of additional functions, so that you don't have to mess with a second remote control, to robust APIs which allow you to capture and curate real-time social web content and conversation from multiple social platforms

Good news for those who are always on the move is that the time-syncing feature and social DVR capabilities are available for live and on-demand videos of TV shows and video programming playbacks across all platforms, including mobile.

If you are excited and want to know when this technology will be available to you, the website of Univision, is powered by both Social Streams and Social DVR, is live from October 2012. The site has already registered millions of viewers and thousands of videos on demand.

Apart from delivering the fun of live media with live social media, the effect of this technology might be far reaching. For example, reactions to events like the tragic gang rape in New Delhi or the Sandy Hook school shooting could be wider and spread over days, with decisive impact on shaping public opinion as more people will be sharing the impact of events.

Least of all, the enormous effect on an industry which will otherwise be facing a downgrading due to a product no one wants any more cannot be under estimated.

Fortunately, with Social DVR everyone can keep on smiling and hoping for better times both on the telly and on the social web.

Was the Newtown Speech the Most Difficult to Deliver For President Barack Obama?

2012-12-19T16:53:00.000Z

One day, when Barack Obama will no more be the President of the U.S., someone will venture to make a movie on his life. It will be almost impossible to find an actor willing to enact the President's role because the performance of the future actor will be measured against that of the President himself, who in real life was forced to live through the toughest of theatrical moments, like when he addressed the Newton School gathering after the massacre.

No actor, however capable, can bring out the agony of the president, who has to suppress his internal turmoil and present a different face to the nation for the sake of the position he is holding. No director can pull off visualisation of a complex surge of emotions of a whole nation behind a tragic event like that happened in Newtown, which the President was subjected to over and above his own turmoil.
There are moments when a president has to deliver inspiring speeches to convey his vision or unify the country against adversity. Then there are occasions no one wishes to face in life, when the President is expected to address the nation, to say something, to console, assure and somehow alleviate the collective burden on the nation's psyche. The Newtown School speech in the aftermath of the massacre of twenty innocent children and six of their teachers was one such testing moment for President Obama.

Though several tragedies have occurred during his presidency where he had to deliver consoling and supporting messages to the nation, the Newtown tragedy, coming right after a very divisive election in which he won against all odds, must have been very different and difficult for the president.
It is hard to understand, why Barrack Obama is seen as the first "black" President by many Americans and even by leading media though he was born to a white Caucasian lady. Though for the rest of the world this is a non issue, it is the perception. However, this must have been the most difficult aspect for President Obama, who had to face and address a town whose population and the bereaved they came to mourn are almost entirely white.
No one can deny that such was the ferocity and divisiveness of the politics which only just ended in his re-election, which many in the nation still do not accept, at least have great difficulty to reconcile. No one can deny that the second amendment, which the President could do little about and something which his audience hold sacred had to do with the tragedy.
That, President Obama, as a very loving parent of two children couldn't hold his tears while announcing the tragedy that occurred at Newtown as a national tragedy, didn't somehow alleviate his dilemma. Where trust was at best fragile, it must have been very difficult to find the right words to express and communicate something meaningful both to the community and to the nation at large.
The Newtown tragedy has occurred in the Christmas season, when everyone has to rejoice and not bereave, has rendered the event poignant beyond imagination. Mundane call of Presidential duties in the face of the Fiscal Cliff which he has very little time to sort out before the nation fall off it and the nomination of his future secretary of state must have been adding immense pressure to his working life. Yet the President was duty bound to come to the bereaved, and address and console as the supreme commander.
President Obama did come to Newtown, and delivered the most difficult speech of his presidency with amazing grace. With measured words delivered in a way only Barack Obama, the great communicator can do he somehow spoke, conveying the consolation and support of the Nation he took to Newtown and asking for the Nation's support and resolve to enable him for meaningful and effective action.
Without referring to the Second Amendment or NRA he brought home the need for controlling the ownership and accessibility of dangerous weapons. Without admonishing, he brought home the need for better parenting and teaching and loving children. In as few words as possible he reminded Americans about family values they all need to return to.

You handled this horrific situation with such honest sympathy & grace. You have done our nation (and yourself) proud during one of our darkest moments. I am proud to call you My President.

For astute students of communication, President Osama's skills in oratory will be always be a benchmark. His speeches will be heard, watched analysed and imitated for decades and centuries to come. But for true meaning and sense of his speeches, future learners will have to delve deep in to the contextual history and events as well.

Six Hallowed Indians Who Could be Lynched by a Billion of India's Poor if They Knew Simple Economics.

2012-12-03T19:06:00.002Z

"They that have done this deed are honourable: What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it: they are wise and honourable, And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you."

Though William Shakespeare, the greatest of English writers, used those words to define a bunch of Roman conspirators, he might have used them even today to expose an elite bunch of egoistic Indians, blind with self glorification.
Who are they? They are all honourable leaders of modern India who collectively brought down the Indian GDP growth from 9% to 5% in a couple of years, sabotaging any chance a billion of its poor had to come out of poverty and a miserable life. There are even Harvard educated among them, but the plight of the poor and down trodden was not their concern and the need for GDP growth was not their business.
The damage and the back stabbing they have collectively done to India is nothing short of the treachery and guile in the Shakespearian drama, because as highly educated they are, they can't pretend not to know the damage they have caused to the plight of a billion poor Indians who earn barely a dollar a day, in their own quest for glory.
These pretentious leaders, each one of them with a hidden agenda, pretend to uphold morality in life and politics and fight for it, in various forms, as if it is the only thing India needs. Disregarding the damage they will cause to the country's image and growth, they have latched on to every opportunity, every accusation of impropriety to obstruct the functioning of the government inside and outside the parliament, bringing total paralysis.
In a short span of two years they have managed to sabotage every attempt of the minority government of Dr Man Mohan Singh and all reform measures he has tried to bring to maintain the high growth trajectory his reforms and governance has brought for India.
On the top of this list of these self serving Indians who have appropriated morality for themselves is India's CAG, Vinod Rai, himself a Harvard educated government servant, who has dealt the first and heaviest of blows, with accusations of ludicrous amounts of loss to the government. Though the hollowness of his accusations have since been exposed by an auction and revelation by a subordinate, it too late as enormous damage has been done to investor confidence.
Arvind Kejriwal, the "Indian Romney" who claim that the direct disbursement of income benefit to the poorest people of India amounts to bribing, can claim a prominent position. Kejriwal, who shot himself to fame by training his guns on the popular Gandhian Anna Hazare to appropriate some popularity for himself has since been exposed by declaring his own political party, of all things to fight corruption, of course.
Mamta Banerjee, the main coalition partner of Dr Man Mohan Singh who has vetoed every one of his reform measures should be honoured as the Nero of modern India as she spends her time in art and writing poetry as India's GDP had been tumbling down the drain and her own state of West Bengal had been sinking more and more in to the Bay of Bengal with debt burden of over populist governance.
If the Indian parliament had been totally dysfunctional since the last election, the credit almost entirely is that of Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the opposition, in title and action. Sushma Swaraj, who would like to be a future Prime Minister of India, has almost single headedly destroyed the biggest democracy in the world by instigating and leading sheer unruly and disgusting behaviour of elected representatives in parliament.
Dr Subramanian Swamy, an ex professor at Harverd must be credited with finding a life time occupation in filing cases against the Indian Government he can never win. But this doesn't preventSwamy in filing a new case every time he finds an old sheet of news paper with some ludicrous mention of corruption.
Dr Mulrali Manohar Joshi, a leader of the BJP has long since proven his penchant to erase and rewrite history when, as the Human resources Minister, he meddled with school text books, to remove and absolve the cold blooded assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, by Hindu fundamentalists. He has now been exposed as the main instigator of fictitious losses to the government by corrupt practices, which is no surprise at all.
There are of course a bigger list of supporters and collaborators, who the mob may search out on a second wave, for reprimand.
Fortunately, the Indian masses probably have never read Shakespeare, especially Julius Creaser. The chances are they will never ever grasp the importance of GDP or the rating agencies.
Article first published as Six Hallowed Indians Who Could be Lynched by a Billion of India's Poor if They Knew Simple Economics. on Technorati.

Six Reasons Why Barack Obama Could Be Another Three Term POTUS In the Making.

2012-11-13T09:41:00.000Z

For those who believe in celestial interventions in affairs on the earth, there were indications of the re election of President Barack Obama and even a third term in office. But for mundane observers, a look at the events to the run up of the presidential election, its conduct and the post election realities raise the question whether Barack Obama will be the next three term president of the U.S. In fact most of the issuesObama is likely to address might need well over a decade to solve and for a determined President too difficult to give up before he achieve.

A taller President.

By achieving the impossible and winning the re election, Barack Obama has grown taller in stature virtually dwarfing almost everyone else, not just in the U.S. but on the world scene.
First, let's remember what Obama did in the first term: he passed the most substantial new element in the American safety net in generations, Obamacare. He helped pass a massive re-regulation of the financial sector, the Dodd-Frank bill. He passed the biggest stimulus package in our history, which I believe--Ezra Klein convinced me of this--prevented the worst economic depression in four generations. He did these things in the first two years, of course, when Democrats controlled Congress, but he did them. They were not chopped liver, whether or not you liked them. Q&As, Washington Post

However, everyone tends to forget the enormity of the unprecedented Post Lehman gloom and doom and impending recession Barack Obama was send out to put right. What is not clear, at least to the rest of the world not familiar with the U.S. politics is the equally massive obstruction he faced from a republican majority in the House.
Add to all of those the spectacular annihilation of the number one enemy of the U.S.A he promised and carried out, matching the incredulity of the 9/11 attack on the nation which has raised the credibility and image of the US and its President as a force not to be taken lightly.
In short the stature of the President has grown beyond that of any of the potential contenders for a long time to come. If President Obama decides to contest a third term, for which he may have plenty of reasons, there won't be many happy contenders.

Unique Bond of a Leader With His Social Web.

The truth is without the social web and its immense and electrifying power the mystery of Obama would never have happened. At least in such a short time. This special bond which shaped before the 2008 election, which owes to his youth and awareness of the potential of the social media to take his message to a young and savvy supporters will be stronger and forceful in imposing an obligation on himself to pursue the reforms and changing of the United States which he had undertaken but not quite finished. This is indeed the bond which has rendered Obama as the only a Super PAC slaying democrat. In fact, there is no leader in either party who can claim anything similar to this phenomenon which will end if Obama decides not to run for a third term. It is hard to see how the democrats will let that happen.

The Fiscal Deficit.
During the Democratic convention Bill Clinton asserted that one term is too short to remedy the fiscal damage created by the previous administration. But he didn't say two terms are sufficient. Even the president estimates a minimum of a decade, that too if he can get on with it unhindered. As it is, with a majority in the house, it is questionable how much he can achieve. But if the electorate can see reason and buy the president's argument to grant him a second term, they are very likely to go with him for a third if the going is good.

Will Hilary? Won't Hilary?
The big question for the next election is who the Democratic Party candidate is going to be. It is said that Hilary Clinton will be the first choice if she will contest. But if she is ready for it, she couldn't have stayed away from the campaign as she did, leaving Bill Clinton to let everyone second guess. If anything, Hilary has sent out the impression of an overworked diplomat who needs some rest and certainly not the sign of some one hungry for the power of the First Woman President of the U.S.A and ready to go for it. Hilary must know that at the age of seventy, putting up your feet is a lot more comfortable than the gruelling chair in the oval office.

Changing Demographics.

The demographic which gave the most support to the Republicans yesterday was elderly white people--not exactly the men and women of tomorrow. The age-group that gave Obama the most support was the young. White people supported Romney more than Obama; the country is becoming steadily less white. African-Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans overwhelmingly supported Obama. Latinos and Asian Americans are the fastest-growing categories of our population.Q&As, Washington Post

Much has been written about the demographic shift in the US electorate which has turned in favour of Obama on account of his policies and the indifference of the GOP. This shift which will widen in the next election will be another compulsion for a obliging and liberal president not to give up too soon.

Shrinking Election Cycle and The Number Crunchers.

If only it was actually 4 years - 2 years is more like it. With so many people making a living talking and writing about politics, we'll be starting the next election cycle in 2 years, max.Q&As, Washington Post

The impact of the social media, social web, and a huge number of people who have taken election related professions which consumed 2 Billion dollars in the recent election, the election cycle has been reduced to a perennial activity for analysts, strategists and others who predict the outcome. In a way, the next election cycle has already begun and an incumbent president becomes part of the cycle. President Obama has to weigh in if his next term will be enough, especially with the republican majority in the house and obvious absence of an able successor, to achieve his goals. Chances are he will see the need for a third term much like President Franklin Roosevelt before him.

For those willing to ponder, there could be any number of subtle signs of a prolonged Presidency of Barack Obama one can't ignore. After all it is not as hard as searching for a needle in the hay stack.

Romantic Destinations À La Mode

2012-11-05T19:54:00.004Z

Marina Bay Sands

An Everlasting Kiss in Guanajuato Callejón del Beso

Once upon a time there two Mexican lovers, Carlos and Ana, who lived in a little town called Guanajuato. They were in love but were forbidden to see each other, as Ana was promised to an old, but rich gentleman. To see Ana, Carlos moved into the apartment across the tiny street where Ana’s balcony and his balcony were so close, they almost literally touched. At night they would reach over and steal kisses until Ana’s father discovered them. In rage, he stabbed his daughter with a knife, and Ana in her last moments crawled to the balcony to kiss Carlos one last time. The legend says, you must go with your beloved to the alley and kiss on the third step to ensure eternal love. Apart from the romance, the city is quite charming, famous for its colonial architecture.

A swim on top of the world in Singapore

Your fear of heights is probably best left at home when it comes to this pool on top of Hotel Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The pool is 200 meters above the ground, on the 57th floor, with a fabulous view over the vibrant city. As the edge of the pool unites with the sky, you should almost feel like you are in heaven surrounded by palm trees cocktails in the arms of your loved one. Perhaps not the cheapest, but definitely one of the most exotic getaways on top of one of the largest and most modern cosmopolitan cities in the world!

An Afternoon Tea of Class in London
Prêt-à-Portea

Enjoy a fashionable Tea at the Berkley Hotel with your beloved. Each season, Prêt-à-Portea is served with cake shaped as the seasons collections, for instance from Jason Wu, or Stella McCartney. The tea is served in with love (lately on Paul Smith plates) at the Caramel Room between 13:00 - 18:00 o’clock. Of course a little shopping trip in London would probably be a perfect activity to end with a tea party. Drink to thee, with thine eyes, in style!

A Bite of Gourmet Goods in Oslo
Palace Grill

The Scandinavian Palace Grill does not exactly sound, or looks like a classy gourmet restaurant, but it is. This little humble but precious pearl serves delicacies of the highest class. There are drinks at the bar, and the wooden and slightly vintage style radiates a warmth perfect for couples. Although reservations are not possible as there is only space for 23 guests, this trendy restaurant is definitely a one of a kind and intimate experience to share with your better half.

Bio: Xenia has a professional experience in the fashion industry and an interest in modern lifestyle and travel. Xenia has a background in Communication and Public Administration and she currently blogs about fashion and lifestyle at the Irish Passion For Fashion and UK Passion For Fashion blogs.

If Sonia Gandhi is the World's Fourth Richest Politician with $ 19 Billion, Why Should Her Son in Law Robert Vadra Steal Peanuts from Mango People? Something Doesn't Quite Add Up Here.

2012-10-08T18:29:00.001+01:00

Sonia Gandhi is 6th in the Forbes list of most powerfulwomen in the world. As per Business Insider, Sonia Gandhi is also the 4th richest politician who has stashed away $19 billion, a litany her political opponents and distracters had been singing ever since the Business Insider Published the list.

Now Robert Vadra, who is married to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi, is being targeted by a group which call themselves 'India Against Corruption' of making some fast bucks in the Indian property market, using his proximity to the Gandhi family.

Fortunately Robert Vadra is a cool guy with some sense of humour, a rare commodity in India, especially among the politicians. He declared through his Facebook account that he can handle the negativity. Then he went on to lament the whole attempt as a ploy by "mango people" in a banana republic, by merely naming his accusers who call themselves "Aam Admi" by its verbatim translation. When he got fed up with all the negativity and the fuss it was creating, he simply closed his Facebook account with a statement:

"Obviously it seems I have people on my Facebook account who do not have a sense of humour. Everything I write becomes news and further debates on television?? I have decided to delete my account."

Unfortunately for Sonia Gandhi, the timing of the whole furore wasn't very good, at least in the southern state of Kerala, which still enjoy and tolerate political satire unlike West Bengal, ruled by the unhingedMamta Banerjee, where any such attempt can land you in jail.

A recent song which has hit the charts with a theme of a mother in law baking buns for her son in law has given rise to inevitable comparison, parodies and cartoons which are doing the rounds on the social media. Though the government of Sonia Gandhi's United Progressive Alliance has tried to curb the excesses on the social media, it looks like an almost impossible task.

At the bottom of the problem is the impunity with which accusations can be hurled at your political opponents in India without sound proof and basis and the irresponsibility of the Media in general in latching on to and sensationalising these charges without editorial or other scrutiny.

It is indeed anybody's guess to work out the money to be made in India by foreign companies to shell out kick backs amounting to $19 billion and check the reality on ground though no one can claim that such corrupt practices, very common elsewhere in the world, was never part of the Indian politics.

In reality, due to various obstructionist steps by allies and political opposition of the government, the foreign investment has trickled down in recent months bringing India's the growth rate down forcing the government to take many unpopular measures. Obviously If Kick back was the norm and could have brought foreign funds there shouldn't have been any dearth of investors.

However, for the Gandhi family, fighting to tear down the mantle of the Bofors affair which brought down the government and popularity of Sonia's martyred Husband Rajiv Gandhi over a lifetime, it is inconceivable to leave any reasons for new accusations.

This doesn't stop the Indian political opposition and media, which can find very little if at all to question the probity of the famous political family of India, to dig for dirt. The dealings between DLF, a struggling real estate multinational in India and Robert Vadra might have been on account of his position in the family, but crucially there is no evidence that DLF has benefited in any way or any undeclared deals.

The United Nations has opined that women leaders of India will help in the emancipation of women in India who undergo a variety of deprivations from rape to discrimination. In reality Sonia Gandhi must be commented for her courage and rectitude to claim her rightful position in the Indian society, fighting bigotryalone in an alien land every hour of the day. This alone makes her real worth greater than the $19 billion she is supposed to have stolen from her compatriots. Though Forbes or Business Insider has not provided proof of Sonia Gandhi's total assets, for anyone interested in her bank balance, there is published informationavailable, which appears to be closer to the truth.

Could the Secret of Romance of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor have been an evening of Sea bas and Sancerre in Swansea?

2012-10-01T19:11:00.000+01:00

They say the April weather is like a woman's heart. But if you have ever been in Wales, where the legendaryRichard Burton was born and later grew up, you know the Welsh weather can be more like the heart ofElizabeth Taylor, his tempestuous queen of the silver screen and real life, who married seven times.

In his diaries yet to be published Richard Burton describes his relationship with Elizabeth:

'I have been inordinately lucky all my life but the greatest luck of all has been Elizabeth'

Richard Burton's Welsh love of language was paramount, as he famously stated years later, with a tearful Elizabeth Taylor at his side, "The only thing in life is language. Not love. Not anything else." Despite his protestations, the romantic episodes in the turbulent life of the legendary couple, on screen and in real life is the stuff History is written about and etched in human psyche.

It is only natural for someone coming from a land of harsh weather, hard work, booze, brawls, music, and rugby and sea food to also imbibe the tempestuous nature of his surroundings in to his character. But could they have also shaped his romantic life?

If you have a brave heart for romance of the kind the legendary Burtons were lucky to experience and if you are willing to take on the Welsh weather, you may find out that Swansea, not far from where Richard Burton was born, can offer what you are after. A truly romantic experience which evens the Burtons might have fallen in love with.

La Braseria can hardly be called a restaurant. It is because it offers you almost everything you expect for a romantic evening, even if you are not prepared for one. It is anything but Welsh except for the romantic city of Swansea in the centre of which it is located. But it has a unique ambiance, a soul which grows vibrant as the evening grows with exotic strains of music and happy and relaxed clientele, selections of fresh food ingredients you can chose from and decide how you want them cooked and the most cavernous of wine collection you can chose from.

In deed, if Richard and Elizabeth could ever return to the earth for a patch up, they will love to spend the evening at La Braseria in Swansea, with a bottle of Sancerre and Sea Bas! So unique and lovely is the experience this famous restaurant can offer that it can unite even departed souls which have fallen apart. No exaggeration!

All you will need is a heart with a romantic disposition and some company to share it with.

Sea Bas and Sancerre and Swansea might not have been the secret ingredients for a exciting romantic evening for Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor when they lived on the Earth, but they would surely want to visit this little secret corner of paradise on the Earth to rekindle their legendary romance, if they could, and kiss and make up.

What do the Stars Foretell for Barack Obama?

2012-09-08T10:34:00.000+01:00

Hey, this is the year of the US Presidential election, a time when the pundits are busy predicting the future for all of us. All sorts of political analysts and political pundits get busy predicting the results of the elections and the future of the candidates. With the evolution of the social web and technology, experts claim that there are much more scientific ways. The accuracy of many of those will surely be tested in this election to be held in under two months.

Then there are also traditional methods of fortune tellers one can dabble in, for a bit of private pleasure and excitement of your own. Barack Obama is running a tight race with his opponent Mitt Romney. The DNC has given his ratings a bump but the latest job data has taken some sheen. So what are the stars holding for him and the future of the United States of America?
Well, unbelievable it may be, President Obama is entering a phase of strongest support from his stars according to the Indian way of star gazing and judging one's future. It may even bestow a third term of Presidency and consequently a steady and prosperous period for the USA.
For Barack Obama, Saturn, according to the Indian calculations, offer maximum support during his life on the Earth. This is because Saturn is the "lord" of his ascendant "house" and bestows it with all strength, support and balance by also positioning in that house at the time of his birth. In fact Saturn gives him strength in at least four ways as per the Indian belief of stars being in control of your life and it's up and downs. Besides this Saturn bestows leadership and good fortune at least seven ways in conjunction with other planets. In fact Saturn is the planet with the highest strength among the entire lot, as per Vedic reckoning in eight ways.
So what is the guarantee that all these portend good times for Obama? Well if all of these have any bearing, it is the right time for them to manifest in his life. As per the Vedic principles, his life has just started a period of Saturn's influence, which should last for the next nineteen years. The logical conclusion is, how can a star, which is supposed to give him maximum support and benefits, take away position in life he has already achieved?
Let us say, for the sake of argument, all this is crap. But a look of the period of sixteen years in his life he just finished is quite compatible with what the Vedic astrology portended! Like Saturn, Jupiter also has strong influence in his life, occupying his ascendant house and bringing all round good fortune during his period. Obama's spectacular ascendancy in to influential position and relative affluence during the last decade, coincided with the period of influence of Jupiter, which he just finished in August, arguable but unbelievable as it can be!
Under the tenants of the Vedic astrology, Saturn is a Guru who removes arrogance, puts you through the real grind of life and bestows that vital balance and wisdom which makes your life meaningful. From the DNC speech of President Obama, it is clear that his most supportive planetary force is already flowing on to the persona of Barack Obama, preparing him for his next presidency.

"While I'm proud of what we've achieved together," Obama told the assembled in Charlotte, "I'm far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant when he said, 'I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go."

Perhaps, the unseen force is acting not just on the next president of the USA, but the world at large, with the breeze of the Arab Spring sweeping across the world, brining a whiff of a more equitable distribution of wealth and social justice, something the incumbents of the White House seem to be standing up for.
Article first published as What do the Stars Foretell for Barack Obama? on Technorati.

Should Obama Do an Invisible Bush Act at the DNC?

2012-09-03T16:20:00.000+01:00

Despite the gloss over Ann Romney tried to give the historic improvisation of Clint Eastwood, who tried to address and insult an invisible Barack Obama who had no way of fefending himself, the Democrats will be eager to pull off something in return at the DNC.
Letting the GOP get away with a piece of stage drama to score a political point against them will be a political sin the democrats can't afford. They can't let the insult go away unpunished like the way the convention managed an important debilitating debate on abortion, which preceded it, to totally disappear from the agenda.
Though it may not be entirely in style for a sitting president, who has already declared that he is no way offended by the episode, to stoop to such silly political theatre, it actually gives Barack Obama a precious chance to defend his records by "Eastwooding" George Bush. After all, Bush, from whom he inherited the economic mess, was conspicuously absent from the RNC to evade having to defend his poor record which would definitely have hurt the claims of the GOP.
George Bush must have evaded the convention under pressure from the GOP, precisely not to remind anyone of his legacy or what the Republicans really did to the US economy in the eight years they were in power. In any case, George Bush couldn't have defended his record convincingly and might have ended up with embarrassing remarks, for which he has a solid record, which might have turned in to the high lights of the convention.
Though George Bush himself was on record about his decision to stay away from the convention, For the GOP itself, who is trying to win back the power in Washington, not being able to hold their ex president in front of the nation, as a guarantee of the rosy state of affairs they promise, is an indefensible weakness.
Whether the political managers of the Democratic Party can see this massive hole in the defence of the GOP and capitalise on it can make a real difference to the message they will transmit from Charlotte in the next few days.
Under normal circumstances any attempt by President Obama and his party to go back several years in history to defend their records would have been torn apart by the GOP as weak defence for incompetence. However, the GOP can no more complain about being unduly attacked if some one will do an "Eastwooding" on any of their leaders as they have publicly praised and justified what the Octogenarian Hollywood icon has enacted during the RNC.
But what will be the best way to delicately tap in to the enormous opportunity must be the thought which has kept the DNC managers sleepless for last week. Obviously a copy cat performance by another celebrity or any of the leaders will be deemed ridiculous and can easily backfire.
Their best bet is President himself, who has time and again proved his entertainer appeal, especially during the White House Correspondents Dinner Speech. Obama has proved not only that he can pull off effective jabs at his political opponents, but that he can do such things convincingly while unbelievably difficult situations like the operation Geronimo was being carried out under his command. President Obama no doubt is as much a theatrical performer as Clint Eastwood is.
It is hard to see that Barack Obama and his political managers will let such an opportunity go untapped. A rebuttal in some form or the other must be expected. It will certainly be one of the high points of the DNC.
In what form and way the president will deliver that will determine the political maturing of Barack Obama.

Article first published as Should Obama Speak to an Invisible George W. Bush at the DNC? on Technorati.

How the Politics of Corruption Will Ensure a Third Term for Dr Man Mohan Singh as India’s Prime Minister.

2012-08-28T15:35:00.003+01:00

Monumental ignorance of its politicians like Akin, Palin, Ryan and Romney, exposed through their statements, shape public opinion and the course of the presidential election in the US.

In India, the ignorance of the electorate and their inability to grasp complex issues, which the political opposition try to capitalise to portray Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh as India's most corrupt leader, are likely to get him elected for a third term, despite his reticence to fend off unethical and motivated charges of corruption.

In all fairness, the eighty years old Singh, who boosted India's growth rate by bold fiscal action and little ado, must be looking forward to a quiet life at the end of his term ending in 2014. However, the bizarre Indian "politics of allegations of corruption" is shaping and fostering a third term of incumbency on this reluctant economist, who the rest of the world look towards as a Guru and an honest man.

This favour will be done to him by the BJP, the main political opposition to the Congress party headed bySonia Gandhi. The BJP tried to portray the soft spoken Singh as a "weak Prime Minister" by personal attacks in the last election and failed miserably to convince the "ignorant" Indians who promptly elected him and his party for a second term.

However the BJP refuses to learn from the experience and has mounted another campaign, asking for the resignation of Dr Singh on allegations of favouring private investors, hoping to force and benefit from an early election. This time their ploy is based on a disputed report of India's Comptroller and Auditor General, who has a penchant to interpret Government's policy decisions as reasons for assumed loss of billions of dollars.

Dr Singh himself is to blame for his plight. It was his brave admission, as India's finance minister that the country was nearly bankrupt and can't survive without opening its markets to foreign investment, and his bold fiscal steps which lead to the recent spurt in growth of the Indian economy.

This growth has lead to unprecedented demand for electric power and the need to expedite mining of vast resources of coal required to generate power, the same logic behind his push for the nuclear deal.

His government's attempts to expedite the availability of coal by auctioning the mines which hit legal obstacles and objection from states owning the mines, have lead to the new accusations of presumptive losses and corruption, which Dr Singh has contested with strong defence, politically supported by Sonia Gandhi and her Congress party.

However, despite the smear campaign of the BJP, like the complicated nuclear deal, which was the contentious issue projected against Dr Singh in the last election, the subject of alleged corruption in spectrum distribution and coal mining will have little bearing on the voting priorities of rural India. The majority of the Indian population can hardly understand the complicated issues or really bother about them. For example, A Raja, a minister accused and sent to Jail in the 2G spectrum case was actually received with adoration by huge masses of his electorate, on his return from the imprisonment.

Recently, the party of Jagan Mohan Reddy of the state of Andhra Pradesh, who was actually in jail over land deal scams, won several seats in the assembly elections. The party of Mulayam Singh Yadav of the state of Uttar Pradesh, an accused in several corruption cases, won a landslide victory in the state elections. As far as corruption is concerned, the more the better is the norm in India.

If Jesus was alive today he couldn't have safely challenged the 1.3 billion people of India to cast a stone on anyone corrupt. He would have to argue with them because an average Indian can't see the corruption they willingly live with. From the dirty money they deal with on a day to day basis for a rail ticket to the education, employment, and the dowry for their children, every Indian is guilty of corruption in some form or the other. But Jesus would be lucky if he could make any honest Indian to admit it.

Frankly, the Indians are merely jealous about the huge sums they think some other Indian is making which they themselves can't lay their hands on. In fact the state Governments run by BJP are facing corruption charges in land deals and mining. Taking the "presumptive" accounting of the CAG of India, the BJP and the opposition would like to convince the Indians that Dr Singh has looted them an astounding 40 billion USD without an iota of shame.

So far the BJP's gamble has not only failed but also has in fact increased the credibility of Dr Singh, with massive support from the party president Sonia Gandhi. Whether Dr Singh is willing or not, fighting the current allegation of corruption has become his call, foisting him as the best candidate for the position of the Prime Minister after the next election.

The demand of the BJP for the resignation of Dr Singh is not supported by its own coalition partners or the left front. If anything, the recent massive power failures, which all Indians can understand, will only increase the urgency and demand to produce the required coal by any means and vindicate the government's action.

A Disgusting and Macabre Chinese Journey.

2012-08-24T07:30:00.002+01:00

Do people blog about disgusting and macabre dreams? I don't know. Here is something to cheer you up! My next book titled "Merchant of Macabre Dreams" is ready for writing. All I need is someone with the heart of little Alice, ready to be awed and terrified, someone who can't get up alone in the night for a wee. Curious? Dial M for Macabre Dreams.

It is really huge and crowded. I am inside some sort of a rail terminal with huge rounded roof but all very dark inside, amidst milling crowd of being who resemblance humans. Don't know if I am coming or going. Where to? Where from? No idea. Well, perhaps not much to write home about a dream. After all Chinese rail stations must be really crowded like anywhere in the world.
This is intriguing. I must be in a star hotel, in a lobby with high ceiling, heavily ornate wooden panels all around, smartly dressed hotel staff busily busying around amidst huge plants, greenery and fountains. Nothing unusual except I have no idea about which one it was. I have never stayed in a Chinese hotel or been to China.
This is the disgusting part. I am searching for something frantically. Though I feel being in a room I can still see the hotel staff and greenery around me. I am pulling off empty draws one after the other for whatever I was searching. Now you won't believe this. Suddenly, I am reliving myself in one of the draws I just pulled out. I can't believe it either. My very own s*** in a clean white draw with some of the hotel staff around me looking at it. I can't think of or remember their expression. Some of the girls were definitely giggling.
This is where it gets really exciting! I am in a bath room, standing under a really lavish warm shower. I look up and realise that there is no shower head. In fact the shower is pouring across from bath room next to mine, over a frosted glass wall. Suddenly, I notice through the glass the outlines of what looked like a female human body, covered in lather. Wow! Am I not lucky for a bonus gift from the hotel?
Well, not exactly. Suddenly the shower recedes and the body reaches out for a towel and wipe to reveal, what was more likely a male figure. Not very exciting, at least for me!
This is the macabre bit. All I know is that I am running down a hill leaving the tall building of the hotel amidst a lot of others, from a silhouette which looked like a busy down town. I have jumped inside a waiting bus. Now I look for an empty seat. This is where it gets really horrible. All I can see are strange human bodies with huge disfigured faces with waves of massive yellow wrinkles. Quite frightening! I move from body to body trying to jump out of the bus, with no success. Frankly there was nothing Chinese about this nerve shacking experience.
Perhaps my dream has very scientific explanation. I don't know. May be some one can throw some light.

Will Harvard Boy Chidambaram Make India The Promised Land Again for American Business?

2012-08-10T18:33:00.001+01:00

There are ways to test the worth of things. But the means of real tests are always harsh and bruising like the touchstone on which you rub your gold nugget to see if it is genuine. For Harvard, the proof of the pudding is when its alumni get roasted in the harshest ovens of real life business and come out shining.

Palaniyappan Chidambaram, an alumnus of Harvard, is about to prove his worth with another stint as India's Finance Minister. But in his case, his nemesis and his biggest distracter is also an ex professor of Harvard, Dr Subramanian Swamy.

The problem is that, to gain the confidence of foreign investors, Chidambaram has to find ways to arrest and reverse the powerful negative trend in India's growth which has ended up in a yawning gap in the nation's fiscal balance and high inflation, left behind by his predecessor and the new Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. Perhaps this was also the main reason behind the decision of the UPA leadership to project Pranab Mukherjee as the presidential candidate.

Moreover, since his last stint, despite the confidence of the political leadership he enjoys and repeatedly publicly proclaimed by the Prime Minister, Chidambaram is confronted with a variety of allegations from electoral tinkering to corruption.

While being the country's Finance Minister, Chidambaram has also to fight off extreme political attacks and damaging allegations of corruption, pending legal scrutiny in the courts, which Dr Swamy and the main opposition BJP are spearheading, making his task really daunting for any politician.

To be fair to Chidambaram, he has already been credited with some convincing reforms to India's archaic investment framework during his stint as the Finance Minister during the previous government of the United Progressive alliance of Sonia Gandhi.

Though Chidambaram had to leave the position in the Finance Ministry with an unfinished agenda in the wake of the 9/11 Mumbai Terror attack to take over the Home Ministry, at the behest of the party leadership, unfortunately, no one gives him the credit for stabilizing the country's governance and internal security with swift and decisive actions. Like everywhere good acts in politics have no rewards in India too.

However the impressive measures of modernisation and reforms he undertook as the finance minister is much recognised by the foreign and Indian business community.

In fact this is the main reason why the sentiment of foreign investors has been boosted raising the NIFTY a couple of hundred points since his elevation, from the beginning of the month, as the Finance Minister by the Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh.

Though the political baggage he has to carry is making his task of putting the country's economy back on track extremely hard, his task is in fact not only important for India and its future but is vital for the survival of the UPA and its success in the elections to be held in 2014.

It is this imperative against which Chidambaram's mettle being tested which makes his actions and steps so vital to the world investors looking for successful business in India. It looks like the UPA leadership has realised that it is time for decisive action if the government has to expect another term after the next elections. This will certainly strengthen the hands of the new Finance Minister, giving hope to the investors in India and abroad.

However, a host of other issues from land reforms to mining and power generation which are outside of the Finance Minister's control also need to be sorted out on extremely high priority, which will decide Chidambaram's success in turning the economy around.

So far, it looks like Chidambaram has been successful in boosting the sentiments by quick and decisivemeasures and steps everyone has appreciated. Whether he will be able to carry through the political anarchy which modern India is turning in to through the so called civil society and anti corruption movement of Anna Hazare and others is a matter to see.

If what Harvard instilled in the Finance Minister by his education will stand him in his seemingly gargantuan tasks of being decisive and taking assertive actions in the face of furious opposition, the world famous university can really be proud.

Three Scary Stories of Love and Romance In a Week Which Could Make You Lose Your Sleep.

2012-08-08T19:40:00.001+01:00

Have you ever been unable to sleep a whole night after hearing about real but mysterious stories of love andromance? Well, if they have ended in tragic, scary andinexplicable death, you can feel more intrigued and sleepless than sorry.

At least half of India in fact is sleepless over three stories involving beautiful and successful women and powerful ministers. So if you are of a romantic kind and death is not something you like to think very much about, please don't read further, unless you want to lose some sleep.
Though the Olympics and the Wisconsin Gurudwara shooting dominated the world media, the Indian Media is abuzz with three intriguing and unsettling stories of tragedy involving, money, power and love which tragically took the lives of three beautiful, young ladies.
It is indeed very unsettling that all three have been found dead in apparent situations of suicide, yet leaving enough room for being cases of suspicious death which makes you sad but annoyingly inquisitive too. What is really unsettling is the fact that all three were highly educated with very promising careers making one on wonder what exactly in their private lives lead them to such horrible plight.
Interestingly, the social web, with its army of active participants who discuss everything and anything threadbare that appear in the media with immense imagination, make the stories much more intriguing. Very often, as in the case of these stories with very little factual information in the media and in public domain, such discussions end up in character assassination of the diseased, without any chance for the poor souls to defend themselves.

Looking at the number of comments posted on this article, I come to realise that India has a huge pool of talented writers who can create so many different reasons and scenarios for a case which neither our forensic experts nor our police department can envision or solve!!!!

Neelima, a twenty-seven year old software engineer and lead, employed by the IT major INFOSYS at a site in Tampa, USA, was on holidays in India for three weeks. For mysterious reasons, she walked one night in to the high security campus of her employer in Hyderabad, where she used to work before, and jumped off from the tenth storey car park to her tragic death.
This is how some one among her tribe of Indian techies which dominate the comment threads on Indian News sites with all sorts of bizarre explanations, opinions and comments summarise the story.

The news is already all over Telugu channels: 1.Reason to come to Infosys campus was to email and call boyfriend from quiet place. 2. Reason to come so late in the night is because of time difference between India and USA. 3. Boyfriend is P.B. from Cognizant in Tampa, Florida. 4. She was more eager than boyfriend. Boyfriend did not want to marry as he was getting free milk, so why buy the cow? 5. After boyfriend said clear no, she wrote to him saying hope we will be together in next Janma and killed herself.

In another tragic story, Fiza, a beautiful 39 year old lawyer and wife of an ex state minister, whose love affair and marriage became headline story in the Indian media a few years back, was found dead in a decomposed state in her own bed, apparently after several days after she died.
The love component of this story is so unbelievably strong. Fiza, and her husband Chandra Mohan the son of a powerful chief minister of the state of Haryana who was already married, both born Hindus, converted to Islam so that he could legally live with a second wife.
That was before the minister, who couldn't stand the separation from his first wife, went back to her leaving Fiza a Muslim and now dead. There is no clarity, in an ongoing investigation if Fiza was murdered.
In yet another ongoing story involving another Haryana minister Kanda and another beautiful young lady who recently committed suicide, Geetika, an airhostess has accused her lover of harassment in her suicide note.
What is really intriguing and makes you lose your sleep, just in case you are stoic for some reason and not emotionally disturbed by the tragedy of it all, is the question how well educated career women could end their lives like this.
In all three cases, it is mind boggling as to why the women couldn't stand up to the situations and seek appropriate help which is surely available in modern India.
The incidents are covered in mystery and ambiguity as there were no suicide notes found and made public at least in two cases. In the case of air hostess Geetika, it is the suicide note itself which is the bone of contention, as she has allegedly received material help from her lover in her education and career when she was alive, making her allegations of harassment questionable.
In any case it is the shoddy and unprofessional police work in India, with poor knowledge of the importance of collecting, preserving and using forensic evidence, which make these cases more mysterious than they actually are.