tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272503342024-03-09T04:37:09.935+05:30World of India!Fire at will.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger297125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-8093925781659023292011-01-30T23:01:00.006+05:302011-01-30T23:09:27.333+05:30Holy Cow !...Comes close, watches and walks off!...Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhJEeDZ5I/AAAAAAAABLo/gZ4TvGOmf44/s1600/Image212.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568033691504174994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhJEeDZ5I/AAAAAAAABLo/gZ4TvGOmf44/s320/Image212.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhXdNAyfI/AAAAAAAABL4/hxL8qlN8EWQ/s1600/Image214.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568033938661755378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhXdNAyfI/AAAAAAAABL4/hxL8qlN8EWQ/s320/Image214.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhPqUAACI/AAAAAAAABLw/DYDXGYra9Xk/s1600/Image213.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568033804741771298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhPqUAACI/AAAAAAAABLw/DYDXGYra9Xk/s320/Image213.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhcVZmygI/AAAAAAAABMA/l5PDPfj9OXA/s1600/Image215.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568034022466439682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/TUWhcVZmygI/AAAAAAAABMA/l5PDPfj9OXA/s320/Image215.jpg" border="0" /></a></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-19025665681853643522009-01-03T10:10:00.002+05:302009-01-03T10:12:42.504+05:30Life detector test- January 2009Just checking to see if I am still alive in January 2009 :)<div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-89410088653933343272007-09-27T17:33:00.000+05:302007-09-27T17:56:00.291+05:30Bangalore's very own magnificent potholesYou have read about me cribbing about Bangalore traffic in the preceding posts. The state of roads in Bangalore does not make matters any easier. Some one has now come with an idea to photograph potholes in various areas in Bangalore (www.bangalorepotholes.com). You can even search on your area to have a good look at the potholes you wade your way through on a daily basis! Splendid!<br /><br />But i doubt if this site can succeed in its aim of shaming the local government into improving the state of affairs. These guys have a hide thats tougher than a rhino and given that Bangalore has been categorized as an A1 status city now by the Central govt., resulting in a fat increase in the allowances of the officials responsible for the infrastructure, this hide is likely to get thicker still.<br /><br />But the effort has to be lauded. My only suggestion is that the site could do with a option which will enable a reader to rate the best pothole in the city!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-52046427306986686992007-09-24T16:11:00.000+05:302007-09-24T16:16:00.796+05:30Bakwas BayleafBangalore is full of people and commercial establishments who think that their only calling in life is to plunder and pillage all those who work in the I.T sector. They have this quaint notion that we make money by the sack full and therefore are legitimate targets.<br /><br />The people who run <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Bayleaf</span> restaurant in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Koramangala</span> belong to such a breed. They have become inspired by this thought so much lately, that they decided to run a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Goan</span> food festival. Since, I am a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Goan</span> from my mothers’ side, I could naturally not resist and decided that this was an opportunity that was hard to miss.<br /><br />1 fish curry, 1 fried fish, 1 steamed rice and 1 beer later – I realized that the only item worth eating is the steamed rice and the Kingfisher beer. If this is what passes for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Goan</span> fish curry, even the fish in the curry would have been disgusted. The fish fry did not have a trace of the famous <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Goan</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Reichado</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">masala</span>. But the management must be given full marks for being ambitious. Each item on the menu is priced above Rs.200/- taking the sum total of my misery to Rs.850 off, excluding the tip.<br /><br />To their eternal misfortune the captain presented me a feedback form, which I duly used to massacre the food and the chef. To the captains’ credit, he sent over the chef to meet me and discuss the shortcomings, but that did not help my wallet regain its original size, of course.<br /><br />Such is life!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-85166454846512607922007-09-19T21:23:00.000+05:302007-09-19T21:29:19.662+05:30Inexplicable...One of the charms of living in India is to discover that people from the most religious state in India-Tamil Nadu- have elected a chief minsiter who is a confirmed athiest and questions the very core of their beliefs about their religion day in and day out.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-47215923958827754582007-09-01T11:05:00.000+05:302007-09-01T11:24:30.802+05:30Bang Bang Bangalore !I am in Bangalore now since the past 2-3 months and have had enough time in the city to start spouting opinions on it like a water fountain : )<br /><br />To start with , Bangalore is not as hot as many <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Bangaloreans</span> want people to believe. The traffic has gone out of control and that is the single biggest factor driving everyone in this city mad. Things might improve when all the road building projects end- but don't pin your hopes too much on this too happen over the next 2-3 years. Parking spaces are few and far between and parking tickets everywhere are <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">exorbitant</span> (Rs.20-30). Its unaffordable even for us IT guys whom local <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">bangaloreans</span> think of as spoilt rich. So I wonder how the locals cope with these nonsensical rates.<br /><br />Eating out is very expensive. Rentals are <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">exorbitant</span>- even in the outskirts and this is the only city where petrol station attendants in almost all stations will try to rob car drivers silly by playing all kinds of tricks. On the latter, I can write a book. In fact these days i am <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">beginning</span> to enjoy the battle of wits with these tricksters. The Chennai auto wallah contagion of total lawlessness has finally caught on with the Bangalore auto wallah and they are now vying with their Chennai counterparts for the top spot in terms of fleecing passengers (Chennai <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">autowallahs</span> still lead the race, but only marginally.) Road rage has become a hazard due to the traffic problems and going by the way a couple of my neighbours have behaved recently, it seems that traffic is making <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">bangaloreans</span> more and more intemperate even at their homes. And then, Bangalore goes on a curfew at 11:00 pm with all eating places shutting down. For people like me who have to stay late at office often, its a big spoiler.<br /><br />The only solace in Bangalore is the weather. Its almost always pleasant and on this count Bangalore beats any big city in India, hands down.<br /><br />But man can't live on weather alone (old jungle saying)...what say?<div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-2141698825655790802007-06-09T14:21:00.000+05:302007-06-09T14:26:04.344+05:30This Blog is not dead, Yet!<span style="font-family:georgia;">Where is this blog <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">disappeared</span>? We will be back <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">after</span> a short commercial break...</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-46199072560479188242007-04-28T09:38:00.000+05:302007-09-01T11:05:43.212+05:30National Anthem in Multiplexes in India - Teacher, leave us kids alone !<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Since a few years now, I have noticed a new trend when I go to watch the movies. Just before the movie starts the Mngt. "requests'" you to stand and pay your respects while they play the national anthem in the movie hall, just before the movie starts. This trend is true in almost all multiplexes in Mumbai and a few in Pune. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Now, no one will shy away from singing his own national anthem, but surely there is a time and a place for everything? What this drive amounts to is forcing people (since there is no choice but to stand up once a anthem is played, without that action signifying a dis-respect to the anthem, <a href="http://vikramchauhan.com/article.asp?storyid=33">although Vikram Chauhan would dispute that</a>) into displaying their love for their nation, when they have come to enjoy a movie. More importantly why do we as a nation feel the urge that our citizens have to repeatedly publicly proclaim and display the respect to the nation? Why can't our minders let us decide when we want to pay our respects to the nation and in what form? Its as if the powers that be have decided that the masses are a idiotic lot who don't have the heart & brains to decide this and therefore come up with this silly diktat. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">At a broader level, nationalism and its jingoistic display is something that is becoming a feature of India and Indians. While at one end we have a whole bunch of people who have a massive inferiority complex about all things Indian, on the other side we have a equally idiotic bunch who see India as the be all and end all in everything on this planet ("ah, planes? we discovered it thousands of years ago! Nuclear bombs? Cmon, India discovered the Brahmstra as early as in the age of Mahabharata!). In the past decade or so, the much lauded 9% growth rate and the emergence of India in the mind space of the world at large, has given much ammunition to a display of nationalistic sentiment which is more often than not crass, rather than a genuine display of affection and respect for India and its culture. In reality, it stems from an inferiority complex about India and is an attempt to conquer this feeling of inadequacy with a desire to distinguish oneself through the concrete achievements of other fellow Indians on the world stage or even the much more abstract- 9% growth rate.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">There is a thin line between being patriotic and being nationalistic. Charles De Gaulle defined this rather well when he said " Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first. "</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">So when people pay respects to the nation and its culture of their own accord, it can be safely described as positive love. But when some one in the political leadership forces people to display such a respect, invading and not taking into consideration the context of time and space in which these people are, surely this is nothing but nationalism?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Einstein once famously castigated nationalism as an infantile disease and a measles of mankind.Going by recent evidence, it seems that the authorities, have decided that they want more of this disease shoved down our throats.</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-73100041761544737232007-04-12T22:50:00.000+05:302007-04-13T09:40:26.500+05:30BCCI: The story of shifting blames and scapegoats<span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" >Reason, fairness and willingness to take a loss sportingly are already absent from the Indian cricket fan’s dictionary. Add to that the post mortem masala being cooked up by an incompetent board – and I sometimes wonder if the World Cup debacle is not something we thoroughly deserved.</span><p style="font-family: georgia;"></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> Fact is that team leadership and management was an utter failure, as evident from the first round exit in the World Cup. But how can we accept that the high and mighty have failed. So it’s time to play spin doctor. Let’s try to create false causes to hide the real reasons for failure – by highlighting rifts among seniors, trying to single out individuals like Tendulkar and Ganguly and so on. The first question anyone should ask is – why was there a rift in the team? Isn’t it the leadership’s failure if there is a rift? It’s the leadership’s responsibility to foster team spirit so that it doesn’t affect performance. Rift or not, you got to win some matches. </span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Another thing that’s being heard on and off is Ganguly’s performance. This kind of a farce probably can only happen in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>, when a performing player is questioned in order to cover up the mess of the stakeholders trying to protect their rattling positions. A number of naïve fans are trying to blame his strike rate for the loss. These arguments have absolutely no basis. Without Ganguly, the losses would have been more embarrassing. The loss to <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region></st1:place> wasn’t because of his run rate. <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> was reeling at 50 with 4 down. You don’t expect a player to hit at that time in a seaming wicket. One can similarly argue that <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> lost because Dravid failed to score against BD. He should have played a captains knock when much needed. If he could contribute would have posted a bigger total and have a much better chance of victory. That crucial loss to <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> was what cost the berth to Super 8. Such reasoning however is as illogical as questioning Ganguly’s strike rate. Cricket is a team sport. Trying to single out individuals is a sign of foolishness, and doesn’t deserve any attention. Individuals sure carry their teams but at the end of the day, it’s teamwork that matters. And teamwork doesn’t happen in just one match or because of the performance of one player on a particular day. It’s something that gels over time, out of the team’s character, out of capable leadership. Rahul Dravid is a top class cricketer but an inept captain. And this is in no offense to the great player. But a captain needs to be a better man manager. If you can’t bond your team together you’re not fit to lead. And what does BCCI do? Reward a failed captain with another term. And besides, did we ever acknowledge that BD played superbly that day and thoroughly deserved to win?</span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> Chappell should have been released right away, instead of giving him an opportunity to resign, which the wily old fox was clever enough to do anyway. Not only is he a bad mentor, he’s also an incompetent coach, trying to save his skin after the debacle. Now Chappell’s worthless post mortem is being glorified like a gift from above. Not only that, BCCI is sucking up to him to be some kind of counselor to <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s cricket. Who wants a losers’ opinion? You had your chance. You failed. Just leave. We don’t want excuses or reasons.</span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"> </p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p face="georgia" style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Then — the great Senior/Junior nonsense: This is another BS being cooked up to cover up the real causes for failure. What senior/junior? You perform – you play. Just as you inspire — you lead. You win as a team and also lose sometimes. When we win, no one says that we won because seniors played well. It’s just as stupid as it sounds. And all that hoopla about bringing in fresh blood is a pack of rubbish as well. Just take a look at the other seniors in the World Cup – Ponting, Jayasuria, Muralitharan and so on. Perhaps their boards don’t care about such political classifications as much. </span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> <span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">And now BCCI is treating cricketers like school kids. Cutting down on endorsements, questioning players about talking to the media, deducting match fees for farting aloud in Chappell’s presence (okay, I made that up). Does anyone think that it will boost their morale and help them play better? If anyone’s questionable, it’s the captain and the coach.</span></p><div style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: left; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"> BCCI needs to address the real causes in order to improve performance. The team is fine. There’s already great talent and potential. What’s missing is the teamwork to bring it forth. And what’s needed is a change in leadership. Not shifting the blame on scapegoats. I, for one, am looking forward to the breakaway league being proposed by Zee TV boss Subhash Chandra – if that forces the corrupt bureaucrats of BCCI out of their high and mighty horses.</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" ><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;">Rufee</span></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Rufeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06034807751407793154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-32112226373068826512007-04-12T18:56:00.001+05:302007-04-12T19:13:59.376+05:30Iraq War collateral damage: Bush, Blair, Wolfowitz,Karl Rove and Scooter Libby<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard when it comes to people who played a key role in bringing about the Iraq war on, as it turned out, trumped up charges of attempting to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and collision with Al-</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:georgia;">Qaida</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">First it was Dick Cheney's chief aide-Lewis 'Scooter' Libby - who went so far ahead to obstruct justice and make false statements to a CIA operative's identity leak. Kaarl Rove, Bush's closest advisor has been accused of initiating the leak, angered by the fact that the operative's (Valerie Plame) husband- a Congressman- had wrote a report indicting </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:georgia;">USA's</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> involvement into the Iraq War. He was found guilty of obstruction of justice and is now firmly in the dock.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Then it was Dick Cheney himself, who although dis-credited for his hawkish role in the Iraq War, went on to be lampooned nationally and a favourite target to take jibes at (even by his own President) for shooting a friend (</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:georgia;">accidently</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">) during a hunting expedition.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The President is also wounded mortally as far as his approval ratings are concerned. No President has had ratings this low for such a long time and who is reviled so widely internationally.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">His friend across the Atlantic,Tony Blair, is nursing his wounds for not realizing his life ambition for leaving a legacy and a place in the history books as a man who brought about a lasting change in the U.K's political climate and thinking. A few weeks ago, he got a taste of how unpopular he has become , after he was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-family:georgia;">fiercely</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> attacked for preaching about the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-family:georgia;">effects</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> of Global warming while enjoying a 'carbon saturated' vacation across the Atlantic himself.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">And now we have Paul </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="font-family:georgia;">Wolfowitz</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, the current head of the World Bank,who is c</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/12wbank.htm">aught with his pants down</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, after ordering a huge </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="font-family:georgia;">pay hike</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to his own girl friend in the World Bank.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="font-family:georgia;">Hmmm</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">...collateral damage, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="font-family:georgia;">wat</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">?</span></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-1691760169070991242007-04-12T18:56:00.000+05:302007-04-12T19:12:33.971+05:30Iraq War collateral damage: Bush, Blair, Wolfowitz,Karl Rove and Scooter LibbySkeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard when it comes to people who played a key role in bringing about the Iraq war on, as it turned out, trumped up charges of attempting to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and collision with Al-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Qaida</span>.<br /><br />First it was Dick Cheney's chief aide-Lewis 'Scooter' Libby - who went so far ahead to obstruct justice and make false statements to a CIA operative's identity leak. Kaarl Rove, Bush's closest advisor has been accused of initiating the leak, angered by the fact that the operative's (Valerie Plame) husband- a Congressman- had wrote a report indicting <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">USA's</span> involvement into the Iraq War. He was found guilty of obstruction of justice and is now firmly in the dock.<br /><br />Then it was Dick Cheney himself, who although dis-credited for his hawkish role in the Iraq War, went on to be lampooned nationally and a favourite target to take jibes at (even by his own President) for shooting a friend (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">accidently</span>) during a hunting expedition.<br /><br />The President is also wounded mortally as far as his approval ratings are concerned. No President has had ratings this low for such a long time and who is reviled so widely internationally.<br /><br />His friend across the Atlantic is nursing his wounds for not realizing his life ambition for leaving a legacy and a place in the history books as a man who brought about a lasting change in the U.K's political climate and thinking. A few weeks ago, he got a taste of how unpopular he has become , after he was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">fiercely</span> attacked for preaching about the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">effects</span> of Global warming while enjoying a 'carbon saturated' vacation across the Atlantic himself.<br /><br />And now we have Paul <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Wolfowitz</span>, the current head of the World Bank,who is c<a href="http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/12wbank.htm">aught with his pants down</a>, after ordering a huge <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">pay hike</span> to his own girl friend in the World Bank.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Hmmm</span>...collateral damage, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">wat</span>?<div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-19233989900741650122007-04-07T17:52:00.000+05:302007-04-07T21:10:03.693+05:30Pay for performance for the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI)?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI's</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> press conference could have passed off for comedy today were it not such a tragedy. Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:georgia;">Srinivasan</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, the boss of India Cements, who is also a Board member held the conference. The gist of his conference was as follows, although the bulk of the conference was him saying "you </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:georgia;">seeeee</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">"....all comments in the brackets are mine.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">1. Cricket is just a game and winning or loosing is part of the game. (Thanks - we never could have guessed.)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">2. No- cricketers endorsing brand has got nothing to do with our defeat in the ICC World Cup, but yes, we want them to reduce the number of endorsements still. (Don't ask me by what logic. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-family:georgia;">Srinivasan</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> could have answered this with a minute long "You </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-family:georgia;">seee</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">"......plus </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="font-family:georgia;">Srinivasan's</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> India Cements employs Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="font-family:georgia;">Rahul</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="font-family:georgia;">Dravid</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- so one assumes that this endorsement would also stand cancelled , of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="font-family:georgia;">Dravid</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> decides not to keep it in his list of 3 endorsements?)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">3. Sweeping changes in pitches, selection, ex-captains consultative committee, domestic cricket to be strengthened - blah blah blah ( </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="font-family:georgia;">ok</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="font-family:georgia;">Guiness</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> book of records has just been </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="font-family:georgia;">shattered</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> for some one making announcements without implementing the decision.Congrats Mr. </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="font-family:georgia;">Srinivasan</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">4. No </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="font-family:georgia;">groupism</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="font-family:georgia;">found</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in West Indies. Everything </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="font-family:georgia;">wass</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> hunky dory and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="font-family:georgia;">players</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> were in good nick (then why did u loose? You </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" style="font-family:georgia;">seeeeeeee</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> , cricket is JUST a game, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="font-family:georgia;">stupido</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">So the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> has come down </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" style="font-family:georgia;">heavily</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> on the income of players while retaining the right to make obscene sums of money, while </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" style="font-family:georgia;">displaying</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> no commitment to its OWN performance. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">How about 'Pay per Performance' for the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> instead and also limit on the max. number of endorsements/ sponsorships for the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, since they are the biggest cause of our failure? </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">" You </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" style="font-family:georgia;">seeeeeee</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">........"</span></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-82175634381231188382007-04-07T08:34:00.000+05:302007-04-07T21:11:23.519+05:30BVP,AFMC,VIT, Trees on Fire - Rock on !<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Yesterday a friend of mine invited me to join him to watch a Rock Music competition at ABC farms, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:georgia;">Pune</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">. The contest was organized by a newly launched print Youth Magazine called '</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:georgia;">Poora Poona'.</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Me and my friend chatted with </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:georgia;">Sameer</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-family:georgia;">Agarwal</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, the live wire behind the effort, who lamented that Rock Music in general is very purely supported by corporates and finding sponsors had been a very tough job indeed.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Be as it may, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-family:georgia;">Sameer</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> and his team put up a fantastic show to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="font-family:georgia;">conduct</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> '</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="font-family:georgia;">Dhwani</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">'07' they way they did. This is going to be a bi-annual event. So watch out guys.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">To the contest itself- there were 4 bands who played. Teams from </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="font-family:georgia;">VIT</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> college of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="font-family:georgia;">Engineering</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="font-family:georgia;">Bharati</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="font-family:georgia;">Vidyapeeth</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, Armed Forces Medical College (</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="font-family:georgia;">AFMC</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">) and one of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="font-family:georgia;">Pune's</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> most famous rock bands- Trees on Fire </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="font-family:georgia;">participated</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in the contest. I was surprised by the depth of talent in almost all the bands. While the teams from </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="font-family:georgia;">VIT</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="font-family:georgia;">and</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="font-family:georgia;">AFMC</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> did well, the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" style="font-family:georgia;">BVP</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> band stood apart by the way they were able to play as a single unit. 'Trees on Fire' of course was of course leagues ahead of them all...</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="font-family:georgia;">Randheer</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="font-family:georgia;">Dange</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> on drums, Robin and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" style="font-family:georgia;">Sundar</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> on the Guitar, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" style="font-family:georgia;">Sharad</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> on the vocals were all outstanding. When it comes to Rock bands the other bands should learn that its not just about how you sing and play- but also about how you perform these creative acts as a 'group'. Most importantly, a band needs to have that very undefinable of qualities which ' Tees on Fire' had in loads and that was the single most important thing all the other bands lacked, by an equal measure. For Chris sakes, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" style="font-family:georgia;">AFMC</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" style="font-family:georgia;">BVP</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> appeared on stage wearing loosened up ties...! This is the 21st century folks, pl throw the ties out : )</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">After 7 good years I was in a place with so many youngsters and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" style="font-family:georgia;">watching</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> them all deliriously happy- flirting, dancing, drinking, smoking and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" style="font-family:georgia;">abusing</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> each other playfully- it was easy to go back in time, when we roughly did the same old things, in the same old way. There was something truly beautiful about the way these people were enjoying themselves so naturally and just watching it, made me feel good about many things.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">After the concert me and my friend decided to check out </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" style="font-family:georgia;">Pune's</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> most authentic Iranian restaurant -</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" style="font-family:georgia;">Nunoz</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- but that's a tale for some other time. </span></span><br />Poona '.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-7218260476961735262007-04-03T18:21:00.000+05:302007-04-03T19:11:09.047+05:30Subhash Chandra's India Cricket League - prepare your janampatri's : )<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:georgia;">Subhash</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Chandra of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:georgia;">Zee</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Television in India has just announced a parallel DOMESTIC cricket league. I was watching the press conference, on T.V., where he announced the formation of the new'India Cricket League' as it will be called.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">If the press conference is anything to go by, things are going to be entertaining in the India Cricket League. Chandra's rambling speech began by reciting a couple of jokes on the performance of the Indian Cricket team, one of which was slightly risque' but none got any laughs from the audience. Chandra then went on to narrate how the players in his team would be "scientifically" trained. "Sports Medicine would be introduced for the first time in the country"....hmmm......first time? He even explained what sports medicine is to the hapless journos ,who had no option but to nod. More initiatives? Every detail about the player would be maintained in a database....his performance record, his medical record...yoga, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:georgia;">vipasana</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">...psychologists, mentors....</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-family:georgia;">bhah</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-family:georgia;">bhah</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="font-family:georgia;">bhah</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, you get the idea.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">All of which sounds great. Although Chandra made it clear that he won't challenge the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI's</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="font-family:georgia;"> </span> authority when it comes to who will represent the country abroad (as if he has a choice! The</span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> is the only body accredited with the ICC and right now, the ICC won't let Chandra knock on their HQ doors in Dubai much less discuss anything with him, right now) and even said that the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> is free to draw from his pool of players for international matches- its clear that he won't hesitate to slowly take over this privilege that the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> enjoys, if he can help it. This is sweet news to the average Indian fan, since the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> is a body that desperately needs to be challenged, so that the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="font-family:georgia;">fatcats</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="font-family:georgia;">BCCI</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> are kept on their toes. For much too long they have enjoyed a unchallenged sway over vast resources and influence with no accountability to the sport and performance.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />Chandra;s own record at managing his company professionally though, is not very good. He is known to be a swashbuckling </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="font-family:georgia;">entrepreneur</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> who has gone as far as he could , but reluctant to climb the next ladder in terms of professionalizing the group and its management and has consequently never </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="font-family:georgia;">attracted</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> the right talent to manage his companies. If its one of Chandra's </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" style="font-family:georgia;">umpteen</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> relatives that is </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" style="font-family:georgia;">going</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to manage his India Cricket League- good luck! But then, given that domestic cricket in India is anyway at its lowest ever- how bad can it get?:)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The high point of this announcement for me, personally, was when a rookie CNBC TV 18 TV reporter reported with bated breath, after the conference,that Chandra even intended to keep files on even the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" >Janampatri's</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" > </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">of the players in his league, when Chandra had clearly meant this only metaphorically : ))</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">But who knows? I was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" style="font-family:georgia;">laughing</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">- but given the rate at which Chandra seems to feel "gadgets" and "technology" is the only </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" style="font-family:georgia;">answer</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to the woes of the Indian cricket team-had he heard the reporter, he might actually have approved one more innovation to this Gentleman's game.</span></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-618714308324543152007-04-01T13:59:00.000+05:302007-04-01T20:25:49.989+05:30The Glass is half empty...<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">If you were asked a simple question - What do you think of the world as it exists today? chances are that you would go into a long harangue about whatever is wrong with today's world. You would speak of a break down in law and order, destruction of moral values (whatever you mean by that) and...of course corruption...what else can you think of...hmmm..poverty, farmers committing suicide, pollution, global warming....and when you run out of problems to list, you can always complain about the traffic.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">You are not alone. Reading back at some of my blog posts, I am surprised by how sarcastic and pessimistic I sound, in places.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">This pessimism is not unique , of course, but rather universal. A survey conducted in the USA by the renowned National Opinion Research Center based at the University of Chicago, reports the results of interviews with more than 1,300 adults nationwide, comparing the current data with the results of the same survey taken in 1991.Among the current set of respondents to the unhappiness survey, a staggering 92% cited at least one "significant negative life event" in the past year. That number is up from 88% in 1991.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">That's a lot of pessimistic people.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">One reason why people are so pessimistic is that all of us have have lost a perspective into history. We tend to look at the past with a sense of romance and nostalgia- "The air was so fresh in 1952 in Mumbai" or " Everyone was so rich and happy in ancient India". Part of the reason for this nostalgia is that since we are constantly dis-satisfied with our current lives, we automatically tend to think the past was much better.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a href="http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/about/index.html">Stephen Pinker</a> who was formerly with MIT and now at Harvard, and author of 'How Mind works' explains this beautifully. <a href="http://giussani.typepad.com/">Bruno Giusanni </a>wrote a post about it and explained it thus -</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">" He shows images of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which have been seared into our conscience in the XX century. During that century we witnessed a series of atrocities, from Stalin and Hitler to Mao and Rwanda. And the XXI century has not started better (Darfur, Iraq). But despite this perception of inhuman violence in the last 100 years, truth is that our ancestors were far more violent that we are, and today we are probably living in the most peaceful times in history.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The decline of violence is a fractal phenomenon, says Pinker, you can see it over millennia, centuries, decades (although there may have been a tipping point an the onset of the Age of Reason on the XVI century):</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Millennium scale - Until 10'000 years ago all humans lived as hunter-gatherers, without permanent settlement or government. But recent research has revealed that the likelihood of violent death (that a man would die at the hands of another man) was of 50-60%. If we consider later civilizations such as the ones described in the Bible (about 3000 years ago), well, the Bible itself contains several passages like the one about "slewing all the males" (Numbers, 31).Century scale - Violence was common in European Middle ages and early modern times (while is rare or absent today): mutilations and torture were routine criminal punishments; death penalty was a sanction for a long list for nonviolent crimes; slavery; sadistic capital punishment (burning at the stake); cruelty as entertainment. One-on-one murder: criminologist Manuel Eisner searched historical records in Europe for homicide rates in the Middle Age, and determined a decline of at least two orders of magnitudes in homicides since then.Decade scale - Since 1945 in Europe and Americas steep decline in wars, armed conflicts, number of deaths per war per year. Since end of Cold War: similar trends.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"> So why are we so wrong about something so important? One of the reason is that we have better journalistic reporting which creates a cognitive illusion: memorable events are judged to be more probable (if we read every day about suicide bombers, we believe that's the norm); guilt; change in standards outpaces change in behaviour."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">True, isn't it? In India, for instance, because of the recent media explosion, we are confronted with a expose' a day. Everyday we are being bombarded with news of how much violence and corruption exists in our country. Compare this to the amount of time & space that is devoted to 'positive' news and you will understand why we all feel so negatively about the world in which we live.</span><br /><br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-30206182324647999382007-03-29T00:39:00.000+05:302007-03-29T00:58:25.603+05:30Burger King - killing me softly<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">While reading feeds from <span style="font-weight: bold;">'TIME</span>', the following news item caught my eye-</span><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1603803,00.html?xid=rss-topstories"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Burger King Going Cage Free</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Turns out that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Burger King</span> has committed to begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that do not keep their animals in cages or crates.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Burger King will also give purchasing preference to poultry suppliers that use or switch to "controlled atmosphere stunning," which animal rights groups consider the most humane way to slaughter poultry.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Hmm...interesting, I suppose that should make the hens, the eggs they lay and the pigs which are consumed by Burger King customers a happier lot. After all they were being tortured and then killed painfully,earlier. Now they will be ecstatic that death will come faster and with much less pain. Hallelujah! Peace be on thee Burger King!<br /><br />Disclaimer: I am a die-hard carnivore.<br /></span><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-78464876654290072652007-03-27T10:02:00.000+05:302007-04-01T20:26:24.497+05:30BLINK and you lose - the U.S Army's debacle in the Iraq War<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The mighty U.S defence machine will gobble up $532.8 BILLION dollars, in 2007. For such a well funded outfit, it seems to be doing remarkably poorly in Iraq, given that the insurgents number a few thousand and operate with weapons which can only be described as crude, compared to the sophisticated machinery used by the U.S forces.'The Hindu' reports the U.S generals as saying that their army is "outwitted" in Iraq.<br /><a href="http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/12/stories/2007031203761100.htm"><br />Some excerpts from the news item</a>:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were facing in Iraq and Afghanistan "<span style="font-weight: bold;">as smart, agile and cunning</span>.By contrast, the U.S. military is said to have been slow to respond to the challenges of fighting an insurgency. The senior officers described the insurgents as being able to <span style="font-weight: bold;">adapt rapidly to exploit American rules of engagement and turn them against U.S. forces</span>, and quickly disseminate ways of destroying or disabling armoured vehicles. The military is also hampered in its attempts to break up insurgent groups because of their <span style="font-weight: bold;">"flat" command structure</span> within collaborative networks of small groups, making it difficult to target any hierarchy within the insurgency.Other officers said coalition rules of engagement were being used against the forces fighting the insurgency. "They know when we can and cannot shoot, and use that against us," said one officer, reflecting the comments of U.S. soldiers in the field. Another said recent video footage of an ambush on a convoy, posted on the Internet, was evidence that insurgents were filming incidents to teach other groups about American counter-measures."<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">All this is well known and already in the Public realm. So why am I repeating it? The reason is that the above news item reminded me of a chapter in Malcom Gladwell's latest book 'Blink'. In it Gladwell describes Paul Van Riper,a retired U.S army officer and a celebrated Vietnam vet being drafted in by the U.S Joint forces command (JFCOM) in planning a war game in 2000. The Pentagon spent a fortune on planning this war game which was going to be the most sophisticated and comprehensive war game in the Pentagons history. Paul was drafted to lead the opposition and be the rebel army leader in the Middle East. Paul opposition in the war game , the U.S team (known a a the Blue team in the war game) was given a sophisticated information system called the Operational Net Assessment, which according to Gladwell " broke the enemy down into a series of military, economic, social, political systems and then created a matrix showing how all these systems were inter-related and which links among these systems were the most vulnerable. The Blue team was also given a tool called the Effects-based operations, which directed them to think the conventional method of targeting and destroying an adversaries target. They were given a Comprehensive Relevant Operational Picture (CROP). They were given a tool for joint interactive planning. They were given an unprecedented amount if information and intelligence from every corner of the U.S Govt. and a methodology that was logistical and systematic and rational and rigorous.Paul's army on the other hand had roughly the same toys that the Iraqi insurgents have today.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The outcome?Red team (Paul's army) knocked the pants of the Blue team (U.S Army) by taking them by surprise in a series of guerrilla attacks and improvising. Ex: When the rebels came to know that their communications were being monitored, they used couriers on motorcycles. When the Blue team shut off systems for Paul's army to launch planes, he used a forgotten WWII technique to enable him to do so. Paul's army won the war game because they were - yes - <span style="font-weight: bold;">smart, agile and cunning, with a flat command structure and ability to use the U.S army's known processes against them.</span><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">In the end a severely embarrassed Pentagon organized a second series in which they restricted Paul's army so much, that the Blue Team had to win. In essence the second round was rigged to create a false victory for JFCOM and its Operational Net Assessment Tool. Just in the same way that the CIA was to shortly present a series of reports which were 'touched up' or 're-interpreted' in a way which completely altered their meaning. The reports stated that Saddam Hussein was trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction (which has been subsequently proved as a totally false acccusation) and that in turn, became the pretext to launch a full scale invasion.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">But the perils of ignoring the lessons from that war game in 2000, have come back to haunt the Pentagon and its mean war machine. Much in the same way as the political fallout of the military defeat in Iraq has severely tarnished President Bush's political legacy and the reputation of the U.S forever, in the eyes of the world.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">What goes around, comes around.</span></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-76795315277035995392007-03-24T11:07:00.000+05:302008-11-19T09:38:36.945+05:30Cricket and India - Its the fielding stupid !<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/86958986@N00/431987369/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/RgTArrUwusI/AAAAAAAAAL0/rYYQrtWLXX4/s200/431987369_067ee3c372_m.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045369339158510274" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Some time before the world cup started, I suspected that this world cup would be one of the worst for India. No, not because I am an astrologer, but because of the simple fact that it was being played in the West Indies. I wonder why so many people had such unrealistic hopes from the team when our record abroad has been so miserable. This record abroad is even worse when it comes to stronger teams like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand. This </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:georgia;">triumvirate</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> has succeeded in changing the game and raising it to a new level, by adding an element of athleticism to the game, which was never a factor </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:georgia;">pre</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> 1990's. This combined with many changes brought about to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:georgia;">speeden</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> up the game, has ensured that subcontinental teams who have not adapted well to the dynamics have been </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-family:georgia;">seriously</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> exposed, except on home soil, where they continue to enjoy a slight advantage, yet.</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The new twenty -twenty format, will </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-family:georgia;">speeden</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> up the game even further and demand far more athleticism, which I suspect would make matters worse for us.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Then there is a resurgence of new cricketing countries, all of which, play the same style of cricket like the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="font-family:georgia;">triumvirate</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">(emphasising athleticism and agility in the field). These so called minnows (Bangladesh- coached by a Australian, Ireland and Canada) have more then proved this world cup, that they will challenge the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" style="font-family:georgia;">current</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> status </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" style="font-family:georgia;">quo</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> as it exists and severely test some of the nations in the top league, despite their battinng and bowling beinng nowhere in thee same league as us, man to man. I </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" style="font-family:georgia;">wouldn't</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> be </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" style="font-family:georgia;">surprised</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> if one or all of them move up and better India , at least in the one day and 20-20 version of the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" style="font-family:georgia;">game,</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in the next 4-5 years.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The mistake we are </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" style="font-family:georgia;">committing</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> is that we are (again) underestimating our opponents and the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" style="font-family:georgia;">efforts</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> they have undertaken to change the paradigm of the game. We are still stuck to thinking about cricket as a game between bat and ball, where as the game has moved on, to bring an element of the 'body' in it.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Considering it in this light, is it really surprising that India should loose so badly when all our Stars are on the wrong side of 30 and those who are on the right side, would be thrashed by even the senior most members of the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" style="font-family:georgia;">triumvirate</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, when it comes to athleticism in the field?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">This is not to say that our limitations in the field are alone responsible for our poor performance. Of course, it is a fact that, we also failed in our traditional strength of batting. But evenn this 'failure' was induced by the teams that defeated us, by tightening the screws in the field and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" style="font-family:georgia;">bringing</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> about an unbearable pressure on our batsman.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The game has truly changed. Now lets see when the BCCI will 'get it'?</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-14005652511045421212007-03-21T18:54:00.000+05:302007-03-22T10:12:37.956+05:30Thank God for the Bangladeshi cricket team!<div style="text-align: left;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">After Bangladesh defeated India, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Dravid</span> commented that they fell short by 30-40 runs, the Bangladeshi captain took umbrage and commented that this was a sign that India had not accepted that Bangladesh played well and therefore won on merit. Although, frankly, its well implied in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Dravid's</span> remark that they fell short because Bangladesh played well.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">This mild sparring aside, its great to see Bangladesh come into its own. For one, this means that now there is one more country against which we can loose. Secondly, we can tour one more country regularly and make good money all round. Thirdly, its one more opposition which <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">has</span> slow wickets and this is always good for out of form cricketers to get that once in a year century and cement their place in the side for two more years.Lastly, sub-continental cricketing boards stick together in matters related to ICC. So, it means one more vote on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">BCCI's</span> side, provided they "feed" the hungry and the powerful from the Bangladeshi Board.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">With all these advantages, who but India's enemies can be unhappy about Bangladesh's victory over us? Let a million defeats bloom, I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">sayy</span>...</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-5699237137398530132007-03-21T18:22:00.000+05:302007-03-22T10:12:55.510+05:30Looks can deceive<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">When I see a member of the female species I can rate her on 1-10, no </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:georgia;">problemo</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">. If I ask another female whether she agrees with my rating, we are usually on the same lines. In other words, females are good judges of how attractive other females are to the male eye.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Curiously though, my powers fail me if I (not when !) were to try the same experiment on males. I can of course distinguish the ones who look like </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:georgia;">Greek</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> gods or pigs and sneer at them both appropriately and give them a 9/10 or 1/ 2. But I can't seem to be able to pinpoint how attractive the rest of the boring </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:georgia;">middlers</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> would be to the female eye.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The problem is that while we are quite specific about what we want from females (symmetry and/or size ) all around, the female mind seems to also consider other puzzling factors like, "smoulder", "intensity", "warmth", when it comes to the middler males.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Not a life & death issue, this. But I thought you would like to know about this curious state of affairs.</span></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-55153606458954955742007-03-19T00:38:00.000+05:302007-03-19T09:00:37.425+05:30Bob Woolmer - a fine legacy marred by a troubled last inning<div style="text-align: left;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Various T.V channels have just reported the shocking news of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer</span> having died,after Pakistan's shocking defeat to minnows Ireland.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">Woolmer was a controversial man having been attacked by numerous ex-cricketers as well as commentators, not to say the Pakistani cricket fans for his coaching methods. Lately Imran Khan had</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> trained his guns on him accusing him of playing too defensively and</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> of bringing the English county cricket mentality into Pakistani cricket, thus robbing the Pakistani team of their natural aggression. For this Khan had repeatedly demanded that Woolmer be sacked.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Sunil Gavaskar, another cricketing legend was never impressed by Woolmers </span><span style="font-size:130%;">excessive use of his laptop in coaching and mocked him</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> many a times on T.V. Woolmer had a software which had the capability to analyse every ball that had been balled in cricketing history and he used computing capabilities to its fullest in devising is game plans. Gavaskar was never sceptical of this and opined that this was a mere waste of time, as cricket was played in the field and not on the dressing room laptop.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">All said and done, Woolmer's methods were not without merit. He was the chief architect behind the South African teams amazing success in International cricket, since their rehabilitation into world cricket post the apartheid era. So successful was he in building an almost clinically professional side that Woolmer and his laptop became the talk of the cricketing world.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">He was snapped up by the Pakistani Cricket board who hoped the Woolmer would work the same wonders with the Pak team. Here Woolmer failed miserably, but not on account of his faults, as much as that of the temperamental Pak cricketers and haphazard administration of the Pak cricket board. Perhaps for the first time in Woolmers life, his was expected to perform in a environment which was not predictable and therefore easy to analyze on a laptop. Which machine for instance could predict when Inzamam would be run out next, whether Shoaib would resort to dope to improve his balling speed, repeatedly question his authority as coach and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSYxV_zcheU">even push him in front of T.V cameras</a>? How could Woolmer predict the shenanigans of the Pak </span><span style="font-size:130%;">cricket board which was ultimately controlled by none other than President Musharraf himself and was run on his whims and fancies with administrators being changed like soiled cricketing whites?<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">Greg Chappel, another coach who is a stern disciplinarian is also running into the same problems in India, where discipline and authority are not very welcome to our cricketing superstars and our cricket board, which is run in a totally ad hoc manner.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">Both these coaches are not used to sub- continental way of working. Neither are they familiar with the cultural context of the place. With their taciturn manner, both have been accused of acting aloof and not bothering to know the players and concentrating more on strategy /tactics, but in the process not even knowing their players as human beings. The western ways of communicating and working which are very goal and task oriented and to which the English, S.African, NZ and Australian cricket players are used to , don't seem to work with our sub-continental emotional lot.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">So when the results did not come out to the liking of the public, the pressure on Woolmer was enormous.Finally Woolmer paid a price.</span><span style="font-size:130%;">Fittingly,he was last caught on camera packing his beloved laptop for good, before leaving for the hotel.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> But he will always be remembered for playing a big role in changing the game to where it is now.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-33988327143363751352007-03-18T20:04:00.000+05:302007-03-20T16:01:06.879+05:30Why India can still win the Cricket World Cup?<div id="mb_0"><div style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;">After yesteredays defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, there is still hope !<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><strong style="font-family: georgia;">Year 1981</strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">1. Prince Charles got married</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">3. Australia lost the Ashes</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">4. Pope Died</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">5. 2 years later India won the world Cup!!!</span><br /><br /><strong style="font-family: georgia;">Year 2005<br /></strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">1. Prince Charles got married </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">3. Australia lost the Ashes</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">4. Pope Died</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">5. 2 years later India wins the world Cup!!!</span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />Hat Tip: Hrushikesh</span><br /></div> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-23586570682953595222007-03-17T14:16:00.001+05:302007-03-17T14:16:38.348+05:30World Cup Cricket fever - Cricket's Greatest moments<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/M-l_bJOMFQA' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/M-l_bJOMFQA'></embed></object></p><p>Now that the Cricket World Cup mania is starting to warm up, I chanced upon this wonderful clip capturinng some of Crickets greatest moments. nJOY!</p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-16981065207613208842007-03-16T09:43:00.000+05:302008-11-19T09:38:37.108+05:30Mallu in space along with Virgin !<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosilager/172893144/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s4vDNaSHzPg/RfocO1p7qKI/AAAAAAAAALE/AzrYXavvgjQ/s320/172893144_63f5dbc109_m.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5042373774041393314" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://beta.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=669ee722-f4c9-410b-9bec-451dcb456d16&">India's first space tourists is ready to fly and guess who can it be? A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">mallu</span> of course, who else? </a></span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" >Mallu's</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> are anyway omnipotent in all parts of the world (when my colleagues first travelled to </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" >Schenzen</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in China to visit our office there and tried to track an Indian restaurant, they could only find a hole in the wall run by a </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" >mallu</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">.) So its only appropriate that the first space tourist from India would be from </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" >malluland</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">- </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" >Simmmbly</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> right, I say. I can only hope that Santosh George opens an Idli Sambar stall once he is up there.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">BTW, 1 </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" >crore</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> for a ride to space is not as expensive as one would have imagined. I am sure Richard </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" >Branson's</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> virgin can get the price down by half, once they start pulling in more volumes and if the first few flights work well (which means if people survive to tell the tale). So one can easily imagine the price coming down to </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" >aroudn</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> the Rs.50</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" > lakhs</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> range- which I am sure, would even lead to queues of </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" >Sardarjis</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" >Gujjus</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> and of course, </span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" >Mallus</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">, in front of the Virgin Airlines office : )</span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27250334.post-86351274586859016642007-03-12T19:23:00.000+05:302007-03-12T23:03:30.596+05:30No Public toilet ,No Pee - BMC's unfair Diktat<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" ></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" >The Municipal Corporation of Mumbai has started a campaign which fines people for littering public places or makes them clean the mess they created. A few weeks back, this campaign shot in the news when the BMC fined Tavleen Singh , a respected columnist , Rs.500/- ,when her dog was caught making a mess on the Marine Drive promenade. Tavleen, a hypocrite if there was ever one, made a fuss and protested saying that other dogs are making a mess all over Mumbai, so why should she (or her dog) be singled out. But the point was that this in itself doesn't give license to dog owners like Tavleen to dirty the city even more - although the fact that the BMC has a duty to make efforts at cleaning up the city is undisputed. But such is the attitude of even the city's elite. While they go around prescribing all kinds of solutions for India's ill's , these are the same people who fail to walk the talk (or clean up their Dog's mess when he takes one)- Tavleen being a prime example of this brigade.</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" >But having said that- the BMC ( and other executive bodies) have a duty too. NDTV interviewed one person today, who was literally caught with his pants down- urinating in public. Now ,although this is a hideous thing to do, can you blame people when there is a complete lack of clean public urinals in our public places, in even our biggest and best (sic) cities? The city fails miserably in providing the appropriate public infrastructure to our citizens so as to enable them to follow good civic behaviour. Where, for instance, are the toilets? Where are the dust bins? Where is the enforcement of rules which facilitates people to walk along roadsides without danger of being rammed by vehicles or hawkers?</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" >If the BMC was sensible (now that's asking for too much, I know), they should enforce rules in places where they have provided these facilities to the tax paying public. The public on its part should try and carry their litter with them home, if bins are not to be seen. I do this all the time, and its not at all difficult. But when it comes to the natures call, when you got to go, you got to go. Well dressed people can get entry into the toilet of a commercial establishment, but what about the millions of lower middle class and poor, who have no access to public toilets? Fining them, when the executive has failed to perform its legitimate duty is really a travesty of justice.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></div> <span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" ></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Indian Society, Life, Popular Culture- Tadka Maar ke!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0