A few stray thoughts and general observations

The Farm that is India

2009-08-29T19:41:00.012-05:00

Its amazing what the state of India is. No, I don't mean the roads, the water, the electricity, those are secondary. What I feel disappointed with is the indifference the people of India have developed to anything, and well, almost everything. With such apathy all around, I see any agitation by the people, violent or not, as a sign, that there might still be some hope left for this nation after all.

Ofcourse a lot of people say that, injustice should be confronted but not with violence. What is this fascination for non-violence in the Indian psyche? Ofcourse, I don't advocate violence for every cause, sometimes it can be overkill, but I do believe that non-violence or rather the power of non-violence is overrated in India. According to Indians, you would think, what the French, the Russian and the American revolutions achieved could very well have been achieved by some well-meaning lawyers!

Another aspect that non-violenc'ists(for lack of a better word) seem to overlook is that, when you are living the times your vision isn't twenty-twenty, how then can you say that non-violence is the best way going forward, would it then be safe to say that you wouldn't have identified with the struggles of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Chafekar brothers or Netaji Subhashchandra Bose? Though many would say that that was different, it was struggle for a nobler cause and that they support the path taken by the abovementioned, I would beg to differ, how could they tell? how would they know? after all, they speak now with the benefit of hindsight. Would they then have chastised Netaji for taking the route of violence instead of approaching a court of law in British India? Surely, even in those days, there were those who espoused that view. The point I am trying to make is, without the benefit of hindsight, how can anyone say, today violence is not required to get justice.

Look at this country a little more carefully, The parliamentary system of government that this country uses; it inherited from its erstwhile rulers, the laws; criminal and civil, have again been inherited from the British(Official Secrets Act, Bombay Rent Act, HUF so on and so forth...), the system of law enforcement still in place has also been inherited from the British, the judiciary, that too has been inherited from the British, imagine, even the summer vacations that the british courts used to take are still in place, the armed forces, India's pride and glory, they too have not shed the colonial yoke. everything in the armed forces has been inherited from the british, in fact, all the traditions during the Raj are still followed very diligently in the armed forces, while the British armed forces were an occupying force, this is, our very own and yet they look down upon the average Indian civilian; they have, I am sorry to say, nurtured the elitist attitude of an occupying force. Is there a single Indian idea here, I wonder.

It should not be forgotten that the British were, rather considered themselves, to be the ruling elite, superior to the locals; here to rule over the uncouth, uncivilized coloured people of India, the laws, the judiciary, the police, the armed forces...everything, was designed to serve the ruling elite, and to keep the coolies(read Indians) under control.

Indians would do well to realise that despite over six decades of 'independence', most of what the British left behind, remains, unchanged. Why has there been no attempt at Indianising the system? When I say Indianising, I mean making the system less subservient to the ruling elite and more friendly to the people of the country it belongs to? Why are the people of India terrified of their leaders, not unlike a slave population, that serves a few powerful elite. Why do the people of India shy away from asking for justice in a court of law, is it because they know that justice will inevitably be delayed, and consequently denied? Why are Indians often scared of the police, without any rhyme or reason, why is the police coming to your house such a big taboo even today, is it the mental and psychological inheritance of 150 years of British rule where the only reason the police would come to your house is if the ruling elite think you have not displayed adequate loyalty towards your masters? Why do politicians in India need so much security cover everywhere they go, why do they consider themselves any different from the people who elected them, what have they done wrong that requires them to be protected from physical harm from their own coutrymen?

An uprising is taking place ofcourse, not from the educated, enlightened, progressive, urban and semi-urban populace but from the so called backward tribals of Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh. The urban, semi-urban educated, enlightened, progressive type, I am sorry to say, are too numbed to the real issues in this country from watching too much reality television and too many soap operas, if not that, then the frivolous and inconsequential concerns of who should be having intercourse with whom.

I hope, someday, the people who have really woken up, who are really enlightened take over this country, and change the systems that are at the very core of the oppression and suppression of the people of India. I hope that someday, we will get rid of the pigs, maybe in a better way than we did our masters. I hope that someday we will be able to see the paradise that lies beyond the metaphorical Orwellian 'Farm'.

Things that make me mad.

2009-08-24T05:03:00.003-05:00

This is a list of that get me mad as a hatter...and whats worse, I get so mad that I don't see a solution to these things beyond beating up all those involved. This is not necessarily in the order of mad'denization'.

The constant honking on the roads, which serves no real purpose whatsoever.
Rickshaw-walas cutting right across all the lanes whenever they feel like it.
When the news has no real news on it at all, just 'bollywood' bullshit.
When I have to pay to watch TV channels, which seem to have no qualms about asking for payment despite airing commercials during the daytime programming.
When media and politicians talk strategy without any thought given to morality.

contd...

Why Government Help??

2009-06-03T22:36:00.003-05:00

A 100% of the "students" who leave to study in Australia(or the US or UK even), go with the intention of getting a Permanent Residency (PR). In fact, most of the Indian students who leave Indian shores to study abroad go with the final objective of settling permanently in their adopted "homeland".
Its one thing to leave your country to settle abroad permanently, but its completely uncalled for to badmouth India on purpose, there are as many bad things in the developed world as there are in India, what I don't understand is why Indians who migrate almost always look for opportunities to denigrate India, is it because they think they will endear themselves to their adopted "countrymen" by saying these things...some of these NRI characters say that they are only speaking from experience and the truth as they see it, but then why don't these very NRIs speak the truth, out in the open, about what they think of their adopted countrymen? What happens when they have to speak the truth about their own adopted country? Does the cat get their tongue. I know a cousin of mine who lives in South Africa, and considers everyone who is not from India, Filthy and uncultured and having no real values to speak of! I am also led to believe that thats the opinion most Indians harbour about there adopted fellowmen, I once met an old Indian gentlemen in a train in Pittsburgh who said some really really bad things about non-Indians, especially black people. So why can't they say it out loud in the US, UK or Australia or Europe?!
In fact, the western world has such an exaggerated opinion of India's poverty, I knew one NRI guy working in my office in the US, saying to his white US colleague that there are no highways in India, I mean, WTF!!! If you are ashamed to be Indian, so be it, but don't spread about someone else's country!!!
All the wannabe NRI (read students) who go don't lose a single opportunity to say, how much they hate India, how much they hate the Indian government, how much they hate visiting India, how they can't wait to be the citizen of a western country...so on and so forth.
In the light of these observations, I fail to understand why these very characters expect, nay, feel entitled, to any form of help from the Indian government. I think the GoI can put it down pretty much as a policy decision that anyone leaving the country on a work or student visa is implicitly looking to leave India permanently and the GoI need not put in any efforts or money whatsoever, in safeguarding his/her rights. The Indian missions should be only available to serve the interests of the Indian government, Indian tourists, and Indians on business.

America's Lapdog

2009-06-03T22:03:00.004-05:00

When will India stop being someone or the other's bitch, nobody gets respect that way. Right now, India is America's bitch, you don't believe me, check this out! I don't get it, exactly what will the US do if India doesn't listen to them? Bomb us? Apply sanctions? Both of which are an impossibility. I am not asking for being overly aggressive and daring anyone. I am just asking for the Indian government to take a stand and stay put, will the Indian politicians ever grow a pair of balls for god's sake, or does all their bravado only work with the poor, helpless, defenceless Indian public??!!

Satyam, OPEC and Gaza

2009-01-12T06:49:00.003-05:00

Well, Satyam, hmmm...what I am curious about, and what I don't seem to hear much about in the media, is who were the major Satyam shareholders, you know, like big institutional investors...which ones, it would be fun to find out, won't it?! Frankly....PWC is being vilified, but think about it, who pays PWC for the audits on Satyam accounts? Satyam ofcourse, so if Mr. Raju needs a favour, would they say NO?! Also, wonder why PWC was being paid way more by Satyam than by anyone else, was it so that they keep their mouths shut?
OPEC, well, thats just mostly the arabs. The OPEC countries say they can't keep their development rate up if they can't sell the world oil at $75 a barrel, well guys, those days are gone. Some people, like CNBC, seem to project that, since they raised production to get us out of the rising oil prices, it seems only fair that they get what they want, oil at $75/bbl. Bullshit!!!! Everyone knew the price rise had nothing to do with demand, hell, how can their be increased demand with gas at $5.25 a gallon?!! You must really have a very low opinion of my intellect. The OPEC increased production during the crude price rise to make "hay while the sun shines"(read 'more money'), the whole point of the OPEC is to help oil producing countries make more money and even more money, not to help the world...ohh puhhleese...
Whats funny though is that, they(the arabs) made money while the prices were going up, all the while, they knew, it had nothing to do with demand, even saying as much!! Now, its going down, and again, its got nothing to do with demand, and they should come to terms with the fact that no amount of production cuts are gonna make any difference. They should stop living off oil and actually create something for a change! Personally, I would like to see crude at $15 to $20 levels, like in the Clinton era, and with Obama's initiatives on more research into newer sources of energy, that day ain't very far away.
Sometimes, I think the OPEC countries are actually pleased when there is a major conflagration in the Gaza strip...keeps the crude prices up you know, unfortunately, even that is not working this time around!

Immigration, a security issue.

2009-01-11T10:04:00.006-05:00

After the longest time, India's home ministry seems to be actually doing something!! In a groundbreaking decision, the ministry is gonna actually do something about the illegal immigrants, especially the huge number of bangladehis that come into the country illegally. PC has in fact categorically stated this is not a minority issue and that illegal immigrants are law breakers, as simple as that, and they should be treated as such.

I think India also needs to look into the corruption on the eastern border that the Indian armed forces suffer from, that too is part of what makes it easy for said bangladeshi's to enter the country illegally.

Also, in a tacit acceptance that a change in demographics can affect peace and tranquility in any part of India, and which I have been at pains to explain, with little success, PC has said this:

Noting that illegal immigration was causing "unexpected" demographic changes in Assam and West Bengal, he said, "I don't regard a Bangladeshi as a Muslim or a non-Muslim. He is a Bangladeshi. He has no business to come to India unless he has a visa. He has no business to live here unless he has a residence permit.

Thank God for P. Chidambaram!! For the whole news item, click here.

On another topic, what the f**k is India doing?!! For the first time after the 26/11 attacks in India, the whole nation supported whatever action the government saw fit, to take against Pakistan, and what do these jokers do??!!! They waste all of that. Even worse, most people are pissed off with the government that they have spent time trying to convince the US about Pakistani culpability. I doubt any other country will empathise with India...after all, the safety of Indians does not concern them. India, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT YOURSELF!!! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to do that for you!!!! It just shows the world that you ain't got balls, and they(the world) respects you that much lesser!! YOU have to defend yourself!!! What business does Pranab Mukherjee have saying that military action is not an option? Whats the problem Mr. Mukherjee? Are Indian lives cheap? Do you not have confidence in our armed forces? Or, all this talk about proof by India, is it all A LIE?

All the economic progress in the world comes to nought if your citizens live in fear for their lives!!! Its all useless!!!

Banks don't like their own medicine!!!

2008-12-22T12:19:00.007-05:00

Guess what happens when an ordinary guy like yours truly goes to a bank asking for a loan to help him buy a car or a house. He is asked things like how many members of his family contribute to his family income, he is asked how much he has saved over the years, his spending habits are scrutinised. Yes, if he is too generous with his son's or daughter's pocket money, his chances of getting a loan get diminished. Ohh yeah, a bank likes to guard its money, no offence ofcourse, its the bank's money and they should care about it.

In the past few months though, things have worked a little differently. People, yes, the american people have lent the banks the money they need to stay afloat, to carry on business, and you know what? They never asked all the questions the banks have always asked them!!!! Since they were so nice with the banks, never asking any probing questions or refusing help to any one of them, it was just right, in my opinion, to atleast bother to ask them(the banks that is!) what they have been doing with all that cash, its the most natural thing to do. So, they did, and guess what the banks said to them - F**k Off

Yes, thats the reply the banks have been giving when asked how they have been spending their bailout money, here are some gems I found in the news:

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that have received at least $1 billion in taxpayer money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?
None of the banks provided specific answers.

These are normal questions, questions the media and average citizens should ask and which banks should answer. The money banks received was not ‘free,’ it did not grow on trees: rather, it was taken from citizens who pay taxes. These citizens have the right to know how banks spent their money.

When the bailout was passed, however, some proponents wondered how the money would be spent exactly. Treasure Secretary Hank Paulson was unwilling to accept any checks and balances, arguing that he needed full authority to act as he saw fit. Virtually no one agreed with him, especially not because of the huge sums of money involved: the bailout was estimated to cost the American taxpayer $700 billion.

Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money displayed the arrogance on the part of banks quite wonderfully. “We’ve lent some of it. We’ve not lent some of it. We’ve not given any accounting of, ‘Here’s how we’re doing it,’” he said. “We have not disclosed that to the public. We’re declining to.”

If you wanna look up the whole articles, there are many you can find in Google News, here are some though, here and here.

Err....please remind me....

2008-12-14T21:07:00.003-05:00

In May of 2008, Goldman Sachs said that there was a very likely possibility that Oil may rise to 'between $150-$200' a barrel, guess what, we haven't finished the year yet and they are now predicting that Oil may reach $25-$30 a barrel!!! Dang it!!! I'd have never thought of this possibility!!! Can someone please remind me why these guys get the biggest year end bonuses on Wall Street?!!!

Some gems on the financial crisis

2008-12-08T07:05:00.003-05:00

It was opportune that I happened to be watching STAR Movies yesterday, 'Wall Street' was playing, yes the movie I mean, the Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Darryl Hannah starrer. I won't be surprised if quite a few of the Wall St. whiz kids were inspired by this movie to pursue the career they did. Here are some gems....

Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others. - Carl Fox, Bud's working class father

The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don't want to do. - Lou, Bud's colleague at the Broking firm

If something's worth doing it's worth doing for money. - Gordon Gekko to the Union Leaders of BlueStar Airlines

Greed - you mark my words - will save Teldar, and that other malfunctioning corporation, the U.S.A. - Gordon Gekko to the shareholders of Teldar Paper

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. - Gordon Gekko to the shareholders of Teldar Paper

Nashib(marathi for fate), thats what gets in the way of a man's progress

2008-12-08T07:01:00.002-05:00

Innovation 1

2008-12-05T23:20:00.003-05:00

Here it is, innovation in action!! And the scooter starts! Yippeee!

Innovation 2

2008-12-05T23:19:00.003-05:00

Yep, thats the innovation thingy I am talking about!

Innovation 3

2008-12-05T23:16:00.002-05:00

Still relaxing, but did you realise how he kickstarts the scooter?

Innovation 4

2008-12-05T23:13:00.003-05:00

Observe carefully, the legs of the rider, in the three photographs so far, yes, this guy can't use his legs.

Innovation 5

2008-12-05T23:06:00.004-05:00

Do you notice anything unusual in this picture of a guy sitting on a scooter, waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Innovation 6

2008-12-05T23:00:00.005-05:00

This is a scooter, the old, vespa/bajaj chetak types, thats attached with a side-car.

Convenience the mother of Innovation

2008-12-05T22:03:00.011-05:00

Back in my software days, I would hear this word ad-nauseum, INNOVATION. No, I don't want to write an essay on innovation, though for an industry that harps so much on innovation, it is singularly uninnovative. Work is done the same old way and when new recruits come in, they are shown how something is done, funny innit, the premise that something has to be done in a certain way actually kills innovation to begin with! So all that harping on innovation, what is it good for? Well, all those pro-innovation company policies are used by smart(read cunning) employees to exticate themselves out of regular work on the pretext that they are 'innovating', doesn't that sound strangely similar to ovulating? The bitches! Anyways, these innovative efforts usually end up as websites(well what did you expect from software engineers!) which are used for no more than a couple of months and then conveniently forgotten. Ofcourse, as soon as the innovation(verb) is completed a huge hue and cry is raised by the manager concerned, on how his/her team is innovating, the said hue and cry translates into an email to 'ALL'. All this results in the following:

1) Filling up your mailbox.

2) The innovator acting like a total dick, god forbid if its your friend!!

3) Everyone realising what the 'innovator' was doing when he was skipping work.

4) Everyone realising that it would take half the time to innovate what the innovator innovated than what he claimed to require. Ofcourse he/she spent considerable time ideating in the cafeteria.

5) The innovator getting sundry awards and getting on first name terms with senior management, which eventually results in promotions for the innovator later with total disregard to skills and ability and dedication. Those concepts are so yesterday!

I am sure there is more...but I don't have the time and I don't have the patience.

Given this background and the resulting attitude towards 'innovation', it makes you freeze when you come face to face with a real innovation, one which is actually useful to someone in human society, one which you know, will be used for a very very long time. Long after the innovator has upped and left. Just such a thing happened to me when I was travelling along the Eastern Express Highway here in Mumbai, so I used my handy camera phone to get these pictures. See posts above...bottom up, counted down 6 to 1. Or you Click here to view it one picture at a time.. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

And trust me, for this one, no manager shouted from the rooftops, nobody got email memos, nobody's mailbox got filled, nobody received innovation awards...the usefulness of an innovation is its own reward, this one proves it!

The Bihari mess and if time permits...other things

2008-10-27T08:05:00.011-05:00

So after all thats been going on in Mumbai, with reference to Biharis I mean, its a pity, the way the electronic media is sensationalising all this, you have to only look at Zee News or India TV to realise the aforementioned fact, so what happens when the news media plays into politicians' hands, Maharashtrian(e.g. Raj T) or Bihari(e.g. Laloo P)?! Yes, you got that right, we get ourselves a voting block!!! Raj wants to make a mark in Maharashtra politics and Laloo & Co. want to make inroads into a potentially new territory, Maharashtra.

So who, would you say, is to blame for the exodus of Biharis to Mumbai. Why, would one say, they leave everything back home, in Bihar, to come live in the squalor of Mumbai? Its a question that seems to have been drowned by the senseless 'news' the media serves up. The blame lies squarely with leaders like Laloo, who, while overtly championing the cause of the average Bihari, has been instrumental in robbing Bihar and Biharis, of their wealth. Isn't it sad that a state with some of the richest mineral deposits(its not without reason that J.N. Tata built India's first steel plant in Bihar), and agricultural land thats worth dying for, has made no progress in the 60 years that India has been independent. Nobody, and I mean nobody, enjoys leaving home and hearth for a strange land, that is, if Biharis outside Bihar still call Bihar home.

Its no surprise that Biharis see government service as their only means to a decent life. In a state almost completely devoid of private enterprise, what else would you expect. Its no surprise then, that Biharis will, and from his/her view point, should, try to gain access to every government job available in the country. It is this tendency that resulted in constant friction between Bihari migrants and Locals in states like Assam and Maharashtra, both of which have a shrinking job pool, Maharashtra isn't the powerhouse it used to be, and that has lead to increased competition between locals and Biharis. Biharis have also seen blockades in congress run states like Rajasthan, where, for a while the flow of Biharis into government jobs was so high that Rajasthan had to de-recognise degrees from Bihar to protect the interest of the local populace.

There are, ofcourse, more reasons to leave one's home state to try one's luck in a foreign land, yes, anywhere they don't speak your language is foreign.

Now, the Rahul Raj situation, a youth is killed in a bus in Mumbai in police firing, is how the media wants you to believe it happened, it is conveniently left out that the youth was armed with a gun. The web of lies and half truths doesn't end there, if you have bothered to read the Times Of India dated Tuesday, Oct 28, 2008, you will realise how the headlines and the news article themselves are diametrically opposite. The headline says "Bihar youth 'out to kill Raj' shot down by cops", notice the single quote? Now, if you read the article associated with this headline, these facts become apparent about the actions of the youth in question:

1 He was brandishing a revolver in the middle of a crowded Mumbai public transport bus.

2 He shot at and injured a fellow passenger, the victim is recovering from the gunshot wounds.

3 He held 13 other passengers captive.

4 The police asked Rahul Raj to surrender but he refused.

5 Rahul Raj had brought a chain along with him, he used it to strangulate the bus conductor into submission.

6 Rahul Raj fired 4 rounds at the police who were trying to get him to surrender. It was then that the police had to fire back.

The web of lies gets no better, its being said that the poor, innocent boy had come for a job and thats what he told his father when he left Patna, what do you think any youth will tell his father?!! He is gonna hijack a BEST bus and kill Raj Thackeray??!!! You must get your head examined if you actually believe that the youth had come to Mumbai looking for a job. For Laloo or Nitish Kumar to say that Rahul was innocent is ridiculous and an insult to every one's intelligence, and all this despite the fact that there is video footage of the said incident, isn't there any limit to this hypocrisy?! Rahul, was a terrorist, and was dealt with in a way that a terrorist should be dealt with, irrespective of his regional origins or affiliations.

Its a good thing that the Mumbai Police set an example with Rahul Raj, this should be fairly effective in making anyone who is planning any such adventures in the future, to think twice. As far as Raj Thackeray goes, whatever his deeds, the law will take its course, but he is still very much a citizen of India, and just like the millions of Biharis who say its their constitutional right to live and earn a living in Mumbai, (Raj too)has a consitutional right to live in Mumbai without a threat to his life and limb. I totally agree with Maharashtra Deputy CM R.R. Patil, that anyone who dares to take the law in their own hands will be dealt with in the strictest fashion without any hope of clemency. The common man should not and will not be held hostage by gun toting cowboys(or so they seem to think of themselves!) from any part of the country.

Long week ahead....

2008-10-09T09:17:00.002-05:00

Well, today is Dussehra, but starting tomorrow right until the end of next week is going to be terribly busy. Too much driving on Indian roads doesn't do much good for one's back. Hope I can take it.

Thoughts from the morning....JLT!

2008-10-03T23:06:00.002-05:00

For those who have no idea what JLT stands for - 'just like that'. That out of the way, let me start with all the random thoughts that came to me from the time I woke up this morning.
Always eat after you drink, I guess the drunks would know what I mean, so, always, and I repeat, always, eat after you drink, else, like me you'll end up feeling miserable the next morning.
Woke up at 5:30AM, and switched on CNBC, yep, I can be like that, so where was I? Ohh...yeah...switching on CNBC. Saw the DOW and company had fallen from positive to negative territory, in the span of a single trading session, apparently due to the passage of the $700Bn bailout....huhh?!! Yeah...tell me about it!
Also realised that Bernanke and Co. can't wait to cut rates for their friends on the street, the one with the Wall I mean, you can thank Mr. B in advance for the rising inflation. Are we having fun yet?!
Read the Wachovia/Citi/Wells Fargo news, amazing innit?! almost the whole of the US financial landscape has changed since Mr. B(from above) started cutting rates. There ain't none of these guys around no more, Bear Stearns, Lehman, WaMu, Merrill Lynch, who else...? Now Wachovia...whats next? Also a whole bunch that survived because the taxpayer helped them out, I wonder how these financial institutions would return the magnanimity of the said taxpayer? Maybe make getting a car loan easier? I wonder...you should wonder too.

Typical of democratically elected governments!

2008-10-01T22:27:00.003-05:00

Its amazing how similar the behaviours of almost all democratically elected governments is, in that sense the US isn't any different than say, India.

The governments in power are elected previously by the majority of the people, and when I say a majority of the people, and remember, a millionaires vote is the same as a pauper's, and not many of us are millionaires and billionaires, I am referring to the majority vote of the common man, the man on any street, not just Dalal St or Wall St.!

The elected representatives of the said common man ignore the mandate set forth for them by the majority vote, and at every step, do all they can to help, the not so common, millionaires and billionaires on Wall St.

What makes me say all this? Check this page at the CNBC website and be sure to check the results of the poll that is on the said page, and you will realise for yourself, how the people's wishes are being blatantly ignored by Washington. So what, may I ask, is the point of such democratically elected governments.And, Who, may I ask, will hold these 'people's representatives' accountable?

Media, now just a mouthpiece...

2008-09-30T06:39:00.003-05:00

Its amazing to see how the media seems to completely ignore the people's views. Take the $700bn Wall St. bailout that the US House of Reps is trying to pass with little success so far. The people don't like the idea of bailing out Wall St. at all, especially since they have been honest and hardworking all through the time Wall St. was making record profits, and thanks to this bailout, would be paying for Wall St's excesses!
Any day you switch CNBC on, there is always someone babbling in favour of Wall St., nobody seems to voice what the people think, except maybe the Opinion Polls that are conducted on a regular basis on CNBC's website. In one such poll, people were asked this, very pertinent question in light of the rejection of the $700bn bailout:
Was the House correct when it voted to defeat the $700 billion rescue package?
Note the words 'rescue', no bailout here! Anyways, at the time I checked, 48% said yes and 43% said no, the rest were unsure.

Fannie & Freddie Bailout, what I read...

2008-09-08T10:09:00.003-05:00

I was going through CNBC.com, not one of my favorite websites, but well, anyways, I heard a voice that I respect immensely, the reason? He calls a spade a spade. Where do you find people like that these days, especially in Banking and Finance. Just so you have a backgrounder on his views so far... check out this video, and then I will show you what he has to say about the Fannie & Freddie bailout.

The title of the article I saw is US is "More Communist than China":Jim Rogers, you can always click the name above to see the full article, but here are a few of his choicest words from the article, a commentary really, on the US financial system!
"America is more communist than China is right now. You can see that this is welfare of the rich, it is socialism for the rich… it's just bailing out financial institutions," Rogers said.
He goes on in his European Squawk Box interview...
"This is madness, this is insanity, they have more than doubled the American national debt in one weekend for a bunch of crooks and incompetents. I'm not quite sure why I or anybody else should be paying for this," Rogers told "Squawk Box Europe."
"You certainly gonna see a huge jump in any financial institutions which owned a lot of Fannie or Freddie … because they don't have to worry about going bankrupt all of a sudden," Rogers said.
"Bank stocks around the world are going through the roof, that's 'cause they've all been bailed out. You don't see the homeowners in Kansas going through the roof 'cause they're not being bailed out," he added.
It's rarely good to jump in a moving bus and right now you got a lot of buses moving. I might short some more investment banks in the US, depending on how they rally over the next week, but other than that, I'll just sit and watch," he said.
Rogers, who is short on U.S. bonds, said these are likely to fall while commodities may rally. The two government-sponsored enterprises don't have good loans on their books, because "everybody else took the good stuff and dumped the bad stuff onto Fannie and Freddie," he said.
From 2010, Fannie and Freddie will have to shrink their portfolios by 10 percent a year until they reach $250 billion, to reduce the risk to the taxpayer, according to the Treasury plan. But this may put additional pressure on the housing market, Rogers said.
"That's going to also ensure that house prices continue to go down. It's going to be harder and harder to get a mortgage."
Investors should not pin their hopes on this year's presidential election for a solution to the problems, as none of the candidates is likely to find one, Rogers said.
"This is a big huge mess and neither one of them has a clue what to do next year. It's going to be a mess."
I ain't gonna argue with that, you, my reader, are free to do as you please.

Saw this on Western Express Highway

2008-09-07T00:00:00.002-05:00

Was travelling north along the Western Express Highway when this caught my eye at the back of a Tempo-Rickshaw. Have a nice day!

Thinking too much can make you FAT!

2008-09-06T23:22:00.004-05:00

Yes, thats the title I saw on the 15th page of the Sunday Times of India, Sep 7th 2008. Needless to say, my attention was drawn instantly to the said section of the aforementioned 'news'paper. This here are a couple of lines that seemed to carry the gist of the said piece.

Intellectual activities make people eat more than when just resting, according to a study that sheds new light on brain food.

This finding might also help explain the obesity epidemic of an increasingly sedentary society in which people still have to think now and then, LiveScience.com reported.

Amazing, we live in a sedentary "society in which people still have to think now and then"! Think now and then?!! now and then??!! Isn't this, today, a knowledge society? Isn't this society supposed to be based on thinking?!

The article then goes on to explain how these 'tests' were conducted.

I guess in all this 'research' activity, the researchers seem to have forgotten the fact that the brain has always been a calorie guzzler, but it more than justifies its caloric intake. The researchers conclude that this higher calorie intake after highly demanding mental activity should not be ignored in the fight against obesity!! This probably explains why hot(as in sexy) girls tend to be dumb, apparently, its the lack of mental activity that keeps them slim!

What, may I ask, would they(the researchers) have us do? Cut down on thinking?!! Now, that, would be some society!!!

Where is my social security?

2008-08-31T09:14:00.002-05:00

Just saw this piece of news in the Mumbai Mirror, it says that Indian professionals in France will get the social security due to them, irrespective where they are India or France. India has been trying to work out just such a deal for the professionals in the US but government in the US hasn't been as responsive as they should be, that is, if they want to do the right thing.

Back Home

2008-08-30T21:27:00.003-05:00

So, I am back. In India, its strange how it takes 3-4 years of living out of the country to realise that its all right there in your backyard!

Quotable Movie Quotes

2008-07-18T09:33:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it. - from "Cashback"

You see, I've always wanted to be a painter, and like many artists before me, the female form has always been a great source of fascination. I've always been in awe of the power they possess. - from "Cashback"

I read once about a woman whose secret fantasy was to have an affair with an artist. She thought he would really see her. He would see every curve, every line, every indentation and love them because they were part of the beauty that made her unique. - from "Cashback"

I like to look for things no one else catches. I hate the way drivers never look at the road in old movies. - from "Amelie"

Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's. - from "Amelie"(about long distance relationships?)

You mean she would rather imagine herself relating to an absent person than build relationships with those around her? - from "Amelie"

Have you ever crossed the road, and looked the wrong way? A car's nearly on you? So what do you do? Something very silly. You freeze. Your life doesn't flash before you, 'cause you're too fuckin' scared to think - you just freeze and pull a stupid face. - from "Snatch"

So the biblical scholars mis-translated the Hebrew word for "young woman" into the Greek word for "virgin," which was a pretty easy mistake to make, since there is only a subtle difference in the spelling. But back then it was the "virgin" that caught people's attention. It's not every day a virgin conceives and bears a son. So you keep that for a couple of hundred years, and the next thing you know, you have the Roman Catholic church. - from "Snatch"

We lead our lives, and when they end, sometimes we leave a little of ourselves behind. Sometimes we leave money, a painting, sometimes we leave a kind word. And sometimes, we leave an empty space. - from "Dead Like Me"

I'd say I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not. I excel at not giving a shit. Experience has taught me that interest begets expectation, and expectation beget disappointment, so the key to avoiding disappointment is to avoid interest. A equals B equals C Equals A, or whatever. I also don't have a lot of interest in being a good person or a bad person. From what I can tell, either way, you're screwed. Bad people are punished by society's laws, and good people are punished by Murphy's Law. So you see my dilemma. - from "Dead Like Me"

Death is kind of like sex in high school. If you knew how many times you missed having it, you'd be paralyzed. - from "Dead Like Me"

If I had to choose between being a heart or a brain I'd definitely choose a heart because at least you'd do something. If you're a brain, at the end of the day all you're really at is settling for shitty situations. - from "Dead Like Me"

I don't want to fit in, I just don't want to stand out. - from "Dead Like Me"

Ohh Puhleese! Don't blame the Oil Speculators - II

2008-07-07T20:36:00.008-05:00

From the last post we now know how a commodity(oil in our case) trading works when there are only real buyers and sellers of the said commodity, also called hedgers, but in our times thats not entirely accurate. A commodity market today has another player in the mix, and that is, the speculator.

The speculator is a very strange creature, in that he(or she) does not really deliver the said commodity, neither does he take delivery of the said commodity. Actually, selling a commodity would entail producing it, a speculator does not want to be bothered by the effort and investment required to produce said commodity. Buying on the other hand requires one to have the ability to take delivery of the actual commodity, the goods being delivered, that may require things like developing a further downstream market for the said commodity or a value added product thereof, it may also require storage space etc..., as you might have guessed by now, a speculator does not want to be bothered by these boring details either.

So what does the speculator do? Well, he only buys or sells the futures contract, and makes his money off the changes in the price of the contract. Here, you may say, well, thats not exactly buying a commodity is it? Well no, but remember from the last post that the price of a futures contract is represented by the agreed upon price of the underlying commodity.

Confused? Lets see if I can make it simpler. Lets say, the seller is A, and the final buyer is B, and X, Y and Z are speculators, X, Y and Z cannot be at the extreme end of the supply and receipt chain because they are speculators, they, as most people who work in finance will tell you, provide liquidity in the market, thats banker-speak for "they throw in money into the market, money that doesn't really buy anything". That is, as explained before, they neither supply nor take delivery of the said commodity.

So, as in our previous article, lets say, A wants to enter into a contract for selling oil at $10/barrel that he will deliver 6 months from now, he meets X, X agrees to enter into a futures contract with A to buy 5000 barrels at $10/barrel, now X decides that this price is acceptable to him and he buys the futures contract at $10/barrel. So far so good, the next day X finds out the price of a barrel of oil has gone up buy a dollar, so he, in turn, sells it to Y, who agrees to buy the futures contract at the new price, Y is obviously hoping for the price to go up even further, and so Y buys it at $11/barrel from X. Now, as Y expected, the price goes up another dollar, lets say a month from now, and Y decides to sell the futures contract to Z, at $12/barrel. Z holds on to the contract for another 3 months...watches the price go up up and up...and finally realizes that its getting awfully close to the expiration of the contract and he doesn't really want a delivery of the commodity. At that point, a serious buyer B, who actually does need the oil, buys it from Z at the prevailing market price, say, of $15/barrel.

Did you see what just happened? If A had met B in the first instance, B would have got a better price, since B is the one who might end up bringing the oil to the retail consumer, which meeans that the gas you filled up this morning could have been cheaper, if it wasn't for our friends X, Y and Z. In a similar way, speculators can also drive the prices down. Although the hedger and the speculator, both are participants in the same market, the hedger uses futures to protect himself from future price volatility. The speculator on the other hand wants prices to keep changing, if there is price stability, that is, when the supply and demand forces are perfectly balanced, the speculator doesn't make money.

Yes, speculators do provide liquidity to the market, but a very high proportion of speculators in the market can badly skew the perception of supply of, and demand for, a commodity, which is what decides the real(read fair) price of a particular commodity. Today, roughly 30% of the market participants in the NYMEX are identifiable hedgers with a real business interest in oil. This gives you an idea of which players really set the oil prices in the market today.

There is another aspect of commodity trading that only people who are active in the markets seem to know, it is something called "leverage". Basically, it means you can buy way more than you can afford. So, by depositing an amount of, say $1000 in your commodities trading account, you could buy $100,000 worth of a commodity, in this case your leverage is 100(leverage can be 200,300 or even 400 times). The marketing pitch for having leverage is that one gets more bang for their buck! How nice. The only problem is that people who actually buy a commodity(read hedgers) do not tend to use leverage, because, they actually need buy the said commodity. Leverage, my dear friends, is a tool, more suited to the needs of the speculators, who buy and sell futures contracts quickly, availing themselves of a short-term loan(read leverage).

Imagine the kind of potential these practices have, to cause volatility in the market, when someone who is neither interested in selling or buying a commodity, can sell or buy 100 or 200 or even 400 times his worth of the said commodity, with an amount of capital, that would, in no way render him capable of buying or selling such huge amounts of the said commodity without leverage! Imagine the skewed prices that will have to be eventually paid for a commodity owing to these practices.

So who are these speculators and are they solely responsible for the price of oil? Most of the speculators, I believe, are investment banks, hedge funds, pension funds, University Endowment funds, individuals. These people, as is obvious, have no business buying or selling oil futures! Why are they in this market in such huge numbers? Well, thats because the Stock Market has gone bust, and the dollar has been falling for some time now, so one may get into this market to protect one's self against the eroding value of the dollar(thanks to the Fed ofcourse!) and to move cash from a now loss making Stock Market, to the now profitable futures market. It comes as no surprise that the commodities markets have seen a big infusion of funds and continue to see increasing cash inflow, since early to mid-2006, which is when the stocks started their decline. Surely there isn't suddenly a drastic increase in the number of hedgers in the market since 2006?!

So, all said and done....you shouldn't blame the speculators, they are simple minded people, people whose trading does not, according to the spin in the media, affect the price of anything at all. I always thought that in an untampered free market, if someone makes money, someone else, sure as hell, has to lose that money. Obviously, I must have been wrong. Yes, you guessed right, apparently there are people who make money out of thin air, just like a conjurer, we call them, The Speculators.

Ohh Puhleese! Don't blame the Oil Speculators - I

2008-07-05T21:22:00.008-05:00

In recent times there has been a lot of talk in the press that the speculators are being blamed needlessly for driving the Oil prices higher, that they are being made a scapegoat of. The article here is a case in point.

It is interesting that so many people should find it necessary to come to the defence of the speculators, is it because, many of the investment banks and hedge funds that have seen bad times in the last few quarters owing to the subprime crisis, are now heavily invested in Oil Futures? Is it that these very institutions which are now bloated with cash from the Federal Reserve, owing to the abysmally low interest rates(2%?!) that the Fed is charging, are using that very same cash to play the Oil Futures market as speculators? Are they, maybe, trying to drum up some sympathy for themselves so that they can buy time, so they get an adequate enough return on their recent investments in Oil Futures? Makes you wonder doesn't it? If it doesn't, it should.

If you haven't read this article, you should, it provides a seemingly "cogent argument" proving that the speculators are NOT to blame for the rising price of Oil. It basically says that Oil Futures contracts are not to blame for high Oil prices. So I took it upon myself to investigate exactly how Futures trading really happens.

Don't worry we will start from the very basics. Some of you may ask, what exactly is a Futures Contract anyway. I will explain in terms of a physical commodity, since Oil is a physical commodity, though Futures contracts can also be for non-tangible merchandise, like financial instruments. OK enough of that, back to what a Futures Contract is. It is a financial contract in which two parties agree to transact a set of physical commodities for future delivery at a particular price. So, if you buy a futures contract, you have basically agreed to buy something(in our case, Oil) that the seller has not yet produced, at a pre-determined price. So now we are clear that the futures contract will state the price that will be paid when the contract actually takes effect(or closes), that is, when the said commodity actually becomes available.

So now, lets take a look at how a futures market works in the most simplest of cases, lets consider a producer of crude oil who wants to secure a price for the crude he is going to deliver 6 months from now(and for the moment lets consider that a barrel costs on $10.00, for ease of calculations!), and lets assume there is a refiner who is looking to get some supply of crude oil 6 months from now. Assuming the seller can deliver on 5000 barrels of crude 6 months from now and the buyer is interested in buying the said crude, the buyer and the seller may enter into a futures contract for delivery of 5000 barrels of crude at $10/barrel. By entering into this contract, the buyer and the seller have both ensured that they get a fair price for the said commodity 6 months from now. It is this contract and not the Oil itself that is traded in the futures market.

So far, so good. The seller's position is called a short position and the buyer's is called the long position. Nevertheless, it is worth noting, and this is important to remember as we delve deeper into futures trading, that the price of a futures contract is represented by the agreed upon price of the underlying commodity, in our example it is Oil at $10/barrel(what a pipe dream!).

So in our scenario how is profit and loss determined you might wonder. Well, wonder no more. The profit and loss depends on the price movement of that contract, for example, say the futures contracts for oil increases to $11.00/barrel the next day, the seller as the holder of the short position has lost $1.00, since he is obliged to sell his crude, per the contract, at $10.00/barrel. The buyer on the other hand, has gained $1.00 for every barrel that he is buying per the futures contract. The settlement of these profits and losses happen on a daily basis in the futures market. So the day the price goes up by a $1.00, the seller's account is deducted by 1.00 x 5000 = $5000.00 and the buyer's is credited $5000.00. This happens everyday until the said contract closes.

Lets say, the day the contract closes, the price of oil futures is $11.00/barrel. Well, the buyer still has to buy at $11.00/barrel, so for 5000 barrels, thats $55,000, but his initial profit of $5000, that we mentioned above goes towards his actual purchase and so shields him from the change in the price of oil futures contracts, that is, he pays $55,000 - $5000 = $50,000. Same as he wanted to.

So far, so good. Next time I will introduce speculators in our simple scenario, and lets see what happens.

Reservations in IIT faculty

2008-07-04T17:45:00.005-05:00

The ongoing feud between the IITs and the government seems to have taken a backseat to the Nuclear impasse, but just saw the news that the IIT heads have decided to take on the HRD ministry over the reservations in IIT faculty. Kudos to the IIT teaching staff for showing some spine at last!

The IITs are absolutely right in their stand to oppose such a move since recruitment of teaching staff in the IITs, as rightly asserted, should have nothing to with reservations and should be conducted completely on the basis of merit. If merit is compromised, the status of the IITs, which are touted as representatives of 'Brand India' in the international academic arena, will no doubt, be jeopardised.

In my opinion, if push comes to shove, that is, if the HRD ministry does not relent, I would really like to see mass resignations amongst the IIT teaching staff. I think the teaching staff should not agree to any compromise whatsoever on this issue.

American Cultural Arrogance

2008-07-02T10:09:00.007-05:00

There has been an ad in the news lately, its for a telephone company in Japan, E-Mobile, here is the clip.

The above ad has been widely perceived in America as racist, and most of the Burger munching americans have awakened to the racism of the Japanese people, you would be pretty accurate in fact, to say, that the americans have got their panties in a knot over this ad.
In their arrogance and stupidity and ignorance, they seemed to have forgotten that the ad was not a product of their country, it was not meant for their citizens and the most important of all, that it, in fact, may not mean what they think it does!!!
A little checking up on this company, E-Mobile, will lead you to realise that they have been using a Snow Monkey for their advertisements for longer than Barack Obama has been running for president. It is, what one might call, a mascot, of this company, just like you might have associated a Chiuhuahua with Taco Bell, or the more recent AFLAC duck.
The dim wits at CNN even did a piece on this ad spot. They interviewed African-Americans living in Japan, and they seemed offended by the ad, what is amazing is, that despite living in Japan they(the interviewees) didn't bother to find the importance of the Snow Monkey in Japanese culture, which gives you an idea of how americans refuse to come out of their cocoon even when they are abroad, the idiots being interviewed went on and on about how black men are associated with primates and how that represents the fact that they are percieved as less than human, they went on about it to such an extent that, I began to feel that more than anyone else, it is the African Americans who associated themselves with primates, why else would they judge a foreign culture through their ill-informed perspective? But the best was yet to come, when CNN accosted random Japanese people on the streets of Tokyo, not even one of them associated the monkey with a black man! Not One!! In fact the unanimous verdict on the street was that the ad was cute! Until ofcourse, the CNN anchor put words in a Japanese guys' mouth "Obama-san?" just so that her bosses back in america get the spin they need on the story! Well, congratulations america, you have now successfully infected japan with the racism bug!!! Ohh by the way, did you know Barack Obama happens to be very popular in Japan? Yes, thats right.
That was not the end of it, CNN then interviewed Dr. Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Temple University...guess what he had to say when told that "the japanese seem clueless" about the racial connotation of the ad in America, he says "cluelessness isn't really an excuse, because the japanese have to understand that this is not just a domestic discourse but an international discourse".
Ohh yeah, thats absolutely right, its an international discourse, so people who aren't aware of racial slurs should be introduced to them, also I keep forgetting that Japan was heavily involved in slavery, the japanese used to use slaves on their cotton and sugarcane plantations!! Yeah, how could I forget that. What a bunch of idiots!
No America, it is NOT an international discourse!!! Get that?! Don't expect the world to share in your guilt! You keep your dirty laundry to yourself!! If you still think the ad is racist, you, in all probability, are too arrogant and self-centered to even understand other cultures, Wake up America, there is a world beyond your Malls and Burger Kings and McDonalds! Travel out of your country and maybe, just maybe, you'll learn a thing or two.

Death is Finally a part of life - legally

2008-06-28T21:31:00.005-05:00

I usually get very agitated by the antics of Indian politicians, but once in a while the judiciary seems to save the day and remind me that there is hope after all.

For the longest time ever, India has been a country that would prosecute suicidal people. This is how it would work in normal day to day circumstances. Lets say, Mr. X, decided to end his life, so he tried to take a quick route by jumping off a 10 storey building, unfortunately for him, he didn't die(maybe got some bones broken!). Guess what fate would await Mr. X in India? Imprisonment! Yes, I know, absurd, right?! Well...seems like this and a few other laws will change after all, the Law Commission chaired by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan has recommended to the government that Mr. X is hardly a person deserving of incarceration. Kudos to the Law Commission for making such a recommendation!

Another recommendation that has come about it seems, is the legalization of Euthanasia, this means that people won't have to carry on in a vegetative state nor will they have to bear the pain of a slow death brought on by terminal illness. If accepted, these recommendations would become law and people could choose to die a peaceful death of their own accord, saving themselves a lot of pain and saving their loved ones the pain of seeing them wither away in a slow, painful, helpless and less than dignified manner.

This is the news article that I refer to.

Afzal and Sarabjit

2008-06-28T11:56:00.009-05:00

The other day I was trying to get my news fix from India, as is my routine, I went to ndtv.com, and I found this, a piece that said Shivraj Patil compared Sarabjit to Afzal Guru, here's an excerpt from the said piece;

Home Minister Shivraj Patil drew a parallel between the cases of Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in the 2001 parliament attack, and Sarabjit Singh, an Indian prisoner on death row in Pakistan

The piece goes on to say that;

The Home Minister said that those asking for Afzal's hanging couldn't at the same time seek reprieve for Singh.

Mr Patil, I must point out to you, that Afzal, in my opinion, is a traitor, a person who committed treason, yes, he doesn't work for the Indian government but tell me if I am wrong, as an Indian, doesn't his allegiance lie with India, and isn't the attack on the Indian parliament building an attack on his own country?! Wouldn't you consider someone who plans and executes an attack on Indian territory an enemy?!

On the other hand, assuming, as stated by Islamabad, that Sarabjit worked for the Government of India, whatever his activities may be in Pakistan. He was an Indian operative, a soldier under orders, he did whatever he was directed to do, whether it was right or wrong is beside the point. He was not a Pakistani, his loyalties did not lie with Pakistan. That makes Sarabjit a patriot for Indians, he may be a terrorist for Pakistanis, but he is a patriot for Indians.

There is really no comparison between the two. I am given to understand that this kind of statement is the result of votebank politics, it is an appeasement of the muslims in India, now isn't that insulting to Indian muslims?! To assume that they would support someone who attacked their own country!! Isn't this an assumption on the part of our politicians that Indian muslims are any less patriotic than their Hindu brethren?!

Irrespective of Afzal's religion, which seems to be the driving force behind Patil's statement, Afzal has committed treason in the first degree, I would say, even if Afzal was a Hindu it wouldn't have helped him avoid a hanging. In fact, throughout the negotiations going on between India and Pakistan for the release of Sarabjit Singh, I don't ever remember Pakistan suggesting a tit-for-tat agreement vis-a-vis the Afzal Guru case.

Don't we elect are politicians to protect our country, can't we even rely on our elected officials to ensure the security of this land from open attack? Why don't we just invite the Pakistan Army and the Chinese Army to occupy Delhi on a permanent basis!! That should solve all our problems...as they say, with friends like these, who needs enemies!

Is there no end to this ridiculousness?!!

2008-06-27T11:04:00.006-05:00

Here is a piece of news that I noticed in the Times of India, the story though comes out of the UK. This news story is a prime example of how other communities come to regard their muslim countrymen unpatriotic, the attitudes reported in this news story all tend to form the foundation of the image of Islam as a religion in the non-muslim psyche. Here are some excerpts...

LONDON: Muslim passengers may not be touched by sniffer dogs of the British Transport Police after complaints that the practice is against Islam. According to the religion, dogs are deemed to be spiritually “unclean”.

Sniffer dogs have been proven to be one of the best methods of law enforcement, but owing to religious sensitivities we are going to exclude a small part of the population from inspection. What is more important? The lives of the people using public transportation or the religious sensitivities of a couple of people? There are a lot of things that religions all around the world believe, one doesn't have to take everything literally, things like god created the world in 7 or is it 6 days? (even 600 would be ridiculous anyway) or that its possible for a virgin to give birth?! Or that a bush could talk. Or that god has multiple hands and feet! I mean people come on!!! Lets get our priorities right! The report further states that...

The Transport Department report follows the trials of station security measures in the wake of the 2005 London suicide bomb attacks. In one trial, certain Muslim women said the use of a body scanner was also unacceptable because it amounted to being forced to strip.

Yeah, right, so now you non-muslims know, you have been parading around naked at airports!!! You shameless pigs!! Further more, according to the article...

Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, however, said that even dogs touching baggage would be an issue for a Muslim preparing to pray

Isn't this the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard or what?! I believe all religions pretty much require their followers be clean of body when they go to their place of worship, but to say that its more important for muslims than for others is just plain condescending.

Its attitudes like this that give sensible pragmatic people in the community a bad name. For them, I feel sorry, because they end up taking the rap for the views held by the fanatics.

A look at the Nuclear Deal - Will it interfere with India's defence

2008-06-26T13:11:00.017-05:00

While there is overwhelming support in India for the Indo-US Nuclear deal(also known as the Hyde Act of '06 OR no. HR 5682) in the scientific community in India, one has to remember that most scientific research in India is completely dependent on government grants and it would be naive to assume that scientists that support the deal are completely impartial, the question to ask would be who do they get their pay cheques from?
Although it is tempting to align ourselves with the reigning superpower, the question to ask is, at what cost? The US doesn't exactly have a sterling record when it comes to interference in the internal matters of other countries, be they friend or foe. One need only look at a few cases, for example, there has been overwhelming opposition in Australia to the Iraq War, but Australia has been an enthusiatic participant in this war, there has been opposition to the Iraq war in the UK, yet the UK too has been more than enthusiastic in its participation...there are are many more such cases where elected governments has disregarded the will of their own people to pander to America, in fact, for the last 2 years the American public opinion against the war has been growing and yet the American government invests more every day into this violent exercise.
It is this that should make us review what we might be getting into.
The most significant statement that I keep hearing in the Indian media and from government sources is that this deal will not infringe upon India's capability to develop its nuclear weapons program.

As stated in my last article, although, there is no direct interference, the procedures and approvals required to make this agreement operative requires India to get an approval from the NSG, which most certainly will clamp down on India's military nuclear ambitions. Which, I believe, is tantamount to interference. In fact, the text of the agreement goes so far as to say that

"such cooperation induces the country to promulgate and implement substantially improved protections against the proliferation of technology related to nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, and to refrain from actions that would further the development of its nuclear weapons program"

further, it even says,

"such cooperation will induce the country to give greater political and material support to the achievement of United States global and regional nonproliferation objectives, especially with respect to dissuading, isolating, and,if necessary, sanctioning and containing states that sponsor terrorism"

That explains why the Indian government has been so slow in going ahead with the gas pipeline deal with Iran, hasn't Iran been declared by the US as terrorist state? So, even before the deal has been signed we are seeing interference, the sad part is that the government is keeping its people in the dark on the gas pipeline deal and the full scope of the Hyde Act of 2006.

If you still aren't sure how to connect the dots, so to speak, between India's Nuclear Weapons program, the NPT, the NSG, and the Indo US Nuclear deal aka Henry J. Hyde Act of 2006 aka HR 5682, let me put it even more succintly, but first a little bit of background.

The NPT went into effect in 1968, all the countries in the world that had by then, exhibited nuclear weapons capability, usually by conducting a nuclear test, became part of the NPT, came to be officially considered "Weapon's States". India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 and hence, if it were to sign the NPT, would be classified as a non-weapons state. So whats the big deal you may ask, well, a country that is a signatory to the NPT as a non-weapons state is not only required to safeguard internationally-traded nuclear material and technology but would also have to disarm! All this while India has constantly maintained that its nuclear weapons program is purely a minimal deterrent and nothing more.

Now, to the dots:

India's nuclear program is intended, as ostensibly stated by India, as only a minimal deterrent, in the interest of its national security, considering the fact that two of its neighbours, Pakistan and China, have demonstrated nuclear capability, and with whom India has had a total of 3 wars.

The NPT, as explained above, would require India to be a non-weapons state signatory.

The NSG, as a matter of policy, in 1992, decided, that all nuclear commerce with nations will require them(the nations) to agree to "fullscope safeguards", effectively requiring countries like India to join the NPT as non-weapons state if they desire to participate in nuclear commerce.

The Indo-US nuclear deal requires India to get an approval from the NSG as a first step before the Hyde Act is even tabled in the US House of Representatives.

The Henry J. Hyde Act of 2006 can be read here.

***Note: China conducted its first nuclear test in 1964

Indo-US Nuclear Pact

2008-06-23T20:56:00.010-05:00

Lately, there has been a lot of ruckus in India over the Indo-US nuclear deal. The ruling UPA government as pretty much been paralysed vis-a-vis the nuclear deal due to the ongoing disagreement between the congress and the communists, although its not unusual for the communists to make demands of a government they support but would not participate in, for fear of a backlash from a sage but unpopular decision(typical, power without responsibility!), the congress has also displayed a singularly spineless approach to dealing with the communists.
The congress is obviously reluctant to bet its position in government for the obvious reason that the deal, even if the left agrees, is far from certain in its present form. There are a couple of stages that the deal needs to go through after India ratifies it in its present form.
The first is the NSG(Nuclear Suppliers Group), this group has a mandate to uphold the NPT(Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), some of its key members are China and Australia, this is important because the NSG always works by consensus, its says so very clearly on its website, here is an excerpt from the NSG website:

Plenary
The NSG Plenary works on the basis of consensus. Overall responsibility for activities lies with the NSG Participating Governments who meet once a year in a Plenary meeting

Consultative Group (CG)
The CG is the NSG's standing intersessional working body, tasked to hold consultations on issues associated with the Guidelines on nuclear supply and the technical annexes. The CG takes its decisions by consensus.

Now for the significance of the two countries mentioned before, China has been very clear about its opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal, to the point that it has categorically stated that such a deal will be a body blow to nuclear non-proliferation and will trigger a domino effect, the complete news item is available here.
One has to carefully consider what the Chinese mean when they say "domino effect", it means that if the US bypasses the global non-proliferation regime, it(China) should not be expected to adhere to such a regime any longer and may then feel free to proliferate dual use technology as it pleases. For India, the US and the rest of the world, that would mean China might not hesitate to provide Pakistan with access to such technology, and considering its(Pakistan's) track record, the west would be wary of such a development in the future.
So we come back to the NSG and the chances that the Indo-US nuclear deal will be approved by it, especially since non-proliferation by India is not the core issue at all.
The next stage for the Indo-US deal would be the US congress. India would do well to remember that the nuclear deal was proposed by the Bush administration, and since that proposal, a lot has changed in the US. The majority of the congress is now democrat, as against republican, as was the case when the deal was first floated. President Bush is now pretty much, a lame duck president, just awaiting the end of his term, with the democrat congress opposing the Bush administration tooth and nail on every issue, the Indians would have to be deluded to believe that the Indo-US nuclear deal would be approved by the congress in its present form, if it gets approved at all. Why do I say "if it gets approved at all", well that is because the US has more at stake in China than in India, another factor is the fact that the US is dealing with a huge chinese debt that it has to repay sooner or later, which provides China with immense leverage in the US government. Leverage that India does not have.

Fuel

The next big hurdle for the Indians would be fuel supplies, to generate a reasonable amount of energy from nuclear power plants India has to have a steady supply of natural Uranium, all other forms of fuel pale in comparison to Uranium. In the absence of Uranium, India would be stuck with a bunch of nuclear power plants with little or no fuel to generate a reasonable and financially viable amount of nuclear energy to power its growth in the future. Without Uranium, India would never be able to achieve its full potential and would be forever considered a second rate economic power.
Some of the Uranium rich parts of the world are Central Asia, Africa and Australia. The problem is India is late getting to the bus stop as far as the International Uranium market is concerned, so late that most of the buses have already left. At this time, Russia already has an agreement with Khazakhstan to ensure a supply of Uranium, China is actively courting UraMin(active in Africa), and while former Australian PM John Howard was not against selling Uranium to India, his successor, Kevin Rudd has categorically stated that Australia will not sell Uranium to India unless it signs the NPT, which the Indo-US nuclear deal does not require India to sign. Of course, by signing the NPT, India will forego the nuclear option as far as defence is concerned.
In the meantime, luckily for India, it has found some big Uranium deposits in central India and Ladakh which it is keen to mine. Another thing that India has going for it, is the Indo-US deal itself. Part of the deal involves Washington supporting New Delhi in the development of strategic Uranium reserves to insure against supply disruptions and ensuring India gets uninhibited access to the international Uranium market. The only problem is, India is not sure whether these commitments by Washington will remain untouched after the deal goes through the US congress.

***NEXT - A look at the deal in its present form, and how bad does India need it

Whats the truth, you decide.

2008-06-16T13:09:00.011-05:00

Monday, June the 16th 2008: As I was reading the news today, I found many news reports, CNN, BBC, the whole bunch, reporting that the US and the EU had reached a deal to levy more sanctions on Iran, for its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. Below is the BBC headline and a small snippet, click here for the full report:

EU agrees Iran nuclear sanctions

EU foreign ministers have agreed to implement sanctions against Iran after its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

What I find strange in this BBC report is the absence of any official statement from an EU spokesperson, there is a cursory mention of Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, but it isn't clear if Mr. Solana's meeting with his Iranian counterpart, has, in any way, a cause/effect relationship, with these new sanctions that the EU seems to have agreed to.

As per my research on this subject so far, as is evident from my previous articles, I realised that this agreement between the EU and the US went against my reasoning, and since I didn't notice the missing EU statement from the BBC report, I assumed, there might be something I might have missed.

Until....I saw something else, another news report, this time from Gulfnews.com. This one said the exact opposite of what the above-linked BBC report said. Here are some excerpts from the gulfnews report:

EU says no agreement on new Iran sanctions

Luxembourg: The European Union said on Monday it had agreed no new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, apparently contradicting British statements announcing new measures on its financial and energy sectors.

It even went so far as to officially quote an EU spokesperson, Cristina Gallach, denying any such agreement, now that is something. Did I mention, Cristina Gallach happens to be the spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Mr. Javier Solana! Yep, the same Mr. Solana mentioned in the BBC news report.

So the question is, whom do we believe? When I look at the middle east, I see governments that are primarily authoritarian in nature, Iran, which though a theocracy in my opinion, seems overtly non-authoritarian(well, they have elections!). Anyways, I digress, so mostly authoritarian governments in the Middle East, we all know that public opinion doesn't count for anything in authoritarian forms of government. On the other hand, there are the western democracies, a form of government where public opinion counts and having the people on your(read government's) side helps a lot!

By this logic, I would think that BBC/CNN and the whole bunch have a greater incentive to bend the truth than gulfnews.com does.

Of course, you, as a reader, might have a different opinion, and I would be glad to hear from you. By the way, do check the price of oil on the top-right of this page.

Dollar - Latest update

2008-06-06T14:07:00.001-05:00

Israel today said air strikes against Iran seem unavoidable. That is going put the dollar in an extremely precarious position.
Brace for a big fall in the dollar if Israel goes ahead with it.

Whats up with the US Dollar??!! - OPEC and the Dollar Pegs

2008-06-01T17:57:00.014-05:00

In this article we will talk about the OPEC and other matters associated with it and its member countries. As always, I strongly suggest that you start with the first article in this series so you will be able to see the big picture.

The OPEC was created in September of 1960, its objective was to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among member countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; and provide an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations.

The objectives basically mean that the OPEC would control the price and supply of crude to the rest of the world. It is clear that having control over the price and supply of such a precious resource as oil in the world gave the OPEC countries immense power and influence over the rest of the world. The OPEC countries were not averse to using this power, for example, their embargo against the west and Japan in 1973, to protest against the Yom Kippur War.
After its formation, OPEC mandated that all buying and selling of oil will be done using US Dollars, remember though, that when this was decided, the dollar was a robust currency, we are talking about 1960 here, a point in time when the dollar had not yet been floated.

The dollar though was soon floated, as you might remember from the first article in this series, the dollar was fully floated in the mid-70s(Nixon administration), and, not surprisingly, OPEC did think of moving away from the dollar but the US decided to strike various secret deals with Saudi Arabia and ensure that the world's most important oil exporter stuck with the dollar, and what the Saudis do, the OPEC pretty much follows.

Having their most important export bought and sold in US Dollars obviously made all the OPEC nations also peg their currencies on the dollar.

Lately though there has been considerable bad news floating around in the middle east, it is mainly concerned with the countrys' dollar pegs, Kuwait, last year de-pegged its Dinar from the dollar. Last November, the governor of the UAE central bank said they were seriously considering de-pegging from the dollar, last year, while Wall Street was 'rejoicing' over the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, a report in The Telegraph showed up in the UK, here are some excerpts,

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

"This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas.

"Saudi Arabia has $800bn (£400bn) in their future generation fund, and the entire region has $3,500bn under management. They face an inflationary threat and do not want to import an interest rate policy set for the recessionary conditions in the United States," he said.

As a close ally of the US, Riyadh has so far tried to stick to the peg, but the link is now destabilising its own economy.

Things are getting worse everyday, so it comes as no surprise that the US Dollar's woes have finally made it into American news media, but still only a byline, worth reading anyways.

So far the gulf nations have succumbed to US pressure and kept their currencies pegged to the dollar, but how long, the de-pegging of the gulf state's currencies from the dollar, as you might have figured out by now, is crucial to the de-pegging of oil from the dollar. By now, you may have figured out the reasons for President Bush's frequent visits in recent times to Saudi Arabia.

Although, there is widespread panic, it seems the oil exporters(except Iran, Venezuela and the like) are betting on the dollar, which, in my opinion, explains the massive investments from the middle east to help Wall Street without cutting US interest rates any further. This is also their way of guarding their massive dollar reserves against erosion in value.

So the question to ask is, what will happen if the OPEC goes off the dollar?

Whats up with the US Dollar??!! - The War

2008-06-01T12:51:00.021-05:00

Starting in 2002 the world had an alternative to the US Dollar, the Euro, we saw how that development came about, starting in the first, second and then the third article in this series.
So lets talk about what happened after the creation of the Euro. In November 2000, President Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government became the first country to switch from the dollar to the euro for trading oil. This was done as a rebuke to the US government's hard-line on sanctions. This move by Iraq also did something else that, as we discussed in the last article, was what the Europeans were hoping for.
If you have read the previous articles in this series you will have figured out by now, that this, inevitably threatened the dollar's pre-eminent position in the world. If this action by Baghdad was allowed to go unpunished, it could lead to more countries moving to the euro. Which is why, in my opinion, the Iraq War was started.
In fact, in june of 2003, the then, Prime Minister of Malaysia publicly advocated a move away from the dollar to the euro for oil exports, its interesting that the US and European reactions to this were diametrically opposite, EU's Energy Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio welcomed the suggestion, saying that the euro would, in the future, be a major exchange currency in the international markets. The US Director of Energy Information Administration, Guy Caruso said that he didn't see any particular merit in a move away from the dollar.
The International community even went so far as to warn Baghdad that moving away from the US Dollar would cost it millions, this was because the euro, at that point of time, was 82 cents to a dollar and weakening. It was perceived as an emotional decision, without any economic merit. In fact, Iran too had toyed with the idea of switching to the euro a year before Iraq actually made the switch, but that was before the euro had started weakening. At that point, Iran quickly forgot about that idea.
In 2002, North Korea decided to embrace the euro, this was done when the US led international consortium announced that it was halting fuel aid on account of North Korea's covert nuclear programme. So by 2002, we had another country moving off the dollar, switching to the euro.
In 2004, China announced that it would diversify its over $440 billion forex reserves, China said it would diversify into european and asian bonds.
In 2005, Iran ordered its Central Bank to convert all its US Dollar held assets abroad to euro denomination, and announced that it would conduct all its international transactions using the euro thenceforth. This was again a result of mounting US pressure in the UN Security Council for sanctions against Iran.
In 2006, Venezuela, another major oil producer like Iraq and Iran, started toying with the idea of moving off the US Dollar, in 2007, Venezuela started avoiding dollar trade as much as possible by employing the barter system and signing trade agreements like, sending oil to Cuba in exchange for doctors, it signed an oil-for-food deal with portugal in May of 2008. It signed a series of such deals throughout 2007 and continues to do so. By the way, despite all this, as of the last quarter of 2007, the US continues to source more than half of Venezuela's output everyday. If Venezuela decides to dump the dollar for the euro, it would mean the US would have to use euros to buy Venezuelan oil! Not to mention that Venezuela would immediately be inducted into the axis of evil.

Time seems to be running out for the dollar, its constant weakening against the euro, initiated, and precipitated, by the above mentioned nation's moves to move away from the dollar, add to it, the trade deficit the US has built up over the years, especially since the beginning of the Iraq War, has left, the US economy weak, just like the dollar, and the bleak future for the dollar appears pretty clear.

A brief note about the Iraq War before I end this article. Iraq started exporting oil again in 2007, the payments are made in US Dollars only, it was also decided that the billions of Iraqi euros which were being held in the Iraqi euro denominated account, controlled by the UN as part of the oil-for-food program will be transferred to a Development Fund for Iraq account, which happens to be dollar denominated and is controlled by the US.

Whats up with the US Dollar??!! - War for the Free Lunch

2008-06-01T10:05:00.016-05:00

The US Dollar's preminence as the world's reserve currency and its later flotation gave it a unique advantage. We have already covered in the first article and then in the second article in this series how this came about.
Keep in mind now, the fact that, starting in 1975, the dollar, unlike in its early years as the world's reserve currency, wasn't backed up by anything, so starting in 1975 your dollar bills are nothing but worthless paper! Yes, you are right, if you are thinking that the dollar is valuable as a consequence of its demand in the world market. Ofcourse, the world needs the dollar for all kinds of things, trade and commerce, international loans, repaying international loans etc...pretty much anything and everything.
This meant that starting with the complete floating of the dollar the US had to fulfill the dollar demand from the rest of the world, and guess how the US did this?! They did this by giving US Dollars in return for goods and services imported from the rest of the world, but guess what, the US itself doesn't need to earn dollars from the rest of the world, so effectively, it always imports more than it exports, which means that it always builds up trade deficits, the US trade deficit is now humongous, its imports being over 50% more than its exports! The US effectively enjoys the luxury of consuming more than it produces, thats because whenever it needs it, it can create money out of thin air(read print). Thanks to the dollar demand from the rest of the world, its always been safe from an erosion in its(US Dollar's) value.
Like I said, who wouldn't like a free lunch, and sure enough, there were other countries in the world that envied the US for all of the above, and ofcourse, wanted a piece of the pie, and if they could, get the whole pie. So this is how they set about doing it.
The Euro was introduced in 1999 as an accounting currency and later as coins and notes on 1 January 2002. It would not be too hard to imagine the reason for the creation of the Euro, to create an alternative to the US Dollar. As you have realised by now that America consumes much more than it creates, which also means everyone in the world(including Europeans) subsidise American consumption, with the Euro achieving its intended objective, that is, replacing the US Dollar as the world's currency for reserves as well as for trade and commerce, the Europeans will have stopped subsidising American consumption.
The effect on America, of the flight to the Euro, would be disastrous! It would lead to a dollar crash, it would mean that the US will have to produce as much as it consumes, in fact, you may have seen a gradual decrease in the value of the Dollar vis-a-vis the Euro(this is not the crash though), you can almost hear it on the news every other day, the dollar has been gradually falling against the Euro, and that corresponds to the Euro slowly, but surely, usurping the Dollar's position as the pre-eminent currency, the Euro has surpassed the US Dollar as the currency with highest combined value in cash in circulation as of March 2008.
For the American public, the common man I mean, this would entail a change in lifestyle that he/she may not have imagined in his/her wildest nightmares! Look at the bright side though, it will wipe out the obesity epidemic in one fell swoop! Well...sorry...that wasn't a good joke. My apologies.

Whats up with the US Dollar??!! - Part Deux

2008-05-31T19:19:00.010-05:00

If you reached this article and haven't read the last one, pls read that first, to get a better background into this discourse. The last thing we covered was the floating of the US Dollar.

Lets continue from there....

One may ask, did floating the US Dollar help the US, it did and did not, heres how.

Remember that the US was at that point still the world's reserve currency, so nations would maintain US Dollar reserves so they could carry out international trade, another thing that had happened before the floating of the US Dollar was the formation of the OPEC in the 1960s. OPEC decided that the US Dollar will be used for transactions involving the buying and selling of Oil produced in its member nations, this decision was also based on the perceived strength of the US Dollar on account of the strong US economy. Add to this the IMF and the World Bank which adopted the US Dollar as the currency for international loans.

If you consider the above factors, that is the reserve currency and the petrodollar, you will realise that the US Dollar was a currency that was in very high demand,

this meant that every nation needed US Dollars to carry out any form of trade internationally, all import-export transactions had to be in dollars, this meant that every nation had to maintain dollar reserves. Despite the full flotation of the US Dollar, OPEC did not move away from it, this we will cover in the upcoming articles, this meant that oil had to be bought and sold in US Dollars only.

Lets get back to our times now, shall we...

So what has happened to the US Dollar to lose its value in the recent decade? We will deal with the factors that have resulted in this situation starting with the next article in this series.

Whats up with the US Dollar??!! - The Beginning

2008-05-31T13:36:00.019-05:00

The US Dollar is the reserve currency of the world, it is also the currency which the OPEC(Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) has decided, since its formation, will be the currency to use for all transactions for oil anywhere in the world.
This makes the USD a currency that is in very high demand, all over the world, which effectively makes it a valuable commodity, yes, simple supply-demand economics, the world needs more USDs which leads to the increase in its value. Having said this, there has been a gradual decrease in the USD's value for some time now. Why?
In recent times, President George W. Bush, you will have realised, has visited the Middle East quiet often. Why?

The American media has been very careful in pointing out that the President's visits to the middle-east were to 'demand' that the middle-eastern governments produce more crude to meet the world's increasing hunger for the said resource. We will see if there is more to this.

I also believe, what I am going to talk about in this article, is the reason for the humongous investments the US markets(read US investment banks) we have seen since the credit crisis began,and the IBanks started going down like straw houses in a wildfire. So another question that needs answering is, middle-eastern sovereign funds are investing in the US economy. Why?

So lets go back in time....

The USD is considered the world's Reserve Currency, the USD has held that position since the Bretton Woods Agreement, in 1944, 44 nations gathered at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, the delegates had met to discuss the postwar recovery of Europe, as well other issues like unstable exchange rates, to achieve these objectives the Bretton Woods Agreement created two international institutions, the IMF(the International Monetary Fund) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development(now known as the World Bank). What they decided for the stabilization of exchange rates was that the members were required to achieve a parity of their national currencies in terms of gold, a peg, and maintain exchange rates between plus or minus 1% of parity by intervening in their foreign exchange markets, that is, buying and selling their currency. In reality what happened was, since the principal reserve currency was the US Dollar, countries pegged their currencies against the US Dollar, and they would buy and sell US Dollars to maintain the aforementioned parity. The reason the US Dollar was chosen as the reserve currency was the strength of the US economy and the fixed relationship of the Dollar to gold, $35 per ounce of gold, and the US government's assurance to convert dollars to gold at that price, in fact the US Dollar was even better than gold, because it could earn interest!!

Well, this meant that the price of gold had to be maintained at $35 per ounce. By 1956, America was involved in the Vietnam war, which was to last until 1975. To maintain a fixed exchange rate as described above, the US would also need to maintain its gold reserves. With the Vietnam War putting a lot of pressure on the US economy, combined with the rising prices of imported commodities, and combined with the trade deficit as well as the fact that the Vietnam War was being executed without cuts in other government expenditures(sounds familiar?), the US could not maintain the Dollar at $35 per ounce of gold and Dollar actually eroded in value compared to the gold used to back it up! Faced with these circumstances, the US government, in 1975, finally floated the Dollar in comparison to gold as well as other currencies, what does this mean you may ask. Well, this meant, it became what is called a Fiat Currency, for the economics-challenged, here's a quasi definition.

A Fiat Currency is money that has value primarily because the government demands it in payment of taxes, and that government has credible enforcement of its demand, it is a type of credit currency that is not backed by anything like gold, platinum or paladium etc..

You can say, simply speaking, a Fiat Currency has value because people need to use it, if they didn't need to use it, it would be worthless.

Now is a good time to recap what we have so far, the US had the strongest currency at the end of the second world war, so the US Dollar became the reserve currency, the Bretton Woods Agreement allowed other nations to peg their currencies with the US Dollar, after a decade or so US trade deficit started rising, commodity prices also started rising, and the US got involved in the Vietnam War, which it funded using its strong Dollar but without corresponding reductions in other government spending. As a result of this seemingly 'perfect storm', the US Dollar started losing value in comparison to gold, which forced the US to float the US Dollar, effectively leading to the dissolution of the Bretton Woods regime.

***Continued in next post

Objective News Coverage in Action

2008-05-07T10:05:00.007-05:00

Well...I was watching CNBC the other day, and there was Erin Burnett (a.k.a Street Sweetie) and Mark Haines, reporting on a new IPO making its debut today Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (Sym:DPS).

So, the topic of discussion was, should you be investing in carbonated softdrink stock, big question, assuming a lot of people were watching this piece, and presumably basing their investment decisions on the advice that was going to be dished out.

To discuss this, they had invited a guest, whose views on this matter would be completely objective and impartial, if you don't know who it was, it was Larry Young, President & CEO of Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. !!!

If you don't believe me....here is the video, well, if for nothing else, you could watch it for the beautiful Erin Burnett.

Not even 15mins of fame for the Mumbai Indians

2008-04-30T18:52:00.004-05:00

I can't help but think that media seems to be giving the Mumbai Indians IPL team the cold shoulder, its been two days now since the first match the Mumbai team won against the Kolkata Knight Riders, but except for a one articles, you would thing that such a thing never happened! Especially, if you look around for photographs of the only match that the Mumbai Indians have won so far! I wonder why? Is it because they don't have a mascot with the star power of a Shahrukh Khan?

I checked the IPL T20 website, I checked NDTV, I checked the Times of India...pretty much all the well known sites, but all I could find were photographs of matches featuring the Mumbai Indians which they lost. Don't they deserve their time in the limelight?

Of course, correct me if I am wrong and post me links to sites that have photographs of that match.

Travelling to India - Insight # 8 - Domestic Help

2008-04-27T06:53:00.018-05:00

A country that has 41% of the world's poor staying in it and with a population of over a billion people, you would think finding domestic help would be easy. You are wrong. Domestic help, and good one at that, is hard to come by and thats what makes it really really important for you to read through this post.
The domestic help, also variously called, the maid, or naukrani, quite literally the servant queen, you'll know why in a minute, or quiet plainly, in some parts of the country, as bai, pronounced 'baa-ee', meaning, Lady. From here on, in this post, we will refer to this character as Bai.
The Indian middle class world revolves around this Bai person, quiet literally she affects every aspect of urban Indian life, she can affect when a family wakes up or goes to bed, she can affect how quickly the kids get dressed for school, and she can affect you social standing in the neighbourhood, she can make you cancel your family vacations, in fact, she can affect how punctual you are going to be at office, and while, in the rest of the world, the excuse that you are late because your Bai was late wouldn't fly, in India your boss will show you empathy!
When you arrive in India, and are planning to stay a while, you will no doubt need domestic help, ofcourse the haughty amongst you might crinkle their nose and say "I am never gonna do that!", well, when you get here, trust me, you will...your haughtiness will vapourize before you can spell it.
Your first task when you settle in a neighbourhood is not to check the classifieds for domestic help, thats just a waste of time, but to observe your neighbours and look for the bai's that come and leave, there are a couple of approaches you might want to try to employ this highly valued workforce. You could befriend the local housewives and ask them for information about their Bai. Everyone of them will be very guarded when you raise the subject, most will in fact fervently criticize the Bai they employ, don't be taken in by this act, the more vehemently a woman criticizes her Bai the more she wants exclusive rights over her time, which basically means that you've got to get what she's got! Some will also throw you off the scent by saying that someone else has a better Bai than she does, ignore her. Remember, these are tactics you will need to employ in the future when its your turn to guard against poachers(aka newcomers in the neighbourhood).
A more brute force approach is to keep looking for the one you like....through the peep hole in your apartment door or from your window, and then stalk the prey(aforementioned Bai), accosting her on her way out of, or in to, her next assignment and proposition her right there and then. Stealth is the most important factor when employing this strategy, not surprisingly, this approach works wonders most times! Make sure you have prepared and practised your speech well before you put this "accost-and-proposition" strategy to work for you, because the Bai is a very fickle creature, very easily distracted and completely uninclined to give anyone the time of day, stuttering and pointless blabbering without getting to the point will turn the Bai off and you might lose her forever, not to mention the fact that you will gain celebrity in the neighbourhood as the local idiot. When perfectly executed though, this approach establishes your status as a maverick amongst the neighbourhood women, not to be messed with! Getting you much sought after, neighbourhood celebrity. So make sure your approach doesn't scare her, your speech is clear and smooth, and you get right to the point. Be prepared of course, to answer rapid fire questions about your family, thats the Bai's screening process for you, do not underestimate her attention to detail, you want to come across as calm, confident, relatively richer than the rest of the neighbourhood and someone who has nothing to hide. The good thing is, you will get a decision right away!
There are other perks that are associated with getting a good Bai, this character will be your future source of neighbourhood news(aka gossip) and will be a big help in killing time during the excruciating hot Indian summers when you can't get out of the house, but news is a two way street, and your skill lies in getting more information out of her than you give away. Know full well, that anything you reveal is going to do the rounds of the neighbourhood, and may help or hurt your image. Mostly it will hurt.
Another aspect of this whole situation is the retention strategies that are employed, Indians go to great lengths to retain their Bai's, some of the approaches are, bonuses(aka bakshish), paid holidays, pay raises, flattery, treating her like family, though you have to be careful with the last one.
I realise that at some point of time, you will feel the uncontrollable urge to flaunt this possession of yours, you will do well to resist this urge in the presence of your neighbours, a safe place to boast and be a complete blabbermouth about this is when you go out of your neighbourhood, where this valued employee of yours is not in danger of being poached.
Thats all I have on this subject, but this information should be enough keep you in good stead as far as domestic help is concerned. Have Fun!

**Applies only to Indians living in India, Indians outside of India can't afford a Bai.

Kyaa Aap Paachvi Pass Sey Tez Hain?!

2008-04-26T18:53:00.009-05:00

While America rues the fact that there seems to be a precipitous dumbing down of its population, which is leaving most of America frustrated and angry at their politicians, media and anything they can find on TV, Indians are revelling in the new media explosion.

A common joke of course, is, why read the book when I can wait for the movie. The weakness of the American youth in subjects like science and math, that are paramount for success in the global economy, is a constant source of concern not only for the government but also their parents.

To add to this cesspool of intellectual bankruptcy is Talk Radio, where ill-informed "pundits" pontificate in the worst possible spoken english I have heard, where its very common to hear words like 'societal', 'nucular', 'strategery'...in fact, you would be surprised how many words get misused, when the speaker thinks it means something, when in fact the word implies something completely different, and no, context has nothing to do with it. Its just poor vocabulary. Period.

To top it all off are the popular programs on TV, that receive a huge audience, reports about Britney Spears is just one example, and so is "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader", and that brings me to something I just read in the Hindustan Times.

The said article was in reference to the soon to be launched Indian version "Kyaa Aap Paanchvi Pass Sey Tez Hain". The author tries to analyse India through the auditioning tapes of the hopefuls. The link above points to the article.

What the author doesn't mention is that the Indian version is a plagiarised version of the American one, but thats not even the most important point, the most important point is that the author presents this phenomenon as a positive for the Indian people, when all that is happening here is the "Dumbing Down of India", and an IIT in every town is not the only thing that will contribute to it, the author goes even so far as to allude to the Jerry Springer Show-like programming as a positive for all of India.

Observe the trend, Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Saas Bahu sagas, India's version of Celebrity Big Brother(Ricky Gervais' comment on this Reality-TV culture is poignant), and now Kyaa Aap Paachvi Pass Sey Tez Hain(KAPPSTH). Good, we have made great progress indeed, from Siddarth Basu's Quiz Time and Derek O'Brien's Buornvita Quiz Contest to KAPPSTH, that is indeed some impressive progress. I wonder what other dumb shows we are going to see next, for a populace that has never known better(cerebral) shows before these new shows will be the height of creativity and intellectual challenge! This is a sad state of affairs and if its not stopped now, there will be nowhere to go but downhill.

Coming up with these kind of shows, I believe the Indian Television Media is saying, "yes, we think you are dumb enough to lap this up", to think that Indians do not deserve better is, frankly, insulting.

If this continues we are looking forward to a populace which do not aspire to overcome big challenges(they are happier beating a 5th grader at a quiz!), a populace desperate to get on television, a populace of zombies who looks for spicy entertainment even in news, and TV with a thousand channels to watch but not one worth watching.

No Cheers for IPL

2008-04-24T19:25:00.009-05:00

It was evening the other day when I came across the big news when surfing the internet. As I was done surfing I walked to the living room and was about to install myself on the sofa when I noticed a pair of cheerleading pom poms lying around, there was no doubt that something I was not aware of, was afoot. Thats when I noticed Moskey approaching the aforementioned cheerleading paraphernalia and I quipped...

Me: What is all this for?(a look of curiosity writ on my face)

Moskey: I am practicing to be a cheerleader.(picking up the pom poms)

Me: Thats ridiculous! I hear becoming a cheerleader takes years of practice and dedication. You have nothing going for you, plus, you are supposed to guard the house, you seem to do everything else but that!

Moskey: I beg to differ, In fact, I have a lot going for me, I am athletic, I have a willingness to please the crowds....

Me:(interrupting him) stop it, there is no way the Maharashtra Government is going to let you do any cheerleading in Mumbai, too much has been made out of it as it is. I would suggest you go back to what I brought you here for, guarding the house, and for god's sake take off that skirt, you look ridiculous!

Moskey: (with a self righteous expression on his face) In fact, you should call Mr. Mhetre and inform him that he need not worry, I will not let him down, and the Mumbai matches will not be without cheering.

Me: I am not doing anything like that, from what I know Mr. Mhetre thinks cheerleading is vulgar, I don't think he will take too kindly to you cheerleading.

Moskey: (in a disappointed tone) Your lack of perception amazes me, Mumbaikars will be considered backward if we have no cheerleading at our venues.

Me: Nothing of the sort will happen, the important thing is that matches at our venues are well organised. The progressiveness of a town is not measured by the number of cheerleaders at its sporting venues.

Moskey:(irritated with my tirade) This is our last opportunity to salvage some pride!

Me: What?! Cheerleading is our only way to salvage some pride?! Are you crazy??

Moskey:With the way the Mumbai Indians have been performing throughout the IPL tournament, do you have a better idea?

END OF CONVERSATION

Love this song

2008-04-22T11:34:00.005-05:00

Well...I always loved this song, but had never seen the video, this video just blew my mind. If you haven't seen it, check it out, below the video are the lyrics.

"Rockstar"

I'm through with standing in line

To clubs we'll never get in

It's like the bottom of the ninth

And I'm never gonna win

This life hasn't turned out

Quite the way I want it to be

(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house

On an episode of Cribs

And a bathroom I can play baseball in

And a king size tub big enough

For ten plus me

(So what you need?)

I'll need a credit card that's got no limit

And a big black jet with a bedroom in it

Gonna join the mile high club

At thirty-seven thousand feet

(Been there, done that)

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars

My own star on Hollywood Boulevard

Somewhere between Cher and

James Dean is fine for me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame

I'd even cut my hair and change my name

[Chorus:]

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars

And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars

The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap

We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat

And we'll hang out in the coolest bars

In the VIP with the movie stars

Every good gold digger's

Gonna wind up there

Every Playboy bunny

With her bleach blond hair

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels

Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes

Sign a couple autographs

So I can eat my meals for free

(I'll have the quesadilla on the house)

I'm gonna dress my ass

With the latest fashion

Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion

Gonna date a centerfold that loves to

Blow my money for me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame

I'd even cut my hair and change my name

[Chorus]

And we'll hide out in the private rooms

With the latest dictionary and today's who's who

They'll get you anything with that evil smile

Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial, well

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

I'm gonna sing those songs

That offend the censors

Gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser

I'll get washed-up singers writing all my songs

lip sync 'em every night so I don't get 'em wrong

[Chorus]

And we'll hide out in the private rooms

With the latest dictionary and today's who's who

They'll get you anything with that evil smile

Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial

Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

Supply/Demand Economics and the Price of Oil

2008-04-20T19:50:00.005-05:00

The price of oil is closing in on $117 a barrel, thats a new record, the "guardians" of capitalism in America would have you believe that this is the right price because THIS is the price dictated by the market. You know, simple supply and demand economics, the lesser oil we get out of the ground the higher the price climbs. Nice and simple.

Only, you would be a fool if you bought into that gobbledygook, because there is more going on here than just supply and demand, yes my friends, there's more to it.

The OPEC(aka Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) has been repeatedly stating since last year, when the price of crude began its ascent, that there is no supply/demand imbalance, we have not suddenly, since the middle of last year started extracting less oil out of the ground, in fact, the OPEC has gone on to say that there is no shortage of oil, there is enough black gold to go around. The OPEC's president Chakib Khelil has gone on record, saying,

"Any increase in production now will not have an impact on prices because there is a balance between supply and demand"

In that case, one can't help but ask, why then is there such massive fluctuation in the price of oil?

The cause of these fluctuations are the speculators, people, who speculate on commodities and the increasing devaluation of the US Dollar, the accepted currency when it comes to buying and selling oil in the international markets.

The US government and the governments of the world are eminently capable of putting a stop to speculation in a commodity as precious and sensitive as oil, which, affects the price of every other commodity, including food, for example, remember the rapid increase in the price of rice and corn in recent times.

All they have to ensure is that no speculators participate in the commodities market. It should just be buyers(real buyers) and sellers(real sellers), of these commodities, as it was meant to be in the first place, as was expected to be in a free market.

Having speculators using leverage to bet on commodity prices misleads the market's real market participants.

The other thing that needs to be done, is the US Federal Reserve should stop cutting interest rates, and if a Wall Street investment bank is driven to the ground, so be it, thats what capitalism and free markets are all about, you get rewarded for being smart and punished for being foolish.

So please, for once, lets go back to free markets, that is markets free of government intervention, lets go back to good old capitalism, the kind of system that rewards the smart people and punishes the stupid.

Can Indian Food Survive in Britain

2008-04-20T10:13:00.004-05:00

The latest threat to good Indian food comes not from competition with the Chinese, Korean, French or Italian....its from the British Foreign Office, yes, I am alluding to the new immigration rules to take effect in the UK.

The new policy is of course, meant to be pro-EU workers, which basically means that Non-EU workers with equivalent skills or better, will be shown the door of the British consulate/embassy when they arrive at it.

But thats not the topic of this post, the topic is can a polish cook cook Bombay Duck?! I don't think so, its the same reason why Italian food so good in Italy, the same reason why French food tastes that good in France, and the same reason why Indian food tastes so absolutely fabulous in India!

If it was possible for anyone to cook any other kind of food, people would have made a big business out of it, for example, India had strong ties Soviet Russia, do you ever wonder why the Russians never adopted the Indian restaurant business?! Well, maybe thats because they had the good sense, unlike the British Government, to leave Indian cooking to the people from the subcontinent.

Indian Cuisine, is one of the greatest cuisine and to presume that anyone can cook Indian food is an absolutely naive notion, and the British should rid themselves of it, or they will end stuck with some pathetic version of "Indian" that no self respecting Indian will touch with a 10 foot pole...oops!

Er...before I go...considering what the British are gonna have to stomach in the name of "Indian" food....God Save The Queen!

Immigration in America

2008-04-18T09:27:00.007-05:00

I hear a lot of talk about immigration, legal and illegal, to America, and how it is bad for the US, either that or I may just be watching too much Lou Dobbs Tonight lately, anyways, this is an interesting take on immigration that showed up during the election campaign of the Northern League, in the recently concluded Italian General Election. I found it interesting...kind of holds up the mirror doesn't it? Would love to hear from readers of this blog from the US.

Just to give you some background, the Northern League is a right wing party mostly supported in the prosperous north of the country(Italy), and is extremely Anti-Immigration.

In this post(image above) is one of their campaign posters, here is the translation of whats written -

They suffered immigration: Now they live in reserves

Affirmative action, Quotas and everything else...

2008-04-11T11:54:00.009-05:00

I was sipping my morning cuppa when I noticed something quiet unusual, my dog Moskey seemed somewhat restless, me being considerate and caring self ventured to find out,

Me: Moskey, whats going on, you don't seem your self today, anything I can help with?

Moskey: (with a despondent look on his face)Actually no, you are pretty ineffectual....a more apt term would be 'impotent', but I can't say it for fear of hurting your feelings.

Me:(with a look of shock and hurt on my face) What? But you just did...

Moskey:(walking over to the other end of the room)..sigh..

Me:(shock and hurt having given way to confusion) Are you under the weather, do you need me to take you to the doctor?(with a look of concern on my face)

Moskey:(settling into a corner at the other end, and not even bothering to look at me when speaking)NO.(sounding quiet annoyed)

Me: Well, then, what is it?

Moskey: Well, I had my whole career planned out, and now....I am not so sure of whats gonna become of me.

Me:(confused) What career?! You are a dog, plain and simple, you eat, you sleep, you guard the house, play with the kids, and you don't have to pay me rent for keeping you here! Why on earth do you need a career for? You are all set in life.

Moskey:(looking at me...and looking quiet angry) What do you think, I am gonna carry on in this dead end job for the rest of my life?! Well, let me tell you mister, I don't care much for what I do here, its a just a stop gap arrangement. I had better things planned for myself.

Me: Stop gap?! What better things?(losing my temper)

Moskey: Well, unbeknownst to you, I have been studying for the IIT-JEE, and I have been making good progress, though I think my Chemistry is not up to the mark, (letting out a sigh at this point) well, it doesn't matter anymore...sigh...had it all planned first the IIT, then IIM and then a high paying job at an investment bank.

Me: (I didn't wanna burst his bubble, so I decided to take the caring approach) Why doesn't it matter anymore, what happened?

Moskey: Where do you live?! On mars?! How come you stay so oblivious to whats happening around you?!

Me:(visibly hurt by this mean spirited jibe) Well, you tell me if you are so up to date on current affairs. What happened?

Moskey: (almost in tears)They are instituting a quota for the backward castes in the IITs and IIMs. How am I gonna get in?!! This is a crisis.

Me: (nonchalantly, as I opened the newspaper to look at the latest on nightlife in our town) Well, I guess you'll have to study harder to make the cut.

Moskey:Easy for you to say, you know you could never get into an IIT, not even in your dreams! With your intellect, you never had to worry.

Me: (interrupting) hey watch it!

Moskey: (ignoring me, continuing with his rant)People like me, we actually had a chance, and now, due to this reservation policy of the Indian government, the odds are stacked against us.

Me: Well, there is nothing much we can do about it, can we? So just relax.

Moskey:(annoyed with my attitude) I don't wanna relax, unlike you, I actually wanna make something of my life!

Me: There is no need to take that kind of tone with me, why are you taking it out on me?!

Moskey: (responding in anger)Because its all your fault! Thats why!

Me: What? How can it be my fault, I am not the one pushing the quota system, its the politicians.

Moskey: Well, you don't get it do you?! I am ruing the day you adopted me!

Me: What? I have been taking care of you, and this how you ...

Moskey: (carrying on as if he hadn't heard me) Did it never occur to you that you would be ruining my life?! After all, the quota system has been around for over fifty years, and you adopted me only four years back, you should have known about this.

Me: (just about controlling my anger) Listen, if you wanna carry on like that..

Moskey: (carrying on without paying any attention to me)There is only one thing left for me to do, immolate myself, (looking at me now) and I am counting on you to help me with atleast that.

Me: Are you crazy! You aren't doing any immolation, and I am not gonna help you with any of your destructive schemes...I have had enough of this..

Moskey: (being all melodramatic) Then what do you expect me to do now huhh?!! You've washed your hands of the situation.

Me: What do you expect me to do?!

Moskey: You could write to Mr. Arjun Singh, and ask him to withdraw this bill.

Me: Well, I think Mr. Arjun Singh has the good of the nation at heart, and maybe the backward castes deserve a chance, atleast after thousands of years of exploitation.

Moskey: I guess Mr. Singh does have the good of the nation at heart, but you don't have my good at heart...I can see now...

Me: Stop that! What would you have me do?

Moskey: Well, since its all your fault(I raised my hands in exasperation), the least you can do is right the wrong.

Me: My fault? Right the wrong? Out with it now.

Moskey: (with a hopeful look on his face)Well, all you have to do is disown your family, and go to the nearest government office and register yourself as a backward caste, that way, I can be categorized as the same, and you will have done the good deed of saving my fledgling career.

***Eversince this conversation, we haven't been talking, I am hoping Moskey's crankiness will wear off over time and things will get back to normal. Though I hope he would give up his dreams of working at an investment bank.

Travelling to India - Insight # 7 - Its a jungle out there

2008-04-09T08:59:00.007-05:00

To feel completely at home in India, you have to pretend that you do not notice some things, one of these things that you should make like they never affect you is the animals. No I am not talking about the fact that India has a fabulous collection of wild life, nor am I referring to the fact that India is the last home of the Asiatic lion or any number of other wild animals, what I refer to is wildlife living amongst civilization.

The most commonly visible of these, I am going to talk about here, and how to deal with them. The most common creature you will observe are the sanitation workers, yes, the dogs and the cows, they do what sanitation workers(human this time) neglect to clean up, the garbage. These sanitation workers, you will find, are relentless in their efforts to clean up Indian cities, you will see them around garbage dumps, jumping in and out of garbage bins, while the rest of the world goes on with its business. In any other country these stray creatures would be caught and then put to sleep, but that can never happen in India, this is due to the fact that Indians realise the value they bring, they work all hours of day free of charge and the best part, they aren't unionised and thus never ever strike work! How do I know this? Well I asked one of them.

He was standing there next to a huge garbage bin trying to get his group organised, and I happened to be there because I had to take the bus home. This is the conversation that ensued, hope this gives you some insight and makes you comfortable. From hereon I shall call him Mr. D.

Me: Do you know when the next bus is due?

Mr.D:(sounding annoyed)I see you here everyday, don't you know the timetable?! What kind of a dumbass are you?!!

Me:Hey! There is no need to use that kind of language, its just that I am never here this late, thats why.

Mr.D:Well, I dunno, who cares, I am too busy to look at stupid buses, can't stand them actually, anyways, there is no "going home" for me! (with an arrogant air about him)Of course I wouldn't expect you to understand that kind of work ethic.

Me:Hey now(in an angry tone of voice), theres no need to insult me, I work all day, and its pretty demanding work I tell you, you have no idea.

Mr.D:Bah!

Me:Bah??

Mr.D:Yeah right, demanding, tell me something, how many times during the day, do you jump 4 feet?

Me:Jump 4 feet??...I don't see why I have to jump...(interrupted by Mr.D)

Mr.D:See...you are probably one of those new age blokes who sit in a chair for eight hours staring at a stupid screen. What do they call you guys? Generation X?(poking fun at me) or is it Y?! (with a haughty attitude)You guys are so retarded, you guys can't even think of a proper name for your generation, you have to resort to letters of the alphabet!!

Me:Listen, this is really getting on my nerves, you have no idea how demanding my job is...

Mr.D:Demanding my ass! sitting in a cushy chair all day, with air conditioning, drinking hot coffee or tea....

Me:I say stop that!

Mr.D: (Completely ignoring my outburst)Tell me, do you get peace and quiet when you are working?

Me:Mostly yeah, except the occasional interruption by my stupid boss...(not letting me complete)

Mr.D:You know how many times my team gets disturbed by some retard or the other, there are the idiots from animal control once in a while, then there are your ilk(referring to humans) who come try to steal our action here for some worthless thing they call money! As if they are gonna take it to their grave...then there are the..(right then a street urchin gets too close to the garbage bin, Mr.D runs off with his crew to get rid of the kid, after facing a little bit of barking and jaw snapping the kid leaves in a hurry)

Mr.D:(comes back to continue our conversation)Saw that?! That insolent little squirt thought he could bully us! Anyways, tell me I hear you guys get holidays?

Me:(by now visibly ashamed of my kind)Yeah...but there aren't too many.

Mr.D:What a bunch of lazy ass sissies, don't you guys feel ashamed to skip work like that?!!!

(just then I realise, I have a great response of this, and it will shut Mr.D up, once and for all!)

Me:You know, we have families we have to go to, I have a wife, and two kids, its not like you guys...(interrupted by Mr.D with an aggressive gesture of his paw, looking visibly angry by now)

Mr.D:wo..wo...wo...hold it right there buster, don't make me chew yer balls off!!! You talk about family?!! TO ME! Look around you....see them bitches....three of them, all my wives for your kind information, by the way don't let me see you petting any of them, and see those cute little fuzz balls, 12 of them, all my kids. And yet, I don't take any holidays from work!! You know what, you guys don't wanna admit that you guys are lazy and make all these excuses to defend your laziness!!!! jeez...with people like you...this country is going to the dogs.

It is conversations like these that make Indians realise the value of stray animals. But this is just about the Dogs, there are the cats you will see in the fish market, whose job it is to keep the fish market clean. It is this cheap(rather free) labour that has been one of the reasons for India's competitiveness in the world today! No economist could have told you this one eh...its OK, you don't need to thank me.

Then ofcourse, there are the cows. The latest I have heard on cows is that, the Indian government is seriously thinking of putting in a law that will give cows, unbridled right of way on Indian airports, so don't be surprised if your captain says "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be a 20 min delay to take off because a contigent of cows has decided to do their yoga on the tarmac". For the buffaloes reading this piece, sorry, you do not come under the cow category and thus are excluded, sorry. Rest assured, I'll keep you posted.

Your objective, as a tourist in India, should be to be kind to all animals on the road, you never know, one of Mr.D's ilk might make you realise that you may not be any more civilized than they are! After all, India is a mystical land full of contradictions,enjoy your trip.

What do you think?

2008-04-07T06:18:00.003-05:00

The other day I was in another room while the TV was on and I heard this, so I have no real reference about what it was on, but I think its interesting .... Let me know what you think.

At times like these I think, If I could be an organ in a human body, what would I like to be, a heart or a brain, I would totally be the heart, because when you are the heart, you are actually doing something! As the brain you are just making do with shitty situations.

What would you like to be? and why?

Travelling to India - Insight # 6 - Paan

2008-04-05T16:29:00.040-05:00

An essential part of the Indian experience, is chewing Paan, and as a tourist determined to experience India in all its splendour, you should not miss it for the world, but to really enjoy it, you need to do it the right way, the Indian way, after all, as they say, if its worth doing, its worth doing right.

A paan is a concoction of various spices and betel nuts wrapped in a betel leaf. Its an essential part of the Indian post-meal ritual.

When you get to India, your senses are assailed by a flood of odours and colours, and the one colour you will not miss is the colour of paan. It will manifest itself as a red coloration, on the walls, on the street and if you are particularly unlucky, on your shirt.

The point of chewing paan is to paint the town red, literally! OK, let me explain.

You will observe that while some people around you will completely focus their attention on this act, some are more casual, but before you enjoy your new pass time, you have to buy a paan, this can be done on any street in India, you will find the paanwala(the seller of this amazing concoction) on any...sorry, every street in India, all you have to do is walk up to him and ask for one, he will, no doubt, ask you to make a choice...there is a multitude of choices, but don't be intimidated, whatever choice you make your final objective is going to remain the same, to bring color into other people's lives, whether they want or not! You will do well to remember that if the said paanwala happens to be selling in your neighbourhood, he absolutely will remember your choice for years to come, so the next time you pay him a visit, you won't have to repeat your order. A piece of advice, be wary of confiding in this character, because, apart from being a friend, philosopher and guide to the neighbourhood losers, he is also the instrument that turns a harmless piece of neighbourhood news to gossip.

Having taken custody of a paan, proceed with chewing it, after about five to ten minutes of rumination, you will be overcome with an irresistible urge to rid yourself of this oral burden, and so begins your adventure.

Towards purging the said paan from your system, your first step is to find a suitable location, ideally, a public building, stand right next to the structure, in full public view and proceed to take aim, keep your eyes on the spot you intend to hit and squirt with all your strength! Lo and behold! The fruit of your labour, a splash of red on the spot you hit. It is very likely you may not hit the spot the first time, but don't lose heart, nobody is born perfect..albeit some of us might be gifted. Remember, practice makes perfect.

Once you have perfected the previous technique, you are ready to graduate to the next level. A target(read person) wearing a white shirt, usually a salesman or an unwary yuppie, is a prize catch for just such an undertaking, and you should never let such an opportunity pass you by without atleast trying. Due to the fact that the said victim is a moving target, it takes a lot more skill to make your mark than in the previous case. The standard approach is to stalk the prey, all the while keeping him within spitting distance, simultaneously, look for possible escape routes, because an exchange of blows is inevitable if your endeavour is a success, having an escape route at hand not only avoids this inevitability, but also gets you immense recognition as a skilled practitioner of this ancient art, from hereon, everytime you walk the neighbourhood streets you will turn heads, and thats not just because you inspire awe amongst your neighbours.

Having mastered the above, you are ready to go to the highest level, in this case, its not just the target thats moving, but so are you, both at high velocities. This technique is usually practiced when you are riding an autorikshaw, a bus or a car, your victims in this case, are not the people walking the streets, that would be unsporting and very unbecoming of a tourist in pursuit of excellence, your victims should be the people in other autorikshaws, cars and buses. Part of the reason developing skills to achieve excellence at this level is considered so daunting is that you have to take into consideration, factors you have little control over, for example, your own velocity, the velocity of your target, these situations can be considerably high speed, the relative velocity of the wind between your respective vehicles is also a factor that can influence the outcome, and last but not least, the fact that you yourself might be a marked man, yes, unbeknownst to you, you too could become a victim. Even Indians spend years perfecting this level, no amount of effort is too much to realise this goal. In fact, you would be considered a legend if you achieve a 100% hit rate with victims travelling in the opposite direction.

You are welcome to set your sights on achieving these lofty ideals, but proficiency in this art shall come at a price, the choice you have to make is simple and obvious, be a responsible guest in a foreign land or be envied by all your fellow tourists. If you have any self-respect you will choose the latter!

Travelling to India - Insight # 5 - Driving

2008-04-04T17:29:00.014-05:00

If you live in the west, whether its Europe or the US, and you sincerely think you are a very good driver, heh...you ain't seen nothin' yet, you will soon find out how naive you have been. If you have not driven in India yet, you have not lived my friend, because, after every drive on Indian roads, and in Indian traffic you always realise that there was no way you would have got out of that one alive if there wasn't a god! The feeling is something similar to what Tyler Durden so aptly describes in the Fight Club(just replace 'Raymond K. Hessel' with your name, and you'll get the idea) :

Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel's life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.

So the first rule of Fight Clu...oops sorry...so the first rule of driving in Indian traffic is: There are no rules, the second rule of driving in Indian traffic is : THERE ARE NO RULES.

To start with, remember, when in India, do as Indians do, and life will be a breeze, for example, you are supposed to drive on the left side of the road, having said that, when driving, you also need to remember that you need to be always on the lookout for the shortest route from point A to point B, point B being your destination. If you are faced with a choice of going by the rules, all the while driving on the right(read left) side of the street and simply taking the shortest path to point B, the choice should be obvious to you if you are a "good" driver. You shall always choose the latter. This non-rule applies only in case your destination is in plain view from where you are.

If, on the other hand, you find yourself on two wheels, the dynamic changes completely, for example, lets assume you are stuck in excruciatingly slow moving traffic, you can feel free to use the footpath, or sidewalk as they call it, to get past the traffic jam, yes, with your two wheels. Of course this requires a very fine tuned sense of balance and extreme confidence in your ability to maneouvre your vehicle through the walking public and other riders attempting the very same stunt.

In case you intend to take a right(read right) turn, crossing oncoming traffic, you should try your level best to reduce the time you have to wait for the flow of oncoming traffic to ebb, this is very easily achieved by nudging your vehicle into oncoming traffic at the rate of approximately one metre in four seconds, this invariably creates a bigger window for you to then speed up through the right turn.

While you are at it, make sure you never forget to honk every 2 seconds, failure to do so will result in you getting stuck waiting for other vehicles and crossing pedestrians to finish doing their thing. You will be nonchalantly ignored, even by the cows. Replacing the factory made horn on your vehicle with a screaming, weird, ear splitting customized version is highly recommended if you wish to not only command respect but also turn heads in traffic.

Now for something really serious and important, on the rare occasions when you do get caught by the law, while attempting the abovementioned maneouvres and your license is demanded, this is the protocol to be followed. Spend as much time procrastinating as possible, under no circumstances should you hand over your license, the law enforcement officer doesn't expect you to. All the law needs to know is that you have a license. Approach the situation by asking whats in store for you, having discovered the answer to your previous query, request a private conversation, when a private audience is granted, ask what will be required off you to get you out of this sticky situation, you will then be provided with a quote, again, do not promptly acquiesce, always feign that you do not have enough to satisfy the law at this time, and then provide a counter quote. After a few iterations of quoting and counter-quoting, the law and you will arrive at an understanding, you then, very discretely do what the "law" requires and carry on with your journey.

If you did not follow the above advice to the letter, but did hand over your license, remember, that you now have a weaker bargaining position, having your license in your possession is a position of strength, in any case, remember to get your license back right away after the incident.

You will almost never get a ticket in India for speeding, for the simple reason that speeding is one offence that is almost impossible to commit on Indian roads and in Indian traffic, you may get pulled over for trivial matters like driving on the wrong side of the road, looking like a college student, the latter being the primary reason for getting booked for traffic violations. You may also get pulled over for broken lights or license plates, that is, if the cops feel up to it. In most cases they won't care unless you try to imitate Evel Knieval.

Anyways, you should not worry too much even if you get a ticket, you can always look at the positive side, you come away with a great story to tell your friends...and guess what, you can embellish it as much as you want, you can even throw in a high speed chase, just so you can impress all your friends! After all, whats the point of travelling all the way to India if you don't have a story or two to tell at the end of it all.

**A visual reference of what I am talking about, play the video below, duration 3 mins - Enjoy.

Travelling to India - Insight # 4 - Personal Space

2008-04-03T13:10:00.006-05:00

To most Indians, "personal space" is a completely alien concept, and if thats not enough, people seeking "personal space" are looked upon with suspicion. The best part about all this is that you don't need let anyone else have *their* personal space either.

For example, in a crowded local train in Mumbai(old name Bombay), your fellow passengers will consider you a snob if you expect them to just give you enough space to keep them off your toes. Beggars, for example, abound in most Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta etc. and while you might think life is hard enough for you to have to watch these hungry emaciated faces all around you, making you feel unusually guilty for even having a decent job, they will endeavour to make it even tougher, cuz if you were holding back from giving to beggars now, they shall ensure that you hold back no more when they start touching you...which is sure to freak you out and make you dig into your pockets and relieve them(your pockets!) of their valuable cargo!

If you are living with a family, do not, and I repeat, DO NOT always expect a knock on your door when someone wants to talk to you or see you for some reason. So make sure that you aren't doing anything funny with your door unlocked. Also, if you are in the habit of making yourself 'at home' when you start living with an Indian family, what I mean by 'at home' is unpack your belongings and start putting them where they should go in your new living space, for example, putting your clothes in the closet and your dildo laying nicely on the bed or the packet of condoms you bought sitting on the side table, or a personal diary laying on the dresser, expect your hosts, when they come by, to display the curiousity of an 8 year old, yes, in your presence, so you might have the lady of the house come by, asking how you were doing in your new room, and while you go into great detail on how much you like this new place casually start riffling through your personal diary as she carries out a perfectly normal conversation with you! That is not to say that they will do the same in your absence, that will never happen, unless of course, you are living with shady characters! The same kind of thing can happen in an office setting, with people who think that you are friends with them coming by, making conversation, and simultaneous touching and toying with all the personal stuff on your office table/cubicle.

When living with an Indian family, if you decide, that you shall, in no way, give up your personal space so your hosts can get the jollies out of checking out your personal stuff, and towards this end you start locking your door, it won't be long before your hosts start looking at you with suspicion and actually start believeing, that you, in fact, might have something to hide, and that you are upto no good! If this happens, you are advised to look for another accomodation, luckily in India, people don't bother with references.

Since asking people to not touch your stuff will be interpreted as hostile unfriendly behaviour, there is very little you can do about this personal space shortage, the only way you can console yourself, atleast to some extent is that, if they can invade your P. space, so can you, and no apologies need be exchanged!

Travelling to India - Insight # 3 - Cricket

2008-04-02T14:47:00.010-05:00

Another thing that the British never took back with them. First of all, for novices, a game of cricket played between two teams, is NOT called a 'game', so never ever use a sentence like "Did you watch the game yesterday", the correct term to use is 'match', ignoring this piece of advice would result in you exposing yourself as an ignoramus and a fake.
Indians are completely and utterly obssessed with cricket, way more than the British, who invented it in the first place! A match will last a for a minimum of one day(depending on the type of cricket being played, yes, there is more than just one!), and Indians follow the progress of the match all the time...they will check scores as soon as they wake up in the morning(if the match is on in a different timezone), if the said match is on on TV and they are in the bathroom they will even cut their bathroom visit short for a peek at whats going on on TV, they will call each other or SMS each other of any news they might have about the match, and on the day of a big match don't be surprised if a lot of folks at your office call in sick and those that do make it to office, you'd they had rather not come since they wouldn't get a thing done all day anyway! They will be too busy checking scores or searching for websites that are providing a live stream of the match. They will look for cricket everywhere, on the TV, on the Radio, on the Internet, on the Mobile phone, in the Newspapers.
The best part is, that is all OK, in fact, when a match is on, its perfectly OK to walk up to complete strangers and ask for the score, and he will not only tell you the score but would also, if you so please, engage you in a long conversation on whats wrong with the Indian team.
At the time of writing this blog, you could very easily endear yourself to a crowd Indians if you proclaim that you can't stand Australians. You will make a great impression.
If you are an expatriate working in India, and you would like your colleagues to like and respect you as a decent human being, then DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT get in the way of a cricket match and your cricket loving coworkers.

**Does not apply to most Indian women and Indians from outside of India

Travelling to India - Insight # 2 - Indian Standard Time

2008-04-02T06:29:00.008-05:00

Whenever you have setup a meeting or an appointment, formal or informal, in all probability, you will be expected to be late for it, by atleast a half hour, in fact, if you have decided to meet with your Indian friend at 2:15PM at a certain place, and you actually do make it to the venue at 2:15PM sharp, don't be surprised if you end up having to wait for atleast a half hour. Do NOT be surprised or express annoyance at his/her tardiness, thats just rude.
This is what Indians call "Indian Standard Time". In fact, if you are invited to a party, you should make sure that,
1) you get to the party atleast an hour and a half after the appointed time, cuz if you don't, you might embarass yourself by being the first to arrive,
2) you make an entry ideally when other guests at the party actually start missing you for not making it to the venue. That way you'll be the topic of discussion!
Being late to social events is also indicative of your stature in society, so the later you make it to the said event, the more important you are. Its customary for politicians or speakers at large gatherings or movie stars that are invited for inaugurations and such to be atleast 3 hrs late, cuz, if they get to the venue on time, first, they might find themselves alone, second, the hosts will lose all respect for the said chief guest.
So don't fret too much if you are late for an appointment or social function by an hour or so, it will help improve your social standing, now if you are a chief guest at the said event, you can really really take your time, relax. Ohh by the way, if your Indian friend asks you to meet him/her at a certain time, he/she actually means a half hour after that, so 2:00PM is actually 2:30PM and so on and so forth, but please DO NOT get all smart alecky and say something like...'ohh you mean 2:30PM', because he/she doesn't, he/she really does mean 2:00PM, cuz 2:30PM would just be 3:00PM, wouldn't it? silly!

**This does not apply to Indians from out of India

Indians prefer Sons

2008-04-01T17:51:00.004-05:00

Recently, I came across news that a study from Columbia University found that asians have a bias towards a male child, I will not go over the details of their findings, but its enough to make me ashamed of my countrymen, its horrible. Yes, people of East Indian origin do form a part of this group(asians).
For several years Indians have been proud that they have been exporting some great minds to the US, every achievement a person of Indian origin makes in the US makes headlines in India, but along with all the good stuff whats been exported is also the disgusting Indian attitude towards the female offspring.
For the longest time, Indians' bias against the female child has been explained away by saying that in Indian culture a girl entails an economic burden on the family and so is not preferred. With these new findings, its pretty clear that that is all just a lot of bullsh*t, while I would accept that uneducated, poor underclass in Indian society would hang on to these beliefs. The educated, 'enlightened' types(atleast they think they are better than the rest!) would have reformed themselves by now and maybe, just maybe, don't see the girl child as any different from the male offspring.
Well, I was wrong, the disgusting, horrible, unfeeling, ruthless, unscrupulous lot that the Indians are, they have started it in the US too, and in the UK, and probably this is something Indians do where ever the f**k they go, educated or uneducated, they are the same disgusting lot.
Maybe the US government doesn't know that in India sex-determination tests are illegal, just for this reason! The Indian government knows Indians well, and they have banned such tests, and rightly so! Indians living in the west, it seems, have been misusing their newfound freedom to commit murder.
I know a lot of folks might talk about pro-choice and that abortion is a choice that a woman makes, of course, thats right, but when the choice is used to choose the sex of an offspring on purpose, thats a murder, plain and simple.
To think that the Indian media used to say that these female-foetus-murdering bastards were the cream of our country...wow...what a misguided notion! Of course, they never asked to be called the cream, so I don't blame them for encouraging such a notion. They knew exactly what they were, all along, scum.

Travelling to India - Insight # 1 - Language

2008-04-01T10:47:00.005-05:00

Learn a little bit of Hindi, Indians love it when you can even speak a single coherent sentence in Hindi, you'll get to see Indians being extra nice to you if you even attempt speaking in the local (not just Hindi)language, after all, remember, its a country where even the government recognises 22 official languages and even most Indians don't how many languages are really spoken in India.
Probably the easiest Indian language to learn is Hindi, and the best part is that, its used almost all over India, except the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where English works just fine.
Remember that India used to be a British colony, well mostly, except Goa(Portuguese) and Pondicherry(French), and due to the fact that they inherit the English Language from the British, Indians consider their english accent as the most purest form of english, they will enumerate the virtues of their accent by letting you know that they pretty much pronounce every alphabet in a word leading to clarity, and since they learnt english from the british, they are, in their honest opinion, the best english speakers in the world, second only to the British. Yep, they do have a colonial hang up, so my advice, do not get into a discussion on who speaks better english the americans or the indians, especially not with an Indian from whom you need a favour...er favor(?).

China, Tibet and what happened to human rights

2008-03-30T20:07:00.010-05:00

What is this place tibet, from Wikipedia, The Indian archeologist V. N. Misra has shown that early humans inhabited the Tibetan Plateau from at least twenty thousand years ago and that there is reason to believe that early humans passed through Tibet at the time India was first inhabited, half a million years ago.

In that sense tibet is the precursor to India, Tibet has been Tibet since 4000 B.C, a very very long time indeed.

If you thought that Tibet has always been a part of China, you would do well to note that the first mention of Tibet in any chinese literature was in the 7th century, now thats not very old, if you consider that a valid reason to consider Tibet a part of China, it would be fair game to consider China a part of Mongolia!

In recent times, what I find shocking is the horrifying ruthlessness with which China crushed the pro-democratic movement in 1989(remember Tiananmen Square?) and all the world did was look on and let out a stream of liberal bullshit which the chinese government didn't care a rat's ass about. The hypocrisy of the chinese government doesn't seem to move anyone to action. While, on the one side, it has opened its doors to capitalism..oops...the free market I mean, its control over the media in China is characteristic of a communist state, even Google censors itself in china and so does every other media company, and the influence of chinese censorship is not limited to China, it reaches out outside too, for example, about a year and half back youtube used to carry a documentary about the CPC's(the Communist Party of China) history, in, from what I remember, five or six parts, guess what, when I tried to access it just a year ago, there was no video, the link would show up on a search, but if you tried to get to the video by clicking on the link...you would be out of luck, no video(removed!), and at the time of writing this blog, even the link doesn't show up!! Even documentaries on youtube, critical of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward that almost pushed the chinese people into slave labour have all but disappeared, all that remains is this ... and a few other short videos, but no full length documentary can be seen!

The Chinese government is at it again, and this time it is worse, everyone in the world has so much invested in China, that you can hardly hear a peep out of the International media!!! All they(the media and some diplomats) did was visit Lhasa, Tibet after the Chinese army had quelled the agitation, a guided media tour...what a f**king joke!!! There was no Indian representative on this tour, they refused to swallow the bullshit dished out by the Chinese! My congratulations to the Indian media and the Indian government for doing the right thing.

I also applaud the French President Sarkozy's stand on this matter and his willingness to boycott not only the opening ceremony but also the games if required, the Chinese government has to come to terms with the fact that it cannot carry on doing whatever it pleases, with impunity. To live in a world community it has to be more civil than it has been so far. I would also like to see India take a similar open stand vis-a-vis the olympics considering whats happening with Tibet, anyways, when has China ever cut India any slack ? India still has festering disagreements with China over its eastern border as well has China's regular supply of arms to Pakistani terrorists from across its border....and talking of Pakistan brings me to its great ally, The United States!!

There is, ofcourse, as part of delegation that visited Lhasa, the US media reps, and its been some time since the visit to Lhasa, and yet no report, nothing...as I said before, not a peep!! What happened? Did the american media pee its panties?!! Whatever happened to upholding democratic values? Or is it that we uphold democratic values only when we think we can bomb the country to extinction, thats probably not possible with China eh. Pathetic...really pathetic.

In fact, not only the US media, but even the US government has grown so impotent that even after President Bush talked with President Hu Jintao, China defended its use of force in Tibet. If that isn't enough to convince you of US impotence vis-a-vis China, let me inform you, that the US has ruled out a boycott of any kind of the upcoming Olympics, the US government's reason, the Olympics are about athletic competition, not politics.

How thoughtful, pray tell me, why then did the US boycott the Moscow olympics in the erstwhile USSR in 1980, wasn't it to bring to the world's attention, the tyranny of the USSR in Afghanistan? How come the Olympics was about more than just athletics then and not so now?

You gonna have to wait longer to get your job back

2008-03-29T18:39:00.004-05:00

The bankers are at it again, sucking the life blood out of the ordinary american populace, the fed since august, have cut interest rates by over 3%(right now it stands at 2.25%), but what has been the result of these rate cuts, has it made it easy for americans to raise money? Considering how much more money is now available to banks for lending, the US should be on its way to an economic recovery.
Well, we can only wish, the banks have not followed the Feds lead in cutting interest rates with rate cuts of their own on the retail level, the banks have written down over $200 billion in mortgage backed securities, and are now hoarding all that cash, I wonder what they will do with all that money, are they hoarding it to lend it when the Fed finally gets down to dealing with inflation, probably in the second half of this year, by starting to raise interest rates?
In an interview with 2003 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Clive Granger, Bloomberg quotes, In order to stabilize the economy, people need access to mortgages at rates they can afford, and so far the Fed hasn't been able to do much about that
A case in point, Bank of America, is offering a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6.13%, no where near where you would expect the interest rate to be, ohh yeah, and you have to have the best credit history to be worthy of 6.13%!!
So right now, all you can do is, wait, wait for the banks to respond, and hope, that for f**ksake they respond quickly and start cutting rates and thus actually help the economy recover.
Then there is talk that the US government should bail out borrowers(homeowners) too, well, if the investmant banks can get a piece of the pie that the american taxpayer creates, why shouldn't the taxpayer have the right to dip into his OWN deep pockets, why the f**k not ? After all, the taxpayer has atleast been paying taxes honestly and filing his/her returns on time, unlike the investment banks that have been making a shitload of green without any accountability or oversight, all the while hiding their wealth in tax havens abroad, wonder how many have subsidiaries in places like the Cayman Islands, Mauritius or Bermuda??!!

Is this the dumbest thing ever?!!

2008-03-28T10:26:00.005-05:00

I have always believed that people in mass media, are generally underqualified, pretentious idiots, who want to act like know it alls, but you know what, stupidity is hard to hide, it shows....and being in mass media, your stupidity will show in the worst place possible, in mass media, yep...your retarded brainchild will be right there, in full public view!!!

Here's a gem for you, go to this link, scroll down to almost the middle of the page, look for the words OPINION POLL, and there it is, the best part, the big question:
Will the Reserve Bank slash interest rates to control inflation? The choices are the usual, yes, no, can't say.
BTW, this poll might only be for Friday, 28th March 2008, so good luck looking for it tomorrow. But it is indeed a real gem! Not too rare though.

Do you see the problem in this question, this poll is referring to monetary inflation in India, which, everyone knows, is rising, at a pretty fast clip too, and anyone who has ever had to earn a penny in his/her life knows that interest rates are increased to CONTROL INFLATION, the fuckwad who came up with this poll, in my opinion, doesn't even deserve to keep his job! Then there are, ofcourse the jackasses, who even bother to respond to such polls!!! Can someone gimme a break from these idiots!!!??

Ever wondered why the mozarella here tastes like shit?

2008-03-28T09:16:00.004-05:00

Here's why, the mozarella here, first of all, tends to be mixed with too many chemicals, some for preservation and some to enhance taste(yep...did you know that twinkies are made mostly with petroleum byproducts), when in fact, the simplest way to have something taste great is to keep it as authentic as possible, now how complicated is that huhh? Yep, you don't have to pump chemicals into your body to make your meal taste good.
Anyways, I found that, for the most part, the mozarella we get here is basically made from cow's milk or a mixture or cow and goat milk, I will never know when we will ever learn...I can tell you from personal experience, as far as milk goes, the best milk is buffalo milk, guess what, thats what mozarella is made from in good old Italia, thats why it tastes so good, so soft...so absolutely divine!!

Thats all for today folks, have a great weekend! Arrivederci!

Look who's outsourcing!!!

2008-03-26T22:52:00.004-05:00

To an american the first name that would come to mind is India, then there will be China, so on and so forth, in the US media India gets a lot of flak for stealing american tech jobs and yes, ofcourse, the phone answering, call center jobs, I guess there is a more glamourous term thats used for that 'Business Process Outsourcing'.
What most people seem to forget is that, unlike 15 years ago, the world economy is much more integrated and whether you call it outsourcing or any other name, whatever it is, it is here to stay.
Its weird, despite the fact that more jobs from the US have left for the chinese shores, India seems to attract much more attention, probably because there is more interaction between Indians and Americans due to the kind of jobs that get outsourced to India...the kind of jobs that require one to communicate, unlike the manufacturing jobs that have gone to China, the kind of jobs where nobody needs to communicate with their american colleagues. But I digress...lets get back to the favourite whipping dog of the US media, India!
I chanced upon an interesting piece of fact today, I have two words for you, Northern Ireland, its ironic(if ironic is the word i am looking for) that the west, which so far, has been complaining about the flight of jobs to India should start to benefit from the very same phenomenon. Northern Ireland has emerged as one of the most favoured destinations for Indian companies to outsource work to, for example, ICICI OneSource already has a BPO center in Northern Ireland, which basically amounts to a 1000 jobs and over $51.5 million in salaries, Polaris and HCL Technologies too are outsourcing work from India to Northern Ireland...a trend that has taken hold since 2004 when HCL Tech. was in the news in Northern Ireland for adding more staff to its existing operation in South Belfast, and get this, its cheaper to setup and run BPO centers in Northern Ireland than in India! Now, I would have never ever thought of that. The major factor ofcourse, as most of you would have guessed, is that its a great outpost to tap into the European market, part of the strategy of most Indian companies, to take some eggs out of the US basket(read market), and put them into a strong EU basket!
So if you are american and reading this blog, maybe you can see the silverlining....maybe you'll see that in the global economy, what goes around comes around....and eventually other countries will outsource work to the US, maybe they already have. All you have to do is do your own research, instead of relying on your talk show hosts for "information"!

Thank You JPMorgan!!! Thank You...sniffle..sniffle...

2008-03-24T16:30:00.004-05:00

Wow....just saw this CNN piece, where they say, with almost an ecstatic look on their faces, that Bear Stearns shareholders will get a better deal, in fact, per CNN 'reports', the new deal pegs Bear Stearns stock at FIVE, yes, in uppercase, FIVE times the earlier deal....ohh I am so besides myself with this that I have a hardon!!!
Jesus...is there no end to the hypocrisy?! a Bear Stearns(old symbol BSC) shareholder will now get $10 per share, right, so he/she should feel better now...yeah even if he/she bought it at $170 per share or even better, bought it at $70 hoping that a future economic recovery will get him a price closer to $170 that BSC was pegged at last year, eh?
Can someone tell me, why, why did JPM(JPMorgan) decide to up the bid? was it because they wanted to be popular with the BSC shareholders for 'rescu'ing their company? Or was it that they felt bad for the BSC shareholders?
When was the last time a banker gave more for something he/she could buy for less? I get the feeling there is more to this $10 offer than meets the eye, I think the fed pressured JPM into it because it(the Fed) got a lot of flak after the $2 a share deal was made public, despite that I still don't see why JPM would cough up more cash...not for the Fed definitely not.
Did JPM borrow from the Fed at a ridiculously low interest rate to raise the bid? I wonder...cuz I don't see any other beneficiary of this new bid...ohh I forgot the BSC shareholders...well frankly even after raising the bid, I think they've been treated like dirt.
If anyone can see through the gloss, please let me know by commenting on this blog, I am dying to find out!!! I really am!!! Honest!

US Air Force grants air-fuelling tanker contract to Airbus

2008-03-22T10:16:00.004-05:00

It was brought to my notice, through comments made in response to my previous post that the air-fuelling tanker contract should not have been granted to a non-American company simply because its a matter of defense. Although I can sympathize with this point of view, I beg to differ, because it appears to be an emotional response. Let me clarify my point of view further, though I have made comments in response, I think this deserves a separate post.

The fact that a contract is granted to an american company does not guarantee insulation of the US from potential malpractices that could jeopardize the defense of the country, a case in point is the $615 million Boeing paid to the US government to settle exactly this kind of charge. If it were not for Boeing's quasi-monopoly in this area and the amount of employment Boeing generates, this has the potential to blacklist a company from consideration for any future contracts, for example, imagine a chinese company instead of Boeing.

The US defense establishment opened up for foreign companies to compete as a result of an amendment sponsored by Sen. McCain back in 2003, that would then reciprocally open up the world market for defense equipment procurement for US companies, thus generating more employment in the US for american workers, the changes proposed in this amendment are more concisely detailed here.

In fact, use of foreign made equipment is not new in the US armed forces, a few examples,

*The US Marines and Soldiers have been using the 240-G(made by Fabrique Nationale, its Belgian) machine guns for quite some time now and have all but replaced the legendary M-60s

*JDAM(Joint Direct Attack Munition) is a highly successful guided bomb that was until recently, being used in the Iraq theatre, its use has diminished, and get this, not on account of its inferior quality or high cost, but because the Swiss company(Micro Crystal) that produced it was directed by Berne(Swiss Gov) to stop supplying it since they(the Swiss) don't actively support the war in Iraq, from my information, the US armed forces are yet to find a replacement for this weapon system.

The JDAM phenomenon has been cited as the reason for the US to not procure defense equipment from outside the US, no, not that its not a good weapon or that there was a security risk involved in procuring weapons from the Swiss, but the fact that procuring from the outside can be unreliable as shown by the sudden withdrawal of the JDAM by the Swiss government.

In fact, even before the Airbus tanker deal, the US approved an ACS(Aerial Common Sensor) from a French-Brazilian company, worth $6 billion.

Sen. Brownback who has been so hawkish to the air-fuelling tanker deal, had supported Sen. McCain's amendment(ref. link above) to allow the US armed forces to procure from non-american defense suppliers.

So why, I wonder, is this particular deal such a big issue? Is it due to the extent of the clout that Boeing wields? Let me know.

And I thought the Iraq War was free!!!

2008-03-21T10:22:00.007-05:00

With the economic stimulus package and the surge working so wonderfully, I feel we are not only on the way to a victory in Iraq but also a great economic recovery, and all this with lower taxes!!! Isn't this a fairy tale, well not really, not what will be coming after the fairy tale ending and let me say this, its not going to be "happily ever after". Here's why...

This is the only time in the history of any country where a war did not result in a corresponding increase in taxes, to keep the war effort going, the reason this has been possible is because this is a war thats been solely fought on borrowed money, yes the US government has borrowed heavily to not only keep this war going but also keep the taxes lower, you see, if you raise the taxes, the people always feel the pain of war on their pockets and paychecks and that motivates them to rise up against it. To keep the general public docile there is nothing like letting them not feel the brunt of war.

The US economy is worth about 14 trillion USD, the trade deficit that the US has on its current account is over 620 billion USD, the cost of the Iraq war, I mean the direct cost, doesn't form part of the deficit calculations, so we have a separate figure for that, and thats over 500 billion now, so we have already crossed a trillion, but thats just the direct costs.

Economists say, the war in Iraq adds another 10 billion dollars to the US debt every month, that now tops 9 trillion dollars, ofcourse there is the argument that this war is of paramount importance to US national security, if it is, then it is inseparable from US's national success and if thats the case, its worthy of being paid for instead of being fought on credit, which will eventually lead to deeper economic crises in the future.

So what is going to be the result of all this, well the result is that US citizens will eventually have to pay for the excesses of their government, which will then result in high taxes(well, they have to pay for the war eventually!) and very high interest rates, which means lesser expansions of business and fewer smaller businesses, inevitably, you know what will happen, companies and people who can, will move to Asia/Europe/Australia.

So if you think 2008 has been bad with all this talk of recession, brace yourself for the future.

References:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=acXcm.yk56Ko&refer=home

http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN12513456

Is it time to go back?

2008-03-20T13:20:00.003-05:00

OK...folks who are Indian and living in the US on a work permit or a Green Card, this is something for you.
Inflation has become a prime concern for the Indian government in recent times, just 3 hrs before the time of writing this piece, AFP reported
"India's inflation rate jumped by almost a full percentage point to hit a more than 10-month high this month, data showed Thursday, dashing hopes of a swift interest rate cut to spur a slowing economy"
So now, the inflation of the Indian Rupee is 5.92%, the report goes on to say that the cause of the inflation was the increased prices of essential goods like cooking oil, pulses, fruit, vegetables and spices and such...
The inflation is seen to be getting so serious that India has cut import duties significantly on edible oil to control oil(cooking) prices.
Lately, the Indian Rupee has seen an erosion in its value in the short term, the last I saw the INR was 40.4275 against the US Dollar, this has led to a lot of immigrant workers in the US being overjoyed, hoping that the INR will weaken to its old levels of 42.0000+, so that they get more bang for their buck!
This I believe is a trap they will do well not to fall into, the reason is that India has a small chunk of its trade dependent, not on the US but on Europe and Asia, and a big piece coming from domestic demand, as of today, only 14% of the Indian GDP comes from export, well below economies like Thailand(70%) or South Korea(40%), all this will provide India with a buffer against the US slowdown. Heres the breakdown, India's trade with the US was 14.7% of its total commerce, that with Asia was 50.2% and with Europe was 22.7%.
Considering all of this, The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) is expected to allow gains in the Rupee to cut import costs and slow inflation, and the RBI may even buy the INR to further their cause, with crude touching USD 111.0000 and above, prices of essential commodities will move skyward pretty quickly in India, a quick way to get some control back would let the INR strengthen against the weakening USD.
So heres what analysts predict, the INR will reach the 39.20 level against the USD by the end of March or the beginning of April and will go on to touch 37.0000 against the USD by the end of the year.
So, heres the big question....is it time to pack our bags and go back home, where, surprisingly, the pastures may be greener?

The truth behind the US subprime mess...hilarious

2008-03-19T09:31:00.004-05:00

What Created The Subprime Mess - Watch more free videos

Is the American President Human?

2008-03-19T08:39:00.006-05:00

The proximity of the US Presidential elections made me think about this, you know, all politics in the US seems to be based on high principles and values, like the right to free speech, the right to bear arms and such...and at the drop of every hat people tend to mention the constitution, but we all know that is all a facade, and there is always more to politics than these high falutin ideals.
There have got to be things that are more material, more down to earth that govern politics in the US, just like anywhere else in the world.
Generally, one gets an idea of what really goes on behind the scenes through books and movies and television series'. For example, take the TV series House of Cards that was unabashedly based on the behind the scenes goings on in post-Thatcher UK, an absolutely brilliant series based on an absolutely brilliant book.
Can you imagine how interesting an American series along the same lines would be?! With all the lobbying and scandals that go on in Washington, its got to be interesting, and it will, for once, put a very human face on the American leadership.
All this is possible, only if the American entertainment industry gets rid of its sycophancy and actually decides to do some seriously good work.

The US Presidential Election and other things American from the outside

2008-03-17T11:35:00.009-05:00

Its getting on my nerves, yes, I swear to god...yes, it has been. The US presidential elections start with the primaries, yep, for a long time, I believed the primaries were a shining example of the democratic system that Americans so love!! Until, this year....both the parties, the left leaning democrats and the right leaning conservatives combined seemed to have no less than around 24 people who thought they were worthy of being president. Yes, every Tom, Dick Harry and Jane have the right to run for president...but should there really be any self assessment on the part of the parties(read persons) concerned to find out if they really stood a chance, yes, to an ideologue, the process is no doubt very charming, but at the end of it, its all a farce! Well, maybe I am wrong...but it sure does look like one, it its too damned long to be funny....I think I have been hearing about people deciding to run for president since the middle of last year!! A year and a half in advance!!!!
So this is what I understand, and please correct me if I am wrong, the primaries are meant to serve as preliminary elections to decide on who will run for president from each of the parties. So the primaries are still on for the democrats...and I hear there is no end to the bickering, back biting, bitching, and mud-slinging until June!!! The Tories(the conservative Republicans) have decided not to run a dirty campaign, well, frankly, they don't have too, the democrats seem to be bent on committing political harakiri!!!
On the other front, the economic crisis in the US continues, the other day Bear Stearns almost went under....hee hee...what the hell can one do in 24 hours, that can so drastically change one's liquidity situation!!!??? This is pretty pathetic, Henry Paulson, Treasury secretary says the government and the fed will do all that it can to instill confidence in its financial institutions, pray tell me how running to the rescue of Bear Stearns does that?!! And how do you reconcile the relentless government interference in the working of the markets with the non interventionist free market(let the market decide) policy of the republican government, you ought to let Wall Street take the bitter pill, the earlier it does that the better for the world economy. Ofcourse, while all of this is happening, the fed keeps coming out with statements stating that it shall not reward foolish decisions!! Talk about hipocrisy!!!
Meanwhile there is a big deal being made out of the global economy being decoupled from the US, I don't understand how that is, most of Asia is still living below the poverty line, and most don't even have 1/5th the purchasing power of someone in the west, and 90% of Asia's exports are to the US and Europe, and if the US and Europe go under, Asia is doomed too!!! Come'on wake up!
Finally, an opinion on the fuel tanker deal that the US Air Force signed with Airbus, There is been a huge brouhaha over the US Air Force signing a deal with EADS(Airbus parent company) to supply air fuelling tankers, and ofcourse, as expected, everyone got their panties in a knot over the fact that the contract did not go to Boeing, so its been all over the news like the US Air Force might have committed treason by choosing, get this, a "french" maker over the all american Boeing, it was termed as just another "outsourcing" deal, yep, the dreaded "O" word was uttered too, but it occurred to no one that US Air Force may have taken the decisions purely on merit, the fact that the Airbus tanker was twice the size of the one proposed by Boeing, thus allowing for better fuel capacity, more passenger space, if converted to air transport, more space for patients if used in aero-evacuation. Boeing, ofcourse put a great spin on it, here's the statement from Boeing "Obviously we are very disappointed with this outcome. Once we have reviewed the details behind the award, we will make a decision concerning our possible options, keeping in mind at all times the impact to the warfighter and our nation." Wow, such concern for a Nation coming from a run-for-profit organisation, so what Boeing is saying is that its inferior quality tanker(as assessed by technical experts at the USAF) is better than the one from Airbus...yeah...go ahead scratch your head...Then ofcourse there was the spin about how the workers at Boeing's Everett plant were stunned and angry by the USAF decision, so you see, due to this decision american workers will lose jobs, though the media seems to forget that this contract is going to result in jobs for workers in Northrop's plant in Mobile, Alabama....so here's the dilemma, whats more important to you as an american, is it the jobs that workers in Boeing's Everett plant lost, or the jobs that the workers at Northrop's Mobile, Alabama plant won??!! Would you rather the USAF grant contracts to a company on the basis of the product that will best protect the US or would you prefer that the USAF grant contracts purely on a non-competitive basis to Boeing(which has a monopoly!) just so that workers in Seattle get to keep their jobs despite an inferior design?! Let me know.

Glasgow Bombs...and the joke about the WAR ON TERROR

2007-07-18T10:23:00.000-05:00

Here's the thing, we have had the Glasgow bombing incident, which can't technically be called a bombing incident, since the bomb didn't go of, having said that though, there is no denying the potential for loss of life and property an explosion could have caused, and as I have gone on to read about these incidents and the involvement of Indians in this whole incident, my first reaction is...until now we(Indians) were not classified as terrorists, now that that is gone, we can be racially profiled as Indians...so while until now, we were being racially profiled as 'brown people', we can now be racially profiled as who we are, Indians! yep, some achievement huhh!?
Whats this incident done for people travelling abroad, as many Indians do, for education and work, well, here's whats coming folks....the new alert from FBI is not really surprising in wake of the Glasgow Bomb incident, and although it seems paranoid, western establishments have not shown much calm and composure in dealing with terrorism issues since 9/11, for which, I think we can't blame them, considering that they don't hold the lives of their citizens to be as cheap as we do, of our citizens. As if it wasn't already painful to get into the US for a job or higher education, this had to happen!
Ohh yes, by the way, I am not going to make this post look like I am going to decipher the root cause of all of this, but with the Glasgow Bomb incident, I believe, its come to light that the western intelligence agencies aren't as serious as they are made out to be, in fighting terrorism, their strategies seem strangely curative, as realised in the Glasgow case, when, in fact it should, in my opinion, be preventive, so, for example, the British Intelligence agencies treated this as a law and order problem, rather than something of international proportions. Yes I know, some of you might say, how could I say such a thing when the western countries are cooperating amongst themselves, for example in this case, UK and Australia, ohh yeah, but did you notice that Australia has declined to extradite Haneef? Does that show cooperation? I don't think so. Also, Islamic terrorism is a pandemic, it cannot only be dealt with in the west, the fight has to be taken to the east and the middle-east where most of these terrorists get indoctrinated, India for example, is one such place, Kafeel's and Haneef's country of origin, I say India because, although its a country where the majority of the population is Hindu, the politcians tend to pander to the 20% or so muslim population, purportedly to avoid alienating them from the mainstream, hence you have organisations like the AIMPLB(All India Muslim Personal Law Board) which guides the government in implementing Muslim law for the Muslims of India, similarly there is SIMI (Students' Islamic Movement of India) which is a banned organisation, but still has cells operating in India, for people who don't believe what I am writing here, they should visit old Hyderabad city. None of this pandering though has served to bring the muslim population of India into the mainstream.
So its very clear that the 'WAR ON TERROR' needs to be taken to its lair, now people, don't panic by jumping to conclusions that I am suggesting that India should be a stomping ground for the CIA/MI5/MI6 and such, no, I wouldn't suggest anything that in my opinion, infringes on the Indian people's sovereignty, what I am suggesting is that the Western Intelligence community should start cooperating with Indian Intelligence to nip possible terrorist incidents in the bud, in the west and in India. Its a perfectly symbiotic relationship that I suggest, which will do nothing if not strengthen the war on terror!
For example, the Glasgow incident could have been completely avoided, if such a cooperative measure was in place. It appears that MI5 may have known about the Glasgow Suicide Bomber, Kafeel Ahmed's terrorist links 4 years ago, apparently, Indian Intelligence was never notified of these links, and thus enabled Kafeel to prepare for the Glasgow incident completely without surveillance. The London based Observer reported that Kafeel Ahmed had met an Al-Qaeda operative over four years ago, one Abbas Boutrab, they met in Belfast where Ahmed was a graduate student at Queen's University and was possibly then placed under MI5 surveillance, considering this scenario, the UK should have informed the Indian government of Kafeel's links, since Al-Qaeda, is as much a threat to India as it is to any western country. As a result of this reluctance on the part of UK, when Kafeel got back to India after finishing his degree, in 2004, Indian Intelligence did not make an effort to monitor Kafeel's activities during the six months he was in Bangalore and also during 2005-06 when he was again in Bangalore, thats the time he is supposed to have started downloading information on bomb making. There have already been some other incidents that could have been prevented had their been greater intelligence cooperation, for example, in India's case, MI5 knew about Jaish-e-Mohammed's Syed Omar Sheikh's islamist links but it chose not to inform Indian Intelligence about it, this information could have directly prevented the hijacking of flight IC-814 and the brutal, cold blooded murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.
If you are skeptical of my claims that the UK is not serious about fighting terrorism, and doesn't look upon it as an international issue, the same Observer published a statement by Interpol General Secretary Ronald Noble which says that "it(UK) was putting its citizens at risk by failing to check immigrants against a database of suspected terrorists.".

So much for the WAR ON TERROR. Now, you know how its going, take care, be safe!

The US Presidential Contenders....FUN!!

2007-07-17T17:11:00.000-05:00

This is a very funny take in support of Barack Obama, the democratic US presidential contender, its very funny, take a look...

As if that wasn't enough, we have another video, where there is an Obama girl and a Giuliani(US presidential contender from the republicans) girl debating!!

Deep Vein Thrombosis

2007-07-04T19:48:00.000-05:00

Guys...yes, this is an odd topic, but I think it deserves mention here, especially if you or a loved one is going to travel abroad, that involves a long flight. If you care about these loved ones of yours, I would suggest you read this link, for their life may depend on it. Take Care.

Whats wrong with everything....

2007-06-14T19:35:00.000-05:00

I am frustrated with the world around me....over time I have turned into a cynic, I have come to realise, albeit a little late, that nothing can be taken at face value, there is always an ulterior motive.....so heres my rant, I am pissed off, I really am, and who am I pissed off at, you may ask, I am pissed off at India, yes, I said it, I am pissed off at India. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not pissed off at the politicians, noooooo.....I am pissed off at the people!!! Here's why...

The politicians we get in a democracy are no better than what we deserve, a democracy, unlike life, is always fair. So the politicians we have are a reflection of us. First of all, our politicians have killed the concept of India, they have divided it into pices, here are some of them, ST, SC, OBC, NT, Muslims, Christians, Hindus.....and ofcourse the most hated of them all, the category nobody in their right mind wants to be in, "Brahmin"!!! Wow...some progress we have made...so basically, if you think about it, we started with an idea called India, and now we are back at back biting and bitching about each other...and well, collaborating with foreign powers to fight the "Indian" nation, so we have a sikh movement re-surging from a long dormant phase, then we have the kashmiri movement reaching its height, we then have Sri Lanka getting all pissed off at us and more than willing to collaborate with China and such to counterbalance India! We have bangladesh sending us hordes of illegal immigrants and ofcourse, a sprinkling of terrorists once in a while, then we have China, proclaiming Arunachal Pradesh a part of China....and god alone knows what the fuck is going on out there!!!! We are so busy on our northwestern borders, I don't think we have any time and resources to dedicate to our eastern borders!!! Our forces are spread out too thin.....ohh yes, do not forget they also have to take care of the Gurjar violence in Rajasthan!!! Why, because the fuckin' government doesn't not have an internal mechanism that can be mobilised at such times...whatever the fuck happened to the terroritorial army?!! Why don't we have reserves? If we do, why don't we mobilise them at such times, if they are mobilised but are insufficient, why is it so, why don't we have reserves atleast 1/4th the size of our regular standing military? We don't have to pay reserves, we only have to train them.

Did I forget someone...ohh yeah, the Naxal movement!!! then there is the Maoists, I wonder where these guys are getting the money to buy their weapons?! Isn't there only one big communist power in the world left now?

Ohh but these are just the violent elements that are trying to break India apart, but there are other factors, like.....US, no no, not the United States, Us, We, the people....this is how we do it...we have our own style, we, if you are a Gurjar, and you went out and fought for your ilk in Rajasthan....you have set an ideal for the rest of the nation's non-brahmins to follow, and what, may I ask, should the brahmins do? No, I don't intend to sympathise with them, but you can't prosecute someone because he/she was not born into your caste!! If that is how most backward castes like to see it, well, then they are no different than how the upper castes were.....this will never end!!!!

I am actually impressed by the way, with one organisation, its an organisation, that I never thought I would be impressed with, ever, thats the AIMPLB, for the folks who didn't get that....All India Muslim Personal Law Board, these guys were suggested that the government would like to classify Muslims in India as upper and lower castes, and the AIMPLB flatly refused, they said they did not believe in castes!!!! What a slap in the politicians face. Well atleast someone is in their senses in India!!!!

WAKE UP!!!!

I don't understand...

2007-06-13T16:05:00.001-05:00

I don't understand why you guys should not enjoy the same performance I enjoy on my mac on a daily basis!!

Sometimes...its like that....

2007-06-13T15:53:00.001-05:00

Sometimes....you feel frustrated, it feels like your dreams are crashing right before your eyes, but you can't do a thing, you feel like there is only darkness all around you, not a single glimmer of hope....when you feel like you are in the worst phase of your life, that there is no way out, even worse, there is nobody to stand by your side, no shoulder to cry on, nobody who believes in you, no one to listen....even worse, you wish you could cry, and you try, and the tears don't come...and you realise you have to live with that frustrated, crushed, devastating feeling...ohh when, when will it end, when will I see the light....I wish I could know before it happened...I wish...

I was away....

2007-05-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks....sorry I was away, had to make a quick trip to India, thats the reason for the lack of new posts here....you will see some articles this weekend. Until then...au revoir!

India and the WTO...prescription drugs (Part 4)

2007-05-10T18:08:00.000-05:00

The effect of TRIPs extends to way more than agriculture, it doesn't leave out the poor, and the sick and the terminally ill of the world, they too should be exploited!!! The effect of the TRIPs regime has the most profound effect on people with terminal illness, and on countries like India, which have a huge population of such people. having said that, I would also like to mention that all is not lost just yet, there might still be hope.
The government started encouraging pharmaceuticals in the 1960s and with the Patent Act, 1970, helped it to expand and grow, the reason the Patent Act helped the fledgling pharma sector in India was because it removed patenting of compositions and although it let process patents continue, they would be valid only for 5 to 7 years. So, if you think about it, its a funny Patent Act, patents are supposed to protect innovations and inventions, this one reduced this protection!! Nevertheless, it helped the still infant industry develop the strength to deal with what was to come in the future.
If its not yet clear to you what effect this law had, this is what happened; with the absence of patent protection, the multinationals that had dominated the pharma sector until that time(yes, most of us are not that old, but maybe your grandpa can tell you that pharma was all multinationals!!!) lost interest in the Indian market, why? you know why, because they could charge exhorbitant amounts anymore for the drugs they marketed!!! As the multinationals left, the Indian comapnies took their place, and developed an expertise, over time, of reverse engineering new processes for manufacturing prescription drugs at low costs!!!
Everything was fine...until guess who came along?! Yes, according to the new requirements of the TRIPs, India was required to make changes to its patent laws, with the new law, it had to provide product as well as process patent protection, the duration of the patent too, was changed, from the earlier 5 to 7 years to the whopping 20 years, as prevalent in the developed countries!! Whats worse is, if you think with these changes it will encourage a lot of foreign investment, it will to some extent, but as a pharmaceutical company you can hold back investment by just importing your product from a foreign country to meet the demands here, yes, TRIPs lets you do that, so you can have a patent in India, and without investing a penny, without transferring any technology to India, you can still make money selling those drugs and avail of the 20 years of legal protection!!! Luckily for us ordinary folks, like all laws, TRIPs has a loop hole!!! Yes, it does, atleast in this case!!
The TRIPs provides for certain exceptions to patent protection of pharmaceutical products;
1) A country can import a drug from another country where it might be cheaper, without the consent of the patent holder, so that levels the playing field a little bit! Thank god!
2) Compulsory licensing, the government of a court of law can consent a third party to use a patent without the consent of the patent holder, sweet isn't it?! Well, it comes with soem riders, this can be done, only in cases of national emergency, extreme urgency or to resolve anti-competitive practices.

After reading what you have read above, you must be pretty sure that the pharmaceutical multinational companies don't like India too much, one of the results of this is its intense lobbying with the US government to keep India on the USTR(United States Trade Representative) watchlist for having weak IP protection, the other issues raised by the PhRMA(Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) are, well, let me quote from its submission to the USTR:

The Indian law does not allow second use and method of treatment patents. Further, Section 3 (d) of the Patents Act 1970, as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005, creates additional hurdles for pharmaceutical patents

This is the exact matter over which, Novartis has filed a case against the Indian Government. Let me explain the background of the case, after India changed its patent laws in 2005(remember the TRIPs time line I mentioned?), Novartis, the Swiss Pharma giant filed a patent for the drug Glivec(marketed as Gleevec in the US). This is a wonderful drug, meant for a horrible disease, leukemia, also known as blood cancer. Why would the Indian patent office reject such a wonderful drug?!!! Well, India's patent law requires that, to get patent protection, the drug should be new and involve an inventive step(product as well as process protection, right), Glivec on the other hand is not a new product, it has been around since, guess when? 1990, and has been marketed in the US since 2001!!! You can't call that a new drug!! No way, and considering that it is not a new drug, there is no reason that patients in India should pay for its alleged "novelty"!!!
So Novartis gets really angry with India and files a case, which is still on, the result of the case will set the precedent from hereon, and will thus decide if the pharmaceutical companies can exploit the Indian people by patent protecting, in some cases, outdated drugs, and making them exhorbitantly priced for them!!!
To point out, the quotation, from the PhRMA's submission to the USTR, the demand for second use(old technology!!), thats what Novartis is trying to get!!! The other issue, of, "method of treatment patents", this is quiet self explanatory, so if you have something administered orally for the first 20 years of the patent, you can get a patent for another 20 years for a different method of administering the same drug!! Do you think that is an innocent request?! If you do, I feel really sorry for you! Its a way to extend your patent protection, and thus, your monopoly!!! Nothing better than a monopoly to make money, right?!! Big Pharma loves monopoly!!!

India and the WTO...addendum to part 3

2007-05-09T06:13:00.000-05:00

If you have read part 3 of this series, you would have realised the the full impact of GMOs on the environment and the people and livestock consuming it has not been completely assessed, the only material thats available in regard to this is assertions from biotech companies that it is safe. You may have also noticed that the EU, has expressed openly, its reservations with regard to GM foods/crops.
In a landmark decision, I was happy to notice, that the Indian Supreme Court has taken note these facts, and accepted the possible risks involved and has given this decision recently, extracts from the news report:
Times Of India, New Delhi 9 May, 2007 - Making a tight-rope walk on the volatile issue of field trials of genetically modified seeds, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed sowing of four permitted varieties of Bt Cotton but added a slew of riders that could lay the foundations for a stricter regime on GM seeds.
A Bench comprising CJI K G Balakrishnan and Justices Tarun Chatterjee and D K Jain said the Centre could go ahead with field trials of Bt Cotton approved by the statutory body in April last year, but asked it to ensure that no new varieties were evolved in the process.
Virtually acceding to requests by counsel Prashant Bhushan and Sanjay Parikh on behalf of petitioners seeking a stricter regime for field trial approval and examination of the adverse effects of genetically modified crops, the Bench asked the government to prepare toxicity and allergenicity data of the field trials and submit them to the court.
Both the counsel had said that developed countries were not willing to take the risk of large-scale field trials in their crop areas fearing the unknwon adverse effects, but were forcing India to be the place where the GM seeds could be put to field trial.
"It is shocking that information that has a bearing on public health and safety can be kept confidential under the present rules," the NGO said and alleged that this lack of transparency made the GM seeds regulatory regime extremely weak and completely inadequate to protect people from possible health hazards.
It requested the court to direct the authorities concerned to make public all data relevant to determining environment and health safety, including toxicity and allergenicity data, of a genetically engineered plant variety under trial.

Meanwhile farmers keep on with the suicide path, on last count it was over 600 and government apathy continues!!

This News Report from the Times of India, a mainstream publication, is clear information about the reason for most of the suicides and the government apathy towards the farm sector:
Nagpur 30 Sep, 2006 - Upbeat projections by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and generous financial promises from the Centre aren't working in Vidarbha. At least six more cotton farmers, crushed by debt, have committed suicide in the last 24 hours.
The toll in September alone has gone up to 116, the highest in a month within the last decade, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a pressure group fighting for the farmers's cause, said on Friday.
Most suicide cases relate to those farming families which have run up huge debts because of the high cost in using the expensive genetically-modified cotton seeds, which have to be bought every year.
Crop failures in this situation, therefore, leave farmers with debts they are unable to pay and are then hounded by loan sharks.

India and the WTO...why is GM food dangerous (Part 3)

2007-05-08T10:03:00.000-05:00

Well, GMOs might not be so dangerous, if it weren't for the amazing negligence and disregard displayed by the plant breeders(remember them?) and the approving authority(yes the government of course!) to the safety of human life and the environment!!
I have collated here extracts from news reports and research studies that were reported around the world concerning GE(Genetically Engineered) crops and foods, also referred to as, GMO(Genetically Modified Organisms), at the end of this, I leave it to you to form your opinion:

April 5, 2006 - Safety Checks on GMOs Flawed:EU Environment Chief
VIENNA (Reuters) - Europe's environment chief attacked the EU's top food safety agency on Wednesday for flawed risk assessments of genetically modified (GMO) crops and foods, saying it relied too much on data given by the biotech industry.
In a strong hint he was unwilling to process new requests for approval of GMOs for growing until their potential long-term impact was known, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas also warned against using such data as a sole information source.
His comments on EFSA(European Food Safety Agency), "EFSA cannot give a sound scientific opinion on long-term effects of GMOs. There are also questions on whether GMO companies are providing the right information to the European Commission".
Later, in a speech delivered to a two-day conference on GMO crop separation, Dimas gave a clear indication that longer-term studies on the potential impact of GMOs were needed before the EU could consider new applications for approval.

April, 2006 - Health Risks of GE Food By Hugh S. Lehman, Ph.D
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have been produced when DNA from other organisms is incorporated into the cells from which the GMO develops. The inserted DNA becomes part of the genome of the GMO and becomes active in the cells of the GMO. If this GMO is consumed, then the inserted DNA enters the digestive tract along with any products that result from the activity of that DNA. For example, if the inserted DNA produced a toxic substance then consumption of the GMO entails consumption of that toxin.
There are good theoretical reasons to be concerned about the possibility of harm resulting from the consumption of GMOs. Some of these arise from the nature of the DNA that is inserted; some of these arise from the instability of inserted DNA generally. First let's talk about some questions that arise from the nature of the inserted DNA. Along with the DNA that is inserted to produce a desired trait in a plant or other organism there is additional DNA that is used to show that the insertion has succeeded and further more DNA that is used to activate the DNA that produces the desired trait. To show that the insertion of DNA into the organism was successful, DNA that produces antibiotic resistance is used. To activate the desired DNA, some DNA from the cauliflower mosaic virus is widely used. Possible harms that might result from consumption of inserted DNA include spread of antibiotic resistance to disease-causing intestinal organisms. In addition other foreign DNA, not described by the producer, has been found in GMOs. This creates additional uncertainty regarding possible harms that could result from consuming the GMOs in question. Due to the instability of the inserted DNA there is also risk of harm to the organism from the cauliflower mosaic viral DNA. Indeed, in 2002 a histopathologist, Dr. Stanley Ewen, warned that the DNA from the cauliflower mosaic virus could contribute to the growth of malignant tumors. In the same year the Institute of Science in Society warned of such dangers from horizontal gene transfer.
There was a time when genetic researchers thought that consuming the DNA inserted into GMO's would not cause harm as the inserted DNA would be destroyed in the digestive tract. However evidence has been available for several years that the inserted DNA is not fully digested. As early as July 17, 2002, a report published in the Guardian in the United Kingdom asserted that research by British scientists, from Newcastle University, shows that transplanted DNA survived the digestive process and was able to enter bacteria resident in the human gut. Our digestion depends on the wide range of bacterial organisms that inhabit our digestive tracts. We have evolved to live in commensal relationships with these microorganisms. The introduction of novel DNA could change those relationships in harmful ways. Were they modified by incorporation of novel DNA they could either fail to contribute to our digestive functioning or become toxic and produce injury or illness.

April 18, 2006 - EU Commission 'Admitted GM Food Uncertainty'
The released papers formed the backbone of the commission's case during a dispute with the US, Canada and Argentina - which produce 90% of the world's GM crops - over a Europe-wide ban on GM foods in member states between 1998 and 2004.
The 340-page document reveals that, in support of its stance, the commission told the World Trade Organisation that "it is apparent from the scientific advice ... that there is no unique, absolute, scientific cut off threshold available to decide whether a GM product is safe or not".
It also said that because of a lack of data concerning chronic conditions such as cancer and allergies, there was "simply no way of ascertaining whether the introduction of GM products has had any other effect on human health".

April 30, 2006 - 1600 Sheep die after grazing in Bt Cotton Field

Hyderabad: Sixteen hundred sheep died in Warangal district after grazing in fields on which Bt cotton had been harvested.
A survey conducted by a seven member team of Centre for Sustainable agriculture working in Bt cotton issues revealed that about 1600 sheep died from Bt toxin near Ippagudem in Ghanapur mandal, Madipalli in Hasanparthi mandal and Unikicherla in Dharmasagar mandal in Warangal district.
The sheep started dying after continuously grazing on the leaves and pods of Bt cotton plant residues in the fields for seven days.
The symptoms did not correlate to any of the diseases occurred during the season, the study said.
The team urged the Government to carry out an exhaustive study of the impact of Bt toxin on livestock, a release said in Hyderabad.

***Next - India and the WTO...why will medicines be more expensive in India!

India and the WTO....what you need to worry about! (Part 2)

2007-05-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

Considering that farmers in most of the developing world follow subsistence farming, that is, they use the seeds they generate as part of their last crop/s as the seeds they use to sow for the next crop/s, as part of the WTO TRIPs regime the demand for Intellectual Property Protection to agriculture resulted in counterclaims for Farmer's Rights, so the developing countries tried to fulfill these by trying to protect the rights of breeders as well as farmers.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer's Rights Act, 2001 tries to do something like that, but in fact works completely against the farming community, and seems to go out of its way, so to speak, to protect the rights of the new breeders that have entered the Indian market.
Plant Breeder's Rights (PBR), internationally, are recognized as an alternative to patents meant to provide protection to seed breeders, the ones I mentioned for example, in my last post, the background, the Seed Industry in the developed world, was instrumental in pushing these laws through with their respective governments, the initial move to for PBR came through the UPOV (Union pour la Protection des Obetentions Vegetales) in 1961. The plant breeders right as defined by UPOV is an exclusive right over the commercial production and marketing of the reproductive or vegetative propagating material of the protected variety. This right was less stringent than patents as it allowed for:
1) research exemption (a protected variety may be used in competing breeding programs as long as subsequently derived varieties do not require the repeated use of the protected variety for its production)
2) Farmers' Privilege: use and exchange of saved seeds allowed but not sale of seeds.

In 1991, the UPOV was revised to increase the breeder's privileges and making the farmer's rights optional!! Accordingly, in the revised UPOV of 1991, an essentially derived variety (EDV, a variety that is predominantly derived from the initial variety itself) which fulfils the normal protection criteria of novelty, distinctness, uniformity and stability, may be the subject of protection but cannot be exploited without the authorization of the breeder of the protected variety. Thus, through EDV (Essentially Derived Variety, concept introduced in UPOV 1991) the breeder can widen the technological territory, and moreover the exception that was granted to farmers as part of UPOV 1961 was made optional!!!! Who the fuck cares about the farmers anyways...and we care even less for subsistence farmers!!!!

All of this was going on in the developed nations, while the developing nations did not grant PBRs at all during this time, they had to start enacting laws for this to comply with guess what?!!! the WTO TRIPs agreement of course!!!!

In india, due to the big hue and cry over the lack of farmers' rights in what the Indian government, by and large, intended to adopt, UPOV 1991, the Indian government decided to include Farmer's Rights, but it did not really translate into any great protection for the Indian Farmer's Rights, here is a list of issues that clearly indicate that the farmer is not at all protected by the PPV Bill:

1) Does the PPV Authority include farmer representatives?: The Authority set up by the PPV Bill has no farmers' representative on it, not even NGO representatives; it is made up entirely of government officials…with the possible exception of the Chairperson (Section 3);
2) Can farmer's varities get protection? Farmers are included in the category of 'breeders', and can apply for protection to varieties that they would have developed. However, given the stringent requirements for obtaining protection under the PPV Bill (the Novelty, Distinctiveness, Uniformity, and Stability criteria, Section 14), requirements that are expensive to fulfill and technologically easier to achieve in the laboratory or highly controlled conditions that formal sector breeders have access to, it is unlikely that farmers' varieties will be able to receive protection.
3) Has farmer permission been taken?: India is now legally obliged, under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to ensure that local community consent is sought, and equitable benefit-sharing arrangements are made with it, before wider use is made of its knowledge and practices. Yet in the application requirements for those wanting plant variety protection in the PPV Bill (Sections 17/18), there is no mention of the applicant having to show whether his/her variety is based on farmers' knowledge, or whether permission has been taken from the farmer/community for the use of such knowledge or their varieties, and finally whether an appropriate benefit-sharing arrangement has been worked out with such farmer/ community. This is a violation of India's commitments under the CBD.
4) Even in the matter of approving a particular name ("denomination") for a variety (Section 16), the Authority does not have the mandate to reject a breeder's name even if it is already in use by a farming community, though this could conceivably be developed as a specific regulation under Section 16(2,3). There is no penalty associated with 'stealing' such a name (Sections 61-64).
5) Will PPV prevent harm to the environment? It does provide a clause that the PPV Authority will refuse to register GMOs that could, if introduced commercially, cause harm to animal/humans/plant life, but this is very vague, and the PPV does not have any provision to ensure a thorough Environmental impact Assessment (EIA), that is, an assessment of what impact this genetically modified organism will have when introduced to a natural, uncontrolled environment. Considering this scenario, how will the authority know, without a thorough EIA, if a certain GMO is dangerous? It cannot know, it doesn't want to know, it just wants to approve everything the commercial breeders bring to it!!!

***India and the WTO...why GM food could be dangerous (Part 3)

India and the WTO(background to Part 2)

2007-05-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

Before we explore the Plant Varieties Protection Act, I thought you would like to know, after reading the first part, why the Indian government is doing things that goes against its very people, against its farmers, against the very segment of the population that is instrumental in keeping India self-reliant in food!!!
I have one abbreviation for you, WTO(World Trade Organisation), India, being one of the signatories to the formation of the WTO regime was required to enter the TRIPs(Trade Related intellectual Property Rights) agreement, this required that India, which is classified as a developing country, amend its IPR(Intellectual Property Rights) laws to comply with TRIPs regulations, this meant, among other things, the acceptance of Genetically Modified varieties of seeds/food(also known as GMO - Genetically Modified Organism), sounds like something from outer space intent on invading us poor earthlings, right?!! Well, yes, in a manner of speaking it is an invasion! TRIPs also required the Indian government to provide protection to plant breeders, and that, my friends is why you have seen so many modifications to the Seed Bill, and thats why it is becoming more and more difficult to be a farmer in India, and if the government keeps caving in to international pressure, India's self reliance in agriculture would be a thing of the past!!! Something like India's cricketing glory!!!
Just to let you know how some other governments in some other parts of the world are dealing with this, the TRIPs required compliance objectives to be met by developing nations(like India) in 10 years starting from 1995, while the developed world was supposed to be compliant in 12 months, having said that, I couldn't help but notice this article on the EU's(European Union's) opposition to let into the european region, GMOs, which India is letting into into India as part of the Seed Bill, remember the EU was supposed to be compliant with TRIPs within 12 months, the news report I referred to is from 2006!!! The WTO ruling has not made the EU change its position, in fact, the EU asserts, that a poll taken in the european region has shown considerable opposition to GM foods(reminds me of some time back in India!!), ofcourse, here its also worth noting that America has a huge industry that produces Genetically Modified(GM) organisms(seeds/food) whose exports are worth $300 million, in a global biotech industry thats worth $5.5 billion. No doubt, the EU's ban hurts the American GM industry!!
Just to let you know as a parting goodbye, the fight between the EU and the WTO erupted when when the EU banned new biotech seeds from companies like Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta,[REMEMBER THESE NAMES!] and thus, was accused of breaking international trade laws!!! Yes, its against international law when a government protects its people from money grubbing transnational corporations!!!

Companies that operate in India:

Monsanto
Bayer Crop Science
Syngenta
Advanta India Ltd. (formerly ITC Zeneca Ltd.)
Hicks-Muse-Tate Inc.
Emergent Genetics
Dow Agro
Novartis
Bioseed Genetics International Inc.
Tokita Seed Co.

Indian Cricket Team in Bangladesh! - Press Statements - Hilarious!!

2007-05-07T06:38:00.000-05:00

Folks, this is something I just read on Indian Express and thought it was extremely funny. The headline is We are here to win, says Dravid, the report then goes on to say this;

Hours after landing in Bangladesh for their first cricket assignment since the World Cup fiasco, Indian captain Rahul Dravid on Monday sent out a strong message to the rivals, saying his young team was "well-prepared" and would settle for nothing but a series win.
Is THAT supposed to be a strong message, it makes me laugh so hard....I am rolling on the fuckin' floor, I was expecting something like what Ricky Ponting would say, but this is what I get to hear!!!! :-)) ROFL!!!

The report then continues with this;

"We are well prepared for the series. I think we will have a good series. It is definitely like any other series, we are here to win," Dravid told reporters at the Hotel Sheraton after arriving in Dhaka.
I don't feel like this is any kind of tough talk I have heard, I wouldn't think it would scare a 5 year old, forget about having any psychological effect on the Bangladesh team!! Has someone told the Indian team that tough talk in a press conference is sledging?!! Will someone please tell them to stop acting like pussies!!! I am tired of this pillow talk!!!! We would be better off not doing it, atleast we will keep the rival guessing!!

Finally, to ruin all the little tough talk that was done(if you can call it that!!!) Dravid tries to stay in line with the Indian Government's foreign policy of NO REVENGE!!! Or something along those pacifist lines, will someone fuckin' tell him he doesn't need to do that!! by saying;
"We are not here for revenge," he said.
Ofcourse we are here for fuckin' revenge, why in the hell not?! Whats wrong with revenge in cricket, we don't wanna kill them, we want revenge in the cricket field, is that too tough to say?!!!

India and the WTO....what you need to worry about! (Part 1)

2007-05-06T19:49:00.000-05:00

There are certain things that you hear a lot about, in the media, from the government, then there are certain things that you don't hear about, and then there are those that you hear about but don't really understand, its not because you are not smart enough to understand, its because what you hear is either lies or half truths. Its the third variety of news that has the greatest potential to hurt, the second variety is blatantly incriminating, and so all that a responsible citizen have to do is look for it, the third variety, though incriminating, is cloaked in a benign get up to throw you off, you have to dig deeper, to find what is not said.

I am talking about this third variety, in 2004, The Congress-led UPA government came up with a new Seed Bill, this was the result of the deliberations of the Seed Policy Review Group, this group was constituted to re-assess the Indian Seed Laws that were in effect from the 1966 Seeds Act. When the impending introduction of the new Seed Bill was announced in 2004, these were its objectives:
1. To make the registration of seed varieties obligatory, they were previously voluntary.
2. Creation of a comprehensive National Register of Seeds.
3. To regulate(government speak for making easier) the import and export of seeds.
4. New regulations on GM(Genetically Modified) crops.
5. To improve market conditions for private seed companies.

As against the old policy of voluntary registration, the new made this registration process mandatory for anyone who intends to sell seeds, registration will be granted either for 15 or 18 years depending on the nature of the crop, all registered varieties need to be field tested to ascertain their VCU(Value for Cultivation and Use). the argument provided by the government in favour of this policy is that, they cannot control quality of the seeds, if they do not know who is selling it, so we were presented this act like a consumer protection act for farmers in India, so the obvious question is, if a farmer buys a registered variety of seed(from a registered manufacturer), and the said seeds do not perform as expected, what recourse does the farmer? Well, fasten your seat belts, because this will hit you hard if you care for the Indian farmer, and you care about all the suicides....the only option they have is the Consumer Protection Act of 1986!!! In the meanwhile the over Rs 4000 crore Indian Seed Industry is demanding removal from purview of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986!! So may I know where the farmer is supposed to seek redress?!!
A case: T. Ramanaiah, a cotton farmer from Andhra Pradesh, is currently fighting a case to get compensation for very poor yields in the District Consumer Court, an option which is by its very nature a tedious one without any guarantee of success. His struggle has inspired activists to put together a legal manual for farmers seeking compensation for failed yields. Often, even if a government recognises that farmers' need to be compensated, the company might not be ready to pay up. In the State of Andhra Pradesh when farmers suffered losses from cultivating Monsanto's Bt cotton, Monsanto was only willing to pay for failure to germinate and for absence of the genetic purity promised by the company, and not for yield losses. The Plant Variety Protection (PVP)law of India does make provision for farmers to claim, via a PVP Authority, compensation from the breeder of a variety if it does not perform as expected.

The Seed Bill is only about seed registration and certification, but in making it mandatory that only registered varieties can be sold, it is not only about what it regulates, but also about what it doesn't. So it mandates what the market will offer, and this determines what it will not offer! for the small farmer on the surface, it does state that [nothing] shall restrict the right of the farmer to save, use, exchange, share or sell his farm seeds and planting material, but there is a catch! Aha!! Here it is, it continues on, except that he shall not sell such seed or planting material under a brand name or which does not conform to the minimum limit of germination, physical purity, genetic purity prescribed....". So the farmer cannot use a brand name and enter the seed trade, and he cannot sell seeds that don't meet the criteria for registration, so even though Indian farmers today use 80% of their own seed, their ability to sell their own seed is restricted!!! So would a farmer not just go ahead and register their seeds, you may ask. In the present system, its almost impossible for a small Indian farmer to register his own seed variety, the process is extremely long, extremely expensive, requiring specialised lab tests as well as field tests; anyways, a farmers seed will probably fail to pass the required standards, since farmer's criteria for breeding are very broad, incorporating ecological and social factors, not just yield.
Farmers thus, can sell harvested seed that are registered variety, but if the seed is also PVP-protected the PVP legislation prohibits him from selling branded seed in the market.

The Plant Varieties Protection Law has already been passed and provides very little protection to farmers and farming communities, and it is also very unclear about it. The worst part about the PVP law in India is that it is based on the UPOV, a draconian law first introduced in the west in 1961 and then amended in 1991 to completely kill any kind of competition to big corporate plant/seed breeders from small scale farming communities there. This law is now being implemented in India, it maybe part of the contributing factors to farmers suicides, I will explain how in the next part of this article.

***To be continued - India and the WTO....what you need to worry about! (Part 2)[PVP and Farmer's Rights Act, THE FRAUD.]

M for marijuana or M for misunderstood (contd.)

2007-05-06T08:01:00.000-05:00

What does the Marijuana high feel like?
From someone who took notes when he was high, attempting to describe what it's like is actually rather difficult. It's like trying to look at something that moves out of sight whenever you look in its direction. Marijuana does not make things look different, or sound different, or taste different... and yet, it does. You tend to notice things you'd never noticed before. You appreciate more fully details that you'd otherwise have skipped. But they are nonetheless no different than they were before you got stoned. It's like stepping into parallel dimension, or onto another plane of existence. Physically, everything is the same. It looks exactly like our own universe. And yet, something's different. It's hard to put a finger on it, but it's undeniable. Your senses seem to become heightened. Physical sensations, like if someone runs their fingernails along your arm, are more intense. Things taste better. This of course is the well known "munchies" effect, and it's true. Imagine the most delicious tasting thing you know of, and then imagine turning the volume up a notch or two.
The transition from normal to high is hard to identify. It's like trying to examine the moment of falling asleep. Try as you might, you always wake up the next morning with no memory of what it was actually like to fall asleep. The high lasts about 3-4 hours.

How Marijuana affects the body
Its a complicated drug, its not just one compound like Alcohol or Cocaine, its a combination of more than 400 different compounds, and 60 of them are unique to it, the main mind altering agent is THC. THC is like a bomb that enters the body and breaks up into some 80 different chemicals(metabolites), unlike many other drugs that get excreted out of the body after some hours, THC metabolites tend to stay on for 3 to 5 days, sometimes even weeks if you are a heavy user. What they do during this time is unknown, but the duration for which they stay in the body raises concerns amongst medical circles.
The risks involved, that are researched and known at this point of time(devoid of government propaganda) are;
1. Rapid heartbeat, this effect only lasts minutes, but can be dangerous for people suffering from high blood pressure or heart conditions.
2. Even though a direct link to cancer of the respiratory system is not established, marijuana smoke does contain cancer causing chemicals(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
3. Young people, who are still physically in the growth phase run the risk of facing short term drop in growth hormones in the body, reduced sperm production in males.
4. A lot of research still needs to be done on how exactly marijuana affects the brain, but these are some of the effects we know of for sure, it tilts the balance of chemicals in the brain that regulate mood, energy, appetite, and attention; It affects learning and memory processes, and can cause forgetfulness and reduced concentration; reduces logical thinking and calculation skills, and can impair a user's ability to perform complex tasks, including driving a car.

Comparison with socially accepted drugs
Alcohol Vs Marijuana
Time Perception:
Marijuana speeds up the internal clock – one minute seems like several
Alcohol slows down internal clock- one minute seems like 30 seconds
Mental State:
Marijuana tends to make users relaxed and tranquil
Alcohol tends to make users more aggressive (High social nuisance potential!)
Longterm Effects:
Marijuana’s effects are less known and more subtle
Alcohol is more clearly related to many health issues

Pot's potential for causing problems in occasional users has been greatly exaggerated in the past, nevertheless please moderate your use, anything in excess(even food!) is not good.

M for marijuana or M for misunderstood

2007-05-05T06:22:00.000-05:00

Its but natural that I should think of marijuana after having written about Ecstasy in a previous post. In my research of this(marijuana) amazing drug, and that includes consumption a couple of years back, I have found that in its known 3000 year history, we know this,
1. Antiemetic
2. Anticonvulsant
3. Mild stimulant to overcome constipation and gastritis
4. Laxative
5. Antidiarrheal
6. Appetite Stimulant, stimulates flow of bile, a very important digestive secretion from the liver.
7. Cannabis, its source of antibiotic properties come from cannabidiolic acid and cannabidiol
8. Concentrated cannabis resin is a topical anesthaetic
9. Reduced pressure in the eye after consuming marijuana, basically a treatment for glaucoma

There are many more uses that we can talk about, that don't even concern mind alteration, and the way marijuana is viewed today. The mind altering properties of marijuana, were known only in India until about 500 AD, as knowledge of the drug spread there began to be more literature being generated on the subject,

In Sanskrit and Hindi writings marijuana has found mention;
Before the 8th century an anti phlegmatic, Circa 1050: victorious (Vijaya), and victorious in three worlds (Trailokyavijaya).
1300 A.D. in The Rajanighantu of Narahari Pandita: the light hearted (Capala), the joyful (Ananda), the rejoicer (Harsini), speech giving (vakpradatva) inspiring of mental power (medhakaritva), and a most excellent excitant (cresthadipanatva).

17th Century Materia Medica The Rajavallabha: "It creates vital energy, the mental powers, and internal heat, corrects irregularities of the phlegmatic humour, and is an elixir vitae."

The Persian physician Mirza Abdool Rhazes wrote:"The oldest work in which Hemp is noticed is a treatise by Hasan, who states that in the year 658 (Mahometan era)(1258), the Sheikh Djafar Shirazi, a monk of the order of Haider, learnt from his master the history of the discovery of Hemp. Haider, the chief of ascetics and self-chasteners, lived in rigid privation on a mountain between Nishabor and Romah, where he established a monastery of Fakirs. Ten years he had spent in his retreat, without leaving it for a moment, till one burning summer's day, when he departed alone to the fields. On his return an air of joy and gaiety was imprinted on his countenance; he received the visits of his brethren, and encouraged their conversation. On being questioned, he stated that: struck by the aspect of a plant which danced in the heat as if with joy, while all the rest of the vegetable creation was torpid, he had gathered and eaten of it's leaves. He led his companions to the spot, all ate, and all were similarly excited. A tincture of the Hemp leaf in wine or spirit seems to have been the favorite formula in which the Sheikh Haider indulged himself. An Arab poet sings of Haider's emerald cup; an evident allusion to the rich green colour of the tincture of the drug. The Sheikh survived the discovery ten years, subsisting chiefly on this herb, and on his death his disciples by his desire planted it in an arbour about his tomb. From this saintly sepulcher the knowledge of the effects of Hemp is stated to have spread into Khorasan."

So much for history, the origins of marijuana, also known by various other names like Hemp, Mary Jane, Pot, Weed, Ganja, Hashish, Dope and such is a mixture of crushed flowers, leaves and stem of the Indian Hemp weed, scientific name "Cannabis Sativa".

Marijuana, Classification under US Drug Law
In 1937, congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. Presented as a $1 nuisance tax on the distribution of marijuana, this act required anyone distributing it to maintain and submit a detailed account of his or her transactions, including inspections, affidavits, and private information regarding the parties involved. Punitive measures, such as fines and the threat of imprisonment for persons failing to fulfill their statutory obligations, effectively made the legal distribution of marijuana too great a liability for normal business. This act was passed by Congress on the basis of testimony and public perception that marijuana caused insanity, criminality, and death.
The 1951 Boggs Act increased penalties fourfold; five years later, the 1956 Daniel Act increased penalties by a factor of eight over those specified in the Boggs Act. Although by this time there was adequate testimony to refute the idea that marijuana caused insanity and death, the deliberations for these laws shifted in focus to the proposition that marijuana use led to the use of heroin and cocaine, creating the gateway theory.
The US drug policy, it seems, has been more subservient to Big Pharma companies than honest. Marijuana, has been classified as a Schedule 1 drug, remember, we discussed US drug Schedule in my post about ecstasy before, considering all the documented medical uses of marijuana, its blatantly unjust and ignorant to carry on with this policy vis-a-vis marijuana.
In my opinion, considering all the literature presented above, the US War on drugs, is a gross injustice and is an attempt to pander to Big Pharma vis-a-vis Marijuana.

Addictive Nature, a Gateway Drug?
Cannabis, let me say here upfront, from when I tried it, to when I hear people talking about it, does not, and I repeat does not make you think or want other drugs, so the gateway drug theory is full of sh*t and to say it in the words of a reader of an article on the BBC website

Nothing about cannabis itself makes it a gateway drug. It does not make you dream of cocaine any more than coffee makes you dream of vodka.

The main psychoactive substance in Cannabis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or 'THC', a lot of research done with THC, which is said to be the main addictive agent, could not provide the conclusion that marijuana is addictive by its very nature, national epidemiological surveys done in the US show that a large number of people who have used marijuana, do not become addicted to it;
In 1993, among Americans age 12 and over, about 34% had used marijuana sometime in their life, but only 9% had used it in the past year, 4.3% in the past month, and 2.8% in the past week.
A longitudinal study of young adults who had first been surveyed in high school also found a high "discontinuation rate" for marijuana. While 77% had used the drug, 74% of those had not used in the past year and 84% had not used in the past month.
Of course, even people who continue using marijuana for several years or more are not necessarily "addicted" to it. Many regular users - including many daily users - consume marijuana in a way that does not interfere with other life activities.

When human subjects were administered daily oral doses of 180-210 mg of THC - the equivalent of 15-20 joints per day(which is way too much in my opinion, even too much cheesecake is bad!!) - abrupt cessation produced adverse symptoms, including disturbed sleep, restlessness, nausea, decreased appetite, and sweating. The authors interpreted these symptoms as evidence of physical dependence. However, they noted the syndrome's relatively mild nature and remained skeptical of its occurrence when marijuana is consumed in usual doses and situations. Indeed, when humans are allowed to control consumption, even high doses are not followed by adverse withdrawal symptoms.
Signs of withdrawal have been created in laboratory animals following the administration of very high doses. Recently, at a NIDA(The US National Institute of Drug Abuse)-sponsored conference, a researcher described unpublished observations involving rats pre-treated with THC and then dosed with a cannabinoid receptor-blocker. Not surprisingly, this provoked sudden withdrawal, by stripping receptors of the drug. This finding has no relevance to human users who, upon ceasing use, experience a very gradual removal of THC from receptors.

The most avid publicizers of marijuana's addictive nature are treatment providers who, in recent years, have increasingly admitted insured marijuana users to their programs. The increasing use of drug-detection technologies in the workplace, schools and elsewhere has also produced a group of marijuana users who identify themselves as addicts in order to receive treatment instead of punishment.

APJ Abdul Kalam, the president...why we hate him!!

2007-05-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well, its not exactly how much I like him or hate him, its more how much the Indian politicians hate him. Lets keep aside what he has done for the country as a leading scientist, lets look at his work as the President of the Indian Nation, and as President, his political views are very important. Reading his books, he appears to be a very strong advocate and a great believer in India as a future superpower, he is also a man who seems to be of the view that if India is going to be a super power in the future, it must also act like one, so it seems he is of the opionion that India should take a firm stand on its nuclear program, with no real respect for the NPT(Non-Proliferation Treaty), which is absolutely right, since the NPT is nothing but an instrument to stifle the growth in assertiveness of other nations in comparison to developed group of nation's who are the champions of the NPT. I believe Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam would prefer our politicians to have a spine in these matters, and atleast the last government had the b*lls to do the needful!! Before that ofcourse, Mrs. Gandhi, no, to clarify to the sycophants, I am referring to the late Mrs. Gandhi!!!
He is a supporter of open source software, which is great, the last thing the Indian people need, is throw valuable, hard-earned money at Software Licensing fees!!!
I am hoping that most of the readers of this blog from India, and Indians elsewhere will agree, with what I said above, he is more or less a hero to the younger generation, he is highly respected by all, irrespective of religion, region, caste and creed. Then why, oh why the F**K, did I read this recently CPM against second term for Abdul Kalam, this news was on expressindia.com, and I tell you this, in no uncertain terms...it has bloody well pissed me off!!
When talking to a reporter, this was Prakash Karat's arguments against Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

"As far as a second term is concerned, I recall that last time the BJP had argued that no person should be given a second term and that is why they would not support K R Narayanan. "

What a fuckin' argument!!!! he doesn't want Abdul Kalam, because he was BJP's candidate for President, how childish, pathetic and cheap can you get!!! Remember folks, he is not arguing against Abdul Kalam, on the basis of any flaw during his presidential tenure, NOOOOO, he is not opposing Abdul Kalam on the basis of being overly Politically meddlesome as a president! NOOOOO, he is not opposing Abdul Kalam because he can suggest a much better candidate!!!! NOOOOOO....he is against Dr Kalam because, he was a BJP candidate to the Presidency!!!! Who cares a f**k who suggested Abdul Kalam's name for President, he is a great president, he is loved by the Indian people, he is a very good human being, he is intelligent, he is passionate about his work, he loves India more than all the 500+ MPs in parliament put together.....and all we get as argument against his Presidency is that he is A BJP CANDIDATE!!!! I DON'T FUCKIN' CARE IF HE IS A BJP CANDIDATE!!!!! I want Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam for President all over again!!! What do you say folks???
Now, anyone who knows a little bit about how the media starts marketing views, opinions, and politicians, through supposedly erudite articles and incisive news reportage, will tell you, that, in that piece of news about Abdul Kalam, a potential future candidate was suggested for the Presidency, guess who! "Somnath Chatterjee", of all the fuckin' corrupt politicians in the country, on the verge of retirement, Karat had to pick a LAWYER, a LAWYER??!!! for heaven's sake not a LAWYER!!! A lawyer is a person who always keeps his statements ambiguous, so that he can f**kin swing either way!!! Get that?! Is that how you want your president to be?!!! Or would you maybe, like to have someone like Gyani Zail Singh!!!! Gawd!! What a joke!!!
Recently, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam went to the EU, I am so proud to see how good he was at presenting India's position!! When asked about Afzal Guru, he just stopped any argument in its tracks by saying that the law of the land will take its course, can you even imagine a lawyer to be that unambiguous!!!??? NEVER!!!
I would be very very pissed off if someone suggests that since APJ Abdul Kalam is a BJP candidate, he is not secular, If you really believe that, you are nothing but a hypocrite, a fake, a liar, and a person this country can do without!!! That would be such a load of crap!!! Tell me if you can find anyone more secular than him!!!

Quota - Can someone explain it? plus some other thoughts

2007-04-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

Over the last week, I noticed more news coming out of India that raised my hackles. One of them of course, is the OBC quota issue, I know when a lot of us folks think of quotas we either have a sympathetic reaction or we get very angry at the very mention of the word, well, people have known to burn themselves over this so, yes, its a delicate issue to talk about. When I got to thinking about quotas, I decided to look at them in a more objective manner, without my origins and my heredity coming in the way to cloud my opinion. So here is the question that needs to be answered in my opinion,

1) Have quotas helped?

This is what I think, and I am pretty sure a lot of people who will read this might have a completely different take on this, please feel free to express yourself here. As I understand quotas are meant to help the backward castes to come up to the level of education and economic status of the non-backward castes. I am very specific to use the word castes here because the quotas have been based on caste, which, many would consider an unreasonable basis for classification, but lets talk about that a little later. The reason quotas were implemented on the basis of caste in my opinion was, that a majority of the backward castes were living a hand to mouth existence, with really bad working and living conditions, and here is the most important thing, with no way of bettering there situation whatsoever. So if the hurdles for them were not economic, in many cases they were social in nature, so nobody would lend a chamaar money to start a business, why? well, because he/she was a chamaar, and running a business was not his/her cup of tea, traditionally, nothing else would be considered, not all the merit his or her idea had, not that he/she exhibited a sharp business mind; having said that, we need to look at how the reservation/quota policy of the Indian government helped, if at all, so I started looking all over for statistical information on India, first about the employment data that could give a classification of employment/unemployment on the basis of the social classification followed for the quota/reservation system, unfortunately I could not, then I realized, come to think about it, better employment and better living conditions in adult life start with a good education, so I started looking for educational data on the same grounds, this time I was luckier! So these are the figures I found; before we go on to look at the figures, there is a catch, there is no data, that I found, that was reliable, that talked about statistics of the OBC population, the Indian government only collects data on SC/ST, but does not provide any data on the OBC population specifically, the OBC group is clubbed with the non-SC/ST category of the population, I will talk about this in a little bit, after we have dealt with the figures I found. For the sake of simplicity we will only look at the Higher Education(degree courses BE,BCom,MCom,ME,BTech,MTech and so on and so forth..), not Primary and Secondary school level, this I am doing for the sake of simplicity of the discussion and ease of comprehension of the data presented heretofore.

Projected Population of 18-24 for 2003(cumulative, boys and girls) 112718 (1000's)

SC Population as a percentage of the total population, and assuming this holds good for the 18-24 age group 16.20%

ST Population as a percentage of the total population, and assuming this holds good for the 18-24 age group 16.20%

Total institutions of higher learning 10,884

The Gross Enrollment Ratio(ER) in Institutions of Higher Education 9.2%

Number of students in institutions of Higher Education 10370 (1000's)

Number of SC/ST undergoing Higher Education 1,303,134

Calculated ER of students from the SC/ST population in institutions of Higher Education. 1.15%

These results after almost a 60 year reservation/quota policy implemented by the government.

The above information was gleaned from the following sources:
Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education.
Government of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

Looking at the above numbers(and these are the Government of India's own findings) I would say that the quota policy is a big failure, after 60 years of reservations and quotas, the enrolment ratio has not even touched 2%, and at the present rate, its going to be a tough ask to achieve even 2%.
For those who say that this is data relating to SC/ST, I say I agree, but I say this is overwhelming evidence that the reservations/quotas have failed us, all of us, the people it was supposed to help and the nation as a whole, should we then insist on committing the same mistake with the OBC quota that is being debated over in parliament, especially, in the face of such overwhelming evidence?! What we need to do is look at this in a fresh way, re-assess, actually nail the problem down and then solve it, so far, what we have been trying to do is treat the symptom, not the disease, we say that we don't see too many SC/ST/OBC contributing to the economy, so lets solve that problem, but like I said reservation is just treating the symptom, we need to look at why is it that we don't see a big enough contribution yet from these sections of Indian society. Its not their fault, its the fault of the government to have implemented half-baked, half-hearted, short-sighted policies, in my opinion, if the government was more responsible, we would not be discussing this today!
All Indians do have to accept that the full potential of the SC/ST/OBC population is not being realized due to the government's misguided policies, this issue should be open to discussion, and an alternative to reservation/quotas should be found that would help the nation as a whole, and not divide the population into castes.
Looking at this issue from a political standpoint, it makes sense for the politicians to create this division, thats the way they create their vote-banks. I think the indian people are the biggest enemy of the Indian nation. The way they vote, most Indians, looking at the present batch of politicians in parliament, vote based, not on merit, past records, or new ideas, but on the basis of caste, religion etc...and this phenomenon is most pronounced in the most economically backward states in the country, in fact, I don't think I would be too far off target to say that backwardness and the voting patterns of the populace in a particular state go hand in hand. I will leave the voting decision to you, I have no right to say anything about that.

Social Justice

The government should be mindful of the fact that social justice requires that equal opportunity be provided to all, and that the provision of these opportunities do not cause dissent amongst a populace, especially one as diverse as the one in India, we have to, after all, stay as a nation, and implementing policies that are beneficial to all, is the strategy on which our survival as a civilized nationhood depends. Social justice should be supported by scientific data, such data, in my opinion corroborate, at every step that the path chosen towards social justice is the best possible one. In the case of the quota policy, we have failed to look, nay, we have been completely blind to any other alternatives and thus wasted valuable time. We have no more time to waste, we have too much to think about, and a lot to act upon.

Why Caste?

The quota system is, as I mentioned above, firmly based on caste, the scourge of Indian society, the one system that every Indian is ashamed of, especially when he/she is not in India, well, i don't know about the you folks that are reading this but I am ashamed, if the Americans have their black slave history to deal with, we have our castes. Fortunately, for the Americans, the days of slavery are over, unfortunately for the Indian, the caste system still prevails, and its not weakening. What has added to the divide of (us and them) is the way the government has been implementing its policies of reservations/quotas, it reinforces the caste identity in every indian, whether they use their caste for admissions to colleges or not, they have to deal with it, isn't this a policy specifically designed to poison the minds of the youth, when every generation should be forgetting casteism, regionalism etc...the government policies reinforce these concepts, and lo and behold you have a country that is more divided every passing generation!!! Is this what we want? If I am not mistaken, what we want is to give every one in this country, irrespective of their birth, an equal opportunity to better themselves, isn't it?

OBC, is, funnily enough, not a classification, that the people who do statistical analysis of census data for the government of India, consider in their calculations, so apart from the miserable failure of the government policy of quotas/reservations, that I proved in the earlier part of this article, there is really no data that supports in any way, that the implementation of these policies would benefit the people who are classified as OBC. So, in my opinion, considering the miserable failure of the quotas/reservations policies and in the light of the fact, that there is no statistical evidence in all the census studies conducted so far, that the people the government intends to target through these policies are in any way economically more backward than the average indian population, I consider the implementation of quotas/reservations a futile exercise, which would only serve, what everyone now calls, the 'creamy layer' and would further deepen the divisions amongst our fellow countrymen.

On the other issues that caught my eye in the past week, was this big news "India, now a $1-trillion economy", well great, but what I noticed was that it was a miniscule change in the USD-INR exchange rate that caused the historic event, and ofcourse everyone was proud of it. I hate to be the party-pooper but, $1 trillion, economy means nothing in the face of some really daunting statistics on our dear country:

Per Capita Income - A true measure of your living conditions, in comparison to the rest of the world, thats what matters, not that India has become a $1 trillion economy!! The Per Capita Income BTW is $508, we have a very long way to go folks, a very long way.
Consumer Price Index - A true measure of how expensive it is to live where you do. In the last one year, has increased by 35 points on an average in all major urban centers.

So why the hoopla in the media over the $1 trillion mark, gives me the feeling that someone in some press office doesn't know sh*t about what they are writing!!