Reflections

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article3465216.ece?homepage=true In the old days, especially in my early years, I would always look forward to Mickey and Donald, Tom n Jerry to lighten my mood. It was a fun occasion, a cartoon with no tension and just pure entertainment. The good thing about those 2 cartoons above were their culture neutrality, which made them easy favourites across cultures. In those days, the only Indian cartoons would be beginners stuff served by Doordarshan, which were liked more because they were a novelty than anything else! It was always a given that Indian Cartoons were no good... Cut to today, and the scenario has changed quite remarkably. Chhota Bheem seems to have caught the imagination of the nation - at least the majority of kids. Even a good number of adults are getting enamored with the cartoon character of Chhota Bheem!. What was once deemed impossible has been converted into a reality thanks to Rajiv Chilaka (above). T

Current Account Deficit nearly 4%... (or more than 4 now) High Fiscal Deficit High Inflation Policy Paralysis... Eurozone brouhaha I could go on and on several real and imagined parameters...  but the above should be good enough to underline that we are currently passing through rather tough times. The newspapers are, on a daily basis, full of doomsday predictions, blaming ruling alliance and so on and so forth! Policy paralysis has almost become the buzzword! And it is precisely these thoughts running through my mind - especially the tough times bit - that reminded me of an age-old idiom " Every black cloud has a silver lining ".  I dont want - or intend - to sermonize; so let me get straight to the point: there is a clearly definable silver line that has now appeared for the ruling party. From the UPA-II point of view, the important points are: Indian Economy in trouble Public up in arms against just about every move the government makes All time low conf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyendra_Dubey This post is in memory of all those who have paid the highest penalty in the fight against corruption...  This case was highlighted by CRIME PATROL DASTAK on May 19th, 2012 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crime-Patrol-Dastak/201028023297060 " Satyendra Kumar Dubey could have chosen to keep quiet, like the majority of young professionals of this country. He could have continued doing his job as a deputy general manager in the Centre’s National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and shut his eyes to the variegated ways in which a prestigious project - Instead Dubey opted to do the right thing by alerting the PMO to these developments because he believed the project was of “unparalleled importance to the nation”. He paid with his life for having done so”  - Indian Express " Most of us would have chosen to keep quiet in similar circumstances - and that is what makes the courage of people like Mr Dubey awe-i

The Devotion of Suspect X by Heigo Hashimo - Translation by Alexander G smith with Elye Alexander The Characters 1. Yasuko Hanaoka - A divorcee, mother of a teenaged daughter - hard working lady whose entire life is about bringing up the daughter; simple, honest and decent 2. Misato - The daughter; active, simple and tough 3. Ishigami - Highly qualified mathematician; an idealist who loves the purity of the subject; a man to whom life has been extraordinarily tough; a sensitive, intelligent, devoted and totally selfless man... 4. Yukawa - Ex-classmate of Ishigami; equally gifted; assistant professor at a top university and advisor / friend to the police officer Kusanagi 5. Kusanagi - Police officer; doughty; methodic; logical bent of mind; a man who just doesn't give up... 6. Togashi - Ex-husband of Yasuko; wily, rough, uncouth, untrustworthy The Plot The story starts in a very slow tempo - so slow, that you wonder how did this book ever garner the fame t

1. Chidambaram's speech:  http://ibnlive.in.com/news/full-text-chidambarams-speech-at-nctc-meeting/254998-37-64.html 2. Manmohan Singh:  http://ibnlive.in.com/news/full-text-pms-speech-at-nctc-meeting/254993-37-64.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NCTC-row-Centre-behaving-as-viceroys-of-yore-says-Narendra-Modi/articleshow/13008513.cms http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/NCTC-rift-wide-open-Centre-fails-to-woo-dissenting-CMs/Article1-851146.aspx http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/meeting-of-cms-union-of-states-not-state-vs-union/1/184933.html http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/big-brother-uses-his-ineptitude-to-get-bigger/1/179418.html Why are we thinking of states and a federal setup? Cant any of the geniuses in politics see that terrorism is an external threat? And what is the next step? Localisation of the Army: A seperate Army in UP, Bihar etc etc? What is most ludicrous that every single non-congress state is shouting without sugge

A definitive account of the Kargil War by the then Chief Of Army Staff General V. P. Malik...  The Indian Army (or rather, The Armed Forces) occupies a special place in India... and this, in my opinion, is unique to our India. The Armed Forces are considered special, inviolate, upright, decent, relatively corruption free - in fact, the last bastion against corruption. Anything that involves the Armed Forces immediately captures the national attention - especially news relating to unsavory happenings, be it war preparedness, military corruption, ex-soldiers etc. The incident of the anonymous leakage of the Army Chief's letter is still fresh in the public memory... which is why this book in particular holds special relevance in the current context.  I am not implicating that the Kargil War is not of central importance - it is, and always will be - but more of that later. The book is not just about the Kargil War - it has a very vast scope. It is an analysis of

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0152fedc-953a-11e1-8faf-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tntBldji http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php Android 4.0 Default User Interface - Custom Skin By Samsung 4.8-inch touchscreen with an HD Super Amoled display at 1280 x 720 pixels 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with a zero-lag shutter speed to provide instant image-capturing. There's also a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera Voice Command Feature S Voice Eye Movement Tracking 2100mAH battery 16GB internal, 1GB RAM 1.4 GHz Quad Core Chip Samsung has announced that every user of Galaxy SIII smartphone will get free 50GB cloud storage from Dropbox Samsung Galaxy SIII is expected to launch in India in June at a price tag of Rs 38,000 approximately. Turn off an alarm with a voice command.... phone that tracks eye movement while you are reading ebook etc - and adjusts screen brightness when you fall asleep... 2100mAH.... Quad Core... 8 MP Camera....  Wow!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/your-choice-for-next-president/nextpresidentresult/12951189.cms?prev=2 http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Presidential-race-yet-to-begin-all-eyes-on-Cong-s-first-move/Article1-849774.aspx http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pranab-Mukherjee-or-Hamid-Ansari-set-to-be-President/articleshow/12971941.cms Are our political leaders listening to us? A survey by a national daily (the first link above) shows the following preferences by the internet audiences as president of India: ( Figures as of 06:40 am IST 3rd May ) 1) Sam Pitroda - 39% 2) APJ Abdul Kalam - 35% 3) NR Narayan Murthy - 16% 4) Pranab Mukherjee - 9% 5) Hamid Ansari - 1% Admittedly, this survey cannot be said to be a representative survey as it is a random survey of the internet population. Further, demographic checking of respondents is not done, so we have no idea as to the composition of the resultant sample. Even so, one critical factor that i

"It was a killer sales pitch - it fooled borrowers into thinking they would actually save money if they paid higher rates. The loan officers called it The Monster... Michael W Hudson is a staff writer at the Center for Public Integrity, and has also written for the Wall Street Journal. The subject of the book is a true expose of the Subprime Causes - told in breathtaking forceful  detail, told at the street level, with customer names, sales managers' names, companies strategies . That is perhaps biggest punch of this book - almost every chapter has interleaved stories of real people, and how they were taken in by the unethical sales practices they were exposed to...The book deals extensively with customer stories, vividly told in painstaking detail, stories that highlight how unsuspecting and trusting customers were taken in by the unethical and sometime downright illegal practices that were adopted by the staff of the companies.  That approach elevates the book fro