Reflections

Catch them young - Hindustan Times : 'via Blog this' " Consider this: when asked if dishonesty was acceptable for success, 70% said yes. The response to whether it is fine to cheat one friend for another was split almost midway — 43% said 'yes' or 'sometimes', while 43% said 'no'. The rest were unsure " The results of this survey are by themselves quite shocking; but far more than being just shocking, they are also a  call-to-arms (as it were) for all of us, a wake up call if you will. What is even more worrisome is that this is not the first wake-up call that we are receiving... we have studiously ignored each and every indication and wake-up call that we have received so far. What kind of society are we building - one in which the large majority of citizens think it is ok to be dishonest? It is acceptable to cheat? Far more pertinent is the question as to the source of their "learnings", if you could call it that. Schoo...

THE ARES DECISION Robert Ludlum / Kyle Mills (A Covert-One Novel) The eighth novel in the Covert-One series, featuring Lt Col Jon Smith, Randi Russell and Fred Klein The Covert One Series is about a special intelligence unit, directly reporting to the President of the USA, bypassing all existing intelligence set-ups. The series is built around Jon Smith, A Lt Col and a bonafide top-notch medical scientist who became an agent when he lost his fiance to a bioweapon; Randi Russell – CIA Agent and Jon’s fiance’s kid sister. The hallmark of the series is that the theme is built around high-tech and bio-weapons THE PLOT A US special forces team is wiped out in Uganda by unarmed farmers; this special team was equipped with the latest weapons and technology, were highly trained and battle-hardened soldiers… yet they were decimated by just a few farmers and village folk. This inexplicable event forces the president to call In Fred Klein, the head of Covert-One. The rel...

It is sad if an author does not understand India; it is worse if the author has a partial understanding.... and it is ugly if an author thinks he understands India. But if the author has both a partial understanding combined with a liking for the country - the book gets elevated to the category of highly dangerous, because the combination of the 2 makes for convincing prose; there are several contradictions and inaccuracies that get hidden by the warmth of the tone; the arguments are sufficiently lucid to draw in most people. This book is in this latter category… one of the most diabolical write-ups on our country.  THE CONS Diabolical because it identifies most of the problems accurately; it does a superb politico-economic analysis. Any student of India will accept that; the problem lies in the historical analysis of the stated concern areas, and in cultural pronouncements that have no place in a tome on Economics or Politics. It looks at Indian Culture with an ill-...

It is with a considerable degree of surprise that I have been reading some articles criticizing the iconic show Satyamev Jayate and Aamir Khan, which are frankly way beyond my comprehension. There are views being expressed that the show is pure showmanship, commercialisation of problems, will Aamir return to these problems once show is over, the show is just Aamir, Aamir and Aamir... do they (the critics) do justice by their comments? Let us examine it in 2 parts: Aamir Khan, and Social Change Aamir Khan No television show has created as much of a buzz as Satyamev Jayate, the iconic show anchored by Aamir Khan. To a nation used to a diet of game shows, movies, soap operas, reality shows it was unthinkable that a television show based on something as serious as Satyamev Jayate could be a resounding success - but that is precisely what has happened. It is far beyond both my knowledge as well as the scope of my blog to analyse the precise reasons for its stupendous success, ...

Observations on life in Mumbai... Mumbai, a city that is famed for its night life; for its entertainment avenues; for its business environment; for its "happening nature" etc. Well, it has been nearly 24 days that I have spent in this lovely city, and I can now state definitively - first, the night life and the entertainment does not exist - after leaving home early in the morning, and returning late at night you kind of tend to forget anything except dinner, home and bed! Fact, no exaggeration there. There is no social life in this city: this is a city that offers lots of things - but nothing, absolutely nothing in the way of entertainment. You get only Sundays for fun - and those you would rather spend with family or sorting out some essential home work. There is simply no opportunity for fun in this city. Life is simply too busy. So you can debunk any notions about the supposed fun avenues and malls etc. Unfortunately, this is the one aspect for which this ci...

THE TAJ CONSPIRACY Author: Manpreet Sodhi Someshwar The author is an engineering, IIM-Calcutta Alumnus with several years work experience in Marketing, Advertising and Consulting. She has been previously honoured for her writing by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, South China Morning Post as well as several Indian Publications The Characters • Mehrunissa Khosa – Intelligent, Sharp, Erudite and Brave, she is a woman in search of her roots, hailing from an Indian father and Persian Mother. Her expertise in the Persian Language combined with expertise in the Taj Mahal is invaluable, as its leads to the unraveling of a very complicated plot • CBI Officer JCP R. P. Singh: Brilliant Officer – no other description can do justice. How I wish all police officers were like him…. • SSP Raghav: Reasonably intelligent, but with some of the trappings of traditional police officers. Com...

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : A step away from corruption is anarchy : 'via Blog this' Mr Shanti Bhushan has raised the sceptre of corruption yet again in this article on The Hindu... to summarise, he is stating: Something drastic needs to be done, or the country will descend into ungovernable anarchy Corrupt Government bodies, police, adminstrative services et al The PM's honesty is of no use to us, if he does not attend to corruption within his own government Yes, it is a fact that corruption is endemic in our society.... it is nearly impossible to get anything done without the attendant "lubrication', if you get my point. This is indeed sad; but what is even more dangerous to us as a nation and as a society is that very, very few people define the problem in its total 360-degree  perspective. The lack of acceptance that corruption extends beyond just the government; that corruption is endemic in every sphere of life and in our thoughts is dang...