Reflections

ASKING QUESTIONS – IS IT UNACCEPTABLE? Two articles that appeared on social media today have led me to ask everyone a couple of  simple questions : Firstly, can we, in a democracy, not ask questions / give guidance / point errors without being accused of being unsupportive, or taking political sides? Asking questions and critical analysis is the very basis of modern democracy – and it is also the foundation stone of Indian Democracy; asking questions and critically appraising performance is the hallmark as well as the key to a functioning democratic system. The second question that occurs to me is simply this :  a) Who is responsible for Performance in a democracy? And leading to b) How long can we or should be continue to apportion blame – deserved or otherwise, makes no difference – to history? These two ( or if you so prefer – three ) questions are the key to any functioning democratic system. You have to allow space and freedom for questioning and critical appraisal;

SHIVAAY BY AJAY DEVGAN Shivaay… one of the most awaited movies, thanks to its mesmerizing and tantalizing trailers plus word of mouth publicity; and a movie that has got some, shall we say, not-upto-the-mark reviews in some publications that I perused; reviews that, in my humble opinion, don’t really do justice to the movie. Hence, I have made, in my own small way, an attempt to place the other side of the movie, through this review; a review that is unabashedly  gushing  in praise, for the reasons outlined below… THE NEGATIVES But first, let me state the negative, or attempt to analyse where it might have miffed some people. It is a movie that is a victim of its own publicity which might just have built up the expectations to a level which the movie fails to reach; or, to be more specific, it raised expectations along a path that the movie does not fully touch upon or justify. The name – Shivaay, or the repeated references to verses of the Lord in the tra

SAVING CAPITALISM FROM THE CAPITALISTS Raghuram G Rajan & Luigi Gonsales This is one book with the most inapplicable title; and, yet again, I find myself in wholesale disagreement with western research. Once – just once, I would like to read a Western research that is unbiased and well-thought-out in reference to the east; the east remains, for them, as indecipherable today as it was 300 years ago, despite the modern information age etc. The east remains as much a mystery to the great research houses and brains of the so-called  Great West then, as now. IRRELEVANT CONTENT IN A TOME ON ECONOMICS Harsh words, I know; especially when I am talking about a book co-authored by the redoubtable Raghuram G Rajan. But when I run across such inaccurate beauties as on Pg 289 wrt to India, my take is justified. That said, there is more than enough in other aspects which justifies my low impression of the book, which has completely failed to answer even one question in my mind

BOOK REVIEW – AGNIPUTR : WHEN AGNI FIRST SPOKE BY VADHAN About the Author Bommadevara Sai Chandravadhan, ‘Vadhan’ is in Transactional law practice, advising Indian MNCs on compliance frameworks for their business in India and ten other countries in North America, China, Asia Pacific and Europe. His company, Sand Legal Services Private Limited, is ranked amongst the top 20 compliance service providers in India and is recipient of two international awards. He writes novels, sometimes with poems in them and can sketch reasonably well. His first published book is Shatru, Kronikles Book-1… {Source : Bommadevara Sai Chandravadhan } The Book – Agnuiputr The plot is an intriguing one spanning 6 decades in its entirely,  starting with the disappearance of a person from a village in South India… a man who apparently gave up his life to protect the village and the people form a terrible evil force. His sacrifice succeeded only in holding and limiting the evil force to