The Economist.com is running a WORLD POLL on USA elections on it's website. No prizes for guessing who is leading hands down. Check it and Vote
This is obviously not scientific and complete reflection of world opinion, but definitely a "pointer".The entire globe on that website looks "Blue", except 3 countries - Iraq,Algeria and Congo. These three nations are liking Mc more, apparently.
But there's something interesting I observed - amongst the 'blue' countries only one country is supporting McCain much more than others. Guess which?
Yep, it's Pakistan which is relatively less Obama than others. I also have a theory. There's a good chance that if this website link was available to a larger Chinese populace, the results would not have been so lopsided. The reason - the Republicans right from Nixon days have been China's favorite politicians. What with all business going to their land post-Nixon era.
So when O finally wins this week, there are at least 2 countries that may have issues with his win - Pakistan and China.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
You said it!
There's a reason I like to read Friedman, even though I do not agree with everything he has to say; he "keeps it simple".
I have argued against this over-correction of "evil" capitalism in one of my previous posts where I mentioned Google too. In his latest article Friedman gives example of Larry and Sergey asking for loan from a "nationalized" bank. So apt, given the current scenario.
Coming from a country where socialism ruled for more than 5 decades and still continues to be dominant philosophy, I think I am qualified to judge it's consequences. Nothing explains it better than Churchill's quote
Just simply put - "We need to fix capitalism, not install socialism." As Mr. Friedman has rightly said
I have argued against this over-correction of "evil" capitalism in one of my previous posts where I mentioned Google too. In his latest article Friedman gives example of Larry and Sergey asking for loan from a "nationalized" bank. So apt, given the current scenario.
Coming from a country where socialism ruled for more than 5 decades and still continues to be dominant philosophy, I think I am qualified to judge it's consequences. Nothing explains it better than Churchill's quote
Just simply put - "We need to fix capitalism, not install socialism." As Mr. Friedman has rightly said
Friday, October 31, 2008
Chicago Ready
If people do not go to sleep on day of voting and/or meteoroids do not fall on earth, this November 4th'2008 will be Chicago's day under the Sun.
Barak Obama (BO) will be declared the 44th US President and for Chicago it will be the first home town President. The buzz is already around everywhere I go in the city. From metra stations to trains and from work area to cafeteria... it's BO ruling every where. Yesterday while playing foosball at work, there was a conversation going around "tickets" for BO rally at Grant Park. I almost felt like we were talking of a World Series pass or a Rock Concert.
But that is what BO has done in these last few days. He has energized a whole new generation of Americans into "believing" in something positive. You may not entirely agree with BO on all counts (and I certainly don't), but it's hard to decouple yourself from this BO frenzy.
Having said that, I will continue to watch these American Presidential Elections as dispassionately as possible. Last few weeks I have avoided the temptation of falling into that trap and I will continue to look at it via the "third party" prism. Because as a non-American working professional thats what I think is the right and principled approach. This is not "my" country, it's Election's are not "my" elections.
For me it's like watching a Brazil-vs-Germany World Cup Soccer finals. I may have my favorites, I may pick my side but I would avoid carrying it on my sleeves.
Barak Obama (BO) will be declared the 44th US President and for Chicago it will be the first home town President. The buzz is already around everywhere I go in the city. From metra stations to trains and from work area to cafeteria... it's BO ruling every where. Yesterday while playing foosball at work, there was a conversation going around "tickets" for BO rally at Grant Park. I almost felt like we were talking of a World Series pass or a Rock Concert.
But that is what BO has done in these last few days. He has energized a whole new generation of Americans into "believing" in something positive. You may not entirely agree with BO on all counts (and I certainly don't), but it's hard to decouple yourself from this BO frenzy.
Having said that, I will continue to watch these American Presidential Elections as dispassionately as possible. Last few weeks I have avoided the temptation of falling into that trap and I will continue to look at it via the "third party" prism. Because as a non-American working professional thats what I think is the right and principled approach. This is not "my" country, it's Election's are not "my" elections.
For me it's like watching a Brazil-vs-Germany World Cup Soccer finals. I may have my favorites, I may pick my side but I would avoid carrying it on my sleeves.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Bombay
'Bombay is a crowd' - this is how V.S Naipaul started his grand book - India, A Million Mutinies Now.
Growing up, Bombay was my favorite city. Partially because a good part of my extended family lives there and as kids we would enjoy vacations every summer in Bombay. But more so because of it's "cool" character. It was cool to be in Bombay and be a part of it. It's 'Bumbayya" language, those double decker buses, those local trains, going to Mud Island on a ferry from Versova, visiting Juhu beach as if it was a family tradition, visiting Mom's old cousin in South Bombay who would throw us a party in Bombay Gymkhana almost like a religious ritual every year... it was positively engaging.
My cousins were spread across the Bombay island.. from Santacruz to Parle and from Saat Bungla to Chembur. Somehow Bombay always felt "at home".
In some sense, to me it symbolized something bigger than sum of the parts. It was pluralistic, pragmatic and had lots and lots of energy. The true melting pot of India, if there ever was one.
Today's Bombay I think is a patch of it's own past self. The Bombay that could pride itself on civic sense and discipline has imploded under it's own weight. I started having an uncomfortable feeling when finally as a working professional I actually started living there. It seemed to me that the city had been taken over by something and it was hard for me to figure out what. Bombay was always crowded, but around 2000 when I was living there, there was something odd about the crowd. It had become rowdy and you could feel that in local trains and markets and stations. The language and character of old Mumbai that I knew growing up had changed. It had acquired a different color, a different dialect and entirely different character.
There was an indication that a massive inflow of immigrants had flooded the city suburbs like never before. The local politicians were no more the Joshis and Patils and Naiks but names like Kripa Shankar Yadav and Javed Khan (both from UP) started becoming Bombay's "local" politicians.
Maharashtra politics was the last remaining citadel of Marathi Manus in Mumbai. Because even though Mumbai was state capital it was never ruled by Marathi manus as such, except only politically. For example, the restaurant industry was dominated by Shettys, the real estate was always dominated by Sindhis, Bollywood was always dominated by Punjabis and north Indian Muslims and Stock Exchange was dominated by Gujaratis,..
Another View from Chennai (Interesting Take)
At no point did Bombay feel restless. It embraced and absorbed endlessly. I would often call Bombay a miracle. It boggled my mind to see the sheer size, diversity and population density of this great city being managed each and every day. Power and Electricity, Road network, BEST buses connecting remotest of places. All seemed streamlined and seamless. The system in all it's strange ways "Worked". And when you were in Bombay, you knew it always "Worked".
What has happened in last few weeks in Bombay is a wake up call for it's residents. Raj Thackrey may just be the name and face behind the violence buut it would be naivety if the elite think it's only a language and MNS problem. What we English media reading elite may not realize is there may be an under current of support for Thackrey Jr and he may be shrewdly tapping on that anger. It is common trait in Times of India reading and NDTV watching crowd to discard these MNSs of the world as "irritants and nuisance". But before we know, it's this same attitude that makes these clowns, Heroes. Because the Raj Thackreys of the world have a connection with the grounded "ghati" which we may not have.
More on this by Shobha De, a hard core Mumbaite herself
It should be remembered that Lalu Prasad Yadav was uncouth, English hating, rowdy guy who ruled Bihar for 3 terms continuously. Every time the English media would count him off because of his violent ways of getting things done in Bihar, his massive corruption, his near total disregard for anything legal and constitutional, every election that guy would come out more powerful; media's scorn notwithstanding. The elite did not read what he read. There was anger in Bihar against the upper cast feudal system. Arguably lot of it was only perception. But Lalu was shrewd enough to tap into that Yadav/OBC anger and become a leader of masses he never would have been. It's interesting to see how a nobody can become an ogre, a "somebody" if a threshold is reached in his/her popularity by series of events that may have been avoided.
If Raj Thackray has to be stopped and we want to make sure that Maharashtra state does not have it's own version of Lalu 2.0, the "elite" should look at the deeper problem and just not discard MNS violence as random act of political gimmick. There may be more to MNS anger than what meets the eye. There may be a genuine discomfort in regular Mumbaite at the "squeezing out" of Marathi from Bombay's DNA.
Raj Thackrey and his ilk is not qualified to stand up for anything Marathi. In fact his standing up is only counter productive to genuine problems. But to discard these events as only MNS issue is playing right into hands of Thackrey. He will only becoming more powerful if mindless, rampant influx is not stopped into a decaying city, who's infrastructure, resource and resilience has been tested beyond limits.
Growing up, Bombay was my favorite city. Partially because a good part of my extended family lives there and as kids we would enjoy vacations every summer in Bombay. But more so because of it's "cool" character. It was cool to be in Bombay and be a part of it. It's 'Bumbayya" language, those double decker buses, those local trains, going to Mud Island on a ferry from Versova, visiting Juhu beach as if it was a family tradition, visiting Mom's old cousin in South Bombay who would throw us a party in Bombay Gymkhana almost like a religious ritual every year... it was positively engaging.
My cousins were spread across the Bombay island.. from Santacruz to Parle and from Saat Bungla to Chembur. Somehow Bombay always felt "at home".
In some sense, to me it symbolized something bigger than sum of the parts. It was pluralistic, pragmatic and had lots and lots of energy. The true melting pot of India, if there ever was one.
Today's Bombay I think is a patch of it's own past self. The Bombay that could pride itself on civic sense and discipline has imploded under it's own weight. I started having an uncomfortable feeling when finally as a working professional I actually started living there. It seemed to me that the city had been taken over by something and it was hard for me to figure out what. Bombay was always crowded, but around 2000 when I was living there, there was something odd about the crowd. It had become rowdy and you could feel that in local trains and markets and stations. The language and character of old Mumbai that I knew growing up had changed. It had acquired a different color, a different dialect and entirely different character.
There was an indication that a massive inflow of immigrants had flooded the city suburbs like never before. The local politicians were no more the Joshis and Patils and Naiks but names like Kripa Shankar Yadav and Javed Khan (both from UP) started becoming Bombay's "local" politicians.
Maharashtra politics was the last remaining citadel of Marathi Manus in Mumbai. Because even though Mumbai was state capital it was never ruled by Marathi manus as such, except only politically. For example, the restaurant industry was dominated by Shettys, the real estate was always dominated by Sindhis, Bollywood was always dominated by Punjabis and north Indian Muslims and Stock Exchange was dominated by Gujaratis,..
Another View from Chennai (Interesting Take)
At no point did Bombay feel restless. It embraced and absorbed endlessly. I would often call Bombay a miracle. It boggled my mind to see the sheer size, diversity and population density of this great city being managed each and every day. Power and Electricity, Road network, BEST buses connecting remotest of places. All seemed streamlined and seamless. The system in all it's strange ways "Worked". And when you were in Bombay, you knew it always "Worked".
What has happened in last few weeks in Bombay is a wake up call for it's residents. Raj Thackrey may just be the name and face behind the violence buut it would be naivety if the elite think it's only a language and MNS problem. What we English media reading elite may not realize is there may be an under current of support for Thackrey Jr and he may be shrewdly tapping on that anger. It is common trait in Times of India reading and NDTV watching crowd to discard these MNSs of the world as "irritants and nuisance". But before we know, it's this same attitude that makes these clowns, Heroes. Because the Raj Thackreys of the world have a connection with the grounded "ghati" which we may not have.
More on this by Shobha De, a hard core Mumbaite herself
It should be remembered that Lalu Prasad Yadav was uncouth, English hating, rowdy guy who ruled Bihar for 3 terms continuously. Every time the English media would count him off because of his violent ways of getting things done in Bihar, his massive corruption, his near total disregard for anything legal and constitutional, every election that guy would come out more powerful; media's scorn notwithstanding. The elite did not read what he read. There was anger in Bihar against the upper cast feudal system. Arguably lot of it was only perception. But Lalu was shrewd enough to tap into that Yadav/OBC anger and become a leader of masses he never would have been. It's interesting to see how a nobody can become an ogre, a "somebody" if a threshold is reached in his/her popularity by series of events that may have been avoided.
If Raj Thackray has to be stopped and we want to make sure that Maharashtra state does not have it's own version of Lalu 2.0, the "elite" should look at the deeper problem and just not discard MNS violence as random act of political gimmick. There may be more to MNS anger than what meets the eye. There may be a genuine discomfort in regular Mumbaite at the "squeezing out" of Marathi from Bombay's DNA.
Raj Thackrey and his ilk is not qualified to stand up for anything Marathi. In fact his standing up is only counter productive to genuine problems. But to discard these events as only MNS issue is playing right into hands of Thackrey. He will only becoming more powerful if mindless, rampant influx is not stopped into a decaying city, who's infrastructure, resource and resilience has been tested beyond limits.
Happy Diwali!
It's about Brightness, Smile and Spirituality.
(Something that is dwindling from our quota every day.)
Happy Diwali to Defense Forces who are not with their families today. We owe you big Dudes.
Happy Diwali to Anna Saheb of Pune ( and people like him around the country) who are working relentlessly to bring smiles to thousands of orphan kids in the city
Happy Diwali to 70% rural and small town Indians who even in this age and day are "keeping it simple"
Happy Diwali to all Forest rangers across the country who are saving us from Poachers
Happy Diwali to Police men and their families who do not have respite from Terrorism and violence almost every day
And also..
Happy Diwali to Indian postmen. (Sorry folks I am not in to hand over baksheesh this time)
Happy Diwali to MSEB folks (Thanks for managing "power" efficiently)
(Something that is dwindling from our quota every day.)
Happy Diwali to Defense Forces who are not with their families today. We owe you big Dudes.
Happy Diwali to Anna Saheb of Pune ( and people like him around the country) who are working relentlessly to bring smiles to thousands of orphan kids in the city
Happy Diwali to 70% rural and small town Indians who even in this age and day are "keeping it simple"
Happy Diwali to all Forest rangers across the country who are saving us from Poachers
Happy Diwali to Police men and their families who do not have respite from Terrorism and violence almost every day
And also..
Happy Diwali to Indian postmen. (Sorry folks I am not in to hand over baksheesh this time)
Happy Diwali to MSEB folks (Thanks for managing "power" efficiently)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Churchill
Winston Churchill : "The inherent vice of Capitalism is uneven distribution of wealth. The inherent vice of Socialism is even distribution of miseries"
They don't make such stimulating quotes no more!
They don't make such stimulating quotes no more!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Chandrayaan Launched
India's first unmanned lunar mission - Chandrayaan - was launched successfully yesterday.
India is only the 6th nation to do this. More importantly this was an indigenous effort.
Congratulations to ISRO and India
India is only the 6th nation to do this. More importantly this was an indigenous effort.
Congratulations to ISRO and India
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