This is my old blog.Visit my New Blog here.

Hmm... this is interesting. Could Vajpayee have a hand in making Sonia loose interest for power? Could this be her game plan to a) either make herself scceptable for the next election OR more likely b) keep the PM chair warm for her son the moron-gandhi.
Only the naive or the sycophantic will believe that Sonia Gandhi declined the prime minister's post voluntarily.

She did not.

After mulling over the pros and cons for five long days, the Italy-born president of the Indian National Congress painfully concluded that not all Indians may be ready to accept her as prime minister.

Quite aside from the plethora of evidence that exists to buttress the claim that she was a reluctant quitter, there is a clincher that establishes that her 'inner voice' was a mask to hide her compulsions in declining the highest executive office in the land.

Two days before she actually announced her decision to opt out amidst mass breast-beating by her partymen, Sonia Gandhi had telephoned caretaker prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

She asked Vajpayee whether she should become the prime minister. Vajpayee said no.

Not prepared for a negative reply, Gandhi protested. Vajpayee countered that since she had sought his advice he was only telling her what he believed was in her own and the country's interest.

Sonia Gandhi retorted that 'you people had opposed Motilal Nehru (sic) and Indira Gandhi. You did not want any of them to become prime minister'

Vajpayee was blunt: 'You asked for my advice. It is my view that the country is sharply divided over a foreign-born becoming prime minister. It is a sentimental issue impinging on Indians' sense of national honour and pride. In your own interest and the country's, you should not become PM.'

Gandhi abruptly ended the conversation.

She was probably expecting Vajpayee to be at least non-committal so that she could realise her ambition. But the BJP leader minced no words in expressing his view.

Of course, those most relieved by her decision not to become prime minister were senior Congressmen who feared a strong backlash had she given into the temptation.

Here is an interesting story that I had read in somebdy's cubicle wall in my office. I found it on the web so it is quoted below. I am always amazed by the awesome power of google. This story is food for thought...
Take five monkeys and place them in a reasonably large cage. Place stairs in the center of the cage; above the top stair, place a nice bunch of bananas.

Eventually, one monkey is going to climb the stairs and go after the bananas. When it does so, hose down the other four monkeys with cold water. (Obviously, not cold enough to kill them or hard enough to harm them) Leave the fifth monkey alone.

Replace the banana supply. Surely, another monkey is going to attempt to climb the stairs. If the other monkeys make no move towards him, hose them down again with cold water, and replace the banana supply when you're done.

The next time a monkey goes to climb those stairs for the bananas, what are the other four going to do? They're going to beat the living tar out of the fifth monkey, that's what. Now that it's over, pull out one of the monkeys and replace him with a newbie. Toss in bananas at the appropriate location, wait a few, and watch the fracas.

Eventually, if you replace all five of the original monkeys as stated in the previous paragraph with new monkeys, you will have five monkeys who will not climb the stairs. Why? They've never been hosed down with cold water. They don't know what the "punishment" for going after the bananas is. However, "that's the way it is in the world."

I wonder how many traditions and "accepted wisdom" we follow without thinking that is probably a result of a similar process

Hillarious coke ad starring Vivek of company fame from bollywood

Mulit
Absolutly hillarious. Click on the Yes and watch the trailors and movie for a Retro-bollywood style add.

IMHO it is the fence sitters who are important. And after having talked to people who did not vote for bjp, and even some who did, I realized that explicit hardcore hindutava campaign is not going to fly. It may work for a short time, but people either start getting suspicious of advani/modi guys. The only thing that I think can work is first change the discussion from hindutava to bhartiyata. Explicit nationalism can work very well, especially if others like kangress etc. are painted as anti nationalists.


Ofcourse as long as it is bjp/rss who defines what bhartiyata is, it can end up being just another form of hindutava. The key is to couch everything in media in terms that
a) Fence sitters can digest easily
b) harcore supports can still identify and relate with.
c) non-supporters are put on defensive.

Frankly, NDA/BJP failed on all three. It came up with slogans that
a) Fence sitters made fun of BJP (India shining, where huh?) OR they became apathetic (bjp will win anyway, so why should i care?)
b) Hardcore supporters were wondering -- where is nationalism? where is cultural pride?
c) Non-supporters were on offensive : Hindutava people are fanatics; India not shining in rural areas; I don't have a job where is India shining; what are they celiberating? my life is sh1t.

A possible campaing that would work for all three could be the Bhartiyata campaign, or the nationalism campaign.
a) Fence sitters: They can be attracted by showing dreams of a greater future.
b) Hardore supporters: This will be in consonnace with most BJP hardcore supporters especially if stress is on saving the nation from terrorists/bangladeshis securing the borders from pakis etc.
c) A good part non-supporters will be put on defensive by changing the discussion from secularism vs. hindutava to Nationalism vs. Anti-nationalism., or Bhartiyata vs. UnBhartiyata.

The terms used are very very important. Changing the discussion from hindutva to bhartiyata can couch the whole discussion in totally different terms. American right wing people are masters at this e.g. Pro-life vs. pro choice, or Faith based initiatives ( A way to simply fund the evangelicals) etc.

The key is to seem to have the higher ground, even if you don't really have it

I found this absolutly fascinating description of dissolution of universe supposed to happen in a few billion years according to Mahabharata, the ancient epic of India. It is taken from the ShantiParva It basically talks about how when the universe ends all matter will dissolve into pure energy and time itself will end and absorbed by the Brahman( the formless entity pervading all), only to be recreated in an infinite birth/death cycle (signified in India by the nataraja. Of course this all is very much in agreement with Carl Sagan's remark about how Indians came the closest in estimating the age of the universe and called it a few billion years old when largest numbers thougth of in rest of the world were tiny in comparison.

Note that italisized words unfortunatly cannot be translated, without going into a long discussion, so try out Wikipedia if you need translation

And ofcourse do not forget to read the other part on Creation on the same website.

Anyway, here is the quote on dissolution
Dissolution of the universe
Vyasa said: I shall now tell thee, how, when Brahma’s day is gone and his night comes, he withdraws all things unto himself, or how the Supreme Lord , making this gross universe exceedingly subtle, merges everything into His Soul. When the time comes for universal dissolution, a dozen Suns, and Agni (fire) with his seven flames, begin to burn. The whole universe, wrapped by those flames, begins to blaze forth in a vast conflagration. All things mobile and immobile that are on the earth first disappear and merge into the substance of which this planet is composed.

After all mobile and immobile objects have thus disappeared, the earth, shorn of trees and herbs, looks naked like a tortoise shell. Then water takes up the attributes of earth, viz., scent. When earth becomes shorn of its principal attributes, that element is on the eve of dissolution. Water then prevails. Surging into mighty billows and producing awful roars, only water fills this space and moves about or remains still. Then the attribute of water is taken by Heat, and losing its own attribute, water finds rest in that element. Dazzling flames of fire, ablaze all around, conceal the Sun that is in the centre of space. Indeed, then, space itself, full of those fiery flames, burns in a vast conflagration. Then Wind comes and takes the attribute, viz., form of Heat or Light, which thereupon becomes extinguished, yielding to Wind, which, possessed of great might, begins to be awfully agitated.

The Wind, obtaining its own attribute, viz., sound, begins to traverse upwards and transversely along all the ten points. Then Space takes the attribute, viz., sound of Wind, upon which the latter becomes extinguished and enters into a phase of existence resembling that of unheard or unuttered sound. Then Space is all that remains, that element whose attribute, viz., sound dwells in all the other elements, divested of the attributes of form, and taste, and touch and scent, and without shape of any kind, like sound in its unmanifest state of existence. Then sound, which is the attribute of space, is swallowed up by Mind which is the essence of all things that are manifest. Thus Mind which in itself is unmanifest withdraws all that is manifested by Mind. This withdrawal of Mind as displayed into Mind as undisplayed or subtle, is called the destruction of the vast external universe.

Then Chandrama’s having made Mind (thus) withdraws its attribute into itself, swallows it up. When Mind ceasing to exist, thus enters into Chandramas, the other attributes that are owned by Iswara are all that remain. This Chandramas, which is called also Sankalpa, (resolution) is then, after a very long time, brought under Iswara’s sway, then reason being that that Sankalapa has to perform a very difficult act, viz., the destruction of Chitta or the faculties that are employed in the process called judgment. When this has been effected, the condition reached is said to be of high knowledge.

Then Time swallows up this Knowledge, and as the Sruti (Vedas) declares, Time itself, in its turn, is swallowed up by Might, or Energy. Might or Energy, however, is (again) swallowed up by Time, which last is then brought under her sway by Vidya. Possessed of Vidya, Iswara then swallows up non-existence itself into his Soul. That is Unmanifest and Supreme Brahma. That is Eternal, and that is the Highest of the High. Thus all existent creatures are withdrawn into Brahma. Truly, hath this, which should be conceived (with the aid of the scriptures) and which is a topic of Science, been thus declared by Yogis possessed of Supreme Souls, after actual experience. Even thus doth the Unmanifest Brahma repeatedly undergo the process of Elaboration and Withdrawal (i.e., Creation and Destruction), and even thus Brahma’s Day and Night each consist of a thousand Yugas. (See Cosmic Time Scale, Page 'Creation' in the column at the left ’).
Note: The above verses use technical terms of Yoga such as Chandramas, Kala, Valam, Akasa, Ghosa etc. and refer to things beyond the reach of ordinary experience and intelligence. Yoga mystery is expanded here, which in some instances,Yogis alone can understand.

Tehelka is a hindi word meaning sensation. This item is taken from http://www.tehelka.com which generally brings out sensationalist news in India. Needless to say that Indian govt. does not like it and has tried to and almost managed to shut it down, but did not succeed. This one is way out there even by their standards.
So, could this quote below be true? Unfortuately full article is only available to subscribers, so I have quoted the synopsis below and also quoted another summary from an article on rediff on this.



Tehelka Synopsis
This could be the plot of a fevered thriller. A jingoistic president, multi-million dollar corporations, high technology, a grand if furtive mission, networks spanning the globe, and biblical invocations.

Only it’s real. And its got India in its crosshair.
Religious expansionism has not witnessed this scale, scope, and state resources in a long time. Detailed investigations by Tehelka reveal that American evangelical agencies have established in India an enormous, well-coordinated and strategised religious conversion plan. The operation was launched in the early 1990s but really came into its own after George W Bush, an avowed born-again Christian, became president of the United States in 2001.
This could be the plot of a fevered thriller. A jingoistic president, multi-million dollar corporations, high technology, a grand if furtive mission, networks spanning the globe, and biblical invocations.
=> India has become a key target of pro-active evangelism; North India is the main target.
=> US-based evangelical bodies use their vast resources and manpower convert people and churches in India.
=> American intelligence has more exhaustive ethnographic maps of India than the Indian government itself.
=> Evangelist organisations dupe government agencies to enter India and conduct operations
=> Evangelists working closely with American intelligence. Each corner of India has been mapped; socio-economic groups have been identified for targeting.

Rajiv Malohtra's summary of the article
On a recent trip to India, I was given a copy of Tehelka's February 7th, 2004 issue which has a cover story titled, 'George Bush has a big conversion agenda in India.' (There is a smaller follow-up article in the February 14th issue.) This investigative report developed by Tehelka's undercover team of journalists makes the following points:

1. The US government's faith-based initiatives have funded major Christian groups in the US to pursue religious conversions in India, as a part of Pat Robertson's strategy. These funds are officially channeled for social work only, but are used for dual-purposes, to convert as well as provide social services. (Note, by contrast, that when US government commercial contractors divert government money for personal uses, they land in prison.)

2. A part of this program in India is to develop a database for every PIN code (the equivalent of ZIP codes), and this database is being given to US intelligence agencies. Far more detailed than anything available to Indian authorities, this is a database of immense precision about every tiny locality in the hinterlands of India. It lists local Indian religious and other influential leaders of each jati, their practices and vulnerabilities, and is used to select the appropriate methodologies to wage a conversion micro-war in individual localities. (In the world of commerce, this is called 'database marketing' and such a database would be the envy of any corporate marketing vice president.) Tehelka claims that the database is being used to dispatch faith-based 'services' by decision-makers located in the US, with great precision and speed.

3. These activities are also claimed by Tehelka to be linked to forces that are subversive to India's integrity.

This quote included below started me thinking that old Indian concept of Rajrishi as a leader makes perfect sense. For those who don't know it means a leader or a king who lives like a rishi, i.e. has control of his/her senses, lives a simple life and works as a servant. In the modern world a similar concept of servant leadership has been put forward, which has some of the elements but not all.
Compassionate capitalism' urged for IndiaMurthy told BBC World Service's The Interview programme that more had to be done to drive entrepreneurial activity. "We believe that if India has to solve its problem of poverty, we have to embrace capitalism, ensure that jobs are created, and make sure that market-driven policies are accepted," he said."However, to do that, the people who are the evangelists of capitalism, must conduct themselves in a manner that will appeal to the masses."People must be able to relate to them easily. They must lead a normal life, a simple life, and people must be able to say, 'look, if these jokers can do it, we can do it better'."

Found this on one http://india-forum.com where somebody had posted this.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury."
-- Alexander Tyler, Scottish historian

Seems to be like that is what is happening in India now with the current govt. They are giving out subsidies right, left and center.
When will we learn?

The more I look at the current government in India, the more scared I am about India's future. It almost look like a party of thieves. I mean look at the kind of ministers they have. For e.g. Laloo -- the less said the better, and Tamaludin is actually a murderer and kidnapper. Why is it that people in India vote for people like these? I would really like to figure this out.Is it apathy? or is it ignorance? or do I not know something that they know?

Ofcourse another bogey that they have thrown out is the new call for reservations in private sector. If they manage to implement that, I think we are definitely screwed. How can India be made a meritocracy rather then a casto-cracy?

US losing its drug scientists to India
After IT what? While the world has taken due note of India’s IT talent , the focus is now shifting to the pharmaceuticals industry, gearing up to be the next big thing in India.

And just as the IT world has seen the creation of jobs in the sector and return of the prodigals, the pharma sector is also witnessing creation of job opportunities in the sector and the return of Indian pros from the United States . For the US, it will mean a loss of up to 10 per cent of its drug scientists.

As salaries in India have shot up, more and more pharma scientists are giving up lucrative jobs in the USA and other adopted countries to return to India and join research institutes and hospitals, reveals a study by the Charities Aid Foundation of India (CAF).

Deeshaa Ventures looks like a very interesting concept. I am thinking maybe I should get involved."Deeshaa Ventures aims to implement an innovative economic model called RISC 14 Rural Infrastructure & Services Commons %u2014 which has the potential for catalysing sustainable economic growth by addressing the primary causes of low economic growth."Also, there is Deesha blog"The Deeshaa weblog is a collection of Atanu Dey's perspective on
India's economic growth and development. It is updated regularily with
commentary, news, and analysis. It also acts as a repository for
comments and feedback.

Visit Deeshaa Blog"

So, BBC reports on impending oil crisis
Just as certain as death and taxes is the knowledge that we shall one day be forced to learn to live without oil.I have been reading about this a lot lately. It seems that lot of books painting a pessimistic scenario about us running out of oil have come out recently. The latest in the series is Out of Gas which got an interesting review at slashdot.org.And, ofcourse there are doomsday web sites like dieoff.org. This one needs to be followed very closely.
My opinon is that this problem will indeed cause pain, but human ingenuity will finally win out. Ofcourse how much pain it causes depends on how soon we make the shift to new fuel sources. If we make it now, there will be less pain. But, the more we wait, the more the pain.

Check this out. Cool web site. <dreams>Will I get one of this awards?</dreams> IndiaBlog Awards - 2003, our own desi version of the Bloggies. The IndiBlog Awards are publicly-chosen awards conferred upon bloggers from India or of Indian origin settled elsewhere. 

Thanks to Joshua Brauer for this cool .Drupal Bookmarklet It worked with firefox, and the only issue I had was that popup does not get focus. I added window.focus(), but it still did not help.Code for bookmarklet (is correct in the "Drag this" on the original web site, but not in the listing -- so just here for reference)javascript:t=window.getSelection();
void(window.open('http://www.example.com/node/add/blog?edittitle=
'+escape(document.title)+'&editbody=<a%20href="'
+escape(window.location.href)+'">'+escape(t)+'</a>','_blank','
width=710,height=500,status=yes,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes'));

Well I guess we can kiss India economy goodbye.
India, Inc. jittery over job quotas
MUMBAI: The UPA is likely to open a Pandora’s Box, as it plans to bring
in job reservations for the underprivileged in the private sector .
There are also some who are secretly wishing that even if job
reservation in the private sector becomes a reality, the overall
percentage will be too low and all the jobs will be at the level of
office support staff.
“How is it even possible? I can’t believe they are serious about it,”
an incredulous head of a large industrial house asked ET. For Indian
corporates, striving to become globally competitive, the ‘ reservation
scare’ comes at a time when their expectations of labour reforms are as
good as over, at least for now.
Says CII president Anand Mahindra: “This matter has to be dealt with
extremely carefully. The concept of reservation without reference to
merit could have a distorting effect on the operations of the private
sector. We are, however, glad that the government is initiating a
dialogue to solicit all points of view, including that of the industry,
before making any specific policy changes.”

Here is a link to my Old Blog for reference, in case you want to look at my very simple and ancient blogger.com based blog. Of course this is no longer updated.