My views

Jan Lokpal & Team Anna are still very much relevant !

2012-01-19T03:28:00.000-08:00

We in Karnataka have seen the effectiveness of Lokayuakta

- BSY, as we refer to Karnataka x-CM, cannot be compared with Bal Thakre & Narendra Modi. He is a different individual.
-- He has build BJP in Karnataka over last several years & is worth a CM. People respect him for that.
-- Both BJP & RSS, at one time, had no choice but to use Reddy brothers for their power & money they have.
-- Indirectly, Sushma Swaraj’s power struggle at center also played a role.
-- Finally, BSY made a few bad decisions by allowing his sons a free hand & got involved into relatively small issue compared to some BIG goonda we have in Karnataka politics like the Deve Gowda family.
-- But he had to resign !!!

- Lokayuata police conduct raids on many babus & unearth a lot of black money.
-- These babus do not get punished due to their political bosses is a diff thing.
-- But these raids were also not possible 4 – 5 yes back. The system evolves over a period of time & there is no silver bullet.

- Santosh Hedge has a HUGE respect in Karnataka.
-- And he is also a part of the Anna Team & was also member who drafter “Jan Lokpal”.
-- His credentials are simply unquestionable.

- Then there are 2 BIG time lawyers in Team Anna, Bhushan father & son. They are definitely not joke.

- Nobody from Team Anna ever claimed that “Jan Lokpal” is THE solution for corruption in India, this is one of the tools.

- We need more ppl like Kiran Bedi & Kajriwal, who are the “executers” for this movement.
-- Anna is the face, Santosh Hegde & Bhushans are the brains & these 2 are “executers”.
-- Same like Project Managers (PjMs) in any organisation. PjMs are not the best technical minds, but they know how to get work done.

I’m convinced that movements like this are needed to take future India in the correct direction & I strongly support these & will continue to support. Not because of Anna, but because of the CAUSE.

- Otherwise, the central govt, irrespective of any party, would have not brought even this version of Lokpal to parliement.
-- It got done only because of the efforts of Team Anna over last 1 year.
-- Still long way to go & Dear Anna, we are with you.

Imam Bukhari did you take money from Congress ???

2011-08-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

I had anticipated this but was surprised that this view was not expressed for last 2 - 3 days. Actually I felt happy that Muslims have started identifying with the anti-curruption movement without bothering about these "small" issues. But I guess the happyness was short-lived :-(. Or Congress succeeded is BUYING Imam saheb.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bukhari-calls-stir-anti-Islam-tells-Muslims-to-stay-away/articleshow/9690525.cms

This is just WRONG. This is Mr. Bukhari's interpretation of Islamic text. How can any religion, for that matter anybody "condone" or not-allow worship of the "mother" ?

I would love to believe that all my Muslim friends say -- "enough Mr. Bukhari", we do not want to follow "your" interpretation of Islam because it is subjective based on who gave you money...

STOP "meal vouchers" like Ticket Restaurent, Sodexo, etc

2011-06-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

Consider the cycle:

Employer has to buy these Meal Voucher from companies like Sodexo, by paying a commission.
Employee has to use it for food purchase. Many employees bring food from home. So these Meal Vouchers are being used to buy things from Malls / Shops.
By law these Meal Vouchers should be used only to buy food items but many Malls / Shops accept for buying soap, perfume, brooms, etc. I mean for almost everything.
Now the shop guy has to collect these Meal Vouchers & return it to the company like Sodexo to get his money back. Sodexo charges him commission.

Now think again ? Who benifited the above transaction ? Employer ? Employee ? Shop / Mall owner ?

No, only companies like Sodexo. They got comission for circulating the Meal Vouchers from end-to-end.

I was in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand last week. No IT company there. But I was shocked to see a few shops with the sticker that they accept Meal Voucher !

LIC has started a policy. Every employee who come to office before 10:30 AM gets a Meal Voucher of Rs. 150/- for that day. If an employee comes late, he / she looses the mean Voucher for that day.

Athey crazy ? There are some 3000+ branches of LIC all-over-india.
Is this a plan for companies like Sodexo to spread their business to all small towns ?

Mind it ! This has become a BIG BIG economy in all metro cities like: Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, etc.

Neighborhood "kirana" shops have started charging 6% comission if you have to use the Meal Voucher.
Or you have to go to the neareast Big Bazaar by spending Rs. 50/- for Auto to use the Meal Voucher.
Now Big Bazaar knows that you will be using Meal Voucher & has increased the price of the items to adjust for the comission that Big Bazaar has to pay to Sodexo.
You & me, we end up paying extra so that Sodexo makes money.

But the entire issue has a simple solution:

Income Tax India rule shoudl be amended saying Rs. 50/- per meal is tax exempted & thus every employee should get additional tax exemption of Rs. 3000/- per month or Rs. 36000/- per year.

Is this very difficult to calculate while we calculate our yearly tax ?
Same way, the employer also gets its 5% tax exemption in the yearly calculations.

THINK ! How much of paper will this country save ? How much of "waste" of money will we save ?

SUPPORT this & help me to spread the same. Pass this to ALL your friends.

Next -- an on-line petition to Finance Minister asking him to review this policy. If this does not work a PIL in Supreme Court of India.

Lets FIGHT & STOP this "waste" !!!

Rahul Gandhi, you should have not done this !

2010-12-30T00:39:00.000-08:00

It is good if WiKiLeaks & RaidaGate happens once in 4 - 5 years. Gives a chance to normal citizens to have an overview about how our elected representatives work & how they take us for ride.

- Rahul Gandhi's comments about "Hindu Terror" are definately something he should have avoided 100%.
- During UPA 1 the impression was building up that Congress is doing good & can deliver in future as well + Ragul as an individual as some "substance".
- But UPA 2 looks like a downward. Rahul also not thinking on his own. His remarks show that he (& his friends) have no confidence in handeling their own internal situation.

Leave apart the religious sentiments, today it is proven beyong doubt that Al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) & all their brother & sister organisations are the epicenter or terror or axis-of-evil. These organisations are involved in 100s & 1000s of killings world over. And Rahul Gandhi is more worred about a few incidents where a few Hindus has been chargesheeted, not convicted yet ? Not that they should not be punished guilty, they should be definately as per the law-of-the-land. But calling it more dangerous then LeT indicates you do not trust your own people. + telling thsi to a USA guy is mroe rediculus. Shows who is more important for you, us or they ? And Rahul is our next PM-in-waiting ?

NO NEVER.

Kashmir (J & K & Ladakh) -- the "Interlocuters" -- Ms. Roy -- and of course me !

2010-10-31T07:52:00.001-07:00

As a common man & as an Indian, this is what I feel about the latest "Interlocuter" & "azadi" episode:

Interlocuter ? I wondered what it means & this is what Wikipedia says "is a person who informally explains the views of the Govt and also can relay messages back to the Govt"

Dileep Padgaonkar (well known journalist) is a learned & mature person. The 1st thing he says is, Pakistan's involvement is necessary. I agree 100% because that is the ground reality, Pakistan is paying huge money to keep the fire buring in Kashmir. This is what Mr. Ram Jethmalani says (Times of India, 31-Oct-10). But to acknolodge this as the 1st item, is it Govt of India's view ? Is it like a "good point to start" ? Why do we always shoot ourselves in the foot & give an edge to others to make advantage out of it ?

Radha Kumar (academician), came up with a possible interpretion of Indian constitution that "azadi" is ok & can be added to it now. Is this not very easy ? Did the whole nation miss it fo last 62 yrs ince 1948, when Pakistan started the war (direct & indirect) ? Why don't we just do it (like break it) & get rid of the problem ? Like serving a hand or a leg if it catches gangrene (Wikipedia) ? Is this what Indian solders are defending for last 5 - 6 decades & such huge money spent ?
-- No Kashmir (J & K & Laddhak) is an injury but definately not infection or dead tissues.
-- It was, it is & it will remain integral part of India.
-- And yes, it is easy to talk about plebiscite (or referendum), when you have driven a sizable population of "Kashmiri Pandits" out of their motherland & I'm sure equal no of Muslims have also migrated to other parts of India to save themselves from constant trouble. Does a referendum makes sence ?

M M Ansari (Information Commissioner), who is he & where is he ? Is he in this pannel just because he is a well known & learned Muslim ?

I mean any of the above, are they experts on Kashmir ? Are they experts about Indian Constitution ? Have they studied Kashmir ? Or they are just eminent persons who are messagners appointed by Govt of India ?
-- Then do they talk "for" Govt of India ? In that case does Govt of India think "azadi" is ok after 62 yrs of struggle & death of many many soldiers & many more civilians from the vally ?
-- If the interlocuters do not talk "for" Govt of India, it means this is their personal openion, & in that case above questions about their experties should be answered.

Arundhati Roy (Wikipedia), should be a learned & mature leady. I assume so as she got a Booker Prize in 1997 for her book. So one known prize (for book) & she is qualified to take up any issue:
- Fight for Naxals
- Violation of Forest Laws
- Srilanka Govt's crackdown on LTTE
- Gujarath
- Linking 26/11 (Mumbai attack) to Kashmir
- Afzal the Indian Parliement attack fame
- Pokhran tests & big dams
- Sardar Sarover project
- And now Kashmir
--- I strongly feel should should be our Prime Minister. She knows anything & everything and probably has solution for all the above (& more) issues that we face as a Nation today. Such a waste of talent & time that she is spending in writing books.
--- I sincerely feel this is either beyond human, that she is a jem or she likes the publicity in the time of so many 24x7 news channels. I'm inclined to later & good if we just start taking Ms. Roy at her "face value".

Kashmir (Jammu & Ladakh), and finally the main subject, what went wrong ? Upto a few (2 - 3) yrs back it seemed like Kashmir is coming back to normalcy after state elections a few times. Why did we let this normalcy slip & gave any advantage to the "seperatists" ? Is Abdullah Family blackmailing Govt of India ? They are getting support even if they can not handle internal state administration peroperly. Is Mr Omar Abdullah competent enough or he is there as he is friend of Rahul Gandhi ?
-- Does everybody in Kashmir need "azadi" ? The Jammu & Ladakh population ? The Kashmiri pandits including ?
-- And what will Kashmir do after becoming "azad" ? Get into Pakistan ? As it Pakistan is living on USA thrown dollers, it is called aid, will the Kashmiris get a better life in Pakistan ? I'm sure the Kashmiri aam janata knows this better.

Sohrabuddin - Common Wealth Games - Kashmir a nice political use-case !

2010-08-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

Warning: a longer post

1> Sohrabuddin-CBI-Amit Shah
2> Increase in petrol prices & inflation
3> Commonwealth Games
4> Tension in Kashmir vally

All the above are related events & everybody in Delhi, both ruling & opposition, are making use of it for their personal gains. Lets take it 1-by-1:

Sohrabuddin was not a saint, not a normal (or common) man either, rather a criminal, extortanist & at times anti-Indian. CBI has many similar cases in its pocket where it is keeping quiet rather being asked to. But this 1 is nicely being used to put BJP on back-foot on the price-rise agenda.

On its part BJP & rest of the opposition knows that the recent price hike in Petrol is justified & long pending & the UPA-2 has no choice. But they are in opposition & they have to .

UPA-2 is also sounding arrogant after being voted 2nd time with bigger margin then UPA-1. Central ministers shouting at each other: Mr. Iyer at CWG, Digvijai at Chidambaram & so on. Both Iyer & Digvijai definately have backing of their bosses. So how many boss are there in Delhi ?

There is BIG time "void" in delhi of a "leadership" to take India to the next level. None of the parties, ruling or opposition has an answer to this.
-- Dr. Manmohan Singh is a respectable economist & that is it. He is not a mass leader. It is not his mistake, this is what he is.
-- Madam is the head of UPA & again just the head, with very limited access (or interest) to the aam-admi.
-- Rahul loosk promising, but needs time, we should not make 1 more Rajeev out of him. But we need him & his team of 2nd generation.
-- BJP, Advani looked desperate to be a PM. 2nd level is fighting among themselves & arrogance is seen here. Sushma S, Anant K, Arun J, etc .. none have pan-India appeal & they will not allow anybody to take lead.
-- Atalji has done his job & should not be brought into all this at all now.
-- UP, Bihar, TN, etc .. the smaller UPA partners are just regional & not intereasted to spread out of their state at all. Rather they are not expected to do so. They better try & run their states effectively 1st.
-- Communists & Mamata .. are becominjg more & more narrow-minded for Kolkotta. They eat-drink-sleep Kolkotta. It cannot get worst than this. They have reached a point that they take it granted to "kill" each other :-(
-- RSS, last in the list, is also experimenting with its caders. They spend last 60+ yrs doing ground work & succeeded the Ram Temple movement. But luck was not with them & thay missed ruling India with "absolute" majority.

Now coming back to the relation among the above events, the UPA-2 is busy fighting Modi as if that is the only thing left for a "majority" central govt. How could they not sense, of feel, or judge what is in store ? I'm not sure if PM or UPA chief are capable of this & has the required foresight :-(. Is UPA running a company with Madam as CEO & PM as COO ? Then this is the worst times we are going through. Running a capitalist company & running a nation is definately not the same. We can not comittes to run nation. We need leaders who can sence the pulse of our own people & of our neighbors. We need visionaries.

We need to & should handle the Kashmir issue ASAP. We need to get-into-Kashmir & into Kashmiri "janata's" mind & harts. Kashmir is INDIA & will remain an integral part of INDIA. All INDIANs are proud for this & will always support this cause. Both CRPF & BSF has jawans & officers from all over the country serving in Kashmir & sacrificing their lives for the cause of protecting this land & its citizens from the Pakistan induced & sponsored terrorists.

It is un-imaginable to think of what will happen to Kashmir if it becomes part of Pakistan. The Kashmiri janata should take a realistic view of what is the conditions of "Mujahirs" in today's Pakistan. The so called seperatist leaders, should think of the situation like a managemnt case-study of what will be the future of Kashmir in Pakistan. As of now Pakistan is heavily struggling to keep its folks together & Kashmir is the "ultimate" issue to keep the aam Pakistani janata diverted from the military-mis-managed Pakistan.

1> Central govt should pull its socks & stand behind the Kashmir state govt & the CM.
2> Same for CWG, we need to punish the guilty & make them pay for their mis-deeds, but we need to make the games a success in the 1st place. We have to continue with Kalmadi & make sure this the CWD is a success.

Everybody else, including the opposition "has to" support these efforts. Of-course the amm admi wishes the above 2 things to be "success" & is wishing a "good luck" for the administrators to handle this early & effectively.

Shashi Tharoor minus IPL ??

2010-05-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

Tharoor sans twitter, OSD & IPL -- a successful MoS (Rediff)

I guess all of us will agree that Tharoor is a good "new age" leader. Even Twitter that he used is a new age communication mechanism.

See what TED has to say about him & his talk in favour of "soft power" & its influence. Actually 1 of my Finnish friend passed this TED link to me :-). Listen to him carefully, choice of words & emphasis of important points & delivery of the speect, simply great !

My reaction during DEC 2009 was:
-- He is good. He is “new kind” of politician in India who has seen the world & has lots of experience.
-- But probably more out-ward focusing person & he has to learn to see in-ward to the nuances this country has at grass-root level.
-- But we need him & many more like him who bring out-ward looking perspective to the Govt. Otherwise our “default” politicians always go to a line “they do what their voters need” & do not bother about rest of the world.

Now fast-forward to IPL 2010:

-- I guess it was ok that he used his influence to move the new IPL team to Kerala. The episode showed that he is ready to jump to extra-curricular activities. I mean other then being a white-color minister.

-- But it also shows that he was not abel to handle (or I would say "hide") the other connections, to be specific his friend.

Again this looks to be a new age politics, bold & clear!!!

We know for sure that there are 100s of MLAs & MPs in INDIA who have "connections" & they use influence to get thinsg done in their favour, even kill innocent for their gain. But then they do it the traditionla way that we Indians are used to, by hiding things.

I guess Tharoor need to learn this. The mass in India is ok (or I would say "used-to) if the leaders are doing "ghapla" only that it should be under wraps.

We of-course need leaders like Shashi Tharoor to be around. I would say, Rahul Gandhi, Jindal, Sachin Pilot, Nitin Gadkari, Mohan Bhagwat, etc. We need "new age" leaders in all the camps, ruling & opposition. With new ideas & new ways of working.

RSS in social sector !

2010-05-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

Diggy meets PC over RSS in social sector (TOI, 8-May-2010)

This is good ! I would say best !! Thanks Mr. Digvijay Singh for making it official that RSS is doing a very good work.

As you updated to Mr Home Minister, some of the RSS related NGOs are getting funding from Govt. This is an indication that RSS is working for a real cause & does not have any proxy agenda.

Mr. Digvijay Singh, your own state of MadhyaPradesh is a very good example where RSS is working for last 10+ yrs in the trible areas & have successifully stopped conversion by Christians by paying money.

Now do not hunt these NGOs just because they are related to RSS. I'm sure you or Mr. PC or the Congress or the Christian money, nobody can stop RSS from doing good work at the grass root level. The "pracharak" concept created by RSS has no match & they are the foot solders who are burning their blood to bring this transformation.

Kudos to RSS & its sister organisations for this !!!

Calrton Tower, Bangalore fire & 1 more bad coverage by TV media :-(

2010-02-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

Very very serious issue :-(

Something has to be done for the TV channel folks, they are running any dam footage with no brains approach.

-- imagine the kids at home, seeing all this through-out the day, 1 guy or a girl jumping off a 6th or 7th floor to save his or her life & dying instantly :-(

-- do we remember, the images of a cop bleeding to death in TN, about 2 months back ? he was attached by underworld as mistaken identity. The TV channel had all the time to shoot the video & also comment how the ministers & collector did not help the police constable & left him dying. What was the dam TV guy doing ? Why did he not pickup a dying human being & rushed him to hospital ?

I would say the old Doordarshan days were better. Now we have the other extreme where the Mumbai firing images were live broadcasted to the controllers in Pakistan.

This should stop some where -- TV NEWS channels are compromising national security & by showing such BLOODY footage again & again, making our next generation less & less sensitive :-((

Food street (Thindhi Street), V V Puram, Bangalore

2010-02-20T00:30:00.000-08:00

"Food-Street" or "Khau Galli" or "Thindhi Street" or "Old Market Road, Visvesvarapuram", call it anything. This is the best location to enjoy street-food. A fest for vegetarians. A place to hang-out with family & friends & enjoy the food. Delight for veg food lovers ! Butter-gulkand-with-ice-cream-and-fruits, I just canot resiste that test !! Many more items that pull me back to this street very often, with family.

We go there almost once-a-month. Uaually, Fri or Sat evenings & the place is always crowded. It is a one-way & no-parking street, mostly for pedestrians. But ocassionally, you can see cars parked & people eating from the cars & then of-course the traffic cops trying to shoo the parked vehicles off.

As with every street-food, the prices here are very reasonable & easy-on-the-wallet. The place looks traditional & old and looks like an evening-market kind of street. The shops & their specialities that I have tested so far:

* V V Bakery -- just at the entrance, on right-side -- a BIG bakery, looks old & traditional types -- sells lots of diff biscuit + bread + buns + cakes + pastries -- I would say a little expansive but I like the items.

* Ghee dosa / Butter dosa -- costs Rs. 20/- per piece, price same for plane & masala -- the guy literally pours Nandini Gheen to his dosas, directly fromt he 1 liter pack :-) -- simply delicious -- 1 very strong looking leady runs this place and her cash box is always overflowing -- I have seen it always crowded, 10 - 15 min waiting time.

* Paddu & Ginna -- this is just opp the ghee dosa shop -- they sell many more items like: idly, vada, dase. I have tried Paddu ("appe" in marathi) & Ginna (sweet made of the 1st few days milk after a cow or buffallo delivers her baby). Both items test very good.

* Gobi-Manchurian (live) stall -- better you do not see when the guy is deep frying the gobi (curly flower) -- but the final dish is good :-) -- on the adjacent stall I have seen "rumali-roti" as well.

* Pav-Bhaji & Vada-Pav -- I have not tested a better vada-pav then this in Bangalore, of-course, next to what Kalyani makes at home :-) -- there are 2 stalls side-by-side & both serve good pav-bhaji & vada-pav and at times kacchi-dabheli as well -- you should see, when the guy puts Amul butter to the pav, he literally dips the pav in butter. This makes it more tasty.

* Ragi-Roti & Rise-Roti -- this is next to the vada-pav stall, this guy sells ragi-roti with brinjal curry. Both roti & curry are good. You can try this different item. Behind this stall, there is a shade where they sell Idly & Dose. Very resonable price.

* Obbattu (Puran-Poli) -- costs Rs. 10/- per piece & is worth it. Simple thin obbattu made with "chana dal" filling.

* Gulkand with ice-cream & furits -- costs Rs. 40/- & more -- this is a shop on the left end of the street. he sells literally everythig: cigrates, coconut-burphy, masala-soda, masala-thumpsup, every kind of soda with masala, spicy bhel puri, sev puri, and masala puri , chips, small time chocolets. Simply amazing shop. But do not miss the Gulkand. It is stuffing but again worth.

* Sweet corn -- cost starts from Rs. 25/- onwards -- I donot know why it is called as American ? -- at the end of the street, you will find 2 or 3 push-carts, with impressive setup on it, battery operated radio & a small fan to stroke the fire in his charcoal pot, for frying the Sweet corn. They have 6 - 7 varieties: simple salt-lemon, butter, with raw-mango, with a green chutney, with pinapple, etc. Worther the money !

* Sweets -- gulab jamuns , rosogollas, jelebis, soft milky khoya, thick creamy basundi, various falvoured milk (kaser, badam, etc) & ice-creams.

* You also get -- potato, chilli, capsicum and banana bondas (bhajis) -- they sut the bonda & stuff it with a mix of grated carrot + onion + something :-). I could not dare to try this so far looking at the grated carrot in it but I'm sure it is feast. Lots of people (young & old) queue for it.

** Avarekai Mela (Festival) & check -- at "Sri Vasavi Condiments" -- just at the entrance on your left-side -- you can buy everythig avareki here: Dosa, Vada, Obbatu, Sambar, Rassam, etc. The shop sells

Location on various maps .. Wikimapia, Googlemaps, Yahoomaps, Ovimaps.

Note: I'll try to get some photos & also get the exact shop names & will update this post after my next visit to "khau-galli".

Varun ? BJP's new "youth" icon ??

2010-01-10T05:07:00.000-08:00

Does the RSS see Varun Gandhi as a “saffron Rahul''?

With due respect to Mr. Varun Gandhi & both RSS & BJP bosses, I would like to believe this is just a sensational NEWS.

Varun may have the capabilities to be the "youth" icon for BJP but I guess, BJP will do a mistake by promoting him this way, at least at this time. This might create a confusion as the what way BJP want to go & I'm not sure if this is what RSS is asking BJP to do, go the hindu "goonda" way.

I would want to believe that 1 day (may be a few yrs. later) he really takes over Rahul Gandhi 1:1 for BJP. But then this needs to be managed (or I would engineered) very methodically keeping next 5 - 10 yrs. in mind.

ShashiTharoor twitting avout VISA !

2009-12-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

http://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor .. "Hey there! ShashiTharoor is using Twitter !" .. I admire & respect this new age politician. He is the real Gen 'X' or 'Y' representative.

But I do not agree with his latest feed about the VISA regulations. Can he go & ask the USA Govt. to redice the BODY fresking or the latest (1 day old) additional regulations ? I guess he will find those justifying.

Same lines, I find the new VISA rules for India justifying. After all we have to take care of our problems & it is to be done our way.

Does UK or USA care if we ask them to reduce the sever checks that they do for granting VISA + the stringent regulations that they have ? I guess no, they would not bother.

Same way, if a person has to come to India for abusiness purpose & has to do multiple entries, he / she should obtain the correct VISA & not mis-use the "tourist" VISA. I guess that is all, no more discussions.

If this makes us "un-welcoming", yes, so be it & if tourists fell that they get a better experience in India, they will take the pain & gett he VISA. Same for business flyers, they do not come to India for charity, they come for business & for making money, then they should ask for correct Business VISA.

Google Maps showing Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir outside INDIA ?

2009-11-17T04:23:00.000-08:00

This is totally unacceptable & bizzare. Google should not do politics. Arunachal Pradesh is very much part of independent INDIA. There is no dispute.

- English version in my browser is showing it as "not" in INDIA or "desputed" area
- Same for Jammu & Kashmir
- In Chinese version Arunachal Pradesh is shown as part of China

This is sad & not acceptabel at all.

MLAs in Karnataka should be ashamed !

2009-11-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

It is really shameful that during the tough times of flood, the MLAs are giving more importance to "money" & "power" then to help their own voters by co-ordinating the relief work.

For last 2 weeks now, there is a BAD drama being played between Bangalore - Delhi - Bellari.

Couldn't the Reddy brothers wait till atleast the relief work is done & the affected voters are settled ?
Should one be always opportunistic ?
It is known that all the miners are just minting money by illegal enchroments on forest land. When they are earning lakhs with every over-loaded iron ore lorry, what is the issue of paying Rs. 1000/- that will go in re-building houses for the flood affected voters ?
Have our MLAs not evolved not to tolerate a women colleague in the ministry ?

Concept of mid-term-elections at this point is too -much to think of. This is clear case of an "insult" of the mandate that Karnatak population has given to BJP & a back-door possibility for the JD (S) to come to power & start making hawak :-(

It is just frustrating to see all what is happening.

Easy Cabe (43434343) are really easy !

2009-11-04T04:24:00.000-08:00

This is my recent experience.

We (family: 2 Male + 2 Female + 1 kid) wanted to reach Yashantpur railway station from NGEF, Old Madras Road. Of-course with 6 - 7 luggage items. Take an auto & reach your destination. Sounds simple !

Not in Bangalore & definately not with the "auto" at all.

There are two auto stands near our complex, JalVayu Towers. Every auto was ready to come to Yashantpur but at his own cost which was Rs. 190/-. The distance is 17 KM max & by meter it costs Rs. 120/-. So a demand of Rs. 20/- extra is justified but not Rs. 70/-. At-least I do not understand for what reason they demand more. We wanted to 2 autos & tried a bargain of Rs. 350/- for 2 but no, they saw a chance to make money & were not bugging at all :-(. We had no choice, we hired them & did the journey from home to railway station in all noise & pollution & paid Rs. 380/-.

Now, the return journey, & the scene changes all-together:

We are on our way back to Bangalore & train will terminate at Yahsvantpur.
But we have learned our lession 7 days back. So 1 hr before approaching Yashvantpur, I call Easy Cabs (080-43434343).
They take my request & tell me that they will confirm in 5 min if the arrangement is possible by SMS.
In 5 min I get an SMS with cab no. & driver cell no.
After reaching Yashvantpur railway station, I call the cab driver & patchup with him. Go out of the railway station & board the cab with 4 of us & our luggage.
We have a comfortable & smooth journey from Yashvantpur Railway Station back to NGEF, Old Madras Road, in an AC cab, no noise, no pollution.
Upon reaching the destination, the cab meter shows Rs. 250/- & the driver is happy to take his money & leave.
No unpleasent talk of "saaar, give Rs. 20/- more then meter, you make lots of money".

So one way we paid Rs. 380/- & were exposed to noise & pollution + the unpleasent bargain. On way back, it was nice & smooth at the cost of Rs. 250/-.

I'm sure this should be the experience of every IT guy in Bangalore, some or other time. Why do auto drivers in Bangalore see "bakra" in every customer ? Are we IT guys making money without any work ? Are we making money at their cost ?

Imagine this happens to a guy / girl who is starting for a good work like interview or to see his girlfriend or to see his prospective bride or to go to a temple ? His / her event gets spoiled :-(.

I'm now a happy customer of Easy Cabs !

Sripuram, modern day temple ? New age Business ?

2009-08-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Sripuram (Golden Temple South, Vellore) appears to be a money making machine. A modern day business of faith. This is how it came across to me:

- Had herd about this form my friends & though of making a 1 day trip with family there. I was told to be there in the evening.
- Started at 8 AM, via old-madras-road, pass K R Puram. The road is good (managable) & small compared to the Hosur-Krishnagiri stretch. And reached Vellore by 1 PM. Had our lunch & headed towards Sripuram. On the way we spent about 1 hr at the Vellore fort.
- As we reached Sripuram, it appeared to be a fortress. Parked my car & this is where the encounter with the business machine started:

No mobile phones allowed inside.
Foot-ware stand is just a big hall & visitors (I' not sure if all were devotees) have to buy a plastic bag for Rs. 2/- to keep foot-ware of all the family together.
When I tried to reason this with the Public Relation (PR) officer, he appeared very very arrogent.
He told me that the temple is some 1 & 1/2 yrs. old & a foot-ware stand may take another 1 & 1/2 yr.
He was quick to identify that the plastic bag that I purchased is biodegradable.
Upon persisting more, he asked me to get lost if I'm not intereasted to get in & I'm free not to visit.
At 2 PM the crowd was not so huge but still the temple volunteers were discouraging visitors to buy Rs. 100/- entry ticket sighting the reason that free darshan will take 2 hrs waiting.
We bought into the idea & got tickets for 5 of us. Even though it is a clear entrance ticket, it says "seva" & "entry is free". Whom do they want to fool here ?
On our way in, visitors from free queue also got mixed with us & they told the waiting was about 30 min. So I paid my Rs. 500/- for no reason :-(
As expected the -in (& later way-out) passes through their shopping mall seling silk saree, agarbatti, small momentos, & many more articles.

Once you get into the actual temple premises, you feel better & surroundings resemble to any resort. Then you are made to walk the START shaped path, about 1+ KM.

Along this path also, you see more counters selling water then taps with free water.
Many boards boasting about the place. 1 was very intereasting, justifying that spending money for a tourist spot is more important then spending it for building school :-(
The central temple is nice & attractive with gold plating all over. I herd some 300 KG (or tons) of gold is used. I felt sad, that such a huge money can be used for so many more causes :-( Even if it is somebody's BLACK money, can be used for a better cause.
This golden temple is surrounded by water & the pond has 1,000s of Indian currency coins & notes dropped by devotees (?). Again a waste of money & the basic cost of printing these notes. RBI shoudl take a note of this.
I think it is easy to have a small net covering the pond to catch the offerings, but again like the foot-ware stand, I think, they do not have money. Or they want it to be like this for more devotees (?) to see & drop more money there.
A BIG difference that I observed is: depending upon the money shelling capacity of the visitors, they are divided into 3 groups: free, Rs. 100/- & Rs. 250/-. The more you spend the closer you get to the god.

Unlike Tirupati where everybody gets to see the god from same place, & money helps you to spend less or more time in the queue. Here the free queue is all the time kept at a distance from god :-(

Obama equates India with Pakistan & N Korea

2009-07-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Article in esakal -- http://beta.esakal.com/Article/ArticlePage.aspx?Id=B2615F61-FE5C-4CCB-B3EF-020C1E5E7E0F

And Obama's speech does not refer to Isrial :-(

This shows the double standards that USA has for Isrial & rest of the world. It is a clear indication that Obama is also not a different person & he is also working under Isrial lobby in the USA.

Should L K Advani be more careful ?

2009-06-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

Meet the leady of the house (DNA, Bangalore, 04-Jun-09, page - 9)

This article carrys reactions from: Meira Kumar, LK Advani & Manmohan Singh. Advani's comments are really striking & look out of place "I read that your voters are disappointed with your election as speaker but I feel you will be able to serve people better in this position then as a minister". What does this mean ? Does this mean she is better to be a speaker then a minister ?

Celebrating 31st DEc vs Chaitra Shukla Pratipada !

2009-01-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.sanghparivar.org/welcome-the-new-year-by-celebrating-samvatsararambh-chaitra-shukla-pratipada

I believe in trying to protect Hindu culture, we are bashing events like 25th Dec (x'mas Day), 31st Dec (new yr eve) & 14th Jan (Valentine Day) too much. This will back fire. We should understand that now a days all the days & events & festivals are governed by a strong market force & electronic media. They want to sell things & they sell it on each & every ocassion. They hardly distinguish if its a Hindu, Muslim or Christian event.

Moreover everybody is having a party, drinks, etc on 31st Dec & this shows that at least the Hindus have not started treating it as any Brahma muhurta. Where as many observe Brahma Muhurta on the ocassions of Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, Diwali & many other regional events.

Does the author thinks that if I party on 31st Dec, I have dis-respect for Chaitra Shukla Pratipada ? This way of thinking & writing is not going to be accepted by normal janata, this will surely back fire. if you have observed, these kind of tactics have back0fired during recent Delhi elections.

BJP, ShivSena, VHP, BajrangDal & to a large extent Sangh Parivhar should start thinking a on the improved lines now. We cannot create fear psychosis anymore.

One thought -- instead of bashing others we should try & propagate our culture the way Christians are doing. Get market & media to support Hindu culture, festivals, events, etc the same way they support 25th Dec, 1st JAN, 14th JAN, etc. This will not happen easily. We have to give market & media what 25th Dec, 1st JAN, 14th JAN, etc gives, that is spending. When Hindus spend during Diwali, the markets & media push it. They will do the same for each & every Hindu festival if we give them what they need.

Rebuild Hotel Taj Mahal in Mumbai !

2008-12-01T02:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Ratan Tata,

I'm very shocked with the recent attack that started on 26-NOV-08 at many places in South Mumbai. Loss of 200+ innocent citizens is the saddest part :-(

I feel deeply hurt for my fellow citizens who lost their near & dear ones. Equally frustrated towards our political system who ignored the hints from the intelligence agencies for a proactive action.

Hoisting the TRI-COLOUR at Hotel Taj Mahal is a very solid statement to the terrorists out there. I strongly wish we should creat a trust that will work for re-building 100+ yrs. old Indian heritage. I feel strongly obliged to participate in re-constructing of Hotel Taj Mahal. We as Indian citizens should re-build this Indian identity that TATA's have given to India.

Not a doubt that Hotel Taj Mahal & Tata Group has enough money to re-build the structure to its full glory. But we should show it to the whole world & to the terrorists & their bosses that we stand united in re-building the national ICON.

I would not want to go to media immediately with this as they will see this as a chance to increase theit TRP.

Please guide me in understanding as to how this should be taken forward ?

BIG roads being mis-used by transport lobby :-(

2008-10-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

All the major roads in WhiteField are big enough to handle normal traffic. For example road leading to ITPL or the road opposite SaiBaba Hospital. These roads are really huge. BUT, as seen in the below images all the time 1/2 the roads are occupied by so called CABS. And looks like there is no solution to this :-(

There is a HUGE vacant plot adjacent to the BMTC Depo in Whitefield. In 1 corner it has a BIG water tank, so it should be a BWSSB plot, I assume. Why can't this plot be used to park all the stray CABS / BUSES & keep the road empty for normal use + BWSSB (or who ever is the owner) will also make some money. The authorities (BBMP I guess) should make it compulsary for all the CAB owners to park in this designated space & charge a min of say Rs. 2/- per day.

What measures should the BBMP take to attend to bad roads?

2008-08-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

I travel on Old Madras road every day to ITPL area. I have noticed many small bottle-neck along the way. If BBMP works on these small things, the same road can be de-conjusted very easily & used effectively. My small suggestions:

1 - intersection of the fly-over coming from Hebbal direction & other flyover starting for Hoskote. There is a bus stop on either side of the road here. It will help if the road divider is blocked completely, say by a concrete wall, so nobody can sneak in + build a road over bridge for pedestrians to cross.

2 - Tin Factory bus stop near HP petrol bunk is s BIG BIG mess. BBMP should ask BMTC to make it compulsory for the city bus drivers to use the designated bus stop only, that actually have good space on left side of the road. If we enforce this, all city bus users will get habituated sooner or later & the area just opp to the HP petrol bunk can be used more effectively.

3 - KR Puran Rly station, we need an underpass here. There is no other alternative. I guess some corporates will be happy to finance this project under PPP use the space for advertisement.

4 - recently there is a new HUMP that has come up just after K R Puram Rly station, opposite Lowry Memorial High School. This is working as 1 more extra obstacle to the traffic. I understand that it is needed for the school's children to cross at school time but the solid speed-breaker is there creating traffic problem during all non-school timings as well. I have also noticed that the school vans stop on the other side & kids cross the entire road. The school vans should be asked compulsorily to get inside the school's compound to alight the kids. This will release some more pressure.

Many more such small adjustments can be done along the road till ITP to ease the traffic pressure.

Ultimate solution will be either Metro / Mono rail along this route or a Road-over-Bridge on the lines of Hosur Road.

Women power on full display in J&K

2008-08-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Amarnath row: Women power on full display in J&K

So strange ! If Kashmiris get pleasure by stamping land below their feet considering they are stamping India as their enemy then why are they in Kashmir ? They should be in Pakistan.

These Kashmiris are a real confused lot. Its pity :-(

Their leadership like the Abdullas & Huriyet are making money from both sides & enjoying & keeping the things hanging. If the issue is resolved they have no stand.

Kashmiris should try & visualise the stability that they have experienced for last few yrs. as they had an elected state govt.
Kashmiris should realise India has Millions of potential tourists for Kashmir against a few thousands from Pakistan.
Kashmiris should realise that just because of Article 370, they are protected & rest of Indians are feeding them with their Tax money.
Kashmiris should realise that there is no scope of big time farming of big time mining or big time industries in Kashmir like UP, Bihar, Jaharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, etc

Kashmiris should realise that they have no prosperity, no future if they merge with Pakistan just on emotional basis.

I strongly believe that this is a known thing for Kashmiri leadership & that is why they are keeping the issue burning & hanging to keep on making money using their own dead brothers & sisters.

Amarnath land row: pathetic reaction sitting in USA

2008-08-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

09-AUG-08, TOI has a NEWS -- Amarnath land row: Talks fail, stir to continue. 3 replies / comments / reader openion to this & of-course approved by TOI's editor from: Bangalore, Delhi & USA.

The response from USA has an Indian sounding name to it (VKBurman) & this reader is asking "Irrespective of merits of the issue the Sangharsh samiti must suspend the agitation immediately so that talks can be held in peaceful atmosphere" & more.

It is so easy to sit miles away & comment asking to stop the agitation ? Why nobody asks the Kashmiri Muslims to stop their's. Actually that is the place where all this drama started. While all over India, acers of land is being donated / given / transfreerd for many Muslim cause / reasons, why should the Muslim brothers (so called) from Kashmir vally bother so much for a small land being handed over for a Hindu cause.

How can somebody fail to see the across-border agenda behind this ? Is this gentalman one of the CPI / CMP caders ? Burman sound like that ! Again & again asking Hindus to keep quiet :-((

J&K leaders have proved that they have no brains

2008-08-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

It is real sad story about the Amarnath. All over India the govt has donated / transferred acers of land for all kind of Muslim causes / reasone. When it comes to allocating land to a Hindu temple, everybody is worried about forest & environment. Center Govt. so far followed wait-and-watch policy. It was expected that the Kashmiri Muslims who have driven out Karhmiri pandits should utilise this chance to show their support to the cause & create a friendly atmosphere for patching up the differences with the Hindu community. But the Muslim leaders from the vally have lost a big chance & are following the setarist agenda from their masters across the border. Time & again the Muslim leadership from Kashmir vally proves that they have no brains of their own & are puppets of ISI. A very sad affair.

Bangalore Traffic Police Looting ?

2008-06-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

On 14/06/08, I was stopped by traffic police on JC Road for jumping RED light. The inspector collected Rs. 400/- for this. But the fine is Rs. 100/- Item #13 (190 class 119). The inspector did not charge me with any other offence.

I 100% agree that I was rushing & did jump RED signal but does this mean the traffric police should ask for any money ?

I cannot understand & talk Kannada, is it wrong ? There were 2 constable + 1 officer. They stopped a Taxi & the driver was allowed to go by paying Rs. 200/- as he could bargain in Kannada.

The chalan no is 541791 & Sub-inspector is Shanmukha B. R.

As I was with my wife + all the 3 traffic police were talking only Kannada (or at least showing like that), I had no choice but to pay him what he asked.

I'm not a casual offender & I accept my mistake & am ready to pay the requied fine as per the law. But me not knowing Kannada is my mistake :-(

Exhibition on Aurangzeb closed by Police ?

2008-03-12T05:19:00.000-07:00

Is it not well known that Aurangzeb was one of the most cruel rules in Inidan history ?

What is wrong in displaying the facts that he raised countless Hindu temples to ground. He burned 100s of villages create fear. He looted every place that he travelled to.

Forget what he did to Hindus: re-imposing the humiliating jiziya tax, forbidding them from riding horses, elephants or palaquins and ordering all temples destroyed (Among them the Krishna's birth temple in Mathura, the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujrat, the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares and the Treta – ka – Thakur temple in Ayodhya), he was also a monster to his own family, having his father poisoned, his two brothers killed, and imprisoning his own son.

News from Times of India & Rediff.com

Why should some Muslim citizens of INDIA object to displaying facts about a cruel Muslim ruler ? Just because they are Muslim ? Are they not connected to Indian history ? Are they not equally Indian ?

Why cann't our police & govt. be equally proactive in case of exhibition of paintings by M F Hussain ? Paintaings of Hindu gods & goddess in nude ? Why does the govt. not feel that it will hurt Hindus ?

A detailed account + reasons can be found at HinduJagruti

Is India religiously intolerent ?

2008-01-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

As usual so called secular media has started asking this question after the unrest in Orissa. NDTV is conducting one such poll -- http://ndtv.com/mb/messagethread.asp?topicid=10114&tablename=NEWS

We should 1st answer following questions:
- Do we have 2 Christian groups killing each other in India: catholic & protestent ?
- Do we have 2 Muslim groups killing each other in India: shia & sunni ?
- In last 300+ yrs. of Indian history do we have a single incident of mass killing self generated by Indians ? Killing Indian ?
- How else do we justify that Jwes & Parcies came to India settle & flurish ?
- Why do Christians want to increase their number on this earth ? Can they not just help the needy & not ask for conversion in return ? Does this not become asking a price for the so called social service ?
- The Pope comes to India & declears that the coming decade will be used to convert Asia to Christinity ?
- In USA, in certain schools you have to be a Christian to get admission. Where as in India we have special schools & colleges run by minority communities (Christian & Muslims) & they get land free form Govt. ?
- And we Indians are religious intolerent ?
Instead of telling the whole world how Indians are religiously intolerent, should we not spend our energies to find the root cause behind this unrest The real caues ?

RSS IT Milans in Bangalore !

2007-11-18T07:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.rediff. com/news/ 2007/nov/ 12vicky.htm this link from Rediff is an able recognition of how Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS www.rss.org) is changing with time & has found complete acceptance even the busy (I think so) IT community.

Suresh Nayak, referred as co-ordinator of IT Shakhas, is more a guide then a co-ordinator, with non-stop energy & 200% dedication to the cause. A highly educated electronic engg. himself, he has created a batch of co-ordinators (Karyakartas) who take the cause forward.

I remember we started this as a small gathering of like minded friends at a guest house run for an IT company back in 1999. We used to meet every THU evening for an hr. As the number grew, we got help from Sureshji to shift to a temple nearby & it started as a regular SUN morning Shakha.

I got to introduced to a lots of new friends from various IT companies across Bangalore. It has developed a nice bond among ourselves. As many friends started attending it from other corners of the city + a few friends changed their homes, it was natural to start more such shakhas in other parts. Today there are 34 milans (as we refer to it) in Bangalore, divided into 11 zones (valays).

The group has a place on yahoogroups (rssbangalore) to communicate with Swayamsevaks & Sureshji + other Karyakartas keep on feeding a lot of information for us.

After the 2004 Tsunami, a few IT swayamsevaks, took a week long leave from their office & attended the Tsunami affected on the Tamil Nadu coast. They literally cleared dead bodies along with the local authorities. An IT guy with a fat pay package & habituated to spend the entire day in air-condition office doing this is a RSS effect. We also collected money, cloths & other things from our IT friends for this cause.

Sureshji is such a good gyu, he managed to inspire all IT swayamsevaks to contribute to social service (seva) activities. The IT effect is also evident here, there is a web link for this group as well .. www.youthforseva.org

Many more such things to write. IT Milans .. I would simply call .. a great place to be for INDIAN IT janata

Nandigram .. are Communists Pakistani or Bangadeshi ?

2007-11-13T19:22:00.000-08:00

If you see what Nandigram today is you will understand what kind of nationalism/patriotism Communists like or advocate.

It is absurd & illogical to create a WAR ZONE within an Indipendent INDIA :-(. WAR with weapons ? To capture back some teritory ? Are these ppl Pakistani or Bangladeshi ? Nandigram is very much part of an independent INDIAN nation. Can you make out what is happening ?

Communists are intereasted in opposing just for sake of it. They will oppose anything bad as well as good.

It is like they started as an idology to revoult for the supressed but today there are hardly any supressed (thanks to media's reach to every corner) & these fools have no job & no chance to use the weapons that they got from Bangaladesh. So what they do ? They start using it against their own ppl ?

The killed & raped ppl from Nandigram are they not Bengali ? Not Indian ?

It is frustrating & I'm sure every INDIAN must be crying :-( Unfortunately the central govt. cannot dis-miss the state govt. & impose central rule there. They themselves will collapse :-( Otherwise why was the police force from nandigram removed ?

Congress (I) say NO to existence RAMA .. a bigger controversy ?

2007-09-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

There must be a bigger issue at the background that Congress (I) is trying to avoid attention of Indian public at large. How else can such an old party with so many stalwards like Shivraj Paril, Pranab Mukharjee, etc miss the point that BJP & its sister organisation will not miss the opportunity to corner Congress (I) when they say NO to existence of RAMA ?

These kind of affidavits where Central Govt. (& may be President of India) are party, do not come out of air. This has to be a calculated move. It is not that straight forward, as being projected as a simple mistake.

One motive can be to elevate madam Sonia. So the Govt. does a mistake & by grace of the great madam Sonia Lord Rama is pardoned. Govt. has taken back the contents of the affidavit only because Sonia intervened. Thus madam becomes great !

Another motive can be some big controversy that was about to be brought in front of the nation & this issue is being used to divert attention.

Dr. Manmohan Singh we know you are not such a BIG fool not to make out the obvious fall-out of this kind of issues. You are the only person we respect & we trust in running this nation. You should make Congress (I) & also Sonia to introspect.

Mr. Sachin Tendulkar: It is time we take tough stans !

2007-09-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Sachin Tendulkar should have not accepted any advances from M F Husain. The question mentioned by the editor at the below link is 100% valid: http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/2970.html

"Will any Muslim player ever visit Danish Cartoonist? It is only Hindu player visits person like M F Husain who has drawn nude and obscene paintings of Hindu Deities and Bharat Mata."

Refer to this link to see what M F Husain thinke of Hindu Deities .. http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/national/mfhussain-campaign/

Tolerance is very good quality that we Hindus have but there are limits to it. It is not bad nor a coward act to stick to your religious positions & demand a certain respect. Sachin Tendulkar should not be any exception to this.

Are left parties (CPI, CPM & other) here just to oppose everything ?

2007-08-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

- Many years back left opposed the computerision of banks & Govt. Offices. They managed strikes as well.

--We know now that it has helped in increasing the transparency at work + has improved efficiency like anything.

- Then they opposed the money revolution; the opening up of economy saying it will make India slave to powerful economies.

-- Again we have seen that it has made Indian businesses more competitive. Likes of Tatas’, Wipros’, Infosys’, etc have acquired businesses in foreign land. Something we had never imagines 6 – 8 yrs. Back.

Now they are opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal saying India is being sold to USA. That it is anti-national. That we will be kept hanging if we do a nuclear test.

And in their own land, West Bengal, their caders are killing farmers who are refusing to give their fertile land for SEZ.

Do left leader think Indian public is brain-less ?

Indo-US nuclear deal .. will somebody will tell the other side

2007-08-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

It is very clear that the nuclear deal will place India in the elite nations. It is also clear that it will improve our relations with USA. Will help us have one more friend on our side to keep pressure on China. Recently Russia is moving close to China & away from India.

Little out of context:

China is a cleaver chess player. They have done huge investments in Russia in the oil sector & it will help them to keep Russia to their side.
They have created huuuuuge trade deficit with USA & it is well known that USA based Human Rights Groups have no guts to open their mouths against China.

If we fail to pass the treaty it will be a BIG wash off for India in western world. It will probably weaken our stand at WTO. It will frighten the much-needed (Foreign Institutional Investor) FIIs. Will reduce their confidence in Indian investments.

BUT

Will somebody talk about the actual nuclear energy ? The electricity ? Do we really need the imported nuclear fuel it ? Will we be so adversely affected without it ? Will the carbon credits pile up so much & make us loose our sleep ? We will not be able to use the Thorium reserves that we have ? Indian scientists have no brains to develop a Thorium based reactor ?

Is the deal for the nuclear fuel & the electricity that we will generate form it or it is for the foreign policy ?

Finally are we going to get the nuclear fuel for free ? The way USA has put conditions on us looks like they (& other great nations) will be giving the fuel to us for free ?

IT Milan Bangalore GuruPooja Utsav

2007-08-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

We had IT Milan's GuruPooja Utsav on 12-AUG-07, Sunday @ 10:30 AM.

The gathering was good ! It was huge !! My estimate is 850+.

Mohanji's talk

The "bauddhik" was really nice. I had thought that Mohanji will talk about IT .. or .. at-least about the contribution that he expects form IT ppl .. or .. min. about the IT milans that we have in B'lore & some guideline / advice as to how to take it forward & be more useful to RSS at large.

But he did not speak a single word in line with above items. 1st I was nervous but as his talk progressed I felt he is talking to regular "swayamsevaks". I felt more at home. He talked about the GuruPooja at large & how the external world sees it (as a money collection drive) vs how a swayamsevak feel about it. Nice jokes & small stories.

Also he made the group feel (at least I felt) that the group is learned & we know the state of the nation & its current problems. He did not explain any issue at details but touched every issue. Gave example of:

How Islam wanted to spread love & what it has become today.
How Isiyet (christianity) wans to spread friendship & what it has done to 1000s.
How Communists wanted to bridge the gap between haves & have-nots & what it has ended up doing
How the "poonjiwad" or capitalism (I guess) is trying to make those win who work more have more talent & how it has ended up increasing the no. of poor world wide.

To this he was very sure that Bharat has the answers to all the above problems as we have been attacked by each of these & in our own way we have learned to live with it. But today we are in a confused state. We 1st have to bring our own house in order following our traditions & show the world that our values really have the answer to the problems the world is facing. Then only others will listen to us. For this we need to be together.

he also mentioned that every individual's problem is nation's problem & at the same time nation's problem is also every individual's problem. It is the common man that is going to bring the nation back on track, not the political bosses or the MNCs.

He quoted 2 personalities:

Ex. President Kalam .. says .. we have stopped worshipping "shakti" .. shakti here refers to not police of law or govt. .. but the individual conscious .. all the problems that we see today are because of it .. to overcome this, we have to reincarnate (may not be a correct word) our culture & tradition.
Amul fame Verghese Kurien .. says .. it is the common man that we have to awake to bring the transformations in the society.

He mentioned that both of the above personalities have no relation with RSS but their conclusion is same as what RSS is following for last 80+ yrs.

Dr. Patnaik's talk

This one was also very good. he started in Hindi & then took permission to switch to English. he was sarcastic about the salaries that IT prof. get against in IISc prof. Then he also talked about:

Professional Hazard .. he mentioned that as age increases, ppl expect you to be president of a function & ask to cut rebins.
& Career Menopause in IT industry .. here he mentioned that ppl at his age do not know HTML, JAVA, ORACLE, etc & it is difficult for them to connect. he made a remark that you young ppl are expert in creating versions :-)

He was very empathic about IT professional's contribution to society .. to bridge the "Digital Divide" .. he appealed that IT professionals must spend time at least in the field of education at school or college level.

He expressed sadness that we do not have any good professionals who want to take up teaching as job as IT industry has nice pay & good perks. But at the same time he also accepted that nothing can be done & both academia & industry should respect each other. We in IT industry have more hands on experience in solving real-time issues. We should share this with the students. He mentioned that students out there are waiting for us to guide them & do good projects.

According to him we can do work in health-care or other sectors as well but it is easy & will create more impact if we contribute for education.

Overall a nice 2 hrs. program.

BJP's advertise in UP & TIMES NOW

2007-04-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

"क्या इनके इरादे पाक हे ?" on 10 & 11-APR-07 this created a a contraversy in UP.

Actually it is a self generated controvescy by media.

I happen to see a debate on TIMES NOW about this on 11-APR-07, evening 9 PM news. The anchors were hell bend to call BJP a communal party & were not ready to listen to either Prakash Jevdekar or the other journalist that they had called for the debate.

Prakash Jevdekar made it clear that BJP has plans to release 7 such advertises on 7 topics during the UP elections & this one was 4th in the series. The TIMES NOW anchors were least intereasted to acknolodge the earlier 3 advertisements & finally he cut short the debate ending it in his favour saying UP elections are most communal so far.

If TIMES NOW had planned to close the discussions i their way, why did they call the other participants for the debate ?

Intelligence advisory & Mumbai police & TIMES NOW

2007-01-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

A few days back TIMES NOW was running a story about an intelligence advisory that Mumbai police has received, saying about 500 to 600 militants have entered the city.

Their correspondent looked over enthusiastic (& over confident) as he had somehow got hold of the official paper. But the way the entire story was being aired, I felt ashamed that I was a witness to that piece or work running on TV. The entire team looked very very arrogant the way they presented the work. It was being sensationalised beyond the scope. Mumbai police seemed very correct in their reaction in playing down the threat not to instill fear in ordinary Mumbai citizen's minds. TIMES NOW in fact interviewed a former police officer & he rightly pointed out that the police would have reacted to the advisory & all the details of the operation cannot be made public. But the presenters were continuously insisting that the Mumbai police should accept that they have not reacted to the advisory & it is their fault + TIMES NOW (& the correspondent) should be awarded for doing police work. The presenters were repeatedly saying that the advisory affects the normal Mumbaikar & the details should be made public. It looked a public stunt + to get attention by over sensationalising the issue. The story completely lacked any seance of responsibility towards the contents.

Helmet Compulsory in Bangalore !

2006-11-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

Starting from 1st NOV 06, the police in Bangalore has started enforcing the helmate rule religiously. Many news-papers have published of police collecting lakhs as fine.

I'm proud of Bangalore police enforcing the law. But ? Am I proud of Bangalore police ?

Remember our beloved CM's son & honorable ex-prime minister's grand-son ? Where is he ? I guess should be driving his Hummer ready to beat some more poor hotel staff. So the law of land is for the poor janata of the land & not for the masters ?

Youth trying to see Indian PrimeMinister

2006-07-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

I strongly feel that it was an event un-necessarily blowen up by the STUPID media.

I was in Delhi a few months back & I also had the same urge to go & see Mr. PrimeMinister. It was like I have come travelling from 2000 KM & spending lots of money & energy .. and I would be very lucky to see him.

The security guards should be punished for not stopping the youth. Why did Sahara dismissed their employee is a puzzle.