Democracy blooms in Afghanistan

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Losing the war on Afghan drugs

And, it brings poppy with it. Dude, somebody was smoking when they said they will export democracy to Afghanistan.

Bollywood and Global warming

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I watched a Hindi movie on DVD that made me think of the impact of global warming on Bollywood. No, seriously… The impact of global warming was clear – heroines wearing really skimpy outfits because of the rise in temperatures. Then, no images of flowers touching each other in the breeze to cover the kissing – I am guessing the environmental destruction has made it cost prohibitive to find flowers. And, the lack of rains meant no more songs in the rain.

Desis and the Laxman Rekha

I was there at the Indian Consulate in Chicago today to get a visa for a friend. Boy, the place is like any other desi office – chairs strewn all over, staff ambling in well past 9 a.m., one person behind the window to accept the applications and people made to wait to submit their application. But, I did manage to get out there in 25 minutes with my sanity almost intact.

I had to return in the evening to collect the passport. The place was a mess. There were at least three lines and I had no idea why. I picked the longest line. Not that I love lines but years of standing in lines in India has helped me figure out that usually the longest one is the one that I should be in. There was so much jostling and confusion – three people at the window at the same time and everyone else right behind them. It made me wonder why desis can’t form a single line, stand behind the yellow line. Then it hit me – we have had this problem for eons. Had Sita stayed behind the line there would have been no Ramayana.

About time

BBC NEWS | South Asia | State's Muslim job quota quashed    

Finally… some sense prevails. WTF were they thinking? How about a level playing field for all? Nothing more and nothing else.

Selling it...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Israel halts Indian conversions    

How is that this does not extend to the like of Benny Hinn and other marketers?

Ron Hira Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai *

* What Makes Albert Pinto Angry? (after, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai)

Dr. Ron Hira, is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Rochester Institute of Technology and IEEE-USA's chair on Career & workflow Policy. He is very vocal critic of outsourcing, offshoring and H1B. And, often gets quoted in articles regarding this issue. For a while I was surprised and angry with this guy of Indian origin for his stance on outsourcing and offshoring. But, I do realize that it is bad to form an opinion based on statements attributed to him in articles written by others.

So, the other day I listened to a conference hosted by Software  Development magazine featuring him. And, that made me realize that he is just doing his job. He is an office bearer of IEEE-USA (the US local chapter) and is concerned about fewer people choosing to become engineers. He is also concerned about the government not having a clear policy to handle the effects of offshoring. And, he is upset about the visa loopholes that are being abused by corporations – local and foreign. Fair enough…Hero Hira-lal!!!



    

A fresh blast of reality

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Deadly blasts hit Indian capital

So, there was a time after the Kashmir earthquake that both India and Pakistan were making statements as if the ground reality had changed due to the earthquake.

I was amused and alarmed at the various statements - amused at Mush's suggestion at throwing open the Line of Control border (which he does not recognize) after taking his own sweet time to get aid to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (probably wanted to make sure that there were no evidence of them helping the terrorists). Then, there were reports stating the terrorists camps may have been destroyed by nature. This, when the terrorists managed to kill over ten people immediately after the quake to prove that it is business as usual for them.

Now comes this co-ordinated blasts in Delhi around Diwali time - a reminder that fighting evil is not by turning the other cheek. Or, that in this case an eye for an eye can make people see things in a new light. Time to act rather than pussy foot peace.

Salad Bowl or Melting Pot... who cares?

washingtonpost.com: Myth of the Melting Pot: America's Racial and Ethnic Divides    

It has been a while since I updated my blog. And, it was a while back that my colleagues and I had this discussion over lunch. The topic of conversation was “American culture”. The guy from Russia felt that was an oxymoron. A few of us felt there are very little efforts made to reach out and understand other cultures. Of course, the Pakistani guy felt it was the best – “salad bowl” that is what he called it – take the best of different cultures and throw the worst. Wonder which culture gave him “scheme IKEA” and “share DirecTV receivers”.

Anyway, I wonder why we always get caught up with this mine is better than yours.  The Washington Post special is really good.

Sounds familiar

Chinese tourists getting a bad image

Flying from the US to India with fellow desis is always an experience. They form an orderly line to check in here at ORD. And, by the time they reboard in LON there is just a semblance of order. Once you get to India all order vanishes. It is difficult to believe it is the same set of people behaving this way.

It is as if the flight or cab will leave without them. Or, maybe the darwinian "survival of the fittest" that has been ingrained in them whhile growing up playing out.

Partying like the infidels

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Huge alcohol seizure in Pakistan

Looks like Bin Laden's buddies love to party the way the infidels do. Whazzaup ... with that?

Rural riches

Poor rural India? It's a richer place

The IHT article is interesting and heart warming. I wonder how the picture will look if the government eliminates the subsidies like free electricity, free water and reserve prices.

Don't get me wrong. I think farmers in India have a tough time - mostly because of lack of access to capital and information. As for the subsidies those are usually lapped up by the rich farmers and in quite a few cases "farmers" on paper.

Look ma... its our neighbour

Names of Vanishing Companies,Dates of Incorporation,Names of Directors and

I came across this list. It was tucked in some article. The site is rather slow. But, hey I think these guys should get same amount of publicity as sexual predators and violent criminals.

So, if you find someone you know on this list call the cops.

Just another day in paradise

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Cruel joke' of India's relief effort  

So, I waited for someone to create one of those wonderful emails that does lot of chest thumping,  tells us how wonderful we are – like, the one that came after hurricane Katrina that compared US relief efforts after the hurricane with Indian relief effort after the Mumbai  rains. It never appeared. Wonder if the writer of the original email has gone into hiding.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to show our humanitarian side and also gain some much wanted political mileage out of it. But, it never happened. It is not just the government; even the NGOs did not seem to care. Search the web for Indian websites accepting donations for Kashmir earthquake, there is hardly any.

Hopes that the earthquake would dent the militancy were quashed very early. On the day of the earthquake they killed a few people. And, quickly followed up with more killings.

Most people think that militancy in Kashmir started immediately after Indian independence and the secession of Kashmir to India. They don’t realize that while the seeds of the problem were sown at the time of independence, militancy started only in the 80s after a series of rigged elections, absolutely no efforts at developing the local economy. In the early 90s I had a chance to share a train journey from Madras to Delhi with a Kashmiri couple. We played Antakshari and talked about a number of things. One of the things the man told me stuck with me – “when we have 3 hrs of electricity a day in winter and hardly any jobs it make it a little more easy for people to choose militancy.”

I bet if people had opportunities and were busy making money there would be less chance for militancy.

Can you walk with the devil to cross the bridge?

In the company of scoundrels

We all think that people who look like us, dress like and are educated like us (or, even better) will think like us. Sai falls into this trap. He is hoping that Dr. Singh and President Kalam would act as he thinks he would. I guess he fails to realize that both owe their current positions to the Indian political establishment.

President Kalam may be a great scientist but he is not a great politician. Einstein was smart when turned down the Israeli presidency. Same with Dr. Singh - he won't win an election in any place other than a "safe" constituency. The only guy living mentioned in the article who has been elected by the masses is Laloo. Love him or hate him but you can't deny that the guy can "connect" with his base.

I remembered something from an article - "He tried to change the system but the system changed him." The article was talking about Rajiv Gandhi but I guess same is true for a lot of actors in Indian politics - Dr. Singh and President Kalam are no exceptions.

Of Terrorists, Radicals and Nobel Peace

BBC NEWS | Europe | ElBaradei wins Nobel peace prize

There were two news items this week that made me take notice - the random coincidences that makes you wonder if it could have been any better had it been planned.

The first one was President Bush making yet another speech about "war on humanity" by "terrorists and other radicals" (wonder, if the far right falls in the other radicals group). And, even before I could figure this out came the news of IAEA winning the Nobel peace prize. Wasn't this the same organization that was being called ineffective by Bush? At times it looked as though he would go to war against ElBaradei. Now, he must be having the last laugh.

Unions = stupid herd

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India hit by strike over reforms

I have a pet theory - unions everywhere are stupid. Unions, pilots and cab drivers world over are the same.

I often wonder if the trade unions have always been so stupid or just evolved to be so stupid. World over they seem to do their best to make life miserable for everyone else other than themselves.

In India strikes called by unions and their political supporters (usually, the reds who live in delusion-land) is quite common. The people who are affected by these strikes by government and bank workers are the poorer people who have to work everyday to feed themselves. These daily wages folks are dependent on the public transport, public and private institutions to earn their living. They don't know entitlement - they don't know job security or government pay checks. I wish the government would have the balls to do what Dr. JJ did in Tamilnadu - she fired all striking government workers enmasse. The fired workers went to court and lost their case. The government does not owe you a paycheck. You bloody well work for it. And, if the market is chhanging be prepared to adapt to the changing market.

Here in the US, I was amused by United airlines attendants threatening wildcat strikes to protest against United axing the pension. United had to axe the pension because they are in financial trouble - partly because of the strike they had in summer of 2000, the world economy after 9/11 and general managerial incompetence. The attendants are lucky they have a job and the airline is still flying. So, how does going on strike help them keep their job or improve the airline's financial situation.

Uh-ho! What happened to the Big O?

I never have had issues with Overstock. But, this time it is different. They screwed up and screwed up big. I ordered “Business and its Environment”, 5th Edition on 9/9. The product was supposed to be in stock. And, ever since then the order status shows “In Process”.  Last Thursday I called them regarding the ship date and was told by the Customer Service Agent that it would be shipped end of day. And, when I did not get a shipping notification on Friday, I called them again. This time I was told that the agent do not know if the order had been shipped. She said she will send a message to the warehouse to get an update on the order and that the turn around time from the warehouse is 3-4 days. Imagine a 3-4 day turnaround on order update. Anyway, I told her to include in the message that if they had not shipped the order they should cancel it. She promised that I would get an update from the warehouse in 3-4 days. So, when I had not heard anything from them, I called them again today. This time the agent told me that their order tracking system is down for an upgrade but she “thinks” that my order “would have been shipped”. Still waiting on an order placed on 9/9.

"It seemed like the entire country was for sale."

BBC NEWS | South Asia | KGB book claims spark India row

Yes, we always knew that capitalistic ideology was rife among the politicians - it was always sell to the highest bidder. The high school books teach that the Brits looted India and made it a shell of its former self. Wonder how much have our own politicians looted in the last 50 odd years. It would be an interesting analysis.

Don't know what to make of this

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistanis 'put religion first'

My first thought after reading this news article is that Pakis are atleast honest while Indians have started believing in the lie - the lie of secularism. Now, I won't be surprised by that. Afterall, we have been at it for so long that I would be surprised if we did not "believe" that we are "secular". The reality is still the same - you have different civil laws depending on your religion, holidays for every single religion and get better government handouts if you are part of a "minority". Note that "minority" as defined by the government of india is not necessarily the numerical minority.

BTW, I also noticed that the sample size of the survey is different across India and Pakistan. Next, they going to tell me that they did the Pakistani survey at Madrasa in NWFP on a Friday afternoon and the Indian survey at the Parliament house in Delhi.

Tragedies: How two nations count...

Having been in India and US for a numbber of years and seen how the two nations report tragedies I could not escape noticing the difference.

In early 2001, I remember my American colleague telling me in grave tone that there had been a strong earthquake in Gujarat and about 1000 people were dead. My nonchalance irked him. I told him I would be really happy if the death toll was just 1000. As it turned out it was about 20000 according to estimates.

Then in Spetember of that year I had a chance to see how US reacts and reports tragedies. The first reports regarding the attack on Pentagon said over a few thousand had died and over the next few days it kept dropping to a few hundreds to finally somewhere over 200.

I have seen the same being repeated when the Tsunami hit India and Hurricane Katrina hit the US.

I am not sure which style of reporting is better. The Indian way downplays the tragedy while the American one blows it out of proportion. Maybe, blowing it out of proportion allows to mobilize action and get aid. But, I would rather have something closer to the actual.

Vain gestures

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tsunami victims still on the streets  

The last week I read this article. And, around the same time I heard that India was sending relief supplies for Hurricane Katrina. Then came the obligatory email comparing Indian response to the Mumbai rains to US government response to Hurricane Katrina. Of course, if hadn’t guessed it, it was lot of chest thumping and how better we are. We Indians are very good at symbolic gestures and chest thumping that generate nothing more than an ego surge.

One year after the Tsunami we have loads of people still living on the streets. I could not miss the irony – the tent colony is called Kargil Nagar, after the Indo-Pak Kargil skirmish. I guess it is their way of showing their patriotism to a nation that has pretty much forgotten them. And, if this is the state of affairs in Tamilnadu, I bet things are worse in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

So, before we use unimportant statistics to show how  better we are lets ask ourselves if we are so better why is it that in pretty much  economic/ quality of comparisons Americans  are ahead of us. And, before you send relief supplies to the US ask if there are folks back home that are in need of them. Finally, the government and the agencies here would have done a lot more for the people affected in the next year than you can expect to happen there in the next decade.

  

Desis and innovative interpretations of the return policy

I have heard a number of stories of desis FOB use the liberal return policies offered by some stores here to their advantage. Back in 95 when I first came to the US I heard a number of stories about desis on short trips to the US buying electronics and returning it in three months (just within the 90 day return policy). I thought it was just some FOB SOBs who indulged in this kind of behavior. Something happened recently that makes me wonder if it is cultural or even genetic.

I heard this American of Pakistani decent mention that he returned a three year old furniture piece to IKEA. And, what more it does not require the original receipt or packing. Just need to make sure IKEA carries the product in its catalog. Now, I love IKEA. I think it is very utilitarian furniture. But, I could not believe that IKEA return policy was better than that of my other favorite – Costco (It has one of the best return policies). So, I started spreading the word. Soon another guy decided to make use of this new knowledge.

He had piece of furniture that he had bought a while back and did not have a place for it in his new home. He called IKEA and was told that they have 45 day return policy. So we decided to ask our buddy how he managed to return the three year old piece.

Turns out the dude goes and buy a new piece (replacement, as he called it). He then returned the old, used, nicked piece with the new receipt. He passed off the old as new. We called it cheating. And, he pretended he had not heard us.

This is no desi FOB. The guy grew up here, went to a great school and holds a decent job  that lets him  afford more than IKEA.

A perfect storm and a few storm in the tea cups

Katrina exposed America's seamy side

Shenoy makes some interesting points. But, the truth is people everywhere are pretty much the same. When they feel they can get away with unlawful activities they will try. Didn't someone say - Integrity has no need for rules. Maybe the looting, shooting and rape did not happen when the tsunami struck India. But, it did happen after Mrs. Gandhi's killing, Rajiv Gandhi's killing, after Babri Masjid and Godhra - the list is endless. Each and every time the perpetrators thought they can get away with it.

Katrina was in many ways a perfect storm - a strong hurricane which was met with complacent public and government machinery. Yes, the federal response was slow but did the state and city officials do enough. Maybe the federal funding for fixing the levee was cut but did the state do enough to protect its citizens? The bickering and finger pointing is something new. And, mama Bush seem to be suffering from "foot in mouth" disease.


The generosity of average American continues to amaze me. Initially I thought the likes of BillG was skewing the national average indicated by Turbotax. But, the last few years has shown me there is more to it. I don't think we Indians come anywhere close to that. We keep money as if we got special permission to take it with us when we go on the last journey.

Democrazy and rule of blah blooms in the desert

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Lawyer denies Saddam confession

First they announce to the media that Saddam confessed. Then, comes the news that he never did. Maybe they were trying the US style - try, sentence and analyze by media even before the trial begins.

Dunno why it is called nano

Apple - iPod nano

"Impossibly small" screams the marketing BS. Now, this ain't the smallest mp3 player or the one with the most features or even one with most features in that size package. Nice try Mr. Jobs. You should have called it Shuffle with display or Shuffle done right.

That said, I am sure that there are going to be a lot of suckers who will fall for this - fall into the cult, like the 1984 Super bowl ad that launched the original Mac and promised save people from existing cult of PC users.

I am sure the name will make my friend who does research in nanotechnology cringe. He feels people, corporations and media confuse miniaturization with nano technology. And, I am sure iPod nano will muddy the waters further.

BTW, what will the next, smaller version of iPod be called? How about... iPod dunno

New Orleans is farther than Baghdad

BBC NEWS | Americas | Viewpoint: New Orleans crisis shames US

The government can send troops to Baghdad to "spread democracy" faster than save its own citizens in the Big Easy. It took them a week to fix the breached levee.

Indifferent about Rediff.com

It is sad. It used to be one of my favourite sites. But, it seem to have gone down the drain - both in content and technology.

This morning I tried send feedback to Ajith Balakrishnan at the email id posted on rediff.com. Here is my letter and what happened afterwards.

To: ajit-balakrishnanATrediff.co.in
Subject: Rediff: New look, same annoying popups and pop unders
Sent: Thursday, September 1, 2005 1:26 PM
Hi,
Back in 1996 I first went to Rediff on the Net and loved it. Nowadays, I dread going there. Every time I get to your site I am bombarded with at least three pop-unders and a few popups. And, this is in addition to those irritating psychedelic colored ads that seem to be everywhere on the page.

I understand that you guys are a portal and need to make money by putting ads. But, spend some money on site design, navigation and usability. See how Yahoo does it - they do it well. The new rediff.com site does not address these issues.

The problem has become so bad that I stopped going to rediff.com on a regular basis. Instead, I use msn's start.com to read the rediff feeds.

Please do something about the site usability and those irritating ads.

Thanks

And, the response I got was this

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at crimson.rediff.co.in.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

ajit-balakrishnanATrediff.co.in:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)

--- Enclosed is a copy of the message.

I generally do not give up that easily. So, I went to rediff.com, navigated to the feedback section and tried emailing customer service. And, guess what I got

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mail1.rediff.co.in.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

customersupportATrediff.co.in:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)

--- Enclosed is a copy of the message.

At this point I gave up.

PS: I replaced @ with AT in this posting to save these sorry souls from spam. But, looks like their email box is well protected.

Mini in maxi trouble

The Apple Store (U.S.)

Apple's mini was supposed to catapult Apple to the top of the personal computers market. Looks like that was just a dream. Now, they are pinning their hopes on MacTels. I don't think that is going to happen. Milk the iPod until the craze lasts and then go back to being a "niche" player.

Reality bites...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Encephalitis spreading' in India
BBC NEWS | South Asia | India child malnutrition deaths

A few days back I received an email from a friend titled "India in the future". It was the work of someone who had lot of time on their hands and poor imagination. It was about some "phoren" folks waiting at the Indian Embassy to come work in India. I guess the writer must have spent quite some time at the US consultates in India for an US visa. Anyway, it was around the same time I read these two articles.

The reality on the ground is far from rosy. Before we become the nation of choice for all information services we should try provide our citizens access to information. And, before we become the world's biggest genric drug manufacturer and center for drug research we should figure out how to help provide primary health care to our citizens.

First... do no harm

BBC NEWS | Africa | Can aid do more harm than good?

I have always wondered why the west is eager to write checks to save the poor in Africa and else where but reluctant to remove the subsidies on agriculture in their own countries. It is the classic case of giving fish but refusing to teach/help them learn fishing.

A few years back I used to be a member of Amnesty International. I quit when I realized that I can't get involved in human rights activities related to my home country. Instead, I was being asked to send petitions to governments of other nations based on the stories in the Amnesty International newsletters. The person who is close/ on the ground is the best resource to assess and act, not someone sitting miles away.

One in the bag. Will others follow suit?

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian state bans plastic bag use

I wish other states would follow suit.

WWGS...who the f*@k cares?

Of stem cells, what would Gandhi say? - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

What would Gandhi say? This seems to be the desi version of WWJD. Seriously, who cares? The author has done a good job of indulging in selective quoting. And, invoking Gandhi is a ploy of the stupid.

“Thus, for Hindus, as much as for Catholics, life begins at conception”, says the author. But, he fails to mention that divinity in man is a very common concept in Hinduism.  Then, he quotes Mahabharata and how the Kauravas were born from a mass of flesh that was divided (cloning? Stem cells?) . And, that their birth is considered as an ominous event. He fails to mention that according to the same epic the Kauravas entered heaven even before the Pandavas (the good guys did).  

The concepts in Mahabharata and Hinduism are pretty simple as I understand it (and, since it is not religion based on a book or an institution, I think I am as good an expert as anyone else) – Do no evil, Good and bad are two sides of same coin just like life and death, and what you sow is what you reap even if it may be deferred. So, let us not drag Mahabharata or Hinduism into what is essentially a Christian debate.

My thought is simple – if you have the right and means to destroy a life then you should have the right and means to create one. And, since we have pioneered numerous ways to achieve the former it is time we start focusing on the later.

FDA fails to do its job and the consumers pay

BBC NEWS | Business | US giant punished for faulty drug

Ok, did Vioxx go through FDA trials and approval? I think they did. And, now Merck is dinged with $253m damages in another case of the stupid jury.

This is the first of the 4200 lawsuits. Guess what, your drug prices are going to go up.

Bankrupt Promises

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India villagers get job promise

Damned if you, damed if you don't. That is the story here. If you do, the government goes bankrupt and if they don't they are out next time. Reminds me of what Maggie Thatcher once said - The job of the government is to create opportunities, not give handouts. When will our desi guys get this.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Justice delayed is justice denied

Who are the guilty?

Growing up on Hindi movies I would often wonder when the oft repeat line "The house of God is late but never dark". Often, this line in the movie was to portray that justice was finally served. Let us leave the discussion on exiistence of God aside for now. I always thought this was a stupid line. The judiciary system has nothing to do with God, it is man made and a good one is useful to build a strong nation. A judiciary system that comes with a report 20 years from when the crime was committed and then does not go far enough is a joke.

We all know who the perpetrators are. What we don't know till date is who pulled the strings. Yes, the silence of the judiciary is bad enough but the silence of the public is deafening. The "secularists" must be feeling why go after the lesser of two evils.

An aside - It is interesting to note the Indian ministers tender their resignation to Sonia Gandhi first and not the Prime Minister. Indians seem to fall at the feet of the women leaders - Indira, Jayalalitha and now Sonia. Bravo....

India : Tragedy of the commons

Yesterday, a friend of mine mentioned that we indians have come to realize that less government is better. He gave me the example of middle class indians increasingly buying generators and invertors to overcome the erratic power supply as a sign of it.

I am not sure if that can be taken as a sign of anything other than "I got enough money. I don't care about the electricity board and power. I have my ways". I guess, this "I have my ways" is the root cause of corruption. After all for corruption to thrive there should be supply and demand.

Now, if only the middle class will assert itself by making its elected representatives and the electricity board accountable. And, do its part like pay the electricity bills on time, not tamper the meters etc...

This phenomenon is not restricted to individuals. Take the darlings of the Indian industry - they demand special rates/ conversion of farmland to commercial land to setup their campuses. Why can't they pay the market price? Then, they setup hotels within their campuses so save their corporate guests from the traffic jams and pollution. Why can't they exert their influence in creating a better infrastructure? I have always wondered why a country full of IT companies has very little IT consumption both in the public and private sector. Why can't these companies offer their IT services to the public institutions in return for tax sops.

Chutzpah?!

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Art prankster sprays Israeli wall

Maybe, this is what they call in Yiddish - chutzpah. Love this guy! And, love his art.

Salaam Bombay

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Mumbai's looming ecological disaster

A lot has been written in the media about the spirit of the people of Bombay. I would like to applaud their spirit, their ability to pick up and carry on with their lives as if nothing has happened and possibly repeat the same thing all over next year.

I would be in awe of the spirit of Bombayites if they could hold their elected officials and beauracrats accountable for the disaster that happened. The utter paralysis of official machinery was amazing. The information super power was not able to provide information that could have helped its citizens save their lives.

Rains disrupt life in south India

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Rains disrupt life in south India

Here is an idea... cut down more trees, fill the rivers with garbage and the hillsides with the cheap plastic bags and all this will go away. If it doesn't rain it is a problem and if it rains it is a problem.

Every time I travel through Kerala I see the hills stripped clean, rivers running dry, the farm land converted to concrete homes and plastic bags of various colors litter the landscape.

Yes....Give me Bombay every time!

Give me Bombay every time

They say the Bombay is like the Big Apple, only that New York is far better. I have not been to NYC so I can't vouch to that. I have been to Bombay, spent some time there. And, I will take Boambay any day, even over my dear Madras (a bit grudgingly).

One Open Source idea that will take off

BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Free' Danish beer makes a splash

I am not sure about the rest of the software stuff.

Konfunded by Konfabulator

Yahoo!, here we come!

Bet folks at Apple are grimacing at this. Now, the "great" dashboard feature that is avialable on Tiger is available for free on good old Windows. The guys at konfabulator used to make this for Apple and charge a nominal fee. Then, Apple in good Redmond tradition decided to copy the feature and give the guys who came up with it no credit. So, when Apple announced the Tiger and put up posters proclaiming "Redmond, start your copying engines" the guys at konfabulator came up with their own - "Cupertino, start your copying engines".

But, here is the sweet revenge - Yahoo buys them and makes konfabulator free. Now, that is fabulous especially for the guys at Redmond.

Speaking of Apple, first the "knowledgable" analysts were proclaiming that Mac Mini will Mac an household name. Now, that does not seem to be happening. So, they have started saying that MacTel (Mac on Intel) will do the trick. Doubt it. In the Mac / Intel relationship I bet that it is Intel that is holding all the cards. And, as long as the ego maniac is around as the CEO Apple is doomed to be niche player.

Another case of entitlement

BBC NEWS | Business | Indian strikes turn violent again

The striking workers are welcome to find a job that pays them more elsewhere. Who the f*@! do they think they are?

Forgotten

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Inmate's 50 years without trial

Now, this is a bad state to be in. Hopefully, the new information super power can make sure that such things do not happen again.

What is in a name?

Windows Vista draws, jokes, scorn, approval | CNET News.com

The other day we were discussing the merits and demerits of the new name for Longhorn. All of us agreed that Microsoft has always done a lousy job of naming its products. Then, it occured to us that may be it runs in the family. I mean, what is BillG's name - William H Gates III. So, two generations of Gates weren't creative to come up with a different name for their child.

Tut.. tut..What happened to "Do no Evil"?

Police: Orkut used as Brazilian drug network | CNET News.com

Of course, I am sure there arre people who believe this is not evil. If guys at google are so smart, I bet they should be able to come up with software that would monitor such stuff and report to the friendly neighbourhood law enforcement folks. Then again, some folks will think that is evil.

Kerala: Gods' own hell's hole

Anthrax scare: Kerala lifts ban on milk from TN

This one is funny. Funny, because I know what is behind the anthrax scare. My folks live in Kerala, just across the border from Tamilnadu. They get milk manufactured in Tamilnadu, packed in sachets with Malayalam labeling at very competitive price. The folks in Kerala have been doing their best to try ban food, vegetable and diary items from Tamilnadu. You see the folks in Kerala have this sense of enntitlement - they expect to be paid more, work less.

On any given day you will find labourers from other states as far as Rajasthan and W. Bengal working in Kerala - work Keralities refuse to do (certianly not at the price offered). Some of the contractors have different pay scales for local and out-of-state workers. Local folks get a flat rate with the usual lunch and tea breaks. The out of state folks are paid for performance at a lower rate.

I have never come across a land so beautiful as Kerala. Sometimes, I feel this is because of its people - who hate progress as that would mean they will have to get off their butts.

Honk if you love this!

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Blitz on Indian noise pollution

How I wish they will also rule against the speakers from temples, mosques and churches calling the faithful to prayer. Now, before you start calling me names stop and think what the faithful did before loudspeakers and electricity were around.

Multi-culturalism under spotlight

BBC NEWS | UK | UK multi-culturalism under spotlight

A friend of mine sent me this link with comment that next on line is Canada. He feels that multiculturalism embraced by UK and Canada is not working while the US "melting pot" is better. Now, of course, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote (with Nathan Glazer) in "Beyond the Melting Pot", that there is no real melting pot and the way to a richer and more harmonious America is not through the destruction of communal pasts and identities but rather through the transformation of them to help create a better America (or, what I call as multiculturalism).

Embedded in my friend's argument is that culture is linked only to religion and intolerability is the monopoly of militant islam. I think culture is related to religion, ethinicity and the environment. And, as for intolerability just look around - you have examples of islamic, jewish, christian and hindu intolerability. The moment you think my religion/way of life is better than yours the seeds of conflict are sown.

IMDT Act is the biggest barrier to deportation

The Hindu : National : IMDT Act is the biggest barrier to deportation, says Supreme Court

Finally, someone has the sense and courage to deal with the truth. Most of the "secular" parties claiming that there is no illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Now, what are we going to do about it? Deport them? Looks like the war of 1972 was a pyrrhic victory - yet another Islamic nation with the same problem as others.

Lost in translation

Lost in translation

Ok, looks like I was wrong with my earlier post titled "Hypocrisy...". I just followed the press reports without reading the text of the speech.

Tell Dell go to Hell

Dell without a 'Care' in the world | CNET News.com

So, Dell (which rhymes with Hell) has found a swell way to make more money from support. Remove the support forums, eliminate peer support and force people to call Dell support. Nice idea...

Secularism gone bad...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Muslim charity claims Taj Mahal

No kidding! You must be joking - the ASI is forced to give up control to Waqf board because it houses muslim graves. How about this logic - Given that it houses the graves of ruler of a dynasty that raided india, the land was forcefully taken by them and it rightfully belongs to the original people - the Hindus.

London bombs: The Iraq question

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | London bombs: The Iraq question

The post war intelligence is as good as the post war intelligence. And, it would be stupid to say that the Iraq war was not a factor. That said what happened was horrible.

Both sides should remember the old saying - "soldiers fight and the kings are the heroes".

Hypocrisy...thy name is Indian Politics

PM should apologise : BJP

So, first they call Jinnah a great man and of course, expect that it does not insult the millions of Indians. And, now when the PM calls the British rule beneficial they cause a rukcus. While both are right, neither of them should have been expressed in so many words in public by an Indian politician.

I think Jinnah was a great man but to foist himself to eternal greatness he had to seek the partition of a nation. Of course, as the other side of the same coin is that Nehru diid not want to give up his chance at eternal greatness. His family would treat the Prime Ministership of India as a family affair for the next forty years.

As for the Brits, they gave us the railways, the judicial system, the bureaucracy and most importantly the language which I am using to communicate (and, we are using to grow as an economic superpower). I only wish we could have improved upon on what they left behind - a train service that keeps to the timetable, a judiciary that works faster, a bureaucracy that is less corrupt.

Busted!

BBC NEWS | Europe | False breasts betray exam cheats

Yep, that was it.

What is my baggage?

Yesterday, I went to a desi wedding (Actually, an ABCD) here in US of A. It was the first desi wedding I have been to. It certainly was an interesting experience and provided great insights into the desi community.

The bride and the groom were of south indian origin - same caste, creed, color and religion. Their fathers had doctorates and were by all means educated and successful. But, the image that got etched in my mind was that of the groom's parents having food while the guests were lining up by the buffet counter. Yes, I do understand that "custom" demands that the bride's family bear the costs and efforts related to the wedding. But, the guests were invitees of both sides. I have never come across a wedding or event where the hosts have food before serving the guests. Then, there were the usual stories of how the groom's parents were giving the bride's folks a hard time about pretty much everything. These well educated men have carried their baggage of prejudicies with them all the way from India and kept them alive and well for over 25 years.

Of course, there were the usual desi stuff - nothing running on time, people RSVP that they are coming and then don't turn up, when they turn up they are late by over an hour. The MC was of North indian origin and did a great job of butchering the tamil names of people and ceremonies. I am sure if it had been an American MC'ing the event they would have made an effort to learn the right pronunciation.

I realized that it is not just the Manglorean Chrisitians in the US who are stuck in a time warp when it comes to music (playing and signing songs from the 70s), it is true for these Tamilians, too. And, I have a feeling it is true for every other desi community in US. The ABCD kids and their parents probably keep listening to the songs the parents grew up with.

There were a few things that struck odd - like clapping at the end of each ceremony. Hey, it is a wedding not a superbowl game. Then, the dancing at the end of the day. Never been to a south indian wedding in Chennai with dancing. Of course, the music was Bhangra pop with Daler Mehndi having a field day (wonder what happened to the charges of human traficking against him).

At the end of the day, I was asking myself what baggage am I carrying? I am sure I have. I wish it is just a hand luggage not something big enough for me to have checked in. And, I wish someone would confront me regarding it - sooner, the better.

Vacuum ...where?

Leaving a Vacuum at Wipro

A lot has been said about Vivek Paul's departure from Wipro and how it "clouds" the future of Wipro. So, I decided to see if Paul has been really good for Wipro. I did a 5yr Investment Growth graph on MSN Money for WIT and compared it with INFY. Guess what, they are pretty much identical. So, what Paul was able to do for Wipro, folks at Infosys were able to do for themselves (keep in mind it was during this time Infosys US head quit on sexual harrassment charges).

So, where does that leave us? Vivek Paul certainly did not screw things up at Wipro and certainly increased its international profile. His personality and ability to quote Jack W of GE helped him become a darling of the western press who suddenly had to cover stuff about offshoring. Wipro has had somexstrong leadership before Vivek Paul (remember Ashok Soota) and will probably continue to have good leadership. And, as for the vacuum, I think it is in the heads of these reporters.

Me too...

Go files antitrust suit against Microsoft | CNET News.com

I am going to file an antitrust suit against Microsoft. I am not sure what I will claim - maybe, the 900 pound gorilla out of Redmond killed my business dreams because they were so big. Anyway, the chances of a payout seems to be reasonably good.

Aha moments at B-school

A friend of mine warned me that MBA is a "commonsense" degree and there are hardly any "aha moments" in it like in engineering where you get to learn those cool stuff.

Here is my favortie "aha moment" - Comparative advantage. Never have I come across something so simple yet in a sense counter intuitive.

Get ready to get Ajax'ed

There was a time when the only Ajax I knew or cared about was a soccer club in Europe with its wonderful stadium in Amsterdam

Now, a new Ajax (short name for Async. Javascript and XML. Read about it here) is making its presence felt on the web. I think we are going to see more of this. Microsoft is making it move with Atlas.

Who are these cartoon characters?

BBC NEWS | Americas | Mexico stands firm in stamp row

Yes, who are these cartoon characters who make a big deal about memin pinguin? Last time I checked the mexicans did not import labor from africa, force them to work in the fields, treat them like third class citizens till recent times and did not do any lyching (leave alone take time over offering an apology).

Sometimes I think we make mountains of mole hills and fail to tackle the real mountains.

How f*'ed up is this?

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Protest against India rape fatwa

Why can't we have a uniform civil code, a judiciary that acts fast and more stringent laws against rape and sexual harrassment? Funny thing is we have no issues "electing" a foreign woman to the highest office.

Wanderlust

Tech's next watering hole | Perspectives | CNET News.com

Maybe it is the star sign or maybe its just me, I keep switching between chilling out at home and hitting the road for a long time. In recent times I have been called a number of things including "economic adventurer from a third world country" by a guy on a messageboard on offshoring. For him and other like him, here is a Brazilian saying - "snake that does not move ends up as a belt".

As for me, I have been talking about moving to cities that end in "ai". The ones that I had in mind were Dubai, Shanghai, Mumbai (the NY of India) and Chennai ( I am just mad about it). A friend of mine pointed out that Madurai also fits the criteria. I am not sure I want to spend time in the capital of the Pandya kingdom. I would certainly love to visit.

Loved the last line in the article referenced above. Vegas baby...

Yet another day in the Middle East

They say that people who are abused are more likely to become abusers themselves. Maybe that explains the Middle East problem...

I will drink to that... Guinness, of course!

The End of the Rainbow - New York Times

Bitch, Witch, Durga and Mother India...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Nixon's dislike of 'witch' Indira

You may not agree with everything that she did, you may even hate her but this women had more balls than most of the men who have held that position.

Ah! the perks of offshoring...

For BPO babas, sex in the office space is a reality - The Economic Times

Who am I to comment on this private matter. Just don't put me on hold to do the hanky-panky stuff.

Exporting Democracy

Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread? - New York Times

Ok, I think this article was an attempt by its author to be unbiased. But, it is a classic example of what is wrong. There is no mention of WMD (remember? Weapons of Mass Destruction...). US went to war against Iraq because Iraq posed a danger to America and possessed WMD. And, they went to war in Afghanistan to finish off the terrorist cells and Taliban. Nowhere did the lofty ideals of freedom or democracy figure in this. Now, everyone is entitled to change their stance. But, history is full of examples where US has supported friendly dictatorship.

End to "Chalta Hai..."

Magppie

Remember the time when you cannnot expect anything more than utility from your desi wares. If it works it has offered you everything. Magppie changes it all. What do they say - "A thing of beauty is joy forever".

Desi's promised land...

How others see Americans | Still not loved. Now not envied | Economist.com

Interesting to see that desis viiew US of A most favorably.

It has been interesting to see the reactions of desi's in pardes to the rise of India as an economic power. The first generation folks who moved abroad about 20+ years back lament that they did not have all these opportunities during their time. They also lament the decline of social values, religion etc... I heard them say - "Our temple here is better than the ones in India. We have the religious values that were around X years back in india". Typically, X turns out to be the time when this dude left India. I have heard one say - "This fellow would not have been allowed to step into my house in india. And, look at him becoming the office bearer..." Interestingly enough this remark came from an Indian catholic. Of course, most of them talk of going back to india to die - "be at home. And, medical facilities are cheaper."

The new generation (folks who came in the last 15 years) thanks to IT etc... I guess feel that they missed the bus. So, quite a few of them side with the Lou Dobbs' of the world and are quite critical about offshoring and outsourcing. I have heard a guy say - "but, what about my child? what will be the prospects for him in the US of A when he grows up?" The sense of "entitlement" that Thomas Friedman talks about - sooner or later we all feel it. Some talk about how China will kick India's butt. In most cases these folks have never been to china, know anything about Indo-china trade etc...But, it makes them feel better. In fact, I heard a desi say that US outsourcing to China is a larger US conspiracy to create popular revolt in China and overthrow communism. And, at the end of it US will be victorious. Though I dont' see how democratic China will be less powerful in the economic front.

I think India has the promise. Hopefully, they won't screw it up thru' bad government policies or plain old greed (like the BPO folks who stole customer information). And, do nations and borders really matter... ?

Sania Mania

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Mirza woos and wins British press

The first line says it all. You go girl...

Greatest American

AOL Television: Greatest American

AOL is running a poll to identify the greatest american. The top 25 nominees are almost all either political figures or celebrities. There are very few who are the "normal" folks - there is Gates, Ford and Einstein.

Wonder what to make of it.

Of Rendition, Outsourcing Torture and Exporting Democracy

I believe there is a case coming up in the courts of Milan about the abduction/ kidnapping of an Imam from the streets of Italy. The Bushies call it "rendition". The Imam was then bundled up and packed off to Cairo. The friendly Arab "democracy" also has interesting ways to make people be "friendly". The italians are calling this "outsourcing torture". Of course, all this is happening in the name of "spreading democracy".

Maybe, the Bushies will remember what the good Lord is supposed to have said "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone ..."

Married to the madness

Indian forced to 'marry' her father-in-law rapist - Yahoo! News

First they force her to 'marry" the rapist. Then, some dude says that according to sharia law the rapist should be punished by death. Now, if this is all confusing. Imagine the 'secular' indian judiciary suggesting that the victim take up the rapist's offer of marriage in another situation.

Thanks to the lack of an uniform civil code crimes get interpreted in different ways. And, then you have the 'secular' folks who try to implement their social ideas through the judiciary. A few weeks back a good friend of mine - a Canadian of Indian origin suggested that India cannot afford to have a uniform civil code (He is a Christian). He is also supports the French ban on wearing "head scarfs" and other select religious symbols to schools ( I don't think the ban extends to wearing the cross). It almost feels like some of these 'secular' folks believe in 'as long as it is not in my backyard and it does not affect me' feel free to discriminate.

Of Social Contracts, commitments and corporations

Last Saturday, over dinner conversations with a good friend turned towards outsourcing, offshoring and social contract between corporations and its employees.

His contention was outsourcing and offshoring was hitting hard at the very "soul" of business. According to him businesses in the past have had a social contract with its employees - you work hard for us and we will take good care of you. And, with this contract being broken corporations are bound to fail.

And, then came the media blitz on how Microsoft China (actually, MSN China) was censoring words like "freedom", "democracy" etc...How Microsoft is not doing everything it can to promote free speech.

Of course, we have in the past heard arguments on how Wal-Mart is bad for the community etc...

This left me thinking about whether corporations should have a social contract with its employees. And, whether companies should involve in promoting "political" agendas. What if you manufacture and earn profits in a country outside of where you are HQ'ed. Are you expected to have a social contract with your employees in the HQ at the expense of the folks who manufacture, sell and earn profits...?

I think companies have no social contract with its employees. If you think there is one, it is a figment of your imagination. As long as the firm pays you competitive wages and benefits in safe work environment, it is fine. If the employee wants better wages/ job security he or she should find a better place. After all, corporations like Wal-mart (which is often blamed for paying very low wages) are not forcing you to work for them. You work for them because you can't find a better place to work.

The only contract a corporation has is with its shareholders - to maximize their profit. And, to achieve this corporation has to develop a contract with its customers - one based on the principle - first do no harm, then try to add value.

Similarly, it is not Microsoft's business (or, Google's or Yahoo's) to promote free speech in China or for that matter in any other part of the world. It is their job to follow the nation where they operate (and, they have been doing a great job). If you want to promote free speech in China try getting your government to boycott interactions with China, impose tariffs on firms that deal with China or boycott products made in China. You have a choice. But, corporations have to do what is best for their shareholders. And, unless all shareholders tell them to give China the middle finger they should do the best to maximize profits from China. Asking corporations to take a political stance is a slippery slope.

That is just my 2 cents...

What was he thinking?

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yudhoyono's phone offer crashes

Who elected this guy? Of course, looks like the government machinery is no better when it comes to the level of inteligence - splashing the number all over...

How long is the Beta?

Often times we feel that companies like Microsoft and others release software to the public before it is ready for prime time. But, consider the opposite - being in beta forever. Is that any good? What does that indicate?

If you are wondering what company indulges in such tactics - Google, for one. The Google groups has been in beta ever since they acquired Deja News (remember them). Gmail has been in beta for over a year.

I wonder if it has to do with the way they report revenues. Maybe, they don't have to report revenues / provide details regarding the performance of services that are in beta.

Now, if that is true I consider that as evil.

CEO salaries - are they justified?

Sometimes, over lunch we have interesting, free wheeling and midly conterversial discussions. The other day the topic of discussion was the Bush's plan to privatize social security and general economic/ immigration trends. And, the people in the discussion include a Romanian who is now US citizen, a Russian, a Chinese who is a US citizen, an American of Pakistani descent born in Canada, an American from the midwest and me.

The Romanian was all for the privatization of social security and proposed that the government cut back all funding for social causes. Of course, she is also married to a dude who hunts "game" (which, i think is lame. I mean how many of the deers carry guns and know how to shoot.) and drives a truck. You get the picture. As we started talking about whether we need government to fund social programs and upliftment of the down trodden, we started discussing outsourcing/ offshoring and the problem with run away CEO salaries.

I was of the opinion that Wall Street is very short sighted and it rewards CEOs who indulge in short term thinking. And, CEOs (actually, all C level folks) are becoming short sighted - they outsource / offshore to reduce costs without seeing if the process has waste and is flawed. And, I brought up the issue of CEO salaries. In my case, I earn 1/4th of my boss, who earns 1/3rd of his boss and this person earns 1/3rd of the CEO. So, in effect I earn less than 1/30th of my CEO. And, our CEO is by no means raking it and I am a mid-senior manager level. So, my question was - is this multiplier at each level justified? And, why is it that in Europe the pay at the C level is far less.

Of course, the Romanian's reaction was - "How do you know the CEO salaries? I think this is all false". Ah! classic republican. The pakistani-american's reaction was that this allows US to attract better talent. By virtue of what he said he was saying all CEOs work for money and all American company CEOs are smarter than the rest. Interstingly, the other three felt that this is something worth looking into and addressing.

In meantime, jobs get whacked/outsourced/offshored and CEO pay goes thru' the roof (I believe the new multiplier is 350+. Or, the average salary of US CEO is 350 times that of the average worker. This is according to Businessweek.) and Wall Street is only interested in the numbers for the next Q.

Blogging with a Tablet pc... What a joy!

So, about two weeks back I walk into the office of our Director of IT Procurement to find him using a Dell laptop. I knew that he had one of those fancy HP TC1100 tablets. I asked him about it. And, he said it "sucks" - freezes up etc... I asked if I could have it and he said yes. Thus, I came to have a tablet-pc.

I ran an anti spyware, virus check on the machine (always, do this first). And, it found about eleven spyware programs and four viruses. No wonder the machine was freezing up. Oh, did I tell you that the Director is also in-charge of desktops in our company? I then went on to update some programs, update the BIOS (which screwed up the Windows activation and necessitated a call to MSFT. During the process I found that my dear Director had ordered extra memory but never installed it. So,I did that. Now, I have a TabletPC with lGHz CPU & 1GB Ram. I then installed the Experience Pack. It just rocks - esp. the Ink Desktop! I love Corporate America - they find unique ways to waste money.

Mahatma Gandhi and Linux

Red Hat's Truth Happens

Matthew Szulik, the CEO comes across as a person very passionate about his job. And, he certainly is very proud of this commercial. Who knew that the old man who gave The Empire a hard time will find what he said be part of an effort bring another empire down.

Air India... why bother

Someone I know is coming by an Air India flight (AI125). Turns out the darn flight is about seven hours behind schedule. Of course, I did not get the information from Air India. A friend called me from the point of origin to let me know. Air India has two numbers to call here in Chicago. One goes to the mailbox and you get the message "mailbox is full". The other provides the flight status for flights on Friday (2 days back). What would it take for this airline and its employees to act like professionals.

Three weeks back the flight (AI124) left Chicago behind schedule because the crew was stuck in traffic.

Maybe they should just windup the airline, sell its assets and call it a day.

Finally...

The Open Source Heretic - Forbes.com

It is dawning on some people that "Free Software" is not really free. If its going be free how do you plan to put the bread on the table.

Here we go again...

Christian Aid Week Report 2005 The damage done: Aid death and dogma

So, the aid group Christian Aid has put out a paper that blames the British Govt (actually,Britain's Department for International Development) as being responsible for the suicide of farmers in Andhra Pradesh. LOL...

It is not job of the British govt. or its agencies to protect the interests and lives of farmers in India.

Lack of access to credit at favorable terms, bad land management and farming practices cannot be attributed to DFID. And, this is not a case of govt. providing subsidy to its farmers to artifically lower the market prices like US cotton subsidy.

Wish these "save the world" types will stop publishing such nonsense.

Agreed... chip making is chump business

"Via unfurls chip for low-cost notebooks | CNET News.com: "If Intel was the gorilla in the processor world, AMD was the chimp and Via was the monkey, Via CEO Wen Chi Chen once said in an interview"

It is interesting to see how the Taiwanese and Korean companies are moving up the food chain. Hopefully, Via and its likes will give the incumbents a run for their money.

In recent days there has been a lot of interest in low cost PCs to bridge the digital divide. Yet, the idea of using TV as a computer monitor does not seem to feature in that. Yes, it has been tried before and it failed. But, that was for the mainstream market.

Or, is it possible to have a computer inside the TV - put a harddisk and the processor. Maybe, the TV then can morph into DVR/ Computer and ... the media hub.

The "crazy old coot"... she is hoot

BBC NEWS | Americas | Pizza rage lands US woman in jail

You must be kidding...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Shark rescue operation goes wrong

Only in India and with Indian cops could this happen. They save the sharks from the poachers and then throw them onto the sand until they can complete their paperwork. By then all the sharks die.

Now, if only sharks like whales also have suicidal thoughts and beach the poachers and the cops might have said that was what happened and gotten away with it.

Does Google love Linux?

The penguin folks often point out that google runs its whole enterprise on cheap hardware running linux. That may be the case. But, there is hardly any software that Google produces that is available on Linux.

In fact, Google is not the only one. Other who profess their love for Linux often don't release a linux version of their software/ tool or release is later.

So, as it stands I still can't get WPA support on my Suse Linux for Netgear WG511.

Eager for Eiger

Microsoft tries to breathe life into older PCs | CNET News.com

It is about time for either this or a suscription based licensing model with lower costs.

Right of Information Bill passes first test

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indians get right to information

Yes, the Right of Information Bill passed my first unscientific test - I googled for the text of the bill and got it.

Here is the text - India Right of Information Bill, 2004

Power to the people

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Maharashtra's free power to end

Now, if this is true then it is one hell of a deal - as important as winning independence. And, only a trifle less important than implementing an uniform civil code.

But seriously, finally some government in India has realized that handout like free electricity does not serve the best interests of everyone. Afterall, pretty much everyone knew the ones who benefitted from this to a larger extent were the large / rich farmers. And,there were a whole lot of people who called themselves farmers but did no or very little farming.

Now, if the government to tackle theft of electricity, transmission losses and quality of service that would be something to sing about.

Its a dog's life...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Dogged by a cartoon

First they flush the Koran down the toilet to intimidate the terror suspects into submission. Now, some bloke does a cartoon depicting Pakistan as a dog and claims that it was meant to be a compliment. Guess he did not realize that dogs are considered "dirty" in the islamic world. Anyway, I would not portray Pakistan as a dog. That would be an insult to the whole dog-dom. And, Mush must be happy - at least this is one dog that makes its master dance to its tunes. Wonder who is the master in this relationship...

Never give up rights to a song for a song

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Frenchman buys 25,000 Indian songs

To continue the bad pun further... I bet this is music to the ears of all indian composers. Hey, what about Annu Mallik and Bappi Lahari?

What is the opportunity cost of this crime?

Indian police make arrests in outsourcing fraud | CNET News.com

This news was picked by media all over. And, they were all over it with one report suggesting that Forrester indicating this and the previous privacy lapse can cost the BPO industry dearly. Hey, are these the same guys who said B2B exchanges will wipe out brick and mortar.

That said, what is the opportunity cost of this crime - how much will the Indian BPO industry suffer because of this bad publicity? I am sure it is going to be way more than $350k. As the saying goes "One rotten apple....". Hope these rotten apples are charged for the overall loss to the BPO industry. And, maybe like China we should execute these blokes.

Is "Harijan" the politically acceptable Indian "N" word?

Lets face it, it is easy to refer someone "Harijan" (God's people) in public than calling them "achuth" (Untouchable). I sometimes think that Gandhi did great disservice to the nation by coming up with this term "Harijan". Maybe, he intended to help the socially disadvantaged but it seem to have the complete opposite effect. He gave the socially privileged a single term to brand the rest and to do so without causing any furor or debate in public. It is like coming up with a socially acceptable, politically correct "N" word. And, of course the word by itself has not done anything to improve the lots of those people.

A Legend Transitions

The noted malayalam write O.V. Vijayan, who passed away recently is certainly one of the best writers from India. He is my favorite. But, it was not always like that.

My first introduction to Vijayan was when I was in college in Palakkad. A few of my friends took perverse pleasure in loudly reciting the starting line of one of his works just as I begin to have my food. And, that would be enough for me to loose my appetite. It had something to do with the character in the story feeling an urge to shit. Now, that in malayalam i thought was very potent. But, that did make me curious - who is this guy who would start a book with such a sentence...

And, when his masterpiece was translated in English as "The Legends of Khasak" I got a copy from a bookstore in Palakkad. The book was amazing - it brought the dull, sleepy, hot and dusty palakkad countryside to life - there was beautiful surrealism. And, what more all this was done in a language alien to the story. Vijayan did the translation himself, showing his mastery over english. Translations are not easy. My mom prefer's M.T. Vasudevan Nair's "Second Turn" over "Legends..." but the english translation of "Second Turn" is lousy. She hated it.

Anyway, Vijayan made me fall in love with Palakkad. At least, the one he paints in his book. One of the best stories I have heard about "Legends..." goes like this - when Vijayan visited a really small village in Palakkad a few years back a villager came up to him and said Appu-Kili ( a character in the story) is no more. The villager had identified themselves with the characters in the story and thought that the story was about them.

A few years back I discovered someone who I think writes quite like Vijayan - Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And, that explained the love keralaites have for Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Transforming power of Open Source?

Attended a Technology Conference today where the theme was "Open source will save the world" and the only free stuff that was handed out was a copy of Microsoft OneNote. Hmm....

The sessions were pretty good. Geoffrey Moore did a very interesting talk about Drawin, Innovation and Inertia. The panel on opensource was kind of lame. Some people can't get over the Redmond bashing. Some dude mentioned the purchasing power parity equivalent price of Windows for a Bangladeshi would be about $60000. Now, I looked up the price of SuSE 9.3 - student edition is about $59 bucks. Wonder what does that translate to a Bangladeshi - possibly, $40000. The CEO of RHAT made a compelling and very passionate case for subscriptions model licensing. The Yahoo COO almost took us back to 1999, talking about "eyeballs", ad. revenue and one id that will unlock the world. Hey, I ain't gonna fall for that again...

US to sell fighters to Pakistan - Bush will call it "exporting democracy"

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | US to sell fighters to Pakistan

So a few days after Condi Rice offers India F-16s to replace its aging MiG-21s, the US government sells F-16s to Pakistan to help fight terrorism. Nice try to force India's hand and help the US defence industry. Who do they think they are trying to fool. It is this kind of policies that resulted in 9/11.

Agent Orange lawsuit is dismissed

Agent Orange lawsuit is dismissed

Well... what can I say. At least, they did not say Agent Orange was an immuno-booster like the Florida Oranges.

AQ Khan and the world's IQ

BBC NEWS | South Asia | The story that refuses to die

A good article about the AQ Khan saga. Wonder whether the Pakis think that world is so stupid to believe that AQ Khan operated on his own. Wonder when would the General's luck run out. He certainly has more lives than a cat.

Old habits die hard... for both Congress and the Press

Sometimes the "secular" press in India keeps its silence. And, this is one of those times. Not much noise about Jharkhand and Goa where the parties involved did what they have done for years in subverting democracy. I guess, in both instances the reason for the silence is the general feeling that a "secular" government is better than a right wing one even if the popular vote did not indicate that.

Are we willing to walk with the devil to cross the "secular" bridge? We seem to be constantly taking focussed shots at the institutions that are a must for a vibrant democracy. And, this is true with the "secular" parties and the right wing ones.

Learning from MSFT - Apple - QuickTime /iTunes bundling

Apple - QuickTime - Download

I reached the link above to download Quicktime so that I could view some video. And, as I proceeded to install it I noticed the stuff in paranthesis - (includes iTunes). So, when MSFT has IE and Windows Media Player bundled in OS it calls for anti-trust etc... What should we charge Apple with? Maybe, the folks from Cupertino will call this "saving the world". LOL...

"Chugging", MMS and DPS

When I was in India in December the papers were full of stories of a sex snippet featuring a school boy and girl doing "la clinton" . Maybe, I should call it "chugging". The piece was created using an MMS phone and had found its way on to Baazee.com (eBay's Indian acquisition).

I found it interesting that about half the people who wrote to the newspaper editors complained that this happened due to sex education and MTV, while the other half complained that it was due to lack of sex education. Noboby felt that Bollywood with its steamy wet vidoes may be a cause (I am not saying it is). A few of my friends in the US felt that what happened was nothing big. Afterall, we are the people who gave the world Kamasutra (Of course, I wondered if these people had read the Kamasutra - the ones which is not a photojournal. It is an incredibly technical manual and fairly dry - like Arthasasthra).

Of course, the secular media which often reports of riots in the following terms -"members of a minority community..." did not find any issues in reporting that the students were from DPS (Delhi Public School). Wonder how the school mattered. The incident I don't think happened on the campus, it was not part of what was taught at school and the school had not provided the phone.

I feel a bit sorry for the school and the girl. The school, because they had nothing to do with it. And, the girl - not because of the act. It is obvious that the clip did not get to the net without her boyfriend's help. I guess to him she was just a score. Well, you live and learn...


Look at the bright side of things -
1) Incredible use of MMS enabled phone. Never heard of another incident like this.
2) Selling the clip on an auction site smacks classic capitalism
3) Our dowdy cops were able to track down folks who posted the clip and bought it off the net using IP addresses.

Cow dung paper, anyone?

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Tasmanian paper made from 'roo poo

Now that would be cool, way cool...Saves the trees and the cows (they can be of use even after they stop producing milk).

Blogging with BloGtk... Case of glass half full/ half empty.

This is a test using BloGtk. Took me a while to get it working. Should pay attention to the error messages. Turns out I did not have python-xml installed on my Suse 9.1. In the process I updated the KDE to 3.3 etc...Don't ask me why...

BTW, there is no support for the "Title" field of Blogger from BloGTK. Have to manually add the titles :(

Christmas party from hell

This is a story about the Christmas party hosted by the local office of a Wall Street darling that rhymes with Hell.

So, this company uses a whole lot of contractors (consultants as they are called) in its Professional Services group to keep the costs down. Some 60% of the folks in the office are these "consultants". They call it the "leveraged" model. This year in keeping up with the eternal theme of keep the costs down the office management decided to bring in Thai lunch for Christmas (yes, the whole Christmas party was nothing but this free lunch from the neighbourhood Thai restaurant). And, they sent an email out to everyone in the office saying lunch is free for employees and costs 10 bucks for the "consultants". Needless to say there were hardly anyone for the lunch party - the employees were too embarassed to be there.

Maybe they should just do away with Christmas party and call it separation of corporate and religion.

Jassie Gift... Whats in a name?

I must confess the first time I heard the name Jazzy Gift (turns out it is Jassie Gift), I thought it belonged to a race horse. The next was - only a Mallu would do so (To be fair, I have come to expect similar names from the Bongs and the Punjus.)

Anyway, since we are on the topic of names here are a few more interesting names. These are actual people who went to college with me. There was a girl by name Sweetie Thomas - bet her poor husband cannot consider sweetie as a term of endearment (one word less, makes life difficult for men). Then, there was Shaji Kuriakose (male) and Shaji Mary (female) in the same class. And, if that was not enough there was Binu Kurien (female) a year ahead of us and Binu K (male) in my batch. I guess these are what one would call unisex names.

Back to Jassie Gift - he did not choose the name but to live up to it is a big thing. And, that he certainly does.

Is Linux a four letter word?

I often used to say - "Java is a four letter word. And, so is Unix." Of course, it had nothing to do with the fact that I worked for Redmond for sometime. I often thought they were part of the "Unholy Trinity" - Intel, Microsoft & Dell - one influences the other's sales.

Anyway, recently I decided to install Linux on my new laptop. Part of the reason was that it was an old laptop - an IBM T22. So, I installed Suse 9.1 Personal on it. Did the install over broadband from an ftp site. The install itself went off without a hitch. But, hey wait a minute. why is the wireless card from Netgear not working? Checked a few websites, found something about prism54 etc...Tried all that and gave up.

Tried doing VPN to my school. First I had to download the software, build it and then install it. Yet, it did not work.

Then, tried installing BloGTK, an offline blogging tool. The install instructions listed three or four dependencies. I found that my version of software was missing most of it. So, I began doing the download, build and install process. The libraries themselves seem to be dependent on other libraries and that link seem to be never ending. Of course, what is built for another distribution won't work on mine. Finally, after about two months of effort I gave up.

I am not a geek but I am not computer challenged either. I don't believe that Linux is for the masses - the people who mistake CD Drive for cupholder, don't know that Internet over AOL is same as Internet over any other ISP. I think Linux is suffering the same problems as UNIX - multiple incompatible distributions. And, why can't someone create a single install file that checks dependencies, installs the necessary libraries and then the software. Of course, the cost of software is free but my time is not...

Obeying orders .. remember Nuremberg

BBC NEWS | UK | 'Abuse' soldier 'obeyed orders'

So, here you have it. The keepers of democracy and freedom claiming that they were just following orders when they were torturing iraqis. Hey, isn't that what the Nazis said at Nuremberg and they did not get off so easily.