Secularism, Separation of State and Religion

I have always wondered what "secularism", "separation of state and religion" means. Personally, I believe "secularism" means the state has no business in anybody's beliefs (note I did not use the word religion on purpose) and the state treats everyone the same way irrespective of their beliefs.

However, in India the official government approach is every one should get a special deal and if you are not the majority you need to get special privileges. Of course, that does not work well when there is not enough to go around. And, I am not sure if it a great way to promote unity - by promoting differences and offering different deals.

Then, there is the US which pretty much everyone says does a great job of "secularism" and "separation of state and religion." But, does having an offical holiday for Christmas or using public money to deck up the streets and buildings for Christmas go against the separation of state and religion? I remember asking a Jewish colleague whether Hannukah is a holiday. The response was immediate - "No. This is a Christian nation." Yes, the majority of the folks are Christians. And, no wonder that every now and then (and, esp. during election time) there is a need for the leaders to prove their Christian credentials.

I would love to see the state offer a set number of holidays in a year which people can take whenever they want and no state money spent on decorating buildings and streets for the holidays.

You can take Indian out of India but ...

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Indian women 'aborting girls'

You cannot take India out of an Indian. Here is a not so great example of it. I was amazed at the lengths these people went (literally) to abort female foetus. But, why should I be surprised? Folks who have left the shores long back "for better opportunities" cling on to their beliefs and outlook for as long as they can. And, it results in Hindutva supporters in US and UK funding to "save Hinduism", muslims abroad funding similar causes back home, jews in brooklyn funding right wing settlers in Israel.

Only in India

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India promises to protect writer

As if we do not have enough troubles of our own and from others who are hell bent on causing trouble (read our negihbourhood terrorist organizations and states) we go around inviting trouble.

Why on earth should India host a non Indian whose presence is causing trouble. Let us not say that it is for freedom/ rights and similar blah... blah. Why is the Indian tax payer paying for a foreigner's stay in the country when there are enough and more indians who would like their government provide them enough to live? And, what is the total economic cost of this person's stay?

Maybe, the government views it this way - "We have a whole lot of Bangladeshis living here illegaly, so one more does not change the statistics much." I think even one is one too many.

The Kleptocract and the "democractic" dictator

No this is not a bad musical or the name of a Lollywood movie (but, I guess it could be either one), it is a nice way to reference the happenings in Pakistan.

I think Jemima Goldsmith's (former wife of former cricketer Imran Khan) reference to Benazir Bhutto is the most apt one I have heard. She called her "kleptocract with hermes scarf". It is interesting to see how low the doyens of democracy (US and UK) will swoop to keep their interests. Anyone who thinks Benazir Bhutto will transition Pakistan to a liberal democracy is smoking the stuff that democracy brought to Afghanistan. Just because someone talks in English, got educated in the West and wears western clothes do not make them democratic. And, while US made all the right noises about imposition of emergency in Pakistan it was clear who had whose balls. Soon, the cat was out of the bag - Mush had told Bush about his plans to impose emergency.

How can you have democracy in a country where all democratic institutions have been suspended? And, how can a country be liberal when majority want it to be aligned to a particular religion (if not, a religious state). How can you have a democratic government when at least one legitimate (or, equally legitimate) leader sits in exile in Saudi Arabia? And, can a nation that was formed "because people of a certain religion need a separate state that encompasses their religious majority areas" ever be secural?

I think the Pakistani ambassador was onto something when he said "different nations have different paths to democracy." I guess what he failed to add was "and, some nations do not want to be on the path to democracy." A quick scan of the newgroups and message boards is enough to realize that people in Pakistan are bit cynical about democracy and Mush is more popular than Bush (in their respective countries). You can't blame the people - when democratically elected leaders use the state treasury as their private privy purse (which is the bane of all of south asia) people turn to less corrupt authoritarian heads. In Pakistan it seems the folks who are in the minds of the people are Mush, Mullahs and the madam (probably in that order).

Here is my personal test for "secular" democracies - which are the nations where the religious minorities have increased their population compared to the religious majority since the nation's independence? I think I know the answer for this one in South Asia.

Oh... good lord here we go again

BBC NEWS | South Asia | For and against Lord Ram's bridge

In the last few weeks I have come across a number of articles about religion in India. The Economist had a special feature about religion in which they referred to India as the most religious nation. I am not sure if that is good or bad but I guess the reference was meant to paint India in a bad light. Sometimes I feel that people who grew up with a religion of the book find it hard to understand the millions of gods and customs in India. They keep looking for the most "authoritative" religious book.

Around the same time when this BBC article on Sethu Samudram Shipping Canal Project was published I came across an interview with a Captain (retired) H Balakrishnan of the Indian Navy about the project. In the interview he presents a number of reasons why the project does not make sense. Now, since this guy spent his life on ships I guess he know what he is talking about when he talks about the distances and costs.

I wish BBC and Economist will try to present a balanced and informed view of matters. Instead, often it looks like they have formed an opinion and select people, facts and events that support their opinion. Maybe, they did not plan it that way but sensationalizing the event will sell. More people are likely to read an article about a "development project" that got cancelled due to "a bridge made by monkeys for a god" than an interview with a former captain of the Indian Navy.

Why IT is not Customer Service ... and it should not be

After a number of years in consulting (the IT kind), I decided to try corporate IT in 2004. The immediate reason for my decision was the fact that I was going to school for a part time degree and did not want to miss classes due to travel. I had also become quite cyncial about consulting and the para dropping con-sultan-ts. I had started refering to me and my likes as con-sultan-t (sultan of con. the last t is silent).

In the last three plus years in corporate IT I have come to realize that corporate America deserves the con-sultan-ts. In my current role as the head of an IT organization in a startup I see the same behavior that I have seen in Fortune 500 companies (Sometimes I feel the list should be called Fortunate 500. Some of them are there in spite of themselves).

So, coming to the topic at hand. I have often heard executive in corporations including CIOs say IT is in customer service business. I say it is not. IT is in service business but to call it customer service is doing it a disservice. When you consider and treat IT as customer service you make IT act at the beck & call, whims of the rest of the organization. The customer is right/ keep customer happy attitude may win brownie points, it reduces the effectiveness of IT. The purpose of IT is total transformation of business (Ok, I borrowed that. The original went like this - "The purpose of religion is total transformation of man."). And, for it to do that IT must be ready to educate the rest of the organization on its work, question rest of the organization on their requirements, assumptions and challenge them to define financial metrics to measure success.

India Comes Crawling Back to OLPC.. and we are not alone

Olpc: India Comes Crawling Back to OLPC

This article caught my attention. Desis are well known for lot of chest thumping but when it comes to deliver less said is better. We had our dear simputer (meant for "Simple" + "Computer") which transformed into a $400 handheld that nobody wanted. But, we are not the only one - first, we had Intel eat its words and join the program and today I came across another one, Microsoft

There are a number of valid arguments against Olpc and XO - it is not what the kids in developing nations really need, how did a $100 laptop cost $200, it is not powerful enough, Negroponte talks more than he delivers etc...But, it is an incredibly bold idea and the little green-and-white machines have got me. Now, if only I can convince my wife that buy one, gift one is a great idea...

Oh.. what a bore... its Gore, yet again

For a guy who was cheated of election victory in 2000 and was incognito for a while (remember the beard) Al Gore is certainly making up. First it was the movie, then the oscars, then the Emmys and now the Nobel Peace prize... Oh, Please. The world need not feel sorry for him. He is the lucky one.

Imagine if he had been declared the winner in the 2000 elections. There would be a good number of people in the world who will hate him for no reason but for the fact that he is the President of United States. I don't think that he being the President would have stopped 9/11. His reaction to 9/11 might have been slightly different but I bet he would have bombed a few places, too. And, that would have pissed a few more people. He now has the eternal "what if..." that makes him look a lot better than he would have been (like JFK).

I think "An Inconvenient truth" is a good movie (not a great one) that should have done well without Al Gore (to me he was a distraction). I don't need Al Gore to tell me that earth is worth saving. And, while he might have elevated the interest and concern about global warming did it really merit the Nobel Peace prize? If yes, here is a list of a few other potential Nobel peace prize winners in the coming years
- George Cooney for Darfur
- Angela Jolie for numerous causes
- Madonna

This is the new India!!!

Leveraging India As India Stands Up

Incredible stuff - BOP business models and grassroots innovation. And, the speaker makes no excuses.

The new india?

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Sreesanth: The perils of aggression

From "Lucky and modest" in 1983 to "Lucky and immodest" in 2007. I guess that would sum up Indian cricket (and, India to a great extent) between 1983 and 2007.

Let us talk about Indian cricket, first. There was a time when these guys would go out in whites, play for 5 days and a lot of us wished they had some fighting spirit like... the Aussies or even the Pakistanis. But, we were all glad that they never indulged in dirty tricks like sledging which the Aussies did. "So, what if we lacked some fighting spirit we were not mean," went the general thinking. Now, to give Aussies the upper hand in on field behavior, now that is something unheard of.

Let us now talk of India in general. Let us see how we got to be one of the talked about stories, one of the BRIC nations. Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh probably would not have opened the economy if their hands had not been forced due to the foreign exchange reserves crunch. And, Narasimha Rao may not have been the Prime Minister hadn't Rajiv Gandhi been assasinated (And, had Rajiv Gandhi survived the campaign he would have lost the election).

The storied software services industry was chugging along for a good fifteen odd years (how many working in today's software services industry in India have heard of F. C. Kohli) until internet and VoIP (neither of which was developed in India or by Indians) came and reduced distances. Now, we have twenty somethings walking with a swagger and talking with an attitude. But, fundamentally nothing has changed - the cooking of resumes still happens. As a fellow indian remarked, "it used to be that we were unsure and unprofessional. now, we are sure and unprofessional."

Recently, a friend of mine wrote a book and sent press coverage of the launch. It was quite amusing to listen to the interviewer. She is doing an interview of the authors and makes no bones of the fact that she has not read the book beyond the back cover and nor does she care ("if you are into something intellectual, this is for you."). Clueless but confident... we are there America.

Twenty/20... Clear and Present

If It’s Hip, Fast and Furious, Is It Cricket? - New York Times

I guess NYT (and, Somini Sengupta) should stick to reporting on things that they know about. This is NYT equivalent of Sports Illustrated reporting on the 2000 elections. Maybe, NYT thought Ms. Sengupta is competent to report on Cricket since she is south asian. And, maybe Ms. Sengupta thought she knew cricket because she was born in India. Or, maybe India was not getting enough coverage in this "flat(ulent) world" But, tell me, when did Sree Sreesanth become a batsman.

Anyway, I wonder how many of the NYT readers cared to treat this a little more than one of those travelogue/ exotic sports articles. I remember an American friend of mine (a good midwestern boy) ask me - "Why do you think Cricket is not popular in the US?" with the look which said - "I don't care about your answer." And, I told him - "It is a gentleman's sport."

I had fun reading this open letter to Flintoff

And, I had a good laugh when a friend of mine sent me this.



MISBAH THOUGHT HE WAS SENDING THE BALL TO A PLACE WHERE THERE WAS NO ONE.
HE DID NOT KNOW THAT THERE IS A MALAYALI IN EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD!!!

I am not sure if I like the Twenty/20 format - with just 20 overs and 11 players it is easy for everyone to get lucky. But, it sure does make for entertaining cricket

It is almost winter...

FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Desperate Bears turn to Griese

My favorite Bears joke goes this way - "Bears are the only Chicago sports team who live up to their name. Come winter, they go into hibernation."

No wonder then, last year's performance had me worried. I thought all those talk about global warming is really true. Boy, am I glad that they are back in "form".

Here are a few other Bears jokes.

"What do you call a Bears match? Unbearable!"

"Who is the Bears Quarter Back?"  Wrecks Grossman or Rex (that was) gross man

With Rex gone we need Brain Griese's help for a few more jokes. Griese hands... anyone?

Freedom of speech or freedom to preach?

Why Ahmadinejad Loves New York - TIME

According to the author of this article, the Cheshire Cat smile worn by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is because he converted a not so interesting visit to an University to an international media event (Let us not fool ourselves, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to a farmhouse in Iowa is bound to be an international event). I think, the Cheshire Cat grin is possibly because he has exposed the truth about the professed supporters of "freedom of speech" to be nothing more than freedom to preach.

In the days leading up to the event Columbia tried to justify the invitation as "freedom of speech", "need to hear from the man himself". But, when the host opens the meeting with his judgements and opinions, you know that this is a deaf audience.

"Freedom of speech" alone does nothing without active listening to complement it. And, to listen well it is required that you do not judge until you have heard the other person and had a chance to give it a thought.

Adam's bridge and monkey business

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Offer to quit in India gods row

One more of the comical episodes that color many development projects in India. I bet the guys protesting the creation of the canal are not from south tamilnadu. I bet most of them have not been to south tamilnadu and good number of them have not heard of ramesvaram. Of course, you do not need to know all these to protest on "matters of religious bearing". And, then the government (like all "secular" indian governments) tables a report questioning the existence of "Ram" (wonder if they would do similar reports questioning if "jesus" and "muhammed" ever lived). And, of course, the report has no bearing on the project. The project has to be assessed and communicated to people on its merits not on the existence of "Ram". Amidst, all this minister Ambika Soni offers to resign - great! Does that change anything related to the project?

So, why not try to communicate the details of the project - its merits and costs to people close to the site and affect by the project in simple terms. Now, that is not as difficult as proving the existence or non-existence of "Ram".

Is this what the "secular" majority thinks?

I recently entertained a few people from India who I believe would prefer to call themselves "secular" and "progressive". And, every time I started talking to them about economics, economic policies and politics (I tend to follow that order - start with economics and end up at politics) I ran into some interesting observations that I do not agree. The list is not really in the order it was discussed

1) We need a "benevolent capitalism"
According to this, the poor in India are not receiving the benefit of the economic boom. So, the government needs to do something to improve their plight.

Why do I have a beef with this? I have beef with anything where someone else is making decisions for you and giving handouts. The poor of india, I don't think, need handouts and subsidies. What they need is equal opportunity and access to products and services. And, it would help it the ones who are benefitting from the economic boom are doing their bit - paying their taxes, being involved in the community and strengthening the institutions. It does not help when you evade taxes or pay bribe (now, you can afford to bribe more)

2) Some groups like the "brahmins" are "smarter".
I think the person actually used the word "gene pool". Bloody hell, sounds racist. I think the person was trying to say that some groups have a predisposition for learning and intellectual pursuits. I guess it did not occur to this person this may be because these groups have had better economic standing or access to education. And, it is natural that if everyone you know is going to college and you can afford it that you too end up there. I bet that brahmins or any other caste in india belong to one distinct gene pool. We are mongrels - every one of us

3) The communists in india have "values" and stand for what they believe.
This, coming from a person who has never been associated with the communist party and has never been a communist ruled state or come close to communists or their policies, is probably the most dangerous. And, I guess a lot subscribe to this as evident from their strong showing last elections.

Yes, there was a time I beleived in this, too. That was before I finished college. For about five years I lived in close proximity to wannabe communists, up and coming communists and cop out communists ( the guys who joined them to have fun). It was when I was in college in Kerala I realized that the difference between Communists and others is the difference between Nazi thugs and street thugs. Which one is better? My disillusionment with Indian communists was complete when Rajiv Gandhi was assasinated. If you remember, he was killed by a suicide bomber during an election campaign. Overnight the local chapter of communists in the sleepy village in kerala, close to my college, decided to remove or X out posters of Rajiv Gandhi/ Congress and make it look like the right wing BJP had done it. Knowing the discipline of the organization I don;t believe it was an act perpetrated by individauls without the knowledge of the organization. Finally, if you apply some logic you will realise that the purpose of the organization is to improve the standing of the working class it is imperative that for the organization to remain meaningful the working class has to be kept opressed. So, they have no incentive to really improve the conditions of the working class.

Ah! the unmistakeable sign of a super power in making

Never mind that that the Presidential election has become a nomination. But, this one has been been reduced to a "tamasha". Hey, look at the bright side - we will have a woman president (even before US of A will have one). And, what more
- she was a one time beauty queen
- she can communicate with the dead ("dead guru had given her a premonition that she was destined to become India's first citizen)
- she can rewrite history ("the veil was introduced to protect their women from Mughal invaders")
- she can bankrupt a bank

The last two have become requirements for elected politicians in India.

Indians are proud of their leaders. Afterall, we have a top class scientist as President and a world class economist as the Prime minister. They always point that out and ask how can the mighty US have such an "idiot" for President. I always point out that Kalam became President because of political adjustments that centered around his religion rather than his credentials and Singh became the Prime Minister due to some wonderful political intrigue. Otherwise, a one time waitress who had limited political experience, could not speak a local language until recently and was not a citizen until two decades back could have become the Prime minister. Scary thought! At least George W was elected directly (second term) by the citizens of the country.




#46 on the IT competitiveness scale. Well, at least we are better than our neighbours. Of course, that is very little to be proud of.

I found this funny - a posting under magic with comment by jesus

Woot is a Hoot...

..to the boot and the bag of crap is a loot. I wish all websites were so simple and interesting as woot

Say tata to clean air and easy commute... why the new Tata car is wrong

India readies world's cheapest car - MSN Money

Usually, the guys at Tatas are smart. But, this is the kind of "leadership" that we do not need. Creating an el cheapo car that is nothing more than a four wheeled moped is the last thing we need. Why can't Tatas improved the trucks and buses it makes, help improve the public transportation.

The last thing we need in a land that has absolutely no infrastructure is more cars on the road. But, I think there are some silver linings here - the increase in pollution may be able reduce the population growth rate (add a few more road accidents to it) and reduce productivity as people will be stuck in traffic.

Maybe I am jumping the gun here - this one may make Yugo look like a luxury vehicle and be truly a nova - goes nowhere. One can only hope :)

Do mo' evil!

Report: Google wins 'race to bottom' on privacy | CNET News.com

I guess "Do no evil" was a typo. Afterall, "m" and "n" are close by on the keyboard. Congratulations to Google for this wonderful honor.

What would "God" do?

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Hindu sites 'only for Hinduism'

In the last two weeks there have been a few interesting controversies on Hinduism and its practices. First it was Vayalar Ravi's (a politician from Kerala) turn make huge noise about practices at the Guruvayoor temple. Then, came this ordinance from the Andhra governor.

Let us take Ravi's drama first - He went to Guruvayoor for a ceremony for his new grandchild and the priest asked them to do cleanising rites since Ravi is married to a Christian and hence his son (father of the child) is not "100% certified Hindu" (or shuudh Hindu). Ravi made a huge noise about this claiming he has been demeaned etc... Keep in mind this bloke was asked to do the same thing a few years back when he had been to the temple for something. At least he should appreciate that the temple and its priests are consistent in their policies and its implementation than the politicians.

Now, the people in power in Kerala - the commies (that is the Communists of India - the scum of the earth) smelling blood decided it is time to do away with the prehistoric/ barbaric/blah...blah practices of Hinduism. And, that brought the self proclaimed keepers of Hinduism out screaming bloody murder. They did have a valid point though - "Why only Hinduism?."

I have to agree with them. Why not take on the Muslim marriage and alimony - the Shah Bano case? Or, government subsidy for Haj (which, I believe goes against the Islamic norms of making a "valid" Haj). Or, the Christian marketing? The commies find it interesting to needle the majority from outside but they have no solution for anything - either economic, social or political.

I think the tantri (head priest) at Guruvayoor made some interesting comments and observations during an interview he gave on rediff.com. He is obligated to follow both the religious rules and legal rules so why not change it if it is draconian. And, if non-Hindus want to visit temples in Kerala they can convert to Hinduism. I guess that is no different from the fact that you need to be a Catholic for communion.

Then, came this piece from Andhra (see the first link). I tend to agree that marketing a religion (prosthelitizing) cannot be considered as an expression of religious freedom in a secular nation. In a secular nation where all religions are equal how can a practice that is aimed at promoting a religion as a better alternative (New! Improved formula. Beats the heck out of the competition) and the related conversions (On Sale! Buy one, get three. No interest, No payments) be considered an act of religious expression?

Finally, I think government and the politicians should get out of religion. Secularism should be based on separation of religion and state and not creating new rules for every single religion and related sects. That would mean a single civil code, equal opportunities to all, and we can extend that to mean equal access to all religious places. I wonder if we created God in our image not the other way around.

Who is a "legal" H1B candidate?

Crackdown on Indian Outsourcing Firms

I guess it would be hard to prove that outsourcers broke the law. I don't know if they did but I am certain that they broke the spirit of the law. But, then who gives a damn about the spirit of the law? What about the American companies who hire foreign students on F1 and then H1B? They know that these folks are pretty much stuck with them for the next five years - until their permanent residency application is approved.

The whole H1B program is about augumenting the workforce when there is a shortage of skills. However, it never makes mention of economic concepts - money and time value of money. There may be a shortage of resources at USD X/annum but not at USD 2X/annum. The law does not make any difference but businesses do. And, they need to.

The people who complain about H1B abuse often refer to "prevailing wages". What are the prevailing wages? In retail, is the prevailing wage what Wal-mart pays its workers or what Costco pays its workers? "Prevailing wages" is a scale with a huge range.

Living in Lala land

Pipe Dreams: Researchers in India Say They Can Build a Laptop for $10 - Gizmodo

I love this article especially the category title - Pipe Dreams. So, my dear desis are at it again. They are going to build $10 laptop. Hell, have they built a decent $1000 laptop. With virtually no semiconductor manufacturing industry to speak of (SCI does not have a decent manufacturing facility and we did turn dowm the Intel facility because Intel asked for a whole lot of sops). Remember Simputer or Amida simputer - wonder how many of it got sold - 100? ... 1000?

For a while the mantra was "appropriate technology" - I guess that would mean abacus - environmently friendly, can be produced by folks in villages and can handle simple arithmetic. I am glad that we are off that bandwagon atleast.

I don't understand our eagerness to grab at the imaginary silver bullet whether it is Ramar Pillai's magical fuel (fake), or the Anup hair rejuvenator. Last time I was in India my mom trust into my hands a newspaper article about a kid that won some prize for a technology concept about an engine that runs on water. My mom was like ..."see ...this will solve all our issues." It did not seem to matter that it was just a concept. And, between clean water and fuel which is more scarce. In meantime we got 1950s design cars, trucks and autos running with a mix of petrol and kerosene spewing deadly fumes.

Illegal first... Immigrants next...

I guess May 1st which is celebrated as the International Workers' Day will soon become Illegal Immigrants Day in the US. Yesterday, like last year there was a huge rally in Chicago. The illegal immigrants claim that they are hardworking (which they are) and have right to the American dream (questionable). I heard reports that the law enforcement raid on a shopping mall in the Little village neighbourhood had mobilized the masses. So, why was there a raid? The law enforcement agencies wanted to shut down a fake id card operation that was also suspected to be involved in a few murders.

I guess what is lost on the people marching is the fact that they are illegal, have broken the law - the moment they crossed the border or overstayed the visa. The American dream is not just about building a better life but building it legally.

I don't think deporting illegal immigrants will solve the problem. They are here because they are able to find work - there are people to employ them. It is to some extent classic supply demand. It is these people who employ them who should be tragetted. They should pay for violating the law and exploiting people. If this does not happen no amount of deportation will help. There will be people back here illegally in no time. And, they will continue to be exploited by their employers.

And, those who play the race card are hitting below the belt. This is a law and order issue not a race issue. Same is true for the illegal immigrants in India from Bangladesh.

Wii-nner

I finally got a Nintendo Wii this Wii-kend from the local Target. I have been eyeing one since its launch but I must tell you back then it was not my first choice. I was more interested in XBox 360 which I think is a more complete media system. But, Wii won me over (like it did a lot of others) with its elegant simplicity. Last week I finally convinced my wife that we need a Wii. I first tried Wii as as a fitness gadget but that did not do the trick. But, the Freakonomic blog entry on Wii titled Wii? Whee... did it - she Wii-kened and gave in.

So, on Friday I went searching on the web and found some website that said Gamestops may have a few this Sunday. So, I made a list of Gamestops near my place and started calling them one by one. The first guy told me they don't have any but the local Target may have some on Sunday. I called the second Gamestop they too said they don't have any. I then called Target. The guy confirmed the information provided by the first Gamestop and suggested I be there by 7.30am for the tickets.

I woke up at 5.30, got to Target at about 6.15. I was #3 in the line for Wii. There was one other group for XBox 360 Elite. The last time I had lined up to buy something before the store opened was possibly at a Public Distribution Shop (ration shop) in Chennai for palm oil which like Wii was perpetually out of stock.

The average age of the folks waiting for Wii seem to be a lot more than the ones waiting for XBox. That was even before a retiree came to buy a Wii for her grandson. Most of us seem to be first time game console buyers. At least a few of us took pride in saying we are not what you consider the typical addicted on electronic games type. At 7 am I got the ticket - #3. I was out of the place at 8.15 with my Wii.

I tried the Wii sports - loved it esp. the Wii-mote. It is what my friend would call "devilishly clever" (I call it "Wii-kedly clever"). Mind you my previous experience with games have been Prince of Persia on monochrome monitors with computers running DOS (I am dating myslef), Gorilla and a few really bad attempts at Unreal. I just noticed they have a new PoP for Wii. I might get it one of these days. For now... back to Wii sports.

More Irony...Independence & Partition

BBC Pictures on India's Partition

"Ours was a non-violent freedom struggle. We won independence without firing a shot" - I have heard this a million times. But, I never realized the scope and magnitude of the bloody acts committed by its citizens. You see the mass migration and the killings that followed is not covered in school text books. We go from "Freedom Struggle" to "Tryst with Destiny" to "Five Year Plans".

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.," said George Santayana. Little wonder why we keep killing each other.

Irony that is India

Richard Gere is in big trouble... real big trouble for kissing Shilpa Shetty in public. While Shilpa Shetty did not complain the morality police did and a judge ruled it as an obscenity. I must say I have never seen the Indian legal system move so fast.

Hey, how about similar speed when it is a rape case. Or, does the fact that the victim complained reduce the gravity of the matter. And, where is the morality police in these situations. How is that they are alarmed/ upset by these?

It is interesting to see this Gere-Shetty non-incident getting a whole lot of coverage in the US - main stream new channels and folks like VH1 (which had Vishnu shaking his multiple hands. I bet the Hindu brigade is going to go after VH1).

Why can't we focus on some real issues like the slowness of our legal system or the crimes against women (even before they are born)

P.S: Wonder how many in the morality police wished they were the one instead of Gere. And, what do they think of Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother?

Bangladesh, Bermuda and Bye-Bye

I guess that would sum up the Indian campaign at the current cricket world cup in the Caribbean. We first lost to the Tigers and the thrashed the cricketing power house - Bermuda, only to lose to another nation fighting a different set of Tigers.

When we lost to Bangladesh my friends were of the opinion that it may be a case of match fixing. I don't know what imaginative explanation to explain the early exit.

But, look at the small mercies - Pakistan exited the event before us. Wait, Ireland who eliminated Pakistan beat Bangladesh (who in effect eliminated India). That should make Pakistan a better cricketing team using one of those mathematical properties.

I am glad that our outing was short. It certainly reduced the productivity loss.

BTW, Bob Woolmer's death prompted a lot of articles about match fixing - about how match fixing is difficult but spot fixing is easy and "unavoidable". Apparently, "match fixing" is where the whole team takes money or equivalent for throwing away the game. It is "difficult" because the whole team has to agree to it. "Spot fixing" is where player(s) may take money for things like bowling a few wides or no balls. Or, miss an easy fielding chance or something "innocuous". But, is it really "innocuous". Imagine a team of 11 where three or more make such "innocuous" actions. Since each is not aware of the fact that the other has been bought this has a greater potential of damage.

Cricket, G.B. Shaw said, was a game that 11 fools played and 11000 fools watched. For India it is a game where 11 play and make a fool of 1100 million are made fool of.

Project Implicit and me

The Imus controversy and the Dateline NBC show prompted me to take the test they showed on the program - Project Implicit.

No big surprises in my case. The result page says it all. I come from a culture where the gods are made blue (though the original reference is - color of monsoon clouds) because calling them black would be bad, I guess. I still have not seen a blue monsoon cloud.

Embarrassed by an anthem? There are other reasons to be embarrassed

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Infosys boss makes anthem apology

NRN (a.k.a BillG of Bangalore) feels that singing the national anthem would "embarass foreigners". I guess, he would know. If he is embarassed he should say so. It is interesting how some people can't get over the colonial bueracrat mentality. And, they are talking of making him the President. Contrast this with Jindal who fought to get private companies right to fly Indian flag.

Now, there are a lot of other reasons to be rightly embarassed of. For example, Infosys and other Indian software firms still seek tax advantages from the government. Or, how Infosys in particular gets the government to allocate land at lot less than market prices so that its employees can work in fancy campuses.

The Indian National anthem would have served as a good geography lesson for the foreigner. Afterall, it was created for a foreigner (George V coronation).

P.S: I think the new Indian government rules requiring women civil servants to provide details of their menstrual cycles must have been written by a dick head. Equality demands that men provide details of when they shagged.

Vista upgrade leaves me kind of pissed off

I got a free copy of Microaoft Vista Business Edition through the Power Together promotion. I had always expected running Vista in 2007 - the64bit media center edition. So, last year I bought a dual core 64bit pc, upgraded the 1GB RAM to 2GB and ran all the Vista upgrade tests to make sure that I can upgrade it to Vista. I called HP support to make sure I can run 64bit. The person on the other end said I could but politely warned me against running 64bit Vista which according to her was the only thing worse than running Vista. I am glad Microsoft has partners like these.

I upgraded my free Vista Business to Ultimate. Now, I believe Vista Business media by default ships the 32bit version. So, I had to pay some7 bucks to get the 64bit media shipped to me.

-1 for Vista

I then got the license upgraded through Windows Anytime upgrade. That works pretty flawlessly

+1 for Vista

The license file will only work if the copy of Vista has been upgraded. I did run into issues related to this. Chalk this down to ID10T issues. But, I figured it out and everything went well.

Contrary to the warnings by the HP support person I found most of my devices functioning except for the sound card. A few hours on PlanetAMd64.com and I had my realtek drivers for audio. It even sounds better than before. That was the best part. FRom there on everything has been downhill.

The user access scheme where even accounts with administrator privileges run as normal user is a pain.

-1 for Vista

Vista kind of hides the folder structure on disk from the user. And, when I tried to move the Users folder (the XP equivalent of Documents & Settings) to the non-OS partition I ran into big problems. I can't understand why Microsoft can't make it easy for users to configure their system. I do unserstand that there are lot of folks with limited knowledge of computers using Windows but hiding the complexity does not help. Either make it simple or educate the user about the complexity.

I still have not been able to create additional accounts on my Vista. The user creation process itself goes off smoothly but when I try to login it throws an error - "User Profile Service service faled logon." (yes, there is "service" twice in that darn error message.) I searched on the web to find more frustrated users facing the same problem.

Godless Reservationists

so, the DMK government in Tamilnadu has said it is ready to implement separate reservations for the Muslim and Christian communities. The irony is not lost on me.

The government cites a GO (Government Order?) dating back to 1920s to justify its actions. Hey, weren't the Brits ruling India at that time? Didn't they "divide and rule" India? And, the DMK which gets its roots from DK with its atheist leanings is the one to implement religion based reservation. Finally, back when India got independence a few religious communities explicitly stated they do not want any reservations. This included the Parsis and the Christians. Looks like in the years after independence the society in general (and, Chrisitians in India in particular) has regressed and now Christians being given reservations.

Wonder if reservation for Christians have to do with the increase in number of Dalit Christians - who might have changed their religion to escape the effects of the Hindu caste system but now are part of the Christian caste system and still need props.

It was funny reading the user posts to the original article. One guy said the government should offer reservation to all non Tamilians since they are a minority in Tamilnadu. Now, I think that merits a debate since the states in India are setup based on linguistic majority. I would have qualified for reservation in this scenario. I can tell you of the instances when I was made fun of/ ridiculed for my accent, food habits and stereotyped. Most of the time I chose to deal it with the international sign of "up yours" - the middle finger sticking out.

The "M" in DMK stands for "Munetram" (progress). I guess they should see a lot of progress in their vote bank and their bank accounts but for the general masses it is incompetence triumphing in name of social justice.

Why are these people not buying the India story?

Lies, grief and a ticket home for illegal Indian migrants - International Herald Tribune

Punjab is considered to be one of the richer states in India, yet most of the Indians who illegally immigrate to Europe seem to be from this state. And, Punjab also has the worst sex ratio indicating higher PBEF (pre birth elimination of females). It makes me wonder what ails the society.

Innovation in Terrorism

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tamil Tigers unveil latest tactic

"Whatever you may think of their goals and methods, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have always been innovative."

The above quote is by a BBC writer called Roland Buerk. Wonder Buerk will call the 9/11 bombers "innovative" - after all no one had flown hijacked commercial jets into buildings until then. And, what about Al-Qaeda operations which usually have multiple synchronized attacks? Maybe, we should call the London subway bombers pioneers - afterall, they were the first to bomb the venerable tube.

Fat chance that the service will improve

BBC NEWS | Business | Victory for 'fat' air hostesses

Congratulations to the air hostesses. Indian Airlines could have handled this issue in a different way and still achieved its goal. Instead of using a height and weight measure they should test the air hostesses and the flight crew on their efficiency in evacuating the plane in an emergency. I bet this would eliminate the fat ones that can't move and the lazy ones. And, it may in the process improve the on-board service.

Chicago's olympic folly?!

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Olympics budget rises to £9.3bn

Yes, the mayor wants it - really badly. The politicians want it. So, do the business. Most people think it would be "cool". But, is it worth it? I don't think so. I am pretty certain that if Chicago gets it the people can expect their taxes to go up, construction to be pain for years, the temporary stadium to become permanent and the city to be in deep red for years.

So, why do these people who want the Olympics in Chicago want it? I think for the mayor it is to satisfy his ego afterall he runs Chicago pretty much the way Jayalalitha a.k.a "amma" (mother) or "puratchi thalaivi" (revolutionary leader) used to run Tamilnadu. For the politicians it is way to win elections - olympics will create construction and jobs related to that. For the business, construction is a great way to make money off the city and its people.

None of the recent Olympics effort have been anywhere close to the original budget. London is running at about 3 times its initial, Beijing is even higher (but they are closer to end line). So, if the city is expected to have $500million reserve on the original budget how much will it have to shell out if it actually lands it.

As far as I know none of the cities that have hosted the Olympics in recent times have made any money off it. Montreal recently paid off the last installment on the amount borrowed. Chicago is expected to make about $5billion, roughly 5 days worth of local economy if the budgetted numbers are going to be right.

I love Chicago and I hope the city does not get to host the Olympics.

Remember when a "great tree fell"?

'84 anti-Sikh riots: Sajjan, six others get bail

The title says it all - over 20 years later the case is nowhere near an end. For those who are too young to remember or were not born, these riots were in 1984 when people (possibly Congress mobs) went killing Sikhs as revenge for killing Mrs. Indira Gandhi. And, her son Rajiv (the great Indian hope that fizzled) said something like ..." the ground will shake when a great tree falls."

Anyway, the reason I bring the issue up is to remind the people and media who are eager to get justice to the Gujarat riots that there are others who have been waiting for a long time. I have always wondered why the "secular" press, people and politicans don't talk about the riots of 1984. Is it because some of the "secular" parties were involved in the riots? Or, is it that the Sikhs don't merit justice? Or, is it that Congress-Sikh riots don't have the same ring to it as Hindu-Muslim riots? But, look at the similarities between the Gujarat riots and the Sikh riots. If riots of '84 were in "response" to the killing of Mrs. Gandhi, the Gujarat riots were in "response" to the Godhra incident. In both cases the government machinery remained a passive observer (or, even active supporter). But, both are examples of total failure of law and order. And, failure to bring the criminals to justice is a continuing failure of the judicial system.

Cell-iberate the liberation

MercuryNews.com | 02/26/2007 | India's great leveler: cell phones

I, like Mr. Tharoor, have a favorite story on cellphone use in India. During my 2003 holiday I hired a cab (taxi) to take me from Madikeri to Mangalore. The driver had a cellphone with the ringtone set to the tune of the famous prayer - Venkatesha Suprabhatam. I thought that was bloody neat - to be remind of the Lord when someone called and to get your prayers done before you yak. During that whole trip I never was without a phone. Whenever I needed one I would use the nearest pay phone or borrow the driver's phone. In 2005 I went one better I bought myself a "lifetime prepaid" SIM card.

I still remember the day when my brother implored me to tell our dad that we do need to put the deposit for OYT (Own your telephone) and get the phone. This was probably in the late 80s. It feels like a long time. Today, there has been a leapfrog effect - people are skipping the landline or POTS completely and jumping on to mobile. And, I suspect something similar will happen in the Internet access area. I think there is a good chance that majority of the population will skip wired access and go straight to wireless.

It is not lost on me that the telecom revolution is in India is essentially a mobile phone revolution that had very little to do with the government. Yes, the government did not put spanner in the works but that is about it. It is likely the government's hands were tied due to the economic situation. I only hope the government continues to play the role of passive observer.

Media Madness

Media, these days, can be broadly categorized into two groups - the ones that give inordinate time and coverage of the antics of LiLo, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and then the ones that are more serious like NBC, Newsweek, BBC etc...

What is the difference between these two? - very little, I think. The first group reports the "celeb" happenings in real time while the other reports a little later and has usually two psychs / sociologists to analyze why we and the media spend time following these "celebs". The difference, if any, is the difference between "headline news" and "newsline". The reality is both spent time on the same "celeb" antics. One was brazen about it and other couched it in pseudo-sophistication. NBC, Newsweek and Beebs have spent time on the same topic.

The fact is these "celebs" and their followers will take any publicity/ reporting. And, media will take anything to make their numbers.

What is the value of the "Made for iPod" program

SI.com - 2007 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Photo Gallery - Marisa Miller

Well, I could not stop taking a dig at this photo. Looks like the iPod is off the dock/ cradle. And, I guess it is because the dock is not part of the "Made for iPod" program.

Rama...Rama.. this culture business...

Ok, this one is from the BBC website. They are running a series on India and its rise. And, see what they used as an image leadin to an article on Indian president's vision - Ravana, the demon king from Ramayana. I am not sure if they are trying to tell us that the Indian President is a demon or if he is smart enough to match the wits of ten people. BTW, Ravana is not even Indian. He was from Sri Lanka accroding to the myth.

This is not a pre-nup. it is a tree-ty

PIL against Aishwarya's marriage with tree:NewKerala.Com

A friend of mine sent me this article in an email with the following thoughts -
....a country that has nukes, a space program and is the largest exporter of software also has one of its premier citizens marrying a tree in order to guarantee marital bliss.....incredible!!!

Now there are some factually incorrect and subjective assertions in that paragraph - largest exporter of software (factually incorrect), "premier citizen" (subjecitve assertion) but that aside i found both the article and my friend's reaction funny.

What Aishwarya Rai or any other citizen in the country does is their business as long as it is not illegal and does not harm fellow citizens. As another friend pointed out marrying a tree is "vegiality" not "beastiality". But, we have this need to make sure that everyone thinks, acts and subscribes to same belief as we do that anything else is appaling.

Now, when did Aishwarya Rai marrying a tree become a matter of public interest and public interest litigation? Boy, that lawyer must be jobless or seeking attention or both. We have folks like LiLo, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears walking around without undies in public here in the US. Apparently, these women are the role models for today's teens. I don't see anyone filling public interest litigation against them in this litigious society.

Dell Hell

Where Dell went wrong | Perspectives | CNET News.com

Interesting article. Pretty much on the spot but for the consulting firm. At least in my experience a good number of folks at Dell were from the pain called Bain. Rollins was full of it (of course, I have only one data point - the one time I was in the same room as him, listening him talk to the Dell sales team). I remember him ranting "what has innovation got hp?" Of course, this was during the Carly days and everyone was having a go at hp. But, to be fair to him everyone was singing his praises when the numbers came in well. Things don't go bad overnight. Whatever actions brought in the numbers also resulted in the current mess. You have to innovate to succeed even if you innovate is new lies. You can't live with the same old lie - "low cost, great support" when the reality tells a different story.

Two books...and some random thoughts

This Christmas I got Rory Stewart's "Places in Between". It has been a really long time since I have come across a book like this. Reminded me of Pico Iyer. The author does a great job of covering the society, politics in a story about his travel in Afghanistan. Sensitive but honest he calls a spade a spade.

Then, there was Amartya Sen's "Argumentative Indian". It is a lot of chest thumping, nehruvian bs. And, he goes to great lengths to prove india's "secular" credentials. Of course, since he was born in modern day Bangladesh he even refers to Bangladesh as being secular. Yeah, right. And, for some reason this guy has an axe to grind with the right wing BJP. He says they tried to make the Indo-European Sanskrit as an indigenous language even though best known Sanskrit grammarian Panini was from Afghanistan. Hey, back then Afghanistan was part of the indian geo-cultural entity. And, hard core right wing folks will call it a part of Akhand Bharat. And, why is it that people invoke the name of Akhbar to prove the secular credentials of muslims rulers of India. Akhbar certainly was secular and a man centuries ahead of his time. But, he reigned for a mere 50 years in the 700 years of Muslim rule of India.

P.S: The Shilpa Shetty Big Brother controversy is funny at many levels. First we have an out of work/ down on luck Bollywood actress going on a reality program seeking attention. Then, we have the desis (the biggest racist bunch I know of) waving their fingers, placards and calling the Brits names. Of course, we have the Brits desperately trying to prove that they are not racist. Yeah, right. Just about everyone of us is racist. To what level and how we choose to express our prejudices differ.

Of Borat and other rats

Sometime last month I saw Borat after everyone I know said wonderful things about it. So, I decided to skip waiting for it on Netflix and head to the nearest theater.
Boy, did I hate it.

I thought it was crass. The sensational comments could very well have been made sensational by some creative editing - bait the person for a few hours and then get a 10 second sound bite. And, the whole episode of Jewish couple at the B&B compared to cockroaches was sad. I guess Borat (or, Sacha Cohen) got away with it because he himself is a jew. Wonder what the reaction would have been had Mel Gibson done that peice. That begs the question is it ok for Mr.Cohen make racist comments on Jew and Chris Rock to call African Americans by the N word while it is a crime when Mel Gibson or Michael Richards does it. I am not supporting what Mel Gibson or did Michael Richards did but I do think Cohen and Rock deserve condemned.

Reminds me of a saying - "The problem with white lies is that you soon go color blind."

Tipping the scale - How Google tips things its favor

You might have heard about the controversy surrounding "tips" from google. Simply put they were promoting their own products. And, while they may have removed the "tips" feature because of the heat it generated, they still manage to do it in other ways.

Try searching for a stock quote (any company) on Google. And, see what is the first link under the stock price - Google Finance. Now, if Google was unbiased it should have the website with most views first. And, I can bet that both Yahoo Finance and MSN Money probably have more hits than Google finance.

Playing Tech Support Santa

I spent my customary Christmas to New Year vacation in London reluctantly playing the role of tech support guy. Friends and family just assume that just because I work in the IT industry I am good enough to be their tech support guy. After all, I don't cost them a penny.

So, as soon as I landed in London I was asked by our host(my wife's uncle)- "When do you leave?." He then continued, "Don't get me wrong. I want you to fix my two computers." So, one of those days when I was feeling tired of all the relatives and human interaction I decided to take a look at the computers.

The computers had been purchased through a friendly local chap called Bobby ( a Punjabi dude. That is second punjabi Bobby I have come across). Bobby got these computers from businesses that were going out of business, loaded them with XP. And, as it turns out the XP licenses were from a compromised Volume License Key (VLK). So, Microsoft was not letting my host get updates like IE 7, Windows Defender etc...

I found that the computers had an OEM Certificate of Authenticity (COA) on them. So, I tried changing the license key to the OEM key but that failed. So, I called Microsoft product activiation line who immediately bounced me to the tech support side. The tech support asked quite a few questions - stuff that could put a typical consumer wary. And, then asked me for the product id on the CD that came with the computer. I told them that Bobby had just burnt it on a CD. They asked me to call Dell and get the CD.

Then, I called Dell. But, before I called them I ran the Dell support tools which told me that the computer had a "next day business support" contract valid until mid 2007. The Dell support dude refused to help me unless I told him the name of the business that originally owned the computer. Well, Bobby never told us. And, I doubt if Bobby even knows. But, how does it matter to Dell. I have the computer right in front of me. It was pruchased legally (as far as I know). Anyway, no luck with that.

So, I went to work on Microsoft tech support again. This time I told them that I had updated the BIOS (which I had done) and now it was asking me to reactivate the product (totally untrue). The guy asked me for the license key, I gave him the one on the COA. He generated a new activation key and it worked.

Here I was trying to help someone leaglize their software. And, both Microsoft and Dell were making it difficult. No wonder why piracy is rampant. When it is "easier" to buy illegal and remain illegal people will do just that.