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.

Falling off the offshore bandwagon

I head the IT function at an early stage media/ advertising startup. One of the reasons I got hired,I presume, was the fact that I had worked on both sides of the offshore equation and was an Indian.

I am a firm believer in specialization and core competencies. So, I was not looking to build a large IT department. I am happy to outsource. And, offshoring certainly figured in my and our management's plan. But, my experience in the last three months have been really bad.

Our first round of vendor selection removed the most obviously incapable guys. We narrowed our list to about three vendors (all CMM Level 5 etc...)- the range of costs were between 200k to 800K. It made us wonder if our requests were too vague or if vendors were signaling what they wanted the project to be. Mind you the hourly rate of these vendors were almost the same - +/- 2 bucks/hr.

And, as if this variance was not enough there were lot of humorous errors in the proposals. One vendor offered to staff culturally sensitive french speaking resources on our project here in Midwest US. And, other, in response to a question about their employee turnover rate, indicated that their retention rate was one of the lowest in the industry.

At this point we started looking at a software package with the help of a local software reseller. And, at the same time we decided to define the scope of the implementation better in an effort to reduce the variance. The reseller's quote for the implementation was about 1000 hrs. We then proceeded to seek a revised quote for the project (which now was a product implementation). One of the three offshore vendors decided to drop off because they did not have any experience in the product. Another said they will partner with another firm since they did not have any experience but wanted to build expertise in that area. We said that was not ideal but we were willing to hear.

The one guy who had experience and expertise was the guy who had quoted 800k earlier. They are a 30000 person / $1 b company. This time they said 235k. At that price the cost was higher than the local provider. And, the number came with no information on the effort estimate or resource allocation. When we pushed them hard they gave an effort estimate of 6250 hrs - over six times that of the local vendor.

Meanwhile, the other guy who was going to get a partner got one but did not know the partner's name. Yes, that is right. They got the partner's name wrong during the conference call. And, instead of trying to build our confidence in them the vendor did the exact opposite. They would not return our calls, turn in the proposals on time. We decided to give up on these guys and seek a proposal from another small vendor with offices in US and India.

We tried to get an understanding of the other quote. We asked them if they had accounted for our resources participating in the effort. Initially, they said they had. Then when we told them their effort estimate was six times that of the local vendor they said they had not accounted for our resources. So, they reduced the effort by about 1250 and offered us a new price of 185k. In the meanwhile, I opened Excel and tried use the numbers, rates and the onshore/offshore effort ratio they had provided to make sense of the numbers. And, what I found was that the numbers they quoted were mathematically impossible for the rates, effort and onshore/offshore effort ratio they had indicated.

Maybe, the local provider was being aggressive and had some of the effort padded in their hourly rate. The offshore guys lead with their low hourly rates and pad in the effort estimate. I am guessing the guys in the big corporations just look at the hourly rates and claim savings. But, do cost savings exist? In our case they did not. Not only that, none of these vendors provided cost, effort and resource estimate. It looks like these vendors have grown complacent and don't bother to check the proposal for cut and paste error or if the numbers add up. And, the numbers did not add up.

A name from the past reappears

I was in for a surprise when I leafed through the latest issue of Fortune magazine. In fact, a double surprise. In an article on technologies for the real world was the incredible Lifestraw. Of course, that was no surprise.

Also, on the list was the equally incredible the Tata project (http://www.tataliteracy.org) to combat illiteracy. The write up mentioned that the man behind the project was the 82 year old Fakhir Chand Kohli. Now, that was a name that I have not seen mentioned for a while. For the new generation of desis who have been brought up Infosys, NRN, World is Flat etc... FC Kohli may not mean anything. In fact, I would not be surprised if folks in the Indian software companies don't know him. But, FC Kholi is the man who started it all. Widely acknowledged as the father of the Indian software industry, he started this revolution about 25+ years before the world became "flat". I am glad to see he is still blazing new trails.

Attention in the literacy area is long overdue. According to the website we have over 350 million illiterate people (about 30% of the population). And, the government and politicians has consistently promoted secondary education at the expense of primary education. I guess it helps them to keep a large section of the population illiterate and easily convinced by their gimmicks and giveaways.

The epidemic of "Therapeutic alienation" in India

Last weekend I watched a very interesting interview on PBS. John McWhorter, the author of "Winning the Race" talked about what is wrong with welfare and black empowerment. He described "the heroics of idle protest and theatrical rage" that characterize today's black leadership as "therapeutic alienation."

He says ..."therapeutic alienation: alienation unconnected to, or vastly disproportionate to, real-life stimulus, but maintained because it reinforces one's sense of psychological legitimacy, via defining oneself against an oppressor characterized as eternally depraved."

It was an ah-ha moment for me. I finally have a term for what desis from M.K. Gandhi to today's leaders indulge in. Ok, I am sure the reference to Gandhi will draw criticism from some quarters. But, think. Did Gandhi care more about winning independence or proving the British as morally inferior? And, today we have people of all kinds indulging in similar behavior (though their morals, inf any, are really low).

Now, there is a new report that was leaked in sync with the Uttar Pradesh elections that finds Indian muslims that worse off than other religious groups. It is a call for religion based reservations. This is when about 75% of indian muslims are covered by existing caste based reservations. So, on one hand we have this high sounding concepts like secularism, equality and equal opportunity while on the other hand we have government policies that promote division. How long before the shias, sunnis and other groups all ask for their own quotas?

SOA stands for "Same Old Architecture"

Last week I went for an IDC conference on "Service Oriented Architecture" (SOA). I went there hoping that the conference speakers will help provide a clearer perspective on why SOA is going to change the world.

The key note got off to a real bad start with one of the analysts presenting pretty much throwing all buzzwords, jargons and cliches in one 15min talk. There were a number of references to Geoffery Moore and his concepts to a predominantly tech audience who probably have never heard of him. It only got worse as the day progressed.

Vendors, both product and services firms, tried their best to convince everyone that their tool/ approach will offer the best. They took great pains to convince that SOA is not web services yet the only example of SOA that was demonstrated was a email validation service using web services. The services vendors talked a great deal about SOA governance but had a hard time talking about how it was different from IT Governance and where it fit in. There were a number of times when different speakers had radically different thoughts on what a term meant. A guy from the services side of a tools vendor said SOA Governance is like IT Governance but at an enterprise level while a CIO of an utility company said SOA Governance is about security and service life cycle management.

I am appalled by the number of snake oil salesmen in the IT industry. No wonder IT credibility is really low. We have a poor track record, poor communication skills but we feel the need to come up with some new term every three years and try to sell it to the world as the new silver bullet. Why can't we call it as we see it? I called SOA "old wine in a new bottle". But, a colleague of mine said it better - "old underwear in new packaging." The SOA story is just one example. The other one is SOX (Sarbanes Oxley bogey). There are a whole lot of products and vendors offering solutions for SOX compliance. SOX does not directly mention IT anywhere but that has not stopped vendors from proposing incredibly stupid solutions. I once had a consultant from a large service provider suggest that we should run SSL on our LAN for SOX compliance.

There were one or two speakers at this conference who made sense. There was this guy from HP who started off by saying "I was doing SOA twnety years back." His point was SOA is nothing but doing IT architecture right - to support the business functions. The new technologies and standards just make things easier.

Revolution in IT will happen when IT personnel and technology vendors understand the business and its problems.

In memory of a friend who I wish I had known better

I tried emailing Prasad last week, one of my once in a year or so email ping. And, it bounced back. Hotmail informed me that the mailbox was no longer available - a sign of it not being in use for more that four months. I wondered if Prasad like a number of others had decided to use Gmail. So, I searched for other email addresses that I might have for him. When I did not find any I searched on the Web.

The first hit was an article in "The Hindu" about being the only child from early this year. He was quoted in it. But, it was the second hit that made me go cold. It was an item from "The Hindu" obituary from April 25th announcing Prasad's transition on April 20th. Prasad must have been 42 or at the most 43 years.

I still remember vividly how I met Prasad. It must have been 1993 I had responded to an advertisement in the IEEE Spectrum magazine about an organization called Global Intuition Network (GIN). They claimed to promote intuition as a management tool. I was intrigued and I wrote to them. Turns out Prasad had sent a letter,too. And, since my letter must have arrived there first they asked Prasad to get in touch with me about organizing the local charter. Prasad sent me a letter. And, I was quite surprised. Anyway, I called him on the phone to find out what his interest was. He told me that he had an engineering degree, a MBA and he ran a small robotics and automation firm. Later, during our first face to face meeting at his office I learned that his engineering degree was from IITB and the MBA was from Carnegie Mellon. I remember asking him "What are you doing here?". And, his response was, "This is my company. I would be nowhere else."

We never did anything about GIN but we kept in touch. It was mostly my initiative. But, he always made it a point to respond to the letters or make time to meet me. After I moved to the US and my folks moved out of Chennai in 1999 the once in 3 months contact reduced to one or two emails a year. My emails were always the same - "how is work? hope your mom is doing well." His dad had passed away back when he was in college. And, his responded promptly, as always. He told me about the pressure from the Chinese entry into the Indian market, the increasing wages etc...I did not have anything to offer him. As always he seemed quirky as ever, a bit defiant and making the best of the situation.

In December of 2003 I decided to fly into India via Chennai. I called Prasad when I got there. And, he invited us over to his home for breakfast. I went to his home, met his mom for the first time and had breakfast with them. He seemed upset about things at work - an old timer had swindled him and another had decided to move on. He invited us to stay on, said he would like to get to know my wife, who like him is an only child and an air force child. But, we were on the run - the typical 3 week vacation from the US. I promised to try spend time with him on my way out knowing fully well that it probably would not happen due to other commitments. Prasad dropped us off at our next appointment, a friend of mine from my undergrad days. And, during the drive managed to fool my friend into believing that he was a hired driver. It was hilarious. That was the last time I met Prasad.

In December of 2005 I did return to India on vacation. But, this time I skipped Chennai altogether. We spoke briefly over the phone. He sounded upset that I had not planned on coming to Chennai. He seemed to be holding back something. I did not ask, he did not tell. I promised to keep in touch by email or phone - my usual "ping". I don't know if I did email him after that. I want to think that I did. I never received any response. So, maybe I never did.

I wonder if things would have been different had I been in Chennai. Or, would we have remained the same. I do wish I had asked him what was on his mind, why he had not married, if could have been of any help.... I wish I had been more involved. I thank you, my friend, for the memories. I just wish there were a lot more.

Child Rights or Relief... what is in a name?

Looks like the favorite desi pastime of re-naming cities and organizations has bitten my favourite charity. Child Relief & You (a.k.a CRY) has decided to change its name to Child Rights & You (a.k.a CRY). But,looks like laziness caught the better of them (at least the IT staff). So, while the indian site has it as Child Rights & You (http://www.cry.org/index.html),the US landing page (http://america.cry.org/index.asp) still has Child Relief & You.

BTW, I think the new name for Bangalore is quite appropriate - Bengaluru, derived from Benda Kaal Ooru - that's "boiled beans town". Yes, you guys are full of hot air. Maybe, it is the beans ;).

You also make me proud... very proud

BBC News | Corus accepts £4.3bn Tata offer

Growing up in India it is hard to miss the Tatas. Their product and services were integral part of my life (and, for that matter the life of most Indians). In B-school two years back we had a case study on the Tatas. I remember the German professor asking the class - "What do you know about the Tatas?" And, my response was ..."I think they have done more for India than all Indian governments put together." Well, that may not be saying much given the quality of Indian governments but here is a group that for the most part knows the right from wrong and plays by the rules.

I was bit sad when Reliance took over the position of #1 indian industrial group. I remember Anil Ambani launching a website called "Anil Ambani for India" (now goes to Reliance insurnace) in true Amreki estyle. And, the next thing I knew was Reliance Telecom was fined a hefty amount for terminating international calls as local calls to avoid the gateway fees. Talk about robbing the country blind. Reliance to some extend is the opposite of the Tatas - for the most part they bend the rules and when their conscience troubles them they do something good. A bit like most Indians.

Anyway, coming back to the topic. One of the most memorable advertisement was the Tata Steel ad that showed their commitment to society and ended with the line "We also make steel." Yes, and a whole lot of it. But, you also make me proud (and, I bet most Indians would concur).

Irony that is India

The other day I was having a chat with the head of sales of a mid sized Indian offshore service provider. And, he mentioned that Bangalore was closed because of a "state sponsored" bandh to show their grievances about north karnataka area that is claimed by karnataka and maharastra. Then, came the protests against english.

It made me wonder about the various stupid acts that we seem to proudly carryon. I think Gandhi probably never realized that the non-violent non cooperation movement will legitimize bandh, hartal and what ever you may call it...And, is it really non-violent? Try telling that to someone who is trying to get to a hospital for a medical emergency.

We take a lot of pride in claiming that ours was a non-violent struggle for freedom.But, we forget that the first act was to kill each other. Yes, we did not fight the british with arms, we fought our own.

Then, there is the stupid practice of calling the disadvantaged folks "harijans". As, if calling them that will change the people's behaviour. Why not just try to remove the need to classify people and enforce the non-discrimination law. And, that is not the same as handouts.

Desis everywhere

Potential predators in Petaluma - Dateline NBC - MSNBC.com

Yesterday's Dateline NBC "Catch a Predator" featured a number of desis. In fact, I think desis were the largest ethnic group featured in yeasterday's episode that was about the sting operation in Petaluma. I think almost all desis were young software engineers. Way to go guys. Yeah, some time in the jail will round off your US experience. Enjoy Maadi!!!

Hate, Indifference or Unconditional love ...what do I care?

NRIs to get voting rights soon

First they (the Government and most people) hated the Non Resident Indians (NRIs). They were these scumbags who enjoyed the best that Dear Old Bharat Mata (DOBM) had to offer and then turned their backs on DOBM.

Then came the indifference phase. The NRIs were eager to cash in on the high interest rates at home. And, DOBM was eager to take their cash to tide over the messy forex reserves problem.

All that changed a few years back. Now, we have Parvasi Divas, Dual Citizenships, full coverage of spelling bee contests, star writers (until they turn out to be plagiarists) and first round elimination from Amazing Race. DOBM loves the NRIs. But, allowing NRIs to vote is the last straw. Most of these blokes did not vote or were not eligible to vote when they were in India. Now, they will try to vote based on their views moulded by different surroundings, perceptions created by media and with no touch with reality on the ground. And, what more they won't have to enjoy the consequences of their votees on a daily basis.

Someone once said immigrants are strangers in the country they go to and the country they leave behind. I tend to agree with that assessment. I also think most immigrants (desis or otherwise) tend to take extreme positions. Would I want a stranger to decide what is good for me? No! So, DOBM why would you?

Yet another layoff

Back in 2001-2002 I was at an Internet consulting company that was laying off people every three months. Just when I thought I was behind that here I am after making the cut.

Back in 2001-2002, I remember the firm's CEO saying "we don't want to become good at this" after mishandling the first layoff. But, by the third layoff they had the process well nailed down. Often there were people who were offered additional incentives to stay on to finish the project they were on. They were called "trailers". But, pretty much everyone got laidoff the same day.

Here they took a different approach. First they told the analysts and public that they were downsizing. Then, told the employees the next day that over the next two weeks they will know if they were going to be affected.  So, for the next two weeks nobody really did much. And, when the announcements were finally made all were asked to stay on till the end of September to get their package.

My boss said someone had to go from our group. And, he said  "Since you recently got your graduate degree we thought you may want to do something else." A very noble thought indeed. Over the last six weeks there have been a flurry of resignations from the department. And, it prompted the CIO to spin it as a sign of "red hot" job market.  The spin is something that I expected.

I am often amazed how the folks at the "C" level get away with screwed up performances. And, can spin their way out of it.

Finally!!!

UP court stays subsidy to Haj pilgrims

It took a while for someone to go to court on this. And, it took a right wing hindu organization symapthizer to do it. But, what the court has ruled is absolutely right. A secular state has no business supporting its people's religious trips.

Now Playing...The States vs. The Colas

This is a theater of the absurd. First, some NGO finds that Pepsi and Coke have chemicals in excess of the minimum residue levels (MRL) established by the government. According to India Today India is one of the few countries that have MRL on such products. So far, so good.

soon, some state governments in India jump on this and promptly ban colas. And, US is upset with the situation that it "warns" India. I am sure that will be enough for some of these politicians in India to wag their fingers back and call it nationalism. But, tell me how many people in India drink these colas. And, how many people depend on water. Why don't we talk of MRLs in the drinking water supply, vegetables and food grains. Why can't these states that were quick to ban the colas do something about the problems with chemicals, pesticides in other food items that are more commonly consumed?

US would do better if it would stop issuing such stupid statements that hurt the fragile egos of the Indians. India has a slow but reasonably good legal system that can provide recourse. Interestingly, the US reaction came even before any strong reaction from the cola firms.

Maybe, we should consider a statuatory warning on the cola bottles like the ones on cigarette packages and focus on the real issues.

Finally, I am TTB (thrilled to bits) to see fellow Chennai-ite Indira Nooyi as the CEO of Pepsi. Lets all drink to that.

Find the odd one

When I was young I used to love doing these puzzles where I had to find the odd item. This item below in italics is a table from a latest "India Today" article. Item 2 certainly seems to be the odd one out. There is no denying the writer is really smart throwing all related and unrelated statistics at you


- 44% fewer Muslim students complete senior school compared to non-Muslims

- Lack of one night's sleep results in a 30 per cent drop in cognitive performance. Poor decision making, irritability, loss of temper and short-term memory loss follow.

- Only one in 101 Muslim women is a graduate versus one out of 37 non-Muslims

- 31 million more Muslims to be educated by 2011 to match today’s literacy level of non-Muslims

Oil for food and food for thought

Report implicates Indian ex-official - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

So, the official report of the indian study to investigate on the allegations made by Paul Volcker's report is out. Actually, it has been "leaked". According to it the Congress party is not to be blamed but Natwar Singh and his son is at fault. If you recall Volcker's report had listed both the Congress party and Natwar Singh. Natwar used the leaked indian report to claim his innocence. He says since the report clearly states that he did not monetarily benefit from it he is innocent. And, of course, Congress party says the report vindicates them, too.

Here is the deal guys. Saddam would not have dealt with Natwar Singh had it not been for the fact that this joker was a member of the Indian government, a Congress government. And, our democracy is supposed to be an example of collective responsibility. So, Congress cannot say that they are innocent. And, Natwar can't say he is innocent because he did not gain from it. Even Robinhood who robbed the rich to give to the poor did rob. He did break the rule of the land. And, Natwar is no Robinhood. He is, just like many others, another ordinary criminal who gets elected to the Indian Parliament.

Fired about the public corporation(s)

This week the firm I work for announced that they were going to cut 15% of their workforce. Now, I am no stranger to layoffs, having survived about six rounds of layoffs back in 2001-2002 at my then employer. But, it is always interesting to see how these things work.

Back in 2001 the firm I worked for laid off a whole lot of people, good number of them were staffed on projects at client sites. They all were given an hour or two to get out. And, they left without any opportunity to transition their work. And, we were left to figure out how to keep the projects going. But, they did get better over the next few layoffs. They started asking folks who were on projects to stay on till the end of the assignment in return for a better severance package.

As for the current saga, I believe we will be told over the next two weeks if we are affected. Now, I am not sure how they released the number to the public if they have not identified who is staying and who is going. And, why would you keep the employees waiting for two weeks. I bet the employees are going to be very productive during these two weeks.

The options backdating scandals seems to be picking momentum. I wonder if there would be a stock buyback scandal soon. A number of corporations are doing buybacks claiming the stock is underpriced. At the very same time senior management is cashing in on their options. Nothing illegal about selling the options if you have filed the necessary papers. But, is it ethical. And, I am sure some of these guys can co-oridnate their sale with the planned buyback well in advance.

Yet another example of vain boasts

'IBM is legacy, Infosys is the future'

What IP has Infosys created? And, what is the value in creating shiny glass buildings in a tropical country where it is hot and power cuts are frequent and an on campus golf course in a country where you can't get water for basic needs.

New face of terror and new realities to face

India police detail role of militants in attacks - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

Reports from police investigating the latest Bombay blasts indicate one of the ringleaders was a muslim software engineer who until recently was working for a large multi-national. Now, this is not the first time that folks involved in terror/ anit-social activities have come from such a background. But, often this is not the background that is associated with terror, especially in India.

The story always is - the person felt marginalized, did not have access to opportunities, was in a financially weak situation etc...It is almost as if with all such conditions it was "natural" for them to go and blow up innocent people. And, so what does the government do - offer more handouts to the marginalized communities around election time.

Now, it is clear that there are factors other than economics or revenge at work. The only way I can explain this is - religion. These people feel that their religion is better than others and so everyone should either join me or die.

The DH Imam wasted no time in absolving LeT and blamed it on the hindu radicals. He claims he has information to that effect. And, he continues "We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again". This guy is not some fringe radical. He is the religious head of one of the biggest mosques in India and is a well known religious leader. And, this is not the first time he has indulged in such statements.

It is time for the so called "secular" indians and political parties to determine if they want to be an Islamic nation. And, have no doubts this won't be the second coming of the Mughal dynasty.

I guess what we need is not new anti-terror laws like TADA, POTA etc... We need a law that make any attack on the secular nature of the nation a crime. That way we can throw the hindu radicals, muslim radicals and prostelizing missionaries all behind bars.

PS: Why is that many Islamic radical groups have words "democratic", "freedom" etc... in their names?

Grabbing at straws of vain glory

Desis are great about going to town about "achievements" of other desis or even folks who are vaguely desis. It is either that or an outright attack on the person without much background research.

So, it was not surprising to see desis go gaga over Kavya Viswanath of plagarism fame. And, poor Kavya did not realize that writing a book is not like high school or college papers where one generally gets away wit some "borrowing". As soon as the news came out the desis dropped her.

Then, they jumped on the spelling bee/ geography bee bandwagon. It is quite possible that some of these kids have never been to India and they are certainly not part of the Indian education system. But, that does not stop us from gushing about their acheivements. I never understood the obsession with spelling contests. I mean, the purpose of communication is to keep it simple and convey the meaning. So, why would you waste your time memorizing the spelling for painfully complex words that you are almost certain never to use.

Why can't we celebrate real achievements in moderation. And, criticize in moderation.

Lets kick some butts...as long as it is not in my backyard

I have colleague - a Russian Jew who after reading some Leon Uris books started talking about "my people" and "my land" even though he has never been to Israel. So, last week I had to ask him what he thought about the happenings in the Middle East. He said, "We are kicking some butts." To which I replied, "But, you are kicking the wrong butts." He was surprised by this comment. He did not know the details - who Hezbollah was? why Israel was bombing Lebanon? And, how (if any) were the Lebanese involved in this.

He is not alone. There are a number of people here in the US who feel Israel is right to bomb the heck out of Lebanon. They point out that their neighbors don't indulge in terrorist acts. So, if the neighbor indulges in terrorist acts you can bomb the heck out. Very simplistic. US, Iran and Syria are probably having fun watching the Hezbollah and Isreal fight a war on their behalf.

Lets change the scenario. We have a drug problem fuelled by drug peddlers from the south. Assume that these guys pick two of the DEA agents and hold them for ransom or even kill them. Are we justified in bombing Mexico City, if that is where the heads of these drug rings live?

And, what do think the reaction would be if this happens. Do you think the people slipping across the boder will be looking for work or something more sinister. You raze my home I am coming after you.

Silent Majority ...the silence is deafening

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tension among Mumbai's Muslims

According to this BBC report the Muslims in Bombay are feeling the heat. I do feel sorry for them. But, the slience of the Indian muslim leadership on the blasts is deafening.

I counted three Bollywood muslims who voiced concerns regards the blast - Aamir Khan, Javed Akthar and Shabana Azmi. But, where is that DH Imam of Juma Masjid who shouts off his mouth other times.

Other day I heard a report on NPR about a silent majority in Pakistan who want the "Islamic" oridnances introduced by Zia repelled. I thought hard and long about "silent majority". It is an oxymoron. They say "he who is afraid to ask questions is ashamed of learning". And, if you are silent about your convictions you are ashamed of it. My guess is there are situations when they find the current situation and laws to be advantageous to them.

But, Pakistan is not the only place with "silent majority". India has a number of "silent majority". They are "secular", "class-less", "oppose dowry" and feel aghast about female infanticide. The truth is they are happy with the current the situation. And, a "silent majority" of Indian muslims condemn the blasts.

Israel ... no balls?

Hezbollah abducts two Israeli soldier. Israel gets all worked up. Bush says Syria and Iran are supporting the Hezbollah. So, why is Israel bombing Lebanon? Is it because Hezbollah operates out of South Lebanon.

By same twisted logic GWB should have bombed Florida. After all the 9/11 terrorists operated out of there. And, before that they were in Saudi Arabia.

Maybe, the hypothesis that children who were molested when young have a greater tendency to be molesters themselves applies to nations, too.

I bet Israel does not feel too good about taking on Syria or Iran directly. Or, conduct a covert operation to get the Hezbollah leadership.

PS: GWB was heard saying they should get to Syria....

Let us accept the blame.. for the blasts

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Analysis: Peace process under threat?

The BBC analysis of Manmohan Singh's rhetoric is quite right. It is not the job of the Pakistani government to protect the Indian citizens. I am sure that they like the Indian government would be happy of the miscreants chose the neighbour as their target. And, given their religious beliefs may even feel obligated to look the other way. But, even the "holier than thou", "secular" India has done its bit of supporting miscreants like LTTE.

The fact remains that Indian government failed to protect its citizens. And, it is evident that these blasts like others could not have been orchestrated without sympathetic elements in the Indian society. Let us go after these sympathetic elements, show them no mercy. And, take an effort to understand why they are sympathetic. Hopefully, our politicians will realize that "unity in diversity" is all bullshit and only way to build a truly "secular" nation is by separating state from religion, not by creating separate laws and provisions for every religion, sect, caste and creed.

You just can't beat a Bajaj

 

Took this picture in SFO over the July 4th weekend. It is a Bajaj scooter. It is almost serendipity when you find stuff like this or the billboard touting Mahindra tractor in rural Pennsylvania. 

So, what was that about Katrina?

Enough is enough!

A few days after Katrina hit New Orleans and flattened it, I got an email from India comparing how different (of course, better) the indian response to Bombay monsoons was compared to the US government response to Katrina. One word - gloating. And, without knowing the full story.

Monsoon rains in Mumbai are a regular feature and so is the flooding. But, a category 4 hurricane like Katrina is not a regular feature. Yes, the US government failed the citizens of New Orleans. But, they have done a great job of ensuring no repeat of 9/11. Can the Indian government say that. Bomb blasts have become an annual feature in Mumbai. Maybe, they should go back to the old name - Bomb-ay.

Of course, I am trivializing the issue. The fact is Mumbai has very little chance. For that matter, whole of India has very little chance without taking decisive steps.

Instead, every time there is a bomb blast in India we have an all too predictable routine that goes somewhat like this

1. Blame it on the terrorists
2. Call the press and tell them you see the hand of LeT, ISI etc... Do this before you have any suspects.
3. Prime Minister addresses the nation, and the leaders visit the city
4. Liberals tell you that this is not time to blame anyone. And, religious zealots blame each other for what happened.
5. Terrorist/ Intelligence "experts" appear out of the wood work pouting their expertise
6. Media pays homage to the "spirit of the city and its people".

A few more weeks everything is forgotten, nothing is acted upon, Dawood Ibrahim goes watching cricket in Sharjah, Imam of Juma Masjid tells the government not to mess with you know who, the Sena jokers wag their fingers back.

And, then the next one hits. And, the cycle repeats.

Why don't we try something different -
Accept we have a problem. There are people from all communities who are unhappy with the state and they don't seem to mind vandalizing state property or killing its citizens to make their point. Being nice to these folks is of no use.

Much ado about nothing

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tamils dispute India mutiny date

So, there is a dispute about India's first war of Independence. The Tamil thambis feel it was 1806 when, according to the beeb, "...the British introduced a dress code for its mostly Indian soldiers which required them to remove caste-marks, earrings and beards."

And, the guys up north have been peddling 1857 as the first war. The reason in that case was sparked by the introduction of cartridges rumored to have been greased with pig or cow fat.

In both cases oppression by the British or freedom from them seem to have played very little, if any. And, there were no national interests at play. Or, maybe the narrow religious and caste interest are the national interests.

Anyway, here we are about good 150 years later still squabbling over this silly shit. Tell me how this affects the common man.

Bloody Hell...I will be damned

BBC NEWS | Technology | Man turns paper clip into house

Now, there is something crazy but nice about this story. Guy swaps paper clip for a house. Love it.

An analogy for astrology

I have often thought about our tendency to blindly believe in something and call it a miracle, supernatural, divine or to blindly dismiss it because it cannot be explained. And, astrology is one of those subjects that fit in this. Some believe every word that an astrologer says and some disregard. I have had more than a cursory interest in astrology as my dad used to practice palmistry as a hobby and would visit astrologers every now and then.

Back in the early 90s Nadi Josiyam was a rage. It involves reading old palm leaves based on your thumb print. And, the text is interpreted by the astrologer. The premise behind the whole thing is that all our lives have been documented by some of the top Hindu saints (boy, they must have been one job less lot). And, I am not sure if it was ego or lack of a central repository these guys seem to have documented the same person. Anyway, my dad did take our thumb prints and get our past and future read and recorded (the astrologer recorded his interpretation on a tape).

The thing that blew me away was how the astrologer figured my name from my thumb print (a name like shikari shambu is not that easy ;) and a few questions like “does the name have an ‘s’ ” (bit like Jeopardy but without the prize money). And, how the near term predictions that the astrologer made came true. But, over years there are a number of predictions that he made that were not true.

While I have not been able to figure out how the astrologer was able to “read” my name from the thumb or predict the near term things I have created an analogy to explain the process. To me Nadi Josiyam is like asking someone to figure where I am going (my future) by just reading the map (thumbprint). The map has a number of roads, forks and turns. By asking questions and guesses the reader (the astrologer) is able to figure out the route (my past) I have taken to get here. And, since the road does not have a fork or turn for the next few miles (near term) he is able to predict immediate future. Of course, sometimes I feel it is also because we will it to happen. But, longer term is a different story. Based on the turns we take (decisions we make) we may be on a different road (different future) from what the astrologer read. Or, the astrologer reads only one of the many possibilities. Is this right? I don’t know. But, I think it is a cool analogy.

And, what about the palm leaves. Did these sages document every single human being? How did they account for population explosion etc…? Maybe, we are all “connected” like the Net of Indra.

Shashi Tharoor, LTTE and the Nuclear Deal

School is out. And, I am out of school for good. At least, for now. I had hoped that it will provide me more time to update my blog. Call it post school paralysis (PSP) I have not done anything.

In mean time a lot has been happening w.r.t India. Shashi Tharoor is the Indian candidate for the UN Secretary General. LTTE offers almost an apology for killing Rajiv Gandhi as Sri Lanka is fast spiraling into yet another civil war. And, the controversial US-India nuclear deal is all set to go through.

I think Shashi Tharoor is a great guy and a good author. And, I don’t think there is anything wrong with his statement ‘I shall be an Indian Secretary General but not India's Secretary General.' Of course, this seem to pissed off the likes of TVR Shenoy, who like many believe that the person should push his nation’s interest and since UN like India follows a reservation system Tharoor does not stand a chance so should not be a candidate.    

Protesting death and accidents

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Two die in Kashmir deaths protest

Protesting deaths and accidents are something very unique to India (or, is it?). I remember when "Thalivar" MGR died in Tamilnadu the streets were filled with rioters, looters and there were a few suicides. More recently we saw the same thing happen when "Anna" Rajkumar died. Mind you both of them died of natural causes.

Now we have protests for a boat accident. Mind you there was nothing wrong with the boat or its personnel. It was just a matter of pure physics - when you put all the weight on one side of a boat the boat will tip.

Do protests, rioting and demonstrations help bring the dead alive? Or, stop a boat from tipping when it is loaded hevily on one side? I guess the dead are lucky. They did not have to see such stupidity being committed in their honor.

Karna and Indian Politics

I have often wondered about Karna, the character in the Mahabharata. The epic and the depictions of epic in books and movies go great lengths to portray Karna as the good guy on the wrong side. The message being pushed was very simple – “he is a good guy, possibly even the best. Circumstances forced him on the side of the bad guys but even then he stuck it out and remained loyal to them.” And, the story has been bought by the majority as evident by the fact that Karna is as popular as Arjuna.

But, if you have read the Mahabharata more than once or even once with great concentration you will find instances to show how Karna had co-opted the cause and even tried to be badder than the bad guys. As Viktor Frankl said in “Man’s Search for Meaning”, “Everything can be taken from a man but ...the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” Karna did not demonstrate this freedom.

Indian politics is full of Karnas. I remember the oft repeated line about Vajpayee – “good guy in the wrong party.” Ah, a Karna. Maybe there are a number of folks who say the same thing about Dr. Manmohan Singh now. He has presided over the Bihar election debacle and now the reservation stuff – the “good guy” in the bad group. The fact is Karna was on the wrong side and remember one rotten apple spoils the barrel. The chance of he co-opting the bad cause was always higher than his ability to change the rest of the group.

Pope peddles his soap water

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India protests over Pope comments  

It was back when I was in college I heard a good friend of mine refer to prosthelitizing as marketing. I still remember what he said – “I hate these guys. Why do they feel the need to market their religion?” Then I read an article written by the famous Germaine Greer, where she lashed out at Mother Theresa. Her message was simple – if you can only save a dying person by forcing them to part with their faith then shame on you. I still remember having a big argument with my mother on that. She defended Mother Theresa and I defended Germaine Greer.

Ever since that I have followed the whole issue of prosthelitizing and religious conversions with great interest. My approach to religion is bit like what Rajeev Srinivasan once said – “religion is like soap-powder. In essence all soap-powders are the same, but through clever marketing pitches, we consumers begin to feel that our particular soap-powder is somehow superior to that used by others.”  That said, I have not seen any religion market itself so hard and often as Christianity. It is often blatant and in your face. In India they employ the story of saving the downtrodden from the ills of Hindu caste system. But, the reality is caste system exists in all religions, especially in India -  Dalit Christians is an example.

Ultimately, prosthelitizing I think is the highest form of religious intolerance. It is after an effort to impose your beliefs on others because you feel that it is the best – switch and be saved, remain and you are doomed.

Anyway, I am glad that the Indian government finally showed some courage and protested over Pope’s comments.

Desis on the top of the world

Google Trends: sex

Well, almost... Three indian cities end up on the top of Google Trends listing on search for "sex". Of course, I bet many desis will tell you that - "There are three kinds of lies - lies, damn lies and statistics."

Hell freezes over

I never thought this day would come. I listened to GW's speech on immigration. And, I agreeded with pretty much everything. Only other thing I wish he had is withdrawan all troops from Iraq and put some on border patrol duty.

Commies are coming

The big story in the last two elections in India has been the strong showing of communists. And, as I wondered what was happening it all came back to me.

Four years of undergraduate education in Kerala brought me very close to the communists. I was what I guess they thought "a failure". My uncle was in the local communist party, worked for the party mouthpiece. So, I got introduced to all their student leaders at my college. The first week was quite interesting - all these "leaders" came and introduced themselves to me. Yet, when the student branch came on a membership drive not only did turn it down, I asked my friend sitting next to me to do the same.

Over the next four years I had an opportunity to see them from close quarters, interact with some of them. And, what I saw scared me. Here is a group of guys who are incredibly disciplined (the students would give up the classes for various causes - from literacy drive through political campaigning to stuffing the ballots to ensure that their candidates win). For all their "intellectual and rational" appearances the cadres almost never ever questioned the ideology. They were like zombies. The scariest thing was what happened the day after Rajiv Gandhi's death. Kerala was in the middle of a run up to an election (something that the incumbent communist chief minister had called because they were ahead in the opinion polls). As soon as the news of Rajiv Gandhi's death came the communist cadres near my college went to work. The removed the congress party's campaign posters and made it look like the handiwork of the right wing BJP cadre. Of course, that was not enough to get them back into power.

The communist parties I think believe that if you keep saying the same lies over and over again it will be considered as the truth. And, that seem to be working. So, while Jayalalitha* and others keep changing their policies depending on which way they electoral winds blow, these folks are willing to take a beating once in a while to keep the story consistent.


* What happened to Amma was sad. I thought she did something bold and right when she fired the state government staff when they went on strike and then declared mass conversions illegal. But, she relented on both. Quite stupid because no longer could the actions be explained/ spun in a consistent way.

Bias in the media

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Militants' kill Kashmir Hindus

35 Hindus die in attacks by Islamic rebels in Kashmir - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

The venerable beeb something shows that old habits are hard to die. So, it was not surprising to see the word militants within quotes. The same story on IHT had what I think is the perfect headline.

Maybe we should refer to IRA as a bunch of "freedom fighters" and the guys who bombed london a group of "disgruntled citizens".

Breaking every rule

Ok, I recently read an article on what make a blog good. One thing it mentioned was the need to be focused. As the article mentioned you can’t have one posting discussing globalization and the next one title “my cat died”. I guess my blog breaks pretty much every single rule mentioned there. But, who cares. I don’t. And, hope the internet wanderers who accidentally stop to read my blog don’t either.

Bucking the trend...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bollywood shock at star's verdict

In general politicians and actors have a lot in common, at least in India. So, it is not uncommon to see such a reaction from Bollywood. Like every politician, the stars expect that the law cannot touch them. Remember “Sanjay Dutt did not have weapons, it was planted etc...” story. But, I have come to realize that there is more in common.

When you go to watch movies you root for the hero (or the villain) but at the end of the show you got poorer and both the hero and the villain got richer. Same is true with politics in India – which ever side you support you end up the loser. The politicians get rich off you. And, no other professions have such open connection with the criminals yet remain respectable like politics and filmdom. No wonder lots of actors try their hand at politics once they retire from acting. Ever heard of rioting or suicides because of the death of a doctor, scientist or industrialist? But, suicides (“self-immolation” being the most common method) are a regular feature when a “star” or politician dies.

This Salman Khan instance seems to be bucking the trend. Wonder if it is because the charge against him is “killing a rare buck” ;)    

The immigration debate - no easy solution, no right answers

As I watched this morning’s “Meet the Press” on NBC I realized that there are no simple answers to the immigration debate. And, there is no one right answer, too. The hypocrisy of both sides is clear. For the most part I tend to agree with the Republicans – illegal immigrants are first and foremost illegal. But, what is legal and illegal depends on the government in power who pass the laws of the land. And, since Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas were a few centuries back a part of Mexico can these new immigrants claim “right of return”?

Borders define a nation – its economic stature, its culture and beliefs – just like the four walls of your home define you. A porous border will dilute the definition. I don’t think that per se is a bad thing. But, are we (every one in the world) ready for it? Porous borders would mean sooner or later there will be homogenization. Just like globalization will at some point result in economic homogenization (at least, in theory).

I agree with the Republicans in that any amnesty program will only encourage similar behavior. And, I do think the guest worker program is a great idea but people who got into the country illegally should not an automatic shoo-in into this program. I agree with the Democrats that the illegal immigrants have contributed a great deal to the US economy. I also agree that they have helped keep the wages low in certain sectors and helped the US industries in those sectors to be competitive.

I think, the LA Times columnist who said that the protesters who were waving Mexican flags were “in your face” might have exaggerated a bit. I identify myself with India more than US. And, I might wave the Indian flag at a US /India cricket match. One can argue that protests over immigration are more serious than a cricket match. And, I agree. I really don’t know what I would have done if I was down there. Some of these protests were quite badly managed – there was one in Chicago that was held on a Friday evening. Imagine having your commute home on a Friday evening disrupted because of a protest by illegal immigrants. How sympathetic are you going to be for their cause? Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s assertion that these people are proud to be in America sounds hollow especially when he says, he had to tell the protestors to check in their national flags. I bet if you were to ask most of these people they would say they would be happy to be in Mexico (or, wherever they are from) if they can make a good living.

People who make the argument that this nation was built on immigration must realize that resources are limited – both for the nation and the planet. You cannot keep adding more people and expect everyone to have a better life. And, I suspect some of the folks who are on the side of the illegal immigrants are also the ones who oppose H1B etc… US government, for all its efforts to push WTO down the throats of other nations, still opposes WTO recommendations for free movement of professionals. Will the church take the case of illegal immigrants if they were from, say a Muslim country? And, I think it is not possible not to have some laws, restrictions etc… if you want to be better than the rest. If you want to be the same as the rest then tear down the borders, restrictions etc… - it will all level out, like water.

Finally, I did realize how different (and better) US is compared to India. We also have an illegal immigrant problem – the folks from Bangladesh. The far right screams about it from the hilltops and the rest stick their head in the sand and act as if nothing like that exists. There is no healthy discussion, debates on it. There is not even an acknowledgment of the issue. And, when a recent census revealed that the numbers of Muslims have increased considerably in the North East and certain other pockets of the country it was roundly criticized by the “secular” politicians and press.

Genographic project

Ever since I caught a glimpse a good Tamilian* talking to a white man on PBS when I was channel surfing I have been hooked on Spencer Wells' "Journey of Man". So, when National Geographic and IBM teamed up with him for the Genographic project I started thinking about being a part of the project.

I am J2 (M172) haplogroup. And, here is a study of indian Y chromosomes.

I also came upon an interesting take on the Aryan invasion stuff based on genetics.

Most Brahmins in India are of "Indo-European" origin - J folks like me. Hell, I am no brahmin unless you subscribe to the definition - Brahmin is one who is in search of brahman - the eternal truth. Now, the author of the article referred above feels that the genetic evidence supports Aryan invasion - the invaders put themselves on top of the caste system. Sounds reasonable. But, what I don't understand is why are the Hindu fanatics against the Aryan invasion hypothesis. Afterall, most of these folks are brahmins. Is it because they want to impress upon the rest of the population that they are locals (sons of the soil)?

And, why can't the "Indo-Europeans" in India be descendants of non-invaders, like traders etc...

Living in la-la land - Swish of the sari and everyone will be sorry

Floating the rupee: Don't expect a big bang - Business - International Herald Tribune

Interesting article on rupee full convertibility. I remember my International Finance professor joke that Indians are big on yoga, meditation and other spiritual journeys because rupee is so undervalued that only journeys they could take were virtual/ spiritual.

Dell in the "Best Places to Work".. when hell freezes over

About two months after I joined Dell in the Fall of 2002, I got a hand written thank you note from the office general manager along with a $100 "gift certificate". I had spent the previous eight weekends at work, not to mention long hours during the normal workdays to try get a derailed project on track. I thought the gesture was great. But, the "gift certificate" did not look like the usual AmEx gift certificates. But, I am no expert on gift certificates.

I tried using it at a few merchants and had problems using it. So, finally around Christmas time I decided to go to AmEx and encash the certificate. The whole of Chicago and their extended families seem to be at AmEx. After a 45 minute wait it was my turn. The woman behind the counter told me that what I had was not the gift certifcate but a form to buy a gift certificate. And, I could see she was trying her best to suppress her laughter as she said this.

I went back to the office and told the general manager about it. He agreed to take care of this. Over the next three months I followed up on this over email. I never received any response from the General Manager. I gave up. And, decided he was just cheap.

About three years later, in the Fall of 2005, I attended the Dell recruiting presentation at my business school. They held a draw for the Dell Ditty, flash based MP3 player. And, I won. When I went to collect the prize at the end of the event the woman told me that the Ditty was back ordered and they would send it once it becomes available. Five months and numerous emails later I finally got an ecoupon for $100 that was mailed to me by post. By then I was convinced that my earlier experience was not because the General Manager was cheap, it must have been the company policy.

I was bit saddened by the fact that I was not getting the Dell Ditty. I have never seen one and was quite intrigued by this product. From all accounts the itty-bitty Ditty is quite shitty. It is a pity that I will not know that for sure.