BJP's Predicament

Featured on The Hindu - 29/1/09

This cartoon sums up Beautifully the current predicament of BJP in Karnataka.

Barkha Revival

This Barkha Dutt episode refuses to die down. Apparently some two days ago NDTV filed a suit on Chetan for ranting about Barkha post nov 26th and maligning her name.

Obviously this didnt go down too well with the Twitterville & the Blogosphere. There were literally 100's of tweets on Barkha/NDTV.

I did some Barkha bashing of my own , but not to pleased about it. Not that I regret just not pleased - I dont watch NDTV BTW.

About time I buried the issue. Guess its not my thing.

Article on Hindu questioning the media role

Losing My Virginity - 2

Been some days since the last post on the Book. As I continue to read at my quota of an hour a day - spent the last few days reading chapters 10-14 which mention the 10 year period from 1974 to 1976 . Felt like I was reading a soft porn Novel. So really didnt have much to post - there is too much of that stuff on the Net already .

Perhaps there is this one funny incident which stands out :

Their boat Duende had filled with water and as they waded around salvaging whatever possible " one of the neighbours shifted a box and a large Vibrator fell out. When it hit the ground, it turned itself on and started to vibrate.Buzzed around and finally fell into the canal, where it zipped around for a while before vanishing from view". wonder how all this can happen only to Richard Branson.

1984-1986

While Thanking his Fuel sopnsors Esso - prior to the Blue Riband race - he thanked BP instead of Esso.Realising the mistake only after finishing the talk -

The Esso execuitves looked at me with horror as if I was a ghost.I fell down to the floor and crawled under the table.

"I am sorry " I croaked, and started to spit and polish their shoes.



What would you call it Clowning around, Humility , contrition.

Whatever, can't think of any other Multi Millionaire capable of such antics.

Parenting Anger

An altercation with wife was about to make, an otherwise pleasant begining to the day, Frosty. It happened Like this :

Wife: (Referring to the republic day celebration from which we had just returned - the time - 9:15 Am. She was Speaking to the elder one who is 9yr old) .

All the other children were fresh , well dressed and bathed. And here you are not even brushed your teeth.

Me(interjecting): Well those children were woken up by their parents and prepared for the Function.We did not do any such thing.

Wife: Leave me alone.You dont tell me how to deal with children.
(Some 2 days ago I had responded with the same line when wife had interjected to somthing I had told the younger one )

Well obviously I didnt much appreciate the rebuke. And Frost was starting to spread.
I wanted to say something harsh - after all why blame children for our inefficiencies - but managed to keep quite and went on practising a new song on the Guitar.

Luckily I had an opportunity to go out to buy some provisions and as I drove This dialogue was running in my head and spinning out of control. Then a thought struck me why not make a post out of it - it would provide a good avenue to vent out steam and help to put things in perspective.

Infact the moment I decided on that - my mind cleared. The Frost left in a jiffy.
Bought what I went for and got some additional Sheek Kabab.WEll I guess wife appreciated the gesture and a semblance of normalcy returned to the household.

Birthday Party

Yesterday evening Got invited to a Neighbors Birthday party.Went with family and got treated to a strong dose of preaching, charismatic healing and Bible reading + songs.

WTF ?

Losing My Virginity - Richard Branson

Take aways from the Book - Loosing my Virginity":

I am currently reading this book and thoroughly enjoying it so I thought why not share the great quotes right away instead of waiting for the book to get over and then do a write up. Since I devote less than a hour each day reading the book this post is likely to be long in content and time frame.

"I just pick up my phone and Get on with it "

" My parents encouraged us to give our views on many things "

" I just wanted to have have enough cash in the bank to print the next issue and pay for the bills"

" At the prison I vowed to myself that I would never again do anything that would cause me to be imprisoned, or indeed do any kind of Business deal that wuld embarass me."

" My parents had drummed into me that all you have in life is your reputation: you may be rich, but if you lose your good name, then you will never be happy.The thought will always lurk in the back of your head that people dont trust you"


" the next 2 years were a crash course on how to manage cash. from being completely relaxed we became obsessively focussed. We used every penny of the cash generated in the shops, knowing every pound we earned was another pound toward opening up another store , which in tun was another pound toward paying off my customs and excise debt."

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Inspiration

Touching Lives

Today went to pay the Electricity bill. The guy there enquired about Anil.

Amazing how many lives Anil has touched. Apparently Anil had met him some 3-4 days before regarding the Electricity Bill name change.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he mentioned but he controlled himself.

May God Bless his soul.

Childhood is short, Maturity is forever

Came across this quote from Calvin & Hobbes strip on Yesterdays TOI Strip. It is stunning in its simplicity. Actually when one thinks about it - Childhood is all of 10-15 years.That's just a fifth of our lifespan, maybe lesser.

A pity. Such a short period of life and so much of it is spent preparing for adulthood without enjoying the freedom of just being a kid.

As a child things are so simple. You like something you take it - you dont want something refuse.If you are young enough you can even afford to throw tantrums and get away with it.

We spend so much of our time trying to control the behaviors of our kids, do this do that, dont do that , pick , pick , pick.With all good intentions trying to confirm them to our perceived norms of the society.

A quote like this jolts one to the foolishness of our efforts.

Perhaps someday I will learn to accept the kids as they are without fretting over their current behaviors.

By then they might have turned into Adults.

In Lalu rests India's Redemption from Recession

Is Lalu the answer to India's Recession woes ? 

This thought hit me right between the eye as I read an article which talks about the importance of  investment in high speed rail for the US & the pitfalls that Mr. Obama faces if he does'nt take certain steps. 

- excerpts :
" One area that is ripe for such investment--and that is not, from what I have seen, a declared priority of the Obama administration--is high-speed rail. .... They would be the most energy-efficient and quickest means of getting between places like Boston and New York, or Los Angeles and San Francisco. But they would require a massive investment. .......... " 

Cut to India ,  Thanks to Mr Lalu the Indian Railways has turned around to the extent that among other plaudits Deutsche Bank in its sectoral review of 2006, mentioned -- " IR's competitiveness will increase substantially vis-à-vis the road sector". 

Can the current problems of the HCV segment traced to this ?  

Imagine if we had a highspeed rail linkbetween Bangalore & Pune - the time taken might be 5-6 hrs assuming a 120 km/hr speed. Chennai - Bangalore  might be just over a couple of hours.

Probably Mr Lalu can give it some thought. Especially when Government spending seems to be the Need of the hour , why not? We need some drastic measures to get the economy moving, the engineering/manufacturing sector - the  stimulus packages might not contribute much to raise the current level of Business confidence and may be just - drops in the ocean

High Speed rail links in India was in News as far back as in 2007.There is this article in TOI mentiong plans for HS links between Delhi - Howrah & Delhi - Mumbai 

There is another mention about  high speed rail corridors in the South but, nothing else hence.

Perhaps this is just the right time for it. 

What do you think? 

(Lalu's image- credits to helloji)

Ramalinga Raju Quits

In retrospect The Maytas buy would have been the best thing to have happened to Satyam. It could have saved Satyam from the present mess.

In his Letter Ramalinga Raju mentions the logic behind the deal. Today he forwarded his resignation claiming sole responsibility for the irregularities in the Account Books.

That the 4th Largest Software firm in the country having 53000 employees and 185 Fortune 500 firms in their clientele , should fold up in such a manner. Thats alarming. Leave aside the comparisons with Enron & Ken Lay. $1Billion  was fictitious , how could it happen. There just might be some other skeletons in the closet. 

Mr Mohandas Pai has come out with a strong statement on punishment of Fraudsters. Its likely that even the other leading Sw entities will come under a thorough scanner. In such a situation even minor incongruities may get blown up.

It would be interesting to know how the whole thing was managed.Getting into the bare facts and triggers may take some time. Might take some time.A fraud of such magnitude could not have happened without active connivance from the auditors. Already PwC is feeling the heat.

Heads are set to role. 

Some die hard supporters of Ramalinga Raju have launched a website in his support. 

From a Billionaire to Fraudster. It seems ironic. Obviously one cannot  easily slight a man who has almost single handedly built a Billiondollar empire. But, this man from Bhimavaram has lost so much that he might never be able to rebuild something which he would most cherish - his reputation.

The passing away of a Thorough Gentleman

Recently a Neighbour passed away due to a heart attack. A thorough Gentleman, his kindness touched many many lives. Our apartment block still hasnt come to terms with this loss. 

Events such as these jolt, one out of the usual thought processes. I had known him for just over 3 years and that , not very closely. And though on certain apartment based issues I found myself opposed to him, I held him in high regard. 

In these 3 years I had never seen him raise his voice at anybody though he held a Key post in our flats. Ever obliging to people who went to him for help especially the poor. Infact after reading the obituaries I realised that he has touched many thousand hearts with his smile and kindness.

A few lines in his memory : 

45 years 

Ever cheerful,

Sensitive, to everyone’s concerns,

Loved kids, got adored in return

wonderful organizer,

enthusiastic participant in every event.

abundant source of relief to the poor

Model human being

Anil Dias

No More.

2008 - Learnings

As I take the first steps towards immersing myself in the routine, post the vacations - I felt like reminiscing a bit about the year gone by - 2008. 

Personally & professionally this turned out to be a very satisfying year.

What was most satisfying was that I set out some learning goals fro myself & managed to achieve 2 of them. I learnt to swim & to play the guitar

Swimming I picked up during the summer in a 5 feet deep pool at our apartment.Its been 6months since I last took a dip but I guess I can still manage on my own.

Guitaring was more recent. As of now my repertoire consists of 10 chords and a an equal number of songs. Not bad for a 38 year old.

Both are work in progress and I dont expect to Master either anytime soon. But the very fact that I even reached this level is a source of tremendous satisfaction.

Happy New Year

I am a trifle late in Posting this , but Happy New Year Everyone. I wish the Very Best for you and your Family in 2008. 

Just back from a 15 day vacation. Longest in more than a decade. Can't call it hectic we just stayed with our relatives had lunches dinners , slept a lot, got drunk and  watched some movies. The childeren seem to have really enjoyed this. My four year old asked me after we had returned why we had to leave Chennai and come back to Bangalore. A good period for bonding amongst cousins.