Year 2006 same date - Britain came under a big shock. There was an attack. In train stations and bus stations. I still remember that day. I was on the train in south east london, much farther from where the events had happened. A typical early morning where I walked into the crowded Docklands Light Rail, popularly known as the DLR for Londoners. Unaware of anything that happened, people were busy browsing through newspapers and some fiddling with their ipod, rest with a novel. Within 15 minutes of travel, I reached my station Canary Wharf, where I work and we were informed that the train wouldnt travel past till the Bank Station which was probably another 15 mins away. Surprising that on a busy morning, the train suddenly stopped mid-way. When I get into the office, I learn that there has been a power failure in the station. Still the news isnt out. My parents were visiting me and they were supposed to take a train or a bus to see Tower Bridge. For their luck, the news had trickled down through a few local ears and they walked back to the apartment. Within a few hours the BBC made the official announcement and the country was in SHOCK.
It was just the previous day that London won the bid for the Olympics. The whole country was overjoyed. There was celebration all around Trafalgar Square. And that day was the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. For which, there were enough protests.
This event happened and everything came to a standstill. Mobile networks were completely jammed. Transport systems went belly up. Chaos everywhere and while sitting at office with the radio I could sense the agony and pain that family and friends of the injured and dead would go through. I think this was the closest I have gotten to being part of a serious situation and it was very disturbing.
And these events are still happening - people from the same community. Ruthless lunatics they are. Now they are giving another threat for Rushdie's knighthood. They quote the permission of Allah. Did they ever read the Quran in their lifetime? Because it never said anything close to what they are claiming. And they go around killing their own people. I guess, God gave these people too much oil, a new religion but no brains to be protective and productive.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
The death of the cassette tape
I am running out of time to write a post. Hence, I decided to post this stuff I read a few months back. Very interesting - reminds me about product life cycle and markets. For readers from the ISB, might be a very good example for a CP during your elective courses.
THE eject button has been pressed on the audio cassette for the very last time.
Currys, the UK’s biggest electronics retailer, yesterday announced it is to stop selling the tapes.
Woolworths and HMV have already removed them from their shelves.
Currys also predicts this Christmas will be the last time it sells hi-fi systems with tape decks included.
Compact cassettes could be frustrating at times — hissing, stretching or getting chewed up in tape decks — but while MP3s and downloads are all the rage now, tapes played an important role in musical culture for more than 40 years.
The recordable tape was introduced to Europe in 1963 by Philips.
Originally designed for dictation, tapes soon became used for home recording and even data storage for computers.
For younger readers, the compact cassette consisted of two miniature spools between which a magnetic tape was passed and wound. This mechanism was housed in a protective plastic shell.
Cassettes took off in the Seventies, offering a recordable alternative to LPs. Pre-recorded cassettes went on sale in Europe in 1965, and from the Seventies to the Nineties became one of the most common formats on which to buy music.
The appeal of the cassette was boosted by the launch of portable music players such as the Sony Walkman in 1979.
A massive 83million tapes were sold in the UK in 1989. Yet by last year the figure had fallen to a mere 100,000.
In the Nineties sales of pre-recorded tapes were overtaken by CDs and record companies started phasing them out.
And in recent years the digital music revolution has pressed pause on the old-fashioned practice of “home dubbing”.
Even Currys managing director Peter Keenan said he will look back with “fondness” at cassettes.
Indeed, the tapes and the players had their good points.
They were more resistent to dust, heat and shocks than most digital media and fixing cassettes didn’t need hi-tech equipment — any tape which spooled out could be wound back in using a Biro.
Their durability saw them act as catalysts for social change, taking rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain and creating a foothold for Western culture.
But cassettes were not popular with everyone — especially record companies.
In the Eighties the British Phonographic Institute launched an anti-copyright infringement campaign under the slogan “Home Taping Is Killing Music”.
In 1988 the House of Lords ruled in favour of Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad that producing a high-speed twin cassette deck did not infringe copyright laws.
Despite the digital music revolution, it is thought around 500million tapes are still in circulation.
And beware, here are other devices we reckon could be on the way out next:
Answering machines; Fax machines; Portable CD players; Watches
You have been warned . . .
THE eject button has been pressed on the audio cassette for the very last time.
Currys, the UK’s biggest electronics retailer, yesterday announced it is to stop selling the tapes.
Woolworths and HMV have already removed them from their shelves.
Currys also predicts this Christmas will be the last time it sells hi-fi systems with tape decks included.
Compact cassettes could be frustrating at times — hissing, stretching or getting chewed up in tape decks — but while MP3s and downloads are all the rage now, tapes played an important role in musical culture for more than 40 years.
The recordable tape was introduced to Europe in 1963 by Philips.
Originally designed for dictation, tapes soon became used for home recording and even data storage for computers.
For younger readers, the compact cassette consisted of two miniature spools between which a magnetic tape was passed and wound. This mechanism was housed in a protective plastic shell.
Cassettes took off in the Seventies, offering a recordable alternative to LPs. Pre-recorded cassettes went on sale in Europe in 1965, and from the Seventies to the Nineties became one of the most common formats on which to buy music.
The appeal of the cassette was boosted by the launch of portable music players such as the Sony Walkman in 1979.
A massive 83million tapes were sold in the UK in 1989. Yet by last year the figure had fallen to a mere 100,000.
In the Nineties sales of pre-recorded tapes were overtaken by CDs and record companies started phasing them out.
And in recent years the digital music revolution has pressed pause on the old-fashioned practice of “home dubbing”.
Even Currys managing director Peter Keenan said he will look back with “fondness” at cassettes.
Indeed, the tapes and the players had their good points.
They were more resistent to dust, heat and shocks than most digital media and fixing cassettes didn’t need hi-tech equipment — any tape which spooled out could be wound back in using a Biro.
Their durability saw them act as catalysts for social change, taking rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain and creating a foothold for Western culture.
But cassettes were not popular with everyone — especially record companies.
In the Eighties the British Phonographic Institute launched an anti-copyright infringement campaign under the slogan “Home Taping Is Killing Music”.
In 1988 the House of Lords ruled in favour of Sir Alan Sugar’s Amstrad that producing a high-speed twin cassette deck did not infringe copyright laws.
Despite the digital music revolution, it is thought around 500million tapes are still in circulation.
And beware, here are other devices we reckon could be on the way out next:
Answering machines; Fax machines; Portable CD players; Watches
You have been warned . . .
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Weekly roundup
I didn't realize that its been a week since i wrote something on this space. A friend of mine who reads this space regularly had to remind me of that. He did ask me whether it was because of work. my frank answer is - is definitely because i have been trying hard to find work in the last one week.
ever since Sivaji happened, i have following up quite regularly on the movie. a whopping budget of 90 crore (international readers please excuse me for using crore) indian rupees - can you believe that. and i also heard that the superstar got 17 crore as salary, which is the fixed component and then a variable pay that would come from distribution revenues. mba stuff happening here too.
anyway, during the last week, i hardly went for work. on monday i was in bangalore attending a wedding and catching up with few friends from b-school. then on wednesday, mr.manjeri(the coimby man on my blog's main page) and i left to tirupati to attend another wedding. during this time, my manager decided to get me into a new project. all this while i was supposed to work for a chicago based bank's projects. not that i had started work on that. just that the allocation had been done and the people in that team were doing some knowledge transfer - very much like the gyaan sessions at ISB. too many PPTs and stuff like that. on friday i was introduced to the new project and i said yes. although its 90 percent confirmed that i will start work on this one from monday, anything can happen. bottomline: i still dont have work.
another funny incident happened at office on friday - a friend of mine entered the office lobby wearing sandals and the security guard stopped him. he wanted my friend to get permission from the HR because there was a slight violation of the dress code. i was furious. this is a place where people walk in like a herd of cattle especially between 9 and 10 am. nobody checks a shit you could walk in with a detonator and that silly guy wouldn't know a thing. with such a security lapse uncared for, this guy demands a dress code authorization. extraordinarily funny.
every IT consulting company in india is preparing to start a full fledged technology consulting arm. and we are also seeing whats happening with the dollar. azim premji had once said that it would take 36 yrs for the rupee to be at par with the dollar, but i kinda feel that it might happen in like 10 years. suddenly all firms are aggressively looking at revenues from europe. and i got to hear that Infosys is trying to get something from Cap Gemini. Thats actually a very good strategy. CG is headquartered in Paris and a large portion of its revenues is from Europe. They always say - quicker the better and this is also some kind of first mover advantage. companies want to pay less and thats why a lot of them are moving out of india as well. today, we are in a different game. the cost advantage is no longer with us. we need a new and radical strategy.
ever since Sivaji happened, i have following up quite regularly on the movie. a whopping budget of 90 crore (international readers please excuse me for using crore) indian rupees - can you believe that. and i also heard that the superstar got 17 crore as salary, which is the fixed component and then a variable pay that would come from distribution revenues. mba stuff happening here too.
anyway, during the last week, i hardly went for work. on monday i was in bangalore attending a wedding and catching up with few friends from b-school. then on wednesday, mr.manjeri(the coimby man on my blog's main page) and i left to tirupati to attend another wedding. during this time, my manager decided to get me into a new project. all this while i was supposed to work for a chicago based bank's projects. not that i had started work on that. just that the allocation had been done and the people in that team were doing some knowledge transfer - very much like the gyaan sessions at ISB. too many PPTs and stuff like that. on friday i was introduced to the new project and i said yes. although its 90 percent confirmed that i will start work on this one from monday, anything can happen. bottomline: i still dont have work.
another funny incident happened at office on friday - a friend of mine entered the office lobby wearing sandals and the security guard stopped him. he wanted my friend to get permission from the HR because there was a slight violation of the dress code. i was furious. this is a place where people walk in like a herd of cattle especially between 9 and 10 am. nobody checks a shit you could walk in with a detonator and that silly guy wouldn't know a thing. with such a security lapse uncared for, this guy demands a dress code authorization. extraordinarily funny.
every IT consulting company in india is preparing to start a full fledged technology consulting arm. and we are also seeing whats happening with the dollar. azim premji had once said that it would take 36 yrs for the rupee to be at par with the dollar, but i kinda feel that it might happen in like 10 years. suddenly all firms are aggressively looking at revenues from europe. and i got to hear that Infosys is trying to get something from Cap Gemini. Thats actually a very good strategy. CG is headquartered in Paris and a large portion of its revenues is from Europe. They always say - quicker the better and this is also some kind of first mover advantage. companies want to pay less and thats why a lot of them are moving out of india as well. today, we are in a different game. the cost advantage is no longer with us. we need a new and radical strategy.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Sivaji - a visual treat
GRANDIOSE - if i could use just one word to describe the movie. Now you can add all the adjectives that describe pomp and show to follow on. Exorbitant song sets, fight settings and many more is what you will feel when you walk out of this entertainer.
For all readers in Chennai, I must tell you that Abhirami theater is one hopeless place to watch this movie. Its such a congested place with no planning. All efforts have been made only to make money and create inconvenience for the public. Abhirami Ramanathan who is supposedly making a killing because of buying the movie rights for this movie is just filling his bank accounts. He seems to be least bothered if the public have so much trouble getting into his establishment. The idea of a wholesome entertainment gets lost when one walks into such a theater. Broken seats, unclean surroundings, uninvited visitors like rats are part of your blockbuster movie.
ARR has surpassed everyone's expectations by giving just the right beats to keep the audience tapping their toes. As it happens in most Superstar movies, Superstar begins his reign embellished with SPB's enchanting voice and we can feel that vibrating in the "Balleilakka" song. Nayantara (seems to have toned up a lot for Superstar) who just appears for the first song has done a neat job. Supporting dancers with painted faces of the Superstar on their body is different. Director Shankar has brought in the flavor of the "Andan Kaakka" song from Anniyan into this too, but obviously is much more extravagant.
"Vaaji Vaaji" that follows next is probably on the Prince of Persia theme. Crores of rupees have been spent in almost every song. This one was phenomenal with an exotic harem. It seemed to me that all efforts have been made to make sure that Shreya wears just the amount of clothes thats required to get the pass certificate from the censor board. If you told me that Shreya is the most beautiful girl you've seen on screen, I wouldn't bother to disagree because thats 100% true. I am just short of words, but This lissome beauty is crazy beautiful and awesome. In this song, Shreya is like an Egyptian Queen. If Cleopatra was alive today, she would be of no comparison to Shreya.
"Oru Koodai sunlight", which I think is also called "Style", reminds you of some music themes from 50 cents. Another wonderful attempt accepted very well. All care has been made to make sure that the music in every song complements Superstar's moves, especially the STYLE sequence in this song keeps you highly enthused.
"Sahana Saral" shot inside glasshouses (location looks like a new ecosystem) with a classical theme is worth mentioning. Singer Udit Narayan's rendition doesn't sound like a north indian's attempt on tamil music. He has worked a lot on the diction part and the result is very good indeed. Again Shreya is a treat to watch with her princess looks.
"Athiradee Kaalam" is another remarkable song by AR Rahman. The song does remind you some beats from Michael Jacksons compositions, but still rocks. Rahman is the singer here and when he sings we get reminded of own style, which just repeats. Shreya looks like a Latino woman here - reminds me of Salma Hayek.
Fight sequences have also been given equal importance although there is not logic when Superstar fights. Everything thats questionable is defied. The sequence in the instrument store is organized, but i wonder why the director chose to break all the instruments. I hate it when someone tampers with the music instrument. Here is someone breaking them. Superstar also reminds you of Agent Smith and Neo is certain places. Towards the end he completes it by also becoming Morpheus.
Comedy is just right. Superstar does not have punch dialogs. Comedy King Vivek does most of the work required. The amount of seriousness that the movie brings along is complemented with an equal amount of comedy that keeps the audience laughing to an extent. Director Shankar has continued with his anti corruption theme - it black money this time.
I'd definitely watch this movie again.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Intelligence ???
Although I dont totally believe in this particular prediction, its somewhat fun.
| Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence |
 Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer. |
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The temporary status continues
I cant believe that I still dont have an employee id. I have given up now. I have better things to do. Since yesterday, I have been looking up a good number of websites on furniture design, suspended bridges, architects etc. Its good fun to read something new.
Office etiquette has been shown the backdoor at my workplace. Every 5 minutes you can hear someone's phone ringing. The volume level is extremely high. The ringtones are also picked up from the Tamil movies and hence its almost like listening to a radio station. Apart from this, I have a jobless neighbor at office who keeps entertaining me with his activities. He uses the phone (both land and hand) extensively to talk to anyone and everyone about anything other than work. And apart from this, his phone gives this stupid alarm when he gets an SMS - "Excuse me Boss, you have a text message", as if its as important as "Houston, we have a problem". The sounds dont end here. There are some managers, sitting in open cabins, around me who use the speaker phone to talk to their friends, or family or banks.
During the entrepreneurship conference that happened in ISB last year, a professor from one of the IITs told us that his team had come up with a mobile jamming application - one that would stop all the mobiles within a particular area, from ringing loud. I definitely think we need one of that here.
I was listening to Burt Rutan's talk from the TED Conference, where he was mentioning about innovation cycles being reduced to none and how the US had crossed two generations of no innovation in the space exploration area. It was also interesting to listen to his observation of how airplanes became successful only because of the theory of natural selection.
Bill Clinton meets Dick Cheney.
Bill Clinton says - "Nowadays, you Republicans get away with everything you do. When I just took a shot at someone, I got impeached for that."
Office etiquette has been shown the backdoor at my workplace. Every 5 minutes you can hear someone's phone ringing. The volume level is extremely high. The ringtones are also picked up from the Tamil movies and hence its almost like listening to a radio station. Apart from this, I have a jobless neighbor at office who keeps entertaining me with his activities. He uses the phone (both land and hand) extensively to talk to anyone and everyone about anything other than work. And apart from this, his phone gives this stupid alarm when he gets an SMS - "Excuse me Boss, you have a text message", as if its as important as "Houston, we have a problem". The sounds dont end here. There are some managers, sitting in open cabins, around me who use the speaker phone to talk to their friends, or family or banks.
During the entrepreneurship conference that happened in ISB last year, a professor from one of the IITs told us that his team had come up with a mobile jamming application - one that would stop all the mobiles within a particular area, from ringing loud. I definitely think we need one of that here.
I was listening to Burt Rutan's talk from the TED Conference, where he was mentioning about innovation cycles being reduced to none and how the US had crossed two generations of no innovation in the space exploration area. It was also interesting to listen to his observation of how airplanes became successful only because of the theory of natural selection.
Bill Clinton meets Dick Cheney.
Bill Clinton says - "Nowadays, you Republicans get away with everything you do. When I just took a shot at someone, I got impeached for that."
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Chennai 600028
My friend had rightly said about this movie - "The Kollywood answer to Dil Chahtha Hai" and it truly was a movie like that.
The weekend in the Manchester of South India was fabulous. A good reason to get away from the hot and humid madras, although i keep complaining about madras, i never get bored of this place. maybe its because of the 27 year itch.
Chennai 28 was a treat in the form of a movie. Made on a very low budget, hats off to the guy who wrote the screenplay. There wasnt really a story line - its just a year of life along with everyday friends in your community and passion for cricket. With such a simple theme, every shade of a bachelor's life has been touched upon in a vivid fashion with intricate details. Comedy is just apt to prove that laughter is the best medicine. In certain instances, some would just feel that this wasnt a joke at all. But for all those people who have been on the streets during those few years in college, every moment can be related to some way or the other.
Outlook India carries this article - The circle of Frisson, where it talks about the family being a faraway world and friends defining the new relationships. Click on the bold words to read the full article. This movie was yet another reminder to such a theme.
As Dil Chahtha Hai did to a lot of us - you walk out of the movie hall with a feeling that you have been inside the theatre for just the right experience. No message, no evil and no good triumph. Its the same good old feeling here too.
Anyway, after all that good stuff, I am back to simple interest, compound interest and stuff like that. People at work have this feeling that a management programme at one of the best schools in the country is no proof that you are qualified to be on the job. They have given me some hopeless learning modules to read on.
And I still dont have my employee id. Is someone doing the Hewitt Survey or anything of that sort. Please take a note of this.
The weekend in the Manchester of South India was fabulous. A good reason to get away from the hot and humid madras, although i keep complaining about madras, i never get bored of this place. maybe its because of the 27 year itch.
Chennai 28 was a treat in the form of a movie. Made on a very low budget, hats off to the guy who wrote the screenplay. There wasnt really a story line - its just a year of life along with everyday friends in your community and passion for cricket. With such a simple theme, every shade of a bachelor's life has been touched upon in a vivid fashion with intricate details. Comedy is just apt to prove that laughter is the best medicine. In certain instances, some would just feel that this wasnt a joke at all. But for all those people who have been on the streets during those few years in college, every moment can be related to some way or the other.
Outlook India carries this article - The circle of Frisson, where it talks about the family being a faraway world and friends defining the new relationships. Click on the bold words to read the full article. This movie was yet another reminder to such a theme.
As Dil Chahtha Hai did to a lot of us - you walk out of the movie hall with a feeling that you have been inside the theatre for just the right experience. No message, no evil and no good triumph. Its the same good old feeling here too.
Anyway, after all that good stuff, I am back to simple interest, compound interest and stuff like that. People at work have this feeling that a management programme at one of the best schools in the country is no proof that you are qualified to be on the job. They have given me some hopeless learning modules to read on.
And I still dont have my employee id. Is someone doing the Hewitt Survey or anything of that sort. Please take a note of this.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Its Training Time.. Alleluya
"Icebergs are those things that, on the surface, appear much more trivial than they are. Unlike the Titanic, they don’t always sink your project, but they may knock it way off course."
This is what i read from one of the presentations.
For the funniest part, I still havent got my employee id. Today is the fifth day. The latest reason that the HR has found to tell me is - the server has crashed and it will take more than 2 days to rectify that. I was like(in my mind) - Huh!, do you know where you are working? A company that boasts of being one of the top players in the IT services industry. And you tell me that it would take 2 days to get a server up and running. Would you tell something like that to your client?
So if you dont have your id, you cant do anything. No access to any floor. No coffee or tea or lunch without the help of others. YOU CANT EVEN GO TO THE LOO. Because of the funny way in which things are arranged around the office here (projects are demarcated within a single floor through access points), you cant get to any place without the ID card.
Every morning I keep talking to myself that today would be the day the bus driver would check if I had a valid pass and with that feeling I would try and sneak into the bus with that confident look on my face, that look which says that I am one of those old-timers in the organization and you better be smart enough before you pop up any question to me. But yes, if he got brave enough to do that, then I dont know what to say. I definitely cant tell him that the SERVER CRASHED.
This is what i read from one of the presentations.
For the funniest part, I still havent got my employee id. Today is the fifth day. The latest reason that the HR has found to tell me is - the server has crashed and it will take more than 2 days to rectify that. I was like(in my mind) - Huh!, do you know where you are working? A company that boasts of being one of the top players in the IT services industry. And you tell me that it would take 2 days to get a server up and running. Would you tell something like that to your client?
So if you dont have your id, you cant do anything. No access to any floor. No coffee or tea or lunch without the help of others. YOU CANT EVEN GO TO THE LOO. Because of the funny way in which things are arranged around the office here (projects are demarcated within a single floor through access points), you cant get to any place without the ID card.
Every morning I keep talking to myself that today would be the day the bus driver would check if I had a valid pass and with that feeling I would try and sneak into the bus with that confident look on my face, that look which says that I am one of those old-timers in the organization and you better be smart enough before you pop up any question to me. But yes, if he got brave enough to do that, then I dont know what to say. I definitely cant tell him that the SERVER CRASHED.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Work starts on a cold note
If I could get paid for studying or living in a university campus, that would be absolutely great. Work isnt any interesting. We started off on a not so good note. The so called auditorium was freezing and maintenance was so responsive that they did not bother to turn the temperature up even after frantic calls from us. Thats the beginning i guess. and then we had these boring presentations from the various teams and the people representing the senior management. it was more or less like the PPT we had on campus. i wonder why we had that again. maybe it was a refresher that out me to sleep.
presentations overshot the allocated time by more than an hour. then it was the turn of all the banks and the mobile service providers to make their pitch. out of the four banks that made their offers, citibank was the only one to screw up big time. well, we always know that the second largest bank in the world had to make a big noise and then defame itself knowingly. and then they say that they are not the tom dick and harry of the banks in india. they just want to serve the best customers int he best way. sounds like a good customer value proposition, but never suits a country like india where there are so many people and the only way is volume. anyway, their strategy is best left to them.
i must also mention some things about my friends who joined from tier 2 and tier 3 business schools in india, who were asking a number of questions. they perhaps did not know that there were not being paid extra money for class participation.
the admin group at the office has not been very cooperative till now. they just want to throw some information at us and run off immediately before we ask them questions. with the HR, well, they could have managed this whole day in a much better way. yet another reason for WHY WE HATE HR. but they always want to be hated and hence will be the laggards. in fact, my first day at iflex was 100 times better than this one. i wonder if the joining procedures are different for undergrads and post-grads. forget all the fun. we were not even given a copy of the schedule for the day.
do you really think that the grass is greener on the other side?
i did want to make a mention about the under-underpants and the over-underpants. sounds confusing isnt it. but thats the fun i guess. lets see if i can get to write more about this.
presentations overshot the allocated time by more than an hour. then it was the turn of all the banks and the mobile service providers to make their pitch. out of the four banks that made their offers, citibank was the only one to screw up big time. well, we always know that the second largest bank in the world had to make a big noise and then defame itself knowingly. and then they say that they are not the tom dick and harry of the banks in india. they just want to serve the best customers int he best way. sounds like a good customer value proposition, but never suits a country like india where there are so many people and the only way is volume. anyway, their strategy is best left to them.
i must also mention some things about my friends who joined from tier 2 and tier 3 business schools in india, who were asking a number of questions. they perhaps did not know that there were not being paid extra money for class participation.
the admin group at the office has not been very cooperative till now. they just want to throw some information at us and run off immediately before we ask them questions. with the HR, well, they could have managed this whole day in a much better way. yet another reason for WHY WE HATE HR. but they always want to be hated and hence will be the laggards. in fact, my first day at iflex was 100 times better than this one. i wonder if the joining procedures are different for undergrads and post-grads. forget all the fun. we were not even given a copy of the schedule for the day.
do you really think that the grass is greener on the other side?
i did want to make a mention about the under-underpants and the over-underpants. sounds confusing isnt it. but thats the fun i guess. lets see if i can get to write more about this.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Back again with views about bombay
After that last post I did, I made a small trip to Bombay. People in bombay, whom i did not call - please do not get angry. first thing - i did not carry your numbers. i myself had a loaned phone. i was living in a place where the nearest internet cafe could not be located. and i was totally disoriented with the way the city lived.
perhaps bombay is such a nice place for millions of people. not for a person like me who needs some breathing space. in about every place in bombay there are more people per square feet than in any other city in india. you cant to any place soon. if that had to happen then it should be after 12pm and before 5am. a lot of people like the way bombay functions. i personally did not like it at all. everything is so fast. sometimes, the city life can be compared to how it is in New York. Even London is not this fast. although i did not explore the whole city in great depths, i was astonished to see asia's largest slum dharavi, while the aeroplane was descending. its HUGE - in the real sense, its HULK size. from the top i cud see all the small lanes inside the slum. these lanes were just enuff for one person to walk through and houses were placed on the landscape like a collage of matchboxes or maybe just a confetti.
the next funny thing to understand and practice was the suburban train. i stood stationary on the andheri platform for more than 30 minutes to get onto a train. the idea was to get onto the train before someone got off. and to do this, you had to be agile and fast because there were 50 other people trying to do the same thing. nevertheless, the all-ladies compartments were free of any trouble of getting in or out.
public transport as such is quite efficient. the city more or less is totally dependent on the public transport infrastructure. in that way its managed very efficiently. the auto-rickshaws are not allowed in some portions of the city. you can drive only cabs there. this keeps out the rickshaw drivers who keep shifting lanes every 10 mtrs and who do not see the vehicles coming behind before taking a U-Turn.
While I was browsing through some of the other blogs that I visit, I found this interesting picture. Click on it to read what it says
perhaps bombay is such a nice place for millions of people. not for a person like me who needs some breathing space. in about every place in bombay there are more people per square feet than in any other city in india. you cant to any place soon. if that had to happen then it should be after 12pm and before 5am. a lot of people like the way bombay functions. i personally did not like it at all. everything is so fast. sometimes, the city life can be compared to how it is in New York. Even London is not this fast. although i did not explore the whole city in great depths, i was astonished to see asia's largest slum dharavi, while the aeroplane was descending. its HUGE - in the real sense, its HULK size. from the top i cud see all the small lanes inside the slum. these lanes were just enuff for one person to walk through and houses were placed on the landscape like a collage of matchboxes or maybe just a confetti.
the next funny thing to understand and practice was the suburban train. i stood stationary on the andheri platform for more than 30 minutes to get onto a train. the idea was to get onto the train before someone got off. and to do this, you had to be agile and fast because there were 50 other people trying to do the same thing. nevertheless, the all-ladies compartments were free of any trouble of getting in or out.
public transport as such is quite efficient. the city more or less is totally dependent on the public transport infrastructure. in that way its managed very efficiently. the auto-rickshaws are not allowed in some portions of the city. you can drive only cabs there. this keeps out the rickshaw drivers who keep shifting lanes every 10 mtrs and who do not see the vehicles coming behind before taking a U-Turn.
While I was browsing through some of the other blogs that I visit, I found this interesting picture. Click on it to read what it says
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A Strange Journey
A saw a Malayalam movie yesterday called Vinodayathra which translates to the title of this post. The one and only maestro Ilayaraja (the Beethoven of this part of the world) has composed the music.
Listen to this piece from YouTube even if you dont understand the language. Its a perfect melody.
If you do track tamil music, this might remind you of a tune heard somewhere.
Sicilian Hothead mentioned in the previous post is ETNA, if you did not know.
Listen to this piece from YouTube even if you dont understand the language. Its a perfect melody.
If you do track tamil music, this might remind you of a tune heard somewhere.
Sicilian Hothead mentioned in the previous post is ETNA, if you did not know.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Monte Carlo
Women sunbathe on a terrace as British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton steers his McLaren Mercedes during the second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Sicilian hothead(4)
Still a good number of days left till I join work. My trip to see the Lord Venkateshwara in his residence in Tirupati was quite good. It was raining cats and dogs when we were outside his doors waiting to see him.
The VOLVO buses are seriously good. I was quite impressed. After a long time I was sitting in one that had been serviced well and maintained properly. I was happy to see that the seats were designed by the company I had interned with. While I was there, the R&D team was also working on a high tech driver seat and I could see the results of that on that bus too.
Riding on a local transport bus back home from where I got dropped was literally a menace. I got into one of these vestibule buses that have become so famous these days in chennai.
You can imagine how long such a bus would be on the road. Over and above, think of this being driven at speeds more than 50kmph on an extremely busy road from the airport. It was scary. The driver almost killed 10 people on the road. In such buses there is no control from the driver's seat for the part that is attached. And hence, if there is a small mistake in the way the vehicle is controlled, then there is a very good possibility of the bus turning a few degrees away from the desired path. First of all, such buses should never be driven past a speed of 40kmph and overtaking should be strictly prohibited. I can understand that most of these buses are express buses and are meant to save some time. But not at the expense of losing a heartbeat. Saving time in a crowded city means not stopping in the regular bus stops and not reckless driving. I hope there is someone who has the power to take action against all this. The drivers of these buses have no reason whatsoever to run slow. They are given a schedule and they are always rushed to finish their trip because then they can get those extra minutes of sleep in the bus station.
The VOLVO buses are seriously good. I was quite impressed. After a long time I was sitting in one that had been serviced well and maintained properly. I was happy to see that the seats were designed by the company I had interned with. While I was there, the R&D team was also working on a high tech driver seat and I could see the results of that on that bus too.
Riding on a local transport bus back home from where I got dropped was literally a menace. I got into one of these vestibule buses that have become so famous these days in chennai.
You can imagine how long such a bus would be on the road. Over and above, think of this being driven at speeds more than 50kmph on an extremely busy road from the airport. It was scary. The driver almost killed 10 people on the road. In such buses there is no control from the driver's seat for the part that is attached. And hence, if there is a small mistake in the way the vehicle is controlled, then there is a very good possibility of the bus turning a few degrees away from the desired path. First of all, such buses should never be driven past a speed of 40kmph and overtaking should be strictly prohibited. I can understand that most of these buses are express buses and are meant to save some time. But not at the expense of losing a heartbeat. Saving time in a crowded city means not stopping in the regular bus stops and not reckless driving. I hope there is someone who has the power to take action against all this. The drivers of these buses have no reason whatsoever to run slow. They are given a schedule and they are always rushed to finish their trip because then they can get those extra minutes of sleep in the bus station.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Anger at using firearms(3)
Eight days since I blogged last. In the meantime, nothing much has happened in my life. The date for reporting to work got shifted to June 11th now. And who is going to pay me till that day. I have been trying to tell the HR people in my future firm to get me started early and they havent replied to a single email of mine. I have a heart to go and shout at them on Day One. I hope I get a chance to do it during the feedback.
I saw this movie called Just Married yesterday. A movie that brought out some serious stuff about how arranged marriages would work in an Indian setting. Or rather, what would happen in the case of arranged marriages - i mean the stuff that the man and the woman would go through. In a way it was a but over hyped. You know about indian cinema right, they cant keep quiet by saying only the facts, they have to add an extra large volume of gas to the whole concept and make it sound so melodramatic. But yes, good attempt at it.
Many more future father-in-laws have been calling home to speak to my mom and dad. Its interesting to hear to the questions they ask. One guy actually asked for my salary. WTF. Thats the state of arranged marriages in the country. They also say that there is a shortage for girls who are nubile. Not sure if the statistics are right.
While all that is happening, the state high school results were out and the next topic on everyone's mind is ragging. People want to ban ragging - they shouldnt be doing such things. There should be a ban only towards physical ragging. Any other thing should be ok. I mean whats the point in enforcing a rule and cutting off the relationship between a senior and a junior. There is no other way for interaction. And ragging is perhaps the best way to know someone. I knew like 300 of my seniors in the first 10 days of college only because of ragging. And then how can the seniors know the junior girls if there is no ragging. The only way to authoritatively flirt with a junior girl is through ragging. Please NO BAN.
Apple's stock went down by 4 billion dollars because someone sent out a SPAM EMAIL to the outside world saying that this was sent to all Apple Employees. How funny.
Chennai has a runners group. I found that yesterday. They meet every weekend and run for about 20-25 kms. I also heard from them that the local Nike store sponsored pairs of running shoes for some of their runners. Interesting stuff.
And I got myself a CAR. Its a HONDA CITY. I really didnt want to spend a lot of money on a new car and burn my pocket with another loan. I went to a used car dealer I knew from before and I saw this piece lying there. It was an 04 December Auto Transmission model bought in 05 and it had done just 9000 kms. Very Sparingly used and in immculate condition. The owner was relocating to the US and he wanted to sell it off. So I quickly decided to buy this Graphite Pearl colored beast. Pictures later.
This post's title is another clue. Its easy. The answer is within the clue itself. You just have to search for it.
I saw this movie called Just Married yesterday. A movie that brought out some serious stuff about how arranged marriages would work in an Indian setting. Or rather, what would happen in the case of arranged marriages - i mean the stuff that the man and the woman would go through. In a way it was a but over hyped. You know about indian cinema right, they cant keep quiet by saying only the facts, they have to add an extra large volume of gas to the whole concept and make it sound so melodramatic. But yes, good attempt at it.
Many more future father-in-laws have been calling home to speak to my mom and dad. Its interesting to hear to the questions they ask. One guy actually asked for my salary. WTF. Thats the state of arranged marriages in the country. They also say that there is a shortage for girls who are nubile. Not sure if the statistics are right.
While all that is happening, the state high school results were out and the next topic on everyone's mind is ragging. People want to ban ragging - they shouldnt be doing such things. There should be a ban only towards physical ragging. Any other thing should be ok. I mean whats the point in enforcing a rule and cutting off the relationship between a senior and a junior. There is no other way for interaction. And ragging is perhaps the best way to know someone. I knew like 300 of my seniors in the first 10 days of college only because of ragging. And then how can the seniors know the junior girls if there is no ragging. The only way to authoritatively flirt with a junior girl is through ragging. Please NO BAN.
Apple's stock went down by 4 billion dollars because someone sent out a SPAM EMAIL to the outside world saying that this was sent to all Apple Employees. How funny.
Chennai has a runners group. I found that yesterday. They meet every weekend and run for about 20-25 kms. I also heard from them that the local Nike store sponsored pairs of running shoes for some of their runners. Interesting stuff.
And I got myself a CAR. Its a HONDA CITY. I really didnt want to spend a lot of money on a new car and burn my pocket with another loan. I went to a used car dealer I knew from before and I saw this piece lying there. It was an 04 December Auto Transmission model bought in 05 and it had done just 9000 kms. Very Sparingly used and in immculate condition. The owner was relocating to the US and he wanted to sell it off. So I quickly decided to buy this Graphite Pearl colored beast. Pictures later.
This post's title is another clue. Its easy. The answer is within the clue itself. You just have to search for it.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Clean GI becomes divine(7)
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu - MK, celebrated 50 years of being in dirty politics. The function was attended by the Prime Minister and few ministers from his cabinet, and a host of other people. I dont understand why we need to waste time on such a function, block all the traffic, create chaos and trouble the common man. The evening program wasnt even an entertainer. All the people came on stage and spoke about MK's life as a politician in english and tamil. That was it. For just this, they had a huge stage, police patrol, and other staff. Obviously they have used the taxpayer's money.
A few days back, a leading tamil daily conducted an opinion poll as to who would be the next contender for the chief minister's role. In the poll results, MK's son in Chennai received 70% votes and his other son (who is apparently a third rate criminal by profession) in Madurai received only 2%. This created a lot of havoc among supporters. I dont understand why. A newspaper has done a poll and this is quite common in other countries. The agitated people with the help of the Madurai Mayor (this one is a woman and she has attacked the newspaper office along with the other supporters. Does she really behave like a Mayor? She is needs to be skinned alive in the police station for doing such things), threw petrol bombs at the press office and all this caused the death of three people. Amidst all this, the police kept quiet because the problem has been started by the ruling party and if someone tried to stop this, he would get transferred to the worst territories in Tamil Nadu.
The press has reacted quite strongly against all this. But the case has notbeen registered against MK's second son. He is still out there enjoying his wine. The CBI has taken over the investigation, but what the hell, after a month or so, this case will also get shelved. The Hindu Editor Ram today spoke and appreciated MK for having handed over the case to CBI. Like the everyday news that gets printed in the HINDU newspaper, the editor supported the ruling party. It was such a stupid comment with no sense of seriousness and it showed extreme flattery. Three people have been killed for no reason and here is an editor who is praising the Chief Minister. I mean, this was a family feud and we are least bothered about MK and his stupid sons.
On the other hand, I also feel that this was a nice plan worked out by MK, his son in the city, and the newspaper team to get the other son out of the picture. If this plan works out well and if they can make this guy responsible for something, then these people can emerge as saviors and secure more votes the next time. The dumb voters here would believe them saying that MK was so great to eliminate the dirty politicians who could have emerged from within. How funny. Thats the situation here and the common man's head rolls.
Famous actor in the last post who also meant voyage was CRUISE. Remember TOM CRUISE!! This time its an anagram of CLEAN and GI and the word ultimately means divine. Isnt that easy?
A few days back, a leading tamil daily conducted an opinion poll as to who would be the next contender for the chief minister's role. In the poll results, MK's son in Chennai received 70% votes and his other son (who is apparently a third rate criminal by profession) in Madurai received only 2%. This created a lot of havoc among supporters. I dont understand why. A newspaper has done a poll and this is quite common in other countries. The agitated people with the help of the Madurai Mayor (this one is a woman and she has attacked the newspaper office along with the other supporters. Does she really behave like a Mayor? She is needs to be skinned alive in the police station for doing such things), threw petrol bombs at the press office and all this caused the death of three people. Amidst all this, the police kept quiet because the problem has been started by the ruling party and if someone tried to stop this, he would get transferred to the worst territories in Tamil Nadu.
The press has reacted quite strongly against all this. But the case has notbeen registered against MK's second son. He is still out there enjoying his wine. The CBI has taken over the investigation, but what the hell, after a month or so, this case will also get shelved. The Hindu Editor Ram today spoke and appreciated MK for having handed over the case to CBI. Like the everyday news that gets printed in the HINDU newspaper, the editor supported the ruling party. It was such a stupid comment with no sense of seriousness and it showed extreme flattery. Three people have been killed for no reason and here is an editor who is praising the Chief Minister. I mean, this was a family feud and we are least bothered about MK and his stupid sons.
On the other hand, I also feel that this was a nice plan worked out by MK, his son in the city, and the newspaper team to get the other son out of the picture. If this plan works out well and if they can make this guy responsible for something, then these people can emerge as saviors and secure more votes the next time. The dumb voters here would believe them saying that MK was so great to eliminate the dirty politicians who could have emerged from within. How funny. Thats the situation here and the common man's head rolls.
Famous actor in the last post who also meant voyage was CRUISE. Remember TOM CRUISE!! This time its an anagram of CLEAN and GI and the word ultimately means divine. Isnt that easy?
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Famous actor's voyage(6)
There is still a month left to join and I have already started hating the firm. They somehow seem to be laggards right from the beginning. And they dont seem to be interested in giving us work that they have postponed the joining dates to June.
Right from the beginning they had a screwed up way of looking at things. The interviews were chaotic. Totally disogranized. It could have been better. They'd promised a number of panels and on the day of the interviews, two or three people didnt land up and the whole thing turned topsy turvy. Is this the way you teach time commitments and orderliness to your new recruits? People were running helter skelter during the interviews and it was the same case with the interviewers. Even they werent sure of what needed to be done. Next was the signing deadline. They were so generous that they gave unlimited signing dates to students and this created more chaos. People didnt sign their intent till the last week of Term 8. And because of this, the offer letters came one day before graduation. Cud have changed my mind and not got the job, but other personal reasons made me stick.
Now I am at home sitting absolutely idle. I have nothing to do other than running, test driving, reading which I could do during the weekends as well. Another problem started here. Joining Dates. We got two dates and that started the problem. People took more freedom and asked for changes and now all that is being accomodated for. Outcome: No work till June. What's more needed than a month's vacation? And I never need to talk about the Human Resources team. They are so resourceful that they reply to your emails only if its more than a week old. For god's sake its their employee who has emailed them with a query and they are least bothered about all that. I used to think that my previous company was all shitty. But its the same story of grass being greener on the other side. As the company grows the problems get engulfed in its growth story. Every company big or small has such characters who just sit tight and never move their ass. I hope I get a chance to change some of these things.
"New developments in the centre" - last post title has not been solved yet. The answer is RECENT. Its jumble from centre and it refers to new developments.
This time, the clue is a bit tricky but its workable. Its a SIX letter word and it refers to voyage. THINK HOLLYWOOD!!!
Right from the beginning they had a screwed up way of looking at things. The interviews were chaotic. Totally disogranized. It could have been better. They'd promised a number of panels and on the day of the interviews, two or three people didnt land up and the whole thing turned topsy turvy. Is this the way you teach time commitments and orderliness to your new recruits? People were running helter skelter during the interviews and it was the same case with the interviewers. Even they werent sure of what needed to be done. Next was the signing deadline. They were so generous that they gave unlimited signing dates to students and this created more chaos. People didnt sign their intent till the last week of Term 8. And because of this, the offer letters came one day before graduation. Cud have changed my mind and not got the job, but other personal reasons made me stick.
Now I am at home sitting absolutely idle. I have nothing to do other than running, test driving, reading which I could do during the weekends as well. Another problem started here. Joining Dates. We got two dates and that started the problem. People took more freedom and asked for changes and now all that is being accomodated for. Outcome: No work till June. What's more needed than a month's vacation? And I never need to talk about the Human Resources team. They are so resourceful that they reply to your emails only if its more than a week old. For god's sake its their employee who has emailed them with a query and they are least bothered about all that. I used to think that my previous company was all shitty. But its the same story of grass being greener on the other side. As the company grows the problems get engulfed in its growth story. Every company big or small has such characters who just sit tight and never move their ass. I hope I get a chance to change some of these things.
"New developments in the centre" - last post title has not been solved yet. The answer is RECENT. Its jumble from centre and it refers to new developments.
This time, the clue is a bit tricky but its workable. Its a SIX letter word and it refers to voyage. THINK HOLLYWOOD!!!
Sunday, May 06, 2007
New development in the centre
Spamming was never a problem. After we've graduated, we have successfully started off a new chain of spam emails on 101 things to do after graduating from the ISB. Its quite interesting to see what all people can think of and come up with.
This Friday, I saw yet another Tamil Movie that had released during April this year. After a long time, I liked a love theme tamil movie. And, after a long time in the history of tamil movies, the guy and the girl dont end up living happily ever after. There is a happy ending here too, but its the same guy and a different girl.
I remembered Gary Barlow's song called Love Wont Wait when I walked out of the movie hall.
So the storyline in just few words was: Keep questioning my character without taking time to understand me for what I am and even though I might be kind enough to accept you as you are, I might just be happy to walk away with another woman who can listen. Sounds quite typical of most love themes but when you see something like this after an array of stupid stereotypes, you just tend to love it. Thats what happened with me I guess.
My test drive season has been quite successful. I tried the Ford Fiesta sometime back which was excellent. I liked the American car but definitely for the reason that it is american, not too many sell in this country. The Reanult Logan is a cheap luxury. Its as big as any car in that segment and a lot cheaper - in fact, the cheapest. The fully loaded version is less than Rs.650000 but the car lacks style. Interiors have been compensated for to make it less expensive. And I dont like the customer service in Chennai. I havent got a call from them for almost a week now. Ford Guys keep calling me every other day. Hyundai launched an upgraded version of its Accent called Verna. Its affordable and comfortable but nothing compared to HONDA. Honda has exceeded all my expecations from a car in that segment it occupies. People say that Honda charges more for its name but thats ok. The car is amazing. The engine (Honda is the best in the world for its R&D on engines) is so small and very powerful. I used to wonder why very few Hondas came on the USED CAR Sale and now we know why. People dont want to sell it.
The crossword theme continues with this six letter word which is the answer for this clue. The answer is already there in the clue. YOu just have to find it!!!
This Friday, I saw yet another Tamil Movie that had released during April this year. After a long time, I liked a love theme tamil movie. And, after a long time in the history of tamil movies, the guy and the girl dont end up living happily ever after. There is a happy ending here too, but its the same guy and a different girl.
I remembered Gary Barlow's song called Love Wont Wait when I walked out of the movie hall.
So the storyline in just few words was: Keep questioning my character without taking time to understand me for what I am and even though I might be kind enough to accept you as you are, I might just be happy to walk away with another woman who can listen. Sounds quite typical of most love themes but when you see something like this after an array of stupid stereotypes, you just tend to love it. Thats what happened with me I guess.
My test drive season has been quite successful. I tried the Ford Fiesta sometime back which was excellent. I liked the American car but definitely for the reason that it is american, not too many sell in this country. The Reanult Logan is a cheap luxury. Its as big as any car in that segment and a lot cheaper - in fact, the cheapest. The fully loaded version is less than Rs.650000 but the car lacks style. Interiors have been compensated for to make it less expensive. And I dont like the customer service in Chennai. I havent got a call from them for almost a week now. Ford Guys keep calling me every other day. Hyundai launched an upgraded version of its Accent called Verna. Its affordable and comfortable but nothing compared to HONDA. Honda has exceeded all my expecations from a car in that segment it occupies. People say that Honda charges more for its name but thats ok. The car is amazing. The engine (Honda is the best in the world for its R&D on engines) is so small and very powerful. I used to wonder why very few Hondas came on the USED CAR Sale and now we know why. People dont want to sell it.
The crossword theme continues with this six letter word which is the answer for this clue. The answer is already there in the clue. YOu just have to find it!!!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Outside could be boring
I think i had mentioned before about "The Camel Club" - the book i was reading. got bored of it becos of the same old west wing politics and then stuff about the secret service. well it turned out to be somewhat interesting towards the end. i thought it was going to be the usual attack on the US president, but this has taken a small twist. ultimately it means that you have to waste your time reading about 500 pages and get to the best part.
some thoughts from the book - america talks about a free world, but they are least bothered about the problems of genocide in africa. they are more bothered about the middle east because there is more oil there. talking more about the free world, america is the country that held the blacks as slaves for so many hundred years. and did you know that america represents less than 5 percent of the world's population and consumes nearly one quarter of the energy? well, here i really dont know what the author is trying to prove. energy consumption is based on economic activity and industrialization and that is no way connected to the number of people. if business demands more energy then use it. but then the other problem of not accepting to conform to greenhouse gas effects comes into picture. when the whole world is worried about melting ice caps and rising water levels, mr.bush is busy fighting for more oil. if america claims that they are trying to make every country into a democracy, then why arent they trying anything in china? practically, they cannot. if they did something and china reacted, then the american economy would crumple down in minutes and that would be the end.
india might be the fourth largest when GDP is measured in terms of purchasing power parity but the country still has problems in improving the infrastrcuture of the rural economy. manufacturing still holds a lot of scope. social infrastructure has to be improved as well. primary education system is very poor when compared to china and our country still has significant poverty levels. The main question is whether India will be able to meet the expectations of such a vibrant and buoyant economy. Although, we have somewhat managed to ride on the wave in a not so efficient but happy-go-lucky way, it might trigger a social imbalance which would end up disastrous.
The Treaty of Rome completes 50 years this year and all through this while Europe has enjoyed a sufficient level of prosperity. But still the level of innovation has come down. we still see that most of the talen drifts away to the united states and never comes back. is there a need for another Renaissance?
i have started spending time on the hindu crossword these days and hence, my subject line has become a crossword clue. this one is seven letters long. leave your answer in the comments section.
some thoughts from the book - america talks about a free world, but they are least bothered about the problems of genocide in africa. they are more bothered about the middle east because there is more oil there. talking more about the free world, america is the country that held the blacks as slaves for so many hundred years. and did you know that america represents less than 5 percent of the world's population and consumes nearly one quarter of the energy? well, here i really dont know what the author is trying to prove. energy consumption is based on economic activity and industrialization and that is no way connected to the number of people. if business demands more energy then use it. but then the other problem of not accepting to conform to greenhouse gas effects comes into picture. when the whole world is worried about melting ice caps and rising water levels, mr.bush is busy fighting for more oil. if america claims that they are trying to make every country into a democracy, then why arent they trying anything in china? practically, they cannot. if they did something and china reacted, then the american economy would crumple down in minutes and that would be the end.
india might be the fourth largest when GDP is measured in terms of purchasing power parity but the country still has problems in improving the infrastrcuture of the rural economy. manufacturing still holds a lot of scope. social infrastructure has to be improved as well. primary education system is very poor when compared to china and our country still has significant poverty levels. The main question is whether India will be able to meet the expectations of such a vibrant and buoyant economy. Although, we have somewhat managed to ride on the wave in a not so efficient but happy-go-lucky way, it might trigger a social imbalance which would end up disastrous.
The Treaty of Rome completes 50 years this year and all through this while Europe has enjoyed a sufficient level of prosperity. But still the level of innovation has come down. we still see that most of the talen drifts away to the united states and never comes back. is there a need for another Renaissance?
i have started spending time on the hindu crossword these days and hence, my subject line has become a crossword clue. this one is seven letters long. leave your answer in the comments section.
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