When all your religious symbols are related to a certain place on earth then you have a bit of an issue when you have to leave the earth and travel to space. There is a reason why no Muslim country has a Space Program or has sent astronauts. The practicing and “good” Muslim will have to forgo all that makes him a good Muslim. Look at the questions facing a practicing Muslim in a space station: The space station travels... Read more
The Chalisa famine of 1783-84 was one of the worst famine in India and the world. It got its name Chalisa from the Vikram Samvat year 1840. Over 11 million people died. The genesis of this famine lay in a volcanic eruption very far away in Iceland. Laki is a volcanic eruption in Iceland. It is near the Eldgjá Canyon and village Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The Laki (or Lakagigar) fissures are part of a volcanic system including the volcanoes – Grímsvötn and Þórðarhyrna. The eruption in 1783 was... Read more
During the 80s and the 90s, hundreds of thousands of Hindus were driven out of Kashmir by the Jehadis. Those who left the valley still remember the atrocities of Bitta Karate and Yasin Malik. Now, the Government is trying to bring some of the Kashmiri Pandits back to Kashmir in certain areas where they can feel safe. In many cases, the Pandits were driven out and threatened by their very neighbors. Many who landed in Delhi would have nightmares of... Read more
In an interesting article in TOI, Chetan Bhagat suggests that he ran a poll on his Facebook page asking people to vote for the person Who should be India’s PM?. The choices were simple – Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi or None of the Above. The result was astonishing. Narendra Modi got 82%. Rahul Gandhi got 5% and None of these two was 13%. So, Modi got 16 times the votes that Rahul Gandhi got. He brings up the “controversial... Read more
Religion is predicated on Belief. Dharma is predicated on Search. Former assumes and takes a stance. One that has to be defended, come hell or high water. And they come. The higher the water, the deeper the hell, the more tenacious is the defense of Belief. An Arbitrary belief – never experienced, never lived. Search doesn’t look for arbitrary sign posts. It seeks the finale. Either you get there or you are moving. There is no make-believe ends to this... Read more
Red Hat is the first company based on Open Source model, which has reached a $1 billion in revenue. This is a big achievement for the Open Source movement. It provides enterprise class operating system platforms, middleware, applications, management products, and support, training, and consulting services. It takes the Open Source products and makes them available to enterprises. For example it has Red Hat Linux, its flagship product. It also acquired JBoss – open-source enterprise middleware vendor. Red Hat’s story of the initial days... Read more
Genetically modified food is a big issue these days. For health it is a serious thing but its an even bigger thing for national food security. As Genetic Modified seeds make their way into the food cycle of a country, then indigenous seeds lose out. The country’s crop and food production becomes hostage to the whims and fancies of the seed companies. To take the control and the ownership of the seeds away from the farmer means the control goes... Read more
Pakistanis are remarkably neurotic people. It is no secret that it is a heaven for conspiracy theorists. That’s their staple. What this thing has done is to make them orchestrate their own ruin. If you look at the chart here you will see that while the people who believe that Taliban is a greater threat have decreased in the last few years (strangely, as the attacks by Taliban have increased!); while those viewing India as a threat have correspondingly... Read more
Tata Consultancy Services (China) Co. Ltd. just got recognized as “2012 Top 10 Global Service Provider in China”. The award was presented by China Council for International Investment Promotion (CCIIP) in Nanjing, China. Qiqi Dong, the CEO of TCS China was obviously elated. He reiterated his company’s commitment to China and shared the growth plans. “It is a great honor for TCS to be recognized with this prestigious award and to be placed amongst the leading service providers in China. We... Read more
Gujarati food will finally make its way up into the space now. As they say, you can find a Gujarati anywhere you go. Well, as Sunita Williams – from a Gujarati Dad and Slovenian Mom – goes to the space the second time, she will carry her food along. Isn’t that how we Indians do it, after all? Her family is from Ahmedabad and her Uncle Dinesh Raval, (a local Congress leader) is leaving for US carrying some Gujarati fare for... Read more
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