Drishtikone
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Drishtikone has been nominated for the "Politics and Current Affairs" category on Indibloggies (Search for "Drishtikone" on this page). For all the effort that is put into the blog, if you feel that it does deserve to be voted the best in the category, then please vote for it right away (dont wait for another day, because I have seen then it gets put off). VOTE Read more
McDonalds is trying big time to woo the Desi population in the US. How do I know? Well, a local desi event in Houston has just been sponsored by McDonalds. I thought maybe that was mistake of the advertising person, who didn't know what he/she was upto. But as I opened my mail this afternoon, I was in for a surprise! Amidst the regular junk mail, I saw an India-ishtyle advertisement from McDonalds. See for yourself! Now, the reason I say mistake is because in the desi community, many are vegetarians - admittedly, a lot of Hindus I have seen do eat beef if they are non-vegetarians.. so that's a legitimate population. On the Muslim side, most eat Halal meat and therefore, outside their home or trusted restaurant, they become vegetarians. Again, many Muslims don't care about that either. So, there is a market.. but is it that much? What do you think? Read more
Just joined a group via the invite sent by a Pakistani friend, Ali Chisti (yes, he is related to the Sufi Saint Khwaja Chisti). Found this picture there which is pretty ominous. You may want to read my Pakistani blogger friend, Rubab's post on how Taliban may be poisoning the minds of small kids which may hurt the future. Read more
Ever wanted to know how the different companies were named? Here is an interesting primer. Mercedes: This was actually financier's daughter's name. Adobe: This came from the name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock. Apple Computers: It was the favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobbs.He was three months late for filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 o'clock. CISCO: It is not an acronym as popularly believed. Its short for San Francisco. Compaq: This name was formed by using COMp, for computer and PAQ to denote a small integral object. Corel: The name was derived from the founder's name Dr. Michael Cowpland. It stands for COwpland Research Laboratory. Read more
Proto sent me a tweet on an article written by Sumit Ganguly [2]. He is director of research of the Center on American and Global Security at Indiana University, Bloomington. The premise of his article: the Nukes in Pakistan can never fall into the hands of the Taliban. The reasons: "Unless the Pakistani Army", starts to fragment, he says, "such fears are greatly exaggerated". He lays out three scenarios - (i) Taliban defeating Pakistani Army; (ii) Taliban sympathizers taking over in the Army; and (iii) Taliban getting the weapons in transit somewhere. He, I think correctly, dismisses the first and the third scenarios. However, what concerns me is the second scenario. That one, is not so simple to analyze, but Ganguly gives a very simplistic answer: The present chief of staff of the Pakistan Army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was previously the head of Pakistan's overweening and powerful Inter-Services Intelligence directorate. With that background and connections in the intelligence service, there is little reason to believe that he does not exercise rigorous oversight of the Army from his present position. Indeed it strains the imagination to believe that the ISI-D—the very organization that spawned the original Taliban—would not be aware of lurking Taliban sympathizers in its midst. Interestingly, he seems to be using Kayani as a proxy for Zardari. I think what he means to say is that Zardari would know if there was such a move. For, what Kayani is upto, no one really knows for sure! And as for what goes on - specifically in the Jehadi sector amongst the Army and ISI - no one really understands until it actually comes out... LEAST OF ALL, the Democratic Leader! If you look at the history - ZA Bhutto brought in Zia ul Haq to make sure he could handle the religious right in the country. Result: UNBEKNOWST to him, his protege became his nemesis. Cut to Sharif. He brought in Musharraf. Without him knowing, Musharraf - ON THE BACK of Jehadi clique, which had orchestrated the Kargil etc, became the President and threw Sharif out, just when Sharif was about to change him as he WOKE UP to the threat of Musharraf. Do we get an idea of the stealth and the speed with which the situation can possibly change in Pakistan and how Army seems completely in compliance until the real time comes? Read more
There are newer and newer ways that the Nigerian scam artists try and contact you for your bank account details. Lately it has been on the pretext of jobs. Sometimes they try to get you on the IM itself - Skype etc. Here is a very interesting exchange that shows how to deal with them. 😉 Read more
I happened to talk of the situation in the sub-continent with a friend of mine, an ex-Indian Army Officer. He discussed the disenchantment amongst the ex-servicemen (ESMs) that is brewing in the country right now. Media doesn't report on it, the common man doesn't care, the communists and pseudo-pacifists consider Army as anti-national (while basking in their security), and the Babus & politicians play with them. I had carried a series of articles on the state of the Indian Defense forces and this very topic. I had also written about the betrayal of Nehru and Menon and sent to friends who had ESMs in their family and had been around in the China War, so they could give their views. In personal conversations, the friends confirmed that the Defense Officers had read that article with great deal of interest and one of my friend quoted her Dad as saying "Pretty Accurate". To get even that out of him, she said was a BIG feat. I had suggested in my article on the humiliation of Indian Army that to look at Lt. Col. Purohit's case in terms of "Hindutva" attack is to play on the religious prejudices in the Pseudo-secular and communists in India. If you see the targets - Samjhauta Express, when it was taking Pakistanis to Pakistan and Muslim area Malegaon - you would see that there was a deliberate attempt to choose the victims. One can very easily see it as a case of religious intolerance and keep harping on things one is used to - "hindutva" etc .. and nothing can be done. However, in my view, the situation speaks (indeed, shouts) about a malaise that nobody wants to remedy - Humiliation of the Defense Forces and the Discontent! Read more
There was a movie - "Albert Pinto ko Gussa kyun Aata hai?" (Why does Albert Pinto get angry). Well, it turns out .. because Albert Sr. used to get agry.. that is why Albert Jr. is getting angry. And it all boils down to one "T". A gene called DARPP-32 produces more dopamine - which leads to more anger and aggression. Researchers at University of Bonn worked with over 800 people in this research. Researchers found that those who had the "TT" or "TC" versions of the gene portrayed significantly more anger than those with the "CC" version. They also found that those who display more anger have less grey matter in the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps keep our emotions balanced. Less Grey matter and predominance of "T"s. That's what it all leads to... Anger. Worse, its hereditary. Read more
I generally do not agree with any of George Bush's cabinet - but in this case, I agree with Condi Rice. She wasanswering questions from the students at the Jewish Primary Day School in Washington after delivering the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Lecture. Rice, who had played a crucial role in defusing the tension between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai terrorist attacks, said: "You know, having been carved as it was, essentially, out of India, its identity has always been a problem and its always -- not always, but some elements in Pakistan find their identity through extremism and through extreme anti-India sentiment. "So there are some people for whom there is no positive agenda for Pakistan; it's all about aggression," said the former secretary of state. Her take on India was that it did not want to be a part of the crisis that was current going on in the Af-Pak region. India, she said, is focusing on more positive things like economic development. Read more
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