It is often said by women that for them sex comes with love, while for men sex is a "functional" act. Well, as far as the results of this survey go, nothing could be farther than truth! For, as soon as a woman enters a secure (read - with love) relationship, her libido goes down. For the man it remains intact, more or less. A woman's sex drive is to facilitate "pair bonding". Once that is done.. poof... it all goes down. Hmm.. is that functional? Read more
Where do I see the next year - 2008 - going? Well, I must admit, with Benazir Bhutto's assassination, this year has ended on a rather strange note. South Asia 1. I see Pakistan going into further turmoil. Suddenly, Iraq will seem like a tame cousin. Pakistan currently is at a strange point! The ONLY voice against Islamicists - Bhutto - has been quietened. Musharraf is an erstwhile (actually even current, from his complete inaction) sympathizer and patron of the Islamicists and Nawaz Sharif is running alongside the Islamicist parties! So, Pakistan's politics is between a rock and a hard place! The choices are both bad. Now, I feel given the Islamization of Pakistan's Army and Musharraf's unpopularity, the worst thing that can befall that country is any attempt on Musharraf's life. That would truly put that country in unforeseen crisis.. in fact why just Pakistan.. it would put India (specifically) and the world in a crisis never seen before. 2. In India, BJP - which looked like a spent force.. is back with a bang! While Narender Modi won in Gujarat - despite a stinging campaign by the opposition - spectacularly; the party followed it up with another spectacular win in Himachal Pradesh by winning 41 of 68 Assembly seats in HP. Congress which had won 43 seats in 2003 ended up with 23. What does this say? BJP may gain strength. And most of all, Modi is very clearly the future leader of BJP - Advani as PM candidate notwithstanding - as Karan Thappar clearly notes. There is going to be a polarization of Indian politics - which is good and bad. Bad because it will be due to wrong reasons. Good because Indian democracy is "free-for-all" kinda scenario... everyone is having his or her way and I was fearing the "Third Front" coming on.. the WORST alternative! If there are just two clearly strong alternatives - Modi vs the rest.. One is clear where to go for. As for the track record of "unsecular" credentials are concerned - then in ACTUAL "on the ground" reality.. there is little difference between Sonia camp, Communists and Modi! Honestly! All three have killed thousands in the name of religion with impunity and without remorse! So, despite Karan's "thoughtful" comments, I consider his projection of Sonia Gandhi as mere ass-suck up! Nothing more! For her guys like Tytler et al are no better than Modi's friends.. and her hubby was as guilty as Modi is! Read more
The year 2007 draws to a close. As is customary, we make many lists of the year gone by. I had also started this tradition last year by compiling my own and others' lists. Here were my predictions for this year 2007. Let's see how we did? 1. Dollar will decline and maybe US will avert a correction but the deficit will continue to balloon. Little need to expand on it. This was SPOT ON and one of the main points of discussion by the end of the year! 2. The tensions due (1) above will increase with China and Europe due to trade issues. Chinese element will also include the military/political muscle flexing as well. India will therefore become an important prop this year. So expect India to become an important "flavor" in American foreign policy. Again, this also came true to a large extent. The Toy recalls and some books came out and it was clear that there was a push with the Nuclear deal etc. to position India against the growing influence of China! 3. The true implications of Iraq invasion will start becoming all too apparent! If I were Barrack Obama I would NOT run for the President! In fact if I were the head of Democratic party I would let the Republicans take that "honor" in the next President elections. By the end of 2007, the world will realize that Iraq was THE greatest mistake of the modern times. I would be very surprised if a major conflict does not break out in that region. Well, I am surprised! Many politicians have gone on record in the US to say that Bush's presidency was the worst ever and Iraq is one of the worst mistakes ever! But I guess the dimensions of this mistake are not completely apparent as of now. Wait till next year. Read more
Rs 153 crores that should have been in the Post Office savings accounts in the name of poor people are no longer there. They have simply vanished or were never deposited! All with the knowledge and connivance of the Post office administration! This is PRECISELY the reason why the Government employees should not be handling private money! They have never handled tax money properly ever.. so why should one even deposit any paisa in the post offices. I still remember these places are as corrupt as they come! I remember my Mother telling me long back that to simply take your OWN money out of these savings account, you have to bribe the guy on the counter! Such absolutely LOWEST level of corruption exists only in African countries like Nigeria. But that is what these idiots are.. the lowest of the lowliest. TOI has learnt that the post office savings bin is leaking. In three years, Indians across the country have lost a mind-boggling Rs 153,22,06,773.25. That's over Rs 153 crore. In most cases, the fraud appears to have been perpetrated by agents acting hand-in-glove with PO officials. The agents take money from would-be depositors and channel it elsewhere. Read more
US regularly and consistently dumps wheat into the sea and ocean because it cannot be sold and it will not donate to the poor countries... just to keep the prices in place. Guess what? The price of wheat has doubled in the last year. Now, the thieves are stealing wheat! Its tempting. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating the theft of 9,000 bushels of wheat, valued at more than $50,000, from at least four grain elevators in Syracuse, Kansas, a KBI official said Friday. Read more
A whole generation of movie goers have grown up in Delhi watching Hollywood and good Bollywood movies in South Delhi's Chanakya theater. This 1076 seat hall with an annual attendance of 850,000 and a turnover of Rs 15 million, started off in 1970 with "Mera Naam Joker" and the screening of the 9-45 p.m. show of “Taare Zameen Par” at Chanakya cinema here on night of December 27, 2007 marked the end of the journey for this cinema hall which marked high of good cinema. The father and son Rajesh and Aditya Khanna have been running this hall since 1970. The decision to close and vacate the place comes due to a Supreme Court judgment paving the way for the New Delhi Municipal Council to raze the theatre complex and build a multiplex-cum-mall on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. Read more
The world of politics - specially world politics is amazingly shallow. It took hardly anytime to call the meeting to condemn the assassination of Bhutto... but agreeing on the language of the statement. Well, that's another matter! That, took forever! Because no one can agree on how to address an "act of terror" within one's borders - sponsored and executed by people from that country itself!! Read more
This was her last picture. Seconds before she was assassinated. The park was where Pakistan's first prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951. This was Bhutto's first election rally in Rawalpindi after her return And this is the last cup of tea she had before being assassinated. Read more
Who was Benazir Bhutto? Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. She was sworn in for the first time in 1988 but removed from office 20 months later under orders of then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges, this time by President Farooq Leghari. Read more
Benazir Bhutto today died in a suicide attack in Pakistan. An era has ended. Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today as a suicide bomber killed at least 14 of her supporters, a spokesman for her party and other officials said. Bhutto suffered bullet wounds, TV networks are reporting. Read more
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