Drishtikone
Interesting cartoon from TheLadders.com newsletter Read more
Interesting cartoon from TheLadders.com newsletter Read more
Pakistan's situation worries me. I am amazed it worries not many people around the globe. Until now, they exported terrorism unabashedly. Then terrorism started hurting them itself! But until now, however much fundamentalist the Pakistani Army was they would use the poor and brain-washed as cannon-fodder. Now an incident has come to light where an Army officer himself became a suicide bomber! According to reliable sources in the local police, a Pashtun army officer belonging to the elite Special Services Group, whose younger sister was reportedly among the 300 girls killed during the Pakistan Army's commando raid on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad between July 10 and 13, blew himself up during dinner at the SSG's headquarters mess at Tarbela Ghazi, 100 km south of Islamabad, on the night of September 13, killing 19 other officers.The incident coincided with United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte's visit to Kabul and Islamabad for talks with leaders and officials of the two governments. Read more
In one of my discussion on desicritics.org, with someone called "Jay", I had this discussion on what makes India - the diverse India. My viewpoint is that the "Hindu"/Vedic ethos is what provides the medium in which diversity thrives. Diversity is desirable and indeed important. But it has been the toughest of goals to achieve for many societies. How is it that the Indian society has not only been successful in getting it right once but all through the centuries! Jay (beholden by the US example), however, believes that only Governance and people make a society (his hypothesis). I disagree. I believe that ideologies make societies! Read more
India has a lot of problems - population, apathy of the educated, pollution, and corruption. That is what keeps the country down. Can it move on? Tom Friedman said that technology is a great equalizer. Vinay Rai, however, disagreed. He said that the concept of Jugaad amongst the Indians was what made India so hot with technology. Technology doesn't make a place great, Rai said, people do. I couldn't agree more! And THAT is what has worried me too. While we love Jugaad - or the unconventional ways to solve problems - we by default dislike system and standards. That is why it is difficult to find a way in Indian traffic. We love to hate lanes. For the uninitiated, India is chaotic. For those in India, the country has a method in that madness. The "way" that others cannot see is clear as crystal to one who lives in that world. Tolerance of Ambiguity has become so high that finally, ambiguity has a language. A language that has its own rules and its own syntax. Where each horn in the traffic is speaking and speaking clearly from one to another that the message is intended to be transmitted. The cacophony of the horns has a music. The Noise creates a unique music. Read more
I have been talking of the impending US Dollar crash. Well, today a record of sorts was created when the US Dollar for the first time in 30 yrs, fell below the Canadian Dollar. Today, for the first time in thirty years, the U.S. Dollar sank below the value of the Canadian Dollar. The Canadian Dollar isn't “funny money” anymore, and at the rate things are heading, that delineation will soon be reserved for the U.S. dollar in short order. Against the Euro, the Dollar continues to set record low after record low. It is only a matter of time before a slew of records begin against the British Pound. Read more
They say you have a better chance of getting hit by a lightning than winning a lottery! I am sure this guy would have wanted something different to have happened to him. Ante Djindjic, 29, from Zagreb - a motor-biker - stopped to take a leak. That is what he remembers. After that he was in the hospital. Here is what happened in the meanwhile! "Doctors said the lightning went through my body and because I was wearing rubber boots it earthed itself through my penis." He has suffered light burns on chest and arms but the doctor says his "vital" organ will function as "normal". Might be a bit hot though... would it? Hmm... Read more
Post office is the life line of India. Not everyone has an email.. in villages, the villagers wait for the postman on the bicycle in the remotest of areas with the eagerness of a kid! An old Mother is waiting for a money order from her son... a sister send rakhi to her brother... an Army officer's wife received the telegram that she has dreaded all her wedded life! Post office distributes life, death, love, sorrow, happiness.... and India comes alive on the back of a simple black ubiquitous bicycle! Post office in India has a long history. Something that India can be truly proud of. Here is some trivia for you (courtesy Rediff). Read more
What can a phone do for a country? India at the turn of the century had 22 phone lines and 2 mobile phones per 1000 people. US has 444 cell phones per 1000 people. Bad situation huh? Hmm.. well. A telephone goes a long way in India!! As this little story from Sam Pitroda says in one of his articles in HBR. Several years earlier, C-DOT had run a test in Karnataka state with hugely encouraging results. In one town of 5,000 people with almost no previous telephone service, business activity rose many times following installation of an automatic digital exchange for 100 lines. Suddenly, it was possible for a truck owner to chase his drivers, line up goods and labor by telephone, and monitor the movement of his vehicles. Local farmers could call nearby cities and get real prices for their produce. Artisans could speak to customers, machine operators could arrange for service and repairs, shopkeepers could order goods -- all by phone and in real time. In the six months after the introduction of service, total bank deposits in the town rose by an impressive 80%. Read more
Suchitra Krishnamurthi is mad, because of scammy SMS messages which ask to be forwarded on to friends! She got one - ostensibly started by this girl who had lost her arms in the Hyderabad blast. She decided as a good samaritan to put this unfortunate girl in touch with an NGO which helps such patients. But when she called the girl's "phone number" - there was no such number! Now, was this chain started by someone as a prank or was it actually the handiwork of the phone company itself? She is mad because these phone companies are creating new "days" for people to send messages to others: In the meantime the friend who originally sent me this sms, has sent out this 'sos' message from the young student in Hyderabad to atleast a hundred people on her phone book, who in turn have sent it out to people on their lists too. I myself had sent it to almost 50 people before I realized it’s a scam. Just another way for the cell phone operators to make a quick buck. Its bad enough that they have bullshitted people into sending each other greetings for the most ridiculous occasions like ‘happy pets day’(if you have a pet) and ‘happy left handed day’(if you are left handed) and ‘happy rightfooted day’(well I made that up!) and ‘happy to be happy day”The voting system via sms on television and radio shows is probably not getting them enough revenue so they have to come up with new ideas every day Read more
There haven't been many white actors on Indian screen. We have had a few Anglo-Indians - but they were Indians who were descendants of foreigners who settled in India. Tom Alter - an actor whose Urdu diction I admired - was one of them. Here on the right he is playing the character of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad - a political luminary of Nehru era. There were obviously more Anglo-Indians before the Independence era or in early 1950's. But either they moved out or just bowed out of bollywood. Now, for the first time on the Indian small screen - TV - we see a German lady in a soap. She is playing a quintessential Indian bahu or daughter-in-law. She has done a few of the good soaps - like Astitva, ek Prem Kahani - and a few movies. She is now engaged to a guy who is into the show business. So her journey into the Indian movie world is far from over. Her name is Suzzane Bernert, and she can be seen in Kasauti Zindagi Kay. I am obviously not an Indian soap fan.. but the women may want to watch her perform. Some excerpts from her interview: How was your first experience facing the camera? I was really nervous as I had to shoot in a salwar kamez, tikka and heavy jewellery. I gave it my best shot. Alok Nath was very happy and complimented me. That gave me confidence. I am still in touch with some of the members of Astitva. I came to Mumbai and met my fiance Akhil Mishra. I have been doing theatre with him since 2005. Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In