Blah-blah-fying from Bootes!

what does this mean ?!

2008-05-14T00:33:00.001-05:00

See the news below. Who exactly is responsible for this ? Will they be punished ?

-----------------

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/wheat-worth-rs-37-cr-will-go-waste-in-maharashtra/65227-3.html

As many as 31,000 tonnes of imported wheat—enough to feed 2,70,000 people—will go waste in Maharashtra because it is unfit for human consumption.

The Centre imported the red wheat for Rs 3.7 crore and it was given to Maharashtra to be distributed through the public distribution system (PDS) before October 31, 2007.

The high cost did not justify the poor quality wheat in the first place and now Maharashtra government has ordered its disposal. The wheat will be classified into three categories for disposal: part of the stock will be sold at a base price of Rs 670 per quintal, almost half the cost of import.

The state government hopes to sell some of the wheat to poultry farm owners as chicken feed and wheat not fit for animals even will be buried.

But this is just half the story. The dismantling of the procurement system is the other half. Last year, market arrivals in India were 154.30 lakh metric tonnes. Of this government procured 111.28 lakh metric tonnes. Private traders procured the rest 43-lakh metric tonnes; consequently, India imported 17.8 (1, 780000) lakh metric tonnes. It was the same story for the second year in a row.

The waste may have a political impact for Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who could not sell the imported wheat in his own home state.

With more than 7 per cent inflation chipping away at the one meal that the poor could afford, the Indian government has certainly worked hard and paid dear to make imported wheat available for its chicken.

Takes on T20 : "expert" vs expert

2008-04-23T01:55:00.001-05:00

Now the IPL has started i was reading through some of the articles appeared this week.

Vinod Mehta (Editor of the Outlook magazine), who pretends to be an "expert" and lover of "Test and one-day cricket" has the following opinion (source : CNN - IBN [1])

"I don't want to sound like a kill-joy but IPL is to cricket what page three is to journalism. It is a bit of harmless diversion and a bit of tamasha. And if somebody makes money on this, then good luck to them. But in page-three journalism we have to be careful that it should not become page-one journalism. Similarly, if IPL, which has the potential to undermine Test cricket and One-Day cricket, becomes the sole concern of the BCCI then we are going into very tricky waters," Mehta explained.

"It is Bollywood extravaganza and has nothing to do with cricket. And the skills, which you need for T20 cricket, are not the skills, which you need for Test cricket and One-Day cricket. In fact, skills for T20 cricket destroy your skills for the longer version of the game. This has nothing to do with cricket. This is about money and glamour. I have no problems with it as long as you leave my cricket alone, which is five-day cricket and One-Day cricket. I don't want to see this beyond a point,"

On the other hand, Amit Varma, a real cricket expert and a journalist (former Managing editor of Cricinfo India) had this to say:

"Purists – and I used to think of myself as one – often speak of Twenty20 cricket disparagingly, as if it has reduced the fine game of cricket to something absurdly simplistic, where sloggers rule, hand-eye co-ordination matters more than finely honed technique, and bowlers are irrelevant. If you've been watching, you'll know that isn't true. Twenty20 is not a dilution of the game but an intensification of it. "

Read Amit Varma's article in his blog:

http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/celebrating-twenty20-cricket/

Very good article -- whether you agree or disagree he puts forwards some interesting points -- i say a must read for all those who debate T20 cricket.

People who argue like Vinod Mehta fail to see the following interesting point noted by Amit :

"Twenty20 cricket is filled with life-and-death urgency. There are just 120 deliveries in each innings, and every ball matters. There is no space for sloppiness or error. A single mistake can shift the momentum. The batsmen have to try and score off every ball, and have no time to settle down. The demands on the batsmen, bowlers and fielders are greater, not less."

Those who compare baseball and cricket often say that a baseball game, which only lasts about 4 hours, is as intense as a test cricket match because, in a baseball game every ball (called "pitch" in the baseball language) matters. Similarly here in T20.

Amit goes on to argue citing the innings of McCullum in the first match :

"but it wasn't all about putting a foot forward and swinging. The standout part of his innings, even if you won't see it in MCC textbooks anytime soon, was how well he used his feet. Stepping back and out or sideways, he unsettled the bowlers, put them off their rhythm, and converted good balls into boundary balls. It was a batting masterclass, an exhibition of skill and not mere abandon."

One criticism about T20 is that it makes bowlers unimportant. This does not seem to be true. Amit goes on to mention the role of bowlers:

"The pitch maps of Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Sourav Ganguly will show you that they didn't aim for the blockhole, as in the slog overs of a one-day match, but bowled good-length balls in the corridor, as well-behaved Test match bowlers should. Between them, they swung it, seamed it, varied their pace, surprised the batsmen with bounce and used the width of the crease"

After seeing the way McGrath and Warne bowled in IPL, it is clear that if you are a good bowler, you have an important role in T20 matches as well. After all one good over can change the outcome.

So I disagree with Mehta when he says "IPL is to cricket what page three is to journalism". I consider Amit Varma as someone who understands cricket and I consider his opinion more valuable than that of someone like Vinod Mehta. Mehta exposes his ignorance when he says

" In fact, skills for T20 cricket destroy your skills for the longer version of the game. This has nothing to do with cricket."

In India we (well, not "we", i should say "some") consider Mehta as an "eminent journalist" -- Is blabbering like this a sign of eminence ?!

[1] http://www.ibnlive.com/news/ipl-hits-a-six-with-cricketshowbiz-combo/63741-5.html?xml

Aamir Khan, why your argument does not make sense to me

2008-04-02T06:40:00.007-05:00

First of all, Kudos Bhutia, I am proud of you.

In his blog, Aamir Khan explains, unlike Bhutia, why he would run with the olympic torch. He equates human rights violation in other parts of the world to that in Tibet and he says:

"if we were to try and find on this planet a place to hold the Olympic Games where the government of that place has not been responsible for human rights violations, then I suspect that we would be left with very few options, if any at all"

Dear Aamir,
But the point is that, in other parts of the world, if a govt violates human rights, there is a democratic process by which that govt can be removed. If Bush violated human rights in Iraq, American people have the "power" to remove Bush. And we (you, me, the media) have the *freedom* to campaign against Bush in the US. In other countries, every event is subject to media scrutiny. But in China, there is neither democracy nor they support free speech and media freedom. So i do not support China as a place to conduct Olympic events.

Media should boycott Beijing Olympics

2008-03-27T02:04:00.006-05:00

Irrespective of what various countries decide, i think, the international media should decide to boycott the Beijing olympics. Beijing does not allow media to report various events in China. No reporter was allowed in Lhasa to report the recent events. China blacked out TV channels reporting the Tibet events. They heavily censor information in the internet -- do not even allow google to show any search results that make the communist government unhappy. That being the current state, isn't it time for journalists to stand up and put some pressure on China by threatening to boycott the Beijing olympics ?

Yechury, do you have amnesia ?

2008-03-17T07:10:00.012-05:00

http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/mar/17tibet2.htm

Sitaram Yechury, leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, refused to condemn the violence in Tibet, described by the Dalai Lama as 'cultural genocide' by the Chinese government.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Yechury said the clashes were an internal affair of China. "How can we condemn the incidents in Tibet, which is an internal part of China?" he asked.

Also see: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/000200803171759.htm

Now when it comes to Nepal, two years ago, CPI(M) issued the following press statement :

http://www.cpim.org/statement/2006/04072006_nepal.htm

(quote)

The Polit Bureau denounces the crackdown by the King's regime in Nepal against the movement to restore democracy. Hundreds of leaders and activists of the seven-party political alliance has been arrested throughout the country in connection with the four-day general strike.

The repression unleashed by the King will not deter the popular movement to end his authoritarian rule. The CPI(M) demands the release of all those arrested including the CPN(ML) General Secretary, Madhav Nepal, who is in jail.

The government of India should demand an end to all repressive actions by the King, failing which, steps should be taken to make the King realize that he cannot continue with his present course of action.

(unquote)

Wasn't that an "internal affair" of Nepal, Mr. Yechury ? Do you have amnesia ?

Dear communists, if you can bring out statements about Nepal and other countries, how can you criticize the U. S. for bringing out reports on Nandigram ?

Nice try mate!

2008-03-16T04:16:00.009-05:00

What is Ian Chappel trying to say here?

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/342607.html

First he praises rich india, then goes on to say (about australia's pakistan tour)...

"Nevertheless, a spate of bomb attacks around the time the decision to tour was being taken made it virtually impossible for CA to come to any other conclusion, especially with the players' reluctance to travel to Pakistan."

"Australia's reluctance to tour Pakistan could also set a precedent, influencing the decisions of other countries due to tour there. Therefore, Pakistan badly needs India to show strong leadership and play in the Asia Cup next month."

It is "virtually impossible" for australians to show "leadership" (euphemism for risking their lives ?), but India should show "leadership"...!

And then he says...

"If that tournament goes off without a hitch, it will be hard for anyone to refuse to play in the Champions Trophy on the grounds of security fears."

Note: "If that tournament goes off without a hitch...": Indians are guinea pigs in an experiment which decides "if" or "if not" that tournament goes off well, for the elite Austrailans ?!

I have only one thing to say : Nice try mate !

200 years of Darwin -- Part I

2008-02-11T18:05:00.001-06:00

I had started a science blog hoping that i will read some serious
stuff and post it. But it never happened! Here is another
try to restart it -- a post on Darwin.

http://hey-thus-is-life.blogspot.com/2008/02/200-years-of-darwin-part-i.html

Haj "shopping" pilgrimage

2007-12-28T13:17:00.001-06:00

Interesting news! Read the news below. They are going for pilgrimage. And they have money to buy more than 55 kg of stuff. But not ready to pay the baggage charges! First of all, why Haj pilgrims are allowed to carry 55 kg baggage while normal travelers are allowed only 27 kg ?! Their travel is subsidized by the govt of india. They are allowed to carry double of what normal passengers (who pay full fare!) are allowed!

-----------------------------------

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200712261758.htm

30 Indian Haj pilgrims stranded at Jeddah airport

Dubai (PTI): A row over excess baggage charges by Air India has left nearly 130 Haj pilgrims from India stranded at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah airport after the flight they were scheduled to board took off without them.

"The nearly 130 passengers (out of the total 270 on Air India flight to Jaipur, the first Haj flight) are left at the airport without water or any alternative accommodation by the carrier," an Indian official told PTI over phone from Jeddah.

However, an Air India spokesman from Mumbai said since the passengers could not get out of the airport after having checked-in, they were provided lunch and dinner by the airline.

Indian Consulate officials say they have referred the matter of excess baggage charges by the Indian national carrier to the authorities in India.

Pilgrims are allowed to carry 45 kg of checked-in luggage and 10 kgs as hand baggage free of cost, compared with 20 kg of checked-in luggage and seven kg of hand baggage in commercial flights. Some of these pilgrims were carrying luggage much beyond the allowed capacity, the spokesman said.

The flight left the Haj Terminal last night carrying only 140 of its scheduled 270 passengers after they raised an outcry over an excess baggage charge of Saudi Riyal 55 (Rs 581) a kilo that the airline was demanding from the pilgrims.

The spokesman said 56 of the stranded passengers were airlifted to their homes on wednesday.

Maintaining that the excess baggage charge was the standard practice fixed for the Haj flights, K M Kurian, Air India's Western Province Manager, said some of the passengers did not board the flight since they did not have the money to pay for the excess baggage.

-------------------

Meanwhile, see what happens for Amarnath and other pilgrims -- Here's an account by a former IAS officer

http://www.newstodaynet.com/2006sud/06jul/0507ss1.htm

Chinese Poodle of India (M) !

2007-11-05T05:04:00.001-06:00

Mr. B. Raman, former RAW officer, exposes the double-talk of the Indian left. Very nice article
------------------------------------
US - Or Chinese - Poodle? -- B Raman

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20071102&fname=china&sid=1&pn=1

Ever since Shri Prakash Karat took over the stewardship of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), it has come out in the open as a strong defender of Chinese interests.

Its decision to strongly oppose the Indo-US civilian nuclear co-operation agreement, known as the 123 agreement, even at the risk of destabilising the present government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh came belatedly after China had openly expressed its concerns over the idea of a concert of democracies involving India, the US, Japan and Australia and over the joint naval exercises held in the Bay of Bengal in September-beginning by the Navies of India, the US, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Beijing viewed these as directed against China.

It was apparent from the beginning that the opposition of the leftist coalition to the 123 agreement was not a stand-alone opposition because it could affect India's nuclear capability--civilian or military--but the thin edge of the wedge of a larger opposition to India's strategic relationship with the US. The government of India denies that this relationship is meant to counter China. China is not convinced of the denial and continues to suspect that the India-US strategic relationship has ulterior motives directed against China.

Shri Karat and the leftist coalition are not prepared to believe what the Prime Minister of India says, but attach greater credence to what China alleges. Shri Karat needs to be complimented for coming out openly on this subject. Let me quote from an agency report on November 1, 2007:

The Communist Party of India Marxist on Thursday vowed to oppose a strategic alliance between India and the United States, stating such a move is aimed at countering China. ''We shall not rest in our fight till the strategic ties with the US are snapped out,'' Karat said at a CPI(M)-sponsored programme in Kolkata to celebrate the October Revolution. He said the US was trying to make India its strategic ally in countering China, which is "the most powerful socialist country capable of challenging the might of the USA". ''USA has also changed its tactics of making Pakistan its strategic ally as it has now realised that if it can get India as a strategic ally, the balance will be tilted in favour of imperialism and neo-colonialism'', he said. Karat said that the people of India would fight against imperialism ''and will not accept the design to convert us as a subordinate ally of the US''.''India is a prize for the US and not Pakistan because of its market. Developed India can be useful for counter-balancing China. This is a game the US is trying to play which has to be foiled'', he said.

While one has to appreciate Shri Karat's concerns over the dangers of India becoming an American poodle to which I have also been strongly opposed myself, one has reasons to be concerned over his apparent wish that India should instead become a Chinese poodle. How many times have you come across the leftist opposition expressing concern over China's strategic partnership with Pakistan, which is aimed at countering India? How many times Shri Karat and his associates sounded the wake-up call over the implications to our security arising from the construction of the Chinese naval base in Gwadar in Pakistan and ports in Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Sitwe in Myanmar, which may ultimately be converted into naval bases? The Communists would oppose India giving any military assistance to Sri Lanka to strengthen its counter-terrorism capability, but keep silent on Chinese assistance to Sri Lanka. If India gives assistance, it might be used against the Tamils, but if China does, it poses no threat to the Tamils. Is this their contention?

One of our oil companies, in co-operation with a South Korean company, won a contract for gas exploration in the Arakan area of Myanmar.

After spending much money and considerable labour put in by Indian engineers and workers, gas waas found. The military junta in Myanmar arbitrarily decided to sell the gas to China because Beijing had vetoed in the beginning of this year a UN Security Council Resolution seeking to impose economic sanctions against Myanmar. China, which professes historic friendship for India, had no qualms over undermining India's interest. Have Shri Karat and his associates even once expressed their concern over this stabbing-in-the-back?

China and its scholars continue to question India's sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh. Many of us felt outraged when the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi refused to issue a visa to an IAS officer from Arunachal Pradesh to accompany an official delegation to China on the ground that he was a Chinese national and not an Indian national. Why is it that even a single member of the leftist coalition did not feel outraged over this Chinese insult to one of our co-citizens?

One can go on narrating instances of the leftists' double-talk on the question of the need for India to follow an independent foreign policy. However, their concept of an independent foreign policy reflect the Chinese interests more than the Indian interests, Chinese concerns more than Indian concerns. They are understandably disturbed over the dangers of India becoming an American poodle. Nobody in India wants it. At the same time, we have reasons to be worried when we find that the leftists' concern is not over India becoming a poodle, but an American rather than a Chinese one.

"If the US contains China, that is wrong. If China contains India, that is fine". That is the implicit message, which has started coming out loud and clear from the statements of the leftist leaders and their studied silence over Chinese actions which are detrimental to India's interests.

--------

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Karat said: “We shall not rest in our fight till strategic ties with the US are snapped ... India is a prize for the US and not Pakistan because of its market. Developed India can be useful for counter-balancing China. This is a game the US is trying to play which has to be foiled.”

Tavleen Singh asks: "... to me what was most interesting about Commissar Karat’s statement was that reference to a “developed” India being used to balance China. What did he mean? Is he suggesting that India curb its attempts to become a developed country because a rich, powerful India might harm China’s economic interests?"
Read Tavleen singh at : http://www.indianexpress.com/story/235686.html

Ramachandra Guha on hypocrisy of N Ram and his kind

2007-08-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

I am no fan of Ramachandra Guha. However, here's an interesting article
by him that appeared in "The Telgraph" a few years
ago. Reproduced below from : http://www.friendsoftibet.org/save/#nine

I appreciate Guha because most of the historians and the so-called
"intellects" shy away when it comes to exposing the hypocrisy of the
left and their cohorts like N Ram.
---------------------------------------------
"Big Brother Fascination"
By Ramachandra Guha (Historian and Columnist)

In 1980, the respected left-wing editor, Nikhil Chakravartty, made a trip to Afghanistan. He was invited by the Soviets, who, the previous year, had invaded that unhappy country. On his return, Chakravartty wrote a multi-part essay in the journal he founded and edited, Mainstream. The burden of that essay was that the progressive communists were bringing the fruits of modernity and science to a backward and feudal land.

Twenty years later, another senior left-wing editor has provided a willing whitewash of a totalitarian regime. The cover story in the latest issue of the Chennai fortnightly, Frontline, written by N Ram, provides an extended and lavishly illustrated brief for the Chinese occupation of that country. The Chinese, claims Ram, have brought hospitals, roads and schools to a previously deprived land. He minimizes the attacks on Tibetan cultural institutions and religious beliefs that the Chinese have so demonstrably carried out.

He also dismisses the reports by others of a demographic shift in Tibet. Relying on official Chinese census data, he rejects independent evidence of the largescale settlement of the region by the Han people. In any case, Ram has little sympathy for pre-colonial Tibet. He thinks that before the Chinese came the land was a reactionary backwater. The dalai lama, revered by the Tibetans and regarded also by millions of non-Tibetans as a leader of dignity and courage, is characterized by Ram as a man with a "separatist, revanchist and backward-looking agenda". The editor ends his essay with a message from the Chinese government to the Indian government, asking it to "put an end to the Dalai Lama's virulently anti-Chinese, separatist, and revanchist political activities in India".

Ram's case is made with complete confidence, on the basis of a stay of five days. It is safe to say that the editor's movements in those five days were closely monitored by his host, the Communist Party of China. For, as is always the case in authorized travels to totalitarian countries, the visitor is only allowed to see or talk to what the rulers want him to see or talk to. It is in keeping with what we know of how and why Ram's article was written that it carries the Orwellian title: "Tibet: a reality check".

The curious thing about Nikhil Chakravartty and N. Ram is that at home they have been vigorous defenders of political and intellectual freedom. In 1975, five years before he visited Soviet-ruled Afghanistan, Chakravartty closed down Mainstream rather than subject it to the censorship imposed during the Emergency by Indira Gandhi. And Ram's Frontline has sometimes championed unfashionable causes. For instance, it refused to join the super-patriotic acclaim for the nuclear blasts in the summer of 1998. What then explains these double standards? Why would these champions of freedom at home so energetically support brutal dictatorships abroad?

An answer of a kind is provided in a classic work by the British writer and historian David Caute. Called The Fellow Travellers, it was first published in 1975, and reappeared in an expanded edition 12 years later. The book is a superb history of Western apologists for communist regimes. It starts with the authors and scholars who supported Joseph Stalin, such as the American writer, Lincoln Steffens - who famously said, after a week in Russia, that "I have seen the future and it works" - and The New York Timescorrespondent in Moscow, Walter Duranty, who consciously suppressed, in his reports, the evidence of millions of deaths caused by collectivization.

But, as Caute shows, American leftists have had a monopoly on deceit and credulity. All the great British Fabians, including George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, lined up to support Stalin and his ilk. Sidney and Beatrice Webb even wrote an 800-page book with the wonderful title, Soviet Russia: A New Civilization? That apologetic question mark was, however, removed in the second printing. The one and sterling exception to this shameful trend was Bertrand Russell, who very early saw Soviet communism for the monstrosity it was. Russell has never been given proper credit for his 1918 book, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism, the first serious exposé of Leninist politics.

After the Fifties, it was no longer possible to defend Soviet Russia. So the Western writers went in search of a substitute Utopia. One group settled on China, a second on Vietnam, a third on Cuba. But, as Caute remarks, these intellectuals would not, of course, trade their own life in a free country for life under the boot. His explanation of this paradox was two-fold. On the one hand, these men practised an unconscious racism: they believed the British needed democracy, but not the backward Georgians or Chinese. On the other hand, they displayed the intellectual's endemic love of power. The commisars, aware of their propaganda value, would shamelessly flatter them. Thus the Webbs or Wells would get an audience with Stalin, and Edgar Snow an audience with Mao, while being denied an interview with Roosevelt or Churchill. Naturally, they would be disposed to writing well about their foreign hosts.

Caute's book can also help explain why Indian Marxists have so zealously supported foreign communist regimes. Fortunately, they do not have the field all to themselves. Thus N. Ram's account of Chinese rule in Tibet must be contrasted with the account provided by another Indian writer, Vikram Seth. Unlike Ram, Seth speaks fluent Chinese; and unlike him again, he hiked and hitchhiked through Tibet rather than whizzing through the country by official car and aeroplane. In his book, From Heaven Lake, Seth provides chilling details of the destruction and degradation of Tibet at the hands of the Chinese. With his linguistic gifts and a novelist's empathy, he was able to obtain from ordinary Tibetans a direct, unmediated account of what they thought of their rulers. If Ram at all spoke to Tibetans it would have been through interpreters, and with Chinese colonial officials standing by.

The Indian Marxists's admiration of foreign dictators is a curious thing indeed. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the only party in the world which still worships Stalin, putting up his portrait alongside those of Marx, Engels and Lenin in their annual congresses. Yet the party has long ago abandoned armed struggle, and is happy enough to participate in the routine processes of Indian democracy.

Admittedly, hypocrisy of another kind is practised by parties of the Indian right. The founders of what is now the Bharatiya Janata Party were fervent admirers of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. And Bal Thackeray admires those fellows still.

This writer is just about old enough to recall a time when Indian politics and intellectual life were both dominated by men who were consistently unwavering in their support to freedom and democracy. I was interested to read in the obituaries of the recently deceased Congressman, S Nijalingappa, that he and Indira Gandhi parted ways over the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. As president of the Congress, Nijalingappa wanted our government to condemn the invasion, but as prime minister, Indira Gandhi refused to do so. Nijalingappa was reared in the tradition of MK Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari, who loathed Hitler as much as they loathed Stalin, whose life's work was the winning of democratic freedoms for their people, and who would not be so arrogant as to deny other people those same freedoms.
--------------------------------

Mac -- Amit Singh

2007-07-26T23:40:00.001-05:00

We have heard a lot about association of Indian engineers with
microsoft. I have been wondering,
India being such a big exporter of comp-sci-engineers,
why didn't I hear any indian name associated with mac ?

It turns out that one guy who knows the mac os X
inside out is a guy named Amit Singh, a former student of
IIT Delhi, now the head of the Mac devision at Google!

http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/06/11/06/148248.shtml
http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/06/congratulations-amit-mac-team -is-proud.html

It is said that the book he wrote recently, on
mac os x, and his work at google (macFUSE) is becoming a big
thing in the mac community:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321278542/
http://osxbook.com/
http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/20SFO07A/conference/bio//CMONYA00BHPO

The amount of info he has given in his website is amazing:

http://www.kernelthread.com/

also see:

http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/

interesting radio programs

2007-07-23T01:37:00.001-05:00

The national public radio(NPR) in the US, every friday, broadcasts
a program on some of the recent science discoveries. Most of them
are really interesting. You can find them here:

http://www.sciencefriday.com/

they podcast (let u download) them here :
(small mp3 files)

http://www.sciencefriday.com/feed/

and you can listen whenever you want.

I subscribe those podcasts using google reader :

http://www.google.com/reader

Akashavani

2007-07-21T09:18:00.000-05:00

Many of us in India grew up listening Aakashvaani (All India Radio). In those school days I used to wake up listening "praadeshika vaarthakal"(local news) from the Kozhikode AIR at 6:45 am. After moving to Chennai, I have been missing it! Now I find that AIR does upload all news online, including the "praadeshika vaarthakal" :-)

http://www.newsonair.com/index_regional.htm

http://www.newsonair.com/index.htm

Today, i heard the AIR news after a loong time!-- I even heard the Ujala advertisement ;-)

And how can you forget : "samprati varthaha sruyanta.. pravachako..."

Here's the Sanskrit and other language news broadcasts

the main webpage is:

http://www.allindiaradio.org/

But they don't podcast it! (don't have anykind of web feed); so i can't get it in my favorite Google Reader

Temple entry for everyone

2007-05-28T02:05:00.000-05:00

Here is a decent Barkha Dutt-moderated discussion, on the issue of non-"Hindu"-entry in Kerala temples.
My take on this is, ANY person (irrespective of religion, caste or gender) wishing to worship, should be allowed in all Hindu temples. Hinduism is not something that would shatter if a set of traditional rules were broken. All our costums/rituals should be subject to reform.

About an year ago, a friend of mine, drisyadrisya, and some of his friends, had initiated an effort when the Meera Jasmin issue came up.

see:http://drisyadrisya.blogspot.com/2006/07/meera-jasmine-petition.html

After one year (thanks to many other similar events, esp. at Guruvayoor), priests in kerala are meeting to mull over the issue of reforming centuries-old traditions like entry of non-Hindus. That is defenitely a good sign. That is moving forward (however slow it might be). I hope those priests will be sensible enough to uphold the inclusiveness of Hinduism and recommend entry for everyone.

In kerala, as we know, in 1930s, reformers argued for temple-entry for Hindus of all castes and it lead to the famous temple entry proclamation (this shows, much before communism rooted, keralites were progressive in their thoughts; communists have nothing to do with that!). Many decades later, a very noble effort initiated by late sri P. Madhavan led to a declaration by leading priests and Hindu scholars in kerala allowing any Hindu(irrespective of caste) to be priest in temples. They also started a school at Aluva (called Thanthra vidya peetham) to teach all-necessary-rituals to Hindus from all castes, so that they could become priests (student need not be a brahmin; and there are non-brabhmin priests currently). The current issue of entry of non-Hindus could lead to a reform of this class.

on NDTV discussion:
In the NDTV discussion,the Jagannath temple priest pointed out how probably such a tradition of only-Hindus-entering came about. There was a time when almost all Hindu temples were constantly attacked, to destroy, to rob, by invaders and others. To save temples from such attacks/robbery, it might have been imposed that no non-Hindu be allowed inside at any cost. Also note that the atheist "dalit activist" was generally blabbering about "purusha sookta" -- he is simply wrong. I didn't know that there are learned politicians like Jay Panda who could express interesting views candidly.

Entry to ther temples:
It must also be noted that temples like Sabarimala and almost all recently established temples (like those run by VHP, SNDP) do allow entry of non-Hindus. Most of the well known outside-kerala Hindu temples also allow entry for everyone -- not that Hinduism as a whole restrict entry; it is just that a few temples in kerala have such a tradition which, i am sure, will eventually be changed.

I guess we need a govt legislation:
Should government bring a legislation in this regard ? Ideally, govt shouldn't intervene. All thanthris (priests) together should be able to make a decision. That is ideal case. But pragmatically speaking, govt might need to bring a legislation after consulting major Hindu scholars. If there is no legislation, many thanthris would be reluctant to change. Even if a group of thanthris decide to change, there could be some other priests questioning it. So the goverment might have to bring a legislation. It only shows that for Hindus constitution is the current Smriti; Only law of the land matters to them -- not orders of some holy man sitting somewhere!

But this law should be framed by Hindu scholars; Govt should seek the advice of Hindu scholars and thanthris, and form the law (not the advice of AKG Bhavan or Polit Beuro!). In fact the govt should do this with all religions -- they should bring a legislation such that Muslim women should be able to enter and worship in mosques (will government also be ready to bring a legislation for women-entry in mosques? will everyone demand that ? hypocrisy will be out if you ask this question)

Hindu organizations like RSS, in kerala, have been progressive in their thinking on this issue and have been supporting such reforms (even in the issue of women entry to Sabarimala). See: http://in.news.yahoo.com/061112/48/69b9d.html

----------------------
I have opinion that it is time that we also debate about the way we(most of the people) see "Bhakti" today. Bhakti is becoming a bit commercial(it is common that people pray only for achieving something; spend lot of money doing "rituals" hoping some "gain"! that is not bhakti! Many go to temples and do all offerings and rituals but continue to be corrupt/immoral/antisocial in their day-to-day life). It would also mean that we should initiate changes in the way temples function. My thoughts on that, another day, when i get time
---------

moden notion of "equality"?!:
LDF minister Sudhakaran has said that they would bring in a new legislation, if necessary, enabling all those who believe in Hindu Gods, including non-Hindus, to enter temples.. Many channels (i get to see only NDTV and CNN-IBN) have been initiating debate on this temple-entry issue. Because, it seems, this no-entry for non-Hindus defies the modern notion of "equality"! Fine. They are most welcome to discuss and debate all of that; but I wonder, they being so progressive, why do they(govt) shy away from enforcing a uniform civil code in our country ? Isn't that the most basic step towards "equality" ? Same law for Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others?! Why Muslim women in our "secular" country are not equal to Hindu women in front of law ?! Why don't I see NDTV, CNN-IBN et al not debating for a uniform civil code in our country ?! Well, probably i shouldn't "think" too much! I should simply swallow whatever the "progressive" men and women say!!!

update (june 6/2007)
-------
An exclusive interview with the Guruvayoor thanthri

http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/05inter1.htm

http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/06inter1.htm
--------------

Amusing conference session

2007-05-11T19:03:00.000-05:00

In 1986 April, two guys send off their paper to a German journal, Z. Physik B, and receive the Nobel prize in 1987 for that paper! Wasn't that super quick ?!

Bednorz and Muller received physics nobel prize in 1987 for discovering a ceramic high Tc super-conducting compound in 1986. After a few months of their discovery, the Nobel committee was convinced! Because what followed that paper was something unprecedented! As they announced their result, people started doing experiments on such materials all over the world and a flurry of high-Tc
super conducting compounds followed!

It seems in the 1987 APS meeting (march), there was a special session for reporting results of high Tc super conducting materials, and guess what, the conference session went on till 3:15 am the next day!! It seems 2200 people attended that session and it later became famous as the "Woodstock Session"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_of_physics
This year, in the APS meeting at Denver, there was a special session to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the woodstock session. The chair of the 1987 session Brian maple chaired this session also! With Bednorz, Chu etc as speakers!

http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR07/SessionIndex2/?SessionEventID=67050

Wasn't that (the woodstock session) an amusing conference session?!

However, even after 20 years, the idea of high-Tc superconductivity remain somewhat mysterious! Physicists do not really understand how these supercondoctors work!! A consistent theory of high-Tc superconductovity does not exist!!

I'm alive!

2007-05-11T18:55:00.000-05:00

I'm alive! Was hibernating all through the winter ;-) Now that temperature is reasonable, i shall come out :-p

Google map call feature

2006-12-09T11:51:00.000-06:00

Today i tried out this new calling feature in the google map! It's kind of suitable for lazy bums like me -- lazy to dial those 10 digits! As they say, it's very useful when you are to call 10 different shops to find out if they sell a particular product you wanted. It saves you from hitting the phone 100 times!!

However, I hope my phone number will not be givn to spammers !

Abdus Salam, Sachar report and some random thoughts

2006-11-30T19:03:00.000-06:00

http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/30/stories/2006113004621000.htm

This is an article appeared in The Hindu yesterday on Abdus Salam, the famous scientist and nobel laureate. I didn't know that he had to suffer this much from the pakis! I guess he setting up ICTP was more useful to us Indians than anyone else!

A school friend of mine also belonged to a sect of Islam where they too believe something similar on the prophet. In the part of kerala where i live, they are known as "Thamarassery Muslims" -- I don't know if Abdus Salam also belonged to that group! My friend's family too had tough time living in our muslim majority district of Kerala. Other Muslims did not invite them for marriage or any other "Islamic" function!

Now, can Mushraff change the situation in pakistan ? I don't think so; unless he can trigger a major reform in the religous level. Otherwise, as it happened in Iran, at some point the hard-core religous guys are going to hit back and take the power.

Now there is Sachar committee report:

http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/01/stories/2006120107350100.htm

If all the poor Muslims get education (or anyone for that matter), it's surely good.
But I was wondering, what is the main reason for their backwardness ?
Is it really due to the lack of opportunity and social and economic status ?

A few days back someone forwarded me this news from one of the Arab countries ! Read that, with the story of Abdus Salam, and think about the staus of common muslim in an Islamic country. It looks like, the situation in the Islamic countries are not any great. They have more money than anyone else in this world. They have enough opportunities, and you can't blame the social status too! Still, why Islamic countries have not made much progress, say, in education...?

Think of it... if pakistan was not an Islamic country, the ICTP must have been there in islamabad or lahore today...!

these are my random thoughts....; i also wanted to write some of my thoughts related the violence in maharashtra, and caste issues...; another day, when i get time...

foolish indian left

2006-11-27T22:15:00.000-06:00

Left renewed demands that Sourav Ganguly should be included in the team

"Let nobody lecture us" on what the MPs' job was : Somnath Chatterjee

"Chappell doesn't understand the nuances of democracy,":a CPI MP

Sourav has contributed a lot to India and should be included in the Indian cricket team: West Bengal minister

These news items pretty much sum up the Indian Left parties!
Their qualities are:
(1) utter ignorance on the subject they speak
(2) still pretend that they know everything and keep making hullabaloo
(3) keep repeating their ridiculous demands every day (eg. "ganguly")
(4) if they have a chance, manipulate things and do the most foolish thing possible (here, in cricket, they don't have a chance! -- imagine if Somnath Chatterjee (or Yechury) were the BCCI cheif!!)

The next step is, i guess, they'll call Greg Chappel a CIA agent ;-D
(or at least, an agent of australian capitalist forces, sent here to mess up indian proletarian cricket team headed by Saurav Ganguly... or something like that..!! Just wait for that!!)

this is, exactly, how they respond to all issues... (right
from the days they started...: the quit-india-movement, china-attacking-india, emergency,..., hafzal hanging...!)

this doesnt mean that other parties are great! they also often make equally funny demands. but the difference is that they themselves will (at least in private) agree that they are ignorant and just making fuss for the sake of votes! Left, on the other hand, will pretend that they are "intellectuals" and will never accept that their demands are foolish even if it is clearly proved! That is true with a typical chaya-peedika-sakhavu (a comrade sitting in the tea shop, joblessly) or a PB leader!(a typical scene in kerala tea-shops is the following: there will be two guys,
arguing for and against something and one guy will be a sakhavu (comrade); it's likely that both the guys are ignorant about the issue. but when a third person, who knows about the issue, intervenes and says his opinion, the sakhavu will keep repeating his funny arguments (which'll be a cut and paste from desabhimani, their mouthpiece) and will never agree that his argument is flawed! the other guy, likely to be from some other party, is more likely to, at least, agree his ignorance!)

anyway, when i see a left-party guy talking, i try to remember the saying:
"He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him"

-----------------------------------------
this is a letter appeared in The Hindu today:

"The MPs should be commended for discussing our team's performance. I urge them to do their best to remedy the situation, maybe even play cricket if necessary. I also request them to discuss why our country has not won in top beauty pageants for some time now, or an Oscar award. After all that, if they still have the time, let them look into why India is ranked 126th in the Human Development Index."

Suriya Subramanian,
Chennai
-------------------
a more serious post by sreejith here:
http://schoolofthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/11/woes-of-cricket.html

"Not many know the Indian past he had discovered!"

2006-11-17T23:50:00.000-06:00

Intersting article...

----------------------
Begin forwarded message:
From: Sreejith
Not many know the Indian past he had discovered!
Thursday November 16 2006 09:31 IST
S Gurumurthy

"What is it that keeps the country down", asked the speaker. A young man in the audience replied unhesitatingly: "Undoubtedly the institution of caste that kept the majority low castes and the society backward" and added "it continues".

The speaker replied, "May be". But, pausing for a moment, he added, "May not be". Shocked, the young man angrily asked him to explain his "may-not-be" theory.

The speaker calmly mentioned just one fact that clinched the debate. He said, "Before the British rule in India, over two-thirds - yes, two-thirds - of the Indian kings belonged to what is today known as the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).

"It is the British," he said, "who robbed the OBCs - the ruling class running all socio-economic institutions - of their power, wealth and status." So it was not the upper caste which usurped the OBCs of their due position in the society?

The speaker’s assertion that it was not so was founded on his study - unbelievably painstaking study for years and decades in the archives in India, England and Germany. He could not be maligned as a ‘saffron’ ideologue and what he said could not be dismissed thus. He was Dharampal, a Gandhian in ceaseless search of truth like his preceptor Gandhi himself was, but a Gandhian with a difference. He ran no ashram on state aid to do ‘Gandhigiri’.

Admitting that "he and those like him do not know much about our own society", the young man who questioned Dharampal - Banwari is his name - became his student. By meticulous research of the British sources over decades, Dharampal demolished the myth that India was backward educationally or economically when the British entered. Citing the Christian missionary William Adam’s report on indigenous education in Bengal and Bihar in 1835 and 1838, Dharampal established that at that time there were 100,000 schools in Bengal, one school for about 500 boys; that the indigenous medical system that included inoculation against small-pox.

He also proved by reference to other materials that Adam’s record was ‘no legend’. He relied on Sir Thomas Munroe’s report to the Governor at about the same time to prove similar statistics about schools in Madras. He also found that the education system in the Punjab during the Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s rule was equally extensive. He estimated that the literary rate in India before the British was higher than that in England.

Citing British public records he established, on the contrary, that ‘British had no tradition of education or scholarship or philosophy from 16th to early 18th century, despite Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Newton, etc’. Till then education and scholarship in the UK was limited to select elite. He cited Alexander Walker’s Note on Indian education to assert that it was the monitorial system of education borrowed from India that helped Britain to improve, in later years, school attendance which was just 40, 000, yes just that, in 1792. He then compared the educated people’s levels in India and England around 1800. The population of Madras Presidency then was 125 lakhs and that of England in 1811 was 95 lakhs. Dharampal found that during 1822-25 the number of those in ordinary schools in Madras Presidency was around 1.5 lakhs and this was after great decay under a century of British intervention.

As against this, the number attending schools in England was half - yes just half - of Madras Presidency’s, namely a mere 75,000. And here to with more than half of it attending only Sunday schools for 2-3 hours! Dharampal also established that in Britain ‘elementary system of education at people’s level remained unknown commodity’ till about 1800! Again he exploded the popularly held belief that most of those attending schools must have belonged to the upper castes particularly Brahmins and, again with reference to the British records, proved that the truth was the other way round.

During 1822-25 the share of the Brahmin students in the indigenous schools in Tamil-speaking areas accounted for 13 per cent in South Arcot to some 23 per cent in Madras while the backward castes accounted for 70 per cent in Salem and Tirunelveli and 84 per cent in South Arcot.

The situation was almost similar in Malayalam, Oriya and Kannada-speaking areas, with the backward castes dominating the schools in absolute numbers. Only in the Telugu-speaking areas the share of the Brahmins was higher and varied from 24 to 46 per cent. Dharampal’s work proved Mahatma Gandhi’s statement at Chatham House in London on October 20, 1931 that "India today is more illiterate than it was fifty or hundred years ago" completely right.

Not many know of Dharampal or of his work because they have still not heard of the Indian past he had discovered. After, long after, Dharampal had established that pre-British India was not backward a Harvard University Research in the year 2005 (India’s Deindustrialisation in the 18th and 19th Centuries by David Clingingsmith and Jeffrey G Williamson) among others affirmed that "while India produced about 25 percent of world industrial output in 1750, this figure had fallen to only 2 percent by 1900." The Harvard University Economic Research also established that the Industrial employment in India also declined from about 30 to 8.5 per cent between 1809-13 and 1900, thus turning the Indian society backward.

PS: This great warrior who established the truth - the truth that was least known - that India was not backward when the British came, but became backward only after they came, is no more. He passed away two weeks ago on October 26, 2006, at Sevagram at Warda.

"Seeing" the world and presenting the "facts"

2006-10-27T22:32:00.000-05:00

This is a very interesting video and defenitely worth watching.
The speaker presents "facts" about the world in a nice way.
(Assuming that his data is genuine!)
And good to know that one can get such info, if we want, from the
gapminder website.

Gapminder.org

1 hr 8 min 49 sec - Mar 7, 2006
Average rating:

A shorter version(21 mins) of this is available here (but a different speaker). But i guess the former guy does a better job of presenting.(i must say i haven't seen the 2nd one full)

There are obvious limitations for the analysis presented here. Also I dont know if we can trust data coming out from some countries like china where the govt control/filter information that is given out to the public. (For example Chinese govt is known to suppress various information regarding human rights violations and so on).

Landau -- Stalin's prisoner!

2006-10-25T23:09:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of Landau -- famous physicist and nobel laureate -- when he was jailed in the Lubyanka prison! Did you know that Landau was put in jail?! The Russian dictator Joseph Stalin sent Landau into jail for allegedly publishing a leaflet against the commy govt -- thanks to the "freedom of experssion" prevailed in the Soviet Russia! For one year, 1938 April to 1939 April, he was in the prison and then he was forced to be a part of the soviet nuclear bomb project. Unwillingly, he took part in that bomb-making efforts. It seems when Stalin died, Landau said: "That's it. He's gone. I'm no longer afraid of him, and I won't work on nuclear weapons anymore"!
Poor thing! During the Stalin era, it seems, Landau felt himself to be a "learned slave"!!

Here's one article i found in the internet that quotes the KGB archives, now available after the fall of Soviet Union.

http://people.bu.edu/gorelik/Landau_PhysicsToday_1995.htm

This event reminds one about the Galileo's imprisonment for opposing the Church -- here the equivalent of Church is "Party"!
(In the Stalin era, many more scientists were put behind the bars in Russia!! -- Inquilab Zindabad!!)

For those who aren't familiar with Landau, here's the wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Landau

PS: Seeing this picture i would have never guessed that he is Landau -- in fact Landau's photos are not very common (I dont know why!) However, a few hours after publishing the last post, I got a mail from my friend (SA) with the right anwer. S, that was quick.

Guess who is this?!

2006-10-22T01:29:00.000-05:00

Guess who is this ?! And when was this picture taken ?!

Will write about him and this pic after a few days; Till then your guesses are welcome!

Clue: He is a famous scientist !!

India and cricket matters

2006-10-21T22:22:00.000-05:00

"...That match in Ahmedabad will be delicious from another point of view. In the capital of a state run by the BJP and often accused of pro-Hindu sentiments, two young Muslim boys from under-privileged families will open the bowling for India. For all those who say that opportunities in India are limited to some, the message is: pull a plaster on your lips and go home and work your butt off for that very opportunity; the way Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan did..."

That was Harsha Bhogle! I like reading his columns as much listening to him. And this page in the Indian Express is one of my bookmarks.

Indian cricket has changed a lot. There was a very interesting discussion in Cricinfo, on the "changes" in indian cricket, between Amit Varma and Ramachandra Guha. Worth listening once. And I guess our developing india can, probably, take some of its cues from the Team India!

A clash of Seasons!

2006-10-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

That's how the New York Times* described it -- a clash of seasons!
In this part of the world, Winter literally rammed into Autumn giving all of us a real surprise! It snowed here the other day, on Oct 12, and it seems it is a record here -- the earliest snow ever!! Last year it snowed only by november end (and that is how it's normally, i am told)

The day it snows is fun (well, if you don't drive!! :-p) But the days that follow are not going to be any pleasant!

-------------------------------------------
*Hey, did i tell you guys? I've started buying The New York Times at home! Without a newspaper to read in the morning, it doesn't feel like the day has started! The "online" reading never gives you that "feeling"! I researched for sometime (thanks to the Starbucks near my home where i cud read many newspapers!) and realized that most of the papers are masala -- except a few. I found that there are only a few --NYT, Wall Street Journal... -- that at least report some serious stuff. I didn't like Chicago Tribune! I finally decided to buy NYT and now it's my early-morning-coffee-buddy! Now I'm at home :-D

M$ vista, SPP and the pirates of Hindustan!

2006-10-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

I'm curiously waiting (probably Bill Gates too!) to see how our bhayyas will crack the Vista code :-D Microsoft (M$) is supposed to launch Vista -- its new operating system -- soon. And they have announced that it's gonna ship with a new "Software Protection Program"(SPP) which will prevent piracy!! he hee hee... aren't they kidding ?! ;-D

According to M$, using a pirated version of vista u can't connect to internet! (once u r connected to internet, it seems, it'll verify its license with M$ server and it'll stop working if its an illegal copy; that's wat i read somewhere) Hey, don't worry! I'm sure there will be a desi version of the vista that will work on any computer, available in the Moor market :-p

But i read that is not the end of the story! Vista will not allow you to have ANY pirated software -- let it be Office or any other M$ sotware!! If that's true, M$ will have to close their shop in India (and other 3rd world courtries!)

Anyways, here is an interesting article: Vista spyware may give filip to Linux and OS X

Buddies, better start saving money for a cool Mac :-)

(or look forward to the day when the google-apple alliance will come up with a new Mac-like OS that will work on any computer!)

Shashi Tharoor and the UN Sec Genl elections

2006-10-07T10:24:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article by TVR Shenoy on Shashi Tharoor and the UN top post election. I guess in some sense it is good that Tharoor lost! Otherwise he would have been forced to end up as a docile man working for the BIG bosses --namely Bush et al !!

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/oct/05flip.htm

And as TVR says, hope we will drop our obsession with the UN!

How do we respond to these fifth columnists?

2006-10-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

I was outraged reading these two news items :

Take our votes, "rule" us, eat our money and support terrorists! How do we respond to these cheats ?! >:-<

See these :

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200609271929.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/30/stories/2006093016450100.htm

J&K chief minister and a CPI(M) leader (and a few other J&K politicians) have demanded that the terrorist behind the Indian Parliament attack, Afzal, should be given Presidential pardon! (he was awarded death penalty by the Supreme Court for organizing the infamous attack on our Parliament and killing many)

After seeing this I really wished... had these leaders got killed in the parliament attack...! These guys will learn only when they suffer. They hardly care about the rest of the nation.

It's ridiculous and ironic that communists talk about a "civilized world" and capital punishment!! In China, where communists rule, HUNDREDs people receive death penalty EVERY YEAR! (including many women). No other country in this world kills this many of their citizens routinely! According to amnesty international report, in 1999 alone, there were 1263 confirmed executions in China ! (yes! one thousand two hundred and sixty three!). In 2003, it was about ONE THOUSAND!

see:

http://www.chinesehumanrightsreader.org/topics/dp.html

also see the UN article:

http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2004/webArticles/072604_CapitalPunishment.asp

According to Chinese law, one can be executed even for an economic crime! And now communists are advising india on capital punishment!!

Yet another example of hypocrisy. Hope our junta identify these members of the fifth column!

appro JRD !

2006-09-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

A moving article! I got this as a forward.

----------------------------------------------------

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and red gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco [now Tata Motors]. It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply." I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco. I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then).

I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. "The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives. They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mates told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari. When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city. To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways.

As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview. There were six people on the panel and I realised then that this was serious business. "This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. That realisation abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview." They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude.

The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them. Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories."

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories."

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realised who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House [the Tata headquarters] when, suddenly, JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. That was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.

I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate. She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it). Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?" "When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha Murty." He smiled that kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realise JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

"Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes." I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee."

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again."

In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni? (That was the way he always addressed me.) "Sir, I am leaving Telco." "Where are you going?" he asked. "Pune, sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune." "Oh! And what you will do when you are successful?" "Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful." "Never start with diffidence," he advised me. "Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best."

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House office, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today."

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters every day. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and munificence.

* Sudha Murty is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. She is involved in a number of social development initiatives and is also a widely published writer.

(Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004)

Are we sending our BEST film to Oscar ?

2006-09-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

Every year, India sends a movie to contend for the best foreign language film Academy award, and almost always it gets trashed in the very first round itself! Here i find that only 3 times so far an indian movie has ever been nominated to the final round! (Mother india, Salam Bombay and Lagaan) -- and we never seem to have won an Oscacr!

Does this mean that we don't have good enough movies that can compete with other foreign language films ? Does this mean that our film artists are below par compared to the international standards ? -- I don't think so. Then why are we not getting an oscar ? In my opinion, the reason could be that we are not sending the best indian film!

Every year, somehow, India nominates a Hindi movie for the academy awards! I wonder, why Hindi every year ?! (is there any reason? I'm not aware of!) I guess we could choose a movie from any of our 20+ languages! (note that, technically, all those languages have equal status as Hindi.) Then why do we always send an arbitrary hindi movie ?!

If you decide to pick THE BEST indian movie, irrespective of languages, my guess is that most of the time you will end up with a non-Hindi film. I find that often many regional language films have better standards than Hindi films.

For example, in 2002 i guess, i thought the tamil movie Kannathil Muthamittal would be chosen as India's entry to Oscar. It was a very good movie. The theme was very nice and internationally quite relevant, beautiful direction, and a pretty good cast. It won a myriad of awards in India and abroad. It was india's nomination to the Cannes film festival and won international acclaim. Now guess what! That year for the Oscar, we sent (if i remember correctly) Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham! Yuck!! (or i don't know if it was Devdas; anyway, Kannathil Muthamittal ranks above all those!). I thought, india had a better chance if we had sent Kannathil Muthamittal.

Or consider Adoor Gopalakrishnan films. In artistic value, his films are in par with any other international movie. And needless to say that there are many other equally good Malayalam movies :-) We all know that there are very good movies in Bengali. I'm sure there are equally good movies in other languages too!

This is not some ramblings of a anti-Hindi fanatic! I'm not a brainless Anna-Dravida-XYZ follower either! This is not a Hindi vs regional-language issue. This is a question of choosing the best film in India! Every year, are we sending the best indian film to Oscar ? -- I guess, we are not.

This is year Rang De Basanti (RDB) is india's choice! I don't even know what are the other movies came out last year. Do you guys think, RDB is the best indian movie released in 2005-2006 ?

Anyway, RDB is a decent movie. But I don't think it has the stuff to compete in an international stage. Unless Amir Khan and Co. spend money and make the jury members happy, it's gonna go to trash again; though the Indian in me hopes it doesn't :-) (just like i hope India will win against Australia, every time we play! ;-D)

----------------------------------
If you're not a UNIX geek...
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If u r not a unix/linux person u might miss the fun in the latest Cecilia's blog always a geek. sudo is a command we often use in Unix-like OSes (Linux/Mac OS-X...) to execute a command as Super User (Root) (it could also be used as another user). sudo stands for "super user do" or "substitue user do". So if u give a command with "sudo" preceeding it ( if u have permission to do that), it'll be done -- no question!

Dialectical confusion-ism !!

2006-09-23T23:11:00.000-05:00

Communists believe in something called "dialectical materialism" which says that changes take place through "struggle of opposites"! (that is the "dialectical" part of it!)

Here's a funny example : Achuthanandan's thesis and
Battacharjee's antithesis ;-D

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/19spec.htm

Poor comrades -- they must be thoroughly confused ! I wonder if
Desabhimani ever mentions anything that's being done in Kolkotta!

I hope the "literate" junta in kerala, these days read somethig more than Desabhimani!

Driving licence test and my lateral thinking!

2006-09-22T19:10:00.000-05:00

I have been planning to get my driver's licence
here from the day one. But, as expected, nothing
happened, even after year one! :-)

First i waited for the social security number.
Then the winter started. I thought I'll do it as soon as
the winter gets over! But that didn't happen for a
looong time! By the end of the winter, i was pretending to
be busy writing the paper! Then the summer came
and i thought: 'oh! ya, now i can do it any time during the
summer' -- and now here i am, and the fall is almost here!
Finally today, i took a half-day off and decided to complete
the first part -- the written test!

The truth is that i haven't even seen the illinois
driving rule book!! No clue what to expect for the written
test. My friend mentioned that thre'll be a few
road-signs and some multiple choice questions.Total 35 questions
and I have to get at least 28 of them right!
But then you know what, my previous indian track record is nothing
less than awesome :-P I had taken the learner's test
in Chennai, and that too a test in Tamil (yes!), and I
got 10 out of 10(!); given the fact that I don't know to read or write Tamil!!
The driving school guy, illegally of course, read out all the correct
answers, standing behinds us (i and sandeep went together!), and
we cracked the test ;-D

But here, I was own my own!

Well, at the end of the day I passed the test :-) (or rather,
i just made it!)
But the funny part was that, I got the most trivial answer wrong !!! :-D
I'm not joking! you won't believe this! This is how it happened!

The question was : You are at a traffic signal and the green light
turns on. What do you do?
(can you get a more trivial question ?!)

The answers were:

(a) If you think it's safe, you may proceed with caution.

(b) You may go after yielding the right-of-way to any
pedestrians and vehicles in the intersection or crosswalk

and some (c) and (d).

I was confused!! Both (a) and (b) look correct!! But which one to choose ?
I wasn't sure! According to me, the answer (b) is implied
in answer (a). The instructions said 'choose the most appropriate answer'.
Anyway, finally I decided to use of my lateral thinking abilities!!

My reasoning (which i thought is pretty logical!) went like this:

This test is made for an average American! If (s)he has
to answer this, it can't be very difficult!! (if you know
how smart an average american is!! hee heee ;-D). Well, then that immediately
led me to the answer (a) -- the straight forward answer. And that
was wrong!!

The lady at the counter, who was correcting my answers, had a smile
when she found that i got the simplest question
wrong. I could read her face: "this fella don't even know
this; how's he gonna drive ?!"

Anyways, kudos to me! I passed the test! Got 29/35 :-)
that's what matters!! Now gotta take driving test
before this expires!!

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Venezuela's leader says : "Bush is devil" !
David Letterman was wondering yesterday, whom
did he insult ? Bush or Devil ?! :-D
(that's the popularity of Bush here!!)

Coming "Goopple" days!

2006-09-19T20:21:00.000-05:00

Somehow, i didn't really notice this news (befor sreejith mentioning me this yesterday). This is probably going to be the news of this decade (for techies): "Google chief joins Apple board of directors"

This implies that Google and Apple are going to collaborate! If that's true, it's gonna be a dream team! Literally a Dream Team! How do I say this...?! If you put it in a Nirmal Shekar language, it's like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal playing for the same team! Or imagine Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara opening for a team in a test match! If they click, if the combination works out,.... i can't imagine...!!!; the result is going to be, to say the least, EUPHORIA !!!!

I'm looking forward to using a google-apple product... :-)
I can't wait for this... :-D

BTW, I noitced this recently : http://www.google.com/mac.html

How to subscribe to this blog

2006-09-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

I have enabled publishing site feed (blogspot uses Atom syndication). Anyways, here is a how-to on setting up the web-feed:

a) If you use Firefox/Mozilla browser
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This is very simple:

Go to the site: http://stochastic-blah-blah.blogspot.com
Now in the address bar (the field where you type in a URL, on the top of the firefox), on the right, you must be seeing a feed icon (in orange color) as the one below

Click on that icon (it's called a web-feed icon), and add it as a bookmark. It's called a "Live Bookmark". Done! Now it should allow you to dynamically monitor the changes in my blog :-) (hey, add on to the bookmark toolbar, and check it out often ;-))

more here in the firefox page

b) If you are using Safari
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Safari has a built-in feed reader.
So go to the site

feed://stochastic-blah-blah.blogspot.com/atom.xml

and bookmark it. You should be able to get the feed (you could
make use of various other preference with Safari)

c) Using a feed-reader or aggregator (like My Yahoo! or My MSN)
----------------------------------------------------------
use:

http://stochastic-blah-blah.blogspot.com/atom.xml
or
http://stochastic-blah-blah.blogspot.com/

d) Using Microsoft Internet Explorer!
-------------------------------------
Well, this is a bad choice!!
I never use IE, so, frankly, I don't know!
As far as I know, they don't have a site-feed reader built in!
It's supposed to have in the next version of the IE (by then
the world will move to some other new technology!). But I guess
MSDN has devoloped a new toolbar that you can download.
Google a bit. Good luck!!
Meanwhile, bookmark my blog and keeping checking every now and then ;-D
Or choose option (e)

e) I can't do any of this. I want an email update.
-------------------------------------------------

Enter your email address in the field seen at the right panel of this blog and click on "Subscribe me" and complete the procedure.

Here we go...

2006-09-18T21:33:00.000-05:00

The first blog that I started didn't really take off! But then that was long back. So long back that our
Mich Slackerny was just a 6th year grad student then! We, the young grad students, were strong followers of Mich and were too busy procrastinating! Not to say that no time for blogging!

But now that I'm just a postdoc (not a busy grad student), I shall give it a shot! Will try to blah-blah-fy as much as i can. This is gonna be my home page for gossiping and also, I shall podcast all those spam-like "gyan" here! ;-D

Hey don't forget to subscribe to this blog (via web-feed)