Scaling new heights or sinking to greater depths?

The nation is in the grip of election fever and everywhere I hear passionate debates about whether this candidate is bad or that candidate is worse; whether this party is rotten or that party stinks. Everyone seems to think that her viewpoint is the best and that by not agreeing to it others are committing a sacrilege. My advice to all these well-intentioned guys - ‘is haram mein sab nange hain’, so do not take politicians of this country seriously.

One doesn’t need IQ of an Einstein to decipher how successive governments have taken citizens of this country for a ride. Blinkered vision, shallow agendas and unfathomable depravity of our politicians have eroded the very ethos which our founding fathers dreamt of. We keep deriding the British for their “divide and rule” policy, but have not our politicians been following the same policy and dividing people on basis of caste, language, religion, etc.

Nation building is a daunting task and should be in the hands of the competent and conscientious. Even after 60 years of independence majority of our countrymen do not have assess to the basics of human existence. What a shame! Is it the “foreign hand” to be blamed for this even? Or is it the collective greed without individual accountability of those entrusted with power to govern us? You decide.

The Great Indian Burlesque

Finally the poll dates have been announced for the 15th Lok Sabha elections. Once again the hoi-polloi of this land will be subjected to the inane rhetoric, dramatic promises, malicious propaganda and ludicrous platitudes of players from across the political spectrum. Media pundits will have a field day analysing and predicting various possible scenarios and later contradicting themselves once the results are out. Astrologers will be much sought after to assuage maleficient planetary effects; so will be the local goons, gun-makers, arrack-sellers, nubile nymphets and other fringe actors in this grand tamasha.

As per Centre for Media Studies, Electing the 15th Lok Sabha would cost at least Rs 10,000 crore — more than the recent US presidential polls. BTW, this amount is equivalent to the 2008-09 budgetary allocation for the union Ministry of Civil Aviation. Hope this kind of expenditure will help ensure a smooth take off for the next government.

Whether the destiny of this land will be written by the (in)visible hand under the light of a lantern or the elephant will lift the lotus with its trunk, no one can predict at this juncture. Hence, dear friends :

Watch unfolding of this drama
with a sense of glee or despair -
Each party projects its own 'Obama'
So vote with caution & care!

SATYAM SCAM - POLITICS, MEDIA & LIES

Kudos to Ahmed Ali for his incisive and scathing writing on the sham surrounding Satyam scam.

Koli and Pandher get death in Nithari case

At long last, justice has prevailed. But i will heave a sigh of relief once the sentence has been carried out.

But what needs to be pondered over is whether it was the real hard evidence or public outcry that forced the judge to give the verdict? After all, the CBI had neither found any evidence against Pandher nor it sought death sentence against him. CBI had even stated that he was not even in India at the time of the murder. But fortunately, the judge decided to frame charges against Pandher independently and subsequently found him guilty as well.

IMO an enquiry should be initiated against the officers handling this case, and if found guilty, they should be given an exemplary punishment.

Of Moral Policing

I feel this debate over Moral policing is bunkum. A clever journalist must have coined this term and some of our politicians & socialites seem have taken a fancy for this phrase and are using it ad absurdum to prove their point. Result is that they are now contradicting themselves and making a mockery of the proceedings (Centre trashes NCW's Mangalore pub attack report).

In my opinion, the Mangalore Pub incident is a law & order issue and the perpetrators of the crime should be brought to law. You cannot change the mindset of Mr. Muthalik or others of his ilk. In a democracy they have a right to their opinion. But they do not have any right to impose their own views on others.

Morality is something that cannot be universal, hence binding on everyone. What one deems highly immoral may be a way of life of another. Friction arises when we try to impose our moral standards on others. Government's duty is to reduce chances of such friction to arise and when it does, to deal with a firm hand.

P.S. : Wasn't Lakhman's cutting of Surpnakha's nose (in Ramayana) an act of moral policing? He didn't approve of her advances and wanted to teach her a lesson.

Bombay Burns

Those who are trying to undermine the very essence & ethos of this city, nay, this country need to be identified and brought to law. But the enemy is not only without, but within. This is dangerous; since one can legitimitize killing an invader with a bullet, but how to deal with the leeches in the system who are thriving on that what sustains them?

My heart bleeds for those who have died/got injured during this sordid drama of terror. Let peace & sanity prevail!

Am Back

After a hiatus of ~2 years, i am back to the world of blogging. Watch out this space for more of 'tauisms'.

Kite Power

Flying kites are a metaphor for soaring ambition, while a "kati patang" connotes aimlessness, dejection, and defeat. [Remember that song by Lata from Rajesh Khanna classic--"na koi umang hai..."] In many cultures around the world kite-flying is a favorite pastime for growing boys; and on special days/festivals the young and the not-so-young get together to indulge in this sport. The sight of colorful kites silhouetted against the sky makes me feel as if I'm in a garden filled with fluttering butterflies.

So much so for the poetry. Scientists in Italy are using kites to harness wind-power for generating electricity. Despite its appearance, the Kite Wind Generator, or KiteGen for short, could produce as much energy as a nuclear power plant! Unbelievable, but conceptually true. Read on: Generating Power From Kites

Farmers' Friend in Need

Not even the makers of Google Earth could have anticipated such a use of their service. Read on Google Earth, farmers' best friend

Terrorists are cowards

ਦੇਹ ਸਿਵਾ ਬਰੁ ਮੋਹਿ ਇਹੈ
ਸੁਭ ਕਰਮਨ ਤੇ ਕਬਹੂੰ ਨ ਟਰੋਂ ॥
ਨ ਡਰੋਂ ਅਰਿ ਸੋ ਜਬ ਜਾਇ ਲਰੋਂ
ਨਿਸਚੈ ਕਰਿ ਅਪੁਨੀ ਜੀਤ ਕਰੋਂ ॥

[O Lord, give me these wishes
May I never shirk from doing good deeds
Never shall I fear when I go to fight the enemy
with surety I shall attain victory]

A religion which is based on such a strong foundation, cannot be affected by the hollow threats of those who do not understand what their own religion conveys. [Read on: LeT threat to blow up Golden temple]

Blowing up temples/gurudwaras/churches/mosques won't shaken the belief of millions in a 'higher power' that guides their lives. The terrorists/extremists ought to understand that 'means justify ends.' Evil begets evil; and good begets good.

"Cobra Garba"

What would be your reaction if you noticed that your garba dance-partner is holding live snakes instead of sticks? A family in Band village of Barmer play their garba with snakes as props and not sticks. Scary sight!!

Read on Garba with snakes as props in Barmer

Who owns the content?

In early September, a Belgian court ruled that Google could not reproduce certain copyrighted titles and summaries on its Belgian Google News Web site. [BW: "Google in Tussle for Digital Rights"] This case could easily be dismissed as a minor incident in a small European market, but it definitely questions the basic premise of online news aggregation, and even search indexing.

Google contends that it observes "fair use" practices and that copyright law allows for snippets of text to be published. Any publisher not wanting to be indexed in Google News can opt out, or use a tool called robots.txt, a widely accepted standard that allows publishers to block items from being indexed. But not being in Google implies loss in traffic coming to their sites. Publishers seem to be perplexed by this conundrum.

The growing concern among publishers is that they're getting eyeballs but little or no revenue from news aggregators. But the end-customers seem to be happy with the likes of Google News. One gets the best news from different sources on a single site. Saves time!

Since Copyright laws aren't harmonized across the world, and what constitutes "fair use" not clearly spelt out, it is a matter of time before there is a showdown between the publsihing world and the world's largest search engine. Will the courts then view Google News as no different from a library's card catalog or consider it as a usurper of someone else's IPR, is something that will determine who owns the content?

I wonder how can laws written decades ago deal with challenges that face businesses in 21st century. There has to be a paradigm shift in how we view the issues facing us in a "flat world".

Satyagraha of a different nature

In what is being called a "strike of crossed legs", supported by the Pereira mayor's office, the wives and girlfriends of gang members have said they will not have sex with their partners until they vow to give up violence.

Read more about this novel form of peaceful resistance on Mathaba News Network

I am not sure if the hardened criminals can be lured into submission by the denial of sex but it would be interesting to see which of the two basic human instincts --- sex and violence --- wins this battle.

Wish You Enough.......

Came across this beautiful anecdote on a blog. Thought of sharing it with those who visit here.
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, “I love you and I wish you enough.”

The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom.”


They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking,

”Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?”.

“Yes, I have,” I replied. “Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?”.

”I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,” she said.

”When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?”.

She began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.”

She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. “When we said , ‘I wish you enough’, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.”

Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

Are "user-generated" video sites sustainable?

Does Starbucks sell coffee? Obvious answer is that Starbucks provides an expensive and comfortable environment so that people will buy overpriced coffee. The same business model is being pursued by websites that host user-generated content such as personal blogs, photographs and amateur videos, which can be uploaded and watched on sites such as Blogspot, Flickr, Google Images, YouTube, Google Video, MySpace, Guba, Veoh and Metacafe. By offering a setting for free interaction, such sites provide the online equivalent of comfy chairs found in Starbucks. The trouble is that, so far, there is no equivalent of the overpriced coffee that brings in the money and pays the bills.

YouTube, the clear leader in its category by audience size, is casting around for a business model for sustenance. Some estimates put YouTube's current loses at more than $500,000 a month. Afterall there are the costs of running such a site—--video requires a lot of bandwidth and storage.

YouTube and the other video-sharing sites face another big hurdle---infringement of copyright law. I've seen almost entire Bollywood movies being uploaded on YouTube. Now this is serious matter. Though the sites promise to pull pirated content when asked to do so, but it is only a matter of time before one of them is hit with a big lawsuit.

Since users do not like advertisements inserted at the beginning of video clips, YouTube has announced two experiments with advertising. One idea is for “brand channels” in which corporate customers create pages for their own promotional clips. The second experiment is “participatory video ads”, whereby advertisements can be uploaded and then rated, shared and tagged just like amateur clips.

Another concern for the advertisers is putting paid-for advertisements alongside amateur video clips, perhaps based on keywords or tags. Many firms will be cautious about letting an automatic system—such as, say, Google's AdSense—place their ads next to user-generated clips of unknown provenance and with potentially embarrassing contents.

Another revenue source can be a combination of advertising plus the sale and rental of commercial video material. Guba.com offers both free amateur videos and paid-for content, including films from Sony and Warner Brothers. Google Video allows content owners to charge for video. This suggests that internet-video sites are on a collision course with DVD-rental outfits, such as Netflix, which are moving towards the delivery of films via the internet, rather than as discs sent through the post.

Another strategy that can be adopted by the 200-odd internet-video sites can be to woo and be bought over by media conglomerates instead. Recently Sony, which has a large film studio and lots of video to promote, bought Grouper, a small video-sharing site, for $65m. And News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, is turning MySpace, its popular social-networking site, into a challenger to YouTube.

It will be interesting to see whether the enterprsing spirit that gave birth to the concept of user-generated content sharing would be able to come out with novel revenue generation model as well or will it be the same old story of big sharks eating smaller fish.

Source: The Economist

Aanewala pal jaane wala hai.......

Hrishida is no more! By no means was he the typical glamorous Bollywood director, yet Hrishikesh Mukherjee was one of the most popular and beloved filmmakers in Indian cinema. His biggest assest lay in weaving a cinematic magic through simplicity and warmth of characters and their settings without relying much on glamor or largeness so often associated with Indian cinema.

He began his career in 1951 as an editor and assistant director to legendary Bimal Roy, participating in the landmark Roy films Do Bigha Zameen and Devdas. Though his first directorial venture, Musafir (1957), was a disaster, but producer-director Raj Kapoor was so impressed by his talent that he strongly recommended Hrishida as director for Anari (1959). Starring Kapoor himself and Nutan, the film was a critical and commercial success.

1960 saw his next film, Anuradha, which got him the President's Medal Award. But the decade of 60s was not a succesful one for Hrishida and his films were not particularly distinguishable, barring Asli-Naqli (1962), Anupama (1966), Aashirwad (1968), and Satyakam (1969).

Then came 1970 and that year saw Hrishida's masterpiece Anand, one of the best movies ever made in Bollywood. This classic film saw scintillating performances by Rajesh Khanna, then a superstar, and Amitabh Bachchan, then a little known aspiring actor. The music by Salil Chowdhary was soul-stirring, the songs unforgettable..... "zindagi kaisi hai paheli....."; "kahin dur jab din dhal jaye...."; "maine tere liye hee saat rang ke sapne.....". Anand was dedicated to Raj Kapoor, whose joie de vivre had inspired the central charatcer.

It was an auspicious beginning of the 1970s, for that time proved to be an exceptionally good time for Hrishida as he gave the popular and excellent films like Guddi (1971), considered as Jaya Bhaduri's debut film; Abhimaan (1973), that saw the Bachchans' greatest ever performance together; and Chupke Chupke (1975), a comedy par excellence. These films gave an extremely skilled and detailed look at the middle-class mentality. Very few Bollywood writers and directors have touched the inner chord with the Indian middle class the same way Hrishida did.

Hrishida was a profilic director and writer. Few other gems to have emerged out of his oeuvre include: Bawarchi; Golmaal; Naram Garam; Namak Haraam; Bemisaal; Sadma; Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate.

Hrishi Da's Quotes:

"It's more difficult to portray simple emotions on screen than complex ones. And that's why I try to delve more into such themes."

"I try to make my films like sugarcoated messages, but the sugar should not exceed the medicine."

Did Gandhi bat for N.Y. Yankees?

IBN-CNN reports: Mahatma Gandhi played baseball during a top secret visit to the USA in 1933—hold on! this is not historical fact but the fiction of a film.

Gandhi at the Bat shows the Mahatma playing for the New York Yankees, but US President Franklin D Roosevelt ensures that the trip is kept secret in national interest. However, long after the visit, baseball historians are intrigued by stories about a mysterious pinch hitter.

The film, touted as a mocumentary, has been made by Los Angeles-based Alec Boehm and Stephanie Argy and comes from the production house Mental Slapstick.

The filmmakers plan to take the film to the festival circuit and it can also be found in the Web site www.gandhiatthebat.com .

So we can now watch the Mahatma as he gets on the baseball diamond in sepia tones and flickering motion. And Gandhi, though in real history went to bat with great success for India. But, as a person with a great sense of humour, he probably would also have enjoyed the spoof.

Is this fair?

George Orwell in his hard-hitting satirical novel Animal Farm wrote: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." It seems history has turned a full circle and now it's the leading US companies, driven by unbridled greed for market dominance, who are bending over backwards to appease the autocratic regime in China. So, for Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco and Wal-Mart there is one set of rules that applies to everyother 'animal' and another set created exclusively for the 'Red animal'.

Google: Does not offer email, chat rooms, or blogs in China, but only Web search, image search, local search, and Google news and that it censors these programs so that Chinese customers cannot search for "democracy," "Falun Gong," and other topics that China wants to shield its people from.

Yahoo: Provided information about one of its Chinese customers that led to his arrest and a 10-year prison sentence for political activity.

Cisco: Sold equipment to the Chinese police that assists them in monitoring dissidents.

Microsoft: Is not allowing the Chinese version of its Web portal, MSN Spaces, to use words deemed politically sensitive by China's Communist Party.

Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart with 1.6 million employees in 16 countries and regions, has a tradition of not allowing trade unions in its outlets. The CPC-backed All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has forced the Wal-Mart to allow the establishment of labour unions in its branches.

American Leadership's hypocicy in dealing with China is legendary; and now US MNCs seem to be emulating their politicians. I don't have any objection to that, provided, the US and these companies stop preaching ethics and values to others. At the same time, China has shown the world how vulnerable these powerful MNCs are. One can make them dance to ones tunes provided they get double digit growth figures in bargain.

Pluto --- from Persephone's Paramour to a Pesky Planet

In the past few days enough heat was generated among scientific community about the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voting outcome on a draft definition of what distinguishes a planet from lesser space rocks. The fuss over Pluto's planethood started a few years ago when astronomers began to discover large, icy bodies in the outer solar system, some of them not much smaller than Pluto. A committee of 19 astronomers set up by the IAU in early 2004 failed to reach a decision over the issue of defining a Planet. A smaller committe of 7 members, set up to look into the matter, came out with a "new" definition of planet which would have increased planets in our solar system to 12, and probably many more. Finally, astronomers could be homing in on a definition of the word planet. On 22nd Aug., after much public bickering in Prague, followed by negotiations behind closed doors, the latest draft resolution was greeted with a broadly friendly reception. The terminology is still ambiguous but the proposal currently under consideration is least controversial. If accepted on Thursday, it would be bad news for Pluto, which would no longer be a full-fledged planet.

Eversince its entry into the family of solar system, Pluto has faced stiff opposition to its inclusion. Now it will no longer be part of the family of Zeus. Poor Pluto!

Ustad Bismillah Khan--- a genius musician

With the passing away of Ustaad Bismillah Khan in the wee hours of 21st August, 2006, an illustrious chapter comes to an end in the annals of Hindustani Classical music. The legendary shehani maestro was born on 21 March 1916. His ancestors were court musicians in the princely state of Dumraon in Bihar and he was trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux `Vilayatu’, a shehnai player attached to Varanasi’s Vishwanath Temple. He brought the shehnai to the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. It was Khan Sahib who poured his heart out into Raga Kafi from Red Fort on the eve of India’s first Republic Day ceremony.
Where others see conflict and contradiction between his music and his religion, Khan Sahib saw only a divine unity. His namaaz was the seven shuddh and five komal surs. Even as a devout Shia, Khan Sahib was also a staunch devotee of Goddess Saraswati. He once remarked, "Music, sur, namaaz. It is the same thing. We reach Allah in different ways. A musician can learn. He can play beautifully. But unless he can mix his music with religion, unless he strives to meet God, he will only have kalaa (art) but no assar (mystical union). He will always stand at the ocean and never reach the heights of purity." Khan Sahib poured his soul into the music he played and could elevate the listeners to the ethereal heights of mystical plane.

He was a simple man, a man of tenderness, a gentle private man, yet given to unbridled display of emotion. With a princely beard and eyes which glint with boyish mischief, he was a 'Suron ka Badshah' who made money but spent it just as fast. His only "bad habit", was smoking Wills cigarettes which he puffed with obvious relish. It was Khan Sahib who composed that magic Lata number 'Dil ka khilauna hai toot gaya' for the film Goonj Uthi Shehnai.During his long and fruitful career as an artiste, Khan Sahib enthralled audiences at performances across the globe. Ustad Bismillah Khan was the third classical musician after Pt Ravi Shankar and Smt M S Subbulakshmi to be awarded Bharath Rathna. He was also honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi award, the Tansen award as well as the Padma Vibhushan.

Khan Sahib lives on in the hearts of millions of his fans.