Pranab Mukherjee – True Son of India

Pranab Mukherjee is a great son of India who has had a long and distinguished political career. Ever since his accidental inclusion in the union cabinet to achieve an auspicious count of ministers way back in 1973, he has worked tirelessly towards making India a better place to live.

But after all these years of service to the nation, maybe it is time for him to take a break. He isnt getting younger and watching him suffer from the burden of his brilliance makes us feel bad for him. And for poor mother India.

After Sardar Patel, he is the new Iron Man of India. Check out the strong words as the external affairs minister urging Pakistan to act on evidence shared by the FBI. No mention of the evidence supplied by Indian agencies. What humility by this great man!

“We have been told the FBI has strong evidence which they have shared with Pakistan. They (the Pakistani government) should act on that evidence and hand over the perpetrators of Mumbai to us,” the minister said.[link]

Mr Mukherjee’s contribution to Indian society is laudable. It is thanks to his efforts that the country is as peaceful and united as it is. He remains committed to maintaining the secular fabric of Indian society and continued communal harmony in the nation. Speaking at a recent program to mark 200 years of the Bengali translation of the Quran in Kolkata, here’s what he had to say.

“Not only is this expression Islamic terrorism unacceptable, there should be protest against it.[link]

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, India, News, politics, sarcasm , congress, external minister, general elections, India, indian politics, parliament, pranab mukherjee, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi

VP Singh is No More

In the midst of all the news surrounding the Mumbai blasts, one important event got sidelined. The death of  Vishwanath Pratap Singh, former prime minister of India.

Adopted by the Maharaja of Manda at the age of five, VP Singh went on to become the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. As CM he gave away land to the poor as part of Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement and led a ruthless campaign against bandits.

VP Singh had a checkered political career of a mere seven years on the national stage.

In 1984 Rajiv Gandhi appointed him his finance minister. During the Bofors scandal, he was about to disclose the names of middlemen which led to a fallout with the then ruling Gandhi. He was dismissed from the cabinet and resigned from the parliament.

In the 1989 elections, the BJP and the left combined against the Congress and VP Singh became Prime Minister of India.
He was there when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya was kidnapped, and exchanged for five of the most wanted terrorists India had managed to nab. His role lasted all of one year, before the BJP pulled the rug from under the government following the Babri masjid demolition and the ensuing events.

But these are not the reasons why he will be remembered forever.

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, News , India, Kashmir, mandal commission, mufti mohammad sayeed, reservation, rubaiya sayeed, Terrorism, vp singh

Terrorists’ Best Friends – News Channels

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Till a few years back, here’s how terrorists operated. They picked a target, decided whether they want to bomb or shoot, implement the plan and kill a bunch of people, and soon the world would get to know about it. There would be news for a few days and then people would move on.

With the advent of modern news channels, things have changed.

Now the terrorists’ job has become easier, thanks to 24 hour live coverage on TV. Now they need to begin their attack, and wait till media persons arrive. Then they start playing to the media.

Earlier their actions affected a few hundred, maybe a few thousand people, but now millions of people can watch in real time all the gruesome details, and the message is spread far and wide. As much as we appreciate information sharing, this is one arena where too much information is counter productive. Not only is the terror message delivered far and wide, and repeatedly, but they get assistance from television channels beaming live coverage of operations against them.

Its like the law enforcement agencies are fighting two enemies at the same time.

Case in point, the recent operations in Mumbai to weed out those rotten scoundrels responsible for bringing India to a standstill for the past few days. As NSG commandos were dropping onto the roof of the building, their images were being telecast live.

How in earth are they going to surprise any terrorists if they can see what is going on outside on CNN-IBN? How about deferring telecasting the footage by maybe half an hour?

…Shankar says anchors play a critical role in maintaining balance in the midst of live coverage. “Unfortunately, many channels have people of poor intellectual calibre and maturity as anchors. And this is across English and Hindi news channels,” he said. “We also need to find more dignified ways of approaching victims who’ve just emerged from a traumatic experience rather than thrusting mikes in their faces as if they have just come out of a matinee show.”[link]

You see survivors coming outside the hotels, and a dozen cameramen surround them.  A person coming out from a horrific ordeal in a state of trauma deserves some courtesy/water/space/respect, not twenty howling journos asking how he felt.

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, News, Thoughts , attack, Bad Journalism, cnn-ibn, deccan mujahideen, India, indian media, maharashtra, mumbai, mumbai terrorist attacks, Terrorism, war on terror

The Last Straw

They carried out bomb blasts in Mumbai. We rebounded and rebuilt the city. They attacked our parliament, and we stopped juust short of eliminating our neighbor state. They carried out bomb blasts in Delhi, and we kept going on.

Today they crossed the line. We have had enough.

Our hearts go out to the families of those killed in the latest attack on India. This sudden turn of events is unbearable, unfortunate, undesired, unnecessary, and completely uncalled for.

When the US was attacked in 2001, they went to war with Afghanistan. How is India going to react? Our prime minister has already condemned the attacks. Does he have the balls to do anything more?

The proverbial long arm of the law apparently isn’t long enough. We are being attacked at will, and the intensity of the attacks and the damage keeps increasing.

Somebody needs to start taking their job more seriously.

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, India, News, Thoughts , deccan mujahideen, isi, Kashmir, maharashtra, mumbai, mumbai terrorist attacks, Pakistan, simi, Terrorism, war on terror

Popping the Pirate Party

For all the hoopla over Indian navy’s new role as savior of the needy and helpless, take this.

The Navy’s decision to destroy a pirate mother ship is now being questioned by a Thai national who says the ship sunk last Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden actually belonged to him. [link]

Fourteen sailors are still missing from a Thai trawler that was sunk last week by the Indian navy as a suspected pirate ship, the vessel’s owner said Tuesday.[link]

Apparently, the victim was not the mother of pirate ships as so prominently claimed and acclaimed in the media. It was just another poor ship being attacked by those mean SOBs. The pirates were on the ship, but it wasn’t theirs!
No wonder they fired at INS Tabar, which happily shot them down.

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Filed under: Happenings, India, News , indian navy, ins tabar, navy, pirate mother ship, somalia, somalian pirates, tabar, trigger happy ships

Obama Wins

Today is a historic day for America. The country just elected it’s first Black president after 43 White ones.

The US has come of age.

Leave alone the glass ceiling, the steel door has been blasted open.

Makes me think of India. When will we Indians rise through petty barriers to appoint leaders based on merit and not their race, religion, or gender?

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, News, Thoughts , barack obama, democracy, India, us elections, us president

Great Wall Of Terror

t all started when some not so creditable people were allowed to take loans to buy them homes.  Down the line, some of them started defaulting on their mortgages. Suddenly banks were competing with each other in writing off billions of dollars of assets. Bear sterns went down. Lehman Brothers went down.  AIG went down. Washington Mutual went down. Wachovia is lined up. Overall some sixteen banks in the US have shut down this year.

Wall street has laid off over a hundred thousand people so far this year, and there’s no end in sight.

For those who didn’t know, Indian faces abound across all levels and departments on Wall Street. There’s a Vikram Pandit heading Citi. Finding an Indian MD at a Wall street firm is as hard as watching TV for a few hours without hearing about Raj Thackeray. There are Indian traders, Indian bankers, Indian techies (lots of them). Heck, Wall street loves Indian food.

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, News, Thoughts , AIG, bear sterns, depression, des, economic downturn, financial industry, India, investment bank, layoffs, lehman brothers, subprime crisis, unemployment, Wall Street

The Pope Rikshaw

India finally made itself known to Pope Benedict.

Italian automaker Piaggio presented a Pope-d version of the ubiquitous Indian autorikshaw to the Pope in the Vatican recently.

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Filed under: Desi, Happenings, India, News , autorikshaw, Desi, India, pope, rikshaw

Skeletons In India’s Closet?

I occasionally come across stories/articles that send shivers down the spine This one shook me to the bones. Literally.

This was about the awful hideous practice of illegal trade of a unique kind – of bones. Of real people. These people steal corpses from graves, and from cremation grounds. They then sell their souls (and the bones of these unsuspecting people) for, of all things, money. Money?!

Not a fair bargain for either party i’d say.

First the corpses were wrapped in netting and anchored in the river, where bacteria and fish reduced a body to a loose pile of bones and mush in a week or so. The crew then scrubbed the bones and boiled them in a cauldron of water and caustic soda to dissolve any remaining flesh. That left the calcium surfaces with a yellow tint. To bring them up to medical white, bones were then left in sunlight for a week before being soaked in hydrochloric acid.

When police arrived to investigate last spring, they could smell the stench of rotting flesh from nearly a mile away.

They dont just steal dead bodies. They sometimes create them too.

The industry shuddered to a halt in March 1985, when a bone trader was arrested after exporting 1,500 child skeletons. Because they’re relatively rare and illustrate transitional stages in osteological development, child skeletons command higher prices. Indian newspapers claimed that children were being kidnapped and killed for their bones.

Children? Those little innocent(?) things?

People go to hell for doing bad things. These people dont even deserve that. I bet there’s some special cell up there to take care of these things. They’re not human for sure.

Filed under: Crime, India, News , Bad Bad People, Bad People, Bone Trade, Illegal, India, Medical Studies, Skeleton

Sadda Vicky

Sadda Vicky… are baba apna Vikram Pandit.

You don’t know him? He just became the CEO of Citi Group, known in Industry circles affectionately as Shiti Group.

Another Indian does the country proud! haha…its funny when the media just jumps in on the achievements of Indians wherever they are. But then, at least he is a real Indian. Born in India, came to the US for his studies, and been blazing his way across the ranks over the past decades.
A real Indian, unlike Bobby who was also the toast of India till a few months back, albeit his giving up his Indian name, Indian religion, Indian accent (Oh well..he was never a FOB; always had that peculiar ABCD accent. Never mind).

Going back to Vicky. He’s famous for becoming MD in record time at Morgan (Stanley). He is also famous for starting his own hedge-fund. Recently he became famous when Shiti bought his fund with the sole intention of getting him to come on board. Of course, now he is their chief executive.

How do you – a common man celebrate promotions? A dinner? A cruise vacation?
How does a wall street CEO celebrate? By plonking down 18 million for a 10 (yes, Ten) bedroom apartment in one of the hottest part of Manhattan.

Vicky might be the first Indian CEO on wall street, but he certainly isn’t the only Indian biggie. Indian people in senior management are not uncommon. Indian MDs (Managing Directors) are a dime a dozen.

Doesn’t the chest just swell with Pride? We are proud of you Vicky.

Filed under: Desi, Happenings, News , ABCD, BSD, Citigroup, FOB, Old Lane Capital, Shitigroup, Vicky, Vikram Pandit, Wall Street

Old Toys New Story

Back in the days when i was an 8th grader, we used to play cricket, have little parties, watch tv, and all that boring stuff. Apparently, that is passe now…

An 8th standard kid(yes that would be about 13 years old) in a Gurgaon school shot to death a classmate. In cold blood – from close and not once but four times. Just how gruesome is that?

There have been instances in American schools where kids have stormed the schools killing multiple students. But this would be the first such case i can recall in India.

Makes me wonder – this kid (the murderer) is a little boy. What sort of laws apply to them? Do they go to Jails or to some childrens’ homes sort of place? Can they be executed for such a horrible act?

Or should the father who gave a gun to his 13 year old toddler to commit a murder be hung to death?

Filed under: India, News , Guns, Gurgaon, Murder, Reckless Kids, School, Violence

Holy Crap!

In India (and else where) people find exotic woods to make the doors of their houses. Some doors are made of metal for enhanced security. Some doors are even made of glass, albeit the people living in those houses not being allowed to throw stones.

But take this. Soon, you might actually be able to make doors of your house in, guess what, your own produce. Just how cool is that!

Sulabh (of the Sulabh Shauchalaya fame) has found some way to create some sorta strong raw material out of human waste, and have used it to design doors!

Regardless of the gross factor, this one has me impressed. This is ingenuity at its practical, gruesome, ugliest best. Once you get these dooors what would you do – wash hands every time you enter the house?

Filed under: Happenings, India, Innovation, News , Crap, Doors made of crap, Human Excreta, Sulabh, Sulabh International, Wood