tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114309582024-03-27T00:37:36.642-06:00Passions of the drifting mindVinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-47220928818516996162014-05-03T10:14:00.000-06:002014-05-03T10:14:09.146-06:00Abki baar, questions to Modi sir-kar!
After having put forward my concerns to Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi, I now want to put forward my concerns to Shri Narendra Modi of the BJP, the only officially declared prime ministerial candidate. Modi sarkar, in all probability yours will be the alliance with the highest number of seats and you may form the government after 16th May, when the President invites you to do so. But, before Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com194tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-91555217133724623502014-04-13T09:13:00.000-06:002014-04-13T09:15:18.244-06:00And now, something for Rahul Gandhi
A friend of mine pointed to me that I should ask questions, not only to Arvind Kejriwal, but also Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. Well, I want to, because no party is perfect, nor has any party in India provided a sustainable plan for India's development and progress. So, I decided let's start with the Grand Old Party of India's youth icon, Shri Rahul Gandhi.
Dear Shri Rahul Gandhi,
WithVinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-82386023352797534092014-04-05T12:04:00.002-06:002014-04-05T12:06:46.464-06:00Political fever catches me: My questions to Arvind Kejriwal
Dear Arvind Kejriwal. You have got me in the game. Since every body is asking politicians questions, I felt like asking you as well. I hope you will find the time to address those. Here are my questions. They are not too many in number, like those you submitted to the Chief Minister of Gujarat. So, I hope they won't take too much of your precious time.
Why did you resign as the Chief Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-67531734445984814582013-10-22T14:43:00.000-06:002013-10-22T14:50:05.874-06:00India After Gandhi: Ramchandra Guha
After a pretty long time I am writing about a book. India After Gandhi, by Ramchandra Guha, takes us in the era, which history books in school end at. For most of us, India's history ends with Nehru's famous tryst with destiny speech and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. But, in reality India's history as a nation, begins from 1947, when her existing boundaries and shape came into being.
Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-40653657786820462012013-04-28T17:13:00.000-06:002013-04-28T17:13:18.604-06:00Mumbai crowds understand their cricket, Virat!
Virat Kohli is unhappy about how the crowd jeered him in Mumbai, during the Mumbai Indians vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore game. And, he lashed back at them during the post-match presentation and press conference.
He wants the crowd to remember that he plays for India too!! And hence, he should not be booed. Since when did representing India become a certificate that will prevent Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-1299600465899369742013-02-21T20:57:00.002-07:002013-02-21T20:57:47.813-07:00It is the power of perception, silly
We are now well aware of the love that Justice Katju has for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. And also how this love spruced up Arun Jaitley's love for Justice Katju.
In his article, Justice Katju persuades 'idiot' Indians to not commit the mistake that the Germans made in 1933, when they elected Adolf Hitler to power. But Justice Katju does not mention why this happened. Germany was Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-12977786500476956562012-12-25T12:40:00.002-07:002012-12-25T12:40:32.717-07:00The National Rifle Association's PR disaster
This has been a fortnight of PR disasters. After gruesome crimes and horrific incidents in the world's flag-bearers of democracy- the USA and India, the targets of the agitation were involved in huge PR disasters. The government of India and especially the Prime Minister, were committing one PR disaster over another, in their response to the protests and reactions over the horrific gang-rape Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-56320615758544252542012-11-24T11:10:00.001-07:002012-11-24T11:11:11.063-07:00Skyfall
The year 2012 marked fifty years of the James Bond franchise. It had been already fantastic for Bond in 2012, with an appearance in the opening ceremony in the London Olympics as the Queen's escort. That is perhaps a huge tribute to Bond's contribution about "being British" and it sealed Bond as a cultural characteristic of Britain. Skyfall, too had a grand premiere coinciding with the Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-15245888491179333672012-11-07T09:03:00.001-07:002012-11-09T14:29:01.033-07:00Dear Indian media, there are others apart from US elections
This post is born out of frustration. About reporting in the Indian web and electronic media. With the US election scheduled in November, everyone was busy reporting on the tiny details of the two candidates. Where Obama spoke, where did Romney have dinner, how their wives felt, etc. Hell, on the last two days, the reporters went into a kind of frenzy, reporting every step the two candidates Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-54469297648731891812012-09-24T11:31:00.002-06:002012-09-24T11:33:47.099-06:00The FDI threat?
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, finally 'bit the bullet' and announced a slew of economic reform measures. When cornered, even a cat puts up a fight. The government definitely was cornered by a lots of issues. The biggest being fiscal deficits. Now, there may be a big, big controversy and disagreement over how oil companies compute their losses made on sale of diesel, petrol, kerosene Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-76958857286750816912012-08-10T23:51:00.001-06:002012-08-10T23:51:40.953-06:00Privatising health care: A planning commission proposal
The Planning Commission of India came up with a radical proposal to move the mechanism of managing and delivering primary healthcare from the government to a select network of private organisations. Though this is still a proposal and the final outcome may differ, it is a dangerous move. Of course, we agree that the current government handled system of primary health care is in shambles, but Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-24765129777410600132012-06-16T13:53:00.001-06:002012-06-16T13:53:15.390-06:00Numb3rs: TV series
Oh yes, I'm watching many T.V. series now-a-days. Numb3rs is an FBI detective T.V. series that ran between 2005-2010. Agent Don Eppes is an FBI agent in Los Angeles and handles crime cases that occur in the L.A. area. In this work, he is assisted by his brother, Charles Eppes, who is a professor of Applied Mathematics in the (fictitious) CalSci university. Charlie (as Charles is fondly called) Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-12871931448484278442012-05-26T09:33:00.002-06:002012-05-26T09:33:47.061-06:00Undercover Boss: TV series
I began watching this TV series Undercover Boss on Netflix just a few days ago. I get to watch the American version of this show on Netflix. So, the story line of this reality show is that the top boss (usually CEO, but in some cases, the COO, marketing head, legal advisor, etc.) of a particular company go undercover (under a disguise) for a week and work at the lowest level in their Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-3260474185371143322012-05-15T11:27:00.000-06:002012-05-15T11:27:04.090-06:00The mockery of sentiments
Our elected representatives were at it again. What would have remained confined to the eyes of a few, had they not raked it up, came out in the open for every one to see. And why did they rake it up? Because, they felt that the incident would hurt sentiments of certain people.
The cartoon of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, sketched by Shankar in 1949, would have remained Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-55334015527192691782012-05-07T02:06:00.003-06:002012-05-07T02:09:55.659-06:00India's Iran oil imports and US persuasion
Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, is on a visit to India, her last one before the term of this government ends. The Hindu reports the following about one of the points on the agenda of her visit
In the run-up to the Indian leg of her visit, agencies have reported an
official of her delegation as saying Ms. Clinton will once again
persuade Indian leaders to cut down their Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-79065476079971740472012-04-19T21:50:00.001-06:002012-04-19T21:50:41.906-06:00RTE and the government's responsibilities
With the Supreme Court of India upholding the constitutional validity of the Right to Education (RTE) Act (2009), many human rights' and social organisations are cheering out loud. This, they say, will allow children of economically weaker sections to study in private schools, where tuition costs are definitely higher and perhaps not affordable to all those who are meritorious enough to deserveVinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-75878255362024790652012-03-25T10:37:00.002-06:002012-03-25T10:43:28.612-06:00Indian media and the National Film Awards
Considering some of the free time I have got now-a-days, I have begun spending some of it to analyse some of the views of Justice Katju and P. Sainath. "Why so?", would be your question. That is because they both present a view that is many a time completely ignored in mainstream media, especially the electronic one. The more I view news channels, the more am I beginning to believe that the Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-11928534832786977322012-02-20T06:28:00.003-07:002012-02-20T06:28:40.249-07:00Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts: P. Sainath
Let me begin with two quotes:
How agonized we are over how people die... how untroubled we are by how they live
- P. Sainath
Behind every great fortune, there is a great crime
- attributed to H. de Balzac
In brief, these two quotes sum up the effect of government-led development on those displaced by it and our attitude towards the plight of those affected by such development.
Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-14317615275664339462012-02-13T23:13:00.002-07:002012-02-13T23:13:29.076-07:00Why the IPL is going wrong for Indian cricket?
No, this is not to blame for the disastrous tours of England and Australia. But it is got to do with wrong precedents being set and incorrect models being created. Previously too, I have blogged about the kind of culture that the IPL is ending up creating, especially on the franchisee side. But, in itself, IPL is not to be blamed
for everything going wrong. It might just turn out to be the Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-34223058033576883222012-02-01T05:37:00.000-07:002012-02-04T23:01:52.538-07:00The Secret of The Nagas: Amish
The Secret of the Nagas is the second book of the Shiva Trilogy planned by Amish. The first one is the Immortals of Meluha. A brief review of the plot. Shiva is a tribal residing in the Mansarovar area. He and his tribe have been brought to the ancient land of Meluha as a part of Meluha's quest to find the Mahadev, about whom prophecies said that he will come from outside the SaptaSindhu. TheVinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-31411888154642404212011-12-14T22:15:00.001-07:002012-04-03T00:45:58.088-06:00What is better: FDI or FII?
For now, the debate on foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail has been put on the back-burner. But, there is a raging debate on whether to allow FDI in the airline industry. As of now, foreign institutional investment (FII) in airlines is allowed. So, what is the difference between FDI and FII? And which is more beneficial?
In FII, there are investment banks or financial institutions Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-68947379403308849872011-11-30T18:47:00.001-07:002011-12-01T22:45:14.641-07:00To FDI or not to FDI (in retail)?
With its decision on allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, the cabinet has set loose the cat amongst the pigeons. Everyone, from those for it and those against it have been running helter-skelter to justify their stand. Now, I do not know if FDI in retail is a good option or not, because opinions of both sides have left me confused. But here are a few things that I would like to throw open toVinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-13651687514315558242011-11-24T22:42:00.000-07:002011-11-24T22:42:12.869-07:00The disadvantages of Big Brand retail shops
No, I do not intend to make a socialist case here, which is best left to political parties and activists. Here, I intend to spell the disadvantages that big brand retail shops have for me as a consumer. This is in the back-drop of the Indian government approving 51% foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail or hypermarts, as they are known in the west. This will bring in the big guys likeVinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-13589776868191562272011-11-11T23:02:00.001-07:002011-11-11T23:48:56.149-07:00How dumb-witted can articles get?
After having spent a wonderful holiday, I was browsing through rediff and came across this news article titled, "Why IAF does NOT need either Eurofighter or Rafale?", written by Ajai Shukla. Apparently, he hasn't listed his credentials while writing this article. Here is what he says and also why that is wrong to a great extent.
He says, Eurofighter and Rafale are in trouble, because they Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11430958.post-65357696512275276492011-11-02T21:50:00.000-06:002011-11-02T21:50:47.867-06:00Team Anna has to be like Caesar's wife
That the government would strike back at Team Anna members was a forgone conclusion when the anti-corruption movement gathered steam. And especially after Anna Hazare's super successful fast in Delhi. The government, and especially the Congress, feels embarrassed and lame as a perception was built that Team Anna brought the government to its knees and that without them, the government Vinayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00001179092240729416noreply@blogger.com0