Passing Shots

2009-06-14T01:24:00.000-07:00

The third attempt
Am back after 3 1/2 year hiatus when the Indian main stock index had its best run ever, followed it with an even more spectacular fall, and is showing some false signs of running up again.
From a new city, probably a tad wiser , hope to focus on some of the beauty we take for granted and miss noticing them
Be it a kid jumping on a puddle of grimy water, the babble of a three-year old, a bird feeding its chicks. And being in Mumbai, I rather not miss welcoming the flamingos, the first rain clouds (alas they are still hiding) and the Mumbai trains, which is an evergreen topic always.
With a kid around, will have lots of instances to post, be it in words, pics or ...
Hopefully I will continue

2005-12-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

My 2006 predictions

The positive ones

1) Indian stocks will continue the rally at least till the first quarter end. P Chidambarm will present yet another dream budget, predicting fiscal deficit at 2.5 percent of GDP

2) Mobile tariffs , air fares will slide further

3) Bihar will have one full year of governance without lalu

4) America will not invade another country under the global war on terrorism banner/ India may win the Security Council seat

5) Sania Mirza will reach the quarterfinals of a major, probably Australian Open and Indians will go gaga. And ET will have a Sania brand story Tendulkar will surpass 40 centuries and ET will have, you know what Tendulkar Brand6) offshoring, outsourcing in the manufacturing space will begin

7) India will have 30 new car models, especially from the Merc, Audi, BMW, Nissan stables/ Tatas will finally replace the Sumo

8) FDI in Indian media will scale the 26 percent, FDI in Indian retail

9) Toyota overtakes GM as the largest car maker

10) I’ll lose weight and earn a fatter paycheck

The negatives

1) Stock market closes 2006 at 6000 points (sensex). PC budget remains a dream once again

2)Indian cricket gets caught in the dada et al controversy forgets cricket. Jagmohan Dalmia stages a comeback into BCCI.

3) India economy starts floundering. Some industries enter the decline space

4) Call centers start migration towards other low cost English speaking nations

5) Left pulls the rug under Congress feet. American economy continues decline. China finally accepts growth numbers were cooked

6) Some of the upstart airlines in India, start fading out. Infrastructure woes are not addressed in the country

7) A coup in Pakistan

8) East Europe grapples with more regime changes, which is as usual backed by the America

9) Indian media loses some of its best brands, TV continues its clown act.

10) I’ll grow an year older.

And finally Happy new year

2005-12-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

Pitfalls of Universal education.

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar in his weekly TOI column. Some words of wisdom, once again from Swami .

“Research suggests that if children cannot read after two to three years of education, they probably never will. They may be promoted regularly and complete school, but they will be functionally illiterate, and their many years of education will not improve their incomes.

Lesson: Indian education must focus above all on early reading skills. If that is not achieved, all subsequent schooling is a waste. Why are schools so weak in teaching poor children to read? Because, …….better-off children typically enter school with a vocabulary of 2,000 to 4,000 words, and have often started reading already at home.

But poor children typically have a vocabulary of only 600 words, and have never read at home.”

But for once i counter Mr Aiyar's views

As usual, I fell for Mr Aiyar’s well researched, lucidly written web. But a few minutes later, realised my folly—I realised, I have blindly begun to tread the same rationale path of a celeb.

Mr Aiyar, to start this column, dwelved on the rich-poor divide and its effects on literacy or rather functional literacy, and backed it up with the results of an NGO Survey.

I reckon the survey could have a few errors. And I base my assumptions on a self made, micro survey. I recently happened to interact with a group of kids reading at some of the best or at least the “hep” schools in a South Indian Metropolis. And I concluded their command over the language was as naked as a student who sits in a regional medium school. And next, these kids, never read anything that is in their mother tongue.

To add to the kids lexicon is the garbled, obfuscated slang. That’s starts with the pedantic, “hey mon, tell me da” to I did that only dude” and …….

At least the poor do not try to speak English supposedly. Instead they chaste speak local language’s. Isn’t knowing your mother tongue well enough to read and write functional literacy?

2005-12-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

Xmas cake

Come Christmas, I remember my ageing family doc, who stays next door. Nope he isn’t our neighbourhood Santa Claus. Well to an extent he is , as he gives us our Xmas cake

For over 2 decades, we have had a very strong bonding with this renowned pediatrician. In return for the cake and annual consultation, we run over to his house on Christmas, help ourselves to more cakes and hand him a worthy gift.

Christmas eve for us as kids, used to start with staring across into his house. Every time the door opened our hearts would flutter. And when the maid finally emerged carrying the cake box …… guess u can imagine our reaction.

Years later, none of us are at home for Christmas, but still the cake and gifting tradition continues. Only now my parents take the cake well past New Year, while we finished it before Christmas noon.

2005-12-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

Tennis chimp

Was reminiscing old times, especially my tennis court days.Was a serious contender at one point of time and read and re read the Tennis Magazine, played and replayed recorded Tennis matches. Right from the Lendl-Wilander era to Edberg-Becker till Sampras-Agassi.Like any clever clever chap, I wanted to analyse the games of these greats and inculcate their strong shots into mine. Did I say inculcate, nay then, wanted to ape them.

The result, yup u guessed it. lemme dwell on the some of the shots I was enamoured with.

Service
Stefan Edberg’s arched back, legs parked parallel, seven o’ clock service. That was the first one. Prepared by viewingfour replays, reading the Tennis Magazine’s section on serve like Edberg some half a dozen times and finally practiced under the 3’o clock scorching sun using my shadow as the guide.
Over time, Sampras’s service caught my fancy. I immediately altered my stance to the slight drooped, head and chin up complete with the tongue hanging out stance, and tried the last minute shoulder power generated serve. Bingo it worked, but I couldn’t play long. I used the injury too and said I had a ligament tear, blue blooded Sampras right.In between those two tried following servers like Ivanisevic, Rusedski and yes, Steffi Graf too.

Forehand
I stuck to my own forehand till I saw Mark Philippoussis and then tried the body weight forward shoulder rotating forehand, only to give up. It turned into a damp squib. Unfair right, cos Philippoussis’s did generate loads and loads of power.

Backhand
First aped Sergi Bruguera’s unorthodox backhand—hold the racquet upright like an axe and whip it in the last minute with a slight hint of topspin.And then Sampras made Wimbledon his home and I wanted his one-hand backand. Precisely during that time I read a report on how Sampras changed from double fist back hand to the one-hand and what wonders it did to his junior rankings. I promptly adopted it and was whacked out of the court by the youngest kid.Then got rational and adopted Kafenikov’s double-fist backhand.

Volley
who else Boris back Becker, but I fine tuned it to exclude the acrobatics.

Overhead
Sampras ‘in the air ‘overhead. Only that I couldn’t jump.

2005-12-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

Jack n Jill stocks

Some new faces were just catapulted into India’s richest by Forbes Asia.. Not that am a great fan of this exercise.

Other than regulars like Premji, and Ambanis, the list has Sunil Mittal of Bharti, online poker game operators Anurag Dikshit, Vikrant Bharghava . Jet Airways Naresh Goyal, property developer Kushal Pal Singh Suzlon’s Tulsi Tanti too feature.

One common thread in the new comers list is the rollicking stock market. And the subsequent IPO’s from these faces.

Jet Airways , the largest Airline operator in the country, crept into the black post its IPO recently and in the process turned Goyal into a billionaire. Ditto with Suzlon’s Tanti and Sunil Bharti Mittal. They have cushioned themselves in the list right after unlocking their stake in an IPO.Yup there are others as well like Dikshit, but he is as Indian as Lakshmi Mittal of Mittal steel is. As for Kushal Pal Singh, well he is Gurgoan and Gurgoan is him atleast now.

A sceptical over view of these names, just reveals that it could be a Jack and Jill case. Going up the hill to come tumbling down. Nope, I aint saying that the fresh shares are mere blips in the demat account. But they just could be. Based on just one if-What if the market crashes.
Can happen right? Citibank investment banking division says Indian market is over valued by 30 percent. Lets discount the sanguine view that Sensex would cross 16,000 by mid ’06 and assume it crashes. Lo behold, Jet Airways, Suzlon would definitely turn laggards, thanks to their high premiums. As for Bharti Mittal, am sure he will be counting his moolah at least, cause he is selling big time. Not AirTel connections alone, but stake to the likes of Vodafone and co.

PS: Speaking of riches, I remember an Economic Times survey of the richest names in a trading community. The survey lauded 10 wealthy people and spiced up their names. Except that, the research was a bit skewed. Community folks smelt the handiwork of one wealthy family, which actually occupied the top slot in the list. Why, the last spots were filled by candidates from that family or rather branches of that family. It happens right

2005-12-13T04:23:00.000-08:00

If i were

A rather dull life is what I yearn for, not that I lead an exciting one now.

Business is what I spew and believed in. There was a day when I did believe I’d be head one listed Co. (sigh….)

I had a business plan too. It was plain and simple. My biz group would typically have an integrated textile unit—from cotton to garments to branded apparels— a mid sized tea garden with an outlandish brand— yup to get that premium— and an investment arm to trade in errr… whatever.

The size of my group, I reckon would be just under Rs 1,000 crore and growing at least 15 percent annually. And yes to round off, I’d hold just under 35 percent in the company.

And here comes the dullest moment, I had a schedule chalked out too. The yellowing paper reads, office at 8:30 a.m, plant visit from 10:00-11:00, biz meeting between 11:00-12:00 and 12:00-1:00 to tie up loose ends. Lunch at 1:00. My personal mails after that and Tennis from 3:00 to 6:00. Finally some reading and TV before I snuggle in my cosy bed.

Throw in the monthly visits to my tea garden, and occasional biz trips abroad! (Yeah Rs 1,000 crore co., strives for 30 percent exports in four years, don’t you read that gyan in pink papers.)

Huh, big deal my dreams are paling faster than my schedule sheet. Here am working unearthly hours counting every penny , instead of commanding some Rs 700 crores of public money.

2005-12-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

The last 8 days

1) I woke up at 4:30 a.m twice (a record of sorts) and actually saw sunrise

2) Was punctual for once in setting out in my journey

3) Finally drove up the steep ghat roads. A first for me and my car (Thankfully my car didn't fiddle and i didn't meddle with the hair pins)

4) Went visiting lawrence Lovedale and understood how school's started by the army would look --imposing from outside, dark and eerie inside. Realised how Napolean Bonoparte would have felt when his father ushered him into the army school

5) Was enticed by the brooks song and ended up trundling in knee deep pile of (not shit, thank heavens) marsh

6) After that ended up washing my sneakers in water that must have passed all the higher peaks and was making the marsh marshier

7) Gulped tea and horlicks as if there was no tomorrow

8) Didn't go for late night walks in the biting cold -- was playing good ______

9) Drove home on my favourite highway and yet took longer than i generally used to. Am growing old.

10) But hogged as usual at home, pushing out my belt buckle by another hole

11) Jeffry (Read Labarador) took me out for walks thrice ( a record again, keep it up jeff)

12) Didn't yell or 'snap' during the 8 days ( what meditation or all the temper control tricks couldn't do. Should holiday more often i guess. I wish i could afford to)

13) Flew twice on the same day

14) Was conned big time by a goon at the airport

15) Traded in stocks and lost in a leap frogging market.

2005-11-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

Some Pics from the India-South Africa ODI encounter at Bangalore

2005-11-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

Byline crazy

Somelines i repeat often oflate

"ET page 1 is no longer the same. It's shallow and CFM is no more worth its salt."

"Business Standard would be crap, if not for its edit page."

Retrospecting, i find reporters are increasingly lured by the "expansion spree" or as some fondly refer to it as the expansion binge!

What the heck! It's a rapidly progressing economy and to keep pace with it, firms need to expand.

Some reports call a Rs 20 crore capex an "major expansion" that is likely to go onstream by 2008/9! Such copies hardly add any value to the reader.

Investors look for stock moving news and not company propoganda!

Next is the mushrooming stories on unlisted entities. Who are these reporters writing to? The unlisted firm, its PR agency?

When i stare at such stories in the morn, i remember just one rule." Damn everyother fact, just follow the money."

2005-11-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Masters are missing at the Tennis Masters

The semifinal line-up for the year ending Masters cup reads like, Federer Vs Gaudio and Davydenko Vs Nalbandian.

The bigticket's , Hewitt, Roddick, Safin, Nadal and of course the mercurial Agassi are all missing.

Hewitt- to be with his wife, or is it still GF, when she gives birth. Safin is perennially injured, Roddick aint know.

Agassi and Nadal withdrew citing injury and the grapevine is Federer is nursing a sore ankle.

Wow, a lot of respect for the year end masters cup. Once a prestige, today players give a damn to it.

But legacies stay, tradition holds forte. For instance when it comes to Wimbledon the top ranking Gentlemen , including Safin who abuses grass, shrug away all excuses. They Shed colours, adorn white and daintliy swing their racquets hoping to emboss their names on silver gilt cup.

2005-11-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

Blog tag

A tag! probably something like the chain mails, which essentially end like ..." If you don't forward it to x many asses by x many hours ur ass will be blown out!"

Anyway, as this supposedly 'blog tag' exudes humour more than anything else, have tried my hand at it.

7 things i plan to do

1) Retire to a cosy corner of the Nilgiris and smell tea leaves for eternity
2) Shave without a mirror
3) Strap a rolex to my wrist and drive an Audi, buts thats after i manage to sell my 9 year old Splendor
4) Adorn a boyish cut wig, dust my tennis bag and armed with them pass, repass my erstwhile sweetheart's home
5) get porn movies and watch them on a sunday morning while my wife is still asleep.
6) rig the stockmarket and feel elated when ET, CNBC have got it all wrong
7) wake up on time for sunrise

7 i'can't do

1) Retire just yet (Dad read that, give me the money)
2) Shave without a mirror
3) Understand the funda behind philosophy and the philospohical books
4) Why listening to carnatic music is considered "archaic"
5) use a laptop, and a make a powerpoint presentation filled with jargon
6) Comprehend why Germany lost WWII
7) Wake up on time for sunrise

7 things i keep repeating

1) saniyan (an abuse in Tamil)
2) Bastard (s)
3) What the heck
4) Abey
5) Ghothu (understand in Kannada)
6) I have another appointment, can we reschedule our meet, when am sure i'm gonna be late.
7) I will lose weight

And i call on ramz, rubaru

2005-11-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

East Europe

The next decade could be East Europe's. Nay am not just braying about its economic potential, but its impact on world culture.

Kids from countries (Like India, China), which are tipped to dominate the World, are flocking universities in these countries.

Of course not to learn Marxism, but because the standards are quite high and fees are mighty low in these institutions, compared to their western counterparts.

Imagine if a clutch of students returning from Yankee land can westernise us, i guess one can safely assume we will also tread the 'easternised way.'

Honey I just shrunk your face.? didn't I?

2005-11-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

Adrian Newey quits Mclaren again

Mclaren Mercedes's technical director and F1 design guru Adrian Newey has finally quit Mclaren. He joins Red Bull, formerly Jaguar racing- a team he said he'd join a couple of years ago.

Mclaren had then managed to hold him back, but knew Adrian wasn't there forever for them. Mclaren claims to have restructured their design team since then, with Newey just giving advice to members roped in from the now defunct Arrows and home grown designers.

Mclaren believe their current team is strong enough to earn them more championship.

But Newey is a legened in his own right. The best cars of the 90's, the championship winning Williams' between 1991 and 1997, and Mclaren's after that till the much praised Mclaren in 2005 were his creation.

Newey says a smaller team offers him a challenge and hopes to play a role in designing a non-works team (Other than factory based outfits like Ferrari, BMW, Renault) win a championship.

All the Best Newey!

Finally, I just pray my team Mclaren is as strong as it claims to be without Newey.

2005-11-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

F16 saga refuses to die down

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has said he will postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter planes from the US, saying funds are needed to reconstruct the earth quake devasted state. The quake killed over 70,000 people, the BBC reports

Pakistan had been expected to buy more than 50 planes at up to $40m each. Quake reconstruction is put at $5bn.

This could spell doom to the U.S and the F16 maker Lockheed Martin. In fact, the Bush administration had lifted sanctions on F16 sale to Pak, in a bid to keep the F16 line afloat and save a few thousands jobs at Lockheed Martin.

Am interested to see equity analysts comments on Lockheed Martin next week.

2005-11-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

Rainy day

Rains have lashed across Bangalore and I have been at the receiving end several times. Especially when driving a car, one's concentration needs to be at its zenith.

A couple of days back, amidst pouring rain felt too cosy in the car. Why? I was a passenger, the car felt too cosy and the music was soothing.

2005-09-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

The fairer sex is indeed fair

Sania Mirza into the fourth round of U.S. Open/ Mahesh Bhupathi wins U.S. Open mixed doubles title.

Indian Newspaper stuck to the "Sania Mania" cliche and relegated Mahesh Bhupathi to a small pix and an even smaller news item in a corner of the sports page, while Sania got away with realms of newsprint.

Still worse, post match analysis, interviews with tennis coaches and quotes from WTA tour biggies dominated the days to come.

With the way things are shaping Mahesh Bhupathi will be remembered as Sania's agent/ promotional manager rather than a doubles champion with seven grand slam titles up his sleeve.

Amen!

2005-09-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

Chidambaram, an ass

P Chidambaram, India's illustrous union finance minister, is an ass. The most stubborn one.

He had his way and the petroleum ministry slapped a Rs 2 hike on diesel users and Rs 3 rise on petrol users. All Chidambaram had to do stop this 'tease' was tinker with excise duty. He refused.

Instead he waxes eloquence on how a cut in excise duty would dry up about or over Rs 3,600 crore worth taxes. He needs no prodding, as any amateur economist will spell out the effect of consistent fuel price hikes on an oil dependent economy.

The fact remains a litre of petrol costs about Rs 18 sans the taxes, while you and me pay about Rs 45 for the same.

Chidambaram for his part pulled a fast one by tampering with the excise duty earlier. While reading out his much appreciated Union budget, he adjusted the excise duty and termed it revenue neutral, which was not the case. He incidentally nudged up the share of taxes on oil!

Guess, he is increasingly turning vulnerable and even losing grip.

The allegation against Arun Shourie's "suspicious sell off of national assets", his slippery vague comments on "strategic equity sale in PSU's" and his frivolous stance on several issues like the oil price, fringe benefit tax, just shows how detached he could be from reality.

Media too seems to be singing his song. Haven't seen any editorial snubbing him. Why a business magazine recently went to the extent of calling him the best finance minister or the best performing minister (I aint remember which one).

Wake up to the pulse of the masses Chidambaram, the UPA govt or u'll be the next NDA.

PS: The oil price hike comes just after oil prices on the international stock markets fell as industrialised countries prepared to tap stockpiles of emergency oil.

2005-04-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Rove ahead Tata

Bankrupt British carmaker MG Rover is looking out for suitors after the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) deserted the company.

Probably Tata Motors, which does not hide its global aspiration, could commence the due diligence on the last remaining 'truly British' car brand.

Tata tea did pull off the Tetley buyout relatively unscathed and today promotes the world's second largest tea brand, after Unilever. On a similar tack, Ratan Tata could just extend Tata Motors acquisition spree, that transcends Korea and Spain now, to Britain.

Rover will come laden with debt no doubt, but it is a strong brand and given the Tata's disciplined approach and existing links with MG Rover through the Indica deal, the deal looks succelent.

Also, Tata's could draw a leaf out of Lakshmi Mittal's (Mittal Steels) books and bring in bankrupt but potential winners into their fold.

2005-04-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

Amby superbrand.

(Ambassador - the first car to be manufactured in India. )

We can change the way an Ambassador looks, but then it will no longer be an Amby. This was amby maker Hindustan Motors one time punch line.

HM is one of the few car makers that refuses to let a great brand die. Ford persists with its Mustang, while GM has its sixth generation Corvette on the roads now. Merc for its part is always inspired by its SLK’s, while Rolls Royce aspires for a better Phantom constantly.

But there ends Amby similarity with the world beater brands. The likes of Phantoms and Corvettes while drawing styling ideas from the originals, have evolved technologically in each avatar. For the Amby the answer is written all over the wall.

If HM too can wake up, add life to the Amby brand-- instead of squeezing its last sinews--by styling it in tune with today's curves (pun not intended) and by tweaking the Isuzu power unit, then Amby and HM do have the right ingredients for the second drive.

C’mon CK Birla (HM belongs to the CK Birla Group) reach out to the die hard Amby enthusiasts.
If the most stoic automaker in the country Premier Auto can dream of a change, you well can!

2005-04-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

Blowing a big opportunity?

The Economist as usual sets you thinking. Renewable energy could well add a few years of life to mother earth, but the firms that ar promoting it are already facing the rough winds.

A Danish firm leads the wind-turbine world. Yet it lost money last year .

You would think it hard to be the world leader in an industry roaring ahead with government backing and subsidised customers—and still to lose money. Yet Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish wind-turbine maker, did that last year. It is a cautionary tale—and not just for Vestas.
Pushed by fears of global warming and by rising energy prices, wind power is on a roll: worldwide, installed capacity rose by some 8,000MW last year, to nearly 48,000MW, one-third of that in Germany. Of that new 8,000MW, Vestas, with 26 years in wind turbines and over 26,000 of them installed, put in 35%. It has 9,500 employees, and a turnover, aided last year by the takeover of its closest Danish rival, of euro2.6 billion ($3.2 billion then), double the figure in 2001. Yet from euro390m pre-tax profit in that year it slid into two years of tiny profits and then, in 2004, into a euro50m loss.

2005-04-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

BCCI Cricket channel

The Board of Cricket Control in India has announced gala plans to promote a cricket dedicated television.

Newspapers have spoken about the feasibility of the channel. No more on that, but one can be rest assured BCCI mentor or whatever fancy title he awards for himself Jag Mohan Dalmia and his cronies are going to slay the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Already the most corrupt sports body in the country, BCCI is set to scale new heights.

All the best Mr Dalmia.

2005-04-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

The ninenties and later haven't been the best of years for sports car enthusiasts. One by one, the nineties have seen the discontinuation of some of the world's fastest, performance-oriented, fun-to-drive cars.

Since 1995 alone, we've lost the Toyota MR2, Nissan 300ZX, Mazda RX-7, and Dodge Stealth. Even America's favorite home-grown sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette, had an uncertain future during the middle of this decade.

2005-04-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Naukri

Have been attending interviews, not for me but with my wife. She being new to the city, needs a chauffer to steer her to the right place at the right time beating the chaotic traffic.

After dropping her at the spot, I hang around either Window shopping or posting myself just outside the entrance of the firm where she is answering some smart assed questions.

Get to see quite a lot of freshers walking in and out of the building. The numbers are quite high as she plans to be a HR executive and HR firms attract aspirants willing to grab a seat at that firm, and a lot more gunning for positions at the firm’s clients.

While I send in and see out a varied lot, I’m treated with the latest in fashion, dress sense of people, confidence levels ranging from high to meek. But a striking similarity over ruled all of these.

The eyes betrayed any education background or confidence. Expectancy, curiosity and eagerness were wrought all over the eyes when they went in. As for pair of eyes that trooped out, it was either a cheeky wide smiling pair or stares directed at the floor (The latter outnumbering the first.)

To see more of the cheeky smiles, let’s pray for long winding service industry.

2005-04-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

NDTV 'Profits' from CNBC TV18

The recently launched biz channel of NDTV, NDTV Profit is a mirror image of CNBC TV 18. Quite literally, while CNBC TV 18 is left aligned (most of the time) NDTV Profit is right aligned.

Profit's screen shade resemble the CNBC blue, the stock ticker format and colours are the same and lastly the image window during trading hours is the same size too. Some thing to crib about originality or lifting-- plagiarism in journalistic terms.

The reason is quite simple. Gossip with ex CNBC TV 18 employees revealed that a bunch of the people who run NDTV Profit are from CNBC TV 18.

Another trivia on the same subject. Headlines Today, it is said, is a close take of CNBC SAW (South Asia World)

2005-04-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

yagoohoogle.com

http://yagoohoogle.com/. This is an interesting search engine. Use it to get search results from Yahoo and Google.

The screen is split into two vertical halves, with one half throwing out Yahoo search engine results and the other Google's.

Hey on hindsight, is it legal?

2005-04-06T03:25:00.000-07:00

Gully Cricket

Played cricket the way i had wanted to, for sometime now. Far away from the confines of my parent's huge garden or a proper ground, played in a dusty odd shaped tiny park along with four other colleagues.

The frills included a gutter on one side, quite a few cars and their windshields to contend with, irate house owners, plus two to three other kid's teams vying for space in the miniscule park.

We played like pros though, sending off two balls into the gutter. And one ingenious friend lured a kid into fishing out the ball from the green murky water with Rs five.

As for my form, it was vintage Ganguly.

2005-04-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

Quiet Quotes

Picked (or stole) this quote from a signature line.

Quite liked it. It brings out the essence of life.

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country." - Anais Nin, The Diaries of Anais Nin

2005-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Mr Sarkar, spare a thought for the reporters

Aveek Sarkar, Anand Bazar Patrika group (publishers of Business World,Telegraph) patriarch and now supposedly the largest shareholder in Star network in India, also founder Business Standard had this to say in the Business Standard's 30 years commemorative issue.

" I was baptised into a faith that recognised the primacy of the sub-editor. A reporter is no more than a Priya Trivedi or a Yana Gupta swirling into the limelight in somebody else’s clothes."

Probably Sarkar wanted romanticise his point and punch that extra effect to prove it, sadly it was in poor taste. One of the seniormost media barons, Sarkar sure has the knowledge and right to praise sub editors, but he certainly shouldn't rap poor reporters who too put in their fair share.

I vehemently oppose this particular view, do you?

2005-03-28T11:10:00.001-08:00

Tsunamical Ignorance

Yesterday's (Monday) Tsunami scare across South East Asia showcased almost all nations’ preparedness. At the same time, it also revealed how naive and ignorant are some of our news anchors.

Here is an example, NDTV's Rajdeep Sardesai-- dubbed as one of India's best news anchor/media personality-- asked this question to a meteorologist. "If there is nothing before 1 A.M, can we take it that there will be no Tsunami." Rajdeep, give us a break, its nature and any school kid will know that ruling it out or ruling it in, is simply not human.

Next, Rajdeep retorting to Union Science and Tech minister (India)Kapil Sibal's reply on the possibility of a Tsunami, Are you trying to say that the Indian Government believes a Tsunami is there!

Heights of ........

2005-03-26T05:29:00.000-08:00

Soviet Democracy

Russia may not be referred to as the actual proponent of democracy. But at least Putin and his cronies are not derailing another county's free will.

After Georgia and Ukraine, it is the turn off of Kyrgyztan to throw out self- proclaimed elected leaders. And of course one knows where the backing came from.

Putin favoured Kyrgyztan president Akayev could have used power, military-- reminiscent of the Soviet era-- to quell the opposition uprising. Akayev for all the bad press he has attracted functioned as a true democrat. He ordered the home guard to stay away from using force and instead he fled the country.

So much for U.S and its cry for free world. What happened in Iraq? and what probably can happen in Iran, North Korea?

2005-03-24T05:29:00.000-08:00

Baby, J&J is not for you

ET had this

Maharashtra Food and Drug Authority has issued notice to Johnson and Johnson, asking the company to remove the word "baby" from several of its products meant for infants, terming it as `misleading'. The company was issued notice yesterday for "misleading" use of the word baby on the labels of its products, as chemicals used in the producs were in no way different from those used in other cosmetic products, FDA commissioner A Ramakrishnan said. "Infact, some of the carcinogenic matter in these products can cause reaction in babies," he said and added that promotion of such products as those meant for babies was misleading. He said atleast six products, including baby shampoo and baby oil came under FDA scanner following complaints. The official, however, added that baby soap did not have any harmful chemical in it.

Borrowing from J&J's one time punchline "What does your father know", possibly the company also thought what does the baby know!

2005-03-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Gobbledygook

If the English inculcated officialese and with it letters starting with "Vide your letter dated......please be advised that blahblah or we are in receipt of your letter blah blah" then the IT revolution in the country is shunning it out, only to replace it with Jargonese.

In my work, i increasingly meet IT workers and their conversation is punctuated by ITish words like matrix for a section or a set, management contingencies for problems etc..

The way it is embracing the population, it looks like Jargons will be the way of life.

People are taught and begin to believe that this is the proper language. It's like a virus; it simply spreads and no one notices that they are infected

2005-03-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

In Switch, Pepsi MakesDiet Cola Its New Flagship.
This story definitely has some juice in it. The catch is, will Pepsi follow it up in India as well or do a McDonald’s or KFC feeding Indians with fattened food, while tagging the calorie conscious westerners line by filling the retail line with diet variants

The next "Pepsi Generation" likely will be drinking diet cola.
In a major break with the traditional soft-drink hierarchy, PepsiCo Inc. is making Diet Pepsi the star of the company's U.S. marketing efforts -- and trimming advertising spending on sugar-sweetened Pepsi-Cola. The move reflects the continued loss of fizz by Pepsi-Cola, which was invented in 1898 and is the second-biggest brand in the soft-drink aisle.
"We are treating Diet Pepsi as the flagship brand," says Dave Burwick, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America. "It's a big step for us."
As part of the reordered priorities, Diet Pepsi will be marketed as a hip, cool brand for everyone, including teenagers and Baby Boomers. Meanwhile, Pepsi is narrowing its sales pitch for regular Pepsi-Cola to soda drinkers younger than 25, Latinos, African-Americans and sports fans.Pepsi says it plans to double its marketing spending on Diet Pepsi this year, while the budget for Pepsi-Cola will fall slightly. The company doesn't disclose figures, but TNS Media Intelligence says that means the company will spend more than $60 million this year on Diet Pepsi, while the budget for regular Pepsi will be below last year's $156 million. Regular Pepsi still has nearly double the U.S. market share of Diet Pepsi in volume terms, so the company isn't about to drastically cut its marketing of its main product.

2005-03-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Are we blogging blokes risking our careers.

An Associated Press story in today's Economic Times

"Flight attendant Ellen Simonetti and former Google employee Mark Jen have more in common than their love of blogging: they both got fired over it. Simonetti had posted suggestive photographs of herself in uniform, while Jen speculated online about his employer's finances. In neither case were their bosses happy when they found out. Though many companies have Internet guidelines that prohibit visiting porn sites or forwarding racist jokes, few of the policies directly cover blogs, or Web journals, particularly those written outside of work hours. "

for the full version read Bloggers beware! You may get sacked.

Some intersting facts from the story

1) Currently, some 27 per cent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and 7 per cent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life Project.
--How many in India?

2) If free publishing coined the terms blogs and blogging, then it in turn has reared 'dooced', meaning "to have lost one's job because of one's Web site" Thanks to Simonetti and her blog dooced.com

2005-03-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

Life's Like That

Give 100 percent. If you cant't stay away.

A small slip up, was all it took to put me in the "correction" list at the world's top wire service. And what did i do wrong - instead of keying in Nasdaq i put in New York Stock Exchange (No crime at all in any of the top Indian business dailies. For you had time till late evening to reset it.)

My fortune, the usually careful filer let it pass through and here i'm staring at a corrections and several pitiful glances from my colleagues.

The thought and tone of Readers Digest's column -Life's Like That, provides me with a little solace.

2005-03-04T03:23:00.000-08:00

Okonomos- Vintage Chidambaram
Business Standard Columnist T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan comments on P Chidambaram's Fringe Benefit Tax (Announced as part of Indian union budget 2005-06).

"In 1988, when he was a minister of state of home, P Chidambaram brought in the defamation bill. Such a bill was needed, but not in the way he did it.
In 1997, he brought in the Minimum Alternate Tax, of which the same can be said. Ditto for the Securities Transaction Tax last year.
And now comes the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT). As with the other things, the idea is all right but the execution is pure Chidambaram — unsound because it is so imperious. "

There is no dearth for columnist in the top four Indian financial dailies (ET, Business Standard, Financial Express and Business Line). But most of them are sector specific.

There are big names though, who write on a plethora of areas. Here are a few names, The Times Group's Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar- Swaminomics, Business Standard's TN Ninan -Weekend Ruminations & T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan and not till long ago I did read Financial Express Dr Baru's columns.

2005-03-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

March 4 .
The official day set by the United States Constitution for presidential inaugurations.

And March 4 marks Passing shots rebirth. You will see a much younger blog face, -- the new look is an attempt for just that-- but promise the same crap will flow incessantly.

After an eight month drought, passing shots deserves an end on a high note. As am incapable of that, I’ll flip through Abraham Lincoln’s March 4, first inaugural address.

"I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion (The long blog absence) may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave t, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad (Blog) land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union (bloggers), when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. " -Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.

Fellow bloggers keep visiting passing shots

2004-06-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

Two options (or was it three) sprung from the pink end
and did i know which one to take
one less traversed rings ethics
the other smells of green back
while the present colours my name
conclusions did i reach
not once but thrice (or was it six)
yet confusion blurred its dark head again
three roads (or is it two) beckoned
one signalled right
other insinuated dough
the current claimed my love
will it aver my will

2004-06-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

While still at Wimbledon

People's Sunday at the Slam

There was yet another uniquness to this years Championship. People's Sunday as it was dubbed hosted play for the third time in Wimbledon's History. And What not Wimbledon is considering staging an annual event out of people's sunday, thanks to packed houses and the gay atmosphere on that day.

Yup there is one more to it, Grand Old Lady Martina Navaratilova (47) swansong at the Wimbldon ended in the second round. And the men err Gentlemen's game here bade farewell to yet another Wimbledon Legend, Goran Ivanesevic.

2004-06-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

The championship under cover

excerpts from ESPN STAR

Wimbledon suffered its first all-day washout for five years and only the 31st in its 127 year history when torrential rain, gale force winds and biting cold wiped out any prospect of play. After a frustrating and miserable day, All England Club officials finally conceded defeat at 6:45 p.m. (1745 GMT) leaving 45 first round matches in the men's and women's singles still to be completed.
----------
Lawns soak
damp spectators sulk
gazing at the darkness above
for a patch of dry grass below
as the fit flex their elbow
in the locker room
longing to hear the crackle
"Ladies and Gentlemen may I have your attention please..."

2004-06-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Nation building through design

Reminiscent of a corporate makeover, war torn Iraq wants to wipe out all memories, including the flag ( above left) that had once festooned many a Saddam snaps.

The new flag (Above right)has won accolades from the West for its brilliant design. My choice still rests with the previous one. The latest looks far too amateurish.

Another point of concern, red, green and black, colours admitted as those that represent the Arab world are conspicuous by their absence. Far from it, the unfurled Iraqi flags colours mirror the Israeli flag.

2004-06-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Influential Indian writer (and former journalist) Kamala Markandaya died on May 18. That was news and sadly Indian news paper ed felt it just wasn't hot enough. The result, am yet to see any obit.

Penning her books in mid point of the twentieth century, at more or less the same period as the other famed Anglo-Indian novelists like Mulk Raj Anand, RK Narayan, and Khushwant Singh, Kamala Markandaya did manage to sensitise her readers.

Sticking to cliches, though being the only women in that illustrious group demarcated all of her work, the impact was however bolstered by the unfeigned tension her characters encountered when they deserted rural India for the cities.

The emotions displayed by her characters juxtaposed or rather punctuated by melodramatic representations leave an lasting impression.

Thanks to my mom ( Her English Litreature department at college gifted her with novels everytime she topped the class. And that everytime just happened to be all the time) have read/re-read quite a few of Kamala Markandaya's works. For instance, passages from her book 'TWO VIRGINS' are etched in my memory.
---

A quick scan of the web yielded quite a few snippets. New York Times did carry an obit, but a week late.

South Asian Journalist Association quotes Shashi Tharoor, author of "THE GREAT INDIAN NOVEL " and "RIOT" : "This is a terrible loss. Markandaya was a pioneer who influenced all of us Indians writing in English."

Her two most popular novels, NECTAR IN A SIEVE and a HANDFUL OF RICE, are taught in hundreds of American courses, both in the public shools and the universities."

Her books: NECTAR IN A SIEVE (1954) That novel was follow by nine others, including A HANDFUL OF RICE (1966), THE NOWHERE MAN (1972), TWO VIRGINS (1973), and THE GOLDEN HONEYCOMB(1977).

After 1948, she migrated to England making frequent writing inspiration trips to India.

2004-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Read this, if am not wrong, in Business World. And bet you, it did give me a kick.

Have begun chanting Asio, Asio or something on that tone. Nope, am not a hegamonist or a dreamer (Excuse me Mr Kalam) but looking at something happening which i have thought but shrugged it of as a misnomer, cheered me to sport the

While EU was expanding last month, Asians, were upto their own cheekiness. In South Korea, finance ministers from 13 Asian countries inaugurated a website pointing to the Asian Bonds Market. Huh, sounds a dud right!

But wait
This analysts say would create a $1.3 trillion bond market ultimately chalking out a common Asian currency. Hmmm still not interstice, here's some additional spice. Asians are sounding that they will not finance the gaping budget deficits of the world's largest economies, effectively ringing in that the $1.7 trillion parked with the central banks in Europe and USA is not for keeps.

There is still some amount of grumpiness, Jaswant Singh, the outgoing Indian Finance Minister then was not there.

2004-06-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

Tired of calling it a sabbatical. It was pure laziness! The only solace, lacked the drive to write unpaid. All good things come have to come to an end, so would bad things right.

For the occasional reader of Passingshots, good things are over, for the versatile writer that i'm, bad effects (read ' writers block') has deserted me finally.

2004-05-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

A few firsts would be crop up when Manmohan Singh takes oath as the Prime Minister. The one that fascinated me was a phrase that emanated from India Inc. "With that India will have its first professional Prime Minister."

That sentence summed up the nations expectation. As Manmohan gingerly steps into South block, he will know that the coming months could make or break the way India fondly remembers him. While in early 1990's, as the Finance Minister sitting in the North block he ushered in reforms, steered the country away from impending bankruptcy and set the economy on a steady jog, this time around, his job promises to be doubly tiring.

Not only has he to contend with the Vajpayee legacy, but with the perils of an ambivalent coalition, demands of the insipid left, wishy-washy thaw with neighbours, compulsions to cut populist measures and shove in further reforms... the list is endless.

Here's is wishing Mr clean and the thoroughbred professional all the best.

2004-05-21T00:35:00.000-07:00

Down but not out

Vajpayee in his poetic self

What Road Should I Go Down?
Honour lost at busy crossroads,
Knights defeated by pawns:
Do I make my final move, or do I withdraw from battle?
What road should I go down?
A dream was born, and died,
The garden dried up in the season of spring:
Do I gather these scattered leaves, or do I fashion a new universe?
What road should I go down?
Two days, on loan, is all I’ve earned
In a bargain already lost:
Do I take stock of each moment, or do I squander what little remains?
What road should I go down?

2004-05-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

The Gross National Product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for people who break them. The GNP includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It Grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads.
And if GNP includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It dos not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, or the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials- Robert Kennedy

2004-05-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

Sonia Gandhi paid heed to her inner voice and did a Gandhi. She preferred to remain a chanakya, a strategist rather than lead the country.

While her fans said, that was a master stroke, her inexperience came to the fore. She appeared unsure on what she wanted to do.

A headline in one of the UK based dailies read, Sonia bows out in tears. While that headline was purely sensational with nothing in it to prove that, it could very well have been true.

However it remains, though she did not win a clear mandate she was not rejected by the voters as well. That leaves her with all the room to head the government.

But the three day drama had the rumour mill going. Here are a few samples

1) Her children especially Rahul prevailed over her and told her to stay away from a post that had fatally consumed his father and grandma.

2) Kalam had quoted a few articles in the constitution, which could have gone against her. These mainly pertained to 'adherence to a foreign nation'.

3) Sonia felt that as the mandate was not for the congress and their allies, but only against the NDA, she did not have the legitimacy to rule

4) The armed forces had expressed their dissent

5) The malicious campaign against her by the BJP!

Another point that could have influenced her, was market sentiments. The day she was touted to be PM, the stock market lost 789 points, an all time high. And when Manmohan was proposed the markets actually gained 120 points.

Just a line to sympathise with her, Maybe we should have given her a bit more time and an opportunity.

2004-05-15T02:14:00.000-07:00

Still on elections

A though provoking write up in Hindu, but from P Sainath, aptly titled Mass media vs mass reality But should add, I don't go with everything he voices.

Excerpts from the passage

Will beging with his closing lines

As for the media, there is a great and urgent need for introspection. The failure of journalism was far more predictable than the poll results. For years now, the media have stopped talking to ordinary people. The labour and agriculture beats in newspapers are almost extinct. The media have decided that 70 per cent of the population does not make news. The electorate has decided otherwise.

The first thing the election results drive home is the sheer disconnect between the Indian elite and the Indian people. Here was a leadership that thought the `India Shining' campaign would bring it success. A part of the elite — even those with the Congress party — went further than that. They believed the claims of `India Shining' itself were valid and true. The dispute was over the patent rights on the shine. Did those belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party or to the Congress?

Also rubbed in yet again was, of course, that second huge disconnect. That between mass media and mass reality. Little in the media output of these past five years had prepared audiences for anything like this outcome. The polls succeeded where journalism failed. They brought back to the agenda the issues of ordinary Indians. Deeper analysis must await more data. However, some broad contours seem clear.

2004-05-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

It took some time to sink in. but here I'am keyboarding but yet to recover from the reversal.

Before the Indian general election, few people thought they would be analysing the legacy of prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Yet on Thursday, the man many were sure of a fourth term in office, appeared on TV screens to deliver details of his resignation and, for one last time as premier, list his achievements.

While the bottomline is Vajpayee is no longer India's Prime Minister the only consolation is he is better leading a strong opposition than a week government. The baton to hold the vague coalition is with Congress and it is now the test begins for them.

Here are words that could mirror the nation's mindset now. One from rediff.com
Today, let us not forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the statesman who governed this country for six years may have bowed out after the National Democratic Alliance's defeat in the Lok Sabha election, but his legacy will linger on for many years.

Vir Sanghvi writing in Hindustan Times says,

The premier's exit was not the one he expected and not the one he deserved. "Regardless of the circumstances of the Bharatiya Janata Party's shock defeat on Thursday, history will remember Atal Behari Vajpayee as one of India's finest prime ministers."

As for me, i'll repeat what i deliberated with my pals, most of whom nodded in assent. If there is anybody you can sympathise with, it is Vajpayee and the outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna. These two were men who valued ethics more than politics.

2004-05-07T02:24:00.000-07:00

A point to ponder

The lunatic you work for
If the corporation were a person, would that person be a psychopath

The Economist commenting on award-winning documentary film, “The Corporation”, says, “Unlike much of the soggy thinking peddled by too many anti-globalisers, “The Corporation” is a surprisingly rational and coherent attack on capitalism's most important institution.”

The documentary attempting a balancing act, has some room for the business empires, referred to as The Corporation here. It states the problem does not lie with the people who run the companies. For instance it sympathises with Mark Moody-Stuart, a former boss of Shell, Sam Gibara, boss of Goodyear and Ray Anderson, boss of Interface carpets.

Although the doucumentary claim ownership of the company-as-psychopath idea, it predates them by a century. It evinces that bureaucracies have flourished because of their efficient and rational division and application of labour. However as cogs in any powerful machine, here people in pursuit of the collective organisational goal—profits— parcel out their soul or alienate themselves from human.

Yet, the greater potential tyranny comes out as not the bureaucracies of capitalism, but the state bureaucracies of socialism, according to documentary. The Economists quotes, “The psychopathic national socialism of Nazi Germany, communism of Stalinist Soviet and fascism of imperial Japan (whose oppressive bureaucratic machinery has survived well into the modern era) surely bear out. Infinitely more powerful than firms and far less accountable for its actions, the modern state has the capacity to behave even in evolved western democracies as a more dangerous psychopath than any corporation can ever hope to become.”

2004-04-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

Here's some news for the patriots.

India's balance sheet for the first time in its 56 years of existence is showing a surplus foreign exchange account.

India's foreign exchange reserves (Forex) stands at over $ 117 billion, while her net overseas outstanding (read loans from foreign countries and financial institutions) stands at an estimated $112 billion.

Time to uncork the champagne. Cheers.

2004-04-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Have been extensively using the phone, at times for a little over a hour continuously. Spotted a pattern.

At the stroke of half hour , the line went dead. And it was the same, irrespective of whether i received the call from or dialled to a landline number or a mobile.

However, there is one commonality, 90% of the time, my mobile was in use. And my service operator, while boasting the foot print advantage, has so far turned in a dismal service and value-add show.

2004-04-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

It’s election time in India and the media is filled with jargons. Wouldn’t reports or sound bytes read or sound, crisper without these words.

Have listed a few

1) Supremo
2) Party big wig
3) Statesman
4) Battle on the cards
5) The Grand Old Party (why not just Congress)
6) The Saffron Brigade
7) The Red wave (Communist sound fine right)
8) Siege on in its citadel/stronghold
9) bhadralok
10) And off late the Feel Good Factor and India shining/not shining

2004-04-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

Am amusing note in The Economic Times-Brand Equity, Bawdy Copy Section.

The situation: Stayfree Commercial
Players: Prabhudas G Patel and McCann-Erickson (Ad agency)

While it may not be true that the dead tell no tales, McCann-Erickson seems headed for a bit of rough spot with a person it killed in a recent ad. The Victim, a Prabhudas G Patel, a Mumbai based tailor, is alive and kicking... hard. The commercial features a garlanded portrait of Patel in the background.

The note continues- Patel, his friends and relatives were understandably surprised to see this televised notice of his demise.

Media reports indicate, Patel has taken the agency to court over the commercial.

Well, it looks the commercials and the agencies gesticulation definitely did not entertain Patel.

2004-04-25T04:20:00.000-07:00

The latest book where my eyes trod upon is Rk Narayan's 'My Dateless Diary'

A loosely knit, ambivalent jotting of his travails/travels across The United States Of America ( New York City, through the Mid-West, the Grand Canyon, to Los Angeles and back.)

Have a few more pages to go, but my surmise on the book is that despite his tour of the USA, Narayan focuses mostly on India or Indians (including himself). Would our diary, in a similar situation, too mirror his dateless diary? Guess either some one has to tell me or I should take a journey across continents, diligently write a diary and then compare.

Another point of note, Why did i read, leave alone buy the book? Was it because of RK Narayan? Would my buying pattern have been the same had it been Narayanan Somasundaram!

2004-04-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

Liked this Woodrow Wilson quote

The History of Liberty is the History of Limitations of governmental power, not increase of it. When we resist... concentration of power, we resist the powers of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.

2004-04-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

Now it's Europe after USA. The top Economies constituting the European Union are faltering. This year, Six of the single currency’s 12 member European Union states are forecast to run deficits above the 3% of GDP (Gross domestic product) ceiling set in the euro area’s stability and growth pact.

The European Commission, the guardian of the pact, was defanged by member states last November when it tried to chew into the two glaring offenders, France and Germany. Now it falls more than ever to the ECB and its governors to promote whatever possible co-ordination between the euro area’s 12 independent fiscal policies.

Atleast we have something to cheer. The talk of 'India Shining' or 'India not so shining' could well be bullshit. But our economy is indeed growing, however skewed towards the haves it may be. If Government agencies are worth their salt, India's growth for the current fiscal should cross 8% and deficit should be around 4%, a far cry from the 5 to 6% earlier predicted.

2004-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hmmm was kicked up a couple of day's ago. Didn't know me was interacting tooo closely with a near celebrity. Not that i didn't try, only that the person is too modest.

No issues though, am going to be very close with that person and the continued modesty would not deflate my bloated ego.

Just Kidding, Things apart, feel happy and proud at the same time! I Better Be.

2004-04-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

The current net edition of Economist features exhaustively two similar articles.

One, Another head rolls in the boardroom (Oil major Shell's)

And two, The Bundesbank loses its head

Both just go to reiterate the concept of accountability and responsibility, however high a position one may occupy. Yup Corporate tardiness has indeed risen a few notches post the Enron , Worldcom and Arthur Andersen scandals.

The second news writeup refers to Junkets, that interests me, more on that some time later

2004-04-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Blazing heat, thought that was the desert's forte. But it looks like cities are getting a doze of it.

Yesterday was at home in Madurai and saw first hand the effects of the the sun. Leaves decked around a coconut sitting smugly on a metal pot had drooped and looked so zapped, reminiscent of a diabetic person, low on sugar. Mind you these leaves usually stay smiling for a week atleast, and this was just three days.

Then went around testing several parts of the house to see if the leaves were over reacting. Metal pieces as usual were hot but here are the surprises

1) Bedsheets placed on the bed for changing were like straight out of the coal iron box pressing.

2) Ropes to tackle the Venetian blind not just greased my hands but slighlty shot a burning streak across my palm

3) The bathroom tiles were warm as a toast

5) My soap case, tooth brush and towel too were warm and the soap didn't look too good

4) I changed two shirts and like gulped down 6- 750 ml- bottles of water and still woke up in the night for one more.

2004-04-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Been reading 'Beyond the Last Blue Mountain', JRD Tata's biography. One aspect that stood out, his life too wasn't a cakewalk.

Losing his father early, JRD had to sell off their palatial house to meet his dad's debts! Not that they were bankrupt, his father's stakes in the Tata concerns were good enough, but then he had to tidy up the financial effects of his father's philanthropy. The other part of his struggle like losing his Co, Air India, New India to nationalisation are well etched in history, that one needn't spell it out here.

But here is one passage, i particulars liked.

At the Tata Oil Mills Annual General Meeting in the early seventies, an agitated shareholder said, " Sir, the quality of Hamam soap has deteriorated sharply"

"Who says that?" JRD enquired

"My wife sir, she has been using this soap for several years."

"If your wife is so discontented she must change the soap she uses."

sir, replied the share holder, "she won't do that, she will never do that."

Then said JRD, "You must change your wife!"

Here is just one more to that

An annoyed shareholder said that even after a Tata company, New India was nationalised another Tata company was still giving it a lot of business.

Dramatically the shareholder exclaimed, "I ask you sir, 'Why?Why?Why?'"

JRD came back, "and I ask you, sir, 'Why not? Why not? Why not?'"

2004-04-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

The last two days were essentially different from my routine. Actually it was pleasant and memorable. And ironically latest technology was of virtually no use. Up in the Nilgiris, my cell service refused to send micro/radio waves to my parents house, nestling in a valley, turning my mobile into a baggage. And amidst all this, I craved to talk.

Mercifully the holiday home came with one frill, the dear old land line phone. Thanks to it, two words keep ringing "Tell Me" with a twang accent and "I don't know", catch you later, me gonna hear those words again.

2004-04-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

Three days, was up in the hills, away from the heat and more so the dust and grime. Add to it the aura of cruising through tea gardens in open jeeps, spotting a barking deer couple, a malabar squirrel. Man! savoured every moment of it and even now can recollect the deers tearing off in opposite directions leaping over felled branches.

The planter told me that particular plantation was home to panthers and bisons as well. And he was not bluffing, i did see the pug marks. If discover channels clipping were true then those were legitimate panther foot prints. Vowed to return there with a camera, next three day hols and lie still to capture the deft movement of the panther.

2004-04-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Poor bugger (Jeffry) spent the week with the gardener and house keeper at home. Must have missed my parents, siblings or me. This is the first time he toddled away his time at home without us for this long.

Maybe he should get used to it. Mom and Dad have to holiday, elder bro and sis in law are caught up in Chennai with their careers, younger bro is aspiring to be an adman and is at Mica,Ahmedabad. And me 250 kms away from home.

But Jeff remember we all care and think about you, always

2004-04-07T18:10:00.002-07:00

This post is reassuring, am reasonably certain i saved my fourth attempt at blogging from infanticide. Now that i have come a cropper, here is a point that i conjured up last week

IIM'sIndian Institute of Management) are in the news and for all wrong reasons. Here is one more to that list

IIT's (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIM's are accepted as the meccas of knowledge. While the IIT's have played a role in shaping biggies like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipros, Cognizants, and scores of engineering and steel behemoths in India, the IIM's have failed to usher in one truly Indian consultancy service that can match the Mckinseys, PwC or Ernst and Youngs.

True, the IIM's too played their part in the growth of the mentioned bigtickets, but then they seem to have no answer to their core--management consultancy.

2004-04-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Back after a sabbatical. Two events, exercising significant influence on my personal and professional life surfaced. The personal effect was determined on March 31, and today firmed up my professional maneuver.

Both demanded a well oiled thought process, and took up most part of my time. However much difficult the final moments were, feel the right decisions are in place. Though I would not rule out terming these a gamble.

Now the very few 'passingshots bloghoppers' it's up to you to wish me luck!

2004-03-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

The Chennai Crowd passing a standing ovation to Saeed Anwar's 194 at the Independence Cup league match.

Atal Behari Vajpayee, then leader of opposition, patting the United Front Government's Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, in parliament, for clinching the sukhoi 30 fighter planes at an unbelievable price.

Or take the latest, The Rawalpindi crowd saluting Sachin Tendulkar on his 141.

These are instances of transcending beyond boundaries to appreciate a rivals achievements. It just goes to show how healthy competition draws a whiff of fresh air.

But then, these examples are far and few. We have more of the other kind. Take the case of the Congress party pooh poohing the 'India Shining' platform. If they had come with something original, than countering the ruling BJP's claim, to showcase their poll plank;maybe then they could have had a shot at their glory days--Forming a government on their own.

2004-03-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

Here is an int blog

Blame India watch

The site description reads, Blame India Watch is concerned with the increasing anti-Indian/anti-India sentiment among tech workers, as well as media coverage that focuses disproportionately on Indian workers or propagates anti-India(n) sentiment. What began a few years ago as IT grumbling about Indian-specific H-1B "Temporary Guest worker" and L-1 "Intracompany Transfer" workers and immigrants has now morphed into the outsourcing issue, and is now gaining international attention.

2004-03-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

How English survived in India

Here's an out of the box opinion by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar in The Economic Times and Times of India.

To give one, a gist of it--Aiyar says, if today India can boast a strong English speaking population, a BPO wave, then give the damn credit to regional chieftains who opposed tooth and nail the move to position Hindi as the official language and shove English down the rung.

While criticising rabid Hindi imperialist leaders including Vajpayee, Aiyar adds, local Chieftains like Annadurai (TamilNadu) denounced the move to abolish English, as brazen Hindi imperialism.

However, he is quick to clarify that Annadurai was a champion of Tamil, not English, and whatever happened thereafter ( peaking of English speaking population) was not intended then.

As a matter of personal pride, my ancestor, who was also a textile baron with interests in banking, insurance, cotton and education actually led the Hindi agitation at Madurai. While a large part of my extended family still survives on the enormous wealth he created, we still agree his and our proudest moment was when he courted arrest leading the movement. But to give the man his due, he was not just a champion of Tamil, his children were proficient in Hindi and English as well.

2004-03-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Twice before Advani undertook his yatra's.One that unseated the VP Singh Government in 1990 and the other in 1997 officially to commerate 50 years of Indian Independence and more so to canvass BJP votes.

There is a marked difference between those two and this one. Last time Advani fancied himself as some one resembling the mythical warrior Arjuna and rode on a rath (Chariot) ensembled bus.

This time, Advani and Co are trying to propogate the new BJP, one focussed on development. And there goes along with him a satellite fitted funky bus.

Here is an article in Rediff on the new BJP and it is aptly titled Who's the big draw? Advani or his bus

2004-03-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

If Mclaren's much hyped car is as fast as it was in Australia last weekend, then i have to eat my words. The car was more than a second behind Ferrari. Mclaren pacers David Coulthard and Kimi actually slated the car.

A couple of days ago, I wanted to switch allegiance to my other favs Renault and BMW Williams ( Was Williams crazy in the mid 90's before switching over the then swashbuckling Silver Arrows (Mclaren). But then did not want to be as fickle as a Roman.

However, read this in some F1 site and though strongly of it as well. Two teams, (Ferrari and Renault) which just focussed on the development of their new racer have added a few Kms/hr pace to their machines.

While the other two contenders for the top Williams and Mclaren were and are still involved in driver politics. Racing guru Frank Williams ( Team Principal BMW Williams) and strategist Ron Dennis( Team principal Mclaren) are experienced enough to know F1 is about 'The Man, The Machine, The Tyres' and not politics or driver trading!

2004-03-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

Revisiting sales and marketing chants, here is a 'clever clever' example. A friend who has just donned the role of an insurance marketer called another common friend now at Bangalore. Did it read call, nay he messaged "please call". This techie marketer at Bangalore, obviously was open to spend some hard earned dough, that he promptly dialled him.

Without engaging in small talk, the insurance guy started reeling out the policy options to this bewildered techie. After a non stop barrage this guy said, c'mon which one do you prefer. The caller, by now alert and on his guard said, "buddy am dropping in at your town next week end. We will finalise a deal by then." Not to be outdone the seller quipped " By the way don't forget your cheque book!"

Last heard this techie is totally mystified and constantly recites, " My B school ( A premier one though) never dealt on that sales model-- Tagging on the pre- sales cost as well on the buyer."

2004-03-07T02:51:00.000-08:00

Heard this recently. A friend came up with an antithesis for the saying, "A known devil is better than an unknown devil."

Turning a full 360 degrees, the amendment read "An unknown devil is preferred to a known devil". The explanation-- the unknown devil hardly knows you and you can pose yourself as a smart aleck!

Now that justifies the deduced statement to an extent atleast. More than anything, the thought is original.

2004-03-06T01:46:00.002-08:00

Marketing mantras practiced by B school graduates is no big deal considering what this old man from Kumbakonam did.

A soft drink vendor close to the Mahamaham tank (where millions of pilgrims took a dip between February 26 to March 6) displayed his wares in the pathway bang opposite his shop. While his shop with droning refrigerators, swaying banners and fading crates was a crowd puller, this man with a twirling white moustache sat with a few stacked crates in the opposite end and magnetised a few devotees to sample local 'colours'. He quipped, by doing that he could cater to thirsty devotees running towards the tank, as well those returning contended after the dip and in a mood for some sweetness.

that's not all, his business acumen too mirrored business leaders. Quizzed about his business, he reeled out the spiralling electricity rate/unit, notional margins allowed by several bottlers. Besides how the actual margins differed between local manufacturers and cola giants. Reason, logistic and storage costs differed as he had to stockpile pepsis and cokes as the stockists was 50 kms away and came in once in three to four days.

2004-02-29T01:41:00.000-08:00

Why a leap year!

One Year is Approximately Equal to 365.24219878 Days (Give or Take)

The Egyptians called it 365 and left it at that. But their calendar got out of step with the seasons, so that after around 750 years of this they were celebrating The Fourth of July in the middle of the winter! Anyway for Indians, it would have hardly mattered, cause we have little or no seasons

The Romans wised up and added the leap day every four years to get the 365.25 day Julian year. Much better, but notice that this time the year is longer than it ought to be. The small difference between this and the true length of the year caused the seasons to creep through the calendar once again, only slower and in the other direction. After about 23000 years of this, July Fourth would once again fall in mid-winter.

Fortunately things never reached that sad state. By 1582 the calendar was about ten days out of whack, so Pope Gregory XIII included the correction that's still in use today.

If the year is divisible by 100, it's not a leap year unless it is also divisible by 400.
More recently, proposals for fixes have gotten even better than that. One suggested change is to add on "if the year is also divisible by 4000, it's not a leap year."

Here's what it looks like:

Egyptian

Formula: 365
Year length: 365
Error: 0.24219878
Years to get 6 months out of whack: 754
Julian
Formula: 365 + 1/4
Year length: 365.25
Error: 0.00780122
Years to get 6 months out of whack: 23,409

Gregorian
Formula: 365 + 1/4 - 1/100 + 1/400
Year length: 365.2425
Error: 0.00030122
Years to get 6 months out of whack: 606,272

Modern?
Formula: 365 + 1/4 - 1/100 + 1/400 - 1/4000
Year length: 365.24225
Error: 0.00005122
Years to get 6 months out of whack: 3,565,426

2004-02-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Face is the index of the mind. Maybe that's an 'old-age'.The current though, in this internet dominant world is writing/speech is the index of a person's mind. Add any other impersonal visuals to that as well-- for this is the visual revolution era for the middle class Indian populace.

Will end this thought in a sentence. Lucid and crisp writing or speech just about reflects little or no confusion.

Here's a sample just visit my friends blog - Coffee House. His pocket off late sports a high end digicam. And he is breezing his way through Chennai's sweltering heat snapping anything that 'cool'. Though he and his blog have gone berserk with photos, must admit his selection is spot on.

In jest: Next time one sees a smart Channai chap training his camera on heat soothers, be assured that’s my friend.

2004-02-27T08:03:00.000-08:00

Engappa Police (My father's a police)

Teeing off on an extended holiday, just flipped through childhood memoirs, and there flashed the oft used childhood phrases.

First thing, most guys spell out to their chums during the extensive introduction (could be the second or third time they 'reel' off their family background) is, my dad's a cop. About dear mothers, well during my days as a child, kids seldom lied about mom's profession. The euphoria then to lie that his father wielded the powers of a cop was unparalleled

Later this argument fizzled into I'll be a cop, which inturn (of course in a few years time) extended to 'I'll join the armed forces.' Yep a few hops later, guys usually say they will pilot planes and then the macho fantasy narrows to attainable portfolios and zeros in on a broad spectrum by the school finals. Obviously some other desires staring from an ice cream vendor, to a biz tycoon and extending upto Prime minister/President too have their days in the ensuing period.

But then I guess at the end of it, life is more complex. As if bolstering the saying "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride them' seldom do careers match his/her childhood aspirations! But after all that do we complain? The answer invariably is no.

One more thought, Whatever is up there, is from a guys perspective. What do girls dish out during the intros and what are their first career dreams?

2004-02-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

It's election time and political party's are stepping the gas to woo voters. The highly imaginative Indian mind always throws up some novel vote gathering moments.

Here's a sample for the 2004 Indian General election round: Mobile/SMS Canvassing

This article in The Economic Times is exhaustive

Look out for this space for more such pre-election moments.

2004-02-21T03:44:00.000-08:00

Missed an important meeting. Why? Went out for lunch with the office folk and was caught in the mire. Hurried back and tinkled the guy whom i was supposed to meet, only to hear he had just stepped out of office!

Three lessons learnt

1) Whoever you are with—be it lunch, snacks, dinner, just wild prattle, or when even on a date— learn when to say bye and step out to honour commitments

2) When it is known the crowd you are going out with will take time to run through their rituals of ........ before lunch, opt out of the gathering politely.

3) Never miss an appointment again for such frivolous reasons.

2004-02-20T02:04:00.000-08:00

"It does not hold water." So we will kill it

Things apart

Whoever said "Every one is a publisher" count on my backing as well.

Here's a write up, where my efforts are best described considerable. Results were partial. Northerners like it, as for South, this was reminiscent of the Cavery dispute.

So here it goes on photo ink jet printers!

Ink Jet printer manufacturers are sizing up the photo printer market. Luring them is the over 1 lakh analogue studios, mini photo labs in tier II and III tourism hot spots and apparel firms.

While apparel Co’s are leaning on it for precision shades, photo labs are adopting it to add a digital imaging facet to restore photos and process digital snaps. With this, market players Epson, Hewlett Packard, and Canon are upping photo printer sales forecasts.

“Photo printers is certainly the next big thing in Inkjets. This category grew by over 160% in 2003 as compared to 2002. The year ahead could turn even better with new ranges promised by vendors.” Mr. Sanjit Sinha, Head - Hardware Research Group IDC (India) said. “This, coupled with the digitisation, photo printers are set to emerge as the new face of Inkjet printers.”

Vendors add that photo segment numbers would cross 60,000 this year. A significant jump considering they sold just 10,000 in entire 2002-03, according to IDC (India). Epson and HP claim they are already crossing 2500 in monthly photo printer sales.

Further with IDC (India) estimating that inkjets are set to grow at about 18% next fiscal, compared to the 26% growth projection this financial, vendors are pinning hopes on the photo segment. Further the price drop of 10 to 25% is only expected to push these models into the market. According to IDC the market for ink jet stands at around 7.17 lakh units now.

However with the metros, that already have larger processing labs contributing only30% of total sales, firms are eyeing ‘upcountry’ markets. While they are ramping up presence in tourist spots, players are measuring the bundled option too. Epson, for example, has roped in Neoteric as their national distributor, according to G Suresh, Business Manager Epson. Neoteric which distributes allied products like Apple Computers and Kodak digicams is expected to carry Epson closer to studios. HP besides tagging photo printers to strong hardware line is banking on its nation-wide footprint.

However, the focus is shifting to multifunctional photo printers now. Epson has already launched the first variant armed with a scanner. This, according to a knitwear exporter from Tirupur is turning productive for apparel makers as colour mapping and printing is processed together.

Manufacturers are camping at studios in scenic destinations in Kerala, heritage sights in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan for now. They reason, immediate photo processing needs of tourists at these locations would ring in the coffers.

2004-02-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one learning experience. Witnessed first hand race engine/car set up, finally relating to the literature i picked up from F1 sites. Driving some 15 kms away from the city with the promoter of the potential F3 race track and 1300 cc powered race cars was in itself a experience. We yapped continuously on the tech gap between Indian and Europe racing.

Asked him why he adopted a conventional steel chasis instead of carbon composites, only to get a bemused stare in return. "Will you cough up the cost. Composite carbon tech has to be bought, and it does not come cheap" was the answer that followed. And mind you this guy has sunk in a few crore rupees into his racing initiative already.

Back to racing cars, the promoter himself the architect, engine tuner and dynamist of the car, got to work on the set up. It turned out to be the planned final run before pack up for an East Indian street race. However each car despite roaring its potential had its teethers as well.

Some, presented improved lap times each run only to end up spitting out water at the end, the reason, i learnt later, over heating. Others droned their way around romping home late by more than three seconds compared to the blazing toppers.

Mechanics and the promoter himself got down to basics and provisionally concluded on means to clean up the cars before pack up the next day.

Earlier got to see the tool room and car assembly area, though a far cry from Formula 1's swank workshops, this too was impressive, with its own engine and chasis dynos.

2004-02-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

NS Ram woke up blinded by the sunlight. Obviously he could not take enough of it that he pushed aside the translucent drapes and pushed open the windows of his third floor apartment.

The pigeon on the far end window sill could spot his curved smile, and to Ram it's incessant humming reverberated as a jolly tone. He himself was surprised as usually the pigeon(s) blurb disturbed his morn sweeteners (read dreams)

Cheerful, as he was, he conjured the promised evening and for the first time that month made his bed, straightened up his room. Proceeding to the living/dining room whisked up the crumpled past seven day news papers up the loft in the kitchen. Changed the masala stained table cloth, set the table. In the next thirty minutes, his usually unsettled quarters presented a pristine look.

Trotting down the unwinding stairs at 10:30 Am, neighbours and others in the high rise couldn't help but notice his merry whistle, key bunch juggle and springing walk.

His bike too understood his mood and was off in a flash, work seemed too easy at office and there he was two hours early cleaning up his workspace at 6:30 PM.

Racing back home, he perpetually checked his mobile phone. Sliding his bike into the parking slot, Ram looked up to see lights in his apartment and smirked on noticing darkness. Reasoning his parents would be relaxing in the far left bedroom, hopped two steps at a time to reach his door.

Lo behold, the latch was secure, let down he kicked off his shoes, opened the door and flicked on the light still hoping to see his parents baggage. His unsullied apartment seemed to smile mockingly at him and the tube light flickered monotonously before casting a blunted fluorescence.

Down, Ram dragged his listless self to the bedroom, shut out the lights from the other houses by securing the curtains and climbed onto his wrinkle free bed and buried his face into the pillow clamouring for more darkness. The pigeons renewed their rumble, "Scat" Ram screamed and threw the heap of soiled blankets at the window.

Amidst the flutter of wings, he faintly heard the ringtone, assigned to his parents home number. Letting it ring, NS Ram tried to unwind the six months of Solitude.

2004-02-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

After cricket, its doping in Tennis. Accused: sober but hard serving Greg Rusedski.

Doping results actually rebounded in tennis circle, but the gentleman's game that it is, Greg was allowed to compete at the Australian Open immediately and no player minced any wrong word about him.

The latest on the issue though, according to the BBC is

Greg Rusedski can expect to face a two-year ban when the outcome of the hearing into his positive drugs test is revealed, according to reports.
The British number two will learn his fate next week after Monday's hearing in Montreal

The Times said, that Rusedski's camp was pessimistic about whether they convinced the tribunal of his innocence.

Rusedski on his part quipped "I'm confident - all I can do now is sit tight".

Other officials and retired players have said, a sentence could mean a life ban. But then Tennis and more so the British Tennis can fare better with the British No 2 acing his way through tennis courts.

2004-02-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

Two similar news items. What is disturbing though, is these are emanating out of the "developed" part of the world.

'My job's gone, should I become a male hooker'

'Virginity auctioned for $20,000'

2004-02-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Journalism does add value!

Forecasting future wars

The ultimate example of the aphorism "Hindsight is 20:20" may be war.

Every armchair policy analyst who's ever read the front page of the New York Times knows, just knows, that those in power should have seen the latest crisis coming, whatever or wherever it may be.

But can you really predict grave conflicts simply by reading the newspaper? It may indeed be possible, but only if you can track many newspapers over time.

A Research Project by Devika Subramanian, professor of Computer Science at Rice University, Scours News Coverage for Patterns of Conflict. The module is true to computing norms based on patterns and looks to evict human biases in reporting.

An extract from a piece on this project depicts,

The program relies on dynamic Bayesian networks to extract events pertaining to interactions between countries from news reports (i.e., who did what to whom and when).

The computer learns the significance of certain words and phrases and calculates from their occurrence the probability that a news story is relevant.

It follows the "-10" and "+10" conflict/cooperation weighting familiar to political scientists for rating the severity of events. The computer is trained on a small collection of stories marked by a human as being relevant or not.

But then the one unanticipated challenge, according to the researcher, was the number of war metaphors that generously sprout out in sports reports!

2004-02-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

F1 legend and defending champ Michael Schumacher fears it most, Mclaren's Kimi Raikkonen is pinning hopes on this car (Mclaren MP 4-19) to knot championship victory and emulate the flying finn Mika Hakkinen.

However, out to snatch victory is the very radical BMW Williams (pic 1) and the quintessential Prancing horse Ferrari

Ask me, what my bet is:Mclaren Mclaren Mclaren!

2004-02-06T00:31:00.000-08:00

For people who wonder what focus my blogs will assume. Here it is: Economic and Business ideals that tickle my curiosity, sports confined to Tennis and Formula 1 and may be specks of cricket( after all am an Indian), garnished with traces of politics.(maybe) To corroborate the notion every man is a politician. But then politics isn't any specialisation either, after all none other than Napoleon Bonaparte voiced "In politics stupidity is not a handicap."

2004-02-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

No dirt, remove Rajiv stain:High Court.

Almost 18 years after surfacing, Rs 64 crore Bofors Scandal, which set a precedent for scams in India, fades away into the horizon.

These faces (read accused) along with the late Rajiv can afford a booming roar

2004-02-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

A record of sorts for a non -Congress Govt in India. BJP's NDA alliance tabled its seventh consecutive Union budget and second interim budget on February 3.

However that's just for the record, in 1997, when BJP first tried forming the government and even later in 1998/9 when it cemented its place in the treasury benches, it was perceived to be a party with a difference.

Sadly, Jas (short for Finance Minister Jaswant Singh) election year interim budget only reiterates, BJP is just another a party. The budget speech was populist to the core.

While relaxing credit terms for farmers, power sector sops may augur well if norms are adhered to(?), what causes nausea is Jas cowing down to woo the most under productive class-- government employees ata babus! Jas has taken 50% dearness allowance and tagged it along with the basic pay. Result, added cost of about Rs 1500 crore to the exchequer and worse still if states follow suit another Rs 8000 crore gone with the wind. That's not all, the damage will linger on for years as the babu brigade hops into retirement, only to encash bloated pension cheques.

A colleague remarked, "Come on, to sustain 'The feel good factor' one needs a vision not populism. President Kalam you heard that?

But then maybe Jas or NDA partners read John Milton's On his Blindness and were mesmerised by the verse " They also serve who only stand and wait"

2004-02-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

'India Shining' is the ruling NDA's poll plank. For the record it just gets better. Right from my fav Tennis, Leander Paes partners the ever young legend Martina Navaratilova at the Australian open after spending the last few months in hospital and yet reaches the final. Next is the praise on the Indian Cricket team, long jumper Anju Bobby George. Capping the crown in the Global Indian take over, be it business, International financial bodies. The list continues

Adding another feather to bedecked Indian head gear is this news item

From Kollywood (Accepted Parlance for Tamil Filmdom) to Hollywood India Today (February 9 2004) issue's eyecatcher column freezes that 'The Score' Ryan Johnson was impressed by Tamil encounter movie 'Kaakha Kaakha' and offered to lean on it to shoot a film on Chechen Rebels. The latest, script for the Hollywood version is being spruced up.