I hate Dr Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi.

yeah, you read it right. Today there was cabinet expansion. Andhra Pradesh had contributed most no of MPs from a single state to Congress Party. And how was it rewarded. Not even a single cabinet rank. 6 or 7 ministers of state. And some of them with no portfolio. If you cannot keep 40/50 ministers busy by providing them depts, how can you provide work to tens of millions of youth.
What was the criterion for selection? Caste. No seniority, no intelligence, no social work. Some nonsensical thinking by some coterie members. I hate Congress. Didn't I say I hate BJP, Communist parties too. In short, given a chance, I will ban all these parties and try to bring in new order.
There is no hope for this country when so called honest intellectuals like Manmohan singh too take stupid decisions even when there is no visible pressure. How can shibu soren be a minister?
At times, I hate to have been born in this country. Ofcourse, what other option I have got?
I don't want to live under a dictatorship. I don't want to live in a theocratic country. I don't want to live in a racist country. I don't want to live in a desert/ cold country. That doesn't live many options. :( :)
I know I am drifiting.
But let me repeat this. I hate Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan singh and the whole framework which lets Rajya Sabha members to be prime ministers, wives of deceased leaders to be national leaders,secualr leaders, right wing leaders who suddenly discover virtues of Jinnah, Home ministers who escort terrorists to their safety,......F***.

Education & Health.

India ranks behind many similar countries when it comes to engineers, doctors per million statistics. Why is it so? Govt spends a lot less on education than many other countries.
What about affordability? Govt has stopped establishing universities. It is too lethargi to upgrade facilities or increase no of seats to match growing population requirements.
No doubt private sector has been very, very active in education sector. Quality ranges from abysmal to brilliant depending on how much one can afford. Result. People who want their children to recieve best of education , but cannot afford search for ways to make extra money. Along with Dowry,Education & health must be primary reasons for corruption in India.
I was reading somewhere that, a certain percentage of Indians fall below poverty line on account of unexpected medical expenses every year. Why doesn't govt think about universal insurance. The other day High court blamed govt for it's attitude towards medical facilities in rural areas. Court rightly felt that rural population is being discriminated againest.
Same with Educaton, I see that unless you are among top 5 percentile, you cannot hope to be educated at govt's expense. Where does that leave nearly 70% of population who cannot afford to study at private institutions from their normal incomes.
This is sort of racism we are practising. Upper caste and few other feudal castes will be only ones who will be able to lead a normal life. For all others, it will be a substandrad life meant to serve others. :(

Some myths about muslims (Cut & Paste)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1608653,0008.htm


Veil off a few myths on Muslims in India

Sanjay Kumar and Yogendra Yadav

New Delhi, January 26, 2006



Here are six popular beliefs about Indian Muslims. More and more people believe in them without realising the need to verify them. Here’s a reality check.

The special focus of the first Hindustan Times CNN-IBN State of the Nation Poll was the mood of the Indian Muslims. The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), which carried out the survey, posed several questions to the 15,141 respondents. Besides, several special questions were asked to 1,510 Muslim respondents. Of them, 46 per cent were women, 64 per cent were from the rural areas and 42 per cent from the north Indian heartland states.

Myth of Muslim population

According to the latest Census, Muslims comprise 13.4 per cent of the Indian population. But that is not what people think. When asked to gauge the proportion of Muslim populace, only one in every six came close to hitting the bull’s eye. A majority interviewed cited figures well above double the real Muslim population.

Myth of extra-territorial loyalty

This myth is not spoken about, but hinted at. The Indian Muslims are not quite loyal to this country. In this survey, all but two per cent of the Muslims said they were "proud" or "very proud" of being an Indian.

Myth of Islam and democracy

Thanks to the US propaganda, this is now a global myth. Islam is not compatible with democracy. Three-fourth of Muslims, nearly the same proportion as Hindus, firmly reject any non-democratic alternatives.

Myth of Muslim Personal Law

Personal Law tops the Muslim agenda and they will defend it at any cost. But when asked about the most important problem faced by Indian Muslims, 69 per cent chose livelihood issues compared to only 4 per cent, who spoke of religion. An overwhelming majority disapproved of polygamy or 'triple talaq'.

Myth of Muslim appeasement

Muslims are a pampered lot. But they do not feel so. One out of every five interviewed said they had personally faced discrimination on religious grounds. The more educated and affluent experienced greater discrimination.

Myth of irreparable Hindu-Muslim rift

Many believed that Gujarat caused an irreparable rift. But the survey shows only 13 per cent Muslims feel that it cannot be bridged and about the same feel that it made no difference in the first place. The bulk feels that Gujarat had sparked tension, but things are getting back to normal.

Kids & Love.

I wish I knew what present kids (12-15 yrs old) think about love. Before any of you start blaming me about choice of topic, let me dispell some myths based on my experience.
Kids(12-15) do have a sense of "love". Especially Indian kids fed by technicolour movies. Kids write love letters. They propose, they get rejected, go through heart breaks...
And all of this stuff, I had seen when I was a kid. That is about 15 yrs ago.
I was in love. But never dared to express that. It was of silent kind. Trying to impress the girl. Trying to strike a conversation on some pretext or other. ...This is not about me. I will talk about some of my friends.
One friend who wasn't very good looking (I am being diplomatic here, something which we will not be at that age) aimed for the best looking girl in school, 2 yrs our junior. Never in dreams we thought she will respond, let alone accept his proposal.
She did. :( ;) He probably deserved her. He was very daring, if not anything. And we were trying to glean information about their affair.
Kisses under a fly over, visits to a distant ice cream parlour, sneaking into some park... any information about their love story was welcome. And he was very cooperative with that.
One puzzling question to me was (and still is) why do best girls choose wrong kind of guys? Boys go by looks, girls go by enterprise, I guess. It was sad to see that evolution isn't what it is in textbooks. I am talking about best genes going forward. :) Probably I wanted all best girls in my vicinity to like me even when I didn't propose to them. :) Kidding, I knew my limitations.
What else we did when we were kids. We were looking for a glimpse of cleavage, a panty peek, a sex magazine/ book,.. Hey it was a community affair. Though I was a kind of prude (didn't want to tarnish reputation) I was happy to know what's on minds of friends.
Another confession. Some teachers too were objects of fantasy. There it is, now hang me. ;) I guess, we didn't carry any extraordinarily bad genes. It's just that potrayal of kids with all angelic qualities is a bit unrealistic. Hormones start playing havoc much earlier than parents hope for and society expects to.
What was the post about? Just some fun. I was gettng bored talking about social issues and other such boring stuff. Wait for more. Coming your way.

A murder by Society.

Today a family of a husband, wife and their school going daughter made a suicide attempt by pouring Petrol on themselves and then settin fire. There is ver littlehope that they will survive. As can be guessed, the whole scene is pathetic. Why did this happen?
The guy was president of some temple committee. Some other rich guy wanted to replace him as president. That rich fellow bribed police and local politicans who inturn threatened present incumbent with dire consequences if he doesn't resign.
The harassment was continual. So much so that, the weak hearted guy couldn't take it anymore and resorted to this drastic step. I blame him for dragging his family into this.
This shows our utter disregard for human rights. This is an example of how money, politics & authority combine to supress majority citizens of this nation.
We will continue to watch, moan and do nothing. No, we do something. We continue with our own little lives. :(

Update.

Sorry about lack of updates. I am in no mood of updates. :( Will be back soon. Very soon. :)
Before signing off, let me talk a bit about geopolitical situation. Very soon, India will have to make a decision whether to vote againest Iran or not. If commies have their way, we will vote for Iran and be doomed for next few yrs when it comes to relationships with west. If we vote againest Iran, we have agreed to US becoming our masters. Not much of choice really.
With Hamas winning elections in Palestine, Israel is in for interesting time. :)
We need an oil crisis. Please let some war happen. Yeah, I am a pervert. No need to remind me that. :)

Sorry.

For not posting for a while. No excuses. So coming to topic of day. Many times, I feel that I have wasted my life till now. Probaly it's not true. I had more than average fun. For instance, I had completed playing another computer game. ;)

Call Of Duty-2.

Basically WW-2 game. FPS with squad around you. When it comes to combat, rare are the times when you feel the behaviour is stupid. We must complement developers for that. Graphics.. Good, but nothing exceptional. Probably my system is to be blamed. But what's there to render , few destroyed buildings, 5 or 6 members from our squad, similar no from opposite side. A couple of tanks at times...
I uess multiplayer would be fun. Wish I had broadband and, and, and a partner to play. :)
Reading a book about Genghis Khan. When I wasn't yet married, I wanted to name my son Genghis Khan. :)
What else? I have tonnes of things t do, book to read, games to play. :(
Let me stop here and proceed to complete all those stuff.

Arundhati Roy.

Disclaimer: I am not obsessed with her. Not good enough for me.:)

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main14.asp?filename=hub110505_In_India_CS.asp

‘In India we are at the moment witnessing a sort of fusion between corporate capitalism and feudalism — it’s a deadly cocktail’

A interview of her which I found to be interesting. I agree with most of stuff. Not that I could understand. What I gather is she is as confused as I am about social participation, implications, personal morality....
Happy to know that, she has donated her Booker prize money too. Don't cry for her, she said that she still has more money than she needs.

Basically a life full of prejudices, mistakes is better than a dull, straight forward life. ;)

So many issues.

This post will most probably be a crappy post.

I want to visit all exotic places in world. That is, almost every inch of world. :)
I want to see everybody literate.
I want religions to disappear.
I want a cure t be found for old age and still better, death.
I want violence to disappear.
........................
I want to forget all this and have fun.
Some awareness cannot be unlearnt. :( We are condemned to live with our inabilities, our ignorance and stll dangerous our stupid intelligence.

New Cable Operator.

I hve got new feed from a new cable Operator. It doesn't have any popular channels.(yet) It has all those channels whose combined viewership will not be more than 5%. :) It has couple of irritating evangeical channels, few news channels and those punjabi musical channels and ofcourse few channels whose only job is to dish out inane family dramas.
But why does it lack popular channels?
Reason no 1: All of them are encrypted paid channels.
no 2: These channels don't want to encourage 2nd operator in any town.

It's sort of mafia. Not many operators will be allowed in drug business. It's mostly politicans are indrect owners of networks. Or network operators get transformed into politicans after they make money.
Murders happen in cable distribution business. Ofcourse since technology has become cheap, any reasonably rich & enterprising person can become a operator provided channels cooperate.
Do we want 100s of paraller wires compting to plug in to your TV? Hmm, perhaps no. At the same time, do you want to be dependant on a single service provider who decides what you must see at a price he decides?
Shall we go for licensing by govt? With it coms license fee and increase in subsription fees. :(
DTH or IPTV? Hmm, we indians are so poor that only 10% of households can afford these systems where you have relative freedom of paying only for what you want to see.
These popular(and hence pay) channels furst such half of your blood through monthly fee and half of your brain later with ads interspersed with content.
To sum it up, it's a muddy field.

A useless fact: I am the second operator. :)

2 Quotes.

If I give you a pfennig, you will be one pfennig richer and I'll be one pfennig poorer. But if I give you an idea, you will have a new idea, but I shall still have it, too.

A Einstein

On two occasions I have been asked by members of Parliament, 'Pray, Mr.
Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of
ideas that could provoke such a question.

Charles Babbage

From some post at Slashdot.org

Arundhati Roy.

Probably she is a great writer. I contributed to her wealth by buying "God of Small things". But since I didn't want to be non prejudiced about her, I didn't read that. Till now, that is.
I hate her for some other things. Latest reason.

"Arundhati Roy refuses Sahitya Akademy award"

For a background go here. "http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/14award.htm"

"The Sahitya Akademi jury had last week chose her book, The Algebra of Infinite Justice, a collection of political essays for the 2005 literary award."

"These essays written between 1998 and 2001 are deeply critical of some of the major policies of the Indian State," she said, adding that the main area of her disagreement included the government's policies of constructing big dams, pursuing nuclear weapons, increasing militarisation and economic liberalisation."

"She further noted that, in the last few months, apart from the growing number of farmers' suicide and the forcible eviction of people from their lands and livelihood in thousands, the country had witnessed police brutality on industrial workers in Gurgaon, killing of a dozen people protesting against a dam in Manipur and the killing of another dozen people protesting their displacement by a steel plant in Orissa."

My comment starts here.

Ok, let us not construct big dams, not pursue nuclear weapons, stop spending money on military and stop liberalisation.
Please give me some alternatives. Alternatives for dams, alternatives to ensure security of country, for economic upliftment.
When you make tonnes of money with one book and need not have to work for rest of life, you get divine right to criticize whatever that's happening now. Police Brutality at Gurgaon. Does Police have hidden agenda againest workers? And how many such incidents happened in the past 10 yrs? If many such incidents had happened, you will not take example of an event where none died. Displacement by a steel plant near orissa. It's a law and order situation. Whatever has happened is unfortunate and reflects on ineptitude of administration and not on so called underlying cause.
I remember this lady accepting some prize in australia, ofcourse, she donated all the proceeds to some 160 or so welfare organisations. (Numbers can be wrong)
What did she do with Booker prize proceeds and royalty payments she continues to recieve? I don't want to find out. It's her money and she can do whatever she wants to.
I believe she would have accepted this award if it were given by some foreign agency or had involved lot of money.
Mrs Roy, if you don't like Indian state and if you feel suffocated why don't you leave this country and live somewhere else? If you are not already, that is.

Disclaimer: I also hate administration and almost everything about India. That doesn't make me speak hypocratically and in a bombastic way. I realise my limitations. I cannot save tribals, industrial workers, discplaced farmers, ...
And I am sure, however good she is at writing, Arundhati too cannot either comprehend or solve all these issues. Let us leave them to professionals and be worried about our bit job in bigger scheme of things.

Guilty

"I spent a good portion of my life feeling guilty. I don’t waste time feeling guilty anymore. Well, that’s not true… I TRY not to waste time feeling guilty. It’s a struggle, I’ll admit. "

From "http://busywithnothing.blogspot.com/".

I guess my thinking too goes something like that.

China's Dollar reserves.

China's foreign currency reserves are heading toward $1 trillion. What effect might this have on the U.S.? Does it give China greater control over the U.S. economy?
I don't think it gives them much clout. They're in the very unhappy position of being at risk of a significant decline in the value of their reserves. Eventually the dollar has to depreciate quite a bit, particularly against Asian currencies. So they're at risk of their reserves depreciating in terms of their domestic currency. They can't really diversify out of dollar holdings because the minute they start to do that they impose losses on themselves

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060113_8659_db053.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Iran

I likeIran andit's new president. My question is "Why shouldn't Iran possess Nuclear Weapons?".
Did Iran ever attack any country without any good reason? Why is it a better target than North Korea/ Myanmar? Because America and Western countries think so?
Who are these players to determine if some country can possess or not possess nuclear technology?
Practically speaking Iran might suffer a defeat at the hands of US, Britain, Israel & Co? Should that prevent Iran from doing what it wants to?
If everything in world is going to be decided by strength, let's not pretend otherwise.
What's life without thrill, adventure? Iran , please go ahead with your research,.. whatever. America, please go ahead with warnings, military operations. India & other stupid nations , condemn this and continue with your pointless existence. Other Oild producing countries, this is your chance to fleece oil deprived nations. Russia, please sell arms and make money to fight chechanya terrorists.
France, don't lose this oppurtunity like you did in he previous war to share the spills of war.
And fnally, coming to us. Let us watch the whole drama on TV and allow to be manipulated. It's like internet porn.
Sorry if the whole article was bad. :)

Hyper Immunity.

Doctor said I am suffering from Hyper Immunity. It sounds better than damaged knee, arthritis,...
The whole medical science is one non exact subject. Naturally, since we are not dealing with a digital object.
Whatever, I want to be fully mobile. Please do something. This is cruel. For a hyperactive person like me, to be grounded is the worst punishment that can be meted out.

This time it's personality test.

Results from Personality test at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml

And some other tests from same site.

You found this test neither hard nor easy. This suggests your brain has male and female traits when it comes to spatial ability.
if you scored between 67 - 100%: Those with a female-type brain generally score in this range. Your ability to remember where objects are may serve as an advantage to you when you're trying to find your way around places. You're more capable of recalling landmarks to get from one place to another.
Systemisers prefer to investigate how systems work. A system can be a road map, flat pack furniture, or a mathematical equation – anything that follows a set of rules. A score of 15 and above suggests you're good at analysing or building systems. Men in general are better at systemising.
If you scored 7 - 10: Your result suggests you are a good empathiser, sensitive to other people's emotions. Women generally fall into this category.
Your choices suggest you prefer more feminine faces.
Your answers suggest you are a Leader

A partial list of my prejudices.

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Thin People compared to Fat People.

Your data suggest a strong association of Straight People with Good and Gay People with Bad compared to Gay People with Good and Straight People with Bad.

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for India compared to Pakistan.

Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for White People compared to Black People.


If you want to test your status, go here. https://implicit.harvard.edu

Please come back tomorrow for a extended list.

Results.

I am a genius when it comes to left brain and superior when it comes to right brain. :)
130+ and 120+
The interpretation is I am good at Memory, numbers , speech, logic, languagae, computation, analysis, sequence, time.
And I am not that good at Intuition :(((( , Visual-Spatial, Fine Arts, Creativity, Mechanics, Rhythm and Music, Emotions -Attitudes, Physical Coordination, Space.
Hmm, Pretty right except for couple of things in both lists.
I guess I am good at emotions and intution. And I guess I am not very good at Language and speech. I said "not very good".:) I didn't say "Not good".;)

IQ tests.

I was into IQ tests. And I must say I was reasonably good, probably not enough to get admitted into Google. :)
I am going to attempt "The original cambridge self scoring IQ test now".
An apology. My mind isn't fully fit now. :) I will publish my score as soon as I complete this. Wish me best of luck.

Update.

Kid is back in home. Ofcourse with all medicines, oxygen supplement et al. I have completed reading "Hyderabad" by Narendra Luther, an ex-IAS officer, I think.
Book was nice. It traces history of Hyderabad since it's inception trough all it's rulers to it's present day.
I was happy to know how some streets, some colonies got their name. History is interesting, some times, atleast. I wanted to type in a very big post. Perhaps tomorrow.

Kid.

Kid is in hospital again. Same old Bronchiolitis. I guess I have enough pressure from other aspects of life right now. No problem. It's good to have bunch of issues than series of issues.

I am getting Old.

I was on a motorcycle today. I learnt driving a two wheeler when I was 17/18. I never had a accident.(On two wheeler , that is) I was considered a rash/ fast driver. I nevr doubted my driving abilities. Ofcourse, I never traced snake movements while on road. Though I was exhibitionist, I didn't take risk of provoking lorry and tractor wallahs.
Why all this nostaligia now? Something has changed. I wasn't confident today. I wasn't relying on gut feeling to decided if the guy in front is going to veer left or right. My fingers ache while applying clutch/ brakes. My eyes fail. My knee has braces due to inflammatory joints,....
Ok,ok Not all of them are true.
But I will be 30 yrs old tonight. :(
And I hate that.

My Predictions for yr 2006.

I know this is some thing stupid/audacious. But where's fun without stupidity?

1) 2005 was good in economic terms for many countries. 2006 will be bad, atleast for few economies. Indian growth will slow down. Oil price can be one significant factor in slow down.

2) Iran will be attacked either by Israel or America. And more oppurtunities for speculators. Oil price may cross 80$/ Barrel.

3)Relations between Pakistan & India will cool down a bit. Because either party has nothing to offer to the other party.

4)Media will become more brazen. And I am not sure if it's good/ bad.

5)Sourav Ganguly will be discarded inspite of Bengalis.

More in next post. I am not in mood now.