A glass of steaming milky syrupy tea is best served cut. One by two or two by three, it embodies the spirit of sharing and camaraderie (and more significantly a resource crunch). Come, have a sip.
IIPM is again making news, of the wrong kind of course. Many thanks to Careers 360 for bringing to light, again, the truth beind the tall claims by IIPM.
But unfortunately this story has to be repeated over and over again. IIPM hasn't learnt any lesson, not that we expected it to, and continues making pompous claims in full-page ads on major national dailies (I doubt any of those would publish any negative news on IIPM) and students still fall for such arrogates.
Therefore it becomes a responsibility for people who are aware of the facts to disseminate the other side of the story at regular intervals. We might not have the resources for full-page colour ads but we have the strength of community and we should use it for the advantage of the unsuspecting and gullible students who spend lakhs of their parents earnings for a 'degree' whose worth is under question.
And here's the joke of the week:
Move over London, Wharton, Harvard here comes "The Greatest B-School on Earth" IIPM!
Arindam Chaudhuri's vocabulary seems to be limited to superlatives (and someone please fire his designer. On second thoughts, don't. I want my laughs.). Or he is a firm subscriber of the famous adage favoured by the Nazis "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed."
I think people with access to Shah Rukh Khan should advise him to reconsider his association with IIPM. People tend to falsely add credibility to whatever a star endorses. I, on my part, have sent a tweet to the Twitter account believed to be Shah Rukh's.
And there's also Planman CHE (Centre for Higher Education) and the logo, you guessed it, the star on Che Guevara's beret.
Prospective students should be very wary of the ads published by institutes and always read the fine print. I happened to notice this on yesterday's edition of The Indian Express.
Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute University, Chennai, advertisess itself as "India's No. 4 University" but the fact is that it ranks fourth (according to a Financial Express study) only amongst the universities established after 2000. Though to their credit, it is mentioned in the ad, but something that could easlily miss the eye.
By the way, what happened to the multi-crore lawsuit fromm 2005? Only bow-wow-wow?
The producers wanted some controversy around the Jana-Gana-Rann title song for Ram Gopal Varma's upcoming film Rann [Official website], and they've got it. Though some newspapers (surprisingly) treated it differently.
Update: The Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board) has refused permission for / banned the airing of the controversial Jana-Gana-Rann song. This also means that the promo cannot be screened at theatres.
The two trailers/promos for Rann are essentially the same only the text in the beginning and the end are a little different.
The purpose of the National Anthem is to incite patriotism amongst the citizens, and in these troubled times the Jana-Gana-Rann rendition is appropriate. There is no point praising the motherland where most things are not right, rather the feeling needs to be awakened that there is a lot wrong and it will get worse if we do not make amends. This song does precisely that. And we should brush the controversies aside and listen to this heart-stirring number.
All said and done, Jana-Gana-Rann is an amazing piece. The kind that makes your hair stand on its end. Not sure who The lyricist for the particular song is Saarim Momin or Prashant Pandey. For the music, it is one of these four: Amar Mohile, Bapi-Tutul, Sanjeev Kohli or Jayesh Gandhi.
The last RGV movie I liked was Sarkar and am looking forward to Rann. Hope he betters Sarkar this time (the sequel Sarkar Raj was pale in comparison).
In his director's note RGV says:
Rann means battle. And battle is a fight between large organised forces. In the context of a civil society and its deep complexities, large organised forces (read news channels, political parties and industrial czars) are not just involved in a fight with each other, but more importantly and frighteningly, they are battling a war within themselves and this is especially true of news channels.
Making news is not the easiest thing in the world. So the next best thing obviously would be to make anything and everything appear to be news.
The way the news are presented today are much more entertaining than family soaps and thril-ers. What's worse is that we enjoy this kind presentation so much that we have got addicted to them.
There is the government - a system which runs the country, then there are wealth creators like industrialists etc and then there are politicians in the ruling party and the opposition.
All the above in a democratic society are supposed to be working for the common people and the one and only means of the common people having any idea as to what those are up to is through the media. Hence the media has been invented as a truth telling machinery serving the purpose of the common people so that they know they are in good hands or in case they are told that are not, they can hope to exercise the power of their vote to bring about a change.
But in free economy system where there is so much competition the media by default is lost in its purpose.
The media is a reporting agency. It reports news. News is what is new. New is what you hear for the first time. So to be able to be the first to tell you the various newspapers and channels have an intense competition among themselves and this they do on a need to survive, on an ego to be on the top and on a greed to get rich.
To be ahead of competition means more circulation and higher TRPs which in turn generate more and more ad revenue which will translate into making more and more and more money.
Also the fact that in the process the people who run the media realise their power of influencing the common people inevitably makes them power hungry.
To sum up, Rann would expose the behind-the-scenes truth of how a truth telling machinery by the very virtue of its positioning has no choice but to corrupt itself to become a money-making and power-brokering enterprise.
He has a point. Doesn't he?
Here's the lyrics for the song (English translation included):
Jana-Gana-Rann
Jana Gana Mana Rann Hai Is Rann MeinZakhmi Hua Hai Bharat Ka Bhaagya Vidhaata
Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha
Ek Doosre Se Ladd Ke Mar Rehein Hain Is Desh Ne Humjko Ek Kiya Hum Desh Ke Tukdey Kar Rahein Hain
Khoon Bahaa Ker Ek Rang Kar Diya Humne Tiranga
Sarhadon Pe Jung Aur Galiyon Mein Fasaad Danga
Vindh Himachal Yamuna Ganga Men Tezaab Ubal Raha Hain
Mar Gaya Sab Ka Zameer Jan Kab Zinda Ho Aagey
Phot Bhi Tava Shubha Name Jaage Tav Shubh Aashish Maange
Aag Mein Jal Kar Cheekh Raha Hai Phir Bhi Koi Sach Ko Nahi Bachaata
Gahe Tava Jaya Gaatha
Desh Ka Aisa Haal Hain Lekin Aapas Mein Ladd Rahein Neta
Jana Gana Mangal Daayak Jaya Hai
Bharat Ko Bachale Vidhaata
Jay Hai Yeh Marann Hai Jana Gana Mana Rann Hai
English Translation
There is battle in every mind And in this battle the future Of India is wounded
Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha
Are fighting amongst and killing each other This country made us one And in return we are breaking it into pieces The Dravidians, the Orissa, the Bengal
By shedding blood, we have turned the Tricolour into one just bloody colour
Battles ablaze on the borders While riots burn down our lanes
Acid is boiling in Himachal Yamuna Ganga
Dead is our conscience Who knows when it will come back to life
Yet we chant god's name praying For his blessings
The truth screams as it burns in fire Without a saviour for it
Yet we sing the victory song
This is the state our country is in And the leaders fight within
The salvation of all the people waits in your hand
Oh God! Please save India
Is this victory or is this death? There is a battle in every mind
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order has released a video "recovered from the possession of a dead LTTE terrorist by the 58 Division during ground advances made into general area South of Vellamullivaikkal."
Since the original file posted on the www.defence.lk website was an unwieldy 14 MB WMV file, I've reprocessed it in a more web-friendly format.
Sri Lankan authorities assert that the video proves "LTTE's use of civilians as forced labour."
"The video shows footage of terrorists in civilian attire firing at both security forces and fleeing hostages by a pedal gun fixed to an armour-plated 'Unicorn' type vehicle. In the background, civilians brought to build earth bunds are forced to camouflage the vehicle with leaves and branches. The video clearly shows another LTTE cameraman who is positioned to video any form of military retaliation towards the terrorists, taking cover among the civilians brought to forced labour. This is what they do and this is the very sort of footage extracted by international media to carry spread the LTTE's spin on the ground reality."
The Lankan government has also published images from 'Prabhakaran's family album': Album 1 | Album 2
Truck graffiti make long rides on the highway more interesting. Even the title of last year's hit Singh is Kinng (I didn't enjoy the movie much) was inspired by what Akshay Kumar saw on the back of a truck.
Noticed this a few days back on NH8. Pleased to see that trucks are also spreading messages against social evils.
Kanya bhrun hatya karaoge to dulhan kahan se laoge? [If you get the female foetus killed, from where shall you get a bride (for your son)?]
Trucks travel across the country and truck art is an effective medium of communication.
The family planning slogan Hum do hamare do (We two, our two) was quite popular with the truckwallahs.
Mass For Awareness, an NGO headed by cartoonist Neeraj Gupta, has initiated a campaign to educate the voters about the people they choose to represent them at the highest seat of democracy in the country - the Parliament.
As a prelude to an extended campaign that would run upto the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, the organisation has released this poster:
A rough translation: Do you want such saleable MPs in our Parliament... If no, then... ...Do cast your invaluable vote during the upcoming 15th Lok Sabha elections. And while voting do keep in mind whether who you are voting for is fit to enter the Parliament. "Parliament Attacked" Participate in an awareness campaign that keeps you alive. Because if you are aware then you are alive.
If you wish to pass the message along, copy the code below and paste it on your blog/website:
The other day my brother called up. "Delhi's going to host the Winter Olympics," he joked. But for the people who take decisions on such matters in India might quite possibly be thrilled at the idea.
And a few days later I read that Delhi would be the official host of the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup.
I don't have anything against Delhi, after all I have been living here for almost half-a-decade now and have started to identify myself with the city.
But then it isn't a nice experience to be a citizen of a single-city nation. To the outside world it would seem that there is only one city in the 32,87,263 sq km area of the country - Delhi or more specifically New Delhi.
Isn't it already enough that the city has already hosted the first ever Asian Games in 1951 followed by the 1982 edition and now the Commonwealth Games in 2010?
In between there was some unsuccessful bids to play the hosts for yet another international sporting event. And now there are plans to bid for the biggest of them all - The Olympics in 2020.
This one-city focus isn't found in many of the countries of the world. Honestly, I hadn't heard of Incheon before it beat Delhi in the race to the 2014 Asian Games.
If we look at the Asian Games, South Korea got the opportunity thrice to host it and only the first (1986) was in the capital Seoul, the subsequent events went to Busan (2002) and Incheon (2014). The 2010 Asiad will be held in Guangzhou and not Beijing.
Amongst the 20 cities that have/will hosted/host the Commonwealth Games (in its different forms) only four are country capitals (and this includes Delhi). And as many as 10 of the host cities of the Olympic Games weren't the cities where the seat of the government resided.
Such international events provide a tremendous potential to overhaul the entire infrastructure of the city. The city of Delhi has been fortunate enough to have good facilities (compared to other cities in the country), that has been augmented by the Asian Games and now the Commonwealth Games. Don't other cities in the country deserve an opportunity to make things better for its residents? Why do we need to be concentrated only to the National Capital?
Before you point it out, Hyderabad did host the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in 2003 and the 2007 Military World Games, but they were comparatively inconsequential.
There is an India beyond the periphery of the NCR. Our media is partially blind to the fact (partially because they at least see the other metros). And to our sports administrators... get a phacoemulsification done.
It seems that the newly implemented transliterated suggest feature on Google Hindi search is not exactly safe for kids (This feature is also available in the Telugu and Tamil searches, but then I don't know the languages. Readers contribute).
What the suggest feature (announced on May 5, 2008) does is that while you search for a query using Hindi search you can input characters from the Roman script and Google will suggest queries based on what you type in.
Obviously, a very welcome feature, especially, for people who cannot type in Devanagari. But then there is something that might disturb some, particularly parents who are worried about what their kids might be inadvertently exposed to on the net.
Go to Google's Hindi search page and type in any of the following letters - B, F, K, M, N, S or Y (this is correct at the time of posting this, but might - or might not - change in the near or distant future. The reasons are elaborated further down the post).
For "B" the suggested words include - बूर (bur) - Urdu slang for vagina. And then there is/are बूब्स (boobs).
For "F", फुद्दी (phuddi/fuddi) - Hindi slang for vagina
Type in "K" and you get the कामसूत्र (Kamasutra) - the ancient Sanskrit treatise advising rules for sensuous and sensual pleasure and love and marriage
Under "M" there is मस्तराम मुसाफ़िर कामोत्तेजक (Mastram Musafir Kamotejak) - roughly translates to "Jovial Traveller Lustful" and refers to (if I'm not mistaken) a - seemingly discontinued - Hindi blog on explicit fantasy stories.
It's नंगी लड़की (nangi ladki) - nude girl - under "N"
The suggestions under "S" are almost exclusively devoted to सेक्स (sex) and related entities. For starters there's सेक्स कहानी (sex kahani) - sex stories, then comes सेक्स करने (sex karne) - having sex, followed by सेक्स (sex). Then there's सेक्स संबंधी (sex sambandhi) - sex related, with सेक्सी महिला (sexy mahila) sexy female - for some company with सेक्स के बारे (sex ke baare) about sex completing the 'sexy' list.
Typing in "Y" yields योनि (yoni) - this Sanskrit word has multiple - albeit related - meanings, in this context it would refer to the vagina.
When a kid is using this search feature to look for something else and suggestions appear, it would obviously tickle the child's curiosity and lead him/her to explore that might not be suitable for his/her age.
Many parents use parental control software to regulate their children's internet usage, but such regulations wouldn't necessarily exist at all places where a child can access the internet from. And Google is an immensely popular online service provider.
So if people are searching for such non-kidsafe terms, it isn't exactly Google's fault. But again it is a vicious cycle, since the suggested terms might induce people to search for them more than they otherwise would and hence these terms would remain atop the Zeitgeist lists, for a long time.
To be fair to Google, it does offer an option to shut this off. Clicking on the वरियताएं (Preferences) link, a user has the option to deselect प्रश्न सुझाव खोज बॉक्स में प्रदान करें radio button under विचरण सुझाव. But then it should have been deselected by default and a user could activate it voluntarily.
Moreover, Google's Hindi search (or for the matter Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil) do not have the safe search option that is available in English and other languages.
Given the limited growth in the Indian language content on the web (compared to other languages) it might take a while for all the features to trickle in, till then keep you fingers crossed every time your child types in a "B" in the search form.
Ban - the word invokes both interest and anger. Interest because anything that is banned has definitely rubbed someone the wrong way and we the curious masses always want to know why. And the very idea of not letting someone else see/hear/read something because you (or an accumulation of people of your kind) think so, atleast in a modern democracy (with pretensions of progressiveness) like India tickles my annoyance.
...and in parts of Haryana in addition to Rajasthan where it wasn't released.
Historians and certain communities might not all agree with the story that the makers of the movie presented in 70mm. That Jodhaa depicted as Akbar's queen was - according to certain versions - actually his daughter-in-law. Right. Everyone has a right to protest. If the film is indeed offensive, they should have called for a voluntary boycott. If the halls are empty, distributors will themselves take it off.
But then no one wants to gauge the sentiment of the general public; rather it is much easier to threaten violence. And the administration, which is supposed to uphold the rule of law, falls prey to blackmail (and political considerations).
Though I didn't like the movie much, I would at best give Ashutosh Gowarikar's latest directorial venture a three star rating (out of five). The film tried to mount two horses at once - history and romance - and in the process fell of both. Hrithik nevertheless delivered a commendable performance and looked his role while Aishwariya fitted in nicely only when she wasn't talking and moving. As for the royal intrigues, Santosh Sivan packaged it much better in Asoka.
Coming back to bans. In the long run a boycott would work better than a ban. Because a ban, as mentioned in opening sentence of this post invokes interest and would go against the purpose of the ban in places where the film (or whatever) is not banned. Whereas a successful voluntary boycott would dissuade habitual controversy seekers, as it would hit them where it hurts the most - their bank balances. Moreover, in this e-era do bans really work?
If tomorrow, a section of the population disgusted by the goings on in any of the state assemblies threaten to burn it down (they actually did in Manipur, while in Meghalaya it was reduced to ashes by accident). Will the state administration, relying on intelligence inputs, ban future session in the assembly?
The turnaround of the Indian Railways has attracted a lot of attention, both within and outside the country. It is indeed welcome that public sector enterprises are gradually taking their business seriously and adding to the government's kitty. But what goes underreported in all his hype is the consumer's point of view and also the other side of the story
The media has been by and large all gung-ho about the way the world's largest employer is headed, it is only occasionally that we get to read stories like these:
Though I travel less frequently on the rails than I used to, given the advantages that air has over the rails, my observation is that not much has changed on the ground level. Let me elaborate my woes. The charges, as usual, are hidden
Last year in a step which the Railways, obviously, didn't announce with much fanfare, enhanced the tatkal quota to 30 per cent. This increase in quota is unlike the one which the Central Government has promised following the widespread protests against the OBC quota in educational institutions. There is no enhancement of seats. If you are booking a little late, you better be ready to pay more.
And that's not all, even the tatkal charges have been hiked. For the peak-season that is 10 months a year, a passenger would have to shell out an addition of Rs 300 for an upper class ticket and Rs 150 for a lower class ticket. Off-season is only two months, when the charges are Rs 200 and Rs 75 respectively. But again, the off-season also has a catch; it is not applicable in trains and classes with average utilisation of 80 per cent.
In case I have to book a ticket in third AC from Delhi to Gwalior under the tatkal quota, I have to pay 66 per cent extra (a regular ticket costs Rs 450). Now that's called a rip-off!
Lalu and his babus were obviously not happy with the extra revenue that this 'innovative' tatkal scheme, requiring only a little tweaking of rules, would bring. There is an additional charge of up to Rs 50 (depending on the journey) if the journey originates from a station other than the one from where the ticket has been issued. I'm trying to grasp the logic behind this move. Please help.
There's more. The Railway Ministry has re-classified hundreds of trains as superfast, while on track they haven't gathered any more speed. The reason, the superfast tag invokes an extra fare from the passengers ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 50, depending on the class of travel. Benefit to the passenger - nil. To the railway balance sheet - millions and millions.
These are only a few that have come to my notice, there would me lots more in the fine print.
Benefits, well...
For the urban middle class the most welcome service of the Indian Railways is undoubtedly Internet reservation. Though there are connectivity issues, incorrect billing and delay in refund (I experienced that), but that is negligible compared to the convenience. The mobile charging points (though too few compared to the number of passengers in a coach) is another thoughtful addition.
The trains run late as usual, the other day my parents while travelling back to Shillong reached Guwahati six hours late. That's not unusual for the Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani Express.
The pantry service is poor and unhygienic. Errant staff also overcharge passengers and also ask for tips at the end of the journey. For a 28 hour journey (which usually extends to 32 hours or more) passengers on the Guwahati-Delhi Rajdhani Express are provided with only a single one-litre bottle of water!
All the options mentioned in the menu are as-a-rule not available. And rice lovers, inspite of advance requests have to be content with half a bowl of rice and unwanted chappatis.
As a general rule I've found the employees manning the ticket counters and the railway police personnel to be discourteous, with very few exceptions. I once had to threaten a reservation staff at the New Delhi station reservation counter when he was booking other tickets on the sly while we were waiting in the queue for over an hour. The service is excruciatingly slow with most of them more adept at single finger typing.
On another instance when I had to cancel my ticket (at Itarsi railway station) which didn't get confirmed, I had to explain the clerk the cancellation rules and he had to consult his senior for about 15 minutes before telling me that the ticket cannot be cancelled. Later, a friend, who was accompanying me (as I was down with jaundice) had to go to the station master to get it approved.
Ticketless and unreserved passengers still continue to crowd reserved compartments in almost all routes, the travelling ticket examiner meanwhile adds lining to his pockets.
Entering a railway platform is another pain. There's always a huge queue at the platform ticket counter. And often the staff arrives conveniently late, I regularly experience that at Hazrat Nizamuddin. At New Delhi Railway Station there are coin-operated machines for the purpose, but their coin boxes are either full (no one seemingly cares about emptying them) or are malfunctioning. Even the operating procedure isn't clearly elaborated leading to a lot of unnecessary confusion.
This gives me an idea for Lalu to ask his boys to implement. Introduce a SMS platform ticket (since for an amount of Rs 3 online platform ticket wouldn't be a viable idea, the service charges would themselves add to about Rs 30 with additional printing and paper cost). It can have a premium pricing for Rs 6, believe me, people would happily opt for it.
Platforms have dogs roaming around and there are too few chairs where passengers waiting for yet another late train can sit or the dogs can lie under. There are too few fans too. Instead of having an incline (which would benefit everyone including the disabled) there are stairs and more stairs all around.
Lalu has shown everyone the money, but I as a consumer am yet to reap benefits that would justify the extra that I'm being charged for. I don't mind paying as long as it is worth paying for. But then it is difficult to fight a monopoly and that too a 150-year old behemoth with a surplus of Rs 200 billion.
If you think that I, seemingly belonging to the new upwardly mobile class, am anti-railway, do read this post. But then I'd rather plan my vacations in advance and fly (at competitive prices) than wait for the green signal at outer.
[The fare information mentioned in this post has been sourced from the Indian Railways website indianrail.gov.in]
Nrityanjali Academy in collaboration with the India HIV/AIDS Alliance has produced a number of public service announcements in the form of music videos. The songs are in Telugu but with English subtitles. The tunes are catchy and the execution though simple seems effective. The following is one of the four videos produced by them. It focuses on the condom, its types and uses and also makes an attempt to break some myths surrounding the use of rubber protection.
I hail from one of the states that form what is referred to as North-East India, a cluster of states which 'mainland India' cannot or doesn't want to distinguish from one another, I live in Delhi and I would like a copy of the booklet - Security Tips for Northeast Students/Visitors in Delhi. I too want to know firsthand how 'others' want me to act like.
While the booklet might have been issued in good spirit, but it ends up sending the wrong message and gives further credence to the unfounded presumptions about people from the far eastern regions of the country that many in 'mainland India' harbour. The officer behind this initiative, Robin Hibu, is himself a north easterner and an IPS officer from the Arunachal Pradesh cadre.
I too had my share of experience of being an unknown Indian, but being a Bengali by ethnicity and the fact that I don't look like a 'chinky' (it is a derogatory and racist term) I'm spared many of the asperities that others have to face.
Since I'm yet to read the actual booklet and am basing my observations on media reports, I wouldn't like to comment much. But here are some excerpts from what appeared in the papers:
* A proud father sent his only daughter in Delhi to make her IAS/IPS but she returned back as drug addict, promising boy landed into police case for drunken brawl, late night parties with loud music landed six youngsters into police case, revealing dressed up parties lass was molested and thrown out from moving vehicle badly bruised after being outraged…
* Dress code: When in rooms do as Roman does (sic)
* Revealing dress be (sic) avoided. Avoid lonely road/bylane when dressed scantily. Dress according to sensitivity of the local populace
* Bamboo shoot, Akhuni and other smelly dishes should be prepared without creating ruckus in neighbourhood.
Anyone with a dress sense will agree to the fact that north easterners do know how to dress well (especially the females) and the connection between dressing and sexual harassment is something which The Blank Noise Project is trying to disprove.
Food is a personal choice as well as a cultural one. I savour the 'smelly food' and on my flight from home last night, a quarter of my luggage was occupied by the 'smelly' stuff. I don't like anyone else to dictate my food habits and would like it to remain that way.
The interesting observation that emerges from this controversy is that most of the time efforts are being made to assimilate the North East with the 'mainstream.' Why isn't there anything visible which strives towards making the 'mainstream' understand the North East better? Cultural hegemony...
...or for that matter for anything else on the world's latest mass marketing gimmick - 'The New 7 Wonders of the World.' I didn't even vote for Debojit despite my family's cajoling. There are no moral, ethical or monetary reasons to compel me to vote. My sensibility vouches for my sentiments.
As pointed out before by some bloggers and a little resultantly by some sections in the mainstream media, that this latest craze is just but an international money minting venture trying to cash in on the emotions of people. In advertising class we were precisely taught this. For India the Bhaskar Group's I Media Corporation Limited had won the exclusive marketing and media rights for the campaign, and they went about it with dexterity.
First there were reports that the Taj was lagging behind and unsentimental Indians were doing nothing about their heritage. It was followed by yet another reminder that Indians weren't doing anything for their dear Taj. Then came stories about the voting picking up, but there weren't enough to push it through the final seven. See the trend here? Very well thought of and well executed. Internet, TV, radio, print everything was made a part of this publicity blitzkrieg. In between two lilting numbers the sweet-voiced RJ doesn't forget to remind us Indians of our duty - to vote for the Taj. There's nothing wrong with making money, it is an open market. I too try to make some. SMS polls for 'talent shows' have shown Indians another way to blow their money away. But I am within my rights not to contribute to this frenzy and so are you. Think of this, realistically. What benefit will the Taj Mahal and India garner with this 'new found' 'Seven Wonder' status? An influx of tourists? Taj Mahal is already the face of Indian tourism around the world and people do not need to be told an old story again. What difference would it make if the monument didn't feature on some obnoxious list? I went to see the Taj twice-over. I don't need someone else with a brilliant marketing idea to tell me that the Taj is beautiful, I know it is.
I would've liked to see the response within the country if an Indian organisation like the INTACH and not a Swiss-Canadian had initiated this?
Here are a few tidbits that you might want to savour:
* Another gem from the Swiss adventurer's blog, "the national animal, in this case the Indian elephant." Who knows our foreign-fixation might just lead a change in the national animal from the Royal Bengal Tiger (who is rarely visible) to the more present and easily accessible elephant. You can't take a ride on a Royal Bengal, that's bad for tourism.
* The New 7 Wonders project isn't just limited to a list and a promise of restoration of monuments. It is a full scale business empire in the making consisting of merchandise sales and international tour operations. And the prices, definitely not reasonable.
Very rightly the UNSECO has refused to give any credence to this gimmick and its observations show the true picture:
Shekhar Gupta (as always) puts forward an articulated argument why Pratibha Patil is not the right choice for President in his aptly titled column in The Indian Express - National Interest.
The idea of India's on Mr Condom is a welcome one, but given the diversity and the size of our country we might need a number of them. Getting an Indian politician to wholeheartedly endorse contraceptives is a little difficult (though Narendra Modi had his photos on some of them). Recently Madhya Pradesh PWD Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya raised a hue and cry over Crezendo, a condom with a vibrating ring, marketed by the government owned Hindustan Latex Limited. While the roads of Madhya Pradesh remain a back breaker, the Minister is unnecessarily concerned about people breaking their beds.
Here where a change of government leads to the change of focus of the campaigns, a Mr Condom will find the going tough. A previous government preferred abstinence over the rubber. Good idea, but it is easier to wear a hat than keep natural instincts at bay.
Though many female celebrities endorse female contraceptives, there is a sort of stigma associated with the male condoms. It would be difficult to find someone whom the general masses would heed to lead such a campaign. I think it is where our cinema can come in. Since we have moved ahead from flowers, birds and fireplaces symbolising sexual activity on celluloid, we might just show our actors going for a rubber (or actresses asking their partners to wear one) before doing it. Usually films make fun of condoms, especially the often embarrassing experience of purchasing a pack. Fun is fun, but if a little responsibility is added it would get so much better.
Meanwhile let us think of potential candidates to don the rubber hat.
You can call me politically ignorant, but the headline of this post was my first reaction on reading the 'Breaking News' scrolling on my office PC. The second thought that came to my mind, before the news came in about her real status, was that she might be Shivraj Patil's wife. It seems I wasn't the only one to think so:
Outlook's cover story reads "68% Feel Pratibha Patil is the Right Choice to be the President." What a revelation! I have played with statistics for a few years of my life and know how to make them tell your angle of the story. The poll conducted by Cfore on behalf of Outlook interviewed 1,238 women, but forgot to ask their respondents a very crucial question - Did they know who Pratibha Patil was before her name cropped up? In case they did, I would like to know of the results.
Another question should've been - Who would you opt for, Kalam or Pratibha? The cover story will have been a lot different then, but then it wouldn't augur well with the Congress' point of view.
A woman President is a welcome change. But I (and I believe the majority of the nation, irrespective of 'opinion polls') need to be convinced more about a certain Pratibha Patil. After all, after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam our expectations have risen.
An anti-outsourcing lobby has taken the battle to Google search and we shouldn't let some manipulative interests on a hate mission to mislead and spread their xenophobic propaganda.
Here's Anthony's post on the issue:
Hi All!!
Search for 'H1B official website' on Google. Some Anti-Outsourcing group has, using SEO and google bombing techniques, made a anti-outsourcing website, the Number one result in the Google Result Page. The said website, [send them back.org] (and please don't link to it), starts with ...
"Are you sick and tired of seeing your country turned into a Third World sewer by immigration? Are you tired of seeing your standard of living drop and our jobs exported to China? Are you tired of armies of H1B workers being imported from India to take what few jobs we have left? Are you tired of having to skip 1 for Spanish and 2 for Chinese? Are you tired of pressing 3 for English and getting a receptionist who barely speaks it?".
This is a kind of hate website, but google will not ban it from its serp, since it is apparetly not spamming. Since google display the results based on an algorithm, it is easy for us, IT workers to beat this website in their own game.
What we can at least do is try to beat this website from at least the number one spot on the Google Search Engine Result Page, with a little SEO. Search Engine Optimisation, for those came in late.
One very basic technique is to link the genuine H1B websites with the anchor text as 'H1B official website' .
Below is a list of the other seach results on google search results page. If you are a blogger, please provide hyperlink to the links below with the anchor text 'H1B official website'
Write a blog post on H1B and link to the above websites, with the anchor text, 'H1B official website'. I suggest that you link to these sites on your home page, on the sidebar or the footer also. It will take only a few minutes..
Please spread the word.
Many of the Indian Blogger are from the IT industry, and I hope it will be pretty easy to unrank this website.
Are you game for it? Start Spreading the word. Fast!!!
(A copy of the Supreme Court's judgment can be downloaded from here [txt 38.7 KB]. Thanks, Ajay)
This further strengthens my faith in the role that the courts play in strengthening our (far from perfect) democracy. I had posted about my beliefs on a number of previous occasions.
The Supreme Court's decision is undoubtedly a welcome one, but the pro-quota mandarins wouldn't obviously take it in their stride. The debate will again heat up and the populist mindsets will get back to do what they are the best at. Twisting and twirling legislations to suit their needs aka promulgating regressive statutes to garner votes and will expectedly find ample support in a myopic intelligentsia.
Moreover, I've uploaded some high-resolution anti-reservation photographs for free download (a credit though not necessary will be welcome) for creative forces like Varun. They (207 photographs in all) are in 12 zipped files (total 95 MB) and can be downloaded from the links below:
The other day my brother called up. "Delhi's going to host the Winter Olympics," he joked. But for the people who take decisions on such matters in India might quite possibly be thrilled at the idea.
