How stupid

It was very heartening to see Amir Khan defending himself on TV.  It just shows that he is not going to be cowed down and that is worth respecting. He reiterated his stand in public, and generally talked sense, which unfortunately the BJP representative in the debate did not , and neither did the Congress rep , Singhvi, who simply talked like a typical lawyer.

Some pertinent points. Amir has every right to make a statement. In this case, he simply took a stand for the rehabilitation of the displaced people, something which even the Supreme  Court has done. How is this anti-Gujarat and anti-development? I think this is an embarrassing time for the BJP. I hope the top-brass, if they have recovered from the "Maha"jan shock, act on this. And hope they take a reasonable stance on the issue. In fact I am really surprised no statement has been issued by the BJP. The Congress  it seems is playing a  double-game. Initially their youth-wing was also involved in the anti-Amir propaganda. Official statement was made only 1-2 day ago. And in general they have kept quiet. So has the film-fraternity.

I seriously think that the BJP has done itself great harm because of this incident.This was their chance  to talk sense, when the middle-class seemed to be anti-UPA, but they have floundered it. They made a big issue from a non-issue.If the people of Gujarat are hurt and angered by Aamir Khan’s stand as the party claims, then why would they pay upwards of  hundred rupees to watch the film voluntarily? Would they not be able to show their disgust without need for such bans? Unbelievably dumb!!

Tags: Amir, Fanaa

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The Pune Slimes

In between all the brouhaha, The Pune Slimes celebrated it's ninth anniversary. Kapeesh has a brilliant post  enumerating all the ways in which PT has contributed to a Punekar's life. ROTFL stuff.

Tags: PT

Frustration

It was a sadistic delight to watch Karan Thapar  tear Arjun Singh apart on the Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN, You can catch the interview here . I say sadistic because I know even if it  is proved that the guy is acting an idiot, there is going to be no change in his stance,  i.e  it's of no use. The minister had absolutely no idea about the facts and figures. Yet he makes up his mind on the issue. It is really shameful that such people get to decide our future.

 Also depressing to note was Arjun Singh's response to the demonstrations, where he just terms it as hype!! Of all the nerve.. Well seriously what then would make this man rethink the decision. Apparently nothing. The decision has been taken and no-rollback possible, were his words.

Another blow, though expected was Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment's  comments.   It really is the biggest  blow as far as the Corporates go. They are here to make profits and are not Social Service organizations.  They might help with putting up infrastructure, etc required for the lower sections, but this!! Why should they compromise on quality. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, they after all want the best person for any position. The worst thing will be if the software cos decide to shift base outside India. Once the software bubble bursts the results would be horrendous. And the government by giving them a 2 yr deadline might just make sure that these guys will have sufficient time to get out. :-)

The one man I am most disappointed with is Dr Manmohan Singh, our esteemed PM. His unclear stand only proves that he is but a puppet. The  nation showed faith in the Congress for more than 50 yrs, and this is what it's given us. They will win the elections, no doubt about that. After all the "Upper castes" are only 25% roughly, and really insignificant as far as vote-banks go.  If the post sounds depressing, well guys I truly am depressed.The frustration is because most people know  they can't do a thing about this. It's a classic "Rob Peter and give to Paul". If Paul is getting everything on a platter why the hell will he complain.

Anyway Salil has another method to bug the minister here.  Though what purpose it will serve ,I don't know. :-(

Ramanand in his unique style writes about the interview here. Brilliant!!

Tags: Reservations, private sector, Arjun Singh

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Almost 18

Yesterday India lost by the narrowest margin possible, 1 run. Yuvraj hit 2 fours in the last over , the second one seemed to really bring about the memories of Klusner's exploits in the 99 semi-final. There was one more thing in comman. Tragedy!! So near yet so far!! Yuvraj played beautifully. While Sarwan was extremely lucky during his stay, Yuvraj really  played an inning devoid of blemishes.Well almost. He did get out didn't he? ;-)

India's brilliant run-chasing streak has culminated at 17, but the contest was beautiful to watch. As Dravid said,  he knew the streak had to end but not at chasing a moderate score... 

In the 1st game, Indian bowlers bowled poorly up front, but the batsmen responded, while in the 2nd game the bowlers were superb but the batsmen weren't. Lets hope Indains get both things right in the remaining games.

Tags: Cricket

The best text-book

We keep on hearing of  some sort of fallacies, mistakes about NCERT text books all the time; that students don't like to read text books.Just made me wonder if there was any text-book I actually enjoyed. The answer was simple. Fourth Std History.

I really have not come across any better school book after that. Even our Jr College text books weren't that great. I am sure all of the students who have done their SSC  will remember this book , which is quite an achievement in itself.

History was never that interesting again. The way the book was written you just felt like reading on and on.  It caught the interest like none other.It was like reading  a story book. Teachers in tenth always wondered  why History is the most dreaded subject. Well the answer might be simple, it was never presented in the way it actually should have and the level raised in IVth was never matched again..

I wonder if anyone shares my views though :-)

Tags: Musings

Really sad!!

The anti-reservation demonstrations and stuff related to that , the discussions, etc are all that is seen these days on TV. After the utterly despicable way in which the police beat up the protesting students there was a huge public outcry. And why not? These were not comman goons on the street, these were students!! They were protesting in a non-violent manner. Was that the way to treat them?? I wonder if even the "mavalis" or  thiefs , thugs get the same treatment.

It was really sad watching Arjun Singh's reactions to the whole thing. The only person who can change this shitty resolution, it seems is the PM [or "Madam" :-)] .If this thing goes thru the cabinet meet, then I think this is yet another instance where the Congress has really pulled the nation back.  My views on the Congress remain the same ,only now I can't realistically see any alternative to the Congress.The reservations are just a big front  to just strengthen their vote-banks

It's been along time since reservations were introduced  in the govt. jobs. What has happened is that a very small portion of them actually utilises these benefits. A hypothetical example. A SC/NT/OBC boy. He studied in the same school as me. I got 85 in Xth, he got 60. Yet we land up in the same Jr College.It turns out, he also gets admission for the vocational courses ,which i [the small "i" is intentional] was denied. Then i get 92% in XIIth , while he gets 70. He gets COEP Entc , i have to opt for a lesser college, or a lesser branch.  I am sure many of u people have seen such examples, where a  person who has had education at par with yours go ahead only because he was from a "category".

Then there was an even bigger shock in my Engineering,  It seems those guys have fees for something like 7000 ,for the free seat ie . On top of  that they get a scholarship of 10,000. Which means that they are actually paid to learn and complete their engineering and do a "service" to society.

OBCs in our country are all the traditional businessmen , people who practice certain occupations sonar, lohar, tailors, etc . So basically everybody except the the Brahmins, Kshatriyas/Marathas. So basically economically they are in fact well off or at least at par with the "higher castes" .

It would be pig-headed to say that everyone gets equal opportunities in India. Poverty is rampant all over India. I believe the only way fwd is that the government should provide scholarships or reserve seats for the economically backward ideally. Give them concessional loans. If they show aptitude for the subject they will progress in it on the basis of the merit itself.

In one discussion I saw on TV, there was a CEO of a big comapny (sadly don't remember his name) was asked why isn' the pvt sector not employing backward class people, his answer was  something like "I dont care if ur from Jammu or Kanyakumari, whether ur a brahmin or a shudra , if I think u are best suited for the job u will be selected!!!" So true. The only jobs which ask for your caste are  government jobs! Has anybody seen a pvt company ask "Are u from the open category? " Laughable. :-)

Well I guess the government surely can do whatever it wants with government offices, etc.  But how can u bring reservations in the pvt sector? What right do they have to force people to hire a particular group?  Really pathetic, if that is implemented. It would not be surprising if all the companies just shifted base then.. It would be like killing the golden-egg laying hen..

So really after this do the politicians have any moral authority to make statements like "Brain drain must stop...." etc.   Unfortunately there is nothing moral about our politicians.They are very smart. Really. They know that the doctors's std in our country will go down bcos of the reservations. So they opt for the foreign specialists. :-)

Another interesting add-on

Finally this is here. For an Orkut freak ,who uses Mozillla, it's quite decent.