bombay journal

Train to the roof of the world

2006-07-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

there were photographs splashed across most of the newspapers this week about china's latest engineering feet.
The train to lhasa, with which china wants to tighten it's grip over tibet, and integrate it more tightly with the mainland.
Well there are more sides to this issue.
One is probably how much of a engineering feet is it?
As the rail line passes through regions where the soil is only composed of permafrost, global warming is the biggest challenge.
Second is the envoirmental damage this railway it is going to do.
Third, as dalai lama put it is the cultural genocide that is happening.

But, on the other part it has the ability to bring more investment into the region thus alleviating one of the poorest regions in the world.

I found good analysis of all this in a guardian article dated september 2005.
here is the link to it

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1573971,00.html

Train to the roof of the world

2006-07-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Bombs over theran

2006-05-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

Well, that is the tune they are now playing on the radios!
US is again saying, "Let's screw Tehran". In the past few days i have gone through various articles on the web from both the sides, some wanting bush to bomb tehran, while others who are against it saying IRAN IS NO IRAQ.
I went through this article by simon jekins on guardian.
I think it provides a very balanced view of the whole situation, and cuts across the rhetoric that exists on both the sides.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1771372,00.html

Dam the protesters.

2006-04-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

For the past few days there has been lot of debate about the narmada dam. The supporters have i think got a attitude which says, "hey, i do not really care for where the displaced people go. I only care about my power cuts and water that i get".

States have not cared about the rehabilitation of the displaced and have gone about the so called "devolopement".

Why are they doing this? Vested interests. In a democracy i feel the power is there with the people only in the definitions of democracy. The people who are really interested in getting this project implemented because they will profit from it, want this project to go on the ruthless pace.

I really do not know about the environmental implications of implementing this project. They have not even been discussed here.

My stand. Build the dam, but give a proper rehabilitation to those displaced.

Affirmative Action

2006-04-26T01:10:00.000-07:00

Arjun did it!
he stirred a hornest's nest when he declared that he is going to have reservations extended to IIT/IIM.

Immediately my admission in to a engineering college flashed into my mind.
At that time they decided to have a 30 percent reservation in the engineering colleges just for girls.

Already they had reservations for schedule cast, schedule tribe, other backward cast, nomadic tribe 1 , nomadic tribe 2, nomadic tribe 3.

god knows and which all categories were there.
I asked my mother are we not entitled to these reservations since we have shifted from mathura to so many other places in india. are we not entitled to be nomadic tribe?

Alas, that was not the case.

Niether did i have a relative who opened up a Engineering college and gave reservation to all of us.

but there was one for muslims, gujurathis, kutchis, malyaleese, christians.bottomline is that you are screwed if you are a open category guy. You better manage 98 % or else.... go to some distant town to complete your engineering.

So what is Mr. Arjun Singh trying to achieve?

Political mileage to run his old car. I do not think he cares a iota about social welfare.

if he had the primary education would not be languishing, where it is doing today.

What it will do?

It will divide the country. More colleges will spring up which give reservations to its own community. The chasm between the different castes will widen.

I hope some body stops him from doing this.

Bush visit, a sad day

2006-02-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

So finally, "prez" as the press would call him when he lands in india is coming to town.
Biggest irony is that he will be going to mahatma gandhi's memorial and paying his homage. He has even managed to give indian trip a communal hue by saying india has third largest Muslim population in the world and none of them is in Al -queda.

He is mistaken if they do not hate him. Indians probably do not hate america that much, but make no mistake, they hate George .W. Bush.

If he thinks that we will be along his side in his adventures then he is mistaken.

I wish bush had not come to India.

But now since he is coming we all should unite!

google, don't be evil

2006-02-15T10:07:00.001-08:00

just type tianenmen sqare in images in google china and in a normal google and check the results.

Also check with other search phrases like dalai lama and free tibet.

I feel what google is doing is great diservice to the world and putting at stake it's reputation of not being "evil" .

It is a great diservice to the information driven world as it is hiding information from the world.

2006-02-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

Cartoons! Uncut

2006-02-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

So, we had this major controversy that has erupted all around the world over the danish cartoons.

I believe that cartoons were completely unnecessary and were in bad taste.
But, i also believe that violence was completely not how the muslims should have responded. Violence is only going to fuel the islamophobia that has currently gripped the west.

On the newspapers, part I feel it was guilty of making fun of somebody else's religion. I feel we need to utilize freedom of speech in a much better way.
It should be utilized for other purposes like bringing democracy in the arab world, emacipation of women in the Arab world.
I am sure fanatics will try to curb the voices in regards, but then tell me one religion in which process of reforms was undertaken without a hue and cry.

This is just not cricket! Unfair to Ganguly

2005-12-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

I protest!
This is just not cricket! this is not the gentleman's game that we all expect cricket to be.
Selectors in India have stooped to such low levels.
Ganguly was the guy who resseructed Indian Cricket and now he was given the boot.
Where is the justice.
This man scored 40 and 39 on a sluggish pitch.
He was involved in two vital partenerships in both the innings, and they sacked him.
But, I am sure Ganguly will be back.

Unsung Hero

2005-12-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Sachin broke another record. He now has scored the highest number of centuries, surpassing the record previously held by Suni Gavaskar.
In this moment we forgot one guy. Rahul Dravid. This guy took the reponsiblity of opening, for India, when virendra sewag was out of the team. He has never shirked any responsibility.He could have made somebody else to open, but he did not do that.
A salute to one of great leader.
Hardworking and relentless, I hope he gets great success.

Citiy airport voted one of the worst!

2005-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

ok we all knew it.
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/asia/bombay.htm
but now it has been voted through a democratic process ensured by our very own election commision.

Handy's business guide

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

Head some radio wecasts on bbc today.
this was about management theories of management guru's.
I heard two of the episodes, one on leadership and another on social nature of the organizations.

Naration was amazing and it captured the listeners attention.
In all a site to visit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/work/handy/index.shtml

laloo and bihar

2005-12-02T02:34:00.000-08:00

Recently, media has been writing a lot about laloo's defeat and potraying as an epoch making event in indian history.
Let us analyze this.
Although Nitish is a very clean and effective administrator, he still has a caste ridden Bihar to rule. A state where there are division between lower castes themselves. Each and every caste wants to aseert themselves.
In this scenario it is difficult to see Nitish performing a turn around and stopping the killing and taking the place out of poverty.

People might call me a cynic but, there is very little hope, because a whole generation of people who have been living in corruption and casteism for so long.

I wonder why bihar has slipped so much when it was at forfront of free dom movement.

Probably it is castesim, and even the new leaders who have come to power in bihar have risen to power on basis of caste based politics.
As long as caste is the deciding factor in who will rule the state, I see little hope.

Rocking Bombay

2005-11-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

If you have been traveeling on bombay roads for past few days, I am sure even you experienced the feeling.
On any given road the potholes cover more surface area than the roads.
To top it all, there are power cuts everyday.

This is the same city that politicians wanted to turn into shanghai.

I guess they promised us Shanghai, but they have given us the Moon.

hahaha...

Cratered roads, no lights, what else do we need?

To top it all the, no body is speaking.
We do not have corporates coming out and speaking about the pathetic amenities in the city.

Probably, they have better roads and continuous electricity.
In bangalore, I guess we have a socialist leader, who believes in bad roads, for all.
But, here the disparity can be seen in the quality of roads in North and South.

I hope we start doing something.
I hope we take some action.
After the winter, it will be summer and the power cuts.
After that will be monsoon, and the bad roads.
Help us, GOD!