Here is a nut case

One would think that we have moved beyond the dark ages but every now and then you see something that really proves it otherwise.

See this. Here is a Indian Forest Service officer who is demanding a dowry of Rs. 1 cr. to get married to somebody otherwise he would breakup his engagement. Now I am thinking that this guy is supposed to take care of forests and animals but if for the sake of money he is ready to trade his life, wife and future happiness and can anybody expect him to not give in to illegal forest mafia and poachers.

For him the value of his life is Rs. 1 cr. which approximately comes to Rs. 900,000^* per years for 60 years, that is probably more than his salary. In some sense what he is demanding is utterly unfair, for screwing the whole country he is probably getting Rs. 400,000 per year and for his wife (from wife's father) he is looking for Rs. 900,000 per year.

* Assuming interest rate of 9%

Mumbai immigration deports children!

Here is an strange news item that I saw. Basically what happened that a couple (both having India passports and green card) and their two children (both having American Passport) landed in India on an Air France flight. Air France made sure for the parents that they have valid travel documents while did not verify for children.

Now after they landed in India, Indian immigration officials refused entry to two children on the premise that they do not have valid travel documents. I am sure they could have behaved properly and been more considerate with the couple but I want to discus some other issues in this post.

Why does a couple with Indian passports have American passports for their children and then he claims that he is ashamed to be and India. I think he demonstrated that he is ashamed to be and Indian when he opted for American passport for his children in the first place.

The other point that I have that would American (or French ) immigration officials have behaved in any different manner i.e. if a family from India with valid passports and visa landed in a US airport but without visa for their children.

There is nothing wrong in one decided to change his/her nationalities if he feels (and the other country willing to do) so. But I have a problem in people expecting better treatment just because they have green cards or their children have American passports and then blaming it in skin. I know almost the whole world is racist and one should learn to live with it but these people do not crib when they are stopped on a US freeway just because of the color of their skin.

What is wrong with mainstream media

Here is an article in The Indian Experess. The article is titled "It's Rs 250,000 cr loss in 3 days". Why don't these guys understand that this would happen in stock markets. In last one year sensex has gone up from 8000 to 14000 so if it falls by some 1000 points what is the big deal. This 250000 cr. is just notional money which people made by staying in same stock markets. Why can't these people just grow up.

Prime Minister and his speech

Over the weekend there was lot of noise about what prime minister said in the meeting of National Development Council. Here is what Indian Express Reported. The starting line of the Indian Express news says

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said plans for minorities, particularly Muslims, must have the â??first claimâ?? on resources so that benefits of development reach them equitably.

Here is what The Tabloid (oops Times) of India wrote.

In his address to the National Development Council, the PM chose to take up the issue of devising "innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development". The PMâ??s remarks addressed all minority groups as he said, "These must have first claim on resources." BJP used references to Muslims to attack PMâ??s speech.

After all the noise, the PMO came back with following press release.

The statement said the Prime Minister's reference to the first claim on resources referred to all the priority areas, including programmes for the upliftment of SCs, STs, OBCs, women and children and minorities.

So I thought, let me find for myself what PM really said. It is available on PM's official web-site.

I believe our collective priorities are clear. Agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programmes for the upliftment of SC/STs, other backward classes, minorities and women and children. The component plans for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will need to be revitalized. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources. The Centre has a myriad other responsibilities whose demands will have to be fitted within the over-all resource availability. The Planning Commission will of course undertake a thorough review of ongoing programmes to eliminate those which have outlived their original rationale, but we cannot escape from the fact that the Centreâ??s resources will be stretched in the immediate future and an increasing share of the responsibility will have to be shouldered by the states.

The quoted text above is a complete paragraph from PM's speech and from the above paragraph it is very clear that PM is talking of all the SC/ST, OBC, and Minorities. From within minorities, he does say that "particularly muslims ".

I would agree to the PMO press release and it looks to me that most of the media has now has attention span of a one year old kid and can't really read through a 3 page speech so they pick and choose words and sentence segments and report on that.

Gaia is reborn, version 0.1.1 of open source 3D Earth viewer released

Interesting, I should download and play with this one.

After receiving a letter from Google on November 25, Gaia downloads had to be removed from the webpage. The project doesn't use Google Earth images and data anymore. They now use images from NASA World Wind project. Version 0.1.1 is now available for download and also has some bugs fixed and build system improved.

read more | digg story

Comparing Tendulkar and Dravid

This post just tried to compare the performance of Tendulkar and Dravid against different teams in matches with large score. This does not talk about only matches when we were chasing. The averages here are slightly off because I have not taken into account the not-out innings.

Again Tendulkar performs better than Rahul Dravid in matches with large scores.

Tendulkar saga

So the Tendulkar saga continues. After I posted the last post people came back and said no but his performance while chasing a score of bigger than 250 is not so good. So I thought that let me see if that is true. See the chart below


Actually his performance is much better when he is chasing larger scores compared to when he is playing first.

Tendulkar's performance

So there were some more discussion on Tendulkar's performance. So went around digging around some data. The biggest complain that I have heard that Tendulkar does not play when it matters. I do not understand the meaning of this statement. But I tried to analyze it in my own way.

See the chart. This is Tendulkar's average against all the teams in first inning matches.



From this chart it is very clear that Tendulkar's average score is better against almost all the teams when Indian team wins, from this I would conclude that he plays better when Indian team wins or Indian team wins when he plays.

See the next chart from second inning data



Again the second inning score averages prove the same point. At this stage people question that no he does not play better when India chases a big score. See the next chart.



That impression does seem to be true to some extent. When India wins while chasing a score, Tendulkar's average is lower than when India wins while batting first. But even average of Tendulkar is not really bad even when India in chasing.

Cricket and Indian Team

We were having a coffee table discussion on how much does Sachin Tendulkar suck in cricket. I thought that I should really figure out the truth in that. So here is some analysis of past performance of our batting stalwarts.

Â	Tendulkar	Dhoni	Dravid	Shehwag	Pathan	Yuvraj
	141	2	9	Â	1	24
	12	Â	26	9	8	12
	65	18	6	8	Â	93
	4	23	0	1	64	52
	35	7	7	10	0	26
	29	51	4	9	19	Â
	10	28	49	17	0	0
	35	14	52	65	10	0
	2	55	18	0	1	27
	1	26	63	18	47	27
 Total	334	224	234	137	150	261
10 Inns Avg	33.40	24.89	23.40	15.22	16.67	29.00
5 Inns Avg	15.40	34.80	37.20	21.80	15.40	10.80
5 Inns Avg next match 0	19.30	24.67	22.50	15.22	16.56	26.33
10 Inns Avg next match 0	9.60	24.60	36.40	20.00	11.60	10.80

If you look at the table, there is very little to choose from. Of course in last five matches Tendulkar has really been bad but the fact is that whole team is trying to out-underperform each other.

Let's compare the results as a chart. We will first compare the results of all these players in last 10 matches adn 5 matches.



As we can see, the point that Tendulkar's performance has been pathetic is true but so is everybody else's. When I brought this point in the discussion, I was told that it is all because of one century of tendulkar, so I thought that assume all these players would make zero in next match and then see their performance. Because that would eliminate one score of 141 from Tendulkar. Even with that the results are as follows.



Apart from Dravid standing out, it is still a really same pathetic story. So the point is dropping one or two players from the team is really not a solution. Something else needs to be done. We also do not have a great second line of players so that you drop all of them and have a good team at the end of it.

I would say that TV viewers need to vote with their wallets. Stop becoming a source of huge amounts of money for cricket board then only you would see a change.

Â

India's cricketing nightmare

So we lost again. I kind of thought that would happen so I never bothered to even watch the match. No w I believe that this is not one of those debacles that keep on happening to our cricket team, it just shows the inferiority of our cricket team compared to the team that we are playing.

It would be very easy to join the chores and say that we should drop Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid or some other bloke from the team but the point is that other cricketers who could be potentially picked up are not any better anyway.

Out communist friends want Ganguly to come back into the team but he can't even play properly in Ranji so expecting him to play the SA attack would be a foolishness. I think the only option is that spectators should let the game slide into oblivion like Hockey and go on with their lives, may be that would reduce some of the waste time in front of TV and that would bring something good out of it.

Construction activity

As I was driving through, I saw this construction activity early morning at one site in Bangalore. If you see on the corner of the building, some workers are putting up scaffoldings. It made an interesting view because these workers were climbing up the scaffolds as they were building it up. Looked really complicated but they were doing it with extreme ease.

Project Black Box

Since this seems to be holiday season in the west and the mail traffic is pretty low. So one is looking for anything to read and I get this interesting link from one of my friends. In his own words

Even if it is from Sun, good stuff!

Really interesting thought though. One can not help but wonder if Sun Microsystems would now become an acquisition target from DHL or FedEx. There are so many interesting business models that one could come up with. I would try to remember this and may be rant about it on a later date. Now I think I should get back to work.

Interesting conference

I went to an outbound management team building type of session this year and I saw this notice board in the resort. If you see the last conference listed, its title is very interesting. "Sex and Sexuality".

There were lots of other residents of the resort interested in that conference.

Forum Food Court Notice

Forum Food Court Notice,
originally uploaded by vavasthi.

Now here is an interesting notice in the most upmarket (till today) mall's food court. Rather than prosecuting the people who bring outside food, the mall management wants to prosecute the food itself.

I am sure food would not dare to enter after reading this notice.

A joke by Natwar Singh

It is interesting to find news that almost makes you laugh. One needs a healthy dose of comedy everyday. If it is a real life comedy, so much the better. Now look at this news item. Natwar Singh goes on his usual rant and then he says

Pointing to the history of the Congress, he said Chaudhary Charan Singh, V P Singh and Chandrashekhar were all unnecessarily suspended from the party and went on to become prime ministers.

So now he wants to be expelled from the party so that he can become prime minister. Now who will explain to him that these leaders did have some base and they became prime minister not because of congress expelling them but inspite of it. Anyway it is cheap publicity for him and free entertainment for us.

Haj subsidy unIslamic, use that money on our education, health

Here is a sane voice that I heard after a long time.

At a time when even the Prime Minister is emphasizing that Muslims need to be given greater access to modern education to remove their social backwardness, several Muslim intellectuals, religious scholars and leaders are suggesting that the Government scrap the Haj subsidy and spend the money instead on schools, health care and other basic infrastructure for the welfare of the community. Some even describe the subsidy as â??vote-bank politicsâ? and say itâ??s un-Islamic to undertake any obligation during Haj.

More here

Demanding an end to the subsidy, Maulana Mehmood Madani, Rajya Sabha member and general secretary of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, says â??It is against the Shariat to be under any kind of obligation while undertaking Haj. According to the Quran, only those Muslims who can afford the expenses should perform Haj. Itâ??s recommended only for adult, financially able and sane Muslims.â?

Somehow these people do not get enough media.

Uttam Pradesh

So Uttam Pradesh is proving a point again. Couple of bikers kidnapped the son of country head of Adobe. Sad story. I was reading the post from rediff. The most interesting paragraph is as follows.

Hideouts of known kidnappers are being raided in order to nab the culprits and rescue the child. "We have some leads," police have said but refuse to share details.

Now what I don't understand is the fact that if these are known kidnappers then why are they not arrested beforehand itself. Kind of misses the commonsense for me. Anyway, I just hope that this ends well.

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�ब �प �स समा�ार �� ह� द��िय�।

ऐश्वर्या राय �पन� न� ���्र��� फिल्म "मिस्�्र�स �� स्पा�स�स" म�� दिए �ए स��्स� द�श्य नि�लवाना �ाहत� ह��, ल��िन निर्माता द्वारा �स� म���र न �रन� स� ऐश्वर्या न� फिल्म �� पब्लिसि�� म�� हिस्सा ल�न� स� मना �र दिया। स�त्र�� �ा �हना ह� �ि ऐश्वर्या नह�� �ाहत� �ि �न�� स��्स� द�श्य �भिष�� द����।

�ब म�र� त� यह समझ म�� नह�� �ता ह� �ि ऐश्वर्या �� यह पता �रन� �� लिय� �ि �ु� द�श्य ठ�� नह�� ह��, फिल्म �� द��ना प�ा, �न द�श्य�� �� �रत� समय �्या �न�� ��्ल �ास �रन� �य� थ�।

��िर�ार सलमान �ान �� पाँ� साल �� बामुश�्�त ��द �� स�ा सुना� �य�। �भ� भ� सर्व��्� न्यायालय त� �ा स�र बा�� ह� पर ए� तरह स� यह बात त� साबित हु� �ि �प ��र �म�र ह�� त� �प �ु� भ� �लत �ाम �र �� प�स� �� बल पर ब� नह�� स�त�। �भ� �� ह� म�र� ए� मित्र स� �स बात पर �र्�ा ह� रह� थ� त� म�र� मित्र �ा �हना था �ि सलमान �ान �� साथ सह� व्यवहार नह�� हु�। म�र� मित्र �ा तर्� था �ि �ब �सस� भ� ब�� �ुर्म �र �� ��र ल�� ब� स�त� ह�� त� सलमान �ान न� त� सिर्फ ए� �ानवर �� मार था �र �स�� नह�� मालुम था �ि यह �ानवर लुप्तप्राय �ानवर था।
म�र� त� यह समझ म�� नह�� �ता �ि ��न सामान्य �दम� �� �� दिन�� म� �ु� �ान� �� लिय� ब�द�� ल� �र शि�ार �रन� �� नि�ल प�ता ह�। �र ��र �प शि�ार �रन� �� �ा रह� ह�� त� �प �� �स बात �ा �्�ान ह�ना �ाहिय� �ि ��न सा �ानवर �प�� नह�� मारना �ाहिय�।

व�स� त� �स द�श म�� भ्रष्�ा�ार �� बार� म�� ��� सुधार ह�ता दि�ता नह�� �िर भ� �स समा�ार �� पढन� �� बाद ऐसा ल�ता ह� �ि �ु� सुधार ह� स�ता ह�।
�स समा�ार म�� यह लि�ा ह� �ि ए� ल��ा पर��्ष� (Auditor) �ा तबादला �स�� ए� ��ह पर �न� �� ए� साल �� भ�तर �र दिया �या था। �स�� बाद ए� स��ठन न� स��ना �� �धि�ार �� �ान�न �� तहत �स बार� म�� �ान�ार� मा���। यह �ान�ार� �स तरह स� द� �य�।
�स तबादल� स� स�ब�धित मामल� म�� �� �नुर�ध प्राप्त हुए थ� �� �ि म��ि� र�प स� �र लि�ित र�प द�न�� तर���� स� �िय� �य� थ�। यह �ार्यालय �स तरह �� निव�दन�� �� मानन� �� दबाव म�� ह�।
�स तरह �� निवदन�� �� भ��न� वाल�� म� ए� व्य�्ति वह भ� था �िस�� �ाँ� �स ल��ा पर��्ष� द्वारा �� �ा रह� थ�।

A new hope

Although I am very pessimistic about thing improving on corruption front, here is an interesting news item that kind of makes one think that may be things can improve.

The story mentions that one auditor was transferred within an year of his posting and an organization asked why he was transferred using newly inacted right to infromation act.

Days after More was transferred, on February 17, Pandurang Bhau Karanjakar of the Brashtachar Nirmulan Samiti filed a request under the RTI Act, asking the cooperatives department why More had been transferred barely a year after he was appointed in the district.

The department responded saying that they had to transfer him because people pressurised the department.

In this transfer case, there were many requests made, both in writing and orally, by local representatives. Based on this the transfer was considered,� states the reply, adding that the department is inundated by such requests everyday and is under pressure to oblige them.

The funny part is that one of the persons who requested (pressurized) was the person who was being investigated by the auditor.

म�रा हम�शा स� यह मानना था �ि स�िन त�न्डुल�र ए� महान �िला�� ह��। �स बात स� ��� �न�ार नह�� �र स�ता ह�। पर �ल �� बाद म�रा यह मानना ह� �ि स�िन �� �्रि��� �� �र्मावस्था �तम ह� �ु�� ह�। ऐसा ह� स�ता ह� �ि स�िन �ब भ� ��्�ा ��ल�� पर �न�ा �ब �� बाद �ा ��ल ए� साधारण �िला�� �� ��ल ��सा ह� ह��ा। �नस� �ब ��� ब�� �म्म�द नह�� �� �ा स�त� ह�।

�� सुबह ए� पर�शान �रन� वाला समा�ार पढा। �स समा�ार �� पढन� �� बाद �भ� �भ� भारत�य समा� पर दया �त� ह� त� �भ� �ुस्सा। �स समा�ार �� द� पहल� ह�� �� �ि मुझ� �त्यन्त ह� पर�शान �रत� ह��।

• यह व्यà¤?्ति (सà¥?रभ à¤?à¥?यल) भारत मà¥?à¤? शायद एà¤? प्रतिशत सबसà¥? à¤?्यादा पà¥?सा à¤?मानà¥? वालà¥?à¤? मà¥?à¤? सà¥? हà¥? तà¥? भà¥? पà¥?सà¥? à¤?ा à¤?तना लालà¤? हà¥? à¤?ि वह à¤?स हद तà¤? à¤?ानà¥? à¤?à¥? लियà¥? तà¥?यार हà¥?। à¤?स à¤?ाम मà¥?à¤? à¤?सà¤?à¥? परिवार वालà¥? à¤?सà¤?à¥? मदद à¤?र रहà¥?à¤? हà¥?à¤? वà¥? तà¥? à¤?र भà¥? परà¥?शान à¤?रनà¥? वालà¥? बात हà¥?।
• लà¥?à¤?à¥? à¤?à¥? पिता यह à¤?ाननà¥? à¤?à¥? बाद भà¥? à¤?ि लà¥?à¤?à¥? à¤?à¥? ससुराल वालà¥? पà¥?सà¥? à¤?ि à¤?तर्à¤?सà¤?à¤?त माà¤?à¤? à¤?र रहà¥? हà¥?à¤? वà¥? à¤?नसà¥? à¤?र समय à¤?à¥? माà¤?à¤? à¤?रतà¥? हà¥?à¤?। à¤?स तरह à¤?à¥? बात à¤?à¥? तà¥? à¤?भà¥? बर्दाश्त नहà¥?à¤? à¤?रना à¤?ाहियà¥?। à¤?à¤?र ससुराल वालà¥? पà¥?सà¥? à¤?à¥? माà¤?à¤? à¤?रतà¥? हà¥?à¤? तà¥? तुरà¤?त à¤?सà¤?à¥? à¤?तरà¥? à¤?à¥? à¤?à¤?à¤?à¥? मानना à¤?ाहियà¥?।

��र, �ब त� यह� �म्म�द ह� �ि ब���ल�रु पुलिस �ल्द स� �ल्द �ारवा� �र��� �िसस� ऐसा �मानव�य व्यवहार �रन� वाल�� �� �ल्द स� �ल्द �र ��� स� ��� स�ा मिल�।

Rot in the Indian Society

Here is an extremely disturbing news. Now this guy is probably part of top 1% of Indian population in terms of his earning but still he and his family is so greedy that for an amount that is probably less than his annual salary, he is ready to do these things.

I am not passing judgement whether he is really killed his wife or not, but the fact that even after marriage, he is demanding money itself is sickening. The worst part is that this keeps on happening but still people don't learn. What were parents of the girl thinking? Actually the quote from girl's father sums up the state of society.

As I was busy with the wedding of my third daughter, I expressed inability to raise the amount at such a short notice. I pleaded with them to bear with me and sought more time to meet their unreasonable demand.

The most bizzare part is that he himself mentions in his quote that the demand was unreasonable. I would say apart from both the parties sharing genuine marriage expenses and mutual and equal exchange of gifts every damn thing is unreasonable. If only he had filed this complaint when his daughter was still alive we would not see this day.

I can only hope, Bangalore police would do better than what Delhi police did in Jesica Lal case and the guy and family would be punished swiftly.

�� �ल �म्युनिष्� दल ��र्� बुश �� भारत यात्रा �� विर�ध म�� दिल्ल� �� सड��� पर द�वाल�� पर नार� प�त रह�� ह��। �ब मुझ� ��र्� बुश स� त� ��� विश�ष प्र�म नह�� ह� पर म�र� यह समझ नह�� �ता ह� �ि �ब यह� दल �� त� �िस� �� विर�ध म�� नह�� ब�ल� त� बुश न� �न�� ��न स� भ��स ��ल ल� �� �न�ा यह हाल ह�। ��र �तिहास �� द��ा �ाए त� �न दल�� न� �भ� भ�

• सद्दाम हुसà¥?न à¤?ा विरà¥?ध नहà¥?à¤? à¤?िया
• à¤?à¥?न à¤?à¥? à¤?मुनिष्à¤? पार्à¤?à¥? द्वारा à¤?पनà¥? हà¥? नाà¤?रिà¤?à¥?à¤? à¤?à¥? प्रति à¤?ियà¥? à¤?यà¥? बर्बर व्यवहार (Tinanmen Square) à¤?ा à¤?à¥?à¤? विरà¥?ध नहà¥?à¤? à¤?िया
• मुझà¥? à¤?à¥?à¤? याद तà¥? नहà¥?à¤?, पर मà¥?रà¥? à¤?्याल सà¥? à¤?भà¥? स्à¤?ालिन à¤?ा भà¥? विरà¥?ध नहà¥?à¤? à¤?िया
• हà¤?ारà¥?à¤? भारतà¥?यà¥?à¤? à¤?à¥? हत्या à¤?à¥? लियà¥? प्रत्यà¤?्ष या à¤?प्रत्यà¤?्ष तà¥?र सà¥? à¤?िम्मà¥?दार मुशर्रà¥? à¤?ा भà¥? à¤?à¥?à¤? विरà¥?ध नहà¥?à¤? à¤?िया

त� फिर बुश �� प्रति �न�ा प्यार �्य�� �म�ा प� रहा ह�।

Communists and their opposition to bush

Bush is coming to India and communists are busy opposing his coming to India. Now I am not a great fan of Bush but my point is that if we welcome Chinese leaders (who were responsible in part for tiananmen massacre) and communists do not have any problem with that and we welcome all kind of leader who have even been responsible for killings of Indians (e.g. Musharraf) and even though I do not remember, I am sure they were really excited by just the name of Stalin and they did not have problem with that then why this special treatment for Bush. It is not that he is any more evil than all these guys.

Anyway it is illogical to expect communists to be logical.

Google's doublespeak

Google has posted its testimony in US House committee on international relations on their official blog. I am kind of disappointed with their response to the committee. They sound so much like microsoft in their response.

This is the same google which will post maps of Indian defense installations in Google earth even though it is illegal to take those pictures. The maps of defense installations do not have anything to do with the freedom of speach crap. While in china because chinese government can arm twist them more, they would even agree to censor words like democracy.


Anyway it is their company, they are like another big US corporation who will do anything to increase their profits. "Don't be evil" was fine till the time it was making them money, now censoring is making them money.

This acceptance of google is just an eye opener for all the governments in the world that they can just ban google from their country and then google would accept all their demands.

May be this is the time to get a new search engine, Yahoo was no. 1 for 5-6 years, I think time is up for google. May be the next search engine should be hosted out of denmark.

��सा �ि �प सब �ानत� ह�� �ि पि�ल� दिन�� सलमान �ान �� �ु� �ि��ार�� �� मारन� �� �पराध म�� द�ष� पाया �या। म�र� हिसाब स� यह ��्�� बात ह� �ि �ा�� दिन�� बाद �िस� �म�र �दम� �� स�ा मिल�। �स�� बाद म�र� न�र �स �र्�ि�ल पर �य�। श्र�मान �म�द ��. मार�� �ा �हना ह� �ि �ब त� सर्व��्� न्यायलय सलमान �ान �� द�ष� नह�� पाता �िस� �� �सपर ��� व�्तव्य नह�� द�ना �ाहिय�। �स�� पढ �र मुझ� ल�ता ह� �ि श्र� मार�� �� शायद �स बात �� �ान�ार� नह�� ह� �ि सलमान �ान �� द�ष� पाया �ा �ु�ा ह�।

श्र� मार�� सलमान �� समर्थन म�� �स हद त� �ा �ु�� ह�� �ि व� ऐस� बहुत सार� �दाहरण द�त� ह�� �िसम�� स�ा नह� हु� �र यह बताना �ाहत� ह�� �ि सलमान �� भ� स�ा नह�� ह�न� �ाहिय�। पता नह� �्य�� व� �स मामल� म�� भारत�य �नता पर्�� �� �्य�� ल� �य� ह�।
��र हम �्या �र स�त� ह� बस सलमान �� व� ए� �ाना बहुत महँ�ा पडा।

What has Google become

Here is some more news in google saga. Google used to claim that it is democratic and does not censor. It even had an entry in its help desk which looked like as follows.


In last few days, it has been changed to as follows.



Now when google claims that its services will remain free always, who can trust them. Tomorrow for some more dollars they can make their services paid, like gmail.

भारत�य म�डिया �� पास �ब वा�� �ु� भ� नह�� ब�ा ह�। �ल रात म� रा�द�प सरद�सा� �पन� नय� ��नल म�� �स बात �� �र्�ा �र रह� थ� �ि र�� द� बस�त� ��स� �स द�श म�� ���लाब लाय��� �र �� सार� ��बार �र ��व� ��नल �स बाल� म�� बहुत मशर�� ह�� �ि �भिष�� �र एश्वर्या शायद शाद� �र स�त� ह�। �स बात �� पुष्�ि �िस� भ� न� �ह� ह�। फिर भ� ��व� ��नल �स बात �� बारबार द�हरा रह�� ह�।

��र मान भ� ल�� �ि यह बात शायद स� ह� त� भ� म�र� �्याल स� यह �स स्तर �ा समा�ार नह�� ह� �ि �स�� दिन भर बार बार द�हराया �ाए।

�� दिन भर ��व� ��नल�� पर यह बात �� �ा रह� थ� �ि मुलायम सि�ह यादव ए� त�सरा म�र्�ा बनान� �ा रह�� ह� �� �ि य�प�ए �� सर�ार �� �िला� स�सद म�� �विस्वास प्रस्ताव ल� �र �ए�ा �र ��द्रबाब� नायड� न� �स प्रस्ताव �� समर्थन द�न� �ा ��सला �िया ह�। यह ��द्रबाब� वह� ह�� �� �ि एनड�ए �� सर�ार �� पाँ� साल त� बाहर स� समर्थन द�त� रह� थ� �र �िन�� मुलायम सि�ह "�म्मुनल ��र्स�स" �हत� रहत� थ�।

��र म�र� सम्स्या ��द्रबाब� �ा वह व�्तव्य ह� �� �ि �न्ह�न� मुलायम सि�ह स� वार्ता �� बाद म�� दिया �ुसम�� �न्ह�न� �हा �ि भारत �� �रान �� �िलाफ व�� �सलिय� नह�� द�ना �ाहिय� था �्य���ि भारत म�� �ाफ� सँ�्या म�� मुसलमान ह��। �ब म�र� समझ म�� यह नह�� �ता �ि �न द�न�� बात�� म�� �्या स�ब�ध ह�।

��सा �ि म��न� पहल� भ� �हा ह� �ि �रान पा�िस्तान �� साथ �णवि� हथियार�� �� बार� म� मदद �रता रहा ह� �र पा�िस्तान �ा �णवि� �ार्य�्रम सिर्फ भारत �� प्रति दुश्मन� स� प्र�रित ह�। म�रा त� यह मानना ह� �ि भारत सर�ार �र मानन�य मनम�हन सिह� �स मामल� पर द�श �� हित म�� ह� फ�सला ल���� �र �स� सर�ार �� �णवि� मामल� म�� समर्थन नह�� द���� �� �ि भारत �� सबस� बड� दुश्मन �� साथ मिल�र �णवि� हथियार बना रह� थ�।

Iran saga continues

It seems today Chandrababu Naidu met Mulayam Singh Yadav and I caught a snippet of Chandrababu's statement after he came out of discussions with Mulayam Singh Yadav. I don't remember verbatim what he said but it seemed like he was claiming that India should have supported Iran on nuclear issue because India has a large Muslim population.

Also during the day, communists were going all around talking about putting the government in the dock in parliament over the Iran issue.

As I have posted earlier in my blog that I think India's vote on Iran issue was right and in national interest because of two reasons apart from the issue of nuclear energy cooperation with US.

• If we vote in favor of Iran it makes our position untenable regarding our own nuclear status
• Iran and Pakistan were cooperating in there nuclear program and I don't need to say that the sole reason for pakistan's nuclear program's existence is to use it some day against India.

I was doing some googling on this issue and I saw this article. I am quoting a paragraph from this article.

In an interview with CNN while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Musharraf said that it appeared Pakistani scientists might have sold nuclear secrets abroad for personal gains, but reiterated Islamabad's position that there was no official involvement. In PakistanÃ?Â?s covert nuclear programme which was given great autonomy and freedom some Pakistanis might have done it. Pakistan has begun questioning its nuclear scientists, including the father of its atomic bomb, Abdul Kadir Khan, after the U.N. nuclear agency began investigating possible links between the Pakistani and Iranian nuclear programmes. The investigation, launched in November, would be finished in "a few weeks", Musharraf told CNN.

I understand that

• Chandrababu Naidu wants UPA government to fall so that he can become outside support to NDA
• Mulayam Singh wants UPA government to fall so that he can save his chair in UP
• Communists want UPA government to be in trouble because that way their chair in WB is secure, anyway they never cared about country otherwise they would not be blocking development of 30-50 crore indians for the sake of 2-3 crore government employees and blocking every economic policy initiative that aims at growth in employment levels.

What I fail to understand though, why is congress being so stupid. Why can't they just say enough is enough, go to hell and go for elections or let communists form the government with outside support from BJP. If they think they are doing decent job then people would elect them back otherwise they do not deserve to be in power anyway.

I have never seen in my life, opposition and parties supporting government worrying so much about foreign policy.

Accident

Today I kind of had an accident on Airport Road. I was coming back from BEL colony with my wife, daughter and another friend driving on left corner of the road and one enfield bullet can from my left side with very high speed. He was trying to overtake me but did not have space between my car and kerb. Completely hosed the left side of my car. I think fender would have to be redone.

Fortunately not very series injury. He also agreed that he did not want any hassles and would let me know the bill for fixing his bike which I would have to pay. It was 12:30 at night so I said fine. Let's see how it goes.

म�र� �म्युनिस्��� स� ��� नि�� दुश्मन� नह�� ह� पर �स सप्ताह �न�� सिवाय �र ��� ऐसा �ाम ह� नह�� �र रहा हय �िस पर म�� ��� व�्तव्य �र��। �ब �स �बर �� ह� ल��िय�, पता नह�� �न�� �रान स� �तना प्र�म �्य�� ह� �या ह�। �हाँ त� मुझ� समझ �ता ह�, भारत �� पास �रान �� �िला� व�� द�न� �� लिय� �ा�� �ारण ह�� �� �ि भारत �� राष्�्र हित म�� ह��।

• à¤?रान à¤?ाà¥?à¥? दिनà¥?à¤? सà¥? पाà¤?िस्तान à¤?à¥? साथ à¤?णविà¤? रिसर्à¤? à¤?र रहा हà¥? à¤?र à¤?िसà¥? à¤?à¥? à¤?स बात मà¥?à¤? सà¤?दà¥?ह नहà¥?à¤? हà¥?ना à¤?ाहियà¥? à¤?ि पाà¤?िस्तान à¤?à¥? à¤?णविà¤? रिसर्à¤? à¤?à¥?वल भारत à¤?à¥? à¤?िलाà¥? हà¥?। डा. à¤?ादिर à¤?ा à¤?णविà¤? तà¤?त्र à¤?रान à¤?à¥? साथ à¤?ाà¥?à¥? à¤?ाम à¤?र रहा था।
• à¤?रान à¤?à¥? à¤?ाà¥?à¥? à¤?रà¥?बà¥? दà¥?श (रà¥?स, à¤?à¥?न) नà¥? भà¥? à¤?रान à¤?à¥? à¤?िलाà¥? वà¥?à¤? दिया हà¥?।

पि�्ल� सप्ताह �� मामल�� �� द��न� �� बाद त� मुझ� ल�ता ह� �ि �म्युनिस्� दल �स बात स� �ा�� भयभ�त ह�� �ि भारत स��्�्व�यर �� �्ष�त्र म�� ��न स� �ा�� ��� न नि�ल �ाय� �र �स लिय� �िस� भ� तरह स� यह �ाहत�� ह�� �ि भारत �� �िस� तरह स� ��न स� प��� र�ा �ाय�। �ब ��न म�� रहन� वाल� �न�� मस�हा ह� स्वत�त्र विद�श न�ति नह�� �पना पा रह�� ह�� त� भारत ��र �पन� भल� �� न�ति �पनाता ह� त� �न�� �्या समस्या ह�। ��र हम �्या �र स�त� ह��, सिर्� ��रल �र ब��ाल म� रहन� वाल� भारत�य ब�धु ह� हमार� र�्षा �र स�त� ह��।

Airport authority responds

Here is a comments that I received on my post regarding airport privatization from Airport Authority employees. It was posted in wrong thread.

Due to lack of a fair dialogue amongst the stakeholder, we face such grim situations. Many employee were badly brusied in the lathi charge.

Do visit
http://www.aaiforum.org
http://aaiforum.blogspot.com/

If Privatization is the mantra for all evil , then do investigate how many airports in the world are truly privatized & who is their management team.

Singapore , South Africa airports are managed by a professional dedicated Airport professionals . Why not in India ?

Ok, I give it to them that privatization is not an answer to everything. But I would have supported them if they had done same strike 5 years ago claiming that based on projections air traffic is going to increase manifold and government of India needs to modernize the airport. They never did that. Even the work that should be done by them (like cleaning the toilets etc) they do not do properly. In delhi airport you don't even get a chair to sit. In such conditions how can we expect them to modernize the airport. The fact is that airports need to be modernized because neither the government establishment (and that includes AAI) not capable of doing it nor they are interested in doing it.

Google and china

Further to my post about google's capitulation to chinese government. Here is the version of their images search engine results from chinese government approved google for string "tinanmen square".

Here is the version that is returned by the world wide portal.

God bless India

Hot news today is that central government has decided to award airport modernization contract to coupld of private parties. As soon as the news is out, the employees of airport authority of india are on agitation path led by sitaram yechyri and co. He is saying that AAI should be asked to modernize the airports. Now I don't understand who was stopping AAI to modernize the airport all these years. Forget modernization, they were not even cleaning up the toilets, customer service is a distant dream.

I can only hope and pray that our able citizens in the West Bengal would defeat these morons in election and teach them a lesson. But then that could just be a dream also.

�� �� ता�� �बर ह� �ि दिल्ल� �र मु�ब� हवा��ड्ड�� �� �धुनि���रण �� लिय� ���द्र सर�ार न� द� नि�� ��पनिय�� �� �ुना ह�| �स�� सुनत� ह� स�ताराम य���र�, ड� रा�ा �र �न�� �म्युनिस्� बन्धु सड़��� पर � �य� �र �ब य� ल�� �ाहत� ह�� �ि हवा� �ड्डा प्राधि�रण ह� �न हवा� �ड्ड�� �ा �धुनि���रण �र�| �न ��ल �� दुश्मन�� �� यह ��न समझाय� �ि �तन� साल�� त� �न सर�ार� �र्म�ारिय�� �� ��न र�� रहा था �पना �ाम �रन� स�| यहा� त� �ि हवा� �ड्ड�� �� सफ़ा� त� नह�� �रत� ह�� य�ह ल��| वामप�थ� दल �भ� भ� यह स��त� ह�� �ि य� सर�ार� स�स्थान �र्म�ारिय�� �� सुविधा �� लिय� बनाय� �य�� ह��| भ�वान भला �र� �स द�श �ा, म�र� त� दिल� �ु�ारिश ह� म�र� ब��ाल� ब�धु�� स�, �स द�श पर दया �र�� �र �न ��ल �� दुशमन�� �� ��ल� �ुनाव म�� हरा द��|

द �ा�म्स �फ़ �न्डिया द�श �ा सबस� बड़ा समा�ार पत्र ह� पर �स�� स�पाद��� �� भ� �� �ल म�र्�ता ह� स�झत� ह�| ��� मुझ� बताय� �स समा�ार �ा �्या मतलब ह�| �स�� पढन� �� बाद त� यह ल�ता ह� �ि �ब सभ� �� �पन� समा�ार पत्र �ुद ह� �ापन� पड़����|

Stupudity of main stream media

See this news article from The Times of India. Can anybody tell me what does the editor of this piece want to convey. This is not news, this is neither fiction. God bless these stupid people sitting in these news paper offices who have basically turned completely idiotic.

�स समा�ार �� पढ �र ए� बात साफ़ ह� �ात� ह� �ि वाम प�थ� दल �ब यह �हत� ह� �ि नवरत्ना �र्ध सर�ार� स�स्थान�� म� विनिव�श �� व� �्य�� �िलाफ़ ह��| वाम प�थ� दल यह �ाहत� ह�� �ि त�न �ार साल म�� त� नवरत्ना �र्ध सर�ार� स�स्थान �ा�� म�� �ा �र �स य��्य ह� नह�� रह��� �ि �न�ा विनिव�श �िया �ा स�� त� सर�ार �्य�� �पना व�्त बरबाद �र रह� ह�| �िस� न� �हा ह� �ि बरबाद �ुलिस्ता� �रन� �� बस ए� ह� �ल्ल� �ाफ़� ह�| ���ाम ए �ुलिस्ता� �्या ह��ा, हर शा� पर �ल्ल� ब�ठ� ह��|

�स समा�ार �� पढन� �� बाद यह बात साफ़ ह� �ात� ह� �ि भारत म�� �तन� दिन�� �� बाद भ� सुर�्षाबल �िस� भ� �त��वाद स� �्रस्त ��ह सफ़लता �्य�� नह�� पा स�� ह��| �ब हम�� ��� यह बताय� �ि ए� म�दिर म�� ब� एस एफ़ �� �िस� स� प��ा ल�न� �� �्या �र�रत थ�|

Nod eludes CBI to nail babus

Saw this interesting news item on times of india. I think there should be some automatic time out in this process. This pocket veto stuff is not good for democracy. The government should either give the permission or reject the permission with valid reasons within stipulated time. This way atleast people would know which side they stand on.

�� �� �� �� पा�� �ात्र�� न� ए� नया रा�न�ति� दल बनाया ह�| �स दल �ा नाम Paritrana (परित्रना/परित्रणा) ह�| �बर त� ��्�� ह� पर यह �म्म�द थ� �ि �� �� �� �� �ात्र �म स� �म ए� दल �ा प्र�ार प्रसार त� ब�हतर तर��� स� �र पाए���| �प� हुए समा�ार म�� �न ल���� स� सपर्� �रन� �ा ��� तर��ा नह� दिया �या ह� �र �स नाम �� web site (www.paritrana.com) �� भ� �िस� �र व्य�्ति न� �र�दा हु� ह� �र �स web site पर �ु� भ� �पलब्ध नह�� ह�| �म स� �म �न ल��� �� पास ए� e-mail address त� ह�ता �िसस� ��र ��� �न ल���� स� सपर्� �रना �ाहता ह� त� �र स��|

�ल सर्व��्� न्यायालय न� बिहार विधान सभा भ�� �रन� �� मामल� म�� ब��ा सिह �� �िलाफ़ बहुत ह� स�्त �िप्पण� �रत� हुए फ़�सला दिया �ि �न�ा �दम ए� विश�ष पार्�� (राष्�्र�य �नता दल) �� ध्यान म�� र�त� हुए लिया �या था �र �स� ��र �ान�न� �रार दिया| �स फ़�सल� �� बाद ��� भ� ��्�तदार न�ता पद स� ह� �ाता �र �पन� �लत� स्व��ार �र ल�ता पर ब��ा सि�ह न� सम्मान स� पद ��ड़न� �� ब�ाय �हा "�ब्ब�स तार�� �� सल�� ल���ा"| ब��ा सि�ह स� �्यादा सम्मानित व�्तव्य त� लाल� प्रसाद यादव �ा था. "�ब सर्व��्� न्यायलय न� फ़�सला द� दिया ह� त� हम �्या �ह��"|

��र �म्म�द �रत� ह�� �ि �ा�्र�स पार्�� �र प्रधान म�त्र� महामहिम ब��ा सि�ह �� बर्�ास्त �र �� �स म�र्�ता �� �त्म �र द����|

Google's hypocrisy

Today I read this news report about google. I am not really a great fan of US government but this one by google sounds bizzare. At one end they are resisting attempts of US government in getting some search related data while on the other hand there seems to be total capitulation in front of chinese government.

This seems like they are ready to fight the US government because they know that is a democracy while in china they are not even willing to fight for sake of markets.

र�डिफ़ म�� �प� �स �र्�ि�ल �� पढन� स� यह साफ़ साबित ह� �ाला ह� �ि पा�िस्तान� ��म �� �प्तान �ा दिमा� �िस� �या ह�| ���माम �ा �हना ह� �ि बि�ार� प�िस्तान� ��म ए� मह�न� �� विश्राम �� बाद म�� ��ल रह� थ� �स लिय� �स�� ���दबा� �धर �धर ���द फ़��� रह� थ�| �न�ा यह भ� �हना ह� �ि �न�� ��म �� पास सहवा� �� लिय� ए� य��ना थ� पर �न�� ��म �स�ा �पय�� नह�� �र पाय� �ब हम �्या बताय��, हमार� पास भ� ए� य��ना ह� �ल�पि� �ा स्वर्ण पद� ��तन� �� लिय� बस हम �स�ा प्रय�� नह� �र पा रह� ह��|

�� बार �र सानिया मिर्�ा �स्�्र�लियन �पन म�� द�सर� रा�ड� म�� हार �य�| �स बार �स� मिश�ला �्रा�िस�� (Michaella Krajicek ) न� स�ध� स���� म�� ६-३ �र ७-५ स� हराया| म�र� त� यह समझ म�� नह�� �ता ह� �ि सानिया �� बार� म�� पत्र�ार ल�� �तना श�र �्य�� म�ात� ह��| ��र �म्म�द �र�� �ि भविष्य म�� पत्र�ार �पन� �प �� सभाल �� र����� �र सानिया �ा प्रदर्शन �सस� थ�ड़ा ब�हतर ह��ा| हम �्या �र��, हम त� सिर्फ़ दु� ह� �र स�त� ह� ��निस ��लना �ता त� �स�� बार� म�� �ु� �रत�|

Sania Mirza out of Australian Open

She did it again. Beaten in second round 6-3, 7-5 by Michaella Krajicek. If my google search was correct Michaella is ranked 43, much lower than Sania. I am somehow getting a feeling that Sania is also more hype than substance. I sure hope that I am wrong.

Sun, Innovation and Business sense

Around one and half years back I saw this cool video where Jonathan Schwartz (I assume I spelt it right) showed off this new technology called looking glass. There were many things that were cool about it but what I found most useful was 3D windows. As a developer I always face the problem of having hundreds of windows open and could never find out what was happening.

I subscribed to the looking glass mailing list hoping that someday I would be able to replace gnome or KDE or windows with looking glass. I got two emails in last one and half years and I assumed that the project is dead or not viable.

Now I see this new item. It seems to be very similar to 3D window idea that looking glass had. Now I fail to understand if it was not viable how could microsoft do it.

At times it looks like sun's hatred of Richard Stallman & Co. is more profound then willingness to make money.

�भ� �भ� विश�ष�्��� �� वि�ार �ु� समय बाद पढन� �ाहिय� �ाव�द मियादाद �� �स �ालम �� पढन� �� बाद ल�ता ह� �ि �न्ह�न� बिना स��� समझ� �पन� वि�ार व्य�्त �रत� समय यह नह�� स��ा �ि यह �ालम ल�� बाद म�� भ� पढ��� �स �ालम म�� (�� �ि शायद भारत-पा�िस्तान �्रि��� श्र�ला �� पहल� म�� �� पहल� या द�सर� दिन लि�ा �या था) �न�ा �हना ह� �ि भारत �� ��्राम� ��ल नह�� ��लना �ाहिय� था म�र� यह समझ म�� नह�� �ता ह� �ि ��र भारत सुर�्षात्म� ��ल ��लता त� यह� विश�ष�्� यह �हत� �ि भारत �� ��्राम� ��ल ��लना �ाहिय� था मियादाद मह�दय न� पा�िस्तान �� बार� म�� त� �भ� �ु� नह�� �हा ह� पर द��त� ह�� ��� �ल �� शायद �ु� वि�ार व्य�्त �र�� फ़िलहाल म�र� हिसाब स� त� भारत�य ��म �ा प्रदर्शन ��थ� दिन त� बहुत बढिया रहा �र ऐसा ह� रहा त� �स ��म स� �स श्र��ला म�� �़ास� �म्म�द�� ह��

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यह �स blog �� �ाल� �रन� �� लिय� पहल� post ह�

Sourav Ganguly and Indian Team

Sourav Ganguly has finally achieved something that no Indian cricketer has been able to achieve till date. Somehow he has put himself in a situation where he gains sympathy from everybody and he does not even have to work for it.

• Before the start of the test match on 13th January, there were rumours that he may be asked to open and on television his fans were already making noise on how it is not fair to the ex-captain.
• Nobody seems to be worried about other players that have to be sacrificed for making sure that Ganguly has a place in team

I am not sure where were these fans of Ganguly when he really did not make any significant runs for close to two years and did not win any matches as captain for a long time.

Sorry state of media

As I was going through my regular set of news paper web sites on this first working day of a brand new year, I saw this link on the home page of economictimes. The title of the page is Rani's changing looks gonna rock '06.


I fail to understand how this is a news. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against film related news items, but how is it a news. This seems more like the wish of the writer and this is the highest selling news paper of the country. What beats me further is the fact that this is supposed to be a business news paper.

I think from now on everybody should just make up their own news paper. It probably would be as good as anything that is around.

Please let them know I exist

Here I stumbled upon a news item in "The Times of India" . The news item is titled CEOs in short supply as India booms. Can somebody please give them my contact numbers. I am really ready to be a CEO and I am pretty sure I would be able to do a decent enought job for them.

I can only wish for that. I don't think this is really going to happen anyway.