.....beyond the smoke-screens.....

Take action and help the people of Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:41:00 +0000

Subject: Take action and help the people of Haiti

Like millions of people around the world, I've been shocked by the terrible events in Haiti.

Only now is the true scale of the disaster emerging. Reports now suggest as many as 75,000 people may have died, with hundreds of thousands made homeless.

The work ahead to recover from this tragedy is immense. So here's our goal: $1 billion for Haiti. That's how much Haiti owes to the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others.

Sign the petition below to ask Haiti's creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti's debts:

See here or here

http://one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/index.html?rc=haitidebtpaste

As Haiti begins to rebuild we can help by lifting this debt.

Together as ONE we can make a difference!

Thanks!

Nobel prize for Peace..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:39:00 +0000

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

While it may be true that the Committee does have every right to choose who the recipient of the peace prize is going to be, they do need to adduce an acceptable level of credibility to the whole process. It should not under any circumstances lower to the level of a flight of fantasy.

As Siddharth Varadarajan puts it in his blog

The reason for this is not because the world dislikes or distrusts Mr. Obama. Many may or do, but global sentiment towards the new president of the United States still runs largely positive. What is upsetting, however, is the intellectual laziness and political timidity with which the Nobel committee appears to have gone about its exertions.

They should simply have avoided the sweep of negative comments that are being showered the world over (see here here or here and several others).

How should a good blog be.. views from two veterans

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:38:00 +0000

One question that beginners in blogging, and even those with a few years of blogging experience, always look up to the more-experienced for an answer is how should a good blog be.. Here are views from two veteran bloggers - one from Amit Verma (see here), and the other from Prem (see here). .

Google Doodles..the latest and the first

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Google has unveiled a new logo for its search engine to celebrate the anniversary of Hans Christian Ørsted, the Danish physicist and chemist who discovered electromagnetism.

Please see the related news items here. For more details about Hans, please see here.

Google Doodles are specially drawn logos used by Google mainly to to mark holidays, or special events such as birthdays of famous people or other major events.

The first Google Doodle was done in 1999 as a reference to the Burning Man Festival. Larry and Sergey, the founders of Google, put a little stick figure on the home page, and that marked the beginning of doodles!. Reportedly, that was mainly to let people know why no one was in their office in case the website crashed!

These days Google Doodle logos are regularly drawn by Dennis Hwang.

You can see here a video compilation of the notable doodles, over the years..

Hit by a truck which was hit by a train, and yet...

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:31:00 +0000

Lucky him...see the video

Chicken tikka masala..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Ahmed Aslam Ali, a chef whose family owns the Shish Mahal restaurant in Glasgow, recently said he invented the spicy curry in the 1970s. The claim prompted Scottish MPs to seek European Union recognition through a "Protected Designation of Origin", which would put Glasgow's chicken tikka masala on par with Parma's Parmesan cheese or French 'Champagne'.

So goes the news. See here too for details. Indian chefs have dismissed this "claim" as nothing but being preposterous...

Rahul Verma, Delhi's most authoritative expert on street food has a different version to tell! He said that chicken tikka masala is basically a Punjabi dish not more than 40-50 years old and must be an accidental discovery which has had periodical improvisations. He said that he had first tasted the dish in 1971 and that its origins were in Punjab, and not in the United Kingdom or Scotland.

Sarah Palin's resignation speech..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:18:00 +0000

Saw this interesting piece on Sarah Palin's resignation speech through a link from India Uncut. Interesting really it is.. .

Child Beer..?

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Ever heard of Child Beer? Here it is...

(Courtesy PiquantHumor - BD)

If you want to see more of such stuff, see here

Penalties on such frivolities..??

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:52:00 +0000

First read about it in Deepak Iyer's post on Abinav Bhat, the law student from Pune who chose to file a case against Rediff.com. Then also saw a link to the news in Prem Panicker's blog. Abhinav Bhat can rightfully claim his place in history as one of the youngest moral poicemen in our country. Let me now list the probable outcomes of the whole proces:

1) Abhinav Bhatt has gained some fame, and that will linger probably for a few days from now (probably that is what he wanted);
2) Unfortunately, Rediff will have to spend some money seeking legal remedies. Abhinav Bhat "was" a law student when he filed the case in 2000. Now he might be a practicing lawyer now. So, this could be a route for him to get some more free publicity;
3) Apparently this complaint was first filed in June 2000. We can be relieved that it took "only" 9 years to reach this stage.

Oh God, when will the courts in our country start slapping penalties on such frivolities?

Abhaya case charge sheet - Objectionable references?

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:09:00 +0000

Brinda Karat is finding objectionable references to certain of the accused. Please see her letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh on July 23, 2009. While it may be true that any investigating agency should refrain from making insinuations contrary to facts, or those which are obscene, vulgar or unscientific, there are a few aspects to be looked at here carefully.
1) This was a charge sheet filed before a judicial forum, and the judicial officer is expected to be apprised of all the findings of the investigating agency;
(2) This is a document meant to have been discussed by, and inside, the court. It was not meant to be coming within the public domain at least at this stage. The document is surely "leaked" to the press. Can we fault the investigating agency for that?;
(3) Several evidences relating to a crime, including those relating to gory incidents, or obscene acts, are meant to be submitted to the court. Simply because the accused may include women, can the investigating agency not disclose such, if for any reason that disclosure may eventually be found objectionable?;
(4) Is there any reason why such considerations cannot be given to men? Or could it be that the dignity of men can be affronted at will?

(Link given by Manohar via email; thanks Manohar)

Time to redefine 'democracy'?

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:42:00 +0000

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried" - this quote has been ascribed to Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965). Has this model been tested anywhere else before ?

Probably there could have been parallels too, as Deepak Iyer shows here.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:35:00 +0000

I had, much before the 81st award ceremony by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), aired my views on "Slumdog Millionaire" - so this is not going to be a repeat of that. While I am quite happy to congratulate all the Oscar winners from the SDM team, I have to say that I despise certain public statements allegedly made by some of them, or those adduced on them - statements replete with insinuations that winning an Oscar amounts to gaining legitimacy, as if works of art that do not (or until they) receive such awards are illegitimate.

When such statements do come from the likes of A R Rahman, and if he meant to say so with seriousness, then I loathe such statements. Oscar awards are a recognition - no doubt. If one wishes to, it is also a means to go truly international, as one gets noticed by the whole world. The field of vision, within which one had hitherto been working, gets magnified and one's platform becomes bigger and wider. It will also raise one's price tag. But it is important that such recognitions or honours are not taken beyond those areas of reality, where they belong to, into realms of fantasy.

Wikipedia indicates that AMPAS

.... is composed of over 6,000 motion picture professionals. While the great majority of its members are based in the United States, membership is open to qualified filmmakers around the world. As of 2004, the Academy roster included theatrical filmmakers from 36 countries....

Be that as it may, but please bear in mind that apart from those of a few whose names are announced in AMPAS web-site, we do not yet know the credentials of 98% of these 6,000 plus members (mostly American as AMPAS have admitted). Therefore, if one does a plain-speak, this should be seen as an award chosen by this 6,000 AMPAS members - supposedly by voting.

Interestingly, I was taken to the web-site (through a link provided by Shri B R P Bhaskar in his blog) of "New American Media" where they have publicised the interview which their editor Sandip Roy had with Danny Boyle. More than the interview itself, what struck me most was the Editor's note for this item. The note reads

Editor's Note: "Slumdog Millionaire" is the underdog that did make it to the top with eight Oscars. The film about a young slum kid rising to the top of the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is as much a rags-to-riches story as it is about an India that's changing before our eyes...

How come SDM is an underdog? Is it because it is supposedly depicting the story of underdogs? Does it mean that if the storyline is about kings, the story will be deemed royal status? Or is it that if the movie is about India, it needs necessarily to be deemed an underdog? Forget about all that, how has this poorly-crafted, mediocre, script come to represent India's changing face? Does it mean India's is a similar rags-to-riches story? Were we the equivalent to a slum until the turn of this century?

I don't intend to discredit the awards that SDM or its makers have received. However, shouldn't there be at least an attempt to look at things in perspective and to keep things tied to realistic moorings. Let Oscars remain where such awards rightfully belong. But for God's sake, let that not be seen as something that legitimises a work of art. Going Biblical, as Matthew (22:21) says “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s", but let's not forget that God should also give us the wisdom to know the difference...

Tailpiece: If SDM could get 8 awards, can anyone give one cognisable, sensible reason why a movie like Lagaan, which had much superior story line, direction, and action, did not receive at least one award?

Save Turtle Project by Greenpeace against the Tatas

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:22:00 +0000

This post of mine is prompted by a post by Shri B. R. P. Bhaskar (link here) throwing light on the concerted campaign by 'Greenpeace' to save the turtles which are threatened by Tata’s port project works at Dhamra, Orissa.
The Hindu (May 27, 2008) reports..

The project has received all statutory clearances including the environment clearance from the Government of India and the No objection certificate from the Pollution Control Board of the state. This clearance has been challenged before the National Environment Appellate Authority on certain grounds including its effect on the endangered olive ridley turtles for which the Orissa coast is the largest nesting site in the world. Speaking to The Hindu, Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace said, “There are concerns regarding the loss of turtles during the dredging process and also the impact the lighting in the port will have on the turtles. Also, with other industries that will subsequently come up in the region, will no doubt have an impact on the turtles.” It is estimated that only one in a hundred turtle hatchlings survive anyway.

Greenpeace press release dated May 31, 2007 reads as follows..

The Dhamra port will be located in an ecologically sensitive area, 5 km. from the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary and less than 15 km. from the Gahirmatha nesting beaches, the world’s largest mass nesting site for Olive Ridley turtles. Given the sensitive nature of the location, it is essential that the EIA be scientifically credible, accurate, detailed and unbiased, but Greenpeace has found that it fails on all these fronts.

“This EIA is a totally inadequate tool when it comes to gauging the port’s environmental impacts,” said Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace. “The main flaws relate to poor baseline ecological data, a complete omission of the impacts on turtles, impacts of noise and chemical pollution and a poor hazard analysis and emergency plan. To top it all, the EIA considers a port site that is completely different from the one currently being developed!”

This is yet another report from Business Standard..

Despite assurances by the Tatas that an 'independent' assessment will be done, not only that the study has not been commissioned yet, it is that the project is progressing at a quick pace as well. This is something totally unacceptable..

Valentine's day, moral policing and beyond..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Quite a lot of discussions have already been aired on the issues of Mangalore pub incident, Valentines day and the like..I believe a time has come, rather, the moment of truth has arrived, for our society, or people like you and me to take stock of the muck, the absolute non-sense that is going around us in the guise of guarding or protecting Indian culture. Self-appointed cultural guardians and moral police-men abound all around us - professing what is Indian culture and what it is not, in that process forcing themselves on us. They do that unabashedly, in wanton disregard of the norms that a progressive society ought to be endowed with, and in pure shameless arrogance - mostly backed up by the muscle power of the lumpen elements in the society.

Apart from the brazenness of their recent act (at the Mangalore pub) of hitting young girls, molesting them or outraging their modesty, only for the reason that they chose to go to pubs and have a drink or two (which, per my understanding, is not against any law of the land), the one thing that stands out for its sheer audacity is that they chose to attack the girls after inviting several camera men to record what they were intending to do. Just think about it - to hit and cause serious injuries on young girls hardly out of their teens in full view of the nation, and this, in my view, makes their act much graver. It is no different from culpable homicide, doing something wrong with absolute cognizance of the extent of lawlessness that they are committing.

We have for the last few years been witnessing the outrageous acts which such elements had been resorting to, to express their vehement opposition to Valentine's day, and such other events which youngsters would like to celebrate but which these self-styled moral policemen and policewomen dub as blatant maligning of Indian culture. It has reached a crescendo when they announced that they will marry the young couples off, if they are seen together on the Valentine's day. The most-condemnable irony in this whole process of the so-called "protection of Indian culture" is that they themselves haven't chosen to check if what they are doing is within the confines of the very culture which they are trying to protect, or to take it a step further, to shield from "extraneous interferences and influences"..

This is audacity on its extreme, and as a society, we should not let this happen. There are has to be a collective uprising against such unwanted and dastardly actions, because it inhibits what is inscribed and enshrined in our constitution. It inhibits our liberties and freedom to do what is lawful, what is legal, what is allowed by various bodies of law, and above all, what is not against the peaceful progression of a society, its mores and values. We as a society do know what the "mores and values" of our society are, and we should not let certain lumpen fascist elements (who are unfortunately amongst us) to define them for us. We as a society need to realise that such brash acts are given outright condemnation and contemptuous rejection.

Whether I'd send gifts or cards to someone on Valentine days, or chose to go to pubs with my girl friends in my younger days is not a criterion at all here. I chose to either do it or not do it, because that was within the confines of my personal freedom - no one coerced me into doing or not doing such. But what my younger friends in this country choose to do should be subject to their freedom and liberty, and not determined by the dictates of some goondas, just because they define themselves as the saviours of our culture.

I find that there are collective voices that have come up against these, and I congratulate them for their dare in standing up to such brutalities and inanities. A facebook group called "Consortium of pub-going, loose and forward women" has organised a novel "Pink Chaddi" campaign in Bangalore (link here), and the aim of this hilarious campaign is to fill the Sree Ramasena offices with thousands of pink chaddis. Pink chaddi is a symbol here - symbolic of the anger, annoyance, resentment, rage and fury of female-hood, woman-hood of our society.

There is another campaign called "Stand Up to Moral Policing"based in New Delhi (link here), and they are planning to stage demonstrations in Delhi. In their blog, they explain that their campaign is all about "standing up for our constitution and civil liberties, and about opposing the use of violence in public life", and they have chosen to protest on the Valentine's Day because of its symbolic value.

I in all my sincerity wish the very best for both these, and any similar, campaigns. And I would urge on those who are able to go to take part in these campaigns to do so whole-heartedly. I also request them to take these protests beyond just these issues - as they have written in their blog

...The real issues are actually pretty mundane, but they are arguably the most significant: access to water, to toilets, to affordable food, to education, and to primary health care. But being cowed down by these mobs of goondas, either because of our apathy or fear, will ensure that the youth never get down to thinking about these important things....

Let these campaigns meet with success, and as written by Amit Verma in his blog 'India Uncut', it is not just about Pink Chaddis, it is about our freedom, it is about our liberty....

Tail-piece: I have written about this in my blog in Malayalam, my mother-language, (link here) and one request to the Pink Chaddi campaigners that I have made in that blog post is that in case they get sarees in return for the chaddis, as Sree Rama Senaites have claimed they will do, (here) please distribute those sarees among the poor. Let hat the monkey-crowd (no offence meant to monkeys here) or their mahila wing does will be of some benefit to the needy..

Slum Dog Millionaire... through a viewer's lens

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Feels a bit strange to come out after being "snowed under" - hibernating - for a good length of time - the ciliary muscles of the brain probably may take a bit longer to adjust to the luminescence of blogging..
************************************

Had been to see 'Slumdog Millionaire' a day ago. Basking in the lime light of glory, bathed in the choicest of superlatives by reviewers, the film rides on a high - both in critical acclaim and at the box office, probably the world over. But to be honest, I am a bit lost now, strained for words that will best describe my feel..

"...This is a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating at the same time, about a Mumbai orphan who rises from rags to riches on the strength of his lively intelligence. The film's universal appeal will present the real India to millions of moviegoers for the first time....'

Writes an acclaimed critic...

"..It is a Dickensian tale set in a merciless, mesmerizing city with no time for minor detailing quibbles, with characters speaking not as they naturally would but as the madcap narrative demands, and reality itself breathlessly bending over backwards to accommodate the frenzied energy of Anthony Dod Mantle's disarmingly honest camera...".

Writes another, and let me be honest - I'm lost. Having been through this movie, I asked myself this question several times - where would this movie calibrate itself, when pitched against an array of brilliantly cast movies - a few of those not being able to catapult itself into the world of fame notwithstanding. I threw that question upon myself as I do firmly believe that any creative work will find its own slot, its own niche. It will position itself where it rightly belongs - like water finding its level.

Incontinence of the critical acclaims, syndicated reviews and journalistic narratives notwithstanding, IMO 'Slumdog millionaire' is certainly not a great movie - an above-average movie at best. It is a 'Micheal Bevan' in the world of the celluloid - may have grossed millions of greenback at the box office, but lacks in the poise, the grace, and the class that a piece of art at higher levels of greatness, superlative levels of creativity (which this movie is attempted to be placed at) ought to have. Yes - the production quality is excellent, the framing by Anthony Dod Mantle is superb, the sound recording is good, the editing pattern is "differently" different etc., but do such things by themselves make a movie - or 120 minutes of celluloid frames that, for its very existence, essentially rely on human eyes' persistence of vision - a stand-out creation? Those are integral components of a good cinema, yes admitted - but they do not by themselves make up the 'whole'? There is that uncanny knack, that a movie-maker ought to get a handle on, of getting the right blend of creative contributions from several people and of being able to mix them up in the crucible of one's own creative fire, that results in a good movie - in a way no different from 2 parts of hydrogen combining with one part of oxygen to form one measure of water. The molecular organics of a good movie remains similar - neither abundance nor scarcity of its constituent elements will get it right.

I once again introspect - am I being unfair to the creators of this movie if I write such? Probably yes, if I just end the post here, without writing a few lines about my 'why's..Why do I think SDM is perhaps over-rated, and not substantially worthy of the acclaims that are being showered on it.

The most singular, perhaps the stand-out, reason, IMO, where SDM did not get it right is the brittle, fragile story-line of its. There could be a sparkles in patches, but it falls way short of the brilliance of a story line that gives the movie the strongest back bone. Vikas Swarup, a career diplomat by profession, is the original author (see here). I haven't read this novel of his, so am unable to comment on it, but his web-site indicates that changes have been made on, or adaptations have been done to , his story, and probably expectedly so. In fact, that he himself admits that it is hard for any author to be completely happy with adaptations done to his story speaks for itself. A few patches - to list some:

The movie opens with scenes in which various kinds of torture are being perpetrated on Jamal Malik. In which country is this taking place? India - of all places? Come on - gimme a break.. can anyone imagine a contestant of a popular TV show, on the verge of creating history, being whisked away by the police on suspicion that he was cheating? That too in a place like Mumbai almost enveloped by the prowling vulturous eyes of print-media, visual-media, citizen journalists, what not - leave alone members of the public?
The producer of the show chooses to remain a mute helpless witness to the entire sequence, without being able to do anything, without an iota of thought as to what happens to the shoot the next day??? What kind of TV producer is him??
Jamal Malik, an 18 year old, being tortured to the third degree for the whole night and then being released the next day - that is to say in captivity for almost 24 hours, but he remains fresh as a cucumber for the shoot .. after such torture including electrocution in high voltage? Can the script writer go to such ridiculous levels?
Can you ever imagine for a TV show like this, that the host PremKumar, the celluloid hero that he is shown to be, tries to make fun of Jamal - saying he is chaiwala, etc. etc.?
If it is "his show" as he is shown murmuring to himself, for what reason on earth is he trying to do all this?
Does the scrip writer try to imply that PremKumar is slowly falling jealous on Jamal - else what else explains his animosity - subdued and innate though, towards Jamal? Can anyone pick out a reason why the host of a popular show, besides being a popular actor himself, shows such malice towards a young boy, who happens to be born in the slums and has the job as a call-centre assistant?
Even assuming that PremKumar believes Jamal is cheating, does he have at least a shred of an evidence to give a secret tip-off to the police? Will, or can the police, take the boy into custody without any provable, cognizant crime having been perpetrated? Which police will extend such kind of custodial toture, with none whosoever seeming to have filed any complaint?
A host of factual errors line up in the script, which is indeed unpardonable, the notable among them being the song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Naath" being shown attributed to 16th century poet "Kavi Surdas", whereas it was written by Shri Gopal Singh Nepali for the movie Narsi Bhagat (1957).
This link will in fact present a number of goof ups that the script has made - both major and minor.

We can possibly go on and on, but to me the point is already made. A script with so many of holes is simply pedestrian, but a mountain is being made out of this mole - that is where I think the problem lies. One does not need to show nauseating scenes to imbibe and inject such a feel into viewer's minds. If a movie has to evoke a feel of "reality" is it a must that the so-called "realistic" scenes need to be interjected into the movie like that scene in which a constipated young Jamal goes through a long defaecation process and thereafter taking a full dive into the pot of human faeces with his nosedrills closed with one hand, to have a glance of "Amitabachan" ? What was that scened supposed to be conveying - I don't have a clue really!!!

There are films that have attempted at selling poverty and slum life to the overseas audiences for obvious gains. I hate to believe that this is one such movie, but be that as it may, my stance is vehemently opposed to doing so with pretensions - under the guise of pretended greatness. Film making is a sublime art that needs deft touches, sensitive eyes, superlative artistry, and above all unqualified honesty and intelligence. It is indeed an art to translate feelings of agony, pathos or happiness into celluloid frames by reflecting such emotions as undercurrents or shades permeating through the frames, and make the viewers feel such emotions. Doing that by over-playing emotions is sheer mediocrity.

Mediocrity is not a crime, but pretension is beyond pardon - to me..

Annual web-log awards.. Plea for vote....!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:46:00 +0000

It has been more than a month of hybernation now...!!!

Let me get back to blogging with a request for your help. As most of you may be aware, voting for the annual weblog awards is currently underway. In fact, the polling will be closed tomorrow January 13, 2009, which means only two days (today inclusive) remain. Voting is online; anyone can vote, subject to one vote per every 24 hours.

India Uncut, the very popular blog by Mr. Amit Varma, is the only nomination from India in the category for best Asian blogs. 'India Uncut' was leading the poll until yesterday by which time another blog started going up on the vote count, somewhat mysteriously.

Seek your wholehearted help - at least 2 votes per person remain, and they may prove to be extremely valuable now..

Here's the link.

The real reason behind 26/11 attacks - a marxian perspective..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:00:00 +0000

In the earlier days, this was a role meant to have been played by EMS. He had the uncanny knack of providing a political or philosophical cover for any and every damn position taken by the Communist Party (Marxist), such that even the "most stupidest" of their political positions gets a dialectical outfit...

Now that role is on Sitaram Yechuri... and he struggles to do justice to his role. Please see this, and be enlightened that the "real" reason behind the 26/11 attacks is the Indo-US nuclear deal..

The CPM on Thursday sought to link signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal with the Mumbai terror strikes, alleging that the country has been exposed to "new dangers" with the signing of the pact.

"What brought the terrorist outfits to our shores? With the Indo-US nuclear deal you are seen as an ally of the US, a strategic partner. There seems to be a total lack of appreciation of this thought from the government's side," CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Rule 49 O - myths and the fact..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:39:00 +0000

One story that is going rounds through the cyber-space, be they discussion forums, blogs, groups, or email networks, at an increasing frequency lately - particularly after the recent Bomaby terrorist attacks, is the one about Rule 49 O of the "Constitution of India" (which in some emails read 1969 Act of the constitution!!!). The story runs generally thus. It looks a bit bizzare that people genuinely took to this rather mal-intentioned story without batting an eye lid. The least that could have been done was to check if there is indeed an Article numbered 49 O in our constitution, and if yes what does it deal with.

Let's see what the actual facts are:

First of all, this Rule 49 O forms part of "Conduct of Election Rules" 1961. The clause is reproduced below.

49-O. Elector deciding not to vote.-If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumbimpression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.

Full compendium of these rules can be obtained from this link. A write-up about this provision that appeared in The Hindu a few years ago can be seen here.

The wrong impression that was meant to be perpetrated by this hoax email can be illustrated by the following example. Let's assume that in an election, candidate A gets 200,000 votes and candidate B gets 200,123 votes, and the total number of 'no votes' asper Rule 49O comes to 124. Then as per this story, the entire election exercise would be cancelled, repolling ordered and the candidates would be disqualified for 6 years. This notion is wrong - it has no basis absolutely.

At least the perpetrators should have given a more plausible interpretation that if the rejections i.e. 49 O 'no votes' exceed the total number of votes polled, then a re-election needs to be ordered, and the candidates do not have the right to contest again. This is on the premise that more voters have rejected the candidates than the number of voters who have supported them. For example, candidate A gets 200,000 votes, candidate B gets 200,123 votes, but 'no votes' per rule 49O come to 450,000. Then it would have made a better, more credible stroy - without any basis though.

The Election Commission of India, on being made aware of such stories doing the rounds, has come up with a proper clarification on the subject, which you can read here. Please also see the narrative on Wikipedia. "Technology Law India" clarifies thus. An excerpt from their clarification is as follows:

Rule 49-O falls under the Chapter II of Part IV of the Rules which was introduced in 1992 and deals only with voting by electronic voting machines or EVMs. The remark referred to here is an offline entry by the presiding offer (accompanied by the voter’s signature) to record the fact that a vote was not electronically recorded even though the voter had registered in the register of voters. This would allow reconciliation of mismatches arising from a situation where you have lesser votes polled in the machines than the names entered and signed in the register of voters. There is no provision for polling to be cancelled based on the number of 49-O votes.

From another perspective, it can be seen that there is a fundamental flaw as well in this rule. If a voter has opted for Rule 49 (O), then that fact will be known to everyone in the polling station. That is, the 'secret' ballot will no longer be 'secret' ballot. Even the courts are prevented from knowing a voter's choice of candidate under section 94 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1954. It could therefore be that this provision may not stand the test of law, if challenged in a court of law and subjected to legal scrutiny. In fact a petition by the People's Union for Civil Liberties seeking such provision for negative votes is still pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.

It may also be interesting to note that the Election Commission of India through a letter written in 2004 by the then Chief Election Commissioner of India, Mr. T S Krishnamurthy to the Government of India recommended adding a button called 'No Voting' in the Electronic Voting Machines or adding a column in the ballot paper for 'No Voting', so that firstly voters will have that chice, and secondly any such 'No-Vote' decision by the voter remains a secret. The Government of India, as expected, has not taken a decision on it yet (and will not likely to, in the future, as well).

See excerpt from the ECI letter to the Central government:

[Quote]

7. NEGATIVE / NEUTRAL VOTING

The Commission has received proposals from a very large number of individuals and organizations that there should be a provision enabling a voter to reject all the candidates in the constituency if he does not find them suitable. In the voting using the conventional ballot paper and ballot boxes, an elector can drop the ballot paper without marking his vote against any of the candidates, if he chooses so. However, in the voting using the Electronic Voting Machines, such a facility is not available to the voter. Although, Rule 49 O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 provides that an elector may refuse to vote after he has been identified and necessary entries made in the Register of Electors and the marked copy of the electoral roll, the secrecy of voting is not protected here inasmuch as the polling officials and the polling agents in the polling station get to know about the decision of such a voter.

The Commission recommends that the law should be amended to specifically provide for negative / neutral voting. For this purpose, Rules 22 and 49B of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 may be suitably amended adding a proviso that in the ballot paper and the particulars on the ballot unit, in the column relating to names of candidates, after the entry relating to the last candidate, there shall be a column None of the above, to enable a voter to reject all the candidates, if he chooses so. Such a proposal was earlier made by the Commission in 2001 (vide letter dated 10.12.2001).

[Unquote]

Aggression in the field - a few stray thoughts..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:27:00 +0000

October 2008 had been a special month on many counts - the most notable among them, apart from the successful launch of Chandrayan, being the following:

1) Vishwanathan Anand regaining (retaining) his crown;
2) Sachin Tendulkar becoming the leading run getter in the Test & ODI versions of cricket;
3) Saurav Ganguly choosing to retire at the end of the current Indo-Australian series;
4) Anil Kumble retiring from international cricket

The coincidence of all these happening at about the same time is not the topic that I've chosen to dwell on. Instead, as a number of writers have already commented recently, it will be interesting to have a look at the on/off-field behaviour of these dignified champions, and possibly check if there is any correlation of their conduct on and off the filed with their actual performances. The moot question is - does one need to be overtly aggressive or arrogant in the field, in order to be a champion material? Can a gentleman choose to remain a gentleman and maintain his dignity but at the same time continue to be a champion or continue to tread all the way up to his or her stardom?

In the world of tennis, it was in the early eighties that Martina Navratilova came into the spot light, eclipsing the charming aura of Chris Evert. In the late eighties Steffi started on her ascendancy. When I used to watch the live telecast of Steffi versus Martina matches in those days, I used to wonder why Martina gets so charged up after beating Steffi - who was just a kid less than half her age at those times - who always used to exude a charm of vulnerability all around her even in her peak. As a strong contrast to Martina, Steffi's victory celebrations always used to be rather muted, with a relieved smile all around her face - a very dignified stance most of the times..

I used to enamoured of what Steffi does, as compared to Martina's gesticulations. Show one's relative superiority in one's performance, not in all other kinds of showing off, during the match or post-match. Does one need to be overtly aggressive and nauseatingly arrogant always declaring "I'm the best", to be a winner? Can't one be quiet, gentle, dignified and organised in sports?

As some of the articles that I have provided links for in my previous post, chess, of all games, was meant to be a game where contestants ought be boisterous and showing explicit animosity and contempt to the fellow contestant. They should always throw bad language and foul exclamations at the other - such was the practice. With a few exceptions though. In my child hood days, I used to follow the Spasky Fischer matches (1972) which was held in Iceland's capital Reykjavik. In those days, we had to rely on newspaper reports obviously, and I used to remember reports which indicated that Fischer, the freak genius that he was, used to be a bit crazy, sometimes. Bursting out that Spasky was hypnotizing him etc., was an example of his worst tantrums. But I understand that Boris Spasky was a gentleman, so much so that in the previous tournaments that they used to play one another, he used to go to Fischer's room, which used to be as disorganised a room can be, take him out to the swimming pool, and tried to make Fischer relax a bit. I used to read that after such positive interventions by Spaksy, Fischer's record of winning over Spasky used to go up!! A rarity that can only be dreamt about in these days,I say!!!

All the four gentlemen whose names I have written in the first paragraph have proved that one can be dignified and gentle while remaining champions in their own areas. One may have a view or two in divergence in his feel about Saurav's conduct, but I disagree. He was all energy, demonstrative sometimes, totally different, and might have been forceful, but his conduct was never undignified, or non-gentlemanly or even arrogant. I'd say that vis-a-vis Australia he was only showing to keep our heads high, and never to be servile. Being servile used to be the norm, rather than the exception, with our team, most of the times in the earlier days and it was at such times Saurav showed his own way to counter that.

Dignity will be remembered for ever, while histrionics will tend to be laughed at more often than not, except possibly for rare cases of freak geniuses such as John McEnroe. Such geniuses are rare in his history - so very rare that those others who wish to blindly emulate such behaviour should have the common sense and intellect to understand that unless they have such elements of genius within them they will soon fall by the way side and obviously into the oblivion..

Lord of the universe..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:49:00 +0000

Now the turn has come to salute yet another genius - Vishwanathan Anand, the champion who is all smiles at all times. The person who has proved to the world that one can be a superstar and world champion in chess, without having to be rough, ill-mannered, overtly aggressive, and indulging in 'hate-speak' at all times. Whenever he is seen on TV or in the press, a smiling cheerful face is probably what strikes us the most..The ruffians that champion chess players ought to be is a belief, certainly a wrong one at that, that is unfortunately rooted deep in the psyche of many a chess-player - not fortunately in the part of the world where we hail from, but in many other parts of the world. Please see the related report in Times of India, and the blog post of Prem Panicker (from 'Smoke Signals'), from where I got this TOI link.

Let me salute the champion, one more time.. May there be many more laurels coming your way, Anand - we're proud of you..

About the girl child - cry thy beloved country..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:35:00 +0000

This morning, or more correctly some time in between late last night and this morning, at some point when brain slips to a kind of delirium, when images that we have seen past but can't be irretrievably relegated to the inner folds of memory start circling around you, I was thinking of the girl child.. ..Just the other day, while coming back from a business travel, my co-passenger was a girl surely past her teens and possibly into her mid twenties..a very intelligent girl - not the type who is absolutely oblivious of things happening outside of her county, leave alone her country..very sweet and smart, who one would wish had been his or her daughter ..Her first destination was Kathmandu, possibly a Himalayan trek, and then the next few weeks in our homeland..she told me she'd love to travel all over India.

That return flight was a journey of close to 7 hours, and she slept for half the time...and was taking notes from a book when not asleep..probably making preparations for her trip I thought..

One question she did not ask me was about how safe would a girl just past her teens be in India, alone.. probably it is her own surroundings, the nature of her environs or what she'd have seen all around her while growing up, that made her not ask that question.. or she may have been in the know..but if she were to ask that question, what answer should I have given..?

And this morning I happened to read this..coincidental or not, I can't say either way..

Your words, Babita, somehow pierce into my heart..and surely it bleeds..when you write 'bodies lusted and whisked away in the name of love', I shudder to think it could be anyone's dear daughter, lovely sister who a father and a mother would have grown by giving love beyond what they could... but looking at her being disrobed and raped, the collective conscious of the society feigns to be attentive while talking about the stock exchange or TV serials with nauseating detachment.. yes - it is a collective betrayal on what I'd tend to believe, or what my upbringing has taught me to believe, as world's most wonderful creation..

Looking at the whole thing with a kind of impassioned detachment, I'd tend to believe that ours is a society which is hypocrisy personified in the truest sense of the term.. God's own country - it is made out to be. True, it made a good copy for the ad world , but does it mean anything to us? Society which imbibes relief when "my husband/my wife/my children" (sorry - parents not included) are safe, even when our neighbour has lost his entire family.. when our next door neighbour gets physically attacked in broad day light, we tend to close our front door and look at our wrist watch to see if it is time for the 5.30 serial..we have political parties, why political parties we have a reigning Chief Minister at the moment, who outsmarted anyone else in conveniently using the plight of the girl child to ride a popular wave and snatch a political victory, then only to forget the agonies of the girl child and relegate several of those police cases into the convenient oblivion of our collective conscious..

As a society, we have not seen a war being fought..except dawn to dusk strikes and harthals.... We have never seen even a fraction of the agonies of our freedom struggle, or taken part in any kind, yet ashamedly courageous enough declare before the masses in a self congratulatory mode the fruits of our incessant struggle..what has been our collective contribution to any cause, except certain isolated works by individuals - I wonder..

Cry thy beloved country..what else.. at least let your sins get washed off by your tears (unless they are not induced by glycerine)..

Thanks Babita for the strikingly forceful and violently forthright writing..

Sachin crosses Brian Lara's record!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:10:00 +0000

As I write this, the fire-crackers at Mohali haven't yet gone mute.. and let me salute that great cricketer Sachin Ramesh Tandulkar for the feat that he's achieved in the first over after tea against Australia on day 0ne (October 17, 2008)..He has gone past Brian Lara in becoming the highest run getter in Test cricket. Now he holds all the big four records in cricket - highest run getter in Test cricket, highest run getter in One-Day International cricket, maximum number of centuries in Test cricket and maximum number of centuries in One-Day International cricket...

A big feat that...something which could get broken at some time in the future, but not an easy one to get over at that..!!!

Let me join the cricketing world, the cricketing fraternity and my fellow Indians in lauding his feat...

Why pamper industries at the cost of agriculture? A Tata example..

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:45:00 +0000

It was more than a decade and a half ago, in 1992 to be precise, that I happened to hear an economist speak on 'sustainable integrated balanced development'. Just to reminisce, that was the beginning of the globalisation phase of India, probably just before India Inc. started receiving the limelight, or shall I say more positively skewed share of focus, from the powers that be. The internet boom had not yet started its ascendancy. We had just survived the fall outs from the liberation of Kuwait and the (first) Iraq war by Mr. Bush, the Senior. It was only a few months prior to that, that we'd been through the the Indian Express expose on the pawning of gold by our government under the stewardship of the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who was at that time with the Janata Dal (his pre-BJP days). Dr. Manmohan Singh (MMS) had unveiled his first budget. P. Chidambaram was commerce minister at that time. IMF doctrines had just began its influence on governmental policies.

This sets out the back drop.

It may be just coincidental that the 'economist-speak' (which I have referred to in the opening paragraph) was in Calcutta, in Narendrapur to be more precise. It took place during a refresher course which I was attending in my then employer's training complex at Narendrapur. Among several interesting things which he shared with us, he recounted his student days at the famed Delhi School of Economics, particularly the discussions that took place with MMS himself. He was tangentially indicating that there was a gradual shift since then in the economic postulates of Dr. MMS, compared to where he was in his DSE days, and he tried to make out a case that that was possibly due to the 'learning unlearning' process he subjected himself to in his is days at Washington. He (our speaker) felt that MMS got catapaulted to a totally different kind of doctrinated pedestal after his stint with the IMF.

Let us come back to our theme. His (our speaker's) one question was - why should we give primacy to industries and particularly so, at the cost of agriculture? His argument was that stimulated economic growth derived from enhanced industrial growth in a manner out-pacing agriculture may be less meaningful to a country like India. Politicians after politicians speak about the fortunes of industrialisation, but do not spare even an iota of thought on agriculture. Unless we have a sustainable environment-friendly integrated and balanced development where the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors are given balanced focus, it can only help widen the rift between the rich and the poor. As the saying goes, how does the rich becoming richer help the poor who is left with only one option - to become only poorer. Increase in the number of millionaires is by no means a good measure of what real development is. This was the crux of his rather thought provoking speech.

However, it is nothing but a bare fact that the story is no different irrespective of whether the state is ruled by the left or the right or those who take a middle path. Let us take the Tata project which was supposed to have gone to fruition in Singur. Have we spared a thought on how much financial assistance was promised to the Tatas by the Left-controlled WB government?Here's a snap shot of some of the "highlights" of the deal.

Tata's investment supposedly ~ Rs. 1500 Crore.

Heavily subsidised lease of ~1000 acres of land to the Tata on an express way, supposedly worth upwards of Rs. 600 Crore. Here's what a 'Rediff' report says

Incidentally, land for the factory had also been provided at a subsidised rate with 645 acres being provided to Tata Motors at Rs 1 crore a year against market rate of Rs 19.3 crore a year in that area, and with 290 acres being provided for the vendor and related facilities units at Rs 23 lakh a year against a market rate of Rs 8.7 crore a year. This excluded the cost of acquisition of the land pegged at around Rs 120 crore.

Concessional power @ more than half of the rates charged to any high tension industrial unit, and promise of offset should the tariff increase by more than 25 paisa per KwH.

Soft loan to Tatas of Rs. 200 crore loaned within two months of inking the MoU in May, 2006 at an interest rate of 1% per annum repayable 21 years thence, in five equal installments. By way of aside, please do a small calculation how much this amount would grow to, if invested as an FD in a bank. On interest subsidy alone, this would mean something like Rs. 25 crores a year.

Reimbursement by WB government of Central Excise Duties that Tata pays for 10 years.

Reimbursement by WB government of all corporate income taxes in full for first five years and 30% for next five years payable by Tata.

All sales taxes i.e.VAT and CST collected by the Tata Motors from the customers to be kept with the Tatas for 31 years at an interest rate of 0.1% per annum!!!

Reimbursement by WB government of the loan interest payable by the Tatas to build the project. A 'Yahoo' group report reads thus:

This can be described in very simple words that who ever buys any car and pays
taxes on that, the money is retained by Tatas for thirty years and instead of
depositing in the exchequer within 45 or 90 days, will deposit after 31 years.
If the amount of money that the Tatas will retain during the thirty years, it
will amount to huge sums of money to which 1500 crore will look pigmy.

In addition to the above, the government would have had to open new sections within the government secretariat, only to run separate accounts for this project keeping in view the accounting complications involved in the deferment of loans, reimbursements etc. explained in the foregoing..

My initial thought on reading the related reports is - who cannot be starting and running a project given the sops and incentives? Is the public aware of all these? It is nothing but an absolute shame that nobody speaks about any of these, but will outrun the other in fixing the blame squarely on Ms. Mamta Banerjee, who for whatever reasons chose to speak for the farmers. She may have had her own political agenda behind it, but can that reason mask the facts behind the deal? And to get what benefit - tangible or intangible - in return?

More details about these here and here. Those who are inclined can read on...

PS: It will be interesting to do some research on the specifcs behind the likes of this - say the 'Smart City' project in Kerala, and see if similar things come up there as well.....

Impudence - but can that go to this extent?

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:37:00 +0000

Amidst the turmoils that we are witnessing day by day in the financial world, who would have expected that the American International Group (AIG) would dare throw a party at a Californian resort to celebrate US Government's bailout of their group with tax payer's money?

Please see what AIG officials have done (here) and some reactions to it (here)

WASHINGTON — Less than a week after the federal government had to bail out American International Group Inc., the company sent executives on a $440,000 retreat to a posh California resort, lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown said Tuesday.

The tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees at the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy.

The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers were still enraged over thousands of dollars spent on catered banquets, golf outings and visits to the resort's spa and salon for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.

"Average Americans are suffering economically. They're losing their jobs, their homes and their health insurance," House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., scolded. "Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation."

Some gory details of the spend...

Here is your hard earned tax dollars at work....

$139,375.30 for rooms. $147, 301.71 for "banquets." $1,488 for the Vogue Salon, which features manicures, pedicures and hairstyling. $6,939.09 on golf. $2,949 for tips. $5,016.32 at the Stonehill Tavern. $3,064.71 for in-room dining and the lobby lounge. That's part of the $440,000 bill from a recent weekend bash that an American International Group Inc. subsidiary threw for its top performers ........

Research versus Cruelty versus Ethics

noreply@blogger.com (Harikrishnan:ഹരികൃഷ്ണൻ) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:15:00 +0000

Quite difficult a topic this. However, in a moral crisis, we can't but be taking sides for "..the hottest place in the hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in a moral crisis" (some say this is a quote by Dante Alighieri, and some say this quote never appeared in his works, but is an interpretation given by JFK who had a great liking for this quote)..

Is it not to cruel to do this to those closest to human beings? Please read on..

In the animal kingdom, you can't get closer to humans than chimpanzees since we share around 99 percent of the same DNA. For proponents of animal testing, that genetic proximity makes chimps prime "human models" to help find cures for the viruses and diseases that plague us. On the other hand, because they exhibit remarkably human traits, opponents believe testing and captive research represent forms of cruelty....