Destiny ??

You wake up late in the morning, miss the office bus, run to catch a city bus and miss it by a whisker. U feel sad and disappointed !! Now u grudgingly enter the next bus and wait for what seems like eternity .. Soon by some divine intervention a fly falls into the driver's tea and he decides to chuck the tea and start the bus. Around the middle of the journey, you note a bus broken down on the way side. On looking carefully, it is the very same bus which u had missed at the terminus. U chuck mischieviously as the passengers from that bus hardly find a place to place their foot !! Life has a way of getting even - u think happily. A rude jolt awakens you out of your reverie. The next thing you know is that ur forehead is bleeding badly and you can hardly move ur leg !!! There are loud screams of pain all around. Your eyes close and drift into a dreamless sleep !!

Is the world really flat ??

Couple of recent happenings inspired this post !! The first one was the boycott of Coke in some American Universities bcoz it caused ground water pollution in kerala. The "activists" made this big news and the students unions decided to ban coke from the campuses !! The next one is Indian commerce minister pitching for Mittal's take over of Arcelor !! The honourable minister feels that Europeans are not following Free Trade in the real sense of the word and they are scuttling "Indians" oppurtunites ?? Indian - who mittal ?? I was left scraching my head till the news channels announce that Mittal has a Indian passport and the GOI is proud of it !! The french immediately pointed out that Mittal has business interests all over the Globe except India. There was Rahul Bajaj actively campaigning LNM's cause. The American editor who was also in the show pointed out India's hypocrisy with an apt example. Tommorrow if GE makes a hostile bid for TATA, will the Indians keep quiet ?? Rahul bajaj was left tongue-tied !!

THe next major turning point was the publication of cartoons by the danish newspaper. In days of yore, such a thing would have hardly drawn such "global" attention. Protests if any, would have been confined to the country or maximum Europe. Instead we have places like Pakistan, Lebanon going up in flames in protest !!It warms my heart to see that "Technology" has indeed brough down barriers and made the world a smaller place !! Has it made the world a better place ?? Hmm that's a story for some other day :) :)

PS - Am reading through "The world is Flat" by Tommy Friedman !! Amazing book.. If u not yet woken up to the power of Globalisation, this book would shake u awake and make u sleepless :) :)

Japanese Anyone ??

Your Japanese Name Is...

Shoichi Shijo

What's your Japanese Name?

Wonder why i get a picture of a guy ready to eat :) :)

Governments in Business

This post is inspired by the TamilNadu government's recent move to take over the operations of MSO's like SCV and Hathway. The government's contention is that it would be able to provide better service and reduce the rates to the consumers. Good intentions, no doubt. But history reveals that as a rule - state owned firms are never efficient and competition is the only thing which increases efficiency, drives the prices down and improves Service.

I have often wondered whether i am a Socialist or Capitalist. It's a very difficult choice. There's no bigger example to explain this difference than the banking system in India. India allows foriegn banks and FDI in banking. So with the de-regulation of the economy we had new banks like ICICI Bank which became popular overnight. In any big city, u can observe all these big players - ICICI, StanChart, CitiBank etc comepeting aginst each other, offering newer and easier options(Sometimes unsolicited ones !!) and great service. But if u have a look at the rural scenario, where credit is most important, these banks don't even care a damn(except ICICI, which is making a foray into rural through Self Help Groups). Even the bigger State owned banks think twice or thrice before lending to a poor farmer. Now these farmers are left to the mercy of money lenders who charge sky high interest rates !! The trouble with capitalism and market oriented companies are that, they enter only where it is profitable for them. What about the other oft-neglected areas ?? The telephone industry is another example. There's a stipulation that private operators are to provide service to villages also, faling which they are to deposit money to compensate the losses of BSNL. Is there a solution to this problem - maybe a middle path - Capitalism with a Human Face ??

Ajax , Google and Dot Net 2005

We had a seminar on Dot NEt 2005 in our office.. I had my first look at Dot Net 2005 there .. Man it's amazing !! The attention to details is awesome !! This is definetely going to be a winner.. The speaker briefly touched upon another technology (not a microsoft one) called Ajax. Google has invested in Ajax in a big way. Have u guys seen Google Suggest?? This as well as Gmail are based on Ajax. MS is planning to integrate this technology in the next version of ASP Dot Net. So all ye Dot Net developers rejoice - The future looks very bright indeed !!!

P.S - I am no Microsoft 'Evangelist' !! Though wud love to become one :) :)

Things we do for the sake of the Society !!

After receiving(and sending too) a barrage of mails and sms'es wishing a Happy New Year i started thinking deeply !! How many of the people who wish us do it really from the bottom of their hearts??It's become more of a chore than something with a meaning .. It's more like the Good Morning mail which i daily Forward to G and D to inform that i am present !!All these happy new year, happy pongal, happy diwali messages have become mere lip service these days !! That's probably due to the modern society and the pace at which things move these days .. No one is concerned about the others - more of a rat race in which winning alone matters and nothing else.. So folks, the next time u wish someone happy new year or happy B'day please remember that the wish doesn't matter - but the spirit behind it is what counts !!!

P.S - reminds me of Mahesh and Kottachi(Hari Prasad) shouting 'Govinda Govinda' and genuinely wishing that the buses meet with accidents etc !!! Those were the days !! Rampa - remember Appun and karthikeyan ??

The Hypocrisy of Western Media

It's a known fact that America and Israel have more than a close relationship, but recent events suggest that Europe too is starting to follow in American footsteps. When Ariel Sharon was hospitalised, we had the tamasha of BBC moving it's news anchor to Jerusalem and the news broadcast from there !!! But if my memory serves me rite - no such thing was done when the Tsunami attacked Asia or the killer quake rocked India and Pak !!! The international community stood like a Rock behind Israel. Condoleeza Rice cancelled her trip to Australia and waited for Sharon to recover !!
Far Worse is the plight of African nations - they hardly ever make it to the news bulletins .. The other day we had this article in the HINDU Magazine where it was mentioned that the media panders to the public taste - i.e. they are publishing what people wanna read !! So news stories like the spread of AIDS in Africa, how malaria is killing millions of children in Africa often never make the headlines !! Coz they are not sexy enough !! The other day a reporter remarked - only a million people were killed by the tsunami, but we loose ten times more each year in Africa due to preventable diseases like Malaria !!! But we hardly ever make the headlines !! A sad state of affairs indeed !!