Shripad's blog

'Nobody has proved that Ram did not exist' and `Preferences and prejudices'

2007-10-01T15:45:00.000+02:00

This news round-up consists of two very welcome articles.

The first concerns this very balanced interview of Togadia on rediff. Unfortunately, not may leading newspapers in India have been presenting balanced views on various national issues. However, rediff has always made an effort to portray the sentiments of a common Hindu person. Here Togadia answers many questions regarding the `Ram Sethu issue' very precisely. One such question is about the existence of Shri Ram. While many have claimed that there is no proof that Shri Ram exsisted, it would be foolish for anyone with a rational mind to conclude then that Shri Ram did not exist. To the question about his views on such people, Togadia retorts that `Nobody has proved that Ram did not exist'. When asked his views on whether Shri Ram was God, man or a historical figure, his answer was ready `For me, Ram is God, a man and a historical figure.'

Another item in this new round-up is this article in The Hindu. While it is welknown that The Hindu is a pro-leftists newspaper and does not hesitate to propogate leftists views while giving less coverage to other news item, it is now getting difficult for the newspaper to continue with this practice. One clear example of this policy is the readers' column on The Hindu website. The only comments getting published there are the ones that support the opinion expressed in the news articles or are in the line with the left-congress viewpoint. It would take a really brave effort on the part of the newspaper to publish those comments that criticise it. However, it seems that the number of such comments has been on the increase and there is criticism of the paper for not being neutral on this issue. At least, the newspaper has come out with this `justifying' article citing reasons for its policy. This is indeed a welcome developement. First of all, it proves that the paper's policy was under criticism (why would it justify it otherwise?) and secondly that there is increase in the number of people feeling that not everything that is published in such a newspaper can be 100% true.

We are world champions!!!

2007-09-24T17:58:00.000+02:00

The Indian team which was not expected to go beyond the second round, defeated teams like Australia, England, South Africa and Pakistan to clinch the first Twenty20 world cup! There were many moments that made this championship memorable. One of those was the consecutive sixth sixer that Yuvraj hit. Yuvraj's sixes not only avenged the five sixes hit on his bowling but also the loss of ODI series in England. Many, including yours truly, felt that England managed to win the ODI series 4-3 only because of certain questionable umpiring decisions that went in their favour. If Sachin and Dravid were not given out wrongly, the outcome of the series could have been different. Finally, it was only fitting that Flintoff, who has been involved in many such dubious wickets, was involved in the incident that is supposed to have motivated Yuvraj.

I missed many of India's matches due to the workshop at Mainz. Later when I went through the news again, I saw one curious item. Apparently Pietersen was runout after allegedly being obstructed by Pollock. I saw the footage of the incident later and could not find any fault with Pollock. In fact, in my opinion, both Pollock and KP were looking at the ball and so the accident occurred. But I was really surprised at the suggestion of England captain Collingwood that the third umpire could have given KP notout. Looking at the reaction of England team in general, one might feel that they have lost the final of some important tournament because of this runout. Guardian reported that England did not recover from this runout and lost the match to SA. Indeed the runout must have been be playing heavily on their mind for a long time because they lost the next match as well to New Zealand. Poor Englishmen, when they were just recovering from the runout Yuvraj came along and sent them home without a point in the second round.

Anyway, now Australia are in India for a 7-match series and let's hope that India repeat the heroics under the leadership of fearless Dhoni!

(belated) Happy independence day

2006-08-17T21:10:00.000+02:00

I was facing a problem in my internet connection for last few days, therefore could not wish you all promptly. Sorry for that.

There is a nice article in rediff about Prof. M. C. Puri, a mathematician who died in the terrorist attack at IISc. Incidentally, 15 August is the birthdate of Prof. Puri. Some of his students have set up website for him, which is also worth a look.

Another news worth reading is here: A mosque in Jaikwadi, near Paithan (Maharashtra) was washed out in the floods and remnants of a temple were found in the structure alongwith a head of Nandi. Muslims tried to build the mosque in haste to bury all the evidences. Thanks to the alertness of some Shivsainiks, that was stopped. Those muslims then went to the police station and police lathicharged on the shivsainiks. One wonders at this moment if police had been this active if the situation had been reverse.

Lots of plans

2006-06-13T23:30:00.000+02:00

I am really thankful to those who drop by my blog even if I am inactive for a long time. Special thanks are due to Dadoji, Nikhil and Amit.

Now that everything is running smoothly, I do have plans of becoming a regular blogger. Samudrika had asked me for some Marathi blogs and I have also bookmarked some of them. A blog about marathi blogs should be penned as soon as possible. I should also add links to my blog leading to all those blogs that I read quite regularly. There are many issues on which I have an opinion: reservations, office of profit issue, usual events in Jammu (à la Ghulam Nabi Azad), football, cricket and much more. I would also like to describe my Rennes trip with some photos.

There are some conferences/workshops coming up within a week and I have to prepare my talks. So there is no other option but to keep all these plans safe and return to them in July. At least, after putting them down here, I will always feel the necessity to implement them. So long then till July!

Adventures with Lappu

2006-06-13T22:52:00.000+02:00

Lappu is the name by which I fondly call my newly purchased laptop. I also got a free printer with Lappu which is named as Pintu.

I am more comfortable with linux than Windows and so have been trying to upload linux on Lappu for last two weeks or so. My knowledge about computers is very close to zero. When I brought an Ubuntu cd from Ritesh, I did not even know how to boot Lappu. I first inserted the cd when windows was running and then tried pressing F12 several times. After restarting Lappu a few times I noticed a small note in the upper-right corner about booting options. The problem was that Lappu was very fast in starting windows without giving me an opportunity of pressing F12.

Somehow I managed to boot it using the cd, but then I did not know about partitioning the disk. In the beginning, I tried to install linux on windows directory. Thankfully it did not work. Later when I sat on Lappu with Arnab and told him all that I had done, he had a good look at me and said that he appreciated my courage. I told him that I had only uploaded some photos on windows and they were fine even after my attempts to load linux in windows area. He again looked at me with a patient look and told me that he was rather worried about my windows than the photos!

We both tried to upload Ubuntu, it did not work but this time we knew the reasons! My Lappu had a big screen (1440 x 900) and there were some resolution problems. We later tried to upload madriva and with help from Ritesh, it finally started running smoothly. But I was not to give up. By now I knew everything about disk partitioning, resolutions and uploading linux; and so I decided to try Ubuntu again, alone!

When I told Arnab about my plans, he said he again appreciated my courage and that he would be available if there are any more problems. I thanked him, lighted an agarbathi in front of Ganeshji and started with Ubuntu. Everything went quite smoothly and within 40 minutes or so, Ubuntu was running successfully on Lappu. I opened firefox and quickly wrote a mail to Anuradha describing my success.

Meanwhile I went to Rennes for a meeting of `Young Number Theorists' for half a week. After coming back, I decided to explore Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu. But something went wrong and the Grub bootloader stopped working (perhaps because I forgot to light an agarbathi this time). This meant that I was not even able to use windows on Lappu. After starting it, the screen would remain blank for some time and then it would inform me that Grub is not working because of `error 17'! This was on Sunday night.

Joseph had invited me for dinner on Monday evening. When I came back, it was already past midnight, but I was going to try once more for Ubuntu. Thankfully, Arnab had changed the BIOS preferences and had made `booting from cd' to be the first option. I told Lappu that if Ubuntu worked this time, I would be loyal with it for six months, at least, and would not try for Kubuntu or any other type of linux. The result was good and today in the office I could also connect it to internet and could download almost all the packages that I need. Now I can latex my papers/articles and view all kinds of files in linux. I do have the plan of sticking to Ubuntu for six months, but hope that the resolution problem would be solved by then.

waiting

2006-05-21T18:13:00.000+02:00

I have recently ordered a laptop and looking forward to receive it soon. Then I hope to be more regular in my blogging. Recently I have been feeling guilty of blogging in office hours. So I tried to blog only on weekends. But it did not work out that well. Some work or other kept coming up on weekends and then I ended up posting the blog on a weekday finally. Once the laptop arrives, I hope that my officetime will be spent only in office work and other time only in non-office work. :-)

surfings of the last week

2006-05-14T15:49:00.000+02:00

Quite often I have nothing to say here, or the thing that I have will take a long time to say. Therefore I have decided to give links to some good posts or news items that I liked in the last week. These posts will of course be equally good and interesting, but I would put them in an order in which I would like you to read them. I will try to write at least this post on every weekend.

A memorable year for India (part II): Incidentally, the year 2006 is 150th, 100th and 50th birth year of three of the great personalities of Indian history. Harshal is planning to write three posts on them. This second post is about Shri. Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, the second sarasanghachalak of R.S.S.

A memorable year for India (part I): This post is about Shri. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, perhaps the only leader from garam dal with a broad mass base. He is the one who initiated Swadeshi and Bahishkar movements. He has inspired several stalwarts like V. D. Savarkar.

A puppy's last moments: A very touching post, written in very simple language but does not fail to portray the complete picture in front of you.

Scuffle between media, Imam's supporters

2006-05-08T18:47:00.000+02:00

(Courtesy:rediff)

Journalists waiting outside the prime minister's residence on Race Course road were attacked by the supporters of Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari of Jama Masjid, when they tried to stop him for answering some their questions.

The Imam had visited Dr Singh with a memorandum. Bukhari accused the media of being agents of the Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh, who were out to spread communal disharmony. The Imam did little to stop journalists, including women scribes, from being attacked by his supporters, who also used abusive language.

On a complaint filed by Yusuf Ansari of Zee News and Vijay Trivedi of NDTV, the Delhi police has registered a case against the Imam and his supporters. Yusuf Ansari told rediff.com that the prime minister's special protection group made no effort to stop the unruly supporters of the Imam.

In the memorandum submitted to Dr Singh, the community leaders demanded immediate release of Muslims detained under Prevention of Terrorism Act in Gujarat and Maharashtra. They also sought an immediate halt to alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam on the pretext of checking foreign nationals, restoration of the minority status for Aligarh Muslim University, unconditional talks with 'popular and responsible' leaders of Kashmir and evacuation of illegal occupants from Waqf properties.

Consider this another example: Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi was arrested like a criminal on Diwali night for a murder case. So far, I have not heard of any disturbances by Hindus against this decision.

Are hindus still untolerant?

Mass killing in Kashmir and related incidents

2006-05-08T17:45:00.000+02:00

(Courtesy: rediff)

At least 22 Hindu villagers were killed and eight others critically wounded in a militant massacre in village Kalhan in Doda district of Jammu region.

A senior police officer told rediff.com that a group of heavily armed militants swooped in on Kalhan late Sunday night and gathered the Hindu villagers in the house of the village headman.

"The militants opened indiscriminate fire at the unarmed villagers huddled inside the house. 22 villagers died on the spot while eight others were critically wounded. The injured have been airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment," Jammu range police chief inspector general of police Dr S P Vaid said.

There is also the news of some muslims dying in Vadodara. As I understand, the central goverment has warned the CM (Gujarat) to ensure peace in Vadodara. It is a simple logic that if a construction has encroached on public property, then it should be demolished, be it a dargah or a mandir.

I distinctly remember the case of a mandir in Pune being shifted, not because it was encroaching on public property but the municipalty wanted to enlarge the road and the mandir was exactly beside the road. It was done sometime between 1996 and 1998, and the mandir was near Mhatre pul, if someone cares for particulars. No eyebrows were raised and the whole procedure was carried out peacefully within a month or so. I have heard reports of mosques being shifted or destroyed in Arab countries in the enlargements of roads, but do not have any direct links to them rightnow.

I was once talking to my officemate, who is a mathematics professor from Iran and is visiting Paris now. He told me that the only problem between India and Pakistan is that of Kashmir! If that problem is solved, everything will be alright. I replied that there is no guarantee that Pakistanis would behave better if Kashmir was given to them. Basically, they had no right to the land that they are holding rightnow. But it was given to them and clearly they are not happy with it.

Look at Bangladesh: The country exists today because of India and see how they are repaying! IMHO, the fault is there in the very basic foundations of muslim religion. A religion that always believes in expanding and wiping out other religions can never keep people happy. Incidentally, some prominant muslims who have had good opinions about our country have come in some way or other into contact with Hindus in their childhood, and learnt these virtues from them. Two examples that quickly come to my mind are of President APJ Abdul Kalam and Shehnai mastro Ustad Bismillah Khan!

It is the time now for all pseudo-secularists in our country to realise that Hindu philosophy is the real secular philosophy!

A very sad end

2006-05-03T15:17:00.000+02:00

It was indeed a sad end to a very promising political career. There might be differences of opinions about him but certainly all would agree that this was not the way for Pramod Mahajan to die.

word verification in comments

2006-04-28T10:51:00.000+02:00

Today I got my fist spam comment, offering me a Genuine College Degree in 2 Weeks!

No, thanks! I am happy with my Ph.D. obtained in 6 years. And from today I have set word verification for the comments. Sorry for any inconvenience to Genuine readers.

mystery hero saves boy from train fall

2006-04-16T15:29:00.000+02:00

By: Prasad Sathyen (Courtesy: http://tinyurl.com/m95wo)

Rohit Dharkar (22) from Goregoan was hanging out of a crowded Virar-bound train when a police close to the tracks struck him on the head somewhere between Andheri and Goregaon.

Dazed, Dharkar lost his balance and was about to fall out of the train when a hand grabbed him and pulled him back into the compartment. As the train was packed, Dharkar still does not know who had saved his life.

Rohit was traveling to Goregaon to meet a friend, Vinod Mhatre. He had just about managed to catch the train.

He was admitted to Cooper Hospital with a head injury and underwent an X-ray and CT scan. He is now out of danger, and will be taken to KEM Hospital for further treatment. Rohit's parents are unaware of the incident, as they are in Ratnagiri.

Terrorists are just terrorists

2006-04-15T16:42:00.000+02:00

There were bomb blasts in Jama masjid. The explosives used were crude and there is no news of anyone dying yet, however at least 5 people died in Srinagar on the same day in grenade attacks. The blasts in the mosque might just be an attempt to spark off communal tensions.

One thing is pretty clear:

if the terrorists have to kill Muslims to start communal riots, they will not hesitate to do it.

We should all remember that terrorists are just terrorists, they are neither Hindu nor Muslims.

Not just cricket

2006-04-15T16:11:00.000+02:00

It is nice to see that Indians are shining in other sports as well.

V. Anand is one of the best in chess, Lt. R. Rathore continued his medal hunt, Samresh Jung was adjudged the 'Best Athlete of the 18th Commonwealth Games', and Sania Mirza continued to impress.

However, it is notable that after playing for India for 17 years, Leander Paes has not lost any steam. On Tuesday, 11/04/2006, he defeated Aqeel Khan to make sure India maintained a clean record against Pakistan.

I present some points of the report from rediff, read the whole report here.

In a match that lasted for three hours and 40 minutes, Paes enthralled with a still-young grasscourt game and an unbeatable spirit.

Paes was playing alone, but it was the team that battled the heat, the cramps and the shrinking chances. Mahesh Bhupathi and Paes may not play doubles anymore, but when it comes to the team's cause they stand behind the other's back staunchly. With captain Paes out on court, Bhupathi took his seat and motivated him along. They even did their famous chest-bump in the middle of the fifth set when Paes was fighting on the reserves of the collective will at the Brabourne lawns. "I had no energy left in me after the fourth set. It was the team and all of you who pulled me through this one," an exhausted Paes told the spectators.

When Paes looked like a spent force in the fourth set, people egged him on. Leander Paes losing a deciding home tie was still an audacious thought.

......And the 33-year-old, veteran of 108 battles, showed just why he has become synonymous with Davis Cup in India.

Sacrifice and sycophancy

2006-04-15T15:54:00.000+02:00

A frank article by Surjit S Bhalla (Courtesy: http://tinyurl.com/s5lgm)

I like logical arguments and this article logically opens up the other side of the so called sacrifice. Being away from India, I do not come to know how the media is projecting this resignation of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, but if it is projected as a sacrifice, then this article deserves a read.

After reading the article, I hope that Mr. Bhalla does not lose his job because of this article.

Some excerpts:

Yesterday, it was a non-democratic Ordinance; today, it is a resignation. Sorry, but where is the sacrifice?

There are three possibilities about the planned but not implemented Emergency-type act of an Ordinance. First, Ms Gandhi knew about it. Second, she came to know about it only at the midnight hour. Third, she came to know about it when she read about the government’s planned draconian measures in the Indian Express, the enterprising newspaper that broke the story.

Is her relinquishing a hip pocket parliamentary seat from the ancestral home of Rae Bareilly an act of sacrifice? Only if Ms Gandhi obtains her news about activities of a party of which she is a leader from the Indian Express would her resignation begin to be construed as one of sacrifice.
If Ms Gandhi came to know about “it” only from the newspapers, then the question arises: who’s in charge?

Should we also assume that in the Quattrochhi case Ms Gandhi knew nothing about it until she read about it in the papers? Was the request to the President for signature, on the dissolution of the Bihar assembly, sent at midnight while Ms Sonia Gandhi was sleeping? And in Jharkhand, was the minority government of charge-sheeted UPA minister Shibu Soren installed without Ms Gandhi being aware of what her minions were up to?

There is a pattern here. In the oil-for-food scam, the Congress party was named as a beneficiary of Saddam’s largesse, as several other socialist/communist parties in the world and individuals like Natwar Singh, who had to resign. Better that he, trusted soldier, trusted loyalist, Congress Working Committee member for generations, hang separately. Or Buta Singh and Bihar—better that the Supreme Court censure Buta Singh rather than the Congress leadership, which issued the instructions, take any of the blame.

Is Ms Gandhi a hostile witness? Yesterday, she was part of a party doing democratic crimes; today, she says she did not witness any misdemeanours, let alone murders.

One can go on, and on, but let us fast forward to the punch line: Is there a single domestic, political act that Ms Gandhi’s government has undertaken in the last two years that makes one proud to be a democrat, and an Indian? If not, then shouldn’t the Congress refrain from using words used for genuine sacrifices, as practised, co-incidentally by another Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi. Is there a subliminal Madison Avenue type of advertisement going on: Gandhi = Gandhi, so sacrifice is equal to sacrifice?

One final point. How much of the Teflon nature of Ms Sonia Gandhi-led Congress is due to the nature of the Indian media? Doesn’t it bother our intellectuals to call a politically expedient act a sacrifice? Is it just a co-incidence that the first part of sycophancy is also a major Hitchcock movie? Do these media dons not know any better or is it the case that they are desperately seeking a government job, or a committee appointment, or is it the Rajya Sabha seat that they really aspire to?

busy week

2006-04-15T15:41:00.000+02:00

It was a busy week!

On Tuesday, I shifted from Maison de l'Inde to Maison des Provinces de France. Monday evening was spent in packing, Tuesday morning in shifting and Tuesday night in arranging the things in the new room. It's a studio, i.e., the bathroom and kitchen are attached to the room itself. My studio is really beautiful. It is much more spacious than the roomlet that I was in for last three months. The window opens up on a nice jogging track and a playground. There is a big desk in the room with a table-lamp and also a cosy sofa-cum-bed(-jyada).

We had done some calculations on Tuesday, so I spent my office time in trying to extend those calculations and writing them. I was scheduled to go to Orsay on Thursday. Yesterday the typing got over and so today I am able to write this blog.

I felt nice when someone asked my wife if I was busy because my blog was not updated. It is good that someone keeps coming to the blog days after days even if it is not updated regularly. Thanks to all who read my blog!

PS: If you are wondering about my Monday, then I spent it in planning the shifting and emptying the refrigerator. :-).

Math fun facts

2006-04-02T14:59:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Nikhil whose post instrigued me and inspired me to find some nice math fun facts. Here are few cool Math Fun Facts:

1. tamreF's last theorem:(Courtesy: Mudd Math fun facts)

In fact, this is tamreF's only known theorem. It says:

The following equation
N^x + N^y = N^z

has no solutions in positive integers for N greater than 2.

This theorem has not been unsolved for centuries; in fact, it was solved as soon as it was posed.

2. Kaprekar's Constant: (Courtesy: Mudd Math fun facts)

Take any four digit number (whose digits are not all identical), and do the following:

Rearrange the string of digits to form the largest and smallest 4-digit numbers possible.

Take these two numbers and subtract the smaller number from the larger.

Use the number you obtain and repeat the above process.

What happens if you repeat the above process over and over? Let's see...

Suppose your favourite number is 1387.

1'st step: 8731 - 1378 = 7353

2'nd step: 7533 - 3357 = 4176

3'rd step: 7641 - 1467 = 6174
4'th step: 7641 - 1467 = 6174

and the process continues.......

Every four digit number whose digits are not all identical hits 6174 in at most 7 steps and then stays there.

This number 6174 is known as the Kaprekar's constant.

3. Hairy Ball theorem: (Courtesy: Mudd Math fun facts)

Another fun theorem from topology. It states that given a ball with hair all over it, it is impossible to comb the hair continuously and have all the hair lay flat. Some hair must be sticking straight up!

A more formal version says that any continuous tangent vector field on the sphere must have a point where the vector is zero.

Varsha Pratipada

2006-03-30T15:40:00.000+02:00

Today is the new year day for Hindu calendar. My day began splendidly, got some unexpected emails, and hope that the coming year will be at least as great as the last one was.

Nikhil has mused here about his last year, I will also do it but more privately. :-).

Sonia quitting: Much ado about nothing

2006-03-30T14:07:00.000+02:00

Arvind Lavakare sums up about the present situation regarding Sonia's resignation in his column:

The real solution was so simple: Face the law and quickly reconvene Parliament.

If Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress lawyer who had publicly proclaimed that her National Advisory Council position was not an 'office of profit' had succeeded in proving that to the Election Commission, the Opposition would have been truly struck down in silence. And if Singhvi had failed, Mrs Gandhi would surely have passed off as one who obeys the law and not as one who manipulates it.

Her army of sycophants, which includes some leading lights of our media, may have crowned her with all sorts of virtuous labels, but the cold truth remains that the Italian woman panicked and catapulted at the fear of losing dignity at being thrown out of the Lok Sabha.

In her public announcement, Mrs Gandhi said she was immensely hurt by the Opposition allegation that an Ordinance was being brought in only to save her from the law in vogue.

Well, if she is really so sensitive as she wants the Indian nation to believe, she didn't show a trace of it when it was publicly disclosed that the Volcker report named the Congress as one of the beneficiaries of Saddam Hussain's oil allocations, K Natwar Singh being only the second beneficiary by name. Why didn't she resign then when the Opposition was baying for the resurgence of the corrupt Congress culture?
Why didn't she resign when the Opposition alleged, loud and clear, that it was at her instance that the Central Bureau of Investigation allowed London to defreeze the bountiful bank balance of Ottavio Quattrocchhi, the Italian friend of the Gandhi family? Shame then on Prime Minster Manmohan Singh to dub Mrs Gandhi as 'the tallest leader' with 'a rare commitment to moral values.'

He also reminds us what BJP goverment did in its time.

That brings us to the morality of the BJP leaders which was loudly mocked at by Congress leaders debating the 'sacrifice' issue on prime time television.

Yes, the BJP does have its scoundrels but even its small record in public office has more morality than what Indira Gandhi displayed in burying the high court verdict against her election over 30 years ago, and what Sonia Gandhi's Congress has shown in the 22 months that it has been in power in Delhi.

Thus, records will show that when charges were framed against him in the Jain hawala case, L K Advani lost no time in resigning not only from his position as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, but also from Parliament itself. He also vowed not to enter Parliament until he was fully exonerated of the charges. That truly was a 'sacrifice' or 'renunciation' or whatever word and phrase that Congress is now using.

Similarly, Yashwant Sinha resigned as Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly and also from the membership of the assembly itself. Madanlal Khurana stepped down as the chief minister of Delhi as soon as charges were framed against him.

As far as dealing with ministers facing charges of corruption is concerned, in the period between 1998 and 2004, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee set high standards of probity by asking Buta Singh to resign from the Cabinet when charges were framed against him. Similar action was taken in the case of Harin Pathak, Gingee Ramachandran and Dilip Singh Judeo, as soon as a judicial shadow was cast upon them.

And in the end:

Anyway, what next after this latest 'sacrifice'? It is certain that it is just a matter of time before Parliament enacts amendments to safeguard many an 'office of profit' including Sonia Gandhi's. It is certain too that Sonia Gandhi will once again win her Rae Bareilly seat and return to her top seat at the NAC. And the, soon enough, it will all be exactly as before -- what in legalese Latin is called status quo ante.

Truly have Sonia Gandhi, her Congress, and our media moguls made much ado about nothing.

From a stranger she thought she'd never meet....

2006-03-28T17:28:00.000+02:00

Read this interesting blog from Usha.

Have you heard about messages in a bottle travelling half way round the world and being traced back to the owner? I have always laughed when I hear such stories and say "we cannot seem to get messages from one floor to another without them gettting lost and messages in a bottle?" And yet I was the one who received this mail on saturday morning in my inbox with the title:
From a Stranger You Thought You'd Never Meet . . .

Usha spotted a thank-you note in a second hand book, wrote a post about it in June 2004 and received a reply about it from the one who wrote the note. Completely unbelievable!!!

A day at French protests

2006-03-28T15:17:00.000+02:00

I was warned on Saturday that the metro and RER may not run on Tuesday and that I should be prepared to walk to the institute. Till yesterday evening it was not clear if the canteen and office would open today. When I asked the secretary about it, she replied that she herself would not be coming.

The day began in an ordinary way. The sweeper at Maison de l'Inde came in while I was still sleeping. Thanks to the daylight saving time, the sweeper has started coming one hour earlier since Monday and my body clock is yet to get adjusted to this change. But as the sweeper could come to Maison de l'Inde I reasoned that the trains must be working. I got ready in a hurry and went down. The receptionist was also there and she told me that the trains were still going on, although slowly. I quickly started off and reached the station only to see the workers pulling the shutters down at the platform.

There is a small bus terminal nearby, where I hurried next and saw with relief that the next bus was due to start in 11 minutes. The bus took me to `Place d'Itali' and I had to walk from there to the institute for about 10-15 minutes. The word place in French is equivalent to a `chauk' or `chauraha' in Hindi. Place d'Itali is really a huge place. There are about 10 roads which meet there and the place was getting full with people carrying flags, badges, banners. On my way to the institute, I also saw a long line of police vehicles and the police, although nervous, were taking it easy.

Our canteen was open and while having lunch Joseph offered to accompany me on a tour to the `Place d'Italie' at 2 pm. The demonstrations were scheduled to start at 2.30 pm. We started from the institute and reached near the place at 2.15. The 10 roads that meet at the place were reserved for different unions that were to join the demonstration and people were pouring in from all directions.

We could get to the centre of the place relatively easily by pushing people and finding our way but it was more difficult to come out of it. My guess is that about 50-60 thousand people had gathered there. The demonstrators seemed to be enjoying it fully. They were singing, dancing and shouting slogans against the CPE law. It was clearly a disciplined gathering. There were some hawkers who were selling sausages, coke and water bottles. We also spotted a group of 10-12 young people who did not seem to have anything to do with the protests. Joseph told me that these people might have just come to try to steal valuables from isolated young students or old people. Of course, there were many school kids and very old people in the protests.

We finally managed to come out and reached our institute by 3.20 pm. We both hoped for some decision to be taken as soon as possible. It was horrible to think about what would happen if the situation got out of hand and it could certainly happen so if some decision was not taken soon. Joseph's parting shot was `Remember, this is the country where the French revolution took place!'

Sonia's resignation: reactions

2006-03-23T20:00:00.000+01:00

It seems that I am not the only person who feels that Sonia's resignation is just a political gimmick.

Navin Upadhyay writes for the Pioneer:

Soon after her announcement, Congressmen were beating their chests to project party president Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the Lok Sabha and the National Advisory Council on Thursday as her second "martyrdom", but it was obvious that she had few options to extricate herself from a politically untenable situation.

Had Ms Gandhi chosen to reign soon after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) submitted a memorandum to President APJ Abdul Kalam seeking her disqualification from the Lok Sabha for holding an office of profit as chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), she might have succeeded in taking the high moral ground. But the developments of the past 48 hours clearly show that Ms Gandhi had no choice but to walk the "martyrdom" path following the media leak of a well-planned conspiracy to smuggle in an ordinance to save her skin.
.
.
The UPA Government justified the sine die adjournment of Parliament citing lack of legislative business, but the million dollar question is why the Opposition leaders were kept in the dark if the move was not part of a well-planned conspiracy to bring in the ordinance. Few will believe that Ms Gandhi, or for that matter Prime Minister Manmohan were not aware of the design. It is obvious that if the plot was not exposed in time, the Government would have got away with proroguing the House and bringing in the ordinance.
.
.
Caught in the trap of her own making, Ms Gandhi suddenly heard the call of conscience.
.
.
Unfortunately for her, the Opposition was in no mood to allow her to convert a misfortune into an opportunity. Telugu Desam Party immediately reacted saying the Congress president's decision to resign "amounted to an admission she is holding an office of profit."

Whereas Sanjay Zha says the misadventure of Congress party has led to its leader's head. He further says:

The day after, the negative media coverage and the Opposition's belligerence left few options before Ms Gandhi as she was singled out for attack. Senior Congress leaders lamented on Thursday the Opposition singularly targeted her but failed to explain why the subject was handled in a manner that was bound to attract this criticism. Congress general secretaries recalled how the BJP chanted slogans like - Baki sab bahana hai, Sonia ko bachana hai - but sounded defensive when quizzed if there was any need for aggressively taking the ordinance route.

Conveniently forgetting that Ms Gandhi had to quit the Lok Sabha precisely because of poor political management by her loyalists, these leaders talked of her sacrifice and moral stances.

They expressed outrage at the BJP leadership's audacity to question their leader's intentions, without explaining why such an effective tool was handed over to them in the first place. Surprisingly, no leader was talking of the ordinance after her resignation.

But mistakes have become the order of the day and the party doesn't appear to have learnt from its experience in Jharkhand govt-formation, Bihar Assembly dissolution, Volcker and Quattrocchi row. Instead of deft political management, the party is still relying solely on the leader's charisma. Almost every leader is recalling how she renounced the post of Prime Minister and how moral her responses in the past have been.

Nobody is discussing mistakes. Nobody is bothered why such mistakes occur. "Idol worship" is the answer to all uncomfortable questions. A former AICC general secretary and newly-elected Rajya Sabha member summed up the mood by saying: "The BJP is saying... Baki sab bahana hai, Sonia ko bachana hai. Our answer is... Sonia agar nishana hai, jeene marne ko thana hai." Nice rhyme but that's not what makes good politics.

Sheela Bhatt at rediff has analysed the situation that led to Sonia's resignation and reminds us about the following questions which are still unanswered.

Why was the budget session of Parliament adjourned sine die? That was unwarranted. Does that mean till yesterday Mrs Gandhi was not against the idea of promulgating an ordinance?

Her power and authority are not diminished because she has only resigned from the membership of Parliament (which she will contest again) and from an obscure outfit, the National Advisory Council, which is disliked by the most ministers as it is full of Leftists or Left-of-Centre types. She could afford to resign because in the sycophantic Congress, her resignation is immaterial. Resignation or no, her power within the party remains unchallenged, undiminished.

She was and continues to be the chairperson of the all-powerful UPA, and that is all that matters.

Well said Navin, Sanjay and Sheela.

Take it easy

2006-03-23T13:33:00.000+01:00

If you were also irked by the defeat on Wankhede, now you may take it easy with this poem by asuph and this flash news by Prabhu.

Why quit both posts?

2006-03-23T11:57:00.000+01:00

Sonia Gandhi has decided to quit as an MP as well as theChairperson of National Advisory Council. And then she is, of course, going to contest again from Rae Bareli.

There was no need to quit both the posts. It is a very low political gimmick and an unnecessary waste of public money to contest the elections again. Looking at all these low level political games that Sonia is now playing, one cannot help but remember how Sonia had resigned in 1999 from Congress presidential post only to return later and continue holding the presidentship of Congress. I will be surprised if she is not again asked to continue as the president of the national advisory council. The current steps are taken only to mislead people from the main issue. In her statement she says:

I have taken a pledge to serve the people of the country and to protect the secular ideals. So, in keeping with my public life and political principles and according to my own belief, I resign as member of the Lok Sabha and Chairperson of National Advisory Council

Why bring the secularism in the statement? Am I missing any connection somewhere?

Muslim converting to Christianity: Not allowed

2006-03-22T17:39:00.000+01:00

http://tinyurl.com/q58ja

A muslim converted to Christianity around 16 years ago and now he has been charged with rejecting Islam and could be executed if he does not become Muslim again.

All those who demand that Hindus be more tolerant about other religions should just check whether other religions are worth 10% tolerant as Hindus have always been.

hero worshipping

2006-03-22T16:53:00.000+01:00

India managed to score only 100 before being allout in the third test. I think the only problem that India has is that the media and the people are hero worshippers. Once a batsman scores few runs under the pressure he immediately becomes a hero (remember Kanitkar?) and everyone starts expecting him to repeat this feat in every match.

Look at the stalwarts in the current Indian team: Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni, Yuvraj; who have been hyped many times before. Who would believe that Kumble and Pathan are the third and fourth highest run scorers in this series with 128 and 121 with only Dravid and Jaffer before them?

It is perhaps time to reflect on human side of these great sportpersons. That they are very good is beyond any doubt. But they can't go on doing it again and again. We have won some tests before but mostly due to an isolated brilliance. Either it is Sehwag powering 300+ or it is Laxman-Dravid. We have never won a test as a team.

I still lookup the Australian team for the hunger of winning the match. Indian team miss this hunger. It was good that we won the Mohali test, we were only that much good. We were never good to win the series.

True love

2006-03-19T16:47:00.000+01:00

Courtesy Jokes2go.com

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She now lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen.

I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive.

I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell.

She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away.

I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle.

I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.

I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?"

The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I will tell you who you are."

Secular-right India

2006-03-18T14:03:00.000+01:00

I do not remember how I came across this blog, but it is a fantastic one for sure. To quote from their description (the blog is maintained by a team of 4 bloggers):

This is a blog for, and of, secular-right Indians.

We are rain-makers and opinion shapers. We are tech-savvy and globally mobile.

We are nationalists and hawks. We believe in a strong military.

We are fiscal conservatives. We believe in a small but effective government.

We are socially liberal. We abhor religious and social bigotry.

We are not of the secular-left, neither of the religious-right. Our politics are secular-right.

This is our blog.

Keep it up guys!

Sachin on his Wankhede innings and Kambli on his

2006-03-18T14:00:00.000+01:00

Check here:- http://tinyurl.com/p3tq5

Update (18/03/06: 16:30 CET)

And check here as Kambli talks about his 224 at Wankhede.

Sidin's guide to the greatest Indian cricketers of all time

2006-03-17T16:51:00.000+01:00

http://tinyurl.com/bah2n

One of the most entertaining blogs of all time!

How many blogs have you seen with more than 200 comments?

A fantastic cricket match of all times

2006-03-17T15:01:00.000+01:00

The most breathtaking game in one-day history had come to a grandstand finish, and all that remained was for the participants to pinch themselves
(The Bulletin by Andrew Miller)

Before 12 March 2006, the highest ODI score was 398/5 by Sri Lanka against Kenya. It stood intact for 10 years and it was the australian team that broke the record. But their record had a miserable life of about half a day and now they have the unique humiliating record of being the losers despite scoring 434 runs in 50 overs.

In 1999 world cup semi-final, SA needed 9 runs from the final over with one wicket in hand. Klusener was on the strike and those who have seen him batting then would remember how he belted 2 bounderies off the first 2 balls to level the scores. Now they needed only 1 run from 4 balls with Klusener on strike and Donald on the non-striker's end. Klusener hit the ball and took off for a run, but Donald did not move at all. Both the batsmen ended up at the same side, then the reality dawned on Donald and he started for the other end but it was too late. Although the scores were tied, Australia went to the final (and went on to win it) thanks to higher ranking in the super-six rounds. This match very much did the same thing to SA team confidence that was done to Indian team confidence by that damned last-ball-six by Javed Miandad.

Just recently, SA were thrashed by Australians in Australia both in ODI and Test matches, and as if this was not enough, SA teams were subjected to some racist remarks by spectators. SA team vowed for the vengeance, warned Aus team to expect a similar greeting from the crowd in SA and did almost everything right. They won the first 20-20 match by 2 runs, started the ODI series by winning the first match by 6 wickets and second one by a whopping 196 runs. They now needed to win only one match to score a series win and restore some of the confidence. But Aus won the third match by 24 runs and then they levelled the series with a helter-skelter one-wicket win in the fourth match. The tag of chokers was always stuck to the SA team and they did seem to choke when the Aus batsmen belted 434 runs in the final ODI match.

What could the south africans do now? One possibility was to roll over and give up, and the other was to go allout for the target, mind boggling 435 in mere 300 balls. Boeta Dippenaar was out early in the beginning but it was a blessing in a discuise as then Gibbs and Smith got together and started throwing their bats at every ball. By 25 overs, SA had 229/2 and needed 206 from the remaining 25 overs. But Aus managed to get two wickets including that of Gibbs (175 off 111, 21x4, 7x6) and SA were reduced to 299/4 after 32 overs. Kallis was gone in 38'th over (327/5), hard hitting Kemp went for cheap 13 runs from 17 balls (355/6, 43'rd over) and out came van der Wath. He hit 3 sixes and holed out in hitting a fourth one to go in the 47'th over (399/7). There were 30 runs needed to win 3 overs.

Boucher and Telemachus belted 4-2-4-1-2-4 from Lewis' over and now there were gettable 13 runs from 2 overs. Although Telemachus was out in the next over, they managed to get 6 runs and 7 runs were needed to win from the last over to be bowled by Lee. Boucher scored 1 run from the first ball, 6 needed off 5, and Hall hit a boundary to make it 2 off 4. But he hit the next ball straight to Clark to remind everyone of the 1999 world-cup semi-final. Now, there were 2 runs needed from 3 balls and only one wicket was remaining. And as if this was not enough, the last man Ntini was facing Lee.

Ntini managed to keep his head cool, took a single and gave the strike to Boucher with one run needed from 2 balls and Boucher obliged by lofting the ball for the boundary.

The whole nation celebrated the event madly. It must have matched the euphoria of English crowd at regaining the Ashes. In all, 872 runs were scored in this match with 87 fours and 26 sixes! Mick Lewis became the most expensive bowler with 113 runs scored off his 10 overs. Perhaps the most meaningful statistical highlight of this match was that Australia met their first loss of a bilateral ODI series after June 2002.

Australians are also beatable afterall. But how I would have loved it if this had happened at the 2003 world-cup final!

Varanasi blasts and media reactions

2006-03-08T13:59:00.000+01:00

That the blasts in Varanasi are cowardly acts and should be condaimed is beyond any doubt!

However, one cannot detach politics from such an incident, can one? One party calls for a Bandh and other parties (through their mouthpieces) claim that the Bandh is disturbing the normal life.

BJP and other `saffron outfits' have called for a bandh in UP. I have no doubt that other parties would have taken the same option if the state government was led by BJP. But how does the media react to this Bandh? The Hindu says that the bandh has affected the normal life in Varanasi. What does one really mean by the normal life? Would the schools have remained open if there had been no bandh? The news item says:

Schools, colleges and other educational institutions were closed following an order from the district administration in view of the bandh. The academic institutions would remain closed till further orders, official sources said.

As far as I know, the Bandh is only for a day, then why keep the schools and other institutions closed till further orders? It seems that if it is a Bandh called by the so-called saffron outfits, then it continues to paralyse the normal life for many days to come.

The issues Sonia Gandhi must address

2006-03-08T13:34:00.000+01:00

In an article on Sify.com, Rajinder Puri has addressed a very important point.

Sonia Gandhi's background has been really misterious. There are speculations on how long she continued to retain an Italian nationality at the same time taking benefits by means which are specially reserved for Indian nationals.

She has been given undue importance at the moment because Congress party wants to rule India and I am sure that once Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi is ready to lead congress, either Sonia Gandhi will be put out of the frame or be assasinated. Of course, in the latter case the sympathy wave will be helpful in establishing the next Gandhian.

The article referred above addresses some of the issues that should be foremost in Sonia Gandhi's agenda if she wants to establish her credibility. It will be quite daring on her part if she does take some steps in that direction, but if she does and unmasks the truth, noone will be able to oppose her in Indian politics. And she certainly knows about it. Therefore it is a surprise that she chooses to remain quiet on these issues. Perhaps she is not bold enough to carry out these investigations which might go against some of her own party people or there is the other possibility, that she herself is not clean enough on these points.

Anti-Bush morcha or show of strength?

2006-03-07T14:20:00.000+01:00

I do not agree with all the opinions of Shiv Sena suprimo Balasaheb Thackerey, but he does seem have a point here.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Tuesday said the recent anti-Bush protests by Muslims in Mumbai were in reality a show of strength, which should ring a warning bell for Hindus.
'Although they claim that the protest was against the Prophet Mohammed's cartoons in a Denmark daily, the real reason behind this (protest) was show of strength,' Thackeray said in party mouthpiece Saamna.

'Muslims in India have united and are exercising their strength. Hindus and Hindustan are in danger,' he said, adding, 'Had such a morcha (march) been organised by the Sena, police would have maintained strict security, and army and rapid action force would have been deployed.'

The Sena chief accused the media of being a silent spectator to the vandalism indulged in by participants of the morcha.

A welcome decision from George Bush

2006-03-05T14:23:00.000+01:00

Bush is blunt to Gen: No N-deal...

Blogspot banned in Pakistan

2006-03-05T13:39:00.000+01:00

Read it here.

Are you from Pakistan?

2006-03-03T14:36:00.000+01:00

This question was asked to me by an academician in Paris. I had only asked him a question in English and that prompted him to ask this question to me. I hope I do not look like a Pakistani. But, wait a minute. Indians and Pakistanis do not look different. To an outsider they would look perfectly the same.

Of course, it is not a surprise if I think more about it. I believe that ancestors of about 99% of Pakistanis were originally Hindus and were converted to Islam at some point or another. We Hindus are tolerant by nature. We do not mind if some of our brothers want to be muslims and start believing in Allah. As long as they do not mind us doing whatever we want to do, it is perfectly fine with us. But do the muslims let us be in peace?

Today I was introduced to an Iranian mathematician. I told that I did my PhD in Allahabad and he asked me if Allahabad was in India or Pakistan. I do not know if there is any Vishnupuri or a Lakshminagar in Pakistan, but I certainly do not mind having Allahabad in India and it is not the unique muslim name given to a city. There are Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Murshidabad, Aurangabad, Muzaffarnagar, ... The list continues. If the past is to buried, let it be so. But we should make sure that it is not repeated. It would a shame to us if one more town changes its name and becomes a --bad.

Sangh swayamsewak rescue Christian priests

2005-07-11T23:03:00.000+02:00

Having been a member of RSS for more than 20 years, this news does not come as a surprise to me. The only surprise for me is that it found its way to a non-RSS newspaper. RSS has been actively serving in all crises that India has faced, right from Pakistan's attack on Kashmir in 1948 to the Tsunami, but the media has never mentioned it. I hope that this starts a change in the prejudiced view that media has for RSS.

Hindus being oppressed in Pakistan

2005-06-25T06:30:00.000+02:00

A news item in Hindustan times says that Hindus are being oppressed in Pakistan. It is not really surprising but this seems the first time this news has come to the light. Check it here.

I wonder what the so-called secularists have to say about this.

Happy republic day

2005-01-26T19:45:00.000+01:00

Happy republic day.

Gladys Staines is getting a Padma award. It is very shocking to note that a person who has been active in converting Hindus to christianity is getting a prestigious award by the government. This indicates Sonia Gandhi's influence. More shocking is that the so called secular newspapers do not say anything about it. If Narendra Modi was given a small award by the BJP goverment these same people would have created a havoc.