An outsiders view of event's happening in India :
When Anna Hazare decided to fast to initiate the “Indian Against Corruption” campaign, I was more than pleased. I confess I had not heard of this man before, I have no idea about his credentials but what was satisfying was that someone is taking an initiative to bring reforms in India. I got all my news through those media websites and none of them portrayed him in negative. Everyone praised, complimented Anna and it helped me formed my superior opinion about Anna.
Then one day came news about various cases against one of the member of Anna Hazare campaign. I had so much faith in Anna that I thought it was politically motivated. But, in hindsight, when I think of it, no one can survive in India without practicing corruption. (My dad had to pay to get a road built in front of his factory. Funny thing, the road only exists in front of his office and not the path leading to his office)
But all this while, I was shocked by the government’s reaction. (For some reason, I had always believed Congress is the party of future and they strongly believe in reforming the country. But when I heard recent corruption cases, my outlook about them took a complete U turn. ) Anyways, the government wasn’t very keen on working with Anna and was playing political game. They wanted to make sure that all this noise by Anna doesn’t get to the mass (i.e. people) and affect their image. They were least interested in listening to the issues bought by Anna and making a serious effort towards them. For them, it seemed, corruption is a way of governance. It appears, only due to public support towards the movement, government gave in. (and not because they believed in it). And we can see the consequences, the bill is dragging, interrupted and excuses been made of who should be involved and who should not be.
And then comes Ramdev. A little history first – I have never been a religious person but liked Ramdev for popularizing Yoga and bringing it to people. Thanks to him, many people know what yoga is and aspire to do it every morning and make it as a part of their healthy lifestyle. That’s all I know about Ramdev. Is he a thug? Don’t know and don’t care. Is he sex-maniac? Don’t know and don’t care. Is he politically motivated? Don’t know and don’t care.
He started his own campaign about black money i.e. bring all the black money back. What’s wrong in that? People say he is a baba and should remain so. I don’t agree. I am BA so should I not be entitled to my opinion or go to Jantar Mantar to express my solidarity towards Anna? Why can’t he raise concerns which I believe in? If I can’t stand for what I believe in but if someone else is then why should I not support him?
Let’s assume he was politically motivated – i.e. he wants to start a political party. What’s wrong or bad in that? He is a citizen of India and has every right to do so. And So am I - A citizen of India and have every right not to vote for him. Then comes another angle about his massive wealth. Come on, it’s a long known fact of India – 3 ways to make quick & safe money in India – Open a Theka, temple or School. He took the 2nd path and became rich. Tell me one guru who hasn’t amassed big wealth. In no way I am supporting his deeds or they way he has become what he is. All that I am supporting that he stood for a cause which none of us could. That’s it! The day he decides to start a political party, I would NEVER vote for him. For me, he would be 2nd Shibu Soren.
One thing about Ramdev, the amount of support he enjoys from the middle and lower class people. I suppose that’s much more than what Anna had/has. Government was scared of it and that’s when they decided on their night attack. I strongly condemn action by Congress (or GOI). They did not have the guts to face the man on face and attacked him night. That reflects on the amount of faith I can have on the government. Why not have an open discussion about what is right and wrong about demands instead of getting that corrupt Delhi police to attack people.
All this happened and PM had one thing to say – “Unfortunate and no magic wand”. And that is the same thing I have to say to him “It’s unfortunate you are the PM and I have no magic wand, else I would have replaced you”
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Anna , Ramdev - Who is right & who is not?
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Too Much Drama...Lost Focus of real issue at hand!
I had high hopes from the movie because of the issue involved and outcome of issue in the real life. I expected movie to highlight the the problem in the society and end up with a lesson. But it ended up being a drama movie with no emphasis on the problem in India. I wanted to feel angry after looking at the movie, that what is happening in India. I wanted people who were involved in the crime to feel guilty..I wanted eye-witnesses who turned their back feel ashamed of themselves, after watching the movie. But his movie ended up being nothing but just a drama unfolding. The over-emphasis on Meera Gaiti was uncalled for. But still, one should see this movie to know what kind of society we live in and its each and everyone person's responsibility to make India a better place!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A little Understanding of GMT
GMT stands for Greenwich (pronounced as grenich) Mean Time. It is the 0 meridian passing through Greenwich, England.
Now a days, England is on BST (British Summer Time) until 25 October 2009. BST is 1 hour ahead of GMT.
How about India? India follows IST which is Indian Standard time. IST is GMT + 5:30 = BST + 4:30
How about US? US has 6 time zones out of which 4 are shared with Canada : EST, CST, PST, MST and the remaining 2 – Alaska and Hawaii Time zones are separate.
Lets look at EST (Eastern Standard Time). EST is normally GMT – 5 . But during Day time Saving ( 2nd Sunday of March – 2nd Sunday of November 2 am). EST = GMT -4
During day time saving in US,
Thus to calculate current time in London, from US, one needs to just add 5 hours to US EST. (4 hours to GMT + 1 hour to BST) .
To calculate Current time in India, from US, one needs to just add (4 hours + 5.5 hours = 9.5 hours)
When day time saving is off,
Current time in London will be 5 hours ahead of US EST (because by that time BST = GMT)
And Current time in India will be 5+ 5.5. hours ahead of US EST = 10.5 hours + EST
For example, if in India time during day time saving is 12 in night,
US EST (day time saving is) : 2:30 in afternoon
US EST ( no day time saving) : 1:30 in the afternoon.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Testimonial for Harsh
Today I wrote a testimonial for Harsh. Here it goes :
One of the most intelligent guy I have seen is horsie – that's what I call him. Apart from ghoda…though he preferred being called as "smoochie"..- that was his alias in AOE. He was a champion in the game. He used to play it for hours. Starting at 11 in the night till 5 am in the morning. The game might last for only 6 hours but the discussion about the last will last for another 6 hours.
But that intelligence disappeared when it comes to keeping himself clean. His room was the dirtiest room in the college. Clothes everywhere in the room….yikes ;)
He is a very supportive friend as well. Whenever you need him, he will always be there with you. You need an unbiased suggestion – ask him. He will give you a very rational and bold advice and not just to please you.
He is misunderstood by people many at times but he is very good at heart. Very honest and true to his friends. And that's what makes him special and loved by all of us.
"Arre Dost",thanks for being around when I really needed it… if ever u need any help, I will always be around! You rock...have an amazing life with the ghodi ;)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Law of Garbage Truck
Brilliant insight into the way we live our life!
"One day I hopped into a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly.
So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street.
The bottom line is that successful people don't let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so… Love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don't.
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A layman’s understanding of Sub-prime Crisis
High house prices, hence to increase people’s buying power, housing interest and lending rates started decreasing – it increased demand for supply of new houses.
So, now banks started offering mortgage loan to people at these lower interest rates.
Interestingly, they also offered loan to people with poor or no credit histories – in return they asked them for higher interest charges.
First, what is a Mortgage Loan – a loan secured by giving a security/collateral to the bank. Now these borrowers offered the real estate as mortgage – i.e. their house – Now this is called “Sub-Prime Mortgages”
2004 – Federal Bank began a cycle of interest rates hikes that raised the cost of borrowing i.e. the interest rates offered by the bank for loan.
2005 – US housing market rates began tumbling.
2006 – Interest rates increased 16 times!!
Now, with increased interest rates and bad credit history, how will the borrowers pay back? Thus, several “sub-prime mortgage” holders started defaulting on their loans.
Moreover, the US housing market rates also tumbled. Thus, even if the banks sell the property, they won’t get their entire money back, as the market price of property has reduced.
Thus, this caused the business failure of many lenders. Now this is where the lenders report loses.
But, the lenders don’t stop at giving loans to people. These lenders are facing a high credit risk – i.e. the risk of borrower defaulting. In that case, the lender loses its money. So, lenders want to reduce its risk. So how does one reduce the risk – by selling the risk to someone else.
Now 2 questions – What does selling the risk means and why will someone buy the risk?
Lets deviate for a while and try to understand what is accident insurance. I have a ‘risk’ that I will have an accident anytime, so I insure myself. By making some payments to the insurance company regularly, I am assured when I have an accident, then insurance company will pay me money required to cover the ‘risk’ of accident. But where does insurance company makes money – because it gives insurance cover to those people who they think have a bleak chance of meeting an accident. Thus, if out of 10 people 5 people meet with accident, Insurance company makes profit by investing in the remaining 5.
Now lets try to put the thing in the loan offered by the banks to these borrowers. Bank had the ‘risk’ that these borrowers might default so it sold a part of its risks. How? By selling them to investment banks. Now, whatever interest borrowers paid to bank , the bank paid a part of the interest to the IB in return that if the borrowers fail to pay, then the IB will pay the entire amount due to the bank.
Now, interestingly, all borrowers failed to pay. So banks asked IB to compensate them. Thus with no safety net, IB had to incur huge losses because they paid to the bank the property price which has tumbled now.
The IB even tried to write off the losses but the amount of borrowing done was so huge that it could not compensate for the losses incurred by the bank!!!
