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December 30, 2004
Double Standards??
It was heartening to see how the hospitality industry shows solidarity with the people who have been affected by the tsunami tragedy when I saw this article "Chennai hotels to greet New Year on a low key" in the Economic Times. As per the article, many hotels in the city are either cancelling the New Year's Bash or making it a low key affair without much decibels and glitter. One hotel went on to say "We don't want to make it a big affair when the sentiments are bad. We might entertain only those who walk in. we have switched off decorative lamps,. We have pulled out advertisements. We are putting up condolence messages on the hoardings". But I felt really disgusted when I saw this advertisement in the same paper.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2004
Bloggers Might!!
As days go by, the numbers swell by 1000s. Aftershocks still batters the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the rain god is not considerate enough to the people of Nagapatinam which are hampering the relief efforts. Above all, there is a real danger of diseases spreading in the affected areas. But it is heartening to see how the Blogger community has responded to this tragedy. Right from offering information on this tragedy to helping in the relief efforts, bloggers are doing a commendable job. A worthy article in the Times of India says it all. The media cannot always cover all the events because of it's resource constrains, but the blogspere has the reach and also the ability and ofcourse, the willingness to do it. Some of the blogs which I really liked were:
Rupya Ganesh has setup a payment system for collecting money for the relief efforts through the internet which has really helped people who live aboard.
Kiruba Sankaran Offered quick information in his blog of the agencies which are undertaking relief efforts in the affected areas.
Guru As usual, wrote in his classy style, everything as it happened.
Kudos to all the above and also innumerable bloggers who have done an admirable job in this need of the hour.
Posted by Vasanth at 05:03 PM | Comments (1)
December 28, 2004
Help Help Help
Here is some useful information for all those people who want to help the tsunami victims: Kirupa
Posted by Vasanth at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
The Day of Mourning
Tamil Nadu would not have seen such devastation in its living memory. No words can describe such a colossal damage to the coastal belt of Tamil Nadu and the Andaman Islands. Entire communities have been wiped out in some areas. Worst of all, nobody can reach some parts of Car Nicobar Islands with habitants of around 20,000 people even two days after the event.
Blame game has already started and many in the news media are blaming the government for not acting beforehand. Media should restrain itself from all this and help the rescue (I am still hopeful that there could be survivors) and rehabilitation efforts by the government and the NGOs. Let's do whatever in our power to help those people and make them lead a normal life. I am saying this with a heavy heart because I know how difficult it is to come to terms with such a disaster.
We may not realise the magnitude (this is what started everything; Magnitude 9) of the sufferings of people since we have not lost anything. Till now only the fishermen go into the sea and catch fishes. But today it's the sea which has come inside the land and caught the fishermen!!!
Had roles changed overnight??
Posted by Vasanth at 10:15 AM | Comments (2)
December 26, 2004
When The Earth Shakes!!!
My deepest condolences to all those families who have lost their loved ones to the killer waves.
It all started with a earthquake off the coast of Northern Sumatra Island of Indonesia measuring a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter Scale, the 5th largest ever recorded. It was followed by 9 after shocks measuring 5.7 to 7.3 mostly in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This triggered off huge Tsunamis as high as 10 meters which swept across Indian Ocean spanning an area of 2000 kilometres.
Posted by Vasanth at 03:24 PM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2004
How Far Will This Go??
There was such a hue and cry about the Delhi's school boy MMS episode, the arrest of bazee.com's CEO and the Kareena's episode. Whilst the former relates to the cyberspace, the later relates to the print media.
As though all these are not enough, there is a new controversy brewing in the form of sting operations which is done in the name of investigative journalism. Investigative journalism is fine as long as it doesn't infringe into the private affairs of people. All journalists consider themselves demigods when it comes to writing.
They think that they can write any crap and get away with it in the name of "Freedom of Expression" provided in the constitution. Where is the accountability for the journos? This has been bothering me for quite some time and the sheer magnitude of these operations in the recent time has given me a sense of insecurity that this can happen to anybody. If sombody aims at tarnishing the image of a person, irrespective of his social standing,it can be done with ease!! There are always two trials going on, one in the Courts and another in the Media. Has Media Attained the status of Judiciary in the country? What is the locus standi for the Media to act as a Judge? These questions are asked almost daily, but we are yet to find the answers for all these!!
We don't even have to go into the Articles of the Constitution to understand two fundamental rights. The Preamble to the Constitution of India would itself throw more light on these.
"We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to
secure to all its Citizens:
Justice, Social, Economic and Political;
Liberty of Thought, Expression, Belief, Faith and Worship;
Equality of Status and of Opportunity;
and to Promote among them all Fraternity Assuring the Dignity of the Individual and the Unity and Integrity of the Nation"
There are two important principles set out in the Constitution, one is the liberty of thought and expression, and the other is the fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual. I think both freedom of expression and assuring the dignity of the individual go hand in hand. You have been given freedom to the extent it does not affect the dignity of an individual. You might say that you can file a defamation case in the Court, but what is the purpose, the damage is already done. Can you unscramble a broken egg? Let's take Kareena's episode. First of all, I am not one of Kareena's fans, if you think that's the reason I am writing this blog. Midday, the tabloid which carried the photos has apologised now for hurting the sentiments of the cine couple. Is that all? An apology and the daily goes uncaught??
Take Tehleka, it does all sorts of things, sting operation, spy cams and many more. Who has given the authority to Telhleka to do all this, to infringe in the private affairs of people. Are these people above law? Can they do anything they want? Why is a part of the Journo community indulging in such activities and why is'nt the rest of the jurno community raising its voice against these activities? Why aren't the law-makers bringing in laws to regulate activities of this kind? Is this all for cheap publicity?
I hope all these questions will be answered in the near future!!!
Posted by Vasanth at 02:47 PM | Comments (2)
December 20, 2004
A Different Gas Station!!
It's a different Gas Station altogether. Apart from selling petro products, it also offers quite a few other things under one roof.
If you are hungry and want to have a quick bite, you can try some fast food at Pizza Corner or Noodles King. If you are tired of quickies, you can try your luck at Aishwariya which is supposed to be a Multi Cuisine Restaurant (Though I wouldn't recommend the north Indian dishes). And there is Adyar Anandha Bavan, if you fancy sweets and chats.
Thirsty?? You don't have to go anywhere, The Fruit Shop on the Greams Road offers you a vide variety of fruit juices and mocktails. Above all this, there is In&Out Shop, which offers everything you need, ofcourse you need to pay for it (Running out of cash?? Bingo, there's a Stanchart ATM), right from key chains to frozen foods.
The location, you couldn't have asked for more!!! Sandwiched between Radisson and Trident Hilton!!!!
Posted by Vasanth at 06:04 PM | Comments (2)
They Know What Sells In India
The other day, in the late evening, I had been to the Marina Beach. It was a quite a pleasant evening with a chill breeze blowing from the Bay of Bengal. One thing that immediately comes to mind whenever you go to Marina beach is the Molagai (Chilli) Bajji. It's quite an experience eating those and walking across the beach.
One more thing which is becoming popular oflate (though not as popular as the Bajji's) is the roasted Sweet Corns. One of the reasons for its popularity these days is the brand building which the sweet corn shop owners have undertaken, ofcourse, without the help of any of the management consultants!! Every shop in the vicinity has been renamed as "American Sweet Corn Shop" with the new Mantra that the Sweet Corns are being imported from the US though the guy has told me privately that these are indeed coming from the nearby farm. But sales of roasted Sweet Corns zoomed after the re-branding...
Posted by Vasanth at 11:35 AM | Comments (2)
December 16, 2004
New 7 Wonders Of The World
Only 381 days left for the voting in the selection of the new 7 Wonders of the World. Out of the total of 71 nominations, India has 34 nominees which incidentally include Anna Nagar Tower from Singara Chennai (Surprising!!!).
Taj Mahal is at 3rd spot as of now which is not at all surprising and the second best from India is Meenakshi Temple, Madurai at 26 place. All others are languishing at the bottom of the nomination list.
Overall, most of the votes have come from the Mainland China and its no surprise that Great Wall of China is at the first place!!! But India is catching up fast in the votes and in the last 7 days, 99% of the votes have come from India and Taj Mahal accounts for almost everything... I have voted for the Meenakshi Temple and guys, it's your turn now to vote... It's very simple!!! Just visit this site The Seven New Wonders of World and make your vote count... And one more thing I would like you guys to do... You can put Nanganallur in the world map by suggesting a new nominee.. You have guessed it correct!!! I have suggested Nanganallur Anjaneya Temple to be included in the list of nominees... But atleast 7 persons should have suggested the name before it makes it to the list of nominees....
Any volunteers??
The list of nominees from India: Ajanta Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, Anna Nagar Tower, Chennai, Arunachaleshwara Temple, Tiruvannamalai, Brihadeshwara Temple, Tanjore, Gateway of India, Mumbai, Gomateshwara Statue, Karnataka, Jain Temples, Rajasthan, Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, Konkan Railway Viaduct, Kutub Minar, Delhi, Lotus Temple, New Delhi, Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu, Mangalya Building, Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Palace of Mysore, Raigad Fort, Maharashtra, Ranakpur Jain Temple, India Red Fort Complex, Delhi, Sabari Mala, Kerala, Saint Thiruvalluvar Statue, Tamilnadu, St. Thomas Church, Kerala, Sun Temple, Orissa, Swami Bagh, Agra, Syayambhu monastery, Taj Mahal, The Bahubali Gomteshwar Statue, The Belur Temple, The Golden Temple, Amritsar, The Halebid Temple, The Statue of Bahubali, The temples of Hampi, Victoria Terminus, Mumbai, Vivekanand Rock Memorial.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2004
Is There A Reunion In The Offing?
You feel really delighted when you bang on somebody accidentally and come to know that you have known each other for a long time, but have lost touch due to unavoidable circumstances.. Reunion is always a pleasure and you tend to exchange views on whatever happened during that intervening period... Is there a reunion in the offing? Possible going by what two people have said so far...
Confusing? I know... Thought of writing something else but ended up writing this... so please bear with me!!!
I am talking about 2 adivasies of Nanganallur, our own Sridhar and Ramesh, who had lived in Nanganallur since his childhood and had moved to the US in search of greener pastures.... Let see how the story develops....
Sridhar and Ramesh can you update us on the further developments??
Posted by Vasanth at 11:16 AM | Comments (11)
December 09, 2004
Its Official Now!!!! 'Chennai better than B'lore for IT'
With better infrastructure and quality human talent, Chennai fares better than Bangalore in attracting new investments from BPO and software firms, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said on Thursday.
"Bangalore is overheated. The infrastructure there has not kept the pace of the growth in the IT sector," Karnik said, after inaugurating the new facility of BPO firm 24/7 Customer in Chennai. "The value proposition of Chennai is good," he said, adding Chennai was poised to become a major hub for business process outsourcing (BPO) firms. Karnik said Bangalore's infrastructure was facing severe constraints and Chennai could take advantage of this. "Chennai continues to have a narrower gap between infrastructure requirement and supply," he said. Karnik, however, asked the state government to make sure that Chennai does not face constraints in the future as more and more companies set up their development centres and back offices in the city.
Vivek Harinarain, IT secretary, Tamil Nadu, said the government was able to increase the space requirements for IT firms by many fold
in the last couple of years to attract companies.
"We were able to change the perception about Chennai (that it was not an IT-friendly destination)." PV Kannan, founder and CEO of 24/7 Customer, said the company held a CAT (common admission test) model test for prospective employees and it was found that the Chennai youngsters were at least 20-25 per cent better in analytical and problem solving skills, compared to their counterparts in other states.
Source: The Economic Times
Posted by Vasanth at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
I Can't Believe This!!!!!
Believe It or Not.... It's happening in the US... Sometime back I was offered the position of the CEO in the Software Big Daddy Microsoft. But because of some domestic commitments, I wasn't able to shift to the US... But one fine day, one of my friends in the US has sent this snap and has informed me that a major agitation is going on in Seattle to appoint me as the CEO of Mircosoft... While I whole heartedly thank the people who are participating in this agitation, I call upon these people to call off their agitation as I am not in a position to move to US now.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:39 PM | Comments (5)
December 08, 2004
Is this an undesirable shade of Pride called VANITY?
Guest Blog By Xena
Before you read this, just take a look at a very well written blog Pride or Vanity. Extracts from this blog are in blue while extracts from Indians-What we've Achieved are in green. Dissecting and analyzing what people say is not my kind of a thing. I wouldn't do it if I could help it. In this case, I just couldn't help it ..lol!
I can't deny that there are a whole lot of such emails floating around. It sure is a pain in the neck sometimes. Meaningless and uninteresting forwards are doubtlessly a waste of time and resources. I don't intend to defend people sending such forwards. There's absolutely no point in digging in your heels trying to defend them. Its one thing to read some senseless blabber that's sent around either for the heck of staying in touch or with some fallacious and childish idea of making people patriotic, but, its quite another to try inducing a change of attitude amongst Indians (I think its
possible to do this by presenting facts and figures).
"38% of Doctors in America are Indians. 12% of Scientists in America are Indians. 36% of NASA employees are Indians. 34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians 28% of IBM employees are Indians 17% of INTEL employees are Indians 13% of XEROX employees are Indians" -Well, I have no clue if this piece of statistical data is accurate, but it definitely sounds reasonable-based what little I get to know from the papers and the people (known to me) working in these industries/who are professionals in these areas
"We Indians always have the uncanny habit of degrading ourselves without looking into what we have achieved.." -Now this sure is true. There's an excellent example for this here-"Isn't it enough that we have a very bad image outside? Do we need to appear so desperate to show our 'superiority' over the whiteys?"
-Come on, gimme a break! Whats this about us having a bad image or a good one? It's all in the mind. As you think so you'll be! By the way, for what reason under the sun do we have a BAD IMAGE? I fail to understand this! Every country has problems and even if India does have a "bad image", images are never static. They are forever changing. No big deal! All the same, this mind set is changing pretty fast amongst the Indians-Thank our stars!!
"Days are not far off when we Indians, whether in India or otherwise, will be a dominant force to reckon with if not already..." -Looks like an extract from a pep speech. All the same, this is true. To me, it doesn't appear to be "vacant, empty, jingoistic rhetorics, like the rooster shouting from the top of a haystack" (bombastic words-jingoistic rhetoric and a neat li'll simile-like the rooster shouting from the top of a haystack, don't make much of an impact if what is said doesn't appeal to ones common sense).
At this point, let me make a declaration-History has never been my favorite subject and my knowledge about Indian history is very limited. What follows is just a bit of reasoning I did.
"The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education" -I'm sure that every Indian child reads this piece as a part of the History lessons. I trust the Indian government to the extent that they would not be publishing stuff that isn't true.
"At the peak of Nalanda University, the world was limited to Japan on the East, and the Mediterranean Roman Empire on the west. South was limited to Ceylon and possible Maldives and/or Madagascar. North of India, China was the only region known, not even our closest ally Russia was known at that time" -The fact remains that the University of Nalanda was sought after for the education that it had to offer. This is irrespective of what existed in the rest of the world. To run a university at that point in time is no joke! Besides, you never know...there was a great deal of trading and exploring in progress. How can anybody be sure as to people in which parts of the world were connected to each other? I would definitely dig deeper into this, if only I had the time to!
"Also remember that 'India' existed only as thousands of small warring kingdoms, so close to 90% of the 10000+ students would have been from within the subcontinent (@ an average of 10 students per country)" -Amazing that the warring kingdoms should send their students (non residents) across to this varsity. Wonder what happened if a war broke out?!. -Even if this Std V math kind of 'fact' is true
(10 per country from 1000 countries WITHIN India), it shows how civilized Indians were. The students were able to continue studying there in spite of the wars! -There definitely were students from various countries in that university. Visit Nalanda and World Heritage for details.
"Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called the ancient city when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today" -This is a fact based on archaeological evidences. Theres nothing more to say about it!
"Grammar constitutes one of India's greatest contributions to Western philology. Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian, who lived between 750 and 500 BC, was the first to compose formal grammar through his Astadhyai. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software" "When they say Sanskrit is the most suitable for computers, they talk about the grammar (constructs) and them alone, not the script or vocabulary or stuff like that" -Think this is exactly what is implied in "Indians-what we achieved".
Nobody denied it! "Mere feel-good words like these won't help achieve this, only actions" -Well, excuse me...do take a look around you sometimes.'Action' is happening everywhere boss. Theres no harm if words tag along too right? (the vice versa is what is not agreeable... I suppose). If theres no 'Action' happening 'n just "vacant, empty, jingoistic rhetorics" from atop the "haystack", then why are so many of us employed by multinational giants and why are so many projects being outsourced by other countries (cost cutting is not the only reason. If you know the way things work now, cost cutting is never done choking quality) This is just one of the many developments that show case the fact that 'Action' is happening. Listing down facts and figures is not my cup of tea. I leave it to your discretion and judgment to look around and decide for yourself whether some 'Action' has happened! I strongly agree that fallacies cannot be taken for pride for the country. One cannot live in the past. It's the present that matters, but theres no harm in taking a look backwards once in a while. All that this blog (Indians-What we've achieved) says about India makes sense to me.
Considering the future, change is the only thing that doesn't change...but it's important to make it a desirable one. To feed in some positive facts in order to initiate this change is a welcome attempt. This blog projects some positive facts about the country and induces the feeling that we, after all, do have things that are looked up at by the rest of the world. This is not just a glorification of something that's worth nothing right now. Infact, India is worth much more now than it was any time in the past and its worth is increasing by leaps and bounds. It is pointless to jump down somebody's throat just 'cos that somebody wanted to make a difference in the way people think.
What say u?
Posted by Vasanth at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2004
"Indians What We Achieved" A Follow Up
Ever since I wrote about the achievements by the Indians and the progress made by us, there were lots of rebuttals and questioning of the data published in the blog Indians What We Achieved Just to throw some more clarity on those issues... There was a mention that the I have overlooked the plight of Indians in the Gulf who are treated like third world citizens (of course, India is stil considered to be a third world country by many of the westerners) and the number of Indians in the Gulf are quite high in comparison to the numbers in the US and other western countries.
Though, frankly, I don't have any idea about the numbers either in Gulf or in the US, I will certainly do a research on that and write on it in the days to come.
And there was a rebuttal by Manoj (I would say, a very detailed one; nice work man) in his blog Pride or Vanity regarding the authenticity of the data... I respect his sentiments on this and would certainly concur with his views that we should not be living in the world of fallacies... But these data have been taken from the official website of the Ministry of Tourism of the Government of India... Though I cannot vouch for the data put in the website by the Ministry, I would presume that these should be authentic data otherwise they would not be putting that in an official website... My only purpose of putting those details in the blog was to make people realise that we have achieved many things for which we need to be proud of. It's very sad that many people whom I interact with, mind you I am talking only about Indians, not foreigners, crib thoroughly about the country, the attitude of the people, the infrastructure, the bureaucracy and what not...
It's a fact that we are a developing country (I think it's a better phrase than under developed country) and I am nobody to deny that fact…. But we Indians should move beyond all this and try to help the county to move forward to become a developed country in true sense in the years to come... What purpose is it going to serve by just cribbing about the state of affairs of the country.....
At this point I am only reminded of John F Kennedy's words "Don"t ask what the country has done to you, ask what you have done to the country"
We can all contribute to the success story of the country by doing something which will help achieve those goals and not just crib; cribbing will take us nowhere... Don't think that I am some freak social worker who runs a NGO for the upliftment of the society... I am an ordinary Indian just like you and would love to see India move forward in all her endeavours...
I have always been an optimist and will always be that way....
Posted by Vasanth at 09:34 PM | Comments (2)
December 03, 2004
Wanna Trade in Shares???
Hey Guys just came across this Blogshares which is quite interesting... and this is what they say about themselves
"Welcome to the game of BlogShares, the addicting and fast-growing web-based experience! Take the time to pop into our Forums and introduce yourself to the friendliest community on the Internet. Get involved! From documentation and support to game logic and coding, BlogShares depends on the amazing volunteer spirit of its players to improve and grow. BlogShares is more than a game, it's an addiction. Keep reading to get in on the fun! BlogShares is a fantasy stock market where weblogs are the companies. Players invest fictional dollars on shares in blogs. Blogs are valued by their incoming links and add value to other blogs by linking to them. Prices can go up or down based on trading and the underlying value of the blog"
Guys go out and enjoy the fantasy world and trade in the shares of the blogs including your favorite ones.
Posted by Vasanth at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2004
College Road
For all those who have missed the cross country race. The Gateway to Nanganallur... Even the village roads down south would be far more better....
Posted by Vasanth at 03:41 PM | Comments (1)