Controversial Czar

Youth in police net for hacking computer system

2006-06-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

This is just nonsense and doesnt make sense

New Delhi - A youth was remanded in seven days of police custody Tuesday by a local court on charges of extorting money after hacking the computer system of a leading telephone service provider here, police said.
Ankit Srivastava was arrested Monday evening by special cell officials of Delhi Police from Ghaziabad on the outskirt of the national capital.
He was accessing the bill details of 59 customers of AirTel, including 26 ‘high profile’ ones and some top police officers, officials said.
‘He was arrested for hacking the computer system and later demanding Rs.10 million from the company. He allegedly threatened to make the details public if his demands were not met,’ said Karnail Singh, joint commissioner of police (special cell).
‘Ankit was produced before an additional chief metropolitan magistrate and was remanded in seven days of police custody. It is a serious case and we will interrogate him to get more details,’ Singh told IANS.

http://indiaenews.com/2006-06/12924-youth-police-net-hacking-computer.htm

My take on this episode is this
An innocent hacker who is curious takes a shot at Airtel, people are shocked and the law doesnt have any provision to punish the culprit. If they add on ransom, threatening clauses then they can put a door on this kid. Well i dont knowif they would come after me for writing this hahaha. Who cares?

A solution

2006-05-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

I have been amused to see the quota thing in education and in job sectors. This is just another issue being blown out of proportion. This is just going nowhere with both sides not going in for compromise. So my solution for this nonsense goes like this.....Go for Home School. Why cant one go in for home schooling? Edison got his initial education at home. Why cant one get better education at home? No need to stand in queues to get admissions...no need to pay hefty fee....home school may trigger full time employment to youth. I have been through boring school drills...learnt nothing but paid hefty fees. Now i am in such a situation that I root for home school, root for lower fees, root for quality education rather than for quantity or for useless worthless degree certificate!!!

Nuisance #4

2006-05-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ref: Hindustan times pixs

When will people learn? Will they learn anything at all? Do these people think that if one watches a movie one could convinced things? If this was the case, there have been countless movies on drugs, drinking, crimes, social evils et al. Has movies made people a better being? Has movies created devils? Its all in one's perception..just protesting or rioting on things wont create a Mahatma ;-)

India's own Anna Kournikova

2006-05-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Anna Kournikova is famous for modelling as she plays less tennis and wins fewer tournaments..yet she is famous. I would say she is practical and our Sania is going her way. Good going Sania!!!!

Nuisance #3

2006-05-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ref: Hindustan Times pictures

The caption says "Children shouting slogans against Gujarat government during a demonstration organised by All India minorities front, in New Delhi on Friday, May 5, 2006."

Is this another empty protest? I think this protest is ridiculous for these reasons

The protest was held in New Delhi. The kids in this picture may not even know what Delhi is and what gujarat is. Then comes the word "minority".
Is the All India Minorities front made of kid members?
Does the kid shouting slogan know what it is protesting for?

This is absolute nuisance and the govt must do something to stop all these nonsense.

Great Indian Circus

2006-04-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

Of all the Indian states, there is one which "shocks and awes" me and thats TamilNadu. Even though I am branded as a tam brahm by others, I find its strange. I dont share even one thing common with the Tamil people except for the tamilish sounding last name. TamilNadu is going to polls and already the circus has started with the animals and artists entertaining people. It was a brilliant start .... Vaiko aka V.Gopalswamy switching sides. Yes!! the same vaiko who was with DMK led front and who was imprisoned for months by Jaya amma. This guy gives some excuse and switches side..foul mouths karunanidhi and shamelessly sides with Jaya. Then Vijaykanth .. an actor known in the movies for his political correctness, oneliners or punch dialogues and above all for his fighting style....flying in the air and kicking the baddies. This guy also jumps into the circus and starts a new party...Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam” (DMDK), ..... I still dont understand the concept of using Dravidian and Aryan theories to fan racism. BJP is nowhere in the picture and the last thing I heard of them was the story that they were trying to join Vijaykanth. Every damn party in TamilNadu has the term DMK or MK in it....cant they think out of it?

Now lets look at something that a shocker....Jaya has been torn down in the past for her high-handedness, autocratic rule, arrogance, corruption etc etc, yet she is voted again and again to power. Karunanidhi isnt much better too, he has a long history of foul play and playing around with everything that included land, woman and money. Yet people vote for him. He has been desperately trying to push his son Stalin. Just by keeping one's name as Stalin wont make him that..he is just a chip out of old karunanidhi.......Then comes Ramdoss. Ramdoss is famous for picking on Rajinikanth for his image as a smoker and drowning his movie BABA. Once washing his hands off Rajinikanth..he moved to pick on Ramdev, who runs an ayurvedic chain. Of late there has been some tamil fanatics who have created trouble for manythings that isnt tamilized. They made few movies change their title to Tamil. This state is totally gone absurd with people made to believe that Delhi is an enemy territory and Hindi means Aryanism. All political parties feed in age old things and try to snatch votes in the name of tamil and dravidianisms. Whats to be seen is will they pull off having the last laugh and swindling the state again? Can this state come out of Dravidianism and embrace Hindi?

As I told you, I am being singled out as a tam brahm and yet I dont believe in all these Aryan and Dravidian theory. Do you find anything common between me and the tamils in tamilnadu? If yes, let me know. ;-)

Nuisance #2

2006-04-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

I personally feel that 24 hours a day isnt enough and always try to see if i can squeeze things so that I can earn an extra minute. But whats surprising is the fact that there is so much time on hand for people living in India. When I was in India, i had the feeling that the clock never moved ahead and it was lazier than the people. Even to date I see people flocking and wasting time to watch street plays, flock to cricket stadium to watch their Hero(es) bat, flock to listen to the speeches during political rallies etc. There are countless other reasons, what is to be seen is that do people go to these places to kill time? or do they really love listening to speeches? Now this is a tough question to answer.

When ever a new movie is launched, I see people rushing to watch 1st show and they are so eager that they dont mind spending 2 to 3 hrs in a queue waiting for their turns to purchase tickets. Ministers and political icons make these people and sometimes local school kids to wait for hours before they turn to the venue. This is such a national waste...first saturday and sunday are off, then there is countless festivals, next there is an election, then there is riots and strikes. People have so much time and if they think hard they can use this time to earn few bucks. Yes!!! one's time could be sold for some money. I am willing to buy your idle time to get my work done. Many of you out there could spend this time by visiting call centers as temp employees!!!

Recently there were elections in Assam and there will be one election due in Tamilnadu. Nothing has changed at all, still i find people patiently sitting at these rallies and rooting for their favourite leader. For once think of the economics, one gets to earn Rs 100 a day sitting and showing up at rallies, plus free food and transport to and fro, but one may earn close to Rs 500 to Rs 1000 if one sits and attends to call centers....Any takers ;-)

Milking the new cash cows!!!

2006-04-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

"How IT is changing rural India"

[http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/07spec.htm]

The headline painted a rosy picture and made me click this link. The first para was good with details of how village people could open bank account, avail loans and do banking on a mobile kiosk and mobile ATMs. Then came the shocker and made me think as to whether there is something like a social business....on second thoughts social business is more like an oxymoron!!! These things shocked me....

* That is what Microsoft is doing. Says Singh: "Our approach is to bring different kinds of offline as well as online services together to make the kiosk viable." The company has developed educational content online for children in local languages, which is available for a subscription of Rs 50 to Rs 100 a month. A printer and software for desktop publishing ensures that you can publish marriage or invitation cards or even a CV for a nominal Rs 10 to Rs 12 a piece. And as PCs our loaded with Windows Media Player - many local kiosks owners have converted themselves into mini movie halls - offering movie shows at a nominal Rs 2-3 a show.

* How does Microsoft ensure that the model is viable? Take, for instance, its tie up with Dhristee - an NGO, which has perhaps the cheapest-priced kiosk model. Kiosks are not cheap - one connected with a VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal), battery pack and printer, requires an investment of over Rs 70000.

* Says Singh: "Our experience has shown that the entrepreneur is cash positive within the first two to three months." He points out that an average in a village of 5000 homes at least 20 people go to the kiosk everyday - and that is enough to break even and make money.

* "Kisan Soochna Kendra" has swanky styling - it is built with glazed tile floorings and equipped with the latest gizmos - laser printers and scanners and even a movie video camera and PCs connected by VSAT to the outer world. But is also costs money - an investment of a steep Rs 510,000.

* Intel is pushing for Wimax as a cheaper solution but with its standards still not been fixed, this might be a while away. n-Louge, has deployed cordect (wireless and local loop) technology to bring in connectivity to the villages. And it charges between Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 monthly to ensure uninterrupted connectivity.

Now you can decide on whether its a real attempt to bridge digital divide or cashing on a new opportunity to swindle rural folks?

Ridiculous

2006-04-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

"New OBC Quota Proposal For IITs, IIMs, DU, JNU" is painted as a headline in a newspaper article. Usually the Govt takes a longer time to decide on things but its surprising to see that it is proceeding on this at a lightening pace. The Left and its allies that support congress and keeping quiet, but the same people create hell when any talks of privatization is in air. Even BJP is toothless/powerless, is mindlessly playing its Rath Yatra time and again to stop its own rot. The opposition fears that an opposition to reservation would mean a loss in its seats. Everyone is thinking of its own profits and letting the country go to dogs.

When people start making a beeline to the US or to Europe, the Govt and its chelas start giving speeches & shedding crocodile tears, create an hype on brain drain. If conditions are hostile in our own country then what else could anyone do? Its a pain to hear the world "secular and democratic" on one side and reservations & caste powerplays on the other side. Is this an Illusion/Maya?

But I think we have some options

1) Overthrow the government, protest and bring in Mandal Ver 2.0

2) Slip out of the country and start enrolling at bachelor's level in US universities.

3) Do nothing but learn english and join a call center. A call center job pays 5 times than what Engg job pays.

4) Learn some computer languages and things @ NIIT, Aptech et al and get employed as a cyber coolie.

Anymore ideas?

Indo-US nuke pact

2006-04-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to this crap for quite sometime. US as everyone knows wants to show that its still a global police...and India still wants to act like a colony by obeying people. But what irks me is the fact that india cant even negotiate a deal and they drag the feet for long...by the time they decide everything is gone. Indians are good at bargaining but never are good at buying something. Now let me get back to real subject of Nuclear thing.

Open up any science book and look for fundas about going nuclear. Only thing one needs to know about nuclear energy is ways to control this monster...initiating this thing isnt great but stopping it and protecting oneself is. There have been nasty scenes in the past about going for nuclear options ....famous being chernobyl and the famous cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki going to dust with just a trigger. Even after all this, there still love for these deadly agents of mass destruction.

India with so many people is still grappling with the problem of providing basic infrastructure, right to education and many more things. The reason is India spends too much on importing oil from the middle east and the import bills are so high that at the end of the day, it has hardly any money left for other things. Now only option is going nuclear on the energy front and saving money. The sands of kerala are rich in thorium but India is so lazy to use it for its advantage. The people in power are so much selfish that they channelize nuclear material to explode bombs and influence electoral ballots. Using such precious energy for peaceful purpose will power India to better economic resources and for peaceful co-existence. I dont take the reason of manufacturing bomb just because China and Pakistan may use that. The commonsense says that one will use such things only when there is no escape and one is trapped badly. The current day affairs isnt pushing anyone to use this option as everyone knows that both the destructor and the intended target nations will perish. So its no fun destroying things and becoming the caretaker of the graves. My verdict is go on and sign the deal, get the license to go nuclear in terms of supplementing this energy for peaceful means. No one knows what happens later ... US may not retain its Big Brother attitude in the future and India may be free to use nuclear options on rogue nations around it..but for time being signing the dotted line isnt bad!!!!

O God

2006-04-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sarabjit embraces Islam: Report [http://hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1667818,000500020000.htm]

Now lets dissect this news. First thing is does converting to Islam in an Islamic country means anything at all. In this case this guy Sarabjit is tried on spy charges and has been imprisoned for quite a long time. There has been reports that he will be executed. But can this happen .... that changing one's faith one could just get out from this dilemma? I dont know if that would help, but my conviction is that no one could be forced to embrace a religion and pressurized to follow a particular faith. Conversions mean that one no longers have faith in one's faith. Now comes the important question...why does one change faith or rather to put it in short as why does one convert!!!

The answer lies here.....many of the oppressed and ill-treated people often switch religions. This is due to a fact that they may find it comfortable to get out of situation or they are lured with something if they switched sides. Its common for any hindu political party to jump up and make an issue when convertions take place. The same people when they create noise forget the fact that they didnt treat the convertee better in first place, never saw them in brighter light, never gave them equal rights. Why is it that they got converted ? why is that i am not inclined to convert? Again the answer is if i were exploited to maximum and not given fair deal..i would have converted too...who knows. About 60% of all religious conversions are genuine and rest 40% are because people got greedy and got lured.

Getting back to Sarabjit's case...the new faith he has choosen can get him off the hook? What would be the consequences of such cases? Two things can happen...1) If Sarabjit gets free then this would stir up more conversions..yeah conversion at one's convenience 2) Will discourage future convertees. What do you predict?

Nuisance #1

2006-04-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

An article that yells "Naxals extort 2-3% from contractors" in Andhra Pradesh http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1478069.cms

Now who are these Naxalites? Why are they like this? The answer to this goes like .....

God is great, he creates all sorts of specimens. When a particular specimen flocks together...and when synergy prevails..thats what creates something like Naxalites. Naxalites are like cancer which is a part of the system and eats the system. Well those people will say that they were oppressed and were pushed against the wall by the system and hence like any normal being ..there somehow got the courage to get back at the system......Bull Shit!!! Thats all I would say when i hear such a thing. Some idiotic sympathizers would say that they pity these people and government treated them bad, some forward caste people ill treated them etc etc and some cock and bull story. Now just like I am irritated at this..so will the Govt. Who cares a damn about these pests? What I dont understand is this....someone from somewhere illtreated or exploited them, so why are they exploiting us? Why cant they go after someone who is the culprit? If they are so courageous why do they go around collect..errr a correction...extorting money? Why kill poor people and the cops? What crime did the family members of these people killed by naxalites ever done?

Here are another bunch of jokers... "Shakeel man demands Rs 2 crore from Delhi exporter"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1477974,curpg-2.cms

Now how can a guy sitting miles away collect money? Can this money fly off automatically or would this guy do a magic or teleport himself and kill anyone from anywhere? I would call this "glorified begging", yeah the money you get without doing any work or converting any useful energy is like alms. Now lets get to first question....how can anyone sitting miles away snatch the money? Answer is simple, there are a few bunch of sheeps working around who blindly follow their master. Why would these sheep follow? Sheep follows shepherds and sheep always think that shepherd will lead them to better life, protect them and feed them. But the sheep never thinks as to why would their master be so kind, the reason is they are sheep not humans. They have no brains to think independently. The sheep may be of two kinds...a real sheep and a black sheep. Real sheep are those who follow its master blindly and black sheep are those who put on sheep skin and are on the rolls of the shepherd. If you dont get it then you may be a different kind of sheep !!!!

All I would say is that again this is just for personal gains and ulterior motives. If not this reason then next best reason I could say is that ...a bunch of rejects couldnt get a better job, couldnt do well in life, tried but failed miserably in life and hence formed a band and started terrorising people. What I dont understand is why would anyone give money to lazy buggers just like that in the name of exortion? Shame on the people who sit around and threaten and make a loot. Shame on the people who fall to these things too...Everyone knows that one day they have to die, instead of resisting and getting killed...I dont know how one pays up and lives? Is it better to die courageously or live cowardly?

What Stupidity

2006-04-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: BPOs are booming in India, but not every entrepreneur can jump into the fray due to high investments and long gestation periods. Not anymore, as you can run a call center from a nearby Reliance WebWorld. The company has launched a new scheme whereby entrepreneurs can start operating a small-time BPO from a WebWorld store from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. [ http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2006/106040303.asp ]

There was a writeup about using a cyber cafe as call center at night. Many are excited at this idea. But i would say this is of nuisance value. Someone else will come up with an idea like Laptops on rent and some rooms of apt/house are rented for night. As people sleep at night, rooms are usually vacant why not use that as call center. Mannnn i cant stop laughing at this!!! Some say its a brilliant idea and a money earner. I quote from what has been said

The company charges Rs. 8000 per seat per month, “So a person can operate a 12 seater call center for less than a lakh of rupees per month,”

I have a better idea why not use empty roads to use them as mobile call centers? Anyways there are no traffic from 1 am till 5 am. Why not use a mobile call center, equipped with wireless connection, laptop and few seats. One can hire a van like 10 seater for Rs 100 a night and use that as a call center!!! Why not rent out some of your rooms in the house for call center use? All sleep at night so why not rent out other rooms? Why not use parks and community halls at night when they are of no use for call center purposes? Our own public transport rots in the shed at night and it has like 30 seats, why not use them for BPO work? Drive the bus to near a wireless hotspot like coffee day and use them for BPO? Oh i think i can sell this idea to coffee day and they will appreciate this idea!!!

The article is as ridiculous as what i mentioned above, so i would have seriously encouraged or even funded (who knows) if an automated system like voice synthesizers were used instead of humans. I would root for a system which is 90% machine oriented and 10% humans like....most of routine queries could be rooted to machines and that which couldnt be solved using these automated systems could be routed to humans. Use of AI intensive applications to get around use of high salaried humans would go a long way in reducing the cost of products. Again I know there will be no takers..but the question is will it stop me giving ideas? I guess not ;-)

Rural BPOs a Trial

2006-04-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

I had written sometime back about pushing some jobs back to rural areas/villages
http://dialme.blogspot.com/2006/02/something-to-reckon.html

Its good to know that its been put to practice. Satyam Computers' social arm in two Andhra Pradesh villages have been scoring high on employee satisfaction, unlike their urban counterparts. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1653359,001300460000.htm

Reading these things..brings out a kind of joy. This is what one has to do if one has to achieve the concept of Equality. Its a disgusting sight to see someone flaunting their neo-richness and someone bearing his ever-poor state. It makes me double happy that my theories and ramblings do work sometimes ;-) , So just read through my blog and who knows may be it will help you in carving out someone's future as well as your future.

Alternate Fuels

2006-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

Its good to know that some people have hit the panic button at last. Its a well known fact that non-renewal energy sources are mortal just like humans and it took so many years to understand this. Another annoying fact is that most of these reserves are in the middle east. Well i must appreciate nature for this, making the place inhabitable yet for survival..it provides energy rich reserves. I cannot imagine the state of middle east without these oil rich reserves. Yet these people are squandering this for religious gains. Its a well known fact that the loot obtained by selling oil is used to fund extremism. So the question is why pay to get ourselves killed?

Now if one doesnt want to fund this craziness then there are 2 options..1) get back to pre-historic era....forbid use of machines and technology that uses fossil fuels...2)Use alternate fuels. The alternate fuels like biomass, methane, ethanol mixture, solar energy, tidal energy etc etc. Now of all these i would root for biomass and methane. One rich source is plant waste and animal waste. Use of cow dung is age old practice in indian villages. Cow dung is rich in methane and methane could be used as an alternate fuel. But methane alone may not be a good idea as there are many ill effects of using this as a fuel. Methane is a candidate for global warming. But if one looks at the cost of natural gas, its alarming..with most of the subsidies gone, it costs around Rs 400 thats like $8 a cylinder. Even this natural gas is perishable source.

Here is my proposal....
* Give one cow to each of the family living below the poverty line.
* As interest on the investment, most of the money could be recovered in this way.
* Sale of milk in the neighbourhood would help in repaying interest plus as a source of livelihood for these poor families.
* An agreement that any animal waste must be given to a methane gas generator.
* Construction of methane gas chambers, chambers to generate methane is again funded externally.
* The fuel to these chambers are free.
* Money collected on supplying this methane to nearby household would repay the loan.
* Construction & maintenance of these methane tanks would mean more employment and pollution free environment.

Atleast i am happy that we do have a solar water heating method in my house. This atleast gives me bathing pleasure and comes at real cheap. Yes, cheap....the electricity bill has gone down drastically as we use solar for heating, plus the government gives subsidy for this act. The only drawback is that when the weather is gloomy..it takes longer for the water to get heated. Now if 100 homes start using solar for heating, that would mean lots of power save. This will then translate to good economy. But i do admit that the initial cost on these solar heaters is high but if there is a demand and as many people start installing and using them, the prices will go down drastically.

Nonsense!!!!

2006-04-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: India's army chief J.J. Singh Monday said high-resolution images of strategic defence facilities on Google Earth posed a danger to national security and the matter would have to be tackled jointly with other countries.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1474806.cms

I dont know as to why Indian Govt is acting foolish. I think the answer lies in the fact that the government is made up of old people who are so naive that they cannot appeciate the technology. These people are still in 1947 era where a paper map was used to look around for navigation. They just dont want to grow up, they find it amusing to go around and give interviews and statements. There are two ways to get publicity....1) Discover a cutting edge thing and get name & fame....2)Go to the media and give some statements.

Its interesting to know that they are not concerned of the trailtors inside but are more interested in seeing to that google earth is muzzled and controlled by them. India is known outside to be a democratic country but for an indian like me, its more autocratic and is of nuisance value. Every policy and ordinance created is for personal gain, be it for gaining votes or for some sinister design. The latest to hit all round the newspaper is the govt mulling on the reservations in IIT and IIMs, reservations in private sector etc etc. Now who is diving the country on the based of reservations? Reservations in Train or Bus is ok, but using the same term for political mileage is not technically correct!!!

Some Thoughts #1

2006-03-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Its a well known fact that kids in india always go through lot of difficulties. The problems they face as to the power n (n is read as infinity). But apart from these problems, the main essential thing is education. Without proper education there is nothing one can do in this scientific world. The school system is all screwed up back in india with so many syllabus...ICSE, CBSE, State syllabus and just like the culture and religion..the syllabus is also weird. Next comes the course material which is also weird, politics decide what must be in those textbooks, there are always problems in getting these printed and distributed around. The other biggest problem is those teachers are misfit in this kind of educational setup. Its a well known fact that less than 1% of those teachers are really dedicated and they have the passion and liking to this profession, the rest 99% are there as they couldnt get into any other profession. Now imagine these 99% bringing up the next generation wave? Can you imagine this?

Now let me show you what happens in real....

Imagine an average person scoring 70% and has the ability of grasp 70% of resources. Think that person becomes a teacher, now his input from 100% was 70%..imagine his output to a kid which can grasp 70% like him. By math its easy to show that 70% of 70% is 49%. The efficiency moves from 100% to 70% and 70% to 49%. Now imagine this 49% kid growing up to be a teacher and pushing its 70% to another 70% guy? Can you imagine what this would lead to? Thats what is happening now a days. First of all the kids arent getting what they must get, secondly they are burdened with lot of things ..be it heavy mindless books, projects, assignments etc etc. These are just driving the educational cost higher. This is what is widening the gaps between the rich, neo rich, poor and the poorest. Yes, we have these 4 classes now a days.

Why not use the technology and lessen the burden? Now a days, anything is possible with a click of the button, one can pay off bills, check on account balances, send email etc etc with just one click and few key strokes. Now why cant this be used to push an uniform syllabus all round the country? Why not introduce the new generation to new technology? Why not supplement technology in education? Teaching with hi-fi technology will be fun and it can be a good learning experience if things are shown more rosy than dull. The satellite channels have robbed people of their reading habits, now why not use the same multimedia technology to enhance learning habits?

I was reading about "One Laptop per Child (OLPC)". This is a new, non-profit association dedicated to research to develop a $100 laptop—a technology that could revolutionize educating the world's children. I like this idea, have one laptop given to each kid, stream in supplementary things and see a light beaming on these kids' face. Kids love animation and multimedia and the technology of integrating boring things into these fun things is a way to go to make them better individuals. Wired Classrooms are the next thing that i am waiting for, kids can revise by playing old classes, get better understanding of things by playing them repeatedly and getting the concepts right. Use of technology can put tabs on wastage of paper and unnecessary carrying of voluminous books. Tonnes of material could be stored on hard disks and printed on demand. Home works would look more tidier when sent as an attachment or submitted in disks!!

Any Takers?

Doesnt make sense

2006-03-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Beat up those harassing women: Sheila Dixit

This was an headline in a newspaper. Now harassment is defined as

The act of harassing, or state of being harassed; worry; annoyance; anxiety.

Why is the chief minister only concerned about harassment to women? Should it be like beat up all those who harass and it applies to Govt official who do that to common people like us. It included public sector clerks too when it comes to harassing people. You are a customer with a nationalized bank but when you reach there, you are the mercy of the clerks. You need to go to the counter only when asked to and not otherwise. You go to the driver license office and you are harassed , foul mouthed, abused until you pay up. This is harassment too. You are driving on the road, a cop asks you to stop to check the documents and if everything is in order you are asked to pay up. This is harassment. There are many more and you can add them all. So will anyone infuse sense into the old sheila? Yeah Sheila Dixit who was in news for getting her illegal construction legal!!!

Now, gods tempted by soaring Sensex

2006-03-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

This was an headline in timesofindia. I was curious as to what Gods have to do with sensex. Its only the humans who go after paper money and plastic money, never had heard of Gods gun for money. So with curiosity I clicked on the link and was shocked to read all these...

* India’s rich temple trusts are toying with the idea of investing their surplus cash in the share market. The move comes after the charity commissioner’s permission to temples to park some of their funds in mutual fund schemes to begin with

* The managing trustees of Kochi Guruvayoor temple in Kerala will debate on how and what percentage of their surplus will be put into mutual funds.

* Shirdi’s Sri Sai Baba Sansthan has written to the Maharashtra government requesting permission to buy mutual fund units.

* The Shirdi Sansthan has a corpus of Rs 240 crore and rakes in a surplus of Rs 50 crore annually

* India’s richest temple, the Thirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam, has a budget of Rs 675 crore but temple sources would not reveal its surplus funds. Says Guruvayoor’s chief financial officer N Venugopal: "We want to look at investing in mutual funds as they yield higher returns." This temple’s annual revenue amounts to Rs 80 crore and it has a corpus of Rs 375 crore.

This is a real shocker, Tirupati unlike the rest of them does indulge in charity work, runs schools and universities, renovates other temples, maintains a clean place and provides a good infrastructure. But dont know about others. I dont still understand as to why the priests arent paid well, why charity isnt give, why other developmental scheme not implemented?

Goddd can you hear me? Please wake up!!! Shall i sing a suprabhat for you to wake you up...you must wake up to stop these humans from capitalizing on you and corporatizing temples. Now a days one can see CEOs appointed to look after temples. Is this all needed at all? Why cant they supplement and make priest lives better? why not renovate other temples and maintain roads and parks? My sincere request for all the temple visitors is to generously offer donations to priests and not to temple Hundis!!!! You just cannot run a temple the company way...in short temples are not-for-profit organizations.

George Bush comes to India

2006-02-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

I strongly feel that we must learn a lot from Bush and company. The way he dealt and is dealing with problems round the world with strong hands is something indians have to learn. One can make 1000 reasons to prove he is a bad head of state but he has the pain to kick few rouge nations and protect his people from the marauders. So the thing is whether its Bush or someone else the ultimate aim is to see that the citizens of the country are well protected irrespective of where they are. This is exactly what Indian Govt isnt doing well, it harrasses its own people, makes partial decisions based on caste and creed. This isnt how i want to be treated in india or outside. The indian govt never comes to the rescue of ill treatment meted but i think now a days things are better as it did save one guy in the Saudi. So welcome Bush instead of protesting on the streets. The comrades as they call themselves are making an issue out of nothing in protesting against a head of state.

One Thought...One Vision...

2006-02-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

The value of stocks and shares can be predicted with a perfect financial model. I have watched the experts and analysts forecast certain things to a decimal place.... Whats the secret behind this accurate predictions? They arent astrologers or fortune tellers but how in the world do they have the knack of pulling out things? The answer to this is a black box..yes a black box with complicated math model alloyed with various factors. Now when they can predict the uncertainity and future with this why cant some kind of modelling not be applied to Agriculture which is still a major source to economy. As the population explodes the need for food is always there so if india can be the powerhouse for supplying this demand certain things needs to be taken care of. The main problem is water and monsoon, there isnt a system which could predict or give data to farmers so that they get this extra edge to make some money. Everything now is at the mercy of meteorologicak department and its technology. It was ridiculous like 5 yrs ago when i used to watch the weather report and things used to happen the other way they mentioned. If such a system is existing ..naturally this bungling is a curse on farmers. So what if there is a modelling which takes into account weather, soil type in a region and then use the technology to provide information on demand.
I have seen reports of farmers committing suicide as they couldnt repay loans because of failed crops, wrong choice of cropping and bad management. There are shark type money lenders always on prowl, fictious fertilizers, spurious seeds etc. Now only way to get along these is to have a system which could tell or predict that if the farmer sows certain types of crops the yield wont help him in anyway. Provide help desk like solutions on what to and what not to. When india is providing BPO services to others why not collect data, build a model, errect information kiosks and use the medium to make them Corporate Farmers? Cant Agriculture sector be listed on stock market? Any Takers !!!!

Mod Swami

2006-02-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

There was a write up on Ravishankar's birthday celebrations which took off in bangalore.... This is what one of the writeups say...

Bangalore: Binoculars and digicams trained towards the stage follow Sri Sri Ravishankar, clad in white dhoti, mobile phone and designer sunglasses in hand, as he inspects preparations for the silver jubilee celebrations of the Art of Living foundation.

This is how mod swamis move around...they have sleek mod cars, carry mobile phones, wear designer cloth dhotis laced with gold jari, wear designer goggles...woah even i dont have money to buy and flaunt all these. Now why not become a sadhu santh? The money is in religion. So why not ask VCs for money to start a new religion and preach yoga and new techniques to relieve corporate shisyas? Isnt that a bright idea...
* Publish a new booklet giving new breathing technique, add few hi-fi terms and make it look more fancy.
* Hire few photographers and get the best pictures out.
* Get the best dress designers and give them the best crisp silk clothes and ask them to design a new type which may be possible a cross between a dhoti and a pyjama.
* Get a new hair style ....put out the best gel so that it looks cool.
* Hire a PR who has foreign contacts and who can reach out to Multi-National companies and basically American Companies.
* Hire the best media managers who can stream out the best possible ads and footages.
* Hire the best web specialists and build a sleek website with AJAX technology.
* Get yourself a private jet so that flying to any place on time would get a lot of admiration for being punctual.

Well with all these glitz anyone could be a mod swami.... Would you agree? Would you want to take this idea? Feel free ..take the tips and you could be another corporate adviser or a mod swami.

Again a Hoax?

2006-02-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

There was a post on a message board which read as

The hot news in Tamil nadu now is the video cassette recording lord venkateshwara in Tirupati opening his eyes.The story goes this way...When a family from Chennai, TN went to Tirupati in 2003, they had recorded this video at the time brahmhotsav.To their surprise, when they were watching the tape now after 2 years,they could see lord venkateshwara opening & closing his eyes.This news spread within moments in the whole state & yesterday night thetape was even aired in a popular TV channel.

I dont claim that this is authentic. Still its worth a watch!!! There has been things before hyped and highlighted but later it was proved that it was a hoax.

The actual diety "Malayappan" which is taken out in procession and does these two pictures match? I dont know you have to tell me.

Something to Reckon

2006-02-13T16:58:00.000-08:00

Modern present day India is known for its call centres and BPOs. With the salary demanded on the rise, whats the consequences? The jobs will go to either India's english speaking neighbours or to EAST Europe where the labour is cheap or to chinese who are rapidly learning english. The question is can the jobs be retained back? The answer is yes. The next question how and where? The answer to this is vast indian rural areas. It makes sense to start few english speaking schools in rural areas, tap the man power there and spin it off into another money maker. If this happens then India will be Shining for sure. This would also fuel backward flow from cities to villages. Lands are cheap, cost of living cheap, food and agriculture produce is abundant and in plenty, pollution free air and of all tension free life. But things have to be changed drastically. The infrastructure is weak and power cuts rampant. If this is improved then jobs can be created and all low end jobs could be sent here and all hitech jobs retained back in major cities. This creates equal wealth and opportunities for rural guys too. Any Takers?

How about this?

2006-02-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

I dont know about other places, but the after sales service in india is very bad. The company gets rude and mean when you get your product back to them. Sometimes a new product may break down or there may be few defects or whatever they advertised wont be correct. Now how will one know about all these? The company will never advertise the cons in the product. There has to be a means where people rate things after using the product, complaints or problems if any could be added, reviews made. This sort of a listing would then be a kind of pondering tool for future buyers and a sort of a warning tool for the company. How about launching this mechanism? Any Takers? Well atleast this time i am pondering whether to take this myself instead of asking others to take it ;-)

Idea to convert black to white

2006-02-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

There is so much corruption and ill gotten wealth around that its hurting the economy as all this money gets into swiss banks, low time players invest in benami properties. I have an idea to convert that black money into white. It is so simple that all the person has to do is invest in startups and when press or anyone presses the investor, the investor as well as the company invested in must say that its "undisclosed money" and later say "no comments". This way they can keep everyone guessing and IT dept wont be after them. This black money can turn white when the startup breaks even and starts making money or they go for an IPO ;-)
Isnt this a brilliant idea? I mean many will find employment, if the startup fails, nothing to lose as the corrupt guy gets peace of mind offloading black money, the economy runs well as this money flows around. Any takers?

Mobile Streaming or Video Downloads on Mobile

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

Everyone around is talking about Video, TV programs and movies on mobile. Well the cons are who would want to watch things on a small screen? Wont there be distortion of movie clips? Who will waste n precious Airtime? Who would want to connect to WAP or Internet and then wait for buffering of the stream. Is it worth to watch a movie when you are on the move? Aren't there portable DVD players which is worth an investment? How would one stop the streaming and attend to the calls? If the streaming is a paid one then will the user attend his call or listen/watch the streaming?

Well i would propose a way where in instead of using a WAP enabled site or connecting to internet to watch all these, the better would be have lot of places with streaming/video/audio on demand. The user has to connect locally using laser port or something else where one can save on airtime and yet watch the news or anything. Again Any Takers?

Hopes fade for Punjab's holiday brides

2006-02-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

The article on Times of India dated Thursday, February 09, 2006 , says "Hopes fade for Punjab's holiday brides".

HOSHIARPUR: They were called the 'holiday brides', but they never had anywhere to go. Now, even their children have nowhere to go as entire generations grow fatherless. At 32, Balwinder Kaur of Sherpur Pucca village is a bitter woman. Not many men have been welcomed to her house after she got into a 'holiday marriage' with US NRI Mahender Badwal. The moment she was pregnant and asked him when he would take her to America, the land of her dreams, he abandoned her.

Well as long as people are naive, the sophisticated ones will always hoodwink them. The Arabs do this too, they come down south possibly hyderabad with somewhat more muslim population. Poor families are taken for a ride by the so called "middleman" or "broker", who get even 14 yr old girls married to 60 yr old Arab. This they call it short marriage. So the arab can be with her as long as he wants to and later go back or marry one more. All this for some cash!!!! Now who is to be blamed? The families are poor and willing to get exploited, rich ones have money and willing to throw it for something in return.

Solution: My eyes brighten up as i can see an opportunity here. yes an opportunity to open a firm which can do a background check for a price. When a person registers on the company site, the company can scan his/her background, authenticate the information and give a message like "safe", "potential cheater","50-50 chance" etc based on the information tallied with the database of the registered user. This way no such hoodwinking can happen. If people want to play safe then they better shell out money ;)

Any Takers for this idea?