A Dialogue of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with Shashi Tharoor.

Shashi Tharoor on India's "soft power"

As Shashi Tharoor says -- "In today's world, it's not the size of the army that wins. It's the country that tells a better story."

A turning Point

It is with great pleasure that I see the way that the people of India are uniting together in the face of this terrorist attack.

This time seems different. This time seems to be a watershed moment.

I came across this blog mad-as-hell where the author, Suparn Verma talks about his frustration at the current state of affairs in our country. Is he talking about starting a non-cooperation movement akin to what Gandhi had done years ago ?

The people of India seems to be at a tipping point.

The young India is not like what we saw a generation back. The young India is different. The young India is more confidant and more aware.

They say that when someone throws stones at you ; the best thing to do is turn them into stepping stones.

I hope this attack was a watershed moment in the history of young India.

I hope this is the awakening.

I hope this event is the turning point that was just waiting to happen.

Chandrayaan, Chess and Cricket ...

Refering to a very old previous post. What a day today is !

We are on our way to the moon. Fingers crossed.

I cannot hide the tingle of excitement and pride as I watch the launch ! The fourth stage has been deployed --- What a feeling ! Infinite amazement ! Un-describable ! If that is a word. How can such things be described in words ?



On a smaller scale, we are looking good to get a world champion here Anand defeats Kramnik to lead by 3 points in the World Chess Championship,




And perhaps the least significant one is where India comprehensively beats the pretend world champions by some 300 runs in Mohali.

A very good day indeed !!


P.S: Disclaimer for the images. Duh.

P.P.S:

Another thing to note:

The net budget for Chandrayan is ~ 80 million USD. Barack Obama collected ~ 150 million USD for his presidential bid on Sep '08

i.e - India is sending an entire spacecraft to the moon, in about as much money as Barack can collect in 15 days. Incredible.

Some Nice Nuclear Waste for sale -- Anybody ? ? ?

I had written some time back arguing in favor of the nuclear deal ; and boy am I happy to see the deal materialize despite the best attempts from the nutty left. [ You think the left are not nutty ? - Singur, Tata anyone ? ]

There is a lot of good press that this deal is generating -- the energy options it provides India, the profits/jobs that it creates for Russia/France/USA and the likes. Who would have thought that the day would come so soon, when the developed world would be looking to India for generating jobs and money. But I digress.

One thing that is not being brought up by the media though is the issue of nuclear waste. I have not seen any significant media coverage on this very important issue !

In a country like India where even strict rules are taken as nothing but mere guidelines - how would we deal with the issue of disposing nuclear waste ? -- Would it all be dumped without any precautions, to some 'lesser fortunate' places within the country ; thus putting the environment and lives at stake ?

We know that the nuclear waste disposal problem is the mother of all waste-disposal problems. The radioactive leftovers potentially last for large periods of time, and could have deadly effects on large portions of the surrounding environment. Look at the problems United States is having with approving the proposed Yucca Mountains nuclear waste site.

If nuclear waste could prove to be a problem in a mostly law-abiding nation like United States, I fear how are the corrupt babus in India are going to deal with this important issue.

Are we taking enough care - that we do not become the nuclear dumping ground of the west ?

Nuclear Energy is good -- but India must also explore other alternatives, just as United States is doing; We must not fall into the trap of greedy commercialization from the corporates who want to sell us energy at any cost. We must keep all our energy options open.

WAH - 08

Cell Phone Ban

I believe using a cell-phone while driving is considered dangerous ; and it is banned in several parts in the United States.

I was wondering what impact such rules would have if implemented in India -- then I saw this.

Conundrum on being an Indian Liberal

Found this paragraph in a book review for Tharoors "The Elephant, The Tiger, and The Cell-Phone "

"

Liberals, like nerds, can be bullied. But unlike the nerds, liberals are not too bright. They do not have the spark of genius of the nerds. The liberals are mediocre in the nice sense of the term. That is, they are normal folk, who believe in the good and right things. And they assume the role of opinion leaders because they are articulate and express themselves in earnest tones. They are evangelical and self-righteous as well in what they believe and in what they say. 

International bureaucrat and novelist-essayist Shashi Tharoor is a liberal. To make things worse, he is also an Indian liberal. Unlike the Western liberal, who is willing to accept diversity and differences, his Indian counterpart wants to embrace everything.

"

How very apt a description, of the subtle differences within differing liberal mindsets. 

A Real World Champion

In times where the the nation talks about  pseudo cricket champions, almost richest person in the world, emerging economies, one of the biggest software companies, potential super power status - it is a pleasure to see a real undisputed champion.  

Great performance from a truly great sportsman. Heres wishing him to show Kramnik his place in the 2008 title defence too.

Peace and Growth in the emerging new world

In a beautiful dissection of the state of affairs for India and the world in general, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon gave a speech titled 'India and International Security'.

Menon talks about the change in the world that has occurred as Indian has matured from a fledgling new born country into a world leader.

At independence, it was natural that the primary task of India's foreign and security policies was to enable India to begin the process of economic and social transformation that a poor and backward country required.

The immediate objectives were therefore a peaceful environment, strategic space and autonomy, free of entanglement in Cold War conflicts or alliances. Non-alignment, as this policy was called, was the ability to judge issues on their merits and their effect on India's interests, or, as our first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru used to say, 'enlightened self-interest'.

Six decades later, we face a different world. The end of the Cold War, accelerating processes of globalisation and the salience of trans-national challenges characterise the current global scene. India too has undergone a profound internal change during this period.

Economic growth and modernisation are transforming our society at an unprecedented pace. The impact of technology is being increasingly felt. Movements of goods, services, capital and people connect us more closely than ever to once distant societies.

He discusses in detail the role of India in its immediate neighborhood as well as in the World. A very well made observation is the seemingly obvious, but unfortunately under-appreciated importance of co-existence.

Menon discusses India in context with all its immediate neighbors and emphasizes the importance of not only maintaining peace, but points out the inter-dependence that these countries inherently have.

He also addresses the other concerns that our global society faces - he addresses the over-rated issue of terrorism and the under-rated issue of Environmental Change (in my opinion). A very interesting and legitimate point he makes in understanding these concerns is, where he mentions how the new world must re-align itself to the new world order.

If our international institutions are not dealing successfully with the challenges of today, one reason is the fact that they no longer reflect current or emerging realities of power.

A very interesting article. Check out the entire speech over here.

Tagore and Jasraj - A Classical Classic !

Here is a beautiful video song. The lyrics to this song were penned by Rabindranath Tagore, while the song itself is sung by the maestro - Pandit Jasraj.

The song is about a gathering of minds, about knowledge, about working for your motherland, and most importantly - about 'working for the perfection of the spirit of man and a universal humanity'

A song with meaningful lyrics, excellent music and a great vocal. The video is not bad either. Check it out.

World Cup '07 Bhavishya-Vani

The Mega Cricketing event of the year will be commencing tommorow- can't wait for the action to start !

I will try to make some predictions on paper (err ... on keyboard) before the event begins. Time will tell how these predictions pan out in the long run. :)

In my opinion, this will be the most open world cup ever. Since the Australian team has been showing signs of vulnerability for the first time in many years, there have emerged plenty of contenders to challenge the Aussies. India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan should be able to do well in the West Indian conditions, while England and New Zealand have a new found confidence after beating Australia. A Brian Lara led West Indies, playing at home should also be a very dangerous team to come across - especially if Lara is on song.

Lets make this interesting by rating each team by how likely I think they are to win the world cup. In theory this approach should be a much safer approach then predicting one outright winner.

My Predictions for the Teams to Win the World Cup:

Australia -------------- 1/3
India ------------------ 1/3.5
Sri Lanka ------------- 1/5
South Africa: --------- 1/5.5
West Indies: ---------- 1/6
England: -------------- 1/7
Pakistan: -------------- 1/7
New Zealand: --------- 1/7.5
Zimbabwe ------------- 1/800
Bangladesh ------------ 1/1000
Kenya ------------------ 1/Inf
Netherlands ----------- 1/Inf
Scotland --------------- 1/Inf
Ireland ----------------- 1/Inf
Bermuda --------------- 1/Inf
Canada ----------------- 1/Inf

I will also be more adventurous and try to predict the performances of "my" team for the tournament - Team India. I will try to guess which players will do well, by putting numbers for their batting/bowling averages for World Cup' 07. At the end of the tournament, I can look back and see how close I was to predicting the fortunes of my favorite players .

So here is team India, and I have rated each player for what I think will be the batting average and a bowling average of that player for WC '07.

My Predictions for Player Performances :

Rahul Dravid Batting: 55 Bowling: NA

Sachin Tendulkar Batting: 60 Bowling: 45	Sourav Ganguly Batting: 50 Bowling: 40
Ajit Agarkar Batting: 10 Bowling: 25	Virender Sehwag Batting: 25 Bowling: 40
Harbhajan Singh Batting: 15 Bowling: 30	Zaheer Khan Batting: 10 Bowling: 27
MS Dhoni Batting: 40 Bowling: NA	S Sreesanth Batting: 5 Bowling: 30
Dinesh Karthik Batting: 25 Bowling: NA	Robin Uthappa Batting: 35 Bowling: NA

Anil Kumble Batting: 10 Bowling: 28

Yuvraj Singh Batting: 35 Bowling: 40

Irfan Pathan Batting: 20 Bowling: 30

Munaf Patel Batting: 10 Bowling: 24

Pictures Courtesy - http://cricketworldcup.indya.com

And Last, but not the least - I will also try to stick my head out and pick one player from each of the major contenders for WC' 07. These are the players that I think would be the most dangerous/valuable players for each team ( be it due to their batting/ bowling/ fielding/ captaincy/ experience/ .... ). Ultimately - I deem that a great WC '07 for any of these players could lead to that particular country doing very well in the tournament.

Here are my picks for valuable players :

Australia ------------- R. Ponting
India ----------------- S. Tendulkar
Sri Lanka ------------ S. Jayasurya
South Africa --------- G. Smith
West Indies ---------- B. Lara
England -------------- K. Pieterson
Pakistan -------------- Inzamam. Haq
New Zealand --------- S. Fleming


Let the games begin ! Go India !

UPDATE: results

India Booming !

India's economic march in the past few years needs no introduction - the world has been witnessing it for some time now. But even keeping that in mind, the sheer force with which India is rising boggles the mind. Just a cursorary look at the Forbes List released today throws up some amazing numbers.

The Ambanis - Mukesh and Anil, are placed at #14 and # 18 this year - last year they were #56 and #104. Anil Ambani has gained a net 12 Billion this year, while Mukesh has gained some 10 Billion. In 365 days. Pause a bit to think that they have not even started their dream projects of setting up mega retail chains and the other mega ventures.

India now has more billionaires than the economic powerhouse of Japan. India has more billionaires in the top 20 list than any other country - bar the US.

But that just covers the the richest of the rich, you say ? - Look again. And look again carefully.

India's GDP is growing at a net rate of about 9 % for quiet some time, the forex reserves have never been higher, and the BSE index breaks some record almost every day you check.

The Infrastructure is growing. The Airline Industry is opening up. India just signed a deal with the US to generate nuclear power. India is one of the premier countries working in the field of rocket science. The Indian pharmaceutical companies are booming - competing to take over the divisions of US Pharmaceutical companies that they would not even dream of competing with 10 years back.

The largest aluminum company in the world now is India's Hindalco. The worlds largest steel company, Mittal Steel, has set its future interests in India. Tata Steel succeded in an outrageous bid to take over the very reason for its former rulers power - British steel - the very company that fueled Britain's Industrial revolution. All the major car manufacturers have their eyes set on India to fund their growth in the coming years. Let us not even speak of the many smaller industries and companies that are trying to get their foot in the door.

This list does not even talk about the software and the services sector. We do not even need to go there.

I had met an american friend when I was in Pune few months back and he had said to me then - "I still do not see what the fuss is about - the roads, the cars, the infrastructure is nowhere near what is present in the western countries "
My reply to him would be this - " Yes - we still have a long way to go, but consider this - If we are doing so well with what we have right now - can you imagine where we will be - when all these problems you talk about are dealt with ? "

To put things into perspective, recall this. The United States - which is an economical behemoth of almost unrealistic proportions, was near bankruptcy by the year 1929/1930. The backbone of the US - its interstate highway system was started in the 1950's. The USA beat USSR to the moon in the 1960's. Thousands of Nuclear weapons were piled up - just as a gentle reminder to the world. By the 1970's , US was one of the foremost powerhouses in the world - powered by a generation of brilliant industrious americans - those that we call the "Industrial Baby Boomers"

Now take a look at Modern India. Post Independance - upto the 1970's India was near bankruptcy. After opening up the economy in the 1990's- the money started flowing in. India developed indigenous missiles, beat Pakistan in the "Nuclear Club" race - oh yeah - our gentle reminder to the rest of the world. The Golden Quadrilateral was completed by 2005. The Railways - managed by a rustic leader - set record profits in 2006.

Lady History loves repeating herself and the stage is perfectly set for India. It is for India to take the lead and set the trail for the next century - and the young generation of Indians have to shoulder the responsibility of acting as the "Software Baby Boomers" of this century. We must not fail her.

Indians form the largest pool of the worlds educated youngsters. Millions of young educated people - living in a free and democratic country. Millions of them eager to get a chance to prove themselves. Millions who, from the very day they are born - are pushed by everyone around towards just one goal - to be successful.

Something is bound to happen - one way or the other. The road ahead is long and a lot has to be done. We all know that no work is done until it is really done.

The world still looks on as India is waking. As India is Rising. She must not forget her tryst with destiny.

Ferrari Outsourcing to Bombay

Ferrari's F1 Team has fired its entire pit crew. The announcement follows:

" Ferrari has decided to take advantage of India's high unemployment rate, and hire unemployed Indian youths from Dharavi.

The decision to hire them was brought on by a recent documentary on how they were able to remove a set of wheels from a car parked in the street in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment. Ferrari's erstwhile crew took more than 8 seconds with the right equipment. This was thought to be an excellent yet bold move by the Ferrari management,and, as most races are won & lost in the pits, Ferrari would
have an advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari's expectations were exceeded, as during the crew's first practice session; not only were 'da boyz' from Bombay able to change the tyres in under 6 seconds, but within 12 seconds had resprayed the car, filed off the chassis number and sold the vehicle over to the McLaren Team!! "

Sachin ... Sachin

With the passage of time, you seem to loose touch with things that once seemed so very important to you.

The days when cricket seemed to be a matter of life and death - seem to be in my memory, just as if it was yesterday.

Cricket was almost a religion. We would not miss a single cricket match- come what may !

I remember not studying at all for my F.E Mathematics exam - just because of the memorable Ind- SL match at Taunton, where Ganguly had hit 180 odd runs. Despite the protests from my parents - I was throughly convinced that, the Cricket match was more important than the odd F.E exam.

We watched cricket at our homes- at friends homes - in the college canteen - in front of electronic shops in the streets - listen to the commentary in buses/trains - just about anywhere.

I remember the famous last day of the last test match of the Ind -Aus series of 2001 - the one where harbhajan, rahul and sachin got us to win the series 2-1 ( after trailing 0-1) . We had our semester practical examinations at that time, and we were listening to the commentary of those last overs - along with the examiner, on the old radio that the examiner had brought ! I remember us ( the students and the examiner) discussing cricket - of what could happen and what should have happened - just like old friends - and of us celebrating together after India won. After the test match was over - the normal situation resumed and we were the students again and he was the examiner.

Then there was the time when my family and me had been to Delhi/Agra. We ( or rather my mom and younger sis) were unfortunate enough - that we decided to have the trip at the same time as the Sharjah series - In particluar that one , when Sachin had hit 140 odd runs in both the semi-finals and the finals. I m sure everone remembers that one. Who can forget that ? ? . I distinctly remember the displeasure that my mom and my sister felt, just because me and dad refused to leave the hotel room in Delhi because we were watching the cricket match. Who would want to go sight-seeing when you could watch apla Sachin destroy the arrogant aussies ? I remember us changing from a "non cable room " to a "cable room " in the hotel for the cricket match.

There are so so many cool memories associated with cricket matches that may be I could not even list them all.

Anyways, Hoping the best for the Indian team against Pakistan. Go Sachin !

Home - India V America

This is the debate that must keep raging in every "desi in amrika''s head. I am no stranger to being in this quagmire too.

And it gets worst once you get out( at least somewhat) of the academic rigmarole. In the initial months of a typical desi student settling down in america, he spends so much of his time thinking about the day to day worries, say like making a few dollars, thinking about your career and so on, that the debate of "India V America" is pushed to the back of your mind.

But then there comes a stage when you start feeling more at ease with your daily grind, and then the debate starts kicking up.

Where would I want to be 10 years from now ? 5 yrs ? 2 yrs?.Would I want to be cruising to my office in my BMW convertible on some American Interstate ( of course assuming that I have a decent job ;0) ), or would I want to be driving my motor-bike or riding a train in the monsoons of India ?

America has given me so many things and offers so many things in the future. There is comfort. There is independance. There are tremendous career opportunites.

But then, there is that Indian in me too. The call of family and friends. The need to be among bustling crowds and noise. The irony of feeling so much at ease in so utter a chaos - that is India.

Sometimes I feel that comparing being in India or America is like the comparision between watching a cricket match at Eden Gardens or at Lords.

India is like the chaotic, noisy, disorganized crowd at Eden Gardens. While America is like the strawberry eating, one-hand clapping, organized Britishers at Lords.

And it is so hard to take one side and stick to it, as both the sides have their positves and negatives, and I wont even get into the details of those.

What a typical desi would say when asked this question is that " I will stay here for some time and then return home ". But can that work ?. After becoming acclimatized to the cosy american life, can someone adjust to being in India ?

Well, I guess the answer depends on mainly 2 variables. How long you stay in USA and what the situation is like in India when you decide to go back. The longer you stay here the harder it will be to go back, but then since India itself is becoming transformed so rapidly, one might as well be able to easily adapt there - even if you spend a few years here.

And then there is that dark question that you try not to think about. What if you decide to go back to India and then are unable to adjust there. what happens then?Well, but I m sure 'not liking to be in India' - that would be a very improbable thing to happen, or would'nt it ?

So should I just spend a couple of years here and go back to sweet India, or stay here some more for a green card ? Do I want to do that ? or could I stay on even more than that ? or much much more ?

Can we reduce this all to just a debate about whether you want to have a good home (i.e. Be in India) or have a good office (i.e. Be in USA). ?
[ Well I understand that it 'could' be possible to have a home in USA or one 'could' do cutting-edge important work in India ...but lets just ignore that for sake of discussion ]

Well, It is so satisfying for you and your ego to do great work, earn great money, in a great environment on a great day at a great office. But then at the end of the day,-- after all is said and done -- when all the dust settles down -- doesnt everybody just want to be - home sweet home ?

Or then, should one just step back - and look at the world as a big global village - and not be bothered by such trivial changes in locations by a few thousand miles ? ?

Aaaah well -- time will answer all the questions !!!