once again, we're wounded

I think I have been whining about the incompetence and senility of many of the current Con'gress ministers in the central government, particularly the then Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, and the HRD Minister, Arjun Singh. Shivraj Patil has finally been shown the door in the aftermath of the greatest terrorist attack on Indian soil in Mumbai.

Had it been a bomb blast, and even though scores would have lost their lives, we would have heard a hullaballo from our impotent, devious netas, and the streets would be cleaned up, promises of improving the system would be made, and we'd be back to living our lives.

Now the terror has reached where our rich and powerful live and dine, places where the foreign (read caucasian, white) tourists stay, and it seems the society is waking up to the fact that nothing has been done other than promises. So Shivraj Patil, that Gandhi butler, lost his post, so what? There is nothing that anybody can expect from this senile, divisive agenda-driven party, and with the polls coming, they couldnt care less if the internal intelligence structure is strengthened or not. They want to win the elections, and parties don't win elections with good work, especially good work that goes behind the scenes and can't be boasted about in your election campaigns. Let me not even talk of the possibilities in front of P Chidambaram, because it will be pointless.

The only hope that I have is the people's fury will play its part. Bomb blasts are a nameless terror that do not ask who they kill. What happened in Mumbai was much bigger than that. The Jews at Nariman House were all gunned down, a Turkish couple was told they could leave because they were Muslim, and scores of women and children were found murdered on the floors of the Taj mahal hotel and the Oberai Trident Hotel. This is probably the first time in my time that the Armed Forces had to be called on to deal with domestic terror. Such was the preparedness and planning that these pigs had, and not to forget the arsenal of weapons, including military guns made by the Paki Army itself. And yet, we have the same country calling for a joint terror probe, because the Con'gress, in one gentle swoop to secure its Muslim votebank, said that the Pakis were victims of terror too.

I dont know which major politician played what part in letting this situation be where it is today, but I do hope to God that it gives democracy the power that great men have been clamouring that it has to bring about a change.

"only non violence doesn't work"

I don't seem to recognize India anymore. True, for me, this nation has always been one with millions of frustrated individuals that see themselves as victims of a system that denies them justice and dignity. People protesting on the streets against a decision, against an act, or against an individual are common, but what India is seeing right now is much more than that. We are downright blowing ourselves apart.

Bomb blasts in this country were not a norm, but 2007-2008 seem to be breaking all records. Every other day a blast occurs, the latest in Guwahati that has left more than 60 dead. The usual government rhetoric and crocodile tears always surface, but disappear just as quickly. Yet it all seems different. Now I feel the government, especially the current cabinet puppet show, ably controlled by Sonia Gandhi, is just too shamelessly blatant in its lack of action, or rather, a lack of desire to do anything about it.

I am scared for this country, I never thought i'd say it, but it seems everybody will start fighting with everybody soon. People can't stand up to that Thackk guy, Mamta bannerjee, a party that isn't ruling or hold any power, is able to drive India's largest business house away, and I get the idea that the ability of Indians to not react to crises is reaching epic proportions.

Everybody's having fun - blowing up markets, blowing up places of worship, beating up the poor and the innocent, and absolutely no punishments, absolutely none. India is turning into such a wonderland that after the Guwahati blasts, people actually burnt down a fire engine to protest! A goddamn fire engine! In Bihar, people burnt down a railway coach to protest Raj Thackk guy! What sort of a banana republic are we turning into! I always thought we had more law and order than a lot of other countries, but I am doubting my own beliefs now.

Found this nice article in International Herald Tribune. Usually I am apprehensive about posting foreign news on India, but I agree with a lot of what this writer has to say. Heck, he's quoting Yasin Malik, but for once, I agree with them all.

Want to be heard in India? You'd better form a militia

Not long ago, officials in this seaside megalopolis announced plans to retire taxicabs built before 1983.

But one union leader here didn't like it. Last week he ordered the drivers of 55,000 taxis to strike. A few hundred drivers, needing money, defied him. Strikers smashed dozens of their taxis. Meanwhile, a fleet of newer, air-conditioned taxis, unconnected to the striking union, operated as usual, until mobs attacked its cabs, too. Thousands of officegoers in India's financial capital were stranded.

Five days later, they were stranded again — but for a different reason. A local ethnic-baiting politician was arrested for inciting violence against north Indian migrants. Followers of his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, or MNS, party flooded the streets hurling stones and bottles, and taxicabs were smashed once again, this time because many are driven by north Indians.

From Mumbai to Bengal to the central plains, violence is achieving an exalted new status even by this region's bloody standards. Politically motivated beating and burning and killing, never wholly absent from the subcontinent, have become more than spasmodic human failings. They have started to replace hunger strikes, sit-ins and marches as the basic tools of Indian political life: guiltlessly deployed, fatally effective.

Forget what you've heard about Gandhi and nonviolence in India. This is a nation of militias now.

"Only nonviolence cannot work," said Sandeep Deshpanda, 34, vice president of the student wing of MNS. "Some people understand only when you kick them," he added, citing an old Hindi adage.

The MNS has come to symbolize this broader phenomenon. Earlier this year, its leader, Raj Thackeray, fired a verbal fusillade against migrants in Mumbai. Young party cadres fanned out and began to thrash migrants in the streets. Then he went after Mumbai stores that print their sign board in English but not in the local Marathi language.

His party is a minority in the state legislature; he runs no organ of state. Yet, as his cadres began to smash the windows of uncooperative stores, thousands of other stores tacked on Marathi signs. The city's appearance changed overnight.

Thackeray's successes evidently left an impression on 1,900 employees of Jet Airways, who were fired last week thanks to the global financial crisis. They rushed to Thackeray's office. He thundered that no Jet Airways flight would leave Mumbai until the employees were rehired.

"It is disturbing that workers of Jet Airways sought the help of the MNS when they were given the pink slip," The Times of India newspaper wrote in an editorial. "It is as if they were contracting the mafia to serve their private needs because they didn't have any other recourse."

Political theorists define sovereignty simply. What separates Jordan from Lebanon is a state monopoly on force. In sovereign countries, militias do not decide who drives taxis and doesn't, who is fired and isn't. If this is the definition, it is difficult to call India wholly sovereign today.

Tata, an Indian conglomerate, decided not long ago to build the world's lowest-cost car in West Bengal State. It got into a land dispute. Good arguments surfaced on each side. But arguments matter ever less. Goaded by yet another state politician without a majority, activists besieged the Tata plant, pelted stones at journalists and threatened workers. Tata left the state.

Meanwhile, Muslim extremists blow up markets, Hindu extremists slaughter Christians and politicians convene commissions.

Whatever its reputation, India has never exactly been a nation of pacifists. Gandhi represented just one strand of thinking, and his view is not the only one to have prevailed. From Kashmir's jihad to various secessionisms to Hindu-Muslim riots, political violence is as Indian as tandoori chicken. Yet in the past it was generally seen as regrettable by people with power. It was rarely a workaday tactic, the way hunger strikes are a tactic.

But in recent years the hollowing of the Indian political center has allowed violence be mainstreamed. The major national parties draw ever smaller fractions of the vote. Challenging them are caste-based and regional parties that narrowcast to electoral pockets. Factional identities are hardening as citizens "vote their caste rather than cast their vote," as a popular refrain puts it.

This political fragmentation pits tribe against tribe. It has corroded the faith among Indians that the institutions that hear and answer grievances — the police, courts, media — are neutral. All increasingly are seen as biased, answerable to their different masters, rather than impartial executors of the public good. All contribute to a growing sense of powerlessness. And so if you are a leader of a political faction that wants to be heard, it is not irrational to believe you need a militia of violent young men to make yourself heard.

Yasin Malik once commanded a militant group in Kashmir, waging war against India. Fourteen years ago, he surrendered his weapons and declared himself a "Gandhian."

"I'm in search of Gandhi in the land of Gandhi," he added. "I've failed to find him."

Happy Diwali!

Yesteday was Diwali. Its the day that marks the end of the year in the Indian calender, it was Vikram Samvat 2064, and marks the beginning of the Hindu new year. This is a very auspicious day for all, other than business schools I think, because for most of us, it is another day to reinforce the importance of hard work and education. I had two exams before the day, and three exams after the auspicious day. There will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate in our lives, but those were not yesterday.

That is not to say I am a disappointed wreck. I had lots of fun, a great dinner, took part in a Puja and burst firecrackers. Studying for the exams? Hmm, now that you mention it.............

Diwali is what turns around our market, with every trader praying to Lakshmi ji for her blessings. Of course, the run up to this Diwali has been brutal, and we could really use some divine intervention to sooth our wounded sentiments.

I was on the rooftop of the rooftop, a beautiful place on top of my hostel which commands the best view of campus and the best breeze on a beautiful evening, and taking in the scenery. There were rockets lighting the late evening sky all around me, and the bursts coming in from every direction, in every intensity. It was bright, noisy, and I hadn't felt such exhilaration in a very long time. You know, there are a lot of things about my country, my system and my society that frustrate me, and I too am giving to whining and bitching about anything and everything at times, but last night, sitting on top of my perch, everything seemed perfect. We really are a great nation with great traditions. In our pursuit of a lifestyle of others, let us never forget who we are and where we are coming from. The joy, the enthusiasm, the brightness and the sounds reminded me of all that, and I felt content. Its good to be home.

Desperate times call for......

This being summer internship season in many business schools, we get to hear from a lot of companies who visit our campus and tell us about themselves and what they are looking from us when they hire us.

So a very big iBank came visiting today to loud thumps, and reiteration of the love they had for us and our institute had for them. Eventually things moved onto what they do, and how they survived the markets and the sentiment. Things got interesting in the questions and answers round, and people had a lot of questions about the changes in their work culture now that they are under different regulatory control in the United States, because obviously things will be different. Somebody asked a question about the survival of the big western companies and the western governments coming together to save them, including buying their bad assets and taking stakes in them. The speaker remarked that desperate times call for desperate measures. That is when the thought struck me - There is a system that everybody believes in, and the system messes up. Now the believers of the system will go against the very tenets of the system to get back to the system that messed up.

Let me repeat it again, the believers of a system that fucks up will go against exactly what the system says to come back to the system.

Also, apparently President Sarkozy, in a 'summit' of great European powers, has called for a sovereign wealth fund of the European nations to fight back the "foreign predators." Who are the foreign predators? The people who the western man buys his oil from. I don't want to sound like a bleeding heart anti-globalization leftist, but I think this is exactly how i feel about the way western capitalism works - they will do business with the third world, but only on their own terms. How many instances can I line up - their stance at the WTO, their economic clarion calls against their good jobs going to the developing world, and now this - how dare Arab money enter the western bastions of economy and commerce, they are only good till their oil lasts.

Some economic system this. What I liked best about the presenter's words was when he said in reference to the world's economic scenario, that India will fight its battles, but not this way, and it will win it's battles. Amen to that.

we're going to the moon!

Wednesday, October 11, 2008

India has launched the Chandrayaan 1, our first unmanned mission to the moon. It was a textbook launch. In this doom and gloom surrounding our daily lives, at least the greatness of ISRO is a constant. God bless India.


Picking up data from the Mangalorean.com website:

India's maiden moon mission on track as rain stops

As the fully-loaded 44-metre-tall 316-tonne rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11) stood at the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, 80 km north of Chennai, a meteorogical officer at the spot told IANS: "Though rain is likely at the launch, there is no cyclone threat forecast".

As the PSLV holds aloft the 1,380-kg lunar orbiter Chandrayaan, waiting for the ignition command at 6.20 a.m. Wednesday, the top brass of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) decided that "two or three hours before liftoff, met experts will analyse the weather data once again to ascertain possibility of lightning striking the rocket or the spacecraft", the official added.

Still very much within the earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft was sitting protected by the rocket's 3.2-metre bulbous heat shield Tuesday evening as the weather office in Chennai also told IANS that the chances of a cyclone affecting the launch were slim.

A confident S. Satish, director, Publications & Press Relations of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS: "Eighteen minutes into the flight the rocket will sling the spacecraft into the 255-km perigee (nearest point to earth) and 23,000 km apogee (farthest point from earth) path to script a new history in the annals of India's space odyssey,"

From there the spacecraft will be taken into more elliptical orbits, firing its onboard motor - technically called Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) - towards the moon, 387,000 km from the earth.

Once the spacecraft nears the moon, the LAM will be fired in reverse to slow it down to enable the moon's gravity to capture Chandrayaan into an elliptical orbit around the lunar poles.

Thereafter the spacecraft's orbit will be gradually lowered till it is 100 km above the moon's surface. That is expected to happen around Nov 8.

On Nov 14 the spacecraft will eject an important piece of luggage on to the moon's surface - the Moon Impact Probe (MIP).

The spacecraft cameras and other instruments that would do the intended tests for the next two years will be activated after that.

The 11 experimental instruments carried by the spacecraft are from different sources - five Indian, two from the US, three from the European Space Agency and one from Bulgaria - and each has a different purpose.

"Designing the spacecraft that would fit these pre-built instruments was a challenge which was overcome with Indian ingenuity," Mylswamy Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan, told IANS.

Indian space scientists may not face such problems in Chandrayaan-2 as they can stipulate the payload specifications.

The Indian government has sanctioned Rs.4.25 billion for the second moon mission that is expected to happen sometime in 2011.

That mission will have the Russian Federal Space Agency as a partner which will provide the moon rover.

Looking forward India may plan missions to Mars, Venus, Mercury and also an asteroid or comet flyby mission.