Every time something happens, we have a horde of people expressing their Hodgepodge opinions. Here are some and my answers to them,
Popular opinion no. 1: Indian cricketers suck because they spend too much time advertising and not enough practicing: This is the most baseless of accusations! How does the opinianator know that the Indian crickets actually invest the time they should be practicing in advertisement. His judgement is basically only based on what he sees on TV. Just because one ad is repeated a 1000 times a day does not mean that more time went into making of the ad. The player could have only spent half a day in making of the ad, and everyone knows that you cannot practice the sport 24-7!
Popular opinion no.2: Fire Sachin because he does not perform: Look at the statistics, refer to: Sachin
Popular opinion no.3: Our crickets are hollow shells of men who cannot handle pressure: The fact of the matter is they are put into this unbelievable amount of inhuman pressure levels by our cricket addicted public.
Popular opinion no.4: Sack Dravid,: Why oh Why would you do that? He is the only captain in the last umpteen years who has not ruined his own game since becoming a captain. Wouldn't a more natural and humane suggetion would be to ask Dravid to evaluate his captaincy style and improve. I mean where do we get this idea that playing musical chairs with the people in the team is going to make the team better? THis is the exact thing that pressures our players.
Ahhh, heck, I am sick of this!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Sachin???
I read somewhere just a couple of days ago: Whenever an organization performs bad, we naturally assume that the leadership, people, and the culture of the organization is rotten. And whenever it shows some signs of improvement we conclude otherwise.
The above is natural, but good decision making means that you gotta have the facts in front of you. The obvious question that Indian cricket fans are asking is whether to retain Sachin? The question arises due to a common conception in the masses that he does not deliver. Well I am going to put the statistics right in front of you, so that even though we cannot really influence the decision, we can all express a well informed opinion:
Here are Sachin's statistics in 2006
Matches: 16. Innings:16, Runs 628, out of which he has been not out twice,
Highest score: 141 not out,
Average:44.85, at a strike rate of 77.05,
Two half centuries and 3 centuries!
That is a very good record! Comparing it with the highest averages in 2006 we see that Sachin is very much at the top considering the number of innings he has played. Now lets look at his career averages: Sachin has played 374 innings scoring a huge 14847 runs at an average of 44.05 and a strike rate of 85.73.
Notice something? His average has not changed in the last year compared to his overall average, indicating that he could not have suffered the great loss in quality and capacity as the media portrays. Sachin remains one of the highest scoring and highest averaging batsmen in the world.
The only reason why he is the target of amazing bashing is due to the addiction of cricket that India has! We simply don't get to see enough of Sachin, so we expect him to perform in every single match that he plays! What we need is to watch him play more on home grounds, like I said before, its time for the corporate giants to look at Ranji to get the big bucks in cricket rolling.
Interesting parallels to the concept of promoting internal sporting competition would be the Australian club cricket, British County cricket, US NFL, NBA, British Soccer League, and Aussie rules Football.
The above is natural, but good decision making means that you gotta have the facts in front of you. The obvious question that Indian cricket fans are asking is whether to retain Sachin? The question arises due to a common conception in the masses that he does not deliver. Well I am going to put the statistics right in front of you, so that even though we cannot really influence the decision, we can all express a well informed opinion:
Here are Sachin's statistics in 2006
Matches: 16. Innings:16, Runs 628, out of which he has been not out twice,
Highest score: 141 not out,
Average:44.85, at a strike rate of 77.05,
Two half centuries and 3 centuries!
That is a very good record! Comparing it with the highest averages in 2006 we see that Sachin is very much at the top considering the number of innings he has played. Now lets look at his career averages: Sachin has played 374 innings scoring a huge 14847 runs at an average of 44.05 and a strike rate of 85.73.
Notice something? His average has not changed in the last year compared to his overall average, indicating that he could not have suffered the great loss in quality and capacity as the media portrays. Sachin remains one of the highest scoring and highest averaging batsmen in the world.
The only reason why he is the target of amazing bashing is due to the addiction of cricket that India has! We simply don't get to see enough of Sachin, so we expect him to perform in every single match that he plays! What we need is to watch him play more on home grounds, like I said before, its time for the corporate giants to look at Ranji to get the big bucks in cricket rolling.
Interesting parallels to the concept of promoting internal sporting competition would be the Australian club cricket, British County cricket, US NFL, NBA, British Soccer League, and Aussie rules Football.
Get rid of that cricket addiction, India!
Yeah yeah, we couldn't.t get into the super 8s, we lost to lowly Bangladesh, and couldn't stand up against Srilanka. The media is going to jump on this, a billion voices in the subcontinent, and many many others all over the world are no doubt just ranting about these same things. Team India lost, with so much riding on their backs, Team India lost!
The media is going to be full of suggestions, drop Sachin, change the coach, get a new captain, leave everyone out of the team and what not. I think every single one of them is going to be absolutely useless. We didn't loose because of the individuals in the team, its no bloody mystery that we have the BEST team on paper! We lost because we just couldn't take it, we wilted under the pressure, gave up against the opposition, we simply QUIT!
Why you ask, a team with a billion supporters, magnanimous funding, huge corporate support, how could they just QUIT when so much depends on them?
What went wrong? I think its exactly the fact that a "billion sounds have no other form of sport entertainment than international cricket" is what went wrong! Look at Australia, people don't burn effigies if the Aussies lose, they don't throw stones at Mcgrath's unbuilt houses. We do, why, because if Team India loses, then we loose hope. Our lives surround Team India, we define our victories and losses on team India. In a country where a LOT of people are still without money, and cannot afford even half the things that are on the market, its obvious that the people will search for a burning light of hope, and they see it in Team India.
The morale is high when Team India wins, the masses can forget about their problems for a day, they can stop talking about the rising prices and that idiot boss at work, they enjoy their musty ride in the Mumbai Local Trains high on victory that day. Simply put we are addicted to cricket. The corporates know that and they feed this addiction, well who can blame them.
This results in tremendous pressure on our cricketers, infact its this pressure that fuels the fear of loss in their hearts, makes them not concentrate on their game anymore, and just give up. After all, they are only humans, well extremely well compensated humans at that. I know what you are going to say, aren't they paid to handle this pressure? Well, yes they are paid to handle this pressure, but the problem I think is not the money, I think our team in not TRAINED to handle the pressure.
If we are to get rid of this quit issue we need to work on both levels,
1. Create an environment in which international cricket is viewed as an glorified form of sport entertainment, and not the only source.
2. Train our men in blue to handle the pressure better.
How could we do this. I am not so naive to tell you that the Indian population should stop watching cricket, that is not possible, I will never stop. But lets give our people some other form of cricket than just international cricket. We have the Ranji trophy where states compete, all the big names are there, we need to make this a big issue. Pin our corporate hopes on the Ranji trophy, pour some money in the marketing, sell the TV contracts to ESPN-STAR, and see what happens. In the meantime, more support to a better infrastructure in cricket (so that people can actually play cricket) and support to other forms of sport is not a bad idea either.
On the second level, introduce some stress relieving techniques in the Indian team, e.g. yoga sounds good, or Aurveda based diet might also work. Some time to meditate and reflect in the should help the high quality individuals in the Indian team forget their own woes and play like a team.
Well, its time for India to move over from International cricket!
The media is going to be full of suggestions, drop Sachin, change the coach, get a new captain, leave everyone out of the team and what not. I think every single one of them is going to be absolutely useless. We didn't loose because of the individuals in the team, its no bloody mystery that we have the BEST team on paper! We lost because we just couldn't take it, we wilted under the pressure, gave up against the opposition, we simply QUIT!
Why you ask, a team with a billion supporters, magnanimous funding, huge corporate support, how could they just QUIT when so much depends on them?
What went wrong? I think its exactly the fact that a "billion sounds have no other form of sport entertainment than international cricket" is what went wrong! Look at Australia, people don't burn effigies if the Aussies lose, they don't throw stones at Mcgrath's unbuilt houses. We do, why, because if Team India loses, then we loose hope. Our lives surround Team India, we define our victories and losses on team India. In a country where a LOT of people are still without money, and cannot afford even half the things that are on the market, its obvious that the people will search for a burning light of hope, and they see it in Team India.
The morale is high when Team India wins, the masses can forget about their problems for a day, they can stop talking about the rising prices and that idiot boss at work, they enjoy their musty ride in the Mumbai Local Trains high on victory that day. Simply put we are addicted to cricket. The corporates know that and they feed this addiction, well who can blame them.
This results in tremendous pressure on our cricketers, infact its this pressure that fuels the fear of loss in their hearts, makes them not concentrate on their game anymore, and just give up. After all, they are only humans, well extremely well compensated humans at that. I know what you are going to say, aren't they paid to handle this pressure? Well, yes they are paid to handle this pressure, but the problem I think is not the money, I think our team in not TRAINED to handle the pressure.
If we are to get rid of this quit issue we need to work on both levels,
1. Create an environment in which international cricket is viewed as an glorified form of sport entertainment, and not the only source.
2. Train our men in blue to handle the pressure better.
How could we do this. I am not so naive to tell you that the Indian population should stop watching cricket, that is not possible, I will never stop. But lets give our people some other form of cricket than just international cricket. We have the Ranji trophy where states compete, all the big names are there, we need to make this a big issue. Pin our corporate hopes on the Ranji trophy, pour some money in the marketing, sell the TV contracts to ESPN-STAR, and see what happens. In the meantime, more support to a better infrastructure in cricket (so that people can actually play cricket) and support to other forms of sport is not a bad idea either.
On the second level, introduce some stress relieving techniques in the Indian team, e.g. yoga sounds good, or Aurveda based diet might also work. Some time to meditate and reflect in the should help the high quality individuals in the Indian team forget their own woes and play like a team.
Well, its time for India to move over from International cricket!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
101 Ways to pressure India, the way of Pseudo pressure
So India is going on ahead and signing the Tehran pipe deal, which India definatley needs. We are in dire need of energy resources, that is no secret. US obviously does not want India to have ties with Tehran, because that means money to Tehran, so this is what the US Energy secretary Bodman says:
""There have been conversations ... and if that is allowed to go forward, in our judgement, this will contribute to development of nuclear weapons,"
basically don't buy fuel from Tehran because we don't like them, you give them money, they will surely go do something bad with it.
Link here
To me this is the most ludicrous statement of all times. What does that mean, should the world severe economic ties with any Muslim country that the US randomly suspects of developing any technology that may threaten US. Is every single penny that Tehran earns going to be spent on developing threats to the US? Are they totally sure that Tehran is really going to be a threat to the US, I mean where were the nukes in Iraq? Are they sure that the Tehran government does not want to use the money to actually make its people happy? It almost seems that the US is convinced that the world is intent on building nukes and blasting the heck out of each other. Well I guess they have a reason, after all they have been there, done that, and have had to live with the terrible guilt! I mean US is the only country in the world to actually have a history of using Nukes, not one but two!
Asking India, an age old friend of Tehran, to hamper its economic ties with Tehran (especially when its helping India out of a Ennergy ditch) is rather gutsy, especially given the history of US pumping money into the middle east for fuel and such.
What is the meaning of this paranoia? Has the American state lost its independence from the Church, or does America really believe that making middle eastern nations economically weak is going to stop the people there from reverting to terrorism? Isn't it possible for big brother to actively participate in the well being and economic prosperity of the middle eastern nations rather than weakening them? After all, they are doing it in Latin America, oh but I forgot, Latin America is mostly Christian!
BTW. Clarification: I am neither Christian, nor Muslim.
""There have been conversations ... and if that is allowed to go forward, in our judgement, this will contribute to development of nuclear weapons,"
basically don't buy fuel from Tehran because we don't like them, you give them money, they will surely go do something bad with it.
Link here
To me this is the most ludicrous statement of all times. What does that mean, should the world severe economic ties with any Muslim country that the US randomly suspects of developing any technology that may threaten US. Is every single penny that Tehran earns going to be spent on developing threats to the US? Are they totally sure that Tehran is really going to be a threat to the US, I mean where were the nukes in Iraq? Are they sure that the Tehran government does not want to use the money to actually make its people happy? It almost seems that the US is convinced that the world is intent on building nukes and blasting the heck out of each other. Well I guess they have a reason, after all they have been there, done that, and have had to live with the terrible guilt! I mean US is the only country in the world to actually have a history of using Nukes, not one but two!
Asking India, an age old friend of Tehran, to hamper its economic ties with Tehran (especially when its helping India out of a Ennergy ditch) is rather gutsy, especially given the history of US pumping money into the middle east for fuel and such.
What is the meaning of this paranoia? Has the American state lost its independence from the Church, or does America really believe that making middle eastern nations economically weak is going to stop the people there from reverting to terrorism? Isn't it possible for big brother to actively participate in the well being and economic prosperity of the middle eastern nations rather than weakening them? After all, they are doing it in Latin America, oh but I forgot, Latin America is mostly Christian!
BTW. Clarification: I am neither Christian, nor Muslim.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
WalMart in India, its official!
There have been rumours, there have been tiny little scout offices, and there have been market surveys, but today WalMart, the biggest retailer of them announced that it is ready for the Indian market.
WalMart will provide logistic and supply chain support to Bharati Enterprise ltd, its prospective partner in India. That means, over the next 8 years we should be seeing a whole new brand of retail shopping "departmental stores"/malls being introduced in India. If WalMart and Bharati work as aggressively as they did here in the US, we should be seeing slashed prices all the way through computers to scooters, specials galore and stiff competition to other nonexistent chains.
Or we could just see a lot of takeovers, of the independent retailing chains/shops. It would be safe to believe that Shoppers stop will survive.
The venture is Bharati's own, with walmart only providing logistic support.
WIll this mean death to the Indian ma and pa retail shops (Marwaris, variety shops, Tulshi baug style shops and what have you?) I think no, because
WalMart will provide logistic and supply chain support to Bharati Enterprise ltd, its prospective partner in India. That means, over the next 8 years we should be seeing a whole new brand of retail shopping "departmental stores"/malls being introduced in India. If WalMart and Bharati work as aggressively as they did here in the US, we should be seeing slashed prices all the way through computers to scooters, specials galore and stiff competition to other nonexistent chains.
Or we could just see a lot of takeovers, of the independent retailing chains/shops. It would be safe to believe that Shoppers stop will survive.
The venture is Bharati's own, with walmart only providing logistic support.
WIll this mean death to the Indian ma and pa retail shops (Marwaris, variety shops, Tulshi baug style shops and what have you?) I think no, because
- Infrastructure in India favours the small and the nimble, not the large and the trying to be fast,
- People are lazy, most dont own cars, and would not be bothered to travel all the way to Walmart for month's groceries, unlike the business model here in US.
- The ma and pa stores have excellent relationship with customers, including home delivery and monthly credit systems.
Monday, February 12, 2007
The rise of the Indian aviation sector
"And to ye all" he said...,"for the nonexistent avid readers of this blog will remember, that it had been predicted that Air-Deccan stock might carefully rise, and lo and behold, risen it has. For this is the proof you need of my existence. " thus went the stock broker's ghost.
"But carefull", said he who had been present through the crash, "all it takes is one crash, metaphorical or otherwise".
The aerospace sector is in a boom, but profits are low, and growth is high, so costs are huge, would I hold on to my stock????? Well lets say this, Rs 110 could be a good bail out price in the current (hopefully long lived!*) bear run. (And rs 100 or below is definatley a jump in price)
Thus endeth the stupidity...
*Long live the corrective bear run, at inflation touching 6.5% all stocks could be ovepriced, plus one needs a break in point!
"But carefull", said he who had been present through the crash, "all it takes is one crash, metaphorical or otherwise".
The aerospace sector is in a boom, but profits are low, and growth is high, so costs are huge, would I hold on to my stock????? Well lets say this, Rs 110 could be a good bail out price in the current (hopefully long lived!*) bear run. (And rs 100 or below is definatley a jump in price)
Thus endeth the stupidity...
*Long live the corrective bear run, at inflation touching 6.5% all stocks could be ovepriced, plus one needs a break in point!
101 Ways to pressure India, way #32
Present politically correct statements that apply pressure through a quasi-independent spokesman, in a its-none-of-my-business-but.... way
e.g.
"There is an expectation among US companies, the public and the political class that we have helped India, and that US companies should get a favorable treatment,".. "But that's not the same thing as saying there was a negotiated quid pro quo,"
US Ambassador to India David Mulford told reporters on the eve of the air show.
Ofcourse this deals with the Nuke deal
e.g.
"There is an expectation among US companies, the public and the political class that we have helped India, and that US companies should get a favorable treatment,".. "But that's not the same thing as saying there was a negotiated quid pro quo,"
US Ambassador to India David Mulford told reporters on the eve of the air show.
Ofcourse this deals with the Nuke deal
Thursday, February 08, 2007
And off we go
The first deal in the making
India to buy 40 SU30 MRF s from Russia, at around $40 Million each that comes to a whopping $1.6 Billion dollar deal! Hope we get some discount!
And whats more, this is not a part of the "Mother of All deals!"
SU30: High capblity, heavy weight, MRF. MRFs are capable of multi roled missions, such as air supremacy, target destruction, patrolling, reconnaisance, and plain old carpet bombing.
Is this a primer to the acquisition of 126 MRFs from a US based company???????? First make ze Russians happy and then shake hands with Uncle sam? Who is taking the bets, I bet its F16s and F18s. THe real question is, do I hope I am wrong!
India to buy 40 SU30 MRF s from Russia, at around $40 Million each that comes to a whopping $1.6 Billion dollar deal! Hope we get some discount!
And whats more, this is not a part of the "Mother of All deals!"
SU30: High capblity, heavy weight, MRF. MRFs are capable of multi roled missions, such as air supremacy, target destruction, patrolling, reconnaisance, and plain old carpet bombing.
Is this a primer to the acquisition of 126 MRFs from a US based company???????? First make ze Russians happy and then shake hands with Uncle sam? Who is taking the bets, I bet its F16s and F18s. THe real question is, do I hope I am wrong!
"The mother of all defence deals!"
I am referring of course to the planned acquisition of about 126 Multi Role Fighters by the good old IAF. The Aero-India show is in full swing, airplanes are floating around and so is the money. Its going to be a HUGE deal, think at least $17-20 Million for a lighter version and above $40Million for a heavy version of MRFs.
Add to that the planned acquisition of AWACS, Missile defence systems, UAV systems, and other assorted goodies, its going to be an early Christmas for defence contractors in Bang-a-lore!
The real question is of course, what should India buy. Should it be the awesomely maneuverable yet not so modernly equipped Mig 29s, or the impeccably cool and unnecessarily heavy Sukhoi 37s? Or maybe the battle proven and superbly equipped, but comparatively sluggish to handle F16s and F18s? Eurofighters, though shouting its head off to glory, is not yet battle proven. So unless we have an awesome deal on that, I dont think its going to happen. As for the other smaller players, there is the issue of Technology transfer and lifecycle cost.
We have been flying the Russian makes for a while now. They are good, reliable, super fast, agile, and extremely maneuverable aircraft. But at the same time, their avionics capabilities are a wee bit limited. That's not to say that putting excessive amount of computer screens displaying a helluva lot of info is the sure shot way of winning a dog fight, or even striking a bogey. But still, avionics go a long way in first strike missions. Awesome avionics capabilities should be on the radar of IAF anyway, if they want to survive in a net-centric battlefield.
The American makes are new to us, though rather sluggish compared to the Russian makes, they do come equipped with all sorts of gadgets that you could imagine. The most important part though, is that the avionics research in the US is a "very" current and active field. Being an IT based country, we sure want a piece of that pie. Under these circumstances scratching the self proclaimed Big Brother's back is not such a bad idea.
And Big Brother does need a back scratching, though bustling with economic prosperity in the defence sector, a deal of 126 Fighters could totally put the US defence industry in a vertical ascent mode. Not to say it will bring the fighter building arms of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and a host of other suppliers out of the red.
But the key to the whole deal is going to lie in the following set of words: "Technology Transfer". Who is willing to give us the licence to manufacture the fighters in India, and a guarantee that all spare parts will be available even in the event of war. Well, Big Brother is reluctant to jump on that bandwagon. US is secretive about its defence program, it does not like to give out plans, and definitely likes to keep the final card under its control. If they do give us the green of tech transf. it will be HISTORY! A new chapter for Indian Aerospace industry. Well face it, Russia is not doing that well, and US is pouring bucket loads of money through proper channels in India. Plus we already have the licences for the Russian makes. The only question that remains is: do we want to go ahead and grab the Americans at the cost of upsetting Russia?
One final though, maybe we could just stick with the Russian makes, pressure them into selling us complete tech rights, and develop our own avionics and mission systems suite??
But then again, the threat to the nation is not current,
Add to that the planned acquisition of AWACS, Missile defence systems, UAV systems, and other assorted goodies, its going to be an early Christmas for defence contractors in Bang-a-lore!
The real question is of course, what should India buy. Should it be the awesomely maneuverable yet not so modernly equipped Mig 29s, or the impeccably cool and unnecessarily heavy Sukhoi 37s? Or maybe the battle proven and superbly equipped, but comparatively sluggish to handle F16s and F18s? Eurofighters, though shouting its head off to glory, is not yet battle proven. So unless we have an awesome deal on that, I dont think its going to happen. As for the other smaller players, there is the issue of Technology transfer and lifecycle cost.
We have been flying the Russian makes for a while now. They are good, reliable, super fast, agile, and extremely maneuverable aircraft. But at the same time, their avionics capabilities are a wee bit limited. That's not to say that putting excessive amount of computer screens displaying a helluva lot of info is the sure shot way of winning a dog fight, or even striking a bogey. But still, avionics go a long way in first strike missions. Awesome avionics capabilities should be on the radar of IAF anyway, if they want to survive in a net-centric battlefield.
The American makes are new to us, though rather sluggish compared to the Russian makes, they do come equipped with all sorts of gadgets that you could imagine. The most important part though, is that the avionics research in the US is a "very" current and active field. Being an IT based country, we sure want a piece of that pie. Under these circumstances scratching the self proclaimed Big Brother's back is not such a bad idea.
And Big Brother does need a back scratching, though bustling with economic prosperity in the defence sector, a deal of 126 Fighters could totally put the US defence industry in a vertical ascent mode. Not to say it will bring the fighter building arms of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and a host of other suppliers out of the red.
But the key to the whole deal is going to lie in the following set of words: "Technology Transfer". Who is willing to give us the licence to manufacture the fighters in India, and a guarantee that all spare parts will be available even in the event of war. Well, Big Brother is reluctant to jump on that bandwagon. US is secretive about its defence program, it does not like to give out plans, and definitely likes to keep the final card under its control. If they do give us the green of tech transf. it will be HISTORY! A new chapter for Indian Aerospace industry. Well face it, Russia is not doing that well, and US is pouring bucket loads of money through proper channels in India. Plus we already have the licences for the Russian makes. The only question that remains is: do we want to go ahead and grab the Americans at the cost of upsetting Russia?
One final though, maybe we could just stick with the Russian makes, pressure them into selling us complete tech rights, and develop our own avionics and mission systems suite??
But then again, the threat to the nation is not current,
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
GURU
A great movie, hats off to Maniratnam and Rehmaan. The first score (Maiyya Maryem by Rehmaan is mind blowing. Though inspired from middle eastern (I think Turkish or Kurtish) folk music, the transition to Hindi and the mixing of the music is just impeccable, not to mention the awesome lyrics penned by none other than Gulzar. Although I was not that impressed by some of the other scores, except for ofcourse the Title score "Gurubhai". Shreya Ghosal's Barso re is refreshing too. The 'nandi' (music in the begining of a song which is repeated at regular intervals thereafter) of Ey Hairathe Aashiquee sets a nice tone to the movie.
The movie has nice pace, no unnecessary stops, except for that stupid song when Guru and his wife have kids. That song is an absolute waste of time. Aishwarya has tried her best to give a decent performance. It seems like she has even put on some weight just to look more Gujurati. But Abhishek on the other hand, surpasses all expectations. His last few movies have been excellent, I just hope he keeps it up! Madhavan and the babe from Lage Raho Munnabhai do a good job too.
But the real winner is MITHUN, I couldn't even recognize him for the first few minutes, and that is the mark of an masterfull performance, on the screen he is just Manik Dasgupta, not Mithun!
Well, what did I take from the movie? Inspiration, confidence, and hope. And thats just what the director wanted to portray, and boy he does it with perfection. Goosebumps are commonplace. I am not going to discuss the plot and all that here, because I think the way the movie unfolds is close to perfect. Despite the declaration at the begining of the movie that this movie is not based on any real characters, the movie is definatley inspired from the life of Dhirubhai Ambani.
The movie starts with around 3 minutes of gratifications to all corporate sponsors, a lot of succesful companies in that list. Well why do I think that is worth a mention, because this movie is about Business, and it means Buisness right from the start!
I am definatley recommending this movie! Its an absolute masterpiece!
The movie has nice pace, no unnecessary stops, except for that stupid song when Guru and his wife have kids. That song is an absolute waste of time. Aishwarya has tried her best to give a decent performance. It seems like she has even put on some weight just to look more Gujurati. But Abhishek on the other hand, surpasses all expectations. His last few movies have been excellent, I just hope he keeps it up! Madhavan and the babe from Lage Raho Munnabhai do a good job too.
But the real winner is MITHUN, I couldn't even recognize him for the first few minutes, and that is the mark of an masterfull performance, on the screen he is just Manik Dasgupta, not Mithun!
Well, what did I take from the movie? Inspiration, confidence, and hope. And thats just what the director wanted to portray, and boy he does it with perfection. Goosebumps are commonplace. I am not going to discuss the plot and all that here, because I think the way the movie unfolds is close to perfect. Despite the declaration at the begining of the movie that this movie is not based on any real characters, the movie is definatley inspired from the life of Dhirubhai Ambani.
The movie starts with around 3 minutes of gratifications to all corporate sponsors, a lot of succesful companies in that list. Well why do I think that is worth a mention, because this movie is about Business, and it means Buisness right from the start!
I am definatley recommending this movie! Its an absolute masterpiece!
The return of the Blogger
Hey everyone,
I am back to blogging. These last few months have been very taxing, and I have been extremly busy with the transition from DLR to Georgia Tech. For those of you who dont know, I have now moved to Atlanta US, for pursuing a PhD in Aerospace engineering at Georgia tech.
Well, what can I say, Georgia Tech is a hard school, there is a lot of work and the expectations are rather high. Combine that with my inceasent tendency to inertness and you have my excuse for not blogging for the last 3-4 months.
Well, anyway I am back now, and hopefully back with a bang!
Cheers!
I am back to blogging. These last few months have been very taxing, and I have been extremly busy with the transition from DLR to Georgia Tech. For those of you who dont know, I have now moved to Atlanta US, for pursuing a PhD in Aerospace engineering at Georgia tech.
Well, what can I say, Georgia Tech is a hard school, there is a lot of work and the expectations are rather high. Combine that with my inceasent tendency to inertness and you have my excuse for not blogging for the last 3-4 months.
Well, anyway I am back now, and hopefully back with a bang!
Cheers!
Monday, September 11, 2006
Movin out...
So here I am, sitting in my new apartment on a warm Atlantan evening, typing my first blog since I sold my good old Imac back in Germany. WOW, it has been a long long long time since then. Infact, my last post was about Germany trying to win the world cup etc. I guess Germany's loss and my moving ro the USA with the Italy trip sandwitched in between sorta really pushed me aside from blogging. Anyway, I guess an update is in order:
SO we finally moved out of Germany, and a sad parting it was for us. Braunschweig, and its people had given me a lot in the last two and halfish years. My collegues at work, especially the ARTISANTS were probably the best collegues a guy could ask for, cool, helping, and at the same time resistive enough so that I would work hard. The project that I was blasting my head over (and blowing a lot of hot air) for the last two years finally took to the skies, ofcourse after a hell of lot of problems and bugs, but it flew finally, and it flew good, and in aerospace thats all that matters really! the rest is just a stack of papers.
I had made really a lot of cool friends back in Germany, I still havent quiet gotten over the fact that I wont be going to zeh very German PHYSIO gym anymore with Andreas, or no more crazy drunken parties with Joerg and the rest of the gang, or that there wont be any grilling evenings with Till, and most importantly no more crazy arguments with Preety. Its rather sad really, you move in to a different country, try to adjust yourselves to the custom and culture, learn a different langauge, try to make a living, and then you have to say goodbye and wrap up the whole thing. The only thing that does remain, are memories, and I made a heck of a lot of them....
Well,I am in Atlanta, Georgia, USA right now. PhDying at Gerogia tech, and its great too. I love the Atlantan weather, warm and cozy it is. Especially the fall evening, very sultry they are, just that little bit of haze around those skyscrapers, and that slowly fading Georgian warmth...
SO we finally moved out of Germany, and a sad parting it was for us. Braunschweig, and its people had given me a lot in the last two and halfish years. My collegues at work, especially the ARTISANTS were probably the best collegues a guy could ask for, cool, helping, and at the same time resistive enough so that I would work hard. The project that I was blasting my head over (and blowing a lot of hot air) for the last two years finally took to the skies, ofcourse after a hell of lot of problems and bugs, but it flew finally, and it flew good, and in aerospace thats all that matters really! the rest is just a stack of papers.
I had made really a lot of cool friends back in Germany, I still havent quiet gotten over the fact that I wont be going to zeh very German PHYSIO gym anymore with Andreas, or no more crazy drunken parties with Joerg and the rest of the gang, or that there wont be any grilling evenings with Till, and most importantly no more crazy arguments with Preety. Its rather sad really, you move in to a different country, try to adjust yourselves to the custom and culture, learn a different langauge, try to make a living, and then you have to say goodbye and wrap up the whole thing. The only thing that does remain, are memories, and I made a heck of a lot of them....
Well,I am in Atlanta, Georgia, USA right now. PhDying at Gerogia tech, and its great too. I love the Atlantan weather, warm and cozy it is. Especially the fall evening, very sultry they are, just that little bit of haze around those skyscrapers, and that slowly fading Georgian warmth...
Friday, June 30, 2006
Über Italien fahren wir nach Berlin
And Germany makes it to the semis! We go crazy in princeton park and cant speak any more due to all the shouting (beer). Ironically the event at princetonpark is sponserd by Carlesberg, a Danish beer company. More plus hopefully some pics later! Right now off to watch the Italy Ukrain game!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!
And Australia makes it to the "8th-finals" in the FIFA world cup by pulling an official draw against Croatia. Actually they shot a last goal in the last seconds, but it wasnt given, either because it was an offside or if the time was over I dont exactly know.
To call that game nail biting is to call the Alps amusing! It was a war on the field, both teams had to make it through to the 8ths, they knew their chances would be slim after the 8ths, but getting there was their target. Australia needed just to tie the game, while Croatia had to actually win the game. They fought till the end, it was a bloody war out there, with 3 red cards and innumerous fouls and yellows.
Cant wait to see Australia in action again on Monday.
All the details + videos here: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/template.html?id=44&day=22&month=06&year=2006
To call that game nail biting is to call the Alps amusing! It was a war on the field, both teams had to make it through to the 8ths, they knew their chances would be slim after the 8ths, but getting there was their target. Australia needed just to tie the game, while Croatia had to actually win the game. They fought till the end, it was a bloody war out there, with 3 red cards and innumerous fouls and yellows.
Cant wait to see Australia in action again on Monday.
All the details + videos here: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/template.html?id=44&day=22&month=06&year=2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Attrition and Quoatas
We cant get enough of them can we? Quoatas are hot topic nowadays. And in recent news, Infosys has taken the first step towards volountary action:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1669466.cms
They will get SC/ST engineers and train them in order to "compete on their own merit" and the center hopes that this move will allow the sc/st ppl to "remove the myth around meritocracy". And I hope it does.
And in related news, Cognizant voices its severe attrition fear. So do other companies in India in face of a talent crunch and global competiton.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1669723.cms
In such waters, its better to do what the smart ppl do and fish the not so smart fish out first. Tapping and SC/ST sector, providing them with training and having them working in the private sector will increase diversity of the workforce, provide talent specific trained employees, and might serve as an attrition buffer!
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1669466.cms
They will get SC/ST engineers and train them in order to "compete on their own merit" and the center hopes that this move will allow the sc/st ppl to "remove the myth around meritocracy". And I hope it does.
And in related news, Cognizant voices its severe attrition fear. So do other companies in India in face of a talent crunch and global competiton.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1669723.cms
In such waters, its better to do what the smart ppl do and fish the not so smart fish out first. Tapping and SC/ST sector, providing them with training and having them working in the private sector will increase diversity of the workforce, provide talent specific trained employees, and might serve as an attrition buffer!
Monday, June 19, 2006
Fegen
Its the culture of a place that defines it, and truly puts a meaning behind the faces of the people. The Germans have a rather interesting way of celebrating the 30th birthday of an unmarried male.
The point of the whole excersize is to dress up the birthday bachelor in crowd attracting costumes, parade him right throug the city, and make him clean the stairs of the Rathaus(The city council house) untill a virgin maiden kisses him and relieves him from his pain. And ofcourse, maintain a high body alcohol level all through the endeavor.
Joerg (some of you know him from my marriage), just turned thirty this last week, and we did the whole works for him. Here are some photos of the day...
Joerg is a fellow aerospace engineer, a Tech alumni, a hobby pilot and a mega fan of Apple inc.. So this is what we dressed him up in...
You see Joerg here, with his brilliant flight cap and ray-ban sunnies on his newly acquired German engineered single propellor plane sporting a georgia tech Tshirt with name tag George P. Burdell and a chain with the new Apple ibook on it. The plane is complete with little wheels on his shoes. The passing of his brand new red plane is D-JSD, standing for Deutschland-Joerg Stefan Dittrich.
Here we see Joerg performing a well orchestred way point directed steady and level starboard turn:
Joerg also was the sole partcipant in the unofficial "Red-Bull" race around the old church near rathaus. Complete with manned obstacles which would move.
Joerg cleaning the stairs of rathau with his standard issue a/c cleaning brush no. 1. He had to drink atleas 4 straight shots of schnapps in order to be promoted on to the next level of Brush.
Being as interesting as he looked, and given the general lack of atleast adolescent virgins in Germany Joerg had to look for other options. Being as smart as he is, Joerg didnt have a problem in finding a very cute young virgin that would kiss him and relieve him of his mission. You see Joerg landed here and trying to convince the little woman to give him a peck on the cheek.
And succesfull he was. We followed up the Fegen with a nice little barbeque in the park.
The point of the whole excersize is to dress up the birthday bachelor in crowd attracting costumes, parade him right throug the city, and make him clean the stairs of the Rathaus(The city council house) untill a virgin maiden kisses him and relieves him from his pain. And ofcourse, maintain a high body alcohol level all through the endeavor.
Joerg (some of you know him from my marriage), just turned thirty this last week, and we did the whole works for him. Here are some photos of the day...
Joerg is a fellow aerospace engineer, a Tech alumni, a hobby pilot and a mega fan of Apple inc.. So this is what we dressed him up in...
You see Joerg here, with his brilliant flight cap and ray-ban sunnies on his newly acquired German engineered single propellor plane sporting a georgia tech Tshirt with name tag George P. Burdell and a chain with the new Apple ibook on it. The plane is complete with little wheels on his shoes. The passing of his brand new red plane is D-JSD, standing for Deutschland-Joerg Stefan Dittrich.
Here we see Joerg performing a well orchestred way point directed steady and level starboard turn:
Joerg also was the sole partcipant in the unofficial "Red-Bull" race around the old church near rathaus. Complete with manned obstacles which would move.
Joerg cleaning the stairs of rathau with his standard issue a/c cleaning brush no. 1. He had to drink atleas 4 straight shots of schnapps in order to be promoted on to the next level of Brush.
Being as interesting as he looked, and given the general lack of atleast adolescent virgins in Germany Joerg had to look for other options. Being as smart as he is, Joerg didnt have a problem in finding a very cute young virgin that would kiss him and relieve him of his mission. You see Joerg landed here and trying to convince the little woman to give him a peck on the cheek.
And succesfull he was. We followed up the Fegen with a nice little barbeque in the park.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Chidambaram on reservations
Chidambaram interviewed over reservations
some quotes
some quotes
"Among all the instruments available to us for affirmative action, the one that has proved most effective is reservation. The experience of Southern states tells us that. It all began in the state of Mysore, 75 years ago, in Tamil Nadu we have had reservation now for almost 60 years. Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have all had reservation and they have succeeded. Once you get a set of parents from the backward communities who are educated, then one finds the second generation child is able to compete more effectively with children of families, with 200 years of unbroken tradition of learning."
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
More musings on quota
I had some comments, and I realized that i had left my earlier reply unattended, so here are some more musing, I totally welcome your suggestions comments, as long as you think levelheadedly, and not with prejudice in your mind!
Ok, first of all there is huge misconceptions in the discussions regarding quoata, ppl are mixing everything, they are prejudiced and not looking out of the box.
Let me elaborate my position first. First of all, I am not living in India right now, so I have a sort of a more independent analysis of the whole thing, not being bugged by the day today problems of Indian life I am at a position to paint rosy pictures, as some of you have said. But then again on the other hand, since I have been away, and seen the rosy pictures of Europe, US, and Australia I am definatley in a position to compare the life here and over there, and recommend that on many accounts life in India is rather bloody better. Let me restate my stand:
The most imp point being, these things have nothing to do with quota row. Neither do the quality of quoata doctors/engineers/nurses has to do anything with allocation of quoata. You see, you need to think like the policy makers do, the problem of affirmating a low socioeconomic class of the society and the problem of ensuring that the result of the affirmative action are good (i.e. quality doctors, engineers etc) are two independent problems for them. Infact, the latter is more or less the problem of the education system, which is also under a revamp.
The govt imposes quoata on unis, unis take students, students dont pass, the govt doesnt make the unis pass the students! If the student is crappy, then he will be crappy all the way through, he wont get his first job in the private sector (atleast not yet) And even then, crappy students are good, many HR ppl prefer crappy students, because they can be made into loyal employees, Give them a job and a salary more than their worth, get them used to the good life and then hang a sword on their head of job loss! You got urselves a class A loyal worker. Stops attirtion, plus, a lot of jobs dont really need brains!
You see, the govt is just allocating quota, it is unfortunate that the quota ppl are still scoring less than the open class, why coz there is less competition. And thats exactly what the policy makers want to change, the competition in quota! The issue of giving quoata seats and the problem of making sure that the quota ppl themselves become competent are two different problems. We have to understand it. Quotas will become as competent as the open sector in the future, when more and more quota ppl start applying for jobs. In any case, the quotas are supposed to be in the proportion of the spread of population right! Well not really right now, but the courts are looking into that.
Plus some ppl mentioned something about bad infra, I dont understand what that has to do with the quota problem, tomorrow you will blame the excess rains on quotas!
Anyway, I was talking to an IIT prof the other day, and I asked him whats the deal with quota and how do they filter quota student, here is the algorithm he told me:
THe most imp thing is that these cutoffs are decided before the exam is set. The prof also said that many-a-times the qutoa seats are not filled at all. Hence the problem is not quota, but the proper implementation of it.
A lot of us are also confusing financial aid with affirmative action, and suggesting that quotas should be allocated on financial need. There are two problems with this argument, first of all, financial aid is a totally different problem and it should be handled independently of caste issues. Secondly, financial aid is NOT affirmative action, affirmative action is aimed at increaing the confidence of a treaded upon class of the society, while financial aid lends crutches of money. If you affirmate with financial aid you tend to run the risk of losing, why? because as soon as the benificiary are above the financial aid limit they dont get financial aid, hence that makes them lazy and makes them stay below the financial aid limit. Just like its right now in Germany with the jobless claims problem.
And finally, we seem to forget that we are living in a country where the majority need financial aid, then my dear friends, if seats were reserved on financial needs, there wont be any left for you and me!
Ok, first of all there is huge misconceptions in the discussions regarding quoata, ppl are mixing everything, they are prejudiced and not looking out of the box.
Let me elaborate my position first. First of all, I am not living in India right now, so I have a sort of a more independent analysis of the whole thing, not being bugged by the day today problems of Indian life I am at a position to paint rosy pictures, as some of you have said. But then again on the other hand, since I have been away, and seen the rosy pictures of Europe, US, and Australia I am definatley in a position to compare the life here and over there, and recommend that on many accounts life in India is rather bloody better. Let me restate my stand:
- Cheap labour: kaamwali, eating out, travel, hoteling, netcafe, plumber, garagewallah, home delivered vegetables are distant dreams in western countries.
- Roads are better in western countries, not much you can do abou that but wait untill the infra projects are finished. But really, come on what did you expect, a whole make over of India in a week? We have had good developments in these years, comeon, thers the NH4, Delhi-Jaipur road, airport privatization, declaration of special vehicles for infra project.....
- Power: Maharashtra has major power problems, but the govt is trying to work on it, plus thers the nuclear deal, not that it will bring much, but it atleast shows govts commitment.
The most imp point being, these things have nothing to do with quota row. Neither do the quality of quoata doctors/engineers/nurses has to do anything with allocation of quoata. You see, you need to think like the policy makers do, the problem of affirmating a low socioeconomic class of the society and the problem of ensuring that the result of the affirmative action are good (i.e. quality doctors, engineers etc) are two independent problems for them. Infact, the latter is more or less the problem of the education system, which is also under a revamp.
The govt imposes quoata on unis, unis take students, students dont pass, the govt doesnt make the unis pass the students! If the student is crappy, then he will be crappy all the way through, he wont get his first job in the private sector (atleast not yet) And even then, crappy students are good, many HR ppl prefer crappy students, because they can be made into loyal employees, Give them a job and a salary more than their worth, get them used to the good life and then hang a sword on their head of job loss! You got urselves a class A loyal worker. Stops attirtion, plus, a lot of jobs dont really need brains!
You see, the govt is just allocating quota, it is unfortunate that the quota ppl are still scoring less than the open class, why coz there is less competition. And thats exactly what the policy makers want to change, the competition in quota! The issue of giving quoata seats and the problem of making sure that the quota ppl themselves become competent are two different problems. We have to understand it. Quotas will become as competent as the open sector in the future, when more and more quota ppl start applying for jobs. In any case, the quotas are supposed to be in the proportion of the spread of population right! Well not really right now, but the courts are looking into that.
Plus some ppl mentioned something about bad infra, I dont understand what that has to do with the quota problem, tomorrow you will blame the excess rains on quotas!
Anyway, I was talking to an IIT prof the other day, and I asked him whats the deal with quota and how do they filter quota student, here is the algorithm he told me:
- Set a cutoff lower than normal intake, say if the normal intake is at 90 of 100, then quota cutoff is 70
- If the quota fills then good else set anather lower cutoff, say at 50 but do not admit those students directly to first year, rather have them go through one year refreshment course and make them sit an exam at the end, usually 50% of students make it through.
THe most imp thing is that these cutoffs are decided before the exam is set. The prof also said that many-a-times the qutoa seats are not filled at all. Hence the problem is not quota, but the proper implementation of it.
A lot of us are also confusing financial aid with affirmative action, and suggesting that quotas should be allocated on financial need. There are two problems with this argument, first of all, financial aid is a totally different problem and it should be handled independently of caste issues. Secondly, financial aid is NOT affirmative action, affirmative action is aimed at increaing the confidence of a treaded upon class of the society, while financial aid lends crutches of money. If you affirmate with financial aid you tend to run the risk of losing, why? because as soon as the benificiary are above the financial aid limit they dont get financial aid, hence that makes them lazy and makes them stay below the financial aid limit. Just like its right now in Germany with the jobless claims problem.
And finally, we seem to forget that we are living in a country where the majority need financial aid, then my dear friends, if seats were reserved on financial needs, there wont be any left for you and me!
Friday, June 02, 2006
Tubas and Test Tubes
Recently ran into this chapter from Thomas L. Friedman's book "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century"
In this chapter he uses the Georgia tech model to education in describing the new type of engineers that are required for top notch jobs. He recognizes the need for broader thinking individuals, who have the capacity to realize the needs of a diverse class of communities into reality through technical experties comibned with the necessary communication and integration skills.
Some excrepts
The full chapter is here:
In this chapter he uses the Georgia tech model to education in describing the new type of engineers that are required for top notch jobs. He recognizes the need for broader thinking individuals, who have the capacity to realize the needs of a diverse class of communities into reality through technical experties comibned with the necessary communication and integration skills.
Some excrepts
Don't send me engineers who can be duplicated by computers, I am sending that work to India. Send me engineers who are adaptable, who can think across disciplines.
What the Georgia Tech model recognizes is that the world is increasingly going to be operating off the flat-world platform, with its tools for all kinds of horizontal collaboration
The full chapter is here:
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Reply to the letter to the Prime Minister
I recently read this letter written to the PM over the quota rows by a student residing abroad:
http://chhokra.blogspot.com/2006/05/letter-to-prime-minister-manmohan.html
I object, and here is why:
Why kid yourself, even without reservations Indian universities dont match up in terms of research and infrastructure to good unis outside, especially in the US. IIT grad school especially, needs to change a lot. There is something wrong that goes much deeper than quota rows, I think it is high time to stop crying about who got what quotas and look for alternatives.
Plus, if everyone, including the opposition is supporting quotas, then we dont have much choice do we? and the other thing is we need to see if we are missing out on the big picture or not. Afterall, affirmative action is supposed to serve a purpose. The whole problem is not affirmative action, the problem is lack of quality institutes to cater for all the students. US, Germany, Australia have excess of seats, and we are dying for seats, that my friends is the problem, not affirmative action.
It is time to increase the number of quality institutions, either by privatizing (regulating and privatizing) or by simply continuing the export of Indian students abroad, and then luring them back with higher wages/benifits/cost of life. You can kid yourself as much as you want, but you know that living standards are far better in India in terms of services (kaamwaali, driver, plumber, dentist, medicine), hospitality( restaurants, going out, movies, travel), and consumer goods (food, clothing) and Indian salaries give high buying power for the qualified individual, much more than American or European salaries. The only thing you will miss is infrastructure, which is improving day by day in India. Plus you got over 10 airlines to choose from, so stop crying about bad roads. Clean roads, pollution, poppulation etc is not going to go away in a day due to removal of affirmative action, so its not relevant here.
I agree that Indian politicians are playing the affirmative action game to lure voters, but you cant really blame them, considering most of Indian society does consist of backward caste, higher caste have always been the minority. They play for power, its their job! Plus, it is important to bring the lower caste ppl up, yes there is a creamy layer in the cities, but that is a very small fraction of the lower caste.
I dont want to judge anyone, but for me it has become apparent that affirmative action is something we have to live with, The courts might decide that it is exorbitant, and reduce the quotas (highly unlikley) but they are not going to manage to abolish them. If the govt is saying that its going to increase seats, let them. Yes, it will be hard to transition to higher number of seats in a year, but in the long term it makes sense to have more high quality seats anyway.
Its really easy for a well brought up higher caste guy to pass judgments on the lower caste, and say: " oh that guy with reservations got in COEP with lesser marks than me", without realizing the whole big picture that unfolds behind. But I say that even if the quota system helps only 10% of the worst hit backward class to climb up the social ladder, its worth it, every bloody seat of it. True there is the creamy layer, but quoatas are a big factor in letting it become creamy.
Hence, it seems highly unlikely that we are going to be able to abolish affirmative action, atleast in our lifetime, so lets look for alternatives. What do you guys say?
The most attractive alternative right now is to enforce the proper following of caste quota, and ensure that those who really need affirmative action are getting it, and not the so called creamy layer who seems to relaxedly mooch off of the reservation system.
http://chhokra.blogspot.com
I object, and here is why:
Why kid yourself, even without reservations Indian universities dont match up in terms of research and infrastructure to good unis outside, especially in the US. IIT grad school especially, needs to change a lot. There is something wrong that goes much deeper than quota rows, I think it is high time to stop crying about who got what quotas and look for alternatives.
Plus, if everyone, including the opposition is supporting quotas, then we dont have much choice do we? and the other thing is we need to see if we are missing out on the big picture or not. Afterall, affirmative action is supposed to serve a purpose. The whole problem is not affirmative action, the problem is lack of quality institutes to cater for all the students. US, Germany, Australia have excess of seats, and we are dying for seats, that my friends is the problem, not affirmative action.
It is time to increase the number of quality institutions, either by privatizing (regulating and privatizing) or by simply continuing the export of Indian students abroad, and then luring them back with higher wages/benifits/cost of life. You can kid yourself as much as you want, but you know that living standards are far better in India in terms of services (kaamwaali, driver, plumber, dentist, medicine), hospitality( restaurants, going out, movies, travel), and consumer goods (food, clothing) and Indian salaries give high buying power for the qualified individual, much more than American or European salaries. The only thing you will miss is infrastructure, which is improving day by day in India. Plus you got over 10 airlines to choose from, so stop crying about bad roads. Clean roads, pollution, poppulation etc is not going to go away in a day due to removal of affirmative action, so its not relevant here.
I agree that Indian politicians are playing the affirmative action game to lure voters, but you cant really blame them, considering most of Indian society does consist of backward caste, higher caste have always been the minority. They play for power, its their job! Plus, it is important to bring the lower caste ppl up, yes there is a creamy layer in the cities, but that is a very small fraction of the lower caste.
I dont want to judge anyone, but for me it has become apparent that affirmative action is something we have to live with, The courts might decide that it is exorbitant, and reduce the quotas (highly unlikley) but they are not going to manage to abolish them. If the govt is saying that its going to increase seats, let them. Yes, it will be hard to transition to higher number of seats in a year, but in the long term it makes sense to have more high quality seats anyway.
Its really easy for a well brought up higher caste guy to pass judgments on the lower caste, and say: " oh that guy with reservations got in COEP with lesser marks than me", without realizing the whole big picture that unfolds behind. But I say that even if the quota system helps only 10% of the worst hit backward class to climb up the social ladder, its worth it, every bloody seat of it. True there is the creamy layer, but quoatas are a big factor in letting it become creamy.
Hence, it seems highly unlikely that we are going to be able to abolish affirmative action, atleast in our lifetime, so lets look for alternatives. What do you guys say?
The most attractive alternative right now is to enforce the proper following of caste quota, and ensure that those who really need affirmative action are getting it, and not the so called creamy layer who seems to relaxedly mooch off of the reservation system.
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