Category: Current Events

We all constantly debate on whether IPL is real cricket, or will it destroy the cricket that we all grew up on. But one fact is indisputable. It has changed the financial structure of cricket into a major international sporting tournament, that will in time compete with football. And it is very very entertaining.
So is the rest of the world hating that India is the nation that is the leader. Is the rest of the world unable to get off it’s outdated colonial attitudes ? It’s time for the world to realize that this really is Asia’s century. Not an Asia’s century that panders to the West, but an Asia’s century where Asian consumers rule the Media World.
Please read the following article that appeared in a very responsible South African newspaper. A more racist point of view I have not read for a long long time.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article346952.ece
And if you wish to read the text here, just read on….

Continue reading “IPL cricket – an adverse colonial point of view. Sour grapes?” →

Now Shree Shree Ravi Shankar has got into the act condemning Hussein’s paintings of Indian Goddesses in the nude. I did not say naked. There is a difference. Nude implies a point of view of the artist, and having seen the paintings I would definitely say that that the artists, in exploring the Goddesses as nude, was exploring purity. Condemn me for that. I am willing to argue.
The argument that Hussein should now try and paint Muslim Icons in the nude is a silly , provocative, adversarial statement and a completely political point of view. Nothing to do with Art.
So I amazed at the stand that Shree Shree Ravi Shankar has taken. I have never visited his Ashram , but I always imagined that the words “Art of Living” would be more encompassing and compassionate. I would imagine his movement, called Art of Living, embodies a wider and more artistic creative and holistic way of life. What prompted him then, I wonder, to condemn Hussein and challenge him to paint Muslim icons in the nude ?
Christianity has forever painted Christ in the nude and indeed at crucification often naked too. As have the Greeks and their Gods and Goddesses forever. Nudity has been a tradition in Indian and Hindu art, but never in Islamic art. So why the comparison. As if Hussein went out to create a political statement ? No, it was an artists exploration.
Hussein, on the other hand is alive and well. And very Rich. Rich as never before, painting as never before, and at 95 who could ask for more ? especially from someone that started as a street artist painting film posters. Most of us at 95, if not dead, would be happy to not be in a wheel chair and be able to speak coherently. Hussein paints, has become a genius at marketing himself. As all successful artists (and Guru’s) are. There is much to be said for creativity and ageing here.
So lets not feel sorry for M F Hussein. More sorry for ourselves really.

I am conflicted. I was horrified to read in the press today that Rhino’s and Tigers are being farmed for assumed medicinal properties of the Rhino’s horns and many other unmentionable parts of the Tiger. My learning on wild life and ecology, the extinction of species bothered me.
But the question that came was, why do I not feel the same way about the Osterich, or even about Sheep. Because they are plentiful ? Or just because we are used to eating these animals and they are not under threat of extinction. If Tigers were as plentiful sheep, but in farms rather than in the wild, would we bother about them being farmed for their body parts ?
I would, I know. But why am I not bothered about cattle and sheep being farmed ?

Subsequent to the Bomb attack in Pune, the Home Minister of India virtually accepted his Governments inability to protect it’s citizens from carefully planned and targeted bomb attacks. His stunning words of acceptance of defeat :
“Their has been no Intelligence failure, or any failure on part of the Police or the State Government. We cannot protect soft targets against ‘insidious’ bomb attacks. The establishments must install their own security”.
I am not sure what the Home Minister is suggesting. It is this kind of statement that will give credence to self appointed ‘protection’ groups that become thugs and goons in the name of nationalism. I understand that protecting against unexpected attacks is difficult for the greatest intelligence agencies in the world. But this was an area that a major terrorists suspect called Headley (who is in prison in the US) had openly surveyed. And every politician has admitted that was common knowledge in both the Central and the State Intelligence, as well as the Police.
The other surprising thing that emerged in the press statements was a representative of the Home Ministry consistently telling the Press that “we had informed the State Government and the Police of the possibility of this attack in October 2010”. I am sure he meant 2009. But he was trying ( under instructions I presume) to absolve the Central Government of the responsibility and putting the blame squarely on the State Government. These Politics, merely two hours after Indian Citizens have been killed in yet another Terrorist attack actually are very very sickening. Especially as they are becoming a pattern and India is fast turning into the softest terror target outside a conflict zone.
Our Home Minister is right. This was not a failure of our Intelligence. It was a failure of the Indian Political system that consistently plays chess games with lives of it’s people. It is the games that are played for power jockeying between the Centre and the State Government that do not allow for Intelligence to be of any value.
The citizens of India that have died are Martyred by Terrorists, but just as much by the personal interests of a few Individuals that will stop at nothing to retain their Political Power.

I want to see the film. I saw the trailers and sensed that I was watching a very mature performance from Sharrukh Khan. I sensed that after Monsoon Wedding this may be another film that actually crosses over internationally. But I want to see the film and I cannot.
The political chess game that the film has got embroiled into is so unfortunate. I watched for a while last night as the melodrama was being played out on one TV channel after another, and I wondered. How far is a frenetic Media responsible for forcing people to take stands publicly to a point where the threat of violence looms large over the common people ?
Don’t get me wrong. I would rather have frenetic, melodramatic, TRP driven Media than no Media at all. Those of us that remember how our Media completely capitulated under the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi, leading to a nation driven by whispered rumors and fears of saying the wrong thing at the wrong place, learned to respect the value of free Media as the bedrock of Democracy. But free Media is ‘free’ to do what ?
I watched last night as responsible ( i thought) presenters tried to out shout the screaming participants, completely subverting the real or potential issues. Should the Media become the ‘moral police’ of the country themselves ? While I, and most of the country will support Mr khan on this issue , I am afraid of a Media that garners huge TRP’s and then present themselves as the Moral police without a commitment to anything but their own market capitalization.
I know that political parties, and in this case the Shiv Sena (though the others are playing their own game) play the Media for their own political purpose. But why is the Media becoming a willing participant and a player in that game ?
I asked my driver, who is Maharashtrian and a once active member of the Shiv Sena what he thought of the whole issue as he watched the drama being unfolded, glued to the TV. His answer ?
“It’s all about jobs, Sir. There are so many people without Jobs in the slums of Mumbai that this is bound to happen” Simple.
To 90% of Mumbai’s population that cannot afford to go to a Multiplex in any case, the real issue is not whether Rahul Gandhi’s traveling a suburban train in Mumbai was pre-planned or not, nor whether the film releases today or not. The real issue is still ‘Roti, Kapada aur Makaan’.

After China stunned the world with the incredible show they put up for the opening of the Beijing Olympics. I do hope we in India have something at least more spectacular than our ever dependable star acts on stage. Actually they are very good and most of them (and the best really is A R Rahman’s concert act) have developed very professional acts on stage. But we need to go beyond that now.
What is of concern are the constant news items that keep appearing of the lack of preparation for the commonwealth games, even though I know that in India we are all used to somehow pulling everything off at the last minute. But of far far greater concern is this article that appeared in an Australian paper about child labor being used to accelerate the preparations. Of course the Western (and I guess now the Australian) press loves to put down accelerating economies like ours, but the following article is pretty disturbing :
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/delhis-commonwealth-games-slave-labour-shame/story-e6frf7jo-1225826064514

Have set up this blog as a discussion piece for participants who had many questions but there was no time to take them up.

So tell me Mr Jobs – why did you make me spend $ 2000 on a upscale Macbook Pro just two weeks ago ? I am stupid I guess. I should have waited for the Ipad.
Been looking at live feeds of Steve Job’s launch of the new Apple tablet – the Ipad. It is amazing looking and has amazing apps. There seems to be nothing that it cannot do. It is your one interface with the rest of the world, whether through broadband or through 3G. The applications will allow you to do all your work, reading, browsing, play, creativity in whatever field you are – all through the Ipad. And all priced between $ 500 an $ 900
So here’s the rub. Why do I need the Ipad when I can have most of what it offers on my new ($ 2000) Macbook pro laptop. And if I cannot – why ? And if the reason is that there are more Apps available on the Iphone or the Ipad – then why are they not available on my much more expensive Macbook laptop ? In Steve Job’s view is the laptop dead ?
Hmm.. my laptop has memory of 350 GB’s while the Ipad maxes out at 65 GB’s. But that seems to be more a marketing decision than a technological one. Remember the first Ipods that had less than 1 GB memory ? The Ipad has a USB port but no firewire port. But when was the last time I used my firewire port in any case. Date transfer is getting better on the USB port.
OK, you cannot run DVD’s on the Ipad, but I suspect that soon the Ipad will have such a large memory that you will just download a DVD at the soon to come fast compression technologies that will allow you to download a whole film in seconds. And the DVD is dying as a technology in any case as increasingly sophisticated pen drives take over – delivering many films or other interactive data through your USB port. Plus the Ipad has a beautiful keyboard as a accessory and am sure they will be connectable to external hard drives that are getting smaller and more portable. Waiting for Apple to increase memory in the Ipad
Why do I think Mr Jobs is going for World Domination ? He has once again made a deal with At&T for connection through 3 G – why does he do that ? Because he see’s Apple being your one portal to connectivity, right from service provider to user interface.
And don’t be surprised if Apple buys out AT&T soon – and the only one that can stop him is The Trade Monopolies Commission – or the ingenuity of the Indian kerbside computer engineer that will break all his codes in a jiffy !

As the most important annual networking weekend between business, economic policy makers, bankers and politics ? Yes, Davos is unbeatable. But to be touted as the place where people get together to solve the economic problems of the World is a little silly. Most of the people attending caused the ecomonic problems of the world.
The people attending the forum are much more interested in solving their own economic problems, their own balance sheets, their own positions of political power. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s how the world exists and business is done. However the assumptions that in solving their own problems effectively provides solutions to the problems of the rest of the planet is completely false. 90% of the people of the World are irrelevant to Davos, except as perhaps potential markets.
There’s is a wrong view of the world economy. We can no longer live in isolated oasis of economic prosperity dotted around the planet in an overpowering sea of poverty. Globalization has made sure that social strife too is an exportable commodity much more than it was a decade ago. The movers and shakers at Davos should think about that as they clink their Champagne glasses over their deals.
They should also know that all the economists, bankers, political and business leaders concentrated in that little village this weekend have consistently got it wrong. That is because that the harsh truth is – that creating the economic reforms that the world really needs will erode the power and business base of the very people making the decisions at Davos. Highly unlikely they will do that.

This is from Mariana : MJ was a non-literal artist. And the world has responded to him playing an irrelevant soap opera. There are many levels, messages and expressions of inner search in this gentle soul’s work, this soul from Gary, Indiana. He asked us to look in the mirror and the world turned the mirror around so he would be the only one looking at it. They “rationalized” him but true artists are pure heart and trying to explain this alchemy of artists is also irrelevant – they just are to be felt. I am so glad people are FEELING him now. I came back from Europe and oh, they get Michael!!!! They associate him with Marcel Marceau, the mime!!! We need to grow up and appreciate our artists.