Yet Another Feather in TN's Cap

Tamilnadu comes last in a nationwide list for reading skills amongst its primary school students. Thanks to the criminals running the government! They have managed to plunge the state in literal darkness literally with their power management. Now on way to plunging the young minds in darkness. The old man and his criminal family will not rest until they make a Bihar out of TN. God Save TN from these thugs!

From TOI:

According to the 2008 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released by NGO Pratham Foundation, primary education in Tamil Nadu fared poorly as compared to all other states.

With only 54.7% of students in classes I and II able to read letters and words, TN figured last on the nation-wide list. Kerala and Goa shared the top slot, registering 98.6%. In Karnataka, 83.4% students and in Puducherry 73.5% students of classes I and II could read letters and words.

More Rahman: After all, its oscar times - From Doordarshan to MTV

One of Rahman's earliest Interviews


Rahman in MTV

Obama Swears in

Will this be the beginning of a new era or is this a case of old wine in new bottle? We will have to wait and watch.

Satyam : Some thoughts

As the biggest corporate fraud of our country is being investigated there are more questions at the end of each day than answers. Things are only getting murkier. Like everyone else I too am hooked on to this story and follow it on a daily basis. Though we are still in the very initial stages of the investigation, there is one aspect of this whole episode that stood out for me. (As more information started coming out it became evident.) Maybe it has to do with our legacy of being under foreign rule for too long or maybe it has to do with our servile attitude.

The thing that stood out for me was the reaction of Satyam employees. Here is an educated, hardworking, upwardly mobile crowd that has been betrayed by their boss to the fullest. After all their effort he comes and says 7000 crores does not exist. The share value plummets to close to 6 bucks from around 150 odd rupees. He wipes out the value, trust, brand of their company (many of the employees are also share holders) and sits at home for three days. The government did not take action immediately. Did not move in to stop him from fleeing to another country (that he did not run does not exonerate the govt), nor did Satyam management file a complaint against Ramalinga Raju. Amidst all these, there was no sense of outrage, anger that I expected from the employees. They did not take to the road, raise slogans for action. They did not question the inaction by either the government or their upper management. Instead, they sat tight in their chairs (probably in shock) mutely witnessing the whole thing as if it is not their problem.

I am not sure I would have acted differently. After all, I am a product of the same culture. Nor am I judging Satyamites. Rather, I am just making a few observations about the whole thing. This leads me to wonder if this is exactly the reason why nothing in our country gets done or why anyone can get away with any fraud.

Worse still, there are people who sympathize with Ramalinga Raju. Their arguments range from stupid (like he created so many jobs and wealth etc.,) to ridiculous (like when all the politicians are going scot-free after so many scandals, why punish him). There are some who say Raju is an honest man because he accepted the truth. (wow! That one was good.) Though these arguments are as asinine as could be, the larger point is, have we become so numb after one scandal after another (listed below) that we don’t care anymore? What was even more outrageous was that a few Chartered Accountants came on NDTV Profit and claimed that PwC (the auditing firm for Satyam) itself should not be punished for the error of a few. This is the same firm that was involved in the Global Trust Bank Scam too. This is nothing but one set of crooks (CAs) covering the sorry ass of another.

Major Scams:
1) Ketan Parekh scam,
2) Harshad Mehta scam,
3) Bofors Guns scam
4) Lalu's fodder for cattle scam,
5) PV narsimha Rao's JMM MPs bribery scam,
6) Urea scam on PVNarsimha Rao's son.
7) Hawala scam
8) scam unearthed by sting operation of Tehelka.com on India's defence ministry when NDA was under power
9) Krushi Bank, vasavi, prudential bank, Global trust bank, scams in Hyderabad
10)Telgi stamp scam


Our media which likes to attach anything that is American to India shamelessly (it called Mumbai attacks as India’s 9/11. How sick is that?) is calling this India’s Enron. If you watch any of the Indian (English) news channels, the guests who come in to discuss too say that fraud happens everywhere and immediately point to Enron and worldcom and say stricter regulations are ‘NOT’ needed. What these guys don’t tell you is that after these scandals US brought in very strict accounting laws, the most well known being the Sarbanes-Oxley act.

The example of Satyamites’ reaction to this is only but a very clear example of our society. Even if we are the victims of the fraud, we are ready to take it silently. We are not ready to even show our disgust and anger, much less fight for justice. Hence the long list of scams which no justice being done in any case. We could say law will take its course and that is the reason Satyamites waited. But we all know how many loopholes there are in our system. So, that is but a very convenient excuse, much like the ones we give ourselves to get through the day.

Does this mean this is the end of Indian IT story or is there no hope for India? No, we as a country has withstood a lot and will stand a lot. However, this episode is yet another step back in the steady decline of our country. How long before the wheel comes of this train wreck that is India (for the middle class and poor. The rich can fend for themselves anywhere) is unknown.

Rare Interview with the Great Shivaji Ganesan

Slumdog Millionaire : The Cult of Popcorn Outrage strikes again

Slumdog Millionaire captivated my interest with its racing screenplay and rousing music. Based in Mumbai, a metropolis of monumental contradictions, the protagonists are from its slums which is very much a part of Mumbai. Instead of appreciating the hope the movie represents (that is how i saw it), many desis are agonized that the movie portrays the "wrong" side of India. I find it infuriating that these self-professed guardians of Indian Interests can't even digest that the forgotten side of Indian population (which runs into hundreds of millions in number) were acknowledged of their existence by a western movie.

These middle-class brethren of mine want anyone and everyone to see only the rosy side, which is fictitious, much like as shown in Bollywood movies nowadays. It is almost impossible to find a movie from Bollywood which attempts to look at the other end of the society. Every fricking movie is a fantasy overload with rich and super rich people agonizing over their pathetic love life. Probably that is the reason these guys are not able to digest when someone shows a little bit of reality. I can understand the Americans not able to digest the violence shown towards the poor given their narrow world view which never extends beyond their city and their neighborhood. But i find it amusing that we Indians seeing the poor and living with them on a daily basis find it shocking to see them on screen.

The scene that was over the top was the Amitabh scene. But that was a scene used to show the craze for movie stars amongst Indians. Since when did we become so touchy that we can't laugh at ourselves or too dense to not understand a metaphor. Its a fact of life that in our country that men go down manholes and sewage tanks to clean them up. I wish these people show all their outrage toward this practice.

In a country of over a billion people with more than half of it poor or desperately poor, it is no surprise that people get exploited. It is the reality. We could choose to live in denial and get outraged sitting in a multiplex (with our soda and pop-corn) watching a movie that shows a little bit of what happens next to us on a daily basis. Or, we can choose to watch the movie for what it is and be outraged at what happens in our society.

Between the two, i would like to see us choosing the latter, if not immediately at least in the future.

Japan goes tamil

Satyam : Does it add up?

Chronological events:

1) Satyam says it has over 1 billion dollars in cash reserves.

2) Satyam is sued by Upaid, a British telecom solutions firm, for 1.6 billion dollars in the US. In all likelihood media reports say Upaid will win.

3) Ramalinga Raju then tries to buy Maytas Properties and Infrastructure for, wait, yeah the same 1.6 billion dollars of Satyam's money.

4) The plan backfired and now Ramalinga Raju claims all the cash reserves and other profits are all fictitious.

Now, does that add up or is there more than what meets the eye here?

Tamil Nadu Worse than Bihar

Finally the cat is out of the bag. The Chief Election Commissioner has called out TamilNadu and its criminal enterprises including DMK, AIADMK, PMK et al., In a scathing pronouncement he has said TN is worse than even Bihar and UP in election malpractices. It might not be surprising for people who have been following the state politics.

The state has deteriorated from one of the leading industrialized states in the Union to a state where Power is being rationed. This in a state which had surplus power a couple of years ago. A state where leaders like Kamaraj worked hard to provide education for the downtrodden to a state that finds it important to distribute color televisions rather than improving the govt schools. A state where giving SOPs to the population (throw away fiscal responsibility) is much more important than improving the economy. A state where the state govt starts its own cable channel and provider for a family dispute. The list does not stop there. The more you dig the worse it gets. Right from the politicization of the Srilankan tamil issue to the goondagiri by the thugs spawned by Karunanidhi (azhagiri episode) the list is endless. J Jayalalitha is even worse. PMK and MDMK are cut from the same fabric as the previous two.

For TN to regain its position as the one of the most educated, industrialized and progressive states in India, the criminals in DMK, AIADMK, PMK and MDMK have to be rejected by us. It is time we move to a third option other than choosing between a criminal dynasty and egotistical dictator. We should keep the communal (BJP), caste based (PMK) parties at bay too. Given our history, i would rather give the benefit of doubt to a new comer like vijayakanth and hope he comes out stronger in the coming elections.

Let us not let these thieves rob us anymore.

Ghajini (hindi)

Finally, hindi cinema gets a heroine who can act since Kajol. All the talentless hot babes of hindi cinema who can't act for their lives must be having nightmares.

India, china and pakistan: A nuclear walmart in our name

China just didn't stop with giving Pakistan the nuclear weapon design. From US NEWS:
"

Under Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto, the country built its first functioning nuclear weapon. We believe that during Bhutto's term in office, the People's Republic of China tested Pakistan's first bomb for her in 1990.There are numerous reasons why we believe this to be true, including the design of the weapon and information gathered from discussions with Chinese nuclear experts. That's why the Pakistanis were so quick to respond to the Indian nuclear tests in 1998. It only took them two weeks and three days. When the Soviet Union took the United States by surprise with a test in 1961, it took the U.S. seventeen days to prepare and test, a device that had been on hand for years. The Pakistani response makes it clear that the gadget tested in May 1998 was a carefully engineered device in which they had great confidence.

Read the complete interview, its pretty interesting.

No wonder A.Q.Khan was handing it out to other nations like candy. After all, if they had to work really hard to come up with this on their own, they would have understood its sensitivity and importance. One does not understand the value of something that is gained easily. It holds particularly true here. Only a lot of other nations have to be worried about their safety because of two of the biggest criminal proliferating countries of Pakistan and China. Its our bad luck that they are our neighbors.

It can happen only in India - videos

Adventurous yet stupid:


Hilarious:


Morons:


Are you kidding me:


Ultimate:
I couldn't embed this video, but you can watch it here.

Backfire: