Random musings
Problem: Women in India go out at night, get assaulted. Solution: Women shouldn’t go out at night, shouldn’t wear lipstick, shouldn’t wear revealing clothes — where the observer decides whether it is revealing or not. Reminds me of Justice Potter’s remark “I know it when I see it” regarding pornography. Problem: A bunch of hooligans … Read more
A few years back I had gone to the end-of-the-year function at my kids’ school. Some performances — singing, dancing, skits — were scheduled. There was a delay in the start of the program. A VIP was supposed to make a speech and as usual he was fashionably late. We were told that it was … Read more
You don’t use Chevy and Car of the Year in the same sentence. But the Motor Trend 2011 Car of the Year is the Chevy Volt. Unlike the Toyota Prius, the Volt can be used like a plugin-hybrid if you charge the batteries overnight and drive no more than 40 miles (64 km) per day. … Read more
Typically, at this time of the year, you will have to endure frequent power cuts. However, this summer in Bangalore, power cuts have been rare. It’s possible that the demand for electricity has gone down because of the slowing economy, but that does not explain it completely. The elections are round the corner: the incumbents … Read more
The wind tunnel near the old Airport is being operated quite frequently and the sound — like that of a jet engine — is deafening; and we are more than a mile away from it.
Good News: Only 42000 Satyam employees are worried about their jobs and not 55000, as reported earlier. Bad News: The 13000 phantom employees were giving their salaries to ex-CEO Ramalinga Raju. Gives a new meaning to the term, a CEO’s salary is several times the salary of an entry level employee.
In the Guardian article titled Mumbai was not our 9/11, Arundhati Roy says: If you were watching television you may not have heard that ordinary people too died in Mumbai. They were mowed down in a busy railway station and a public hospital. The terrorists did not distinguish between poor and rich. They killed both … Read more
The murderers who attacked Mumbai have been called by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee and Secretary of State Rice as “Non State Actors”. Imagine telling the victim’s family “Your father was killed by a non-state actor”. As euphemisms go, this one is pretty bad. If you want to say that the murderers were not state-sponsored, … Read more
The practice, of declaring a school holiday when a minister dies, should be discontinued. The only exception — if one is required — is when a sitting Prime Minister or President dies in office. This happens more frequently in India because in the short 60 year time span since Independence, we have had several Prime … Read more
However, when it comes to kicking butt (literally), we are not good. Let’s admit it. After all, we have too much of Gandhi’s — show the other cheek — blood coursing through our veins to be good in this department. All we can do is to wipe the blood off the counters/stalls/rooms, reopen the shop