Asha

Alms for Arms

Dont need to add anything here

Prosperity

It's bringing people closer

Happy Singh

Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, the sole surviving Somali pirate from the hostage-taking of an American ship captain, arrived in New York Monday to face charges.

After a lifetime in Somalia, this must be great eh? Little does he know, a couple of months and he'd be voting for famines in NY.

Oh Wonderful

You, the people of India, are being led by Superstars. Hema Malini, that guy in Andhra, others and now him. Him is Sanjay Dutt. Do you remember Sanjay Dutt? This is him:

Sanjay Dutt's first speech in Lucknow:

I am here to struggle with you all and I am ready to face lathis and bullets in the process. We will fight unitedly for the cause of the party and youths. I am not here to give a speech. I am here to work. Yeh cycle (SP's poll symbol) meri, aapki, sabki hai, aur ise Delhi tak le jana hai. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh once told me that you will become a part of the SP family, once you wear this red cap. Today, I have worn it to become a member of your family.

Jaago India

:)

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time,  
Which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet.  
He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet,  
He suffered from bad breath. 
This made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) .  
A super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis

Moh Maya

The frequency at which I am writing stuff on this blog is directly proportional to the work I do. But that is under regular circumstances. These days the entire world is looking like a story to me. Everything is just so interesting that I can't help but write. Jai ho.

The winter looks like it is going to continue for a long time. Indian inflation (WPI) has fallen to 3.03%, a six year low. There is a very strong chance that it might fall to zero. 

The market is imitating the inflation. At the time of writing this entry, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had fallen by 260 odd points to 8185, a 3.1% intra day drop.

Bank of England has dropped it's interest rates to 0.5% after cutting rates by 0.5%. It's also adding 150 billion pounds into the economy to pump it. 150 billion pounds = 211 billion US$

Two Questions and One Answer:

Q1. Where does the BOE go after this? Negative Interest rates?

Q2. Where is 211 billion going? Back into the pockets of the guys who lost it earlier?

A1. We have come up with a new game. Its called Investing.  It is different from Gambling because here if you fuck up, the government gives you more to slosh around. Neat eh?

Wen Jai Bao announced a stimulus package of around 580 billion dollars. More importantly he highlighted that in these troubled times the people of the country should help out each other by consuming more. 

He reserved some of his strongest words for the Chinese consumer, whose legendary frugality has kept China’s consumer goods and services industries from growing at anywhere near the rate of the national economy. Mr. Wen said bolstering consumer demand must become “a long-term strategic principle and a basic point of departure for stimulating economic growth.”

What is this plan, asking folks to consume more? In fact what kind of people are we asking the people to become? Consume more for what? Buy a bigger car, make a bigger house, eat more, drink more? What an idea sirjee! 

If this is what people think Capitalism is about then their thinking is flawed. Capitalism should only translate to Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Basing human growth on increased consumption of resources is going to take us down the hill (if there are any left). 

But here is something I feel good about. At least the BSE hasn't become the Mumbai Stock Exchange.

P.S.: Talk about being lucky.

Be the change

James Otis, a california based collector, is selling some stuff which belongs to Mahatma Gandhi. 

Yesterday, a high-court in Delhi issued an injunction against this auction.

Why are we getting so riled up? Gandhi didn't give a damn about what he wore and what he possessed. His greatest contribution to the country was "to be the change". 

Let him sell it, let some idiot pay millions trying to shore up his assets. Let us just try to follow the simple things Mahatma tried to preach: ahinsa, truth, tolerance, love.

FYI, this is what capitalism has started doing to stay alive.

Mercury Rising

I find her very hot. She, on the other hand, finds little or no beauty in things around her. 

Arundhati Roy is living in (or is she married?) to Pradip Kishen. This gentleman is quite a dude himself, having written the authorotative book on the trees of delhi: Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide and directed the movie In Which Annie Gives It To Those Ones.  She has won the Booker (which meant a lot before they started giving it away like a hooker) while he got her; and these achievements help me believe that they really are superior folks who India should be proud of and look up to for guidance. Folks like me adulate them and try and find a purpose in our lives hanging on to every word these people utter and every action they take. 

But somehow these folks, in their endeavour to reach the rarified atmosphere of intellect, leave us buggers down here in the mess. They go off to obscure villages and start supporting the Narmada Bachao Andolan or write some books which are normally so angry that the meaning gets lost. The problem with folks like Ms Roy and others is that they aren't good tacticians and so can't get the public rallying behind them. When are unable to see the instant results their language mirrors their emotional state and becomes acidic. Consider this article which Ms Roy wrote for Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper. I mean ki theek hai yaar naraaz ho to batao lekin yeh time pass kya hai. The entire article just turns to bashing Slumdog Millionaire and also everyone who happens to cross her path at the time of her writing it. In fact the article has no 'arth' only 'gussa'. 

Look at Arun Shourie. Now this gentelman was one of the best journalists of India (until he was thrown out of the Indian Express for going against the Congress). Now he is from the BJP. Look at him criticising the Congress here, here and everywhere (interestingly, these articles too feature in the Indian Express). This series of articles are each a newspaper page long and have been continuing for the past two-three days and they still haven't finished. Bhai, itna to Congress ne kaam bhi nahin kiya hoga! 

In the current state, let me imagine what symbols you would come up with for the Indian Ruppee.... hmm...not a pleasant thought. Actually I should write about that as well :)

Coll your heels and see this till then.