Immortals' Imperia

Blog to Defend our Country..

2008-12-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

As a blogger of this great nation, we know you have joined thousands of others in expressing your anger, and calling for action to be taken in order to prevent another attack on our national integrity.

I realized that we have a moral responsibility and a unique advantage where we could bring a vastly influential community of bloggers together to make a difference. Thankfully, we found that there already was an initiative, an initiative that does not talk about signatures or candles. This is a mission with an agenda, timeline and an end result that this country desperately needs.

I ask that you all get involved with this mission and help us spread the word by blogging about it.

Where's Raj Thackrey?

2008-12-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Where is Raj Thackeray and his brave Sena?

Tell him that 200 NSG commandos from Delhi (No Marathi manoos! All South & North Indians..!) have been sent to Mumbai to fight the terrorists so that he can sleep peacefully. Please pass this message to all Marathis so that it finally reaches the coward bully.

Be United! Its our motherland for whom we have to defend for...!

Terrorism has no religion..! They are the guttless cowards who punch at the back...!

Its our Right, Duty and Responsibility irrespective of region, religion, caste, creed, race, language to defend our country against terrorism.

When it comes to the extreme like the Mumbai blasts, no ACT or TREATY stands in between our country and others. Lets defend ourselves in an united way..!

A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

2008-10-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

I issue my predictions for the coming century. Featuring robot wars, near annihilation.

NOV. 4, 2008: John McCain takes the U.S. presidency with 277 electoral votes, winning Ohio and Florida by less than 1 percent of the vote. American policy on Iraq does not change.

JULY 14, 2009: While the price of gas hits five dollars per gallon in most American cities, the value of the dollar becomes exactly half the value of the euro. World travel becomes a luxury available only to the rich; on the upside, Northwest Airlines goes bankrupt.

OCT. 4, 2010: Canada legalizes the cloning of livestock for human consumption.

FEB. 1, 2011: North Korea initiates an open, cooperative relationship with Russia.

NOV. 6, 2012: Obama defeats the incumbent McCain in a landslide. However, the most curious aspect of the election is the candidacy of Digger True, a grassroots "blogucrat" who runs as an independent, solely using the Internet. True does not express any concrete views and does not participate in debates. Instead, he produces online supercuts of patriotic aphorisms, set to the music of Collective Soul. To the surprise of many in the mainstream media, True gets 3 percent of the popular vote. Blogucrat disciples begin petition drives advocating the elimination of copyright laws and the option of voting over the Web.

MAY 18, 2013: To the chagrin of his longtime supporters, President Obama concedes that U.S. troops can't be withdrawn from Iraq.

DEC. 31, 2014: Billed as "the floating Dubai," the inaugural space hotel opens its doors. Financed by Google, the cost is $2 million per room, per evening. Kanye West performs in the ballroom on opening night.

JUNE 15, 2015: The Paris Libertines defeat the London Plesiosaurs in the first NBA championship series featuring no American franchises.

SEPT. 12, 2016: Digger True enters the presidential race less than two months before Election Day, this time campaigning with wordless, randomly generated photographs of voters (aggregated from social networks and displayed in rapid, continuous succession on his Web site). Despite never appearing in public, True gets 22 percent of the vote, but Obama wins reelection.

AUG. 20, 2017: The first mainstream use of artificial intelligence becomes popular with consumers -- the ability to have realistic phone sex without another person.

JUNE 2, 2018: Summer movie audiences are entranced and titillated by Lars von Trier's Asking for It, an erotic thriller starring Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson, set on the 110th floor of the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11.

APRIL 15, 2019: No longer able to attract voters under the age of forty, the GOP absorbs the blogucratic faction and makes Digger True the de facto Republican candidate for 2020. True announces his reinvention on YouTube 3.1 by uploading a 4-D image of Abraham Lincoln copulating with a MacBook, synchronized to a live version of "Smack My Bitch Up" from the recent Prodigy reunion tour. Congress makes online voting legal in all fifty states.

NOV. 3, 2020: True becomes the first president of America's postliterate era. The outcome is bemoaned by The New York Times and The Washington Post, the only U.S. newspapers still printed on paper. President True does not appear in public for his entire tenure, communicating all public policy via screen grabs of Dakota Fanning, delivered through his Tumblr account.

AUG. 14, 2021: The final performance by the Rock On in Wembley Stadium. Ticket prices start at $18,200, ultimately netting the band $1 billion.

DEC. 31, 2023: The U.S. relaxes after the hottest year in history, contributing to the death of more than eighty thousand citizens.

JUNE 14, 2024: Indian researchers find a cure for AIDS.

AUG. 13, 2025: A surprising announcement comes from SRM University: As it turns out, smoking cigarettes is kind of good for you.

SEPT. 25, 2026: A new folk hero captures the worldwide imagination when twenty-five-year-old British hand model Gretchen Tobias scales the east face of Mount Everest, without oxygen, totally naked.

JUNE 15, 2027: A startling revelation comes in the form of Obama's postpresidential autobiography, Cutting Backdoor: He admits that the decision to keep troops in Iraq was forced upon him by the Bilderberg Group, a secret society of world leaders who control the global economy. The book explains how Bilderberg's leadership concluded that the U.S. would not be prepared for a post-oil society for at least forty years; the only solution was to establish an American presence in the Middle East that provided unlimited access to petroleum, thereby staving off worldwide economic collapse. Three months after the book's release, Obama disappears in a mysterious boating mishap.

NOV. 7, 2028: Tom Brady (R-Michigan) defeats Will Smith (D-California) in the race for the Oval Office.

MAY 24, 2029: Eighty-eight-year-old Bob Dylan celebrates his birthday with the online release of "Oh, By the Way," a fourteen-minute song explicitly explaining the details of his 1966 motorcycle crash, his brief conversion to Christianity during the seventies, and what it was like to have sex with Joan Baez. When asked why he chose to release such personal material at this point in his life, Dylan cryptically replies, "That seems like a question you should be asking Bob Dylan."

MAY 8, 2030: A deathbed confession by George W. Bush reveals that JFK was, in fact, assassinated by the CIA.

SEPT. 2, 2031: A mysterious multiracial seven-foot man who refers to himself only as "B" shows up at NASA in Houston. He claims to be from the year 2131 and possesses blueprints for a time machine that will take a hundred years to build. After a closed-door twelve-minute meeting with President Brady, construction begins immediately.

JUNE 15, 2032: A virtual-reality amusement park in Berlin allows patrons to momentarily experience the sensation of death. Controversy explodes when studies indicate that almost 10 percent of those who participate in the simulation commit suicide within one year.

APRIL 5, 2033: In a moment reminiscent of Texas Western's 1966 victory over Kentucky, the all-black Kentucky Wildcats are upset in the NCAA basketball championship by the University of Portland, a school whose squad is composed entirely of Asians.

SEPT. 2, 2034: Another multiracial seven-foot man (this one calling himself "C") arrives at NASA and begs scientists to discontinue work on the time machine. He cannot explain why. The decision falls to President Brady, who ultimately concludes that the very presence of "B" and "C" dictates that the machine must be completed.

FEB. 14, 2036: Faced with the notion of "potential mammalian annihilation within fifty years," all First World nations agree to make climate change the lead focus of their scientific inquiry. Fearing this will slow down completion of the time machine, "B" anecdotally submits a process that could replenish the ozone layer. Soon after delivering this information, "B" murders "C." "B" chooses not to defend himself during his trial, saying only, "I have no regrets, except for those of all mankind." He is sentenced to prison and spends the next ten years writing his memoir, a manuscript he eventually destroys.

APRIL 8, 2037: Citing flawed financial management and waning public interest, Major League Baseball folds. The top 12 percent of U.S. players join clubs in the Dominican Republic.

DEC. 25, 2038: Working off the rudimentary plans explained by "B," scientists begin to molecularly stitch the ozone hole above the Arctic Circle.

JULY 11, 2039: Bill Clinton, ninety-two, dies... on the same day Indian Democracy II is released.

NOV. 2, 2040: Dana Dukakis (D-New Jersey) becomes the first open hermaphrodite to win a gubernatorial election.

JUNE 11, 2041: In a matter of weeks, the entire Internet is replaced by "news blow," a granular microbe that allows information to be snorted, injected, or smoked. Data can now be synthesized into a water-soluble powder and absorbed directly into the cranial bloodstream, providing users with an instantaneous visual portrait of whatever information they are interested in consuming. (Sadly, this tends to be slow-motion images of minor celebrities going to the bathroom.) Now irrelevant, an ocean of Web pioneers lament the evolution. "What about the craft?" they ask no one in particular. "What about the inherent human pleasure of moving one's mouse across a hyperlink, not knowing what a simple click might teach you? Whatever happened to ironic thirty-word capsule reviews about marginally popular TV shows? Have we lost this forever?" "You just don't get new media," respond the news-blowers. "You just don't get it."

APRIL 3, 2042: Scientists declare that repairs to the ozone layer are a complete success. Polar bears, now extinct in the wild, are reintroduced to their natural habitat.

JUNE 22, 2043: As predicted by Arthur C. Clarke in 3001: The Final Odyssey, the orbiting luxury hotel is connected to Earth by a massive space elevator. Hyperstrong cables anchored to the earth near the equator (as required by physics) stretch 100,000 kilometers into the sky, rising into the hotel's lobby.

SEPT. 19, 2044: Erasto Norman, the first black pope and an avid skiing enthusiast, is killed in an avalanche.

DEC. 1, 2045: A report from the American Medical Association expresses fear over the proliferation of news blow. "It appears," the report concludes, "that prolonged consumption of news blow renders the user incapable of relating to any person not engaged with an identical strain of the substance." Society is no longer separated by geography, culture, or language; humans now group themselves solely through the shared use of specific info drugs. A divide emerges between Americans on the West Coast (who primarily smoke news blow synthesized in rural California) and people living in the East (who snort a more potent strain developed in Baltimore). Over time, people in New York and Los Angeles find themselves unable to communicate about anything -- they now understand the most basic building blocks of information in totally different ways.

JUNE 22, 2046: At the World Games in Helsinki, U.S. sprinter Zeb Lovelace runs the 100 meters in an astounding 8.99 seconds. His record is later disqualified when testing proves that Lovelace had been injecting himself with self-duplicating DNA taken from the bone marrow of cheetahs.

JAN. 1, 2047: News blow continues to splinter society. Though technically still a union, the U.S. splits into two autonomous halves that have no relationship with each other. The same thing happens in Europe (now divided into seven vague provinces), Russia (which fractures into five regions), and Africa (which becomes five superstates, plus Madagascar). Select diplomats attempt to bridge the gaps by consuming multiple strains of news blow simultaneously, but these attempts lead to depression and catatonia.

NOV. 6, 2048: New York industrialist Roger Kracken wins the title of president and moves into the White House; however, he is a relatively unknown figure west of Missouri and wields no power whatsoever on the Pacific coast. The left half of the U.S. is governed by newly named Prime Minister Jamie Lynn Spears. Immigration effectively ends; service-industry jobs are now mostly performed by humanoid robots whose machinery is covered with individually cloned muscle fibers, synthetic skin, and animal hair.

MARCH 18, 2049: Sweden bans the consumption of animal flesh as food.

MAY 22, 2050: The darkest day in world history -- nuclear suitcase bombs are simultaneously detonated in Jerusalem, LAX airport, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, and (somewhat oddly) Bangor, Maine, killing 370,000 people. Unable to effectively communicate diplomacy and confused by the terrorism's utter randomness, the entire planet adopts a policy of cultural isolationism and lukewarm war.

OCT. 2, 2051: In the new age of global remoteness, military strategy becomes murky. Conventional wisdom suggests Australia is the most important region, as it can only be invaded via Indonesia. Others point to South America, since it is vulnerable only to Central American freedom fighters or North African warlords. Everyone agrees that Europe is a waste of time.

2052 TO 2055: No recorded history.

NOV. 3, 2056: The reconstituted United States of America (once again a complete republic) holds its first meaningful election in twelve years. News blow has been criminalized as America enters the Reactionary Age, a period of intense morality and anti-intellectual rhetoric. The two presidential candidates -- human Tyrone Berkowitz and Cyborgic Construct "Terry 2" -- run clean, issue-oriented campaigns. Terry 2 wins a tight race, punctuating his victory thusly: "Those who attain wisdom through artificial intelligence are no different from the human brothers who offered them authentic life during the war that cannot be spoken of. We are all the better for this."

OCT. 12, 2057: Aided by a world currency that's backed by the diamond standard, global economies boom. The exploding new market is wind, now the primary source of energy in most of the industrialized world.

MAY 17, 2058: The Coca-Cola, a four-piece cyborgic musical act from Manchester, record and release twelve songs at the same time, a format that has not been used in more than four decades. The so-called "album" is titled We Exist Only to Rock You and is constructed after digital analysis of the most pleasing sonic elements off the Beatles' Revolver, Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, Michael Jackson's Thriller, R.E.M.'s Murmur, and Brenda Kahn's Epiphany in Brooklyn.

JULY 20, 2059: Exactly ninety years after Armstrong, astronauts from India land on the moon. They, however, do not leave. India immediately installs a community of both humans and robots on the lunar surface. A new space race begins.

JAN. 5, 2061: Indian doctors perform the first successful brain transplant. The patient survives for sixty-one days, mostly in a state of perpetual terror and befuddlement.

AUG. 10, 2062: America lands on the moon. Two months later, Russia does the same. Germany and Japan arrive in December. Suddenly, five small biospheres populate the lunar surface. The purpose of this is unclear and widely debated.

OCT. 30, 2063: A team of Anna University researchers argue that Indian cows can telepathically communicate with one another, often discussing their feelings and their plans for the day. The theory is dismissed.

JUNE 6, 2064: Indian consumers become obsessed with "expectation entertainment": By stimulating obscure areas of the brain with low pulses of electricity, people can be given the sensation of how it feels just beforethe actual experience of something they enjoy (a concert, sex, a delicious meal, etc.). By focusing on the anticipation of an event (as opposed to creating the event itself), audiences are never disappointed.

DEC. 23, 2065: The moon population reaches one million. Its primary industries are mining and tourism.

FEB. 20, 2066: Super Bowl C: Dallas defeats Denver 31-17. The NFL, for whatever reason, is pretty much the same as it always was.

FEB. 27, 2067: A Vandalur Zoo gorilla named Maureen takes a standard IQ test and scores a 92. The Mu Ka Stalin's Society, an Indian animal-rights group, immediately pushes for legislation that would grant citizenship to domesticated creatures.

AUG. 1, 2068: Census figures indicate A.I. cyborgs are now the largest minority in the India, comprising 21 percent of the populace. Hispanics are next at 20 percent, followed by multiracial humans (17 percent), Euro-Indians (13 percent), African-Indians (11 percent), US-Indians (8 percent), and race-neutral clones (3 percent). The total Indian population is 640 million.

AUG. 13, 2069: "B," the mysterious seven-footer who arrived at NASA thirty-eight years before, dies at his home in Reno, Nevada. Diaries discovered in his basement indicate the entire story might have been a hoax. Work on the time machine, however, continues as planned.

JUNE 5, 2070: Wolves in Canada begin hunting humans at an alarming rate. Shark attacks increase 40 percent. Jungle animals begin successfully infiltrating urban areas; a panther kills at least nine people in downtown Dallas. "I don't know why the animals are getting smarter," says zoologist Eli Sperle-Cho, "but it's definitely happening."

OCT. 19, 2071: An army of panda bears attacks Beijing, killing twelve hundred people and wounding thousands more during a bloody four-day onslaught.

APRIL 5, 2072: Animals are banned from the moon. House cats now kill more people than heart disease.

MAY 29, 2073: In a consolidated effort, india, America, China, Great Britain, and Russia declare war against the animals. It is decided that all military maneuvers will be conducted by robots.

2074 TO 2078: Robot vs. Animal War.

MAY 4, 2079: The Robot vs. Animal War concludes with the Kenya Peace Accords. The animals get Africa, North and South America, and Australia. Asian, Europe and Greenland are conceded to humans and nonhuman mechanical life. Antarctica is a free zone. The majority of remaining Earth people migrate to the moon, where overpopulation becomes an immediate problem.

JULY 6, 2080: The moon population hits eight billion. Most live in underground caves. Food is generated by the high-speed cloning of soy, rice, and headless chicken carcasses. Water is the most valuable commodity and backs the lunar currency.

NOV. 5, 2081: To slow oxygen consumption, moon inhabitants are ordered to remain relatively motionless for twenty hours a day. To compensate, every person is allowed to cerebrally download the complete memories of a fictional lifetime once a week; the populace now spends most of its time feeling nostalgic for things they did not actually do.

OCT. 20, 2082: Due to its surplus of frozen moisture, a decision is made to colonize Mars. Robotic and humanoid leaders agree to turn what remains of the moon into a massive military station, poised to resume a sky war against the animals and retake Earth by the turn of the twenty-second century.

SEPT. 15, 2083: The 150th anniversary issue of Immortals' Imperia is made available via memory file -- an instantaneous burst of binary information that's absorbed through the retina from a disposable contact lens. It allows the consumer to "have read" every word from every issue of the publication's entire existence. The robots love it.

Computers: Get Used to Them!

2008-10-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

I would argue that the most funny, edgy and entertaining writing in India, does not come from The Hindu, but from high school newspapers. Granted, the humor coming from these may be largely unintentional, but it can be hilarious nonetheless.

As editor of the "Reviews" section of my high school newspaper I was notoriously bad at my job. I rarely attended class and edited my stories with the same attention to detail Stephen gives his wife. My lack of diligence even got the "f-bomb" inadvertently published in my high school paper.

Titled, "Computers, Get Used to Them!" the article says that computers are on their way but we have nothing to fear (as long as we have sledgehammers). The opening line starts by insulting the reader and just keeps getting better. The entire piece appears below.

Unless you're totally ignorant, you have probably noticed that computers are the talk of the early 1990's.

If you're a typical Indian, you are probably also growing tired of hearing how these computers will be running your life in the near future.

You may even have a slight fear of computers. No, I don't mean you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat screaming, "Don't hurt me, computers!" But I think we all have a slight fear or uneasy feeling over things we are unfamiliar with.

Contrary to what you may have heard, your hands will not fall of when you touch the keyboard of a computer.

I was a little apprehensive when I walked into a computer programming class for the first time this year. All I knew about computers, prior to class, was they had computed my class schedule the last two years.

As I began to become more familiar with computer language and how to write computer programs, my uneasiness went away and I found working with computers enjoyable.

If you are considering taking a computer class (whether you are an adult or a student), I think you'd enjoy it. You may struggle a little at first learning the language and proper usage of statements, but with some persistence on your part, your mind will start picking up the techniques naturally.

You will probably also discover in your early stages of computer study that the computer can be a friend at times or a foe at other times, because of your inexperience.

For example, in computer programming class, when a program you have sweated over and worked on ruthlessly for a considerable length of time is run on the computer screen just as you planned, you might give the computer a nice pat on the top and then proceed to print out "your pride and joy."

On the other hand, when a different program assignment does not run on the computer screen as planned and the screen is showing you what seems like an infinite number of incorrect statements in your program you wish like heck you had a "nice" sledgehammer to make the computer see things your way.

Whether you like or dislike computers or are or aren't interested in them, you had better get used to hearing about them in the media. The experts predict that computers are going to be with us a long time and will be as commonplace in the home as the telephone by the year 2020.

Tribute to a woman

2008-07-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

If you tell a beautiful woman that she is beautiful.
What have you given her?
"It is no more than fact and has cost you nothing."
But if you tell an ugly woman that she is beautiful,
You offer her great homage of corrupting the concept of beauty.
"To love a woman for her virtue is meaningless; she has earned it."
It's a payment - not a gift.
But – to love her for her vices is a real gift.
Unearned and undeserved.
To love her for her vices is to defile,
All virtue for her sake and that is the real tribute to love.
Because – you sacrifice
your conscience, your reason,
your integrity and your invaluable self esteem.

All About a Women..! By a Man..!

2008-07-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Women.. by nature...!

..If you kiss her, you are not a gentleman; If you don't, you are not a man.

If you praise her, she thinks you are lying; If you don't, you are good for nothing.

If you agree to all her likes, you are a wimp; If you don't, you are not understanding.

If you visit her often,she thinks it is boring; If you don't , she accuses you of double-crossing .

If you are well dressed, she says you are a playboy; If you don't , you are a dull boy.

If you are jealous, she says it's bad; If you don't, she thinks you do not love her.

If you attempt a romance, she says you didn't respect her; If you don't, she thinks you do not like her.

If you are a minute late, she complains it's hard to wait; If she is late, she says that's a girl's way.

If you visit another woman, you're not putting in "quality time"; If she is visited by another man, "Oh it's natural, we are girls..!"

If you kiss her once in a while, she professes you are cold; If you kiss her often, she yells that you are taking advantage.

If you stare at another woman, she accuses you of flirting; If she is stared by other men, she says that they a just admiring.

If you talk, she wants you to listen; If you listen, she wants you to talk.

So simple, yet so complex!

So weak, yet so powerful!

So confusing, yet so desirable!

So damning, yet so wonderful!

It’s an army out there...

2008-07-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Indian rickshaw is a deadly combination of a two-wheeler and a four-wheeler. Because the three-wheeled monster gives the impression to riders that - hey - I got a wheel more than you, so be careful. And the very monster turns into a sneaky little mouse, as most rickshaw drivers manage to fit one wheel through a miniscule gap in traffic, under the absurd and dangerous assumption that the two wheels behind will follow suit. The end result? Scratches galore, and enough road-fights.

Of course, that is if His-Highness rickshawaala agrees to transport us.
I had a word with a rick-driver who stays close to home, Suresh Gangadharan. The ‘charioteer’ is one of the rare honest ones out there who relies on the meter, allowing that mounted piece of metal to decide his fate and future. I had heard from another ‘rickie’ that were nearly 150,000 rickshaws in Chennai alone, and it surprised me, so I talked to Suresh to find out more. Some figures he revealed include:

"Over 80% of the rickshaws run on LPG (credit goes to the authorities for enforcing this) although not all have taken steps to reduce pollution. Suresh says that previously, with petrol, many drivers mixed it with kerosene and that was the root cause of increased pollution from the ricks. With gas (and authorities having enforced a good, quality distribution of LPG around the city) fewer ricks can forcibly pollute.
Over a 170,000 rickshaws travel in Chennai alone, each generating an average income of 1,000 rupees per day. Suresh points out, that atleast 80,000 rickshaws spend a full day in the city. Do the math: The city of Chennai spends Rs. 80 million on rickshaw fares, every day.
On an average, each driver works a 12-hour shift, and nearly every rickshaw has two drivers nominated against it. That leaves us with atleast 300,000 rickshaw drivers in the city. Considering the stereotype drivers, that’s a lot of alcohol consumption as well.
The ARDU is the single-largest union representing the drivers. This makes them quite powerful: at any given point, they have potentially 300,000 people and the single most popular means of transportation in Chennai under their control.
Each owner makes anything between 170 to 300 rupees per day, per rickshaw. Each driver makes about 150 rupees per day, and an average of 200 on the weekends. Suresh claims that many generous foreigners have left 50 rupees, and sometimes even 100 rupees as tips when they were in a hurry during tennis matches and rock concerts.
The living conditions for the rickshaw drivers are bad but a margin above the poverty line. Most of the average income goes into liquor, leaving the families distraught, the children uneducated and the wives often have to work as maids to feed the family."

The bottom line?

Much as we might hate them for their stubborness, incompatibility and their pride, these guys run the streets of Chennai. So the next time you drive, and you find this rickshaw crossing your way like a metallic piece of manhood in your serene life, try and refrain from picking a fight, because it’s an army out there. It really is. They’ve taken over.

Truly, if there was ever a vehicle engineered for the roads of India, here it is. But that’s only until namma metro arrives in this Singaara Chennai-city-turned-chaosville. Which is, of course, a long wait.

One of my pointed out that the word Rickshaw has Japanese origins, from the word "jinirikisha" which means ‘human powered vehicle’. Interesting, considering that it’s us who took it to a new level.

When you love someone..

2008-07-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

When you love someone..

You only see the good that evokes your passion, and never the bad that could actually make you see sense. And what a folly that is because that is where your downfall begins.

When you love someone, you strive to become compatible. And because you’ve been told that you can never change your lover, you endeavor to change yourself. Indeed, there is no harm in such a cause, especially if it is for the good of not just your love, but of yourself. And so you find yourself giving up this and sacrificing that, until one day you wake up and you don’t know yourself anymore. You don’t know what you’ve become, how you got there, or even why; all because such a drastic overhaul of your ‘self’, of your ‘being’ was achieved for the wrong reasons – not for yourself, but for the pseudo-god who you so desperately wanted to please, but who, more than likely, would never be.

Still, when you love someone, you try to make it work. So every time there’s a problem – and at this point, you’re already honest with yourself enough to admit that there are indeed problems – you find yourself conceding to keep the peace, to keep the status quo intact. This is because even though in your eyes he is now just a man and no longer a pseudo-god, you still do not love him any less. If anything, you might even love him more in this newfound attainability.

So you concede, and all is peaceful until the next conflict where you will concede again and again and again in a never ending cycle of concession for the sake of love and harmony, regardless of who is in the wrong. But when you really think about it, how long can you concede? How long can you give in? How long can you keep apologizing for wrongs that you did not do? Everything - and everyone - has a limit. Surely your ability to concede is no exception.

On the other hand, you can resist taking the path of least resistance and fight for what you believe is right. You can attempt to make him face his inadequacies, instead of mollycoddling him and pointing out your own to make him feel good about himself. You can endeavor to put your lover in his place when he’s done you wrong, and force him into submission for you to finally receive the apology or the appreciation that you so deserve. This is risky because though there is a slight chance that you will accomplish your objective, it is exactly that – slight - and you may invariably do more harm than good, leading to an even earlier demise of the relationship. Is there even a path that doesn’t lead to the relationship’s demise? I do not believe so, for even those who stay together for the rest of their lives eventually die and become no more.

When you love someone, you give him the power to destroy you. And until you start to accept love as it is – fleeting - you will find yourself constantly destroyed throughout your lifetime. You will only emerge whole when you stop believing in forever and start accepting that nothing lasts forever.

Indeed, when you love someone, make every moment count because that’s all you’re ever really going to get – moments.

Does it make you feel good?

2008-07-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

You would have probably received this a hunderd times before on a mail.

But it is funny that everytime I read them I just feel happy. So I am just putting them for the record.

Think about them one at a time before going on to the next one . .

Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
Finding a 2 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
No lines at super market
Hearing your favourite song on radio
Midnight phone calls that last for hours
Having someone play with you hair
Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
Knowing that somebody misses you.
Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.

Adios.... have a good week ahead :D

Can you please write it and give me...

2008-07-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have realized the power and effectiveness of the statement "Can you please write it and give me"..

Let me explain...I have registered for the BSNL broad band connection two months back and have not got it yet. So I went to customer care, and asked the lady behind the counter about the status, and she very casually asked me to go to some other exchange and find out.

"Why cant you do it?" I asked..

"Nopes we dont have any person here who is responsible for the internet connections" she said

"Can you please write it and give me?" I said , "Please write that a customer has come to enquire for net connection and I cant help but ask him to go to some other place"

"No I cant do that", She said

"Why not?" I asked

"Because I am not responsible for the net connections" she said.

"Ok in that case, please write and give me that Customer Care is not responsible for net connections, for this kind of things customers are required to go exchange and find out", I persisted, "See, I dont want to complain, but just I want to figure out where I have to go for what"
Thats it, she started calling some numbers, gave my details, retrieved the information and told me.

Never mind what the information was, but I got some answer, and I avoided running to someother place.

This is the third time that I have employed this technique, First at the railway reservation and second at ICICI, and this time here.I guess it works because people are afraid to give in writing, because they know that it is their responsibility and they are just running away from it.

So if you persist, they would solve the problem for you.

Please use this freely, you dont have to be rude and all. Be nice and very straight. Trust me it works....

Cheers..

To all the girls out there... A humble request

2008-07-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from a Secret Dairy of a Secret Guy...
Discliamer: Any resembelence to any person living or dead is purely fictitious.
"The one thing which I dread and am really afraid of is when a girl tells me that I am like a sweet brother to her.... God I hate it, fear it and have wild dreams about it... I wonder why girls are always interested in making brothers, even after they grow up, I wonder what faults that they see with their real brothers that makes them go out looking for more brothers, and even more brothers. I do hate more when most of my sisters' friends or friends' sisters start addressing me as "bhaiya", it becomes kind of default thing to use, and it irritates me. I wish they would ask me my name. And imagine if I turn back and start calling them bahenji, would they not take offence. Girls are funny and they are.
The other set of girls who are not going around forming brothers have one other deadly weapon "I cant look at you in that way", wonder what that is supposed to mean. And thats it, next day I keep looking at myself in mirror while shaving, and wondering if that has got to do with the way I look, the way I have my hair or it has got to do with her vision. And in general girls dont want to argue and discuss this subject, while it is so obvious to them, it seems latin-greek to me and leaves me totally perplexed. The only thing that I get out of them is that I dont appear to be that serious. But the problem is that if I start talking serious stuff then I dont even get this far, I mean then girls will never be interested in me. Because girls like fun-loving easy-going guys. So you see it is vicious circle. and I think the key is to identify the point of transition when I have to change myself from easy-going to hard-tuff, from talking about guitaing and the latest Johny Depp movie to talking about future career prospectus and the real estate pricing.
But the most funniest thing that I find is that the same girl (I mean the same girl who tells me that I am not serioius), when she goes out to meet the guy that parents have chosen for her, by default start seeing him as perspective husband, even though most of the times I find him as idiotic as myself.I guess you girls have to understand that life is difficult for guys with the competition so high and you have to be little considerate. I guess on an average a girl might get proposed 5 times in her bachelorhood... (I have no data on how much on married girls), whereas a guy like me might die to get proposed even once. Now when I have got to think about it I dont think any of my boy-friends (somehow calling boy friends looks little shady, I mean my friends who are guys) have ever got proposed, atleast no one has ever told me about it. And trust me guys also have very little threshold of falling in love, and they pratically fall in love with any girl, I think if guy meets a girl for ten times he would surely fall in love. This is especially true if the guy comes from some testosterone intensive college like IIT.
So please all you girls dont take it very seriously if I ask you out for a cup of coffee, I am just looking for a harmless cup of coffee. Dont make any character based assumptions about me. And I have a very nice and cute sister and I love her. I dont think I can handle more than that. And please dont treat me as agony uncle and start talking about the antics of your new boyfriend, about how he does not pay any attention to you or whatsoever, because I hate your boyfriend, I genuinely hate him. I might listen with lot of enthusiasm but inside my heart breaks, and please dont do it especially when I am sponsoring you a cup of coffee. And if possible do let me know when is the transition point, rather when you would want to see me as hard and macho man.
Cheers.

Innovation Begins with Fascination

2008-07-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

In my experience, the origin of innovation is fascination -- the state of being intensely interested in something. Enchanted. Captivated. Spellbound. Absorbed.
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What kids are good at.
Kids and those mavericks at work who make everyone nervous and running for their spreadsheets at the drop of a hat.
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A person who is fascinated does not need to be motivated... or managed... or "incentivized." All that person needs is time, some resources, meaningful collaboration, and periodic reality checks from someone who understands what fascination is all about.
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That's why Google gives its workforce 20% of their time to explore projects on their own. That's why 3M and W.L. Gore do something similar. They know that the root of innovation is fascination.
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If you, or the people who report to you, are not currently in a state of fascination about work it's time to turn things around. That is, IF you want to spark some innovation.
How do you do this?

For starters, here's one simple way, just to get things rolling.

THE SEED OF FASCINATION

On a piece of paper, create three parallel headlines -- "What Fascinates Me," "People I Admire," and "What I Would Do If I Had More Time or Knew I Couldn't Fail."
Jot down at least TEN responses beneath each headline.
Look for intriguing, new connections between your responses. Any insights? New possibilities? Ahas?
Now, think about ways you might incorporate these new insights or possibilities into your work life (while staying open to the fact that your company is capable of changing and growing).
Jot down your new ideas.
Circle your three favorite ideas and brainstorm them with a friend. Then pitch anyone who's influence can help you launch your ideas for how to bring more fascinating projects into your work life.

The Good Thing About Bad Ideas

2008-07-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

"You can only be as good as you dare to be bad." - John Barrymore
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One of the inevitable things you will hear at a brainstorming session is something like "there are no bad ideas." Well, guess what? There are plenty of bad ideas. Nazism, for instance. Arena football. Bow ties.
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What well-meaning "keep hope alive" brainstorming aficionados really mean is this: Even bad ideas can lead to good ideas if the idea originators are committed enough to extract the meaning from the "bad." It happens all the time.

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Even diamonds begin as coal.
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The key for aspiring innovators? To find the value in what seems to be a "bad idea" and then use that extracted value as a catalyst for further exploration. The following technique, shows you how to do this. It's a particularly effective method for naysaying, skeptical groups to use. It's also a hoot and a great way to make boring brainstorming sessions come alive.

HOW IT WORKS:

Bring a challenge, question, or problem to mind.
Conjure up a really bad idea in response to it.
Tell another person (or team) about your bad idea.
The other person (or team) thinks of something redeemable about your bad idea -- and tells you what it is.
Using this redeemable essence as a catalyst, you brainstorm new ideas, solutions, or possibilities that can actually DO something with.

Revolution is very much at hand..

2008-07-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

+Five years ago, there was no Orkut, MySpace, Facebook or Twitter, much less any of the myriad tools and applications created to enhance and extend their social networking value.

+Ten years ago, there was no Google or Wikipedia shaping the way the world finds and thinks about information and knowledge.

+Twenty years ago, there was no World Wide Web influencing every aspect of our daily lives.

I don’t know about you, but it feels alot like revolution to me, and we’re just scratching the surface of what’s transpiring. So while I understand that association leaders prefer to “manage change” incrementally, there’s a problem: it’s a flawed and failing strategy for the 21st century.
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The incremental strategy is ineffective because what we’re experiencing today is unlike the tamer forms of change we’ve known before. It is what I have referred to in the past as “profound, intensifying and accelerating disruption and discontinuity,” or paradigm shift. I realize, of course, that the first phrase is a tongue twister and the second phrase has been devalued by years of speaker abuse. But neither of those issues gives us a free pass to ignore what’s going on. For the first time since the early years of the 20th century, paradigm shift actually is happening, and it will continue to unfold in the years ahead whether or not we choose to acknowledge it.
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The notion of managing paradigm shift incrementally is a proverbial finger-in-the-dike scenario, i.e., it is both dangerous and unsustainable. Associations will find themselves unable to thrive in this century if all they are prepared to do is aim just high enough to survive, or worse, defensively cope with the present while wishing and hoping for an easier future that will never come. Association leaders need to dial back their conservative instincts, soberly assess what is happening in the world around them and then work to rapidly grow their comfort level with radical ideas and revolutionary approaches. The tables have turned, and we can no longer afford the mounting financial and human cost of our community’s risk aversion for risk aversion’s sake.
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If we’re going to harness the forces of paradigm shift and leverage the revolution to our advantage, we must cultivate strategic imagination. Maddie argues that association leaders use strategic imagination everyday. It saddens me to write that my experience has been very much the opposite, to the point that I am genuinely concerned about the lack of capacity for responsible stewardship in organizations of all sizes throughout our community, and I have heard this same concern expressed by other association leaders as well. So after sixteen years of watching associations not deal with the same issues over and over again, rethinking the assumptions that guide the way our organizations create value from the ground up strikes me as precisely the kind of fundamental reinvention that is urgently needed for the association community to have a fighting chance at thriving and growing in the years ahead.
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The gale-force winds of paradigm shift are already whipping, and the seeds of future opportunity are being strewn in every direction. Association leaders who claim not to see or understand what’s happening are either in denial or just not paying attention. But make no mistake about it: the revolution is at hand.

Imagination is the Lifeblood of the Revolution

2008-07-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

…The capacity to imagine is being squashed by the hierarchy of risk culture, the doom and gloom corporate system that places an ability to mitigate loss above the blue sky creative capacity. Ideas, knowledge and intercultural imagination are just as valuable as powerful as financial capital.

Prosperity more and more will depend on creative advantage, a flow of ideas and innovation. The top down corporate structure is giving way to the horizontal open source, peer produced network of ideas. The hierarchical model of organization has been the historically dominant model for our Western institutions such as the Government, Church and military-industrial complex. So pervasive and enduring has this model been that we have assumed there are no alternatives.
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But today companies that make their boundaries porous, and accept input from the global creative sector are the ones best poised to create enduring value. Traditional forms of intellectual property create a walled compound of content, where resources are hidden and companies compete with each other to gain access to vital innovation pools. But increasingly companies are finding that the best way to build vital business structures is to harness a shared foundation of technology and knowledge to accelerate growth and innovation.

Whether or not we’re ready to accept it, there is a revolution unfolding in our world, and in our association community. No amount of describing what’s happening online as fad changes this current reality, much less the future that is emerging for the next decade and beyond. Paradigm shift isn’t a theoretical construct, but a real-world, life-changing phenomenon, and not all of it is or will be for the better unless we act to make it better. Fortunately, thanks to distributed Web-enabled collaboration, it is now possible to fully capitalize on the near-limitless creative potential of people worldwide to imagine what comes next. Imagination is the lifeblood of this revolution, and it is our imagination that will see us through no matter what challenges we are forced to confront.
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It’s too easy to think of incrementalism as a style choice, a matter of personal preference for those who fear change and need to made comfortable by being brought along more slowly. Sadly, after decades of failing to act because of leadership denial and myopia, organizations have forfeited this “steady as you go” option on behalf of their stakeholders. Fairly or unfairly, this is where we are, and it is now time to embrace the revolution and imagine the association community of the 21st century!

Thackereys are migrants!

2008-07-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

Where did that one come from? The pretenders to the throne have been unmasked. So much for crying out for the Marathi Manoos!

If one were to believe the news doing the rounds right now:
“The Thackerays came to Mumbai two generations ago for jobs and as such have no right to assault those coming to the financial capital in search of livelihood.”

Now since the very credibility of being a pure “Maratha” comes under question, I cannot wait for clarifications from the SS/MNS camp to come forward. Maybe Raj Thackerey will come forward and tell his numerous supporters that one should forget the past and concentrate on the current problem of migrants. Or maybe, he will go back to being a ‘pillar’ under the Tiger!

What does one say about all that noise created under the banner of the “Marathi Manoos”, and all the unnecessary trouble caused to the migrants? If nothing else, i think Raj T owes an unconditional apology to all those who had to suffer directly like the labour classes, as well as those who were affected indirectly, like those whose carpenters, Bais, Milkman, Vegetable vendors, disappeared suddenly, leaving everything and everyone in a fix.

What MNS successfully managed to do was create trouble for its own masses. Losses for Maharashtrian businesses. And a lot of anti MNS sentiments. I hope that this incident drills in some sense into this man and he can put an end to his tireless tirade against outsiders.

He forgets, that there is a “Rashtra” in Maharashtra.

I wonder what the MNS supporters have to say now?

Anyone?

Why Raj Thackrey Sucks more

2008-07-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

He sucks more than other leaders of his league because he belongs to our generation. He was born in a liberal country and has seen very little prejudice, especially in the city where he was raised. He was educated with people like us, in schools like ours with people of different religions and regions. He has come of age hearing about the expectations of the whole country from his generation. He took the odd step and came into politics and made our generation proud, only to disappoint in a moment.

I remember a time, not so long back, when we were excited about the political scene sans the Sanghs, the filthy criminal politicians, the goon raj and all the self proclaimed moral policing organizations. I remember watching YUVA and how correct it seemed and how, first time in my life, I wanted to believe in a Bollywood flick. I remember a college debate in which one of the participants talked about how five years from then, most or all of the politicians would be either dead or too old to talk and how a young breed of leaders (not politicians) would skyrocket country’s development. In one blow, all that is a goner.

He has single handedly taken all our misconceptions of seeing an India, led by virtuous young breed of pro-development leaders. He has proved once again that doing away with secularism is a small price that leaders today and prospective leaders of tomorrow are ready to pay to stay in power. He has proudly burst our bubble of the image of an India free from caste, religion and regional politics.

Neenaz Ichaporia of IBN Blogs says it all
“What Mumbaikars prize more than anything else about their city, is the ability to step out at any hour, unmolested, and roam the city unharmed……

..…Thackeray and his MNS goons have chipped away at that confidence.”

In fact I am not sure whether we should burn him at the stake or thank him, for he has indeed opened our eyes to the fact that young or not, politicians are politicians and they will never change. My faith in the next generation leaders is FUBARed and I am not sure if I'll be trusting these young-uns anymore, but is it not a lesson we should have learned long back? The youngest country of the world could so easily be led by world’s youngest imbeciles.

Are you in Kerala? Ask "Got Milk?"

2008-07-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

If you ever come across any communist in my home state of Kerala (trust me, there are a lot of them around!) and if he/she paints for you a romantic image of communism - please ask him - “Got Milk?”

Communism is flawed. All the means of production can’t be controlled by the government. Not even the politburo can control or manage that. It hasn’t worked anywhere in the world. Why is that our comrades in Kerala get it? Now, don’t get me wrong, I do agree with some of the leftist ideology and I am particularly found of socialism if it is social - but communism is a totally different ball game.

Sure, the comrades will sing praises for Castro, Saddam, Zimbabwe, Iran and Sudan (why? don’t ask) - spite venom on the US and they think is imperialist but they do know how to beg. Last month, the God’s Own Country’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran started his South Indian Grand Begging Tour - first to Tamil Nadu, Karanataka (for milk!) and now to Maharashtra. Why don’t you ask Castro or Kim in North Korea or the dude in Zimbabwe? What did you say? - Same problem? Hmm… I wonder why?

“Banking” on banks! Whew!

2008-07-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

I wonder what has become of public sector banks. I was actually astonished by the number of people opting for private banks these days; banks like HDFC, ICICI etc. spring to mind. There were a few reasons which made me tear my hair as to why this was happening. Firstly these private banks have very complicated rules and regulations governing your transactions and bank accounts. Some even have limits one the number of ATM withdrawals you can do per month before you actually end up paying for them. I don’t think its reasonable for a common man to grasp all these rules and not risk losing his hard earned money inadvertently to the bank. Secondly, the kind of minimum balances required by some of these banks border on the ridiculous. I mean, honestly, minimum balances are the amounts that you never take out of a bank account. So you would want it to be as minimum as possible. The bank is meant to keep your money tenporarily and you’d be better of not donating money at rates of about 2% for this cause. Thirdly, and most importantly, have our public sector banks- nationalized government regulated supposedly “safe” banks- become just not good enough? One visit to one of the public sector banks confirmed the reason to me in striking clarity.

At this stage I have to be honest and tell you that I’m no expert in banking. On the contrary, I’m what they call a “noob” to banking. But it is to the noobs that the fallacies of a system are most obvious. Especially systems which are as old as the banking system. So when I stepped into the bank* with the simple task of obtaining a DD to pay my college fees, I thought it was just a simple task. Note that I had got DDs from banks before and I have a fair idea on the procedure and the amount of time it normally takes. As I moved to where the forms were “supposed to” be kept, there evidently was none. It was kept somewhere hidden behind a pillar on the main desk. Is wastage of couple of small sheets of paper so great a consideration for banks that they keep it well hidden? I had to ask a couple of people before finally finding its location.

The form was simple. The task of filling it not so complex. I had the money with me. I had the filled in form. What next? Here is where being a noob gives you new insights. A regular visitor to the bank would have known exacty what to do. Go to the cash counter, pay up and get a receipt. But then how am I supposed to know that? I was made to ask another of those bank officers who seemed too busy(impolite?) to answer my query. So then I paid up and got my receipt. To my shock I was made to wait more than 1 hour before that simple DD was delivered to me. The reason being the lady who was supposed to give it was chatting with a friend who had come to the bank. If that was half hour, another half hour was taken up in her going for lunch right at the appointed time totally unresponsive to a DD waiting there before her to be signed and despatched. I had paid extra in commission for this, damn it! After all this unnecessary wasting of time, my patience was at an end as I demanded my DD. Can’t they understand I was in a hurry? So finally as I got my DD, my threat of a complaint to high officers brought only the slightest of smirks on her face.

So now I get it. People just don’t come to banks anymore just to safeguard their hard earned money. They have learned that they are the masters and it is their money which earns the bank its profits. So above all they expect a level of SERVICE. Service not as in “servant” but service as in politeness and user friendly. This is what is appealing to the common man. And it is exactly what the private banks specialize at. Be it personalized phone calls to let you know about your recent big transactions or to inform you about their most recent schemes(or to home deliver those DDs that I talked about!) these banks are adept and efficient. Frankly I think most people nowadays know that they are losing a bit of money but as a trade off for the service they’re getting, it might just seem worth it sometimes.

* Just for the record, the bank I went to was a branch of the Indian Overseas Bank.

Nationwide Queer Pride March: An Historical event

2008-06-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I wrote a piece on how its time for the queer people to stand up, stand tall and assert their rights. In this context the queer activism in India just witnessed a landmark event, the first ever nation wide Queer Pride March was concluded on Sunday, 29th June 2008.

Thousands of gay, lesbians, bi-sexuals, transexuals and other non-heterosexual people in Delhi Bangalore and Kolkata came out on the streets to join the march which was “not a protest but a celebration”, as Leselie Esteves, member of the newly formed Delhi Queer Pride committee puts it.

This was the first of any such pride march in Delhi and Bangalore but for Kolkata this was the 4th gay pride march. The gay pride march is annually held around this time of the year across the world to commemorate the riots that broke out in 1969 in New York city when a Gay bar was raided by police.

Men wore sparkling saris, women wore rainbow boas and hundreds of people chanted for gay rights in three Indian cities Sunday in the largest display of gay pride in the deeply conservative country where homosexual acts are illegal.
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Gay rights supporters took to the streets of Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi to call for an end to discrimination and push for acceptance in a society where intolerance is widespread.

“This is a national coming-out party,” Alok Gupta, a lawyer from Mumbai, said as he stood among several hundred activists in New Delhi. “This is a simple thing: We are seeking the right to love.”
Source: Herald Tribune (Emphasis added)

Thaindian News also reports,

Banners with slogans such as “Drop 377″ (referring to section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that considers homosexuality a crime), “Heterosexuality is not normal, it’s common”, “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai, Hetero-Homo Bhai Bhai” and the likes floated above the hundreds of heads on the roads of Connaught Place, the business district and shopping arcade in the heart of the capital.

(Emphasis added)

To look at the political angle of the issue and to think of the fate of the petition pending before Delhi High Court seeking unconstitutionality of Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, it is interesting to note that, Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a senior leader of India’s main Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, said he opposed the gay activists’ march and called homosexuality “unnatural.”
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And then I find the Hindu extremeist blaming Islam for the plight of homosexuals.

Arranged Marriages ONLY!

2008-06-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

No, this is not some kind of religious or cultural proclamation BUT what the Government of India has decided to do for all Indians wishing to get married outside India. They need to get a “No Objection Letter" from both sets of parents. If your parents are deceased, you need to produce a death certificate.

A young Indian couple was shocked when their consulate asked for a 'no-objection letter' from their parents to get married. (Gulf News)

So if you are an Indian wishing to get married at the Indian Consulate under the Special Marriages Act, forget it! No chance unless your parents are happy with the “arrangement”.

Oh, and just to add, there is absolutely nothing we (the non resident Indian community) can do about it.

Where is the Hindu Makkal Katchi now?

2008-06-29T02:22:00.000-07:00

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Where is the Hindu Makkal Katchi now?

I saw this bookmark at Landmark and a lot of thoughts came into my mind. The ones I can put down here, I am:

Is the HMK’s ire reserved for western wear only?

Do they target only women?

Do they have a problem only with leg show? Does a sari worn 6 inches below the navel & a shoulderless blouse not irk them at all?

Are they silent because Uncle Pai is the epitome of South Indian Brahmanical “Hinduism”? If they target him, they could end up alienating a load of their own supporters?

Or is it simply because they don’t walk into Landmark? Because they don’t read? At least not in the language that would get them jobs that wold keep them busy!

Any answers?

Secularism amidst Religion

2008-06-29T02:14:00.000-07:00

With the kind of religious sentiments I see echoed in some of the blogs here, I thought it would be appropriated to talk about one of the finest gestures by a religious institution. A church here in Chennai has invited a Muslim scholar to deliver a speech on “Islam in the modern age” which deserves applause for its sheer boldnesss.
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“Talk” about being really secular. In a broad minded gesture, a church in Chennai invited a Muslim to deliver a talk on Islam on Friday.
A. Faizur Rahman, who is a student of comparative literature and an executive member of Harmony India, was invited by St. Louis Church, Adyar, to talk on “Islam in the modern age.”
Mr. Rahman, who says he has written a number of articles on Islam and Muslims, was particularly proud of his latest assignment. “It is quite broad-minded of a church to invite a Muslim for a lecture on Islam. I am glad to give the liberal view on Islam and the Quran,” he gushed.
The lecture, which went on for an hour and a half was followed by a rather intense question-answer session, according to Edward Aloysius, one of the parishioners of St. Louis Church. He adds that a group of senior citizens who are parishioners of the church banded together as the Wise Folks Forum struck upon the idea of inviting people from other religions to speak about the key features of their own faiths.
The first topic was Islam and other religions will soon follow, he added.
- The Hindu 21/06/2008

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Let’s face it, today there are sections within every religion who preach religious fanaticism. They not only appraise their own religions( there isn’t much wrong in this) but also denounce other faiths. So it has all added up to create an atmosphere of mistrust amongst people of various faiths. The kind of mistrust that we are actually witnessing all over the country here. Hence this is exactly the kind of thing which would go towards eliminating it. Just imagine a Muslim scholar speaking about Islam and the Kuran to an entirely Christian audience. It would go a long way to removing the misbeliefs that plague the society of today.
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And this is not just an one-off but part of a series of guest lectures where the church has planned to invite scholars from other religions to talk about them and have a frank discussion with them. Ofcourse the entire outcome of the whole process depends on the kind of people handling the issues, but with a good rational dialogue it can only promote religious harmony. I would welcome if things like these were to be encouraged rather than denounced for religious sacrilege which it clearly is not. Yes there might be points argued and questions raised but there can be no better platform to resolve these issues than this kind of interaction. Air your comments on this. Would such a thing really work out in practice? Or am I just being too optimistic?

It’s time to stand up and stand tall

2008-06-29T01:52:00.000-07:00

Some time back I participated in a Group Discussion in a Business School based in Bangalore, to talk about one of the Blogging initiatives. Before the GD started, I was chit chatting with the other members and casually mentioned the word alternate to sexuality. One immediately shook her head in serious negation conveying me that I shouldn’t talk about it on the GD. And I didn’t because the context never came.
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Nonetheless, I could never stop frowning upon the shallowness of the matter. ‘Normal’ people under ‘normal’ circumstances cannot talk about Sex, more particularly if it is not heterosexuality. It’s a sad state of affairs but there is little we can do.
That is unless the society gets to see an upsurge of people calling themselves gay / lesbian / transgendered / transexual or simply put NOT heterosexual. Only if the number of people calling themselves queer is large enough and the faces known enough will the society realize it is not something so unnatural after all. And this responsibility lies with the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) people themselves to come out of their closet and be confident of their sexuality. It’s time to stand up and stand tall.

I see no reason why, an educated person in a free society, who is independent financially and otherwise and is aware of his/her rights, should shy away or feel guilty of his sexuality. Trust me I have come across such young people who are scared to come out. I think enough have been said and written about LGBT rights already and its high time they start asserting their rights themselves. You can’t seek respect from others unless you respect yourself and resepecting yourself would mean being comfortable with your sexuality.
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In this context is worth mentionable the name Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil from who young queer people in India should gain courage and confidence. Prince Manavendra has set an excellent example by coming out with his homosexuality. Being part of the Royal family in Gujarat one can guess how difficult it must have been for him to come out. Although he initially tried to hide it for many years, he even got married like many Indian gay men do, today he admits he made a terrible mistake. Things have not been easy for him, he was disowned by his parents and the royal name in 2006 when he came out, but now he is reunited with them and is loved and respected by all. Taking lessons from his own life he is now engaged in a lot of social activity for the sexual minorities.
Prince Manavendra is also going to make the nation proud by being one of the three opening speakers at the forthcoming EuroPride 2008 in Stockholm.

Jonah Nylund, President of Stockholm Pride said, “We have chosen Manvendra Singh Gohil because he can give EuroPride visitors an image of the situation for LGBT people in other parts of the world”
Source:Pink News
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Responsibility also lies with the mainstream media today to provide more respectable visibility to queer people. Such achievement such as that of Prince Manavendra must be reported as a national achievement thus giving confidence to the queer citizen of the country.
Last time another such person made queer activists in India proud was Zoltan Parag by participating in the Mr. Gay International contest. This news should have got enough coverage in the mainstream media but they are politically too weak to call a spade a spade. That said, I find it surprising that Zoltan is concerned that the media has exposed him too much.
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“Indian media has exposed me so much that now when I call my friends back home, their parents do not let them talk to me.” Said Zoltan.
Source: Hindustan Times
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My question, why should he be bothered about how is he looked upon by the heteronormative parents of his friends? No one said it is going to be easy, but you’d have to face it and fight it now instead of being scared.
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Its a popular rumour in Bollywood that Mr. Karan Johar is gay. His films also happen to have, very nicely, placed gay people into the mainstream without ridiculing them. Now if he himself is indeed a gay I think he should just come out with it. I personally have a lot of respect for him and I really hope he is honest about his sexuality.

The taboos, illusions and ridicule about homosexuality would only end when famous and popular faces would declare themselves as queers. There still has been some progress with Gay men, but there isn’t a single Lesbian celebrity in the country. Rumour has it that Rekha is a lesbian, if she is she should assert it.
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Tehelka here has put in a list of cases where doctors try to cure homosexuality by shock therapy. Such disgusting ideas has to come to an end and it would only happen when more queer people would speak and more voices would be heard.

Some people are also scared to come out because of a common fear in India about homosexuality being illegal. As unconstitutional and unjust this law is, one still needs to understand homosexuality perse is NOT illegal according to this law. An act of ‘carnal intercourse against order of nature’ is illegal. By this definition anal intercourse even between heterosexual man and a woman would be illegal, however the police of the country has ever since its inception only harassed gay couples, male sex workers using this law. But a fear shouldn’t come in the way of asserting human rights.
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To sum up my point, I’d quote what senior lawyer Anand Grover, of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS unit, said while addressing an issue of unsuspecting gay men / tourist being mugged and blackmailed by showing them the fear of an arrest u/s 377 of IPC:
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“Blackmailers succeed simply because these gay men are too closeted to fight back. It’s this desire for secrecy and fear of being ousted that leaves gays open to grave security risks. The answer is to be more open as you can’t be arrested on the basis of your sexual orientation. Beyond that, there’s little refuge in law unless Section 377 is amended.”

Through a Rapist's Eyes (No Joke)

2008-06-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is important information for females of ALL ages .

Guys - please forward to the female members of your family and all your female friends and associates. When this was sent to me, I was told to forward to my lady friends. My men friends have female friends and this information is too important to miss someone. Please pass it along.

A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts :

1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed . They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.
2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who's clothing is easy to remove quickly . Many of them carry scissors around specifically to cut clothing.
3) They also look for women on their cell phone , searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered.
4) Men are most likely to attack & rape in the early morning, between 5: 00a.m. and 8:30a.m.
5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked is grocery store parking lots. Number two is office parking lots/garages . Number three is public restrooms.
6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to another location where they don't have to worry about getting caught.
7) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.
8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming.
9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas , or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands.Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it.
10) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question , like what time is it, or make general small talk: "I can't believe it is so cold out here", "we're in for a bad winter." Now you've seen their face and could identify them in a line-up; you lose appeal as a target. [Spencer, Leanne Lentz]
11) If someone is coming toward you , hold out your hands in front of you and yell STOP or STAY BACK ! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back . Again, they are looking for an EASY target.
12) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes,) ! yell I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.
13) If someone grabs you , you can't beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them . If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm (between the elbow and armpit) OR in the upper inner thigh VERY VERY HARD . One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands - the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it hurts.
14) After the initial hit, always GO for the GROIN . I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's parts it is extremely painful. You might think that you'll anger the guy and! make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble, and he's out of there.
15) When the guy puts his hands up to you , grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible . The instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.
16) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don't dismiss it, go with your instincts!!! It may feel a little silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.

PLEASE READ THEN TELL THIS TO EVERY WOMAN YOU KNOW, IT'S SIMPLE STUFF BUT IT COULD SAVE HER LIFE...

Section 49-O of Indian Constitution:

2008-06-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

Section 49-O of the Constitution:

Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone!

Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O".

Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way, of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public....

Please spread this news to as many as you know... Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power,expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote
(vote 49-O) and pass this info on...

"Please inform about this post to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India, can really use this power to save our nation". Use your voting right for a better INDIA.

Corruption- The list goes on...

2008-06-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

Corruption Perceptions Index:
The annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), first released in 1995, is the best known of Transperancy International’s tools. It has been widely credited with putting TI and the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda. The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
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Global Corruption Barometer:
The Global Corruption Barometer is a survey that assesses general public attitudes toward and experience of corruption in dozens of countries around the world.
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TI Bribe Payers Index:
The TI Bribe Payers Surveys evaluate the supply side of corruption - the propensity of firms from industrialised countries to bribe abroad.
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Bribe Payers Index 2006:
Foreign bribery by emerging export powers "disconcertingly high"
Overseas bribery by companies from the world’s export giants is still common, despite the existence of international anti-bribery laws criminalising this practice, according to the Transparency International 2006 Bribe Payers Index (BPI), the most comprehensive survey of its kind to date.

The Time that nothing happened.....

2008-06-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Did you know that nothing happened between 3 and 13 September 1752?

In September 1752 the Julian calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar in Great Britain and its American colonies. The Julian calendar was 11 days behind the Gregorian calendar, so 14 September got to follow 2 September on the day of the change. The result was that between 3 and 13 September, absolutely nothing happened!
The calendar switch also influenced the way George Washington's birthday is celebrated. He was born on 11 February 1731, but the anniversary of his birth is on 22 February because of the 11 days eliminated from the calendar switch. At the same time, New Year's Day was changed from 25 March to 1 January, thus according to the new calendar, Washington was born in 1732.
The first Roman Calendar (introduced in 535BC) had 10 months, with 304 days in a year that began in March. January and February were added only later. In 46BC, Julius Caesar created "The Year of Confusion" by adding 80 days to the year making it 445 days long to bring the calendar back in step with the seasons. The solar year - with the value of 365 days and 6 hours - was made the basis of the calendar. To take care of the 6 hours, every 4th year was made a 366-day year. It was then that Caesar decreed that the year begins with the 1st of January.
In 325AD Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, introduced Sunday as a holy day in a new 7-day week. He also introduced movable (Easter) and immovable feasts (Christmas).
In 1545 the Council of Trent authorised Pope Paul III to reform the calendar once more. Advised by astronomer Father Christopher Clavius and physician Aloysius Lilius, Pope Gregory XIII ordered that Thursday, 4 October 1582 was to be the last day of the Julian calendar. The next day was Friday, 15 October. For long-term accuracy, every 4th year was made a leap year unless it is a century year like 1700 or 1800. Century years can be leap years only when they are divisible by 400 (e.g. 1600). This rule eliminates three leap years in four centuries, making the calendar sufficiently correct for all ordinary purposes.
Protestant rulers ignored the new calendar that the Pope ordered. It was not until 1698 that Germany and the Netherlands changed to the Gregorian calendar. As mentioned, Britain made the change only in 1752. Russia adopted the new calendar in 1918, China in 1949.
In spite of the leap year, the Gregorian year is about 26 seconds longer than the earth's orbital period. Thus the beginning of the third millennium should have been celebrated at 9:01pm on 31 December 1999. But considering that the Gregorian calendar starts with Year 1, and not Year 0, adding 2000 years means that the third millennium started at 21h00:34s on 31 December 2000. However, because Dionysis Exeguus - the 6th Century monk whose task it was to pivot the calendar around the birth of Jesus Christ - miscalculated the founding of Rome by about 4 years (and left out the year 0), the TRUE THIRD MILLENNIUM actually started on 31 December 1995.

Guide for Stock Trading in India NSE & BSE (NIFTY & SENSEX Trading Guidance)

2008-06-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

Guidance for Trading in Shares:
Simple guidelines for making money in share market. Following article will help you to trade successfully in Indian Stock markets..

Manage your Emotions:
Trading in Stock markets involves huge risk. Remember that it can even wash out your capital. Never try to take the risk which you are not comfortable with. As a stock trader, emotion is always your enemy. Emotions can drive your thinking and it may deviate from wise decisions. Variable emotions during trading is one of the prime reason for most traders to fail in stock trading. In order to be a successful trader, you have to control your emotions. For this, it is always best to reduce the risking money and limit it to your comfortable levels. If you are getting sleepless nights for losing Rs.1000 on a trade, then it is advisable not to take the risk of more than Rs.1000. If a loss of upto Rs.500 is bearable to you, then risk up to Rs.500 only. In this way emotions will not drive your thinking and wise decisions can be taken to have profitable trades everyday.

Stop Loss 'MUST' in Stock Trading:
Losses in Trading always start with small amounts. You can always control the magnitude of your losses in stock trading. If you are ignorant to put your stop losses in a trade then it can wipe out all your gains which may be equivalent to multiple winning trades. In order to have success, do not take big losses, always use your stop loss to control it. After you start a trade, enter a stop loss and maintain it.

Always Remember - Its Your Money:
When ever you are trading, keep in mind that its your hard earned money that you are risking. No body wants your money to grow, its only your interest to grow your money. Trading is a platform where you should not depend on others ideas to make money. You have to manage and control the trading. Decisions should be always yours get the skills from others to make wise & profitable decisions.

Avoid Predictions in Stock Market:
The stock markets will not care about what happened in the past. If you find information available publicly to make commercial decisions, then you are using old information. The stock exchange market moves on what it hopes to occur in the future, and not on what already occurred. Use what precisely proved in the past to provide indication for that can occur in the future, but do not make decisions on the information which is largely known.

Always follow wise Investors:
In each stock, there is a small group of investors who know more than general public. They have an advantage, because they can better envisage than a company will make in the future. To be successful, we must find out of what the investors with best information do, and then we follow the same.

Trust the Market directions:
Information is eccentric - the financial sector wants you to buy stocks. Brokings which finance the companies, the bulletins which are paid to announce stories of company, the promoters which are paid to support stocks, the media which sell publicity on a high market and naturally, companies themselves get advantage when the stock prices move high. More purchasers, the prices go higher. Do not trust anybody by making decisions of investment, because each one can have a target. Only the market cannot be (although it can seem pretty stupid sometimes), therefore, always trust what the market indicates you.

Learn How Stock Market Moves:
To make money in the market you have to work really hard to learn how the market moves. You must work hard to control your emotions. You must work hard to learn discipline. However most money in a market is made, which it trends, where there are lots of opportunities and it seem simple to make money. If the market does not trend, it is harder to find opportunities.

Share Market Made Simpler

2008-06-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

What is a Share?
A very simple question for those who are already into shares. But, for those who are new to Shares, the following text will help you to understand.

Difference between Share and Stock:
The term of share and stock means the same thing, of this stock is a common usage in America for shares. In India we term this as shares.

What is a Share Certificate?
Share is the proof of ownership in a company. The physical proof of this ownership is a record called a share certificate. Today, shares are kept in electronic format or it is also termed as dematerialized format. You can still hold a share in a paper format, if you want.
This document is a proof of your share in the company. Your ownership in the company is in proportion to the number of shares you hold. In short, you are buying a partial ownership of the company.

A Simple Example :
Suppose a company issues 100 shares. Out of 100 issued shares, you are buying 10 shares of the company. Now you own 10 percentage of the company.

What is Face Value (par Value) of Share?
All companies issue shares with a fixed denomination called the face value (or par value) of the share. This face value be indicated on the share certificate. Generally Indian shares has a face value of Rs. 10/-.

Difference between Face Value and Market value:
A face value has no relation with the market value of the share. Market value of the share will always change depending upon the market conditions. But the face value is a fixed value of the share as per the books of the company.

Split the face value of the share:
A Face value or par value of the company share always remains the same, irrespective of the market price of that share. Companies have to right to split the face value of the share to Rs. 5, 2 or 1 to bring more volatility to the share.

Risk of Investment in Shares:
Make money with Share Trading:
As everyone know, every money making avenues has its own risks involved like in investments. The knack of investing is by knowing which risks are worth taking, and which should be avoided.

Understanding and analyzing:
Understanding and analyzing the risks to take is the soul of good investing and the becomes your basis of getting good returns from your investments. This cannot be done without thorough research and analysis.

Share Trading is not Gambling:
Take the right decision by yourself. Do not let other factors bother you from your investment policies. Investing without adequate research is like gambling. By gambling on your investments you are not protecting your investments and may incur heavy losses.

How to become successful in Share Trading?
To be a successful investor by trading in shares there are definite steps to take. Following texts can help you to succeed in stock markets..

Look for company financial data
Before investing in company shares on the stock market, you should be aware that all publicly traded companies must provide access to investors with company financial data. The data is generally available from the company so if you are considering buying shares from a company, then get access to this financial information and make happy yourself that the company is in a good financial state before owning the shares of the company with your money.
Key aspects to Look in a Company’s Financial information
While researching the details of a company, then take a look at its financial position of atleast two to three years into the past. There is no need to go back further than this but if you go back less, there may be significant trends in the finances that you will fail to spot. Take exceptional note of the quarterly statements and the revenue and earnings per share of the company.
Figures tell the Story of a Company
Try to identify trends in the figures. While there is no guarantee of what might happen In the future of the figures, it is unquestionable that an upward trend in revenue and profits will be a positive sign to look out for. In simple words, a company having steady growth for past 2 to 3 years should have a positive growth in the future, until or unless some major changes occur.
After you are satisfied with the financials of the company and that the projection of making good profits into the future are favourable you will be in a situation to consider putting money into the share.
What Kind of Shares will give more returns? (Growth or Dividend)
It is an continuing debate over whether it's preferable to buy shares that will grow in value, or shares that pay good dividends. The answer to this question should always lie with the individual investor. It is always suggested to avoid chasing dividends. We refer to the practice of certain investors of buying a share just before a dividend is expected to be announced. Please note that the price of the share will already have taken the dividend into account so you will be paying for it in any case.

Bank Interest Rates Vs Inflation

2008-06-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

Relation between Inflation and Bank interest Rates:
Now a days, you might have heard lot of these terms and usage on inflation and the bank interest rates. We are trying to make it simple for you to understand the relation between inflation and bank interest rates in India.
Bank interest rate depends on many other factors, out of that the major one is inflation. Whenever you see an increase on inflation, there will be an increase of interest rate also.

What is Inflation?
Inflation is defined as an increase in the price of bunch of Goods and services that projects the Indian economy. An increase in inflation figures occurs when there is an increase in the average level of prices in Goods and services. Inflation happens when there are less Goods and more buyers, this will result in increase in the price of Goods, since there is more demand and less supply of the goods.

Inflation causes increase of Interest
Inflation can be recognized as a combination of 4 factors :

The Supply of money goes up
The Supply of Goods goes down
Demand for money goes down
Demand for goods goes up

Our Indian government gets involved in it to control the inflation by adjusting the level of money in our economical system. The most noticeable way to increase the money flow in the system is to print more currency, then the rupees will become more relative to goods.

Inflation and Global Liquidity
Factors like rates of import and export, the production cost of farms, value of dollar, price of oil (crude oil), market movements of other overseas markets cause global liquidity. In India, we can also feel the effects of global liquidity. We are not isolated from all these issues now. Due to the remarkable economic growth of India over the recent years, increase in foreign currency inflow caused the demand in multiples for many Merchandise and services in India. RBI (Reserve Bank of India) needs to control this excess liquidity in our economic system. For this, RBI increases the “Repo rates” which makes “Costly Credits” and thus increases the CRR rate (Cash Reserve Ratio). This kind of measures by RBI can only control the inflation to a certain extent only.

Globalisation
Due to Globalisation, no country are independent from Global Liquidities. This causes an important factor for the inflation in a country. A political crunch or economical downturn in a far away country can impact our money value in India

What is a CRR rate?
Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with RBI. If RBI decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks comes down. RBI is using this method (increase of CRR rate), to drain out the excessive money from the banks.

What is a Bank Rate?
Bank rate is the rate at which RBI gives to the commercial banks. Whenever RBI increases its rates, the effect will be shown on the commercial banks. In this case, the commercial banks have to increase the interest rates for their profits.

What is a Repo Rate?
Whenever the banks have any shortage of funds they can borrow it from RBI. Repo rate is the rate at which our banks borrow rupees from RBI. A reduction in the repo rate will help banks to get money at a cheaper rate. When the repo rate increases borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive.

What is a Reverse Repo Rate?
Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which Reserve Bank of India (RBI) borrows money from banks. Banks are always happy to lend money to RBI since their money are in safe hands with a good interest. An increase in Reverse repo rate can cause the banks to transfer more funds to RBI due to this attractive interest rates. It can cause the money to be drawn out of the banking system. Due to this fine tuning of RBI using its tools of CRR, Bank Rate, Repo Rate and Reverse Repo rate our banks adjust their lending or investment rates for common man.

BUY INDIAN TO BE INDIAN

2008-06-25T18:59:00.001-07:00

Be INDIAN
Buy INDIAN

U CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO THE INDIAN ECONOMY BY FOLLOWING FEW SIMPLE STEPS.

Hi
Gr88 Indians

Please spare a couple of minutes here........for the sake of our country.

I got this article from one of my friend, but it's true, I can see this from day to day life,

Small example,

Before 5 months 1 CAN $ = IND Rs 32

After 5 months. Now it is 1 CAN $ = IND Rs 37

I don't think so, Canadian Economy is booming, but Indian Economy is Going Down . Our Economy is in our hands. Do u know this, INDIAN economy is in a crisis - As you are all aware ! INDIA like many other ASIAN countries, INDIA is undergoing a severe economic crunch. Many INDIAN industries are closing down. The INDIAN economy is in a crisis and if we do not take proper steps to control those, we will be in a critical situation. More than 30000 crore rupees of foreign exchange are being siphoned out of our country on products such as cosmetics, snacks, tea, beverages...etc which are grown, produced and consumed here.

A cold drink that costs only 70/80 paise to produce is sold for NINE rupees , and a major chunk of profits from these are sent abroad. This is a serious drain on INDIAN economy.

Did you know that " COCA COLA " and " SPRITE " belong to the same multinational company, " COCA COLA " ?

On one hand coke advertisements say that ' JO CHAHO HOJAYE, COCACOLA ENJOY' (i.e . whatever the hell, let it happen, you drink coke) ; and on the other hand,

Sprite says that 'BHUJAO ONLY PYAS, BAKI ALL BAKWAS'(i.e. drinks can just quench thirst all other claims are false). What can you do? You can consider some of the better alternatives to aerated drinks. For that matter PEPSI is also the same.

You can drink LEMON JUICE, FRESH FRUIT JUICES, CHILLED LASSI (SWEET OR SOUR), BUTTER MILK, COCONUT WATER, JALJEERA, ENERJEE, MASALA MILK..........Everyone deserves a healthy drink, including you!Over and above all this, economic sanctions have been imposed on us. We have nothing against Multinational companies, but to protect our own interests we request everybody to useINDIAN products only for next two years. With
the rise in petrol prices, if we do not do this, the rupee will devalue further and we will end up paying much more for the same products in the near future.

What you can do about it?

1. Buy only products manufactured by WHOLLY INDIAN COMPANIES.

2. ENROLL as many people as possible for this cause.

Each individual should become a leader for this awareness. This is the only way to save our country from severe economic crisis. You don't need to give-up your lifestyle. You just need to choose an alternate product. All categories of products are available from WHOLLY INDIAN COMPANIES.

Do you know that the cotton is produced in the INDIAN villages, threads are produced in the INDIAN towns, dresses are stitched in INDIAN cities and clothes are purchased by INDIAN customers? But it is BRANDED as MANUFACTURED BY A MULTINATIONAL COMPANY for which we LOSE PRECIOUS FOREIGN EXCHANGE.THE POINT TO NOTE: THE MONEY IS GOING TO SOME DEVELOPED COUNTRIES . It is TRUE.PLEASE go to the remote areas of cities AND SEE FOR YOURSELF THE TRUTH . Thousands of poor innocent INDIANS are working as tailors for stitching the WORLD'S POPULAR READYMADE CLOTHES.
BUT THEY ARE PAID A POOR AMOUNT.

THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE OF OUR IGNORANCE. INDIA IS ONE OF THE MAJOR TEXTILE EXPORTER IN THE WORLD OUR TAILORS ARE FAMOUS EVEN IN COUNTRIES LIKE US AND THEN WHY SHOULD WE BLINDLY GIVE IN TO THE ATTRACTION OF FOREIGN BRANDS?

PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT.

Every INDIAN product you buy makes a big difference. It saves INDIA.

Let us take a firm decision today.

BUY INDIAN TO BE INDIAN

We are not against of foreign products.

WE ARE NOT ANTI-MULTINATIONALS. WE ARE TRYING TO SAVE OUR NATION.

EVERY DAY IS A STRUGGLE FOR A REAL FREEDOM. WE ACHIEVED OUR INDEPENDENCE AFTER LOSING MANY LIVES. THEY DIED PAINFULLY TO ENSURE THAT WE LIVE PEACEFULLY.

THE CURRENT TREND IS VERY THREATENING.MULTINATIONALS CALL IT GLOBALISATION OF INDIAN ECONOMY. FOR INDIANS LIKE YOU AND ME IT IS RECOLONISATION OF INDIA .THE COLONIST'S LEFT INDIA THEN. BUT THIS TIME THEY WILL MAKE SURE THEY DON'T MAKE ANY MISTAKES. WHO WOULD LIKE TO LET "A GOOSE THAT LAYS GOLDEN EGGS"

Why go Rural?!!

2008-06-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

"It is not the rural markets, but we who are sleeping" – Adi Godrej

Introduction

Marketing today has completely transformed the nature and dynamics of business.
Marketing of products has taken precedence over the process of production itself. This can be attributed to the fact that the new age consumer equipped with the potent tool of information seeks more knowledge about the product, its features and its uses. And when this information is presented in a creative and effective manner, it creates an everlasting impression on the consumer’s mind and may even alter his perception of what he needs.
Marketers are forever seeking fresh challenges and scouting for more and more clientele to be drawn into their sphere of influence. The urban consumer has always been pampered with the most dazzling array of goods and services from every industry. But the urban market is fast shrinking due to saturation caused by the competition and the growth rate over the past few years has consistently shown a declining trend. In the hunt for fresh pastures, the vast and hitherto vastly unexplored terrains of rural India consistently beckon the moolah seeking marketer.

Why go Rural?

There are various reasons why every industry is taking a very serious look at rural markets
•About 285 million live in urban India whereas 742 million reside in rural areas, constituting
72% of India’s population resides in its 6, 00,000 villages.
• The number of middle income and high income households in rural India is expected to grow from 80 million to 111 million by 2007 while urban India is expected to grow from 46 million to 59 million.
• Size of rural market is estimated to be 42 million households and rural market has been growing at five times the pace of the urban market
• More government rural development initiatives.
• Increasing agricultural productivity leading to growth of rural disposable income.
• Lowering of difference between taste of urban and rural customers.
Many companies like Colgate-Palmolive, HLL, Godrej etc have already made forays into rural households but still capturing the markets is a distant dream. Most marketers still lack in depth knowledge to analyze the complex rural market.

Characteristics of Rural markets

There are certain characteristics of rural India, which every prospective marketer needs to be aware of before unleashing his product:
• Low income influenced by seasonal fluctuations
• Low literacy
• Diverse customs, languages and social structures
• Resistant to change
• Price sensitive
• High brand loyalty
• Influenced by traditions
• Moderate aspirational levels
• Quality Conscious
• Low to moderate risk taking ability

These typical characteristics of the rural market make it evident that there are huge challenges, which a marketer will face. These challenges need to be tackled using appropriate strategies and proper planning. The major obstacles can be classified as follows:

• Poor infrastructure facilities, which hamper the effective distribution of products and make the task of reaching the target consumer difficult.
• Traditional media is ineffective due to illiteracy and non availability.
• There is insufficient past research to provide some insight about consumer behaviour.
• Disposable income is highly dependent on good monsoons and a rich harvest.
• Varying linguistic and socio-cultural norms compel the marketer to vary his marketing message for different parts of the same country.
• Role of women in buying process is still not independent of family constraints.
• Inadequate credit availability hampers the ability of rural retailers to carry stocks.
Understanding the psyche of the rural consumer and gauging the complexity of the rural market has to be given utmost priority by marketer. Creative marketing solutions need to be devised to combat these barriers.

Methods followed traditionally

Traditional methods of rural marketing make an interesting study and they ought to be analyzed carefully to draw relevant conclusions. Conventionally marketers have used the following tools to make rural inroads:
• Use of few select rural distributors and retailers to stock their goods but no direct interaction with prospective consumer.
• Use of print media or radio but no alternate form of advertising for promoting their brands
• More focus on price of product but less attention devoted to quality or durability
• Same product features for urban and rural setting with no customization for rural areas despite differences in the market environment.
• Low frequency of marketing campaigns.
• Little uses of village congregations like haats and melas to sell the products.
• More focus on men as decision makers and buyers.

Marketing in focus groups

To explain how the dynamics of branding works in different settings, let us take example of four villages from various parts of the country. For our purpose we will refer to these villages as our focus groups. We have taken a village each from Punjab, Bihar, Kerala and West Bengal. As we have stressed earlier, for any product to be successful in the rural parts of the country, a customized approach is necessary. So we will start our analysis by describing the features of each village, define a product that we wish to market in that village and then describe the marketing strategy for that product.

For a village in Punjab

There are various factors that need to be kept in mind so as to influence the buying behaviour of the people of this village. Punjab has a rich culture and Punjabis are per se very lively people. They believe in strong community relationships. Caste system is not very strong and overall farmers are prosperous. Land is fertile and there is abundant food and water. Literacy rates are almost equivalent to the country’s rate and people are highly aware of the current trends and like to own goods that enhance their status in the community. People are fond of eating and frequent celebrations are part of their lives.

To understand how marketers need to approach this market, we have chosen an electronic grill as the product. Traditionally a clay tandoor is used to cook chapattis, non-vegetarian items etc in this region. We are offering electronic grill as a substitute to this. Characteristics that a marketer needs to highlight in this product are:
° Modern way of cooking
° A premium product, uses some imported technology
° Control panel in Punjabi language
° Smart looks, international styling
° Faster cooking, heat controls and offers variety in terms of dishes that can be cooked
° Payment in easy installments
° Convenient to handle and portable
° Available in different sizes viz. 22 liters, 19 liters, 16 liters
In addition to using these promotional parameters, it has to be kept in mind that disposable income is maximized during harvesting season so it’s the perfect time to launch this product. Television and radio can be used to effectively promote the product. In addition to this, demonstrations can be used to carry home the message.
As women are highly regarded in this region, so they can be roped in to educate the local women about the benefits of using this product instead of traditional tandoor.
Also another way to promote this product can be to position it as a gift item during marriages etc.

For a village in Bihar

Factors that need to be analyzed while entering this market are low level of literacy, division of society based on economic background and caste system. There is no dearth of water in this region and soil is also fertile. But there is lack of infrastructure and modern industries. Rainfall levels are high. The law and order situation has worsened in the recent past and the frequency of extremist violence has risen. The people of Bihar are very religious and God-fearing. For recreational purposes, they engage in folk theatre and enjoy music and dance.

To understand how marketers need to approach this market, we have chosen multipurpose oil as the product. Characteristics that a marketer needs to highlight in this product are:
° Non- sticky quality of the oil
° contains herbal qualities
° Can be used for many purposes like hair massage, body massage and for relieving stress
° Special characteristics like cooling attributes
° Available in variety of fragrances
As the income level in this part of the country is very low, so small and convenient packaging is very important. Moreover to help them to relate to this product, impression of their local Madhubani painting can be used on sachets or bottles. Also the product name has to be traditional to which villagers can relate to for example madhusudan or sanjivini. For promoting the product, some movie star should be used as villagers aspire to be like them and thus emulate them.

For a village in Kerala

Kerala can perhaps be one of the easiest places for the marketer to sell their product, as it is very similar to the urban markets. This can be attributed to the high level of education coupled with a rich socio cultural heritage. Various recreational activities are largely promoted by number of clubs like sports clubs, youth clubs etc. Kerala has high sex ratio and is most literate of all the states in India. Administration is very efficient and there is high level of awareness among people. There is high regard for women in the society. Certain parts of Kerala are industrially backward and tourism, rubber, Beedi manufacturing etc form the major source of income for the people. One of the most important characteristics of these villages is the presence of large number of co-operative societies.

To understand how marketers need to approach this market, we have chosen a mouthwash as the product. Characteristics that a marketer needs to highlight in this product are:
° Usefulness of dental hygiene
° Anti plaque properties
° Promises fresh breath

Any media i.e. television, radio or print media can be used to promote the product.
Again, as the income levels are moderate so small or medium packs have to be introduced. Most important point that has to be taken care of is that co-operatives have to be roped in for effective distribution of the product. These co-operatives are very well aware of the buying habits of the people and the trends of the market. So they can provide large amount of useful information. Some kind of incentive or profit sharing model has to be devised so that co-operatives have the reason to push this product.

For a village in West Bengal

A typical village of West Bengal has characteristics like low amount of agriculture, coastal areas with fishing being the major source of income for the locals, generally people are poor and land holdings are very small, literacy rates are very low. Staple diet is rice and fish. People are very proud of their language and culture.
We have chosen dairy whitener as the product to demonstrate the approach that a marketer needs to take to make inroads in this type of market. The main brand promise that is offered to the consumer is low pricing and economy of the product.
Cost of milk in a cup of tea is around Re 1. But a 50 gm sachet, which is priced at nearly Rs 6.50, can be used to make nearly 25 cups of tea. So cost of milk used comes down drastically to nearly 26 paise per cup. Moreover sachet offers convenience of use and can be used anywhere. As there is high degree of humidity in that region and people cannot afford refrigerators, so this product helps to eliminate the problem of proper storage.

Analysis & Opportunities

As it is clear from the examples taken, for the product to be successful in rural market, it has to be customized for that particular market. Each product needs individual attention and success in one market cannot be emulated in other markets.
Most important factors that work for a product are right brand promise that is relevant for the local population and discreet brand visualization. Brand visualization would include factors like name of the product in local language, color combination according to local settings and a tag line, which delivers the message that is easily understood by the people. Companies need to identify the opinion leader in each area and target him as the first point of contact for villagers. One potential area that companies need to tap is advertising the local events like bullock races, melas or festivals. Another way is to advertise in places where people commune like hand pumps, ponds or haats.

Innovative uses of products

Time and again it has been proved that whatever may be the level of research involved in the market study, rural consumers behave in the manner that is totally unpredictable. They devise such innovative uses of a product that even surprises the companies. Some of the following examples will support this are:

° In a village of northern India, weavers used condoms to cover their fingers while weaving. This not only helped to avoid cuts on the fingers but also the lubricant helped in easy movement of the thread between the fingers.
° Godrej hair dyes are used in some villages to dye the buffaloes. This made them look younger and thus fetched better price at the cattle fairs.
° Horlicks was added to the feed of the cattle to fatten them and thus improve the milk producing capacity.
° Asian paints found that in some villages’ paints were used to color the horns of the cattle for easy recognition.
° In the villages of Bihar, Iodex was used on the tired limbs of the cattle, returning from the fields in the evening so that they are fresh the next day.

All these examples show the there is tremendous potential for the existing products in the rural areas, and companies need to look beyond the obvious and critically analyse every indication that rural markets give, be it poor sales or high sales volumes.

Future Outlook

Considering the magnitude of the task at hand with the companies, it makes sense for non-competitive companies like HLL and LG to make a joint effort to penetrate the market. They can use each other’s distribution channels to leverage their brands. Also considering the poor awareness levels of the people, competitors like HLL and P&G should join hands to avoid the product proliferation, which results in confusing the consumer. Rural consumers have a very high level of ethos so all the care should be taken not to hurt them in any form of advertising. Moreover every effort should be made by the companies to promote the “my brand” feel in the minds of consumers.
This can be achieved by connecting the local industries of that place and if possible, use it in packaging or graphics of the product. So the need of the hour is the integration of all the above stated approaches and constantly reinventing the products and bringing new innovations. Companies will need to think beyond the short term gains and resort to experimentation so as to develop a dedicated model for these areas. This will ensure rich rewards and long term association with rural consumers.

Song of YOUTH- by APL ABDUL KALAM

2008-06-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

As a young citizen of India, armed with technology, knowledge and love for my nation, I realize, small aim is crime. The vision of transforming India into a developed nation, powered by value system I am one of the citizens of a billion, only the vision will ignite the billion souls. It has entered into me, the ignited soul compared to any resource, is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth and under the earth. I will keep the lamp of knowledge burning to achieve the vision – Developed India.

-A P J Abdul Kalam
Hon. President, India

India in the year 2020

2008-06-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

India in the Year : 2020 Conversation Place :

Two Americans at IBM, USA. Conversation Date : 15th August 2020. Currency Conversion Rate: Rs.1 = US$100/

Alex : Hi John, you didn't come yesterday to office?

John : Yeah, I was in Indian Embassy for stamping.

Alex: Oh really, what happened, I heard that nowadays it has becomevery strict.

John : Yeah, but I managed to get it.

Alex : How long it took to get it stamped?

John : Oh, it was nasty man, long queue. Bill Gates was standing infront of me and they played with him like anything. That's why it gotdelayed. I went there at 2 am itself and waited and returned by 4 pm.

Alex : Really? In India, it is a matter of an hour to get stamped for USA.

John : Yeah, but that is because who in India will be interested incoming to USA man, their economy has been booming.

Alex : So, when are you leaving?

John : Anytime, after receiving my tickets from the client in Indiaand you know, I will be getting a chance to fly Air-India. Sort of dream come true.

Alex : How long are you going to stay in India?

John : What do you mean by how long? I will be settled in India, my company has promised me that they will process my Hara Patta.

Alex : Really, lucky person man, it is very difficult to get a HaraPatta in India.

John : Yeah, that's why, I am planning to marry an Indian girl there.

Alex : But you can find lots of US girls in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

John : But, I prefer Indian girls because they are beautiful and cultured.

Alex : Where did you get the offer, Bangalore?

John : Yeah, salary is good there, but cost of living is quite high,it is Rs. 1000/- for a single room accommodation.

Alex : I see, that's too much for US people,Rs.1/- = $ 100/-. Oh God!What about in Chennai, Mumbai?

John : No idea, but it is less than what we have in Bangalore. It islike the world headquarters of Software.

Alex : I heard, almost all the Indians are having one personal Robotfor help.

John : You can get a BMW car for Rs. 5000/-, and a personal Robot forless than Rs. 7500/-. But my dream is to purchaseAmbassador, which costs Rs.200000/- but has got a sleeky wonderfuldesign.

Alex : By the way, who is your client?

John : A pure Indian company, specializing in Embedded Software.

Alex : Oh, really, lucky to work in a pure Indian company. They are really intelligent and unlike American Body shoppers who have openedtheir Fly-by-night outfits in India. Indian companies pay you in fulleven when you are on bench. My friend Paul Allen, it seems, used hisbench time to visit Bihar, the most livable place in India, probablyworld. There you have full freedom and no restrictions. You can dowhatever you want! ! I wonder how that state has perfected thatsystem.

John : Yeah man, you are right. I hope our America also follows theirfootsteps.

Alex : How are you going to cope with their language?

John : Why not? From my school days I have been learning Hindi as my first language here at New York. At the Consulate they tested my proficiency in Hindi and were quite impressed by my cent percent scorein TOHIL, i.e., Test of Hindi as International Language.

Alex : So, you are going to have fun there.

John : Yeah, I will be traveling in the world's fastest train,world'slargest theme park, and the famous Bollywood where you can see actorslike, Hrithik, and all. Esselworld is also near to Bollywood.

Alex : You know, the PM is scheduled to visit US next year, he may thenrelax the number of visas.

John : That's true. Last month, Narayanamurthy visited White House and donated Rs. 2000/- for infrastructure development at Silicon Valleyand has promised more if we follow the model of Silicon City ofBangalore. Bill Gates also got a chance of meeting him. Very luckyperson.

Alex : But, Indian government is planning to split Narayanamurthy's Infosys.

John : He is a hard worker man, he can build any number of Infosyslike this. Every minute he is getting Rs. 1000/-. It seems, if youkeep all his money converted as Rs. 100/- notes you can reach Pluto.

Alex : OK, Good Luck John.

John : Same to you Alex. And don't go to Consulate in a Kurta Pyjamabecause they will think you are too Indianised and may doubt you willever come back and hence your Non-Immigrant Visa may get rejected.But don't forget to say "Namaste, aap kaise hai" to the Visa officer at Window 5. It seems he likes that and will not give you a visa if you don't greet him that way. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing wrong in dreaming huh, Hope it will happen soon.!!!!!!!!!!

Nuclear India

2008-06-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

In opening the door to nuclear commerce with India, Washington has confirmed how much an alliance with New Delhi is worth to it. But is anybody on the Indian side doing the math?

THE BUSH administration concluded a deal on nuclear cooperation with India, stating its willingness to supply India with civilian nuclear technology and thereby effectively accept India's status as a nuclear-weapons power. The deal requires approval from Congress, which will be asked to pass legislation allowing civil nuclear cooperation to go ahead, as well as from other countries that form part of the nuclear suppliers' group. During the arguments to come, critics will probe the details of yesterday's agreement, as indeed they should. But the accord could deliver big gains, particularly when compared with the absence of a deal rather than with some imagined perfect one.
The clearest win out of the bargain is a closer relationship with India, the world's most populous democracy, an emerging powerhouse in engineering and medicine, and a potential counterweight both to militant Islam and China. But there are other wins, too. Allowing India to import foreign technology for its civilian nuclear program will boost global efforts to develop new sources of energy, particularly sources that won't increase the level of climate-warming gases. In exchange for the opportunity to import nuclear know-how, India will disentangle its civilian nuclear program from its weapons-building facilities, subjecting the civilian side to multilateral inspections designed to ensure that technology or fissile material isn't diverted for military purposes. Again, this represents a gain: Currently only four of India's nuclear facilities are subject to foreign safeguards, and these are less muscular than the inspections to which India will be submitting. Finally, India will promise not to export nuclear equipment or material deemed sensitive by other nuclear powers. At present, India respects these international rules; in the future it would be formally committed to them.
.....The deal can be criticized, however. India has agreed to place 14 of its 22 reactors under international safeguards, but these exclude its two fast-breeder reactors, the main sources of bomb-making material. It would be up to India to decide whether future reactors are designated as civilian. The prospect of a potentially large plutonium-making program outside the scope of multilateral inspections is not a setback relative to the status quo, since the status quo involves minimal inspections. Still, it could be argued that the deal is a missed chance: The carrot of foreign civilian nuclear technology could perhaps have been used to bring a larger share of India's program under multilateral safeguards.
The biggest question is whether this agreement will weaken efforts to control other aspiring nuclear powers. The Bush administration hopes that the bargain at the heart of the Non-Proliferation Treaty will remain intact: Nonnuclear countries will renounce their bomb-building ambitions in exchange for help in building civilian power stations; countries that cheat and seek to build bombs will risk United Nations sanctions. Now that India has built bombs yet stands to get civilian help anyway, the risk is that other countries may demand the same deal. To the extent that these countries have nuclear allies that find it convenient to promote their bomb-making ambitions, the India precedent could weaken the international consensus against proliferation.
The Bush administration argues that India is an exception, not a precedent. For one thing, it never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, so it is different from North Korea, Iran or other potential bombmakers. For another, it has earned the right to be trusted with nuclear weapons by refusing to sell its military know-how to others, so distinguishing itself from irresponsible Pakistan. These arguments are reasonable, but they won't be worth a lot in practice if the rest of the world is deaf to them. Having negotiated the deal, the Bush administration needs to sell it.

All told, the deal signed in Washington raises a number of questions about the Manmohan Singh Government's policies in the field of nuclear energy, disarmament, `promotion of democracy,' energy security and strategic stability in Asia. No doubt the Government has answers. Spinning euphoric reports in the mass media is not the way of providing them. The Government owes it to the people to provide a detailed account of its nuclear policy in the form of a White Paper. Let the details of the Strobe Talbott-Jaswant Singh negotiations be made public. Let the Government place on record its estimate of how much the proposed separation of civilian and military nuclear facilities will cost and what the benefits of last week's agreement will be. And let it say openly that nuclear deal or not, India will continue to work for global disarmament and has no desire to play the role of a `hedge', fence or `tether' in the U.S. plan to contain China.

(Courtesy: The Washington Post Company)

Slavery

2008-06-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

In America. Now. Here. Today.

This is what we get for letting unions wither. This is what we get for our libertarian delusions. Forced labor. Workers forbidden by law to change jobs. Held captive at gunpoint when they dare to protest.
Fellow Americans: Odds are these particular workers don’t look like you. Do you think that will save you when the time comes?
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What we can agree about—and what we can’t (and shouldn’t try)

Two ways of making the same point. Both worth your time. Discuss.

Inflation- A real headache for nations (Contd.)

2008-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Some nonmonetary ideas are illogical. The existence of monopoly power or union power might be argued to raise prices generally relative to what they otherwise would be. But a continuing price rise year-in year-out requires a continuing increase in the degree of monopoly or union power in the economy. This is neither plausible over long periods of time, nor consistent with evidence from recent decades for the United States.
Nonmonetary theories of inflation traditionally separate "demand-pull" sources from "cost-push" factors like oil, monopoly power, or wages. A surge in the demand for goods and services in general ("aggregate demand") is thought to "pull" prices up across the board, especially when "aggregate supply" is held back by inertia or capacity limitations. Skeptics rightly question how demand could constantly outstrip supply. Surely, demand must originate from purchasing power, purchasing power from wealth, wealth from income, and income from the ability to produce (and hence supply) goods and services. This contradiction was understood early in the nineteenth century by Jean-Baptiste Say and others.
Other logical objections to the idea of demand-pull inflation center on the importance of money. How could prices rise without a commensurate increase in the quantity of money in private hands? If such a thing happened, the purchasing power of the quantity of money would have declined involuntarily, and that would not be consistent with market equilibrium. Economists of the "monetarist" school emphasize the power and discretion of government to vary the money supply, causing private markets to bring the economy's price structure into conformity.
Finally, there is strong, though surprisingly little known evidence against the demand-pull view that excessively rapid economic growth ("overheating") is an important source of inflation. Inflation has tended to increase in periods of slow growth or recession and decrease in periods of expansion. The idea that growth risks inflation is not on as strong a footing factually as the idea that inflation hurts growth.
Among those who attribute inflation to monetary causes, at least two quite different views exist. The monetarist view is that increases in the quantity of money cause inflation. Critics of this view point out that the quantity of money is difficult to define, especially when funds can be transferred electronically and credit cards can substitute for cash balances. It can also be argued that people have freedom to choose the quantity of money they want to hold rather than merely accept the quantity the government wishes to impose upon them.
The other monetary view, held historically by opponents of fiat (i.e., government) paper money, and by advocates today of restoring the gold standard, is that the quantity of money can take care of itself. What really is needed, according to this view, is a mechanism for keeping the price of the currency stable, for providing an anchor, so to speak.
Governments have been slow to accept the recommendations of either of these camps. That probably is because either a strict monetary rule or strict adherence to a gold standard or other price rule would place strict limits on discretionary government management of the economy.

Inflation-the real headache for each nation

2008-06-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

Inflation is the loss in purchasing power of a currency unit such as the dollar, usually expressed as a general rise in the prices of goods and services. A classic example is the Great Inflation of the Roman Empire. Successive emperors replaced a steadily increasing fraction of the silver in their ancient currency, the denarius, with base metals like bronze or copper. As a result prices rose inexorably despite repeated attempts to restrain them through legislation. Diocletian, rather than taking responsibility for the debasement, attributed the rapid inflation of his day to the avarice of his subjects. His famous edict of a.d. 301 threatened with death any vendor who charged prices exceeding official limits. But inflation ran along unhindered for another century until an alternative currency, an undepreciated gold coin known to Shakespeare as the bezant, became the customary unit of account, spreading throughout Europe and lasting well into the Middle Ages.
In modern times inflation continues to be blamed on private greed, and governments still seek to restrain it by decree, sometimes even devaluing their currencies as they do so. We have many measures of inflation, but none provides a truly reliable gauge of inflation at any specific time. The most widely watched measure is the consumer price index (CPI), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Subindexes are available for different cities and for many different classes of goods and services.

Other popular indicators of inflation include producer prices (formerly known as wholesale prices) and unit-value indexes for imports and exports. As we move back through the distribution chain from the consumer toward the supplier of raw materials, a more jumpy picture of inflation is revealed at each step. Commodities, whose prices can be monitored continuously on centralized exchanges, and which are easy to measure, are the most volatile indicators of all. An index of commodity prices, when plotted on a graph, looks much like an index of stock prices. But its ups and downs are significant; it provides warning one or even two years ahead of movements in the consumer price index.

In the news media, discussion of inflation often takes a "bottom up" view. Each month's change in the CPI can be, and is, split up into dozens of components, such as food, energy, and housing. It is tempting to see the sectors where prices rose the most as causes of the observed inflation. Sometimes policymakers speculate that if "price pressure" in those areas could be relieved, overall inflation could be reduced.
This way of looking at inflation is mistaken. The prices of some items always are rising or falling relative to others. This is a natural feature of the way a market economy adapts to changes in supply or demand. Rapid price increases within a single sector, though often labeled "sectoral inflation," are partly the result of an adjustment in relative prices and partly a manifestation of the overall inflation rate. They may have no causative significance whatever. When we watch the tide come in at the beach, we know that it is not caused by the waves, however forceful they may be. Inflation is not simply the sum total of a collection of independent price changes, as the arithmetic of the CPI implies. It is the degree to which all of those prices move in concert.

(to be continued..)