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I’ve shifted my Blog to http://www.spotalks.com

Please click on the above link to go to new my Blog!

Hope you will give the same support and patronize my site! Thank You and Welcome to my New Site!

Taming the Chennai City

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

I was in Chennai for least one week. The city was choked with heavy traffic from all directions. We all might have experienced if you drive in any parts of India, air pollution and traffic violations. But thats not the thing I am talking about now. Chennaiites tame city traffic not by using Toyota or Hyundai car but by using Indian made Bajaj Pulsar and Discover.

If you happen to travel with experts then I guarantee you that you will definitely have a pleasurable ride. One such driver is my cousin and uncle. They are brilliant in driving any vehicle. Especially my Cousin has the knack of taming any traffic on the planet. He just crusade through city traffic in minutes and reach the destination faster than Toyota and Hyundai car.

US Policy on Islam

I have moved my blog to www.spotalks.com

This article is published in "The viewspaper" and the link is http://theviewspaper.net/us-policy-on-islam/

The most debated issue on the planet right now is obviously the United States of America’s relationship with the Islamic world and Islam religion. It is purported that US president Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo University has started new age of reconciliation between Americans and Muslims. This may be true although it received mixed reviews. Some people from the Islamic world have hailed his speech as one of the most significant step in softening the hostilities between west and Islam. The relationship ,that was derailed and badly battered by Bush administration.

September 11, 2001 attack on the America’s World Trade Centre and pentagon caused the rift in the relationship with Islam. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Mr. Bush has consistently said that Islam is a religion of peace and warned against anti-Muslim prejudice. Yet he also nominated Daniel Pipes to a government institute, a scholar, who has enraged many American Muslims by suggesting that mosques are breeding grounds for militants and that Muslims in government and military positions should be given special attention as security risks. Bush policy towards Islam is basically based on the prism of Middle East politics whereas majority of the Muslims exist outside the Arab.

Former President Bush has adopted neoconservative foreign policy agenda that viewed Islamic fundamentalism as the gravest threat to national security.

”President Bush has clearly tried to make a distinction between Islam the religion and the actions of Muslim extremists,” said John L. Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University. ”But there’s a dissonance between what the president says and what his domestic and international policies have been.”

Former president George Bush has given several speeches on the Islam and US foreign policy towards Muslim world. But nothing has yielded good deeds instead it led to piling of foes. ”One day you get a signal from the administration that Islam is a religion of peace and of tolerance to the Muslim community,” said Omar Ahmad, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group. ”More of the time you get the other signal- the silence of the administration over comments made by evangelical Christians.”

He invaded Afghanistan pledging to decimate the terrorist outfits but he had to face a defeat instead. Iraq war was solely based on the delusion of dismantling the weapons of mass destructions. He overtly said that intelligent agency have given wrong information about the weapons of mass destructions but successfully overthrown the ruthless leader Saddam Hussein. This war has not only provoked widespread anger but has exposed the vulnerabilities in the Islam itself too. The divisions between Shia and Sunni have led to uncontrolled insurgency. Only after tripling the troop levels to millions American military is able to contain the militants. But when Obama announced pull out from Iraq, apparently violence has increased drastically.

In the middle of this entire crisis, United States is never considered to be a friend in the Islamic world due to its unbreakable bond with Israel as described by President Obama. US policy towards Israel and Palestine is always considered to be a logger head in the improvement of the relationship towards other Islamic countries. America has banned several militant groups operating from Palestine region such as Hamas, Fata. This has also provoked anger among Palestinians against US. America was widely blamed for giving tacit approval to Israel to continue its settlements in controversial regions such as Jerusalem, West Bank and Ghaza. So US always found hard to play a credible negotiator in the Middle East peace process.

Islamic Republic of Iran is another foreign policy issue for US when it comes to dealing with Islam. America says it is against any country which produces nuclear weapons. Iran however claims that it needs nuclear power to meet its energy demand. USA has overtly denied and remarked Iran is building nuclear weapons in stealth. America has used its diplomacy in UN Security Council to bring economic sanctions on Iran. This has caused strife political rivalry between the US and Iran.

Midst of these problems, Barack Obama ran a historical presidential campaign that he will seek new beginning with Islamic world once he will be elected as president. After the election, he proactively worked with his foreign policy experts and posted envoys to the Middle East to sort out the problem. Ongoing crisis in Pakistan due to the Taliban insurgency is again challenging his military as well as diplomatic power. Obama said in Ankara, United States of America will never be at war with Islam. This changed tone of US president has raised hopes that America will be a credible negotiator in the Middle East peace.

Besides that, US has changed its stand on the Israeli settlement and publicly said that Israel should stop its relentless settlements and also accept the two state solutions. Though, Israel has not heeded the US request, political analyst foresee an empowered US to force Israel to contain the settlements. American president Obama’s speech in the Cairo University lucidly mentioned that US will never accept violence in any form. So if Palestine really wants peace in the region, they are obliged to relinquish their violence.

US military expansion in Afghanistan has pushed the Taliban to the North West tribal region of Pakistan; this has led to increased insurgency in the region and caused instability to the current civilian government. So people of Pakistan see USA as ruthless military power which wants to kill millions of Muslims. But president Obama’s speech in Egypt clearly said he is also committed to the economic development of the Pakistan. The civilian government of Pakistan is a staunch supporter of US policy in the region; this has provoked unstopped anger in the tribal regions and urged several civilians to join the militant groups.

Barack Obama currently faces a humongous challenge in dealing with Islamic world. He has correctly defined that Islamic world is not just Arabs but also of the Muslims in other region. His background has given him an upper hand in solving some of the problem of Middle East and other regions. But USA, for longtime, has been viewed by Islamic world as a hegemonic super power which wants to crusade the Islamic countries. Obama’s changed tone may bring peace if he can at least divulge some of the rhetoric speeches into deeds. Let hopes this president will have the guts and brains to solve problem for once and forever.

Enchanting Singapore

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What comes to your mind when you think about Singapore? It is a bustling dynamic city with multi-racial society, confluence of east and west, international cuisine and predominantly workaholic people. There is a lot more than this. It is one of the favorite destinations for tourists around the world. Every year, around 8 million visitors pay visit to Singapore and contribute around $11 - $12 billion dollars in revenue. It is a huge money spinning industry so sincere that Singapore government has given several incentives for the tourists. It is a common perception of people who visits Singapore that the landscape changes drastically every six months. True to its changing spirit, the government has planned two integrated resorts and casino in famous Sentosa Island which will be completed by 2010.

The orchard road has eclectic collection of goods which will definitely attract shopaholic as well as normal people. China town provides a unique tour of the popular cultures of China and its cuisines. If you want to relax your body and soul, China town is the best in Singapore for massage. There are several other destinations suitable for family and children such as Sentosa, Little India, Singapore Zoo and Bird’s park, Singapore Botanical Garden, City Hall and Raffles. Each place is very unique and showcases its roots of origin in an organic way. Sentosa is a manmade island located away from the busy city and gives brilliant ambience for family members to chill out in silvering beaches and theme park.

Little India, as the name suggest exhibits Indian settler’s culture and their quintessential cuisine in Singapore. If you die for good spicy Indian food, this is the place you have to be. Variety is the right word to describe Singapore’s place of interest. If you want to see real animals and birds in a man built zoo and bird’s park, do not hesitate to visit Singapore Zoo and Bird’s Park. Night Safari in Singapore Zoo is way different from the Safaris you might have gone in India. If you are an avid fan of history, there is also place for you to quench your thirst. You should not miss the opportunity to visit Asian Civilizations Museums, Old Tao Nan School, Singapore Art Museums and fort Siloso.

Singapore is a home to two prestigious universities, National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Government has built unparalleled universities to compete with the globalized world. If you are a serious student or a parent who wish your children to study in a good university, why not check out the infrastructure and ambience. Singapore is not just the place for nerds and geeks but also was ranked 2^nd in the night life according to Annual Country Brand Index 2006. There is a proliferation of night clubs, pubs, bars located in the surrounding areas of Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and Riverside. Fun loving youth who wants to shake their legs and hit the floor obviously need to visit these places to experience the enchanting experiences Singapore can offer.

You may think Singapore is a very small city there could not be any adventurous places to visit but for your amazement; Singapore has couple of adventurous places to visit. Government of Singapore strives hard to reserve natural parks and small islands untouched for adventurous activities. One such place is Pulau Ubin situated in the north east of Singapore hosts a lot of adventurous sports such as cycling, trekking, etc. You may also find small villages while exploring Ubin. Weather is really pleasant in the evening so try visiting in the evening.

Apart from all the pleasant things about Singapore, there are also head ups too. It is advisable to visit in the month of July since it is a mild summer compared to India. There are cheap budget airlines also available from India. Money is really a big deal for Indian travelers. The budget of $2000 Singapore dollars will be sufficient to fulfil your dreams. Mindful of exchange rate before traveling to Singapore, current exchange rate is hovering around 32-33 Rs. The most important thing for Indians to take note is politics in Singapore. It is not a democracy like India, so do not shout out your opinions in the public place. Littering, spitting, not obliging to the rules and regulations will be heavily penalized in Singapore. If you have your facts and money right, you can obviously have a blast in Singapore.

Who’s Your City? By Richard Florida

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This article is published in the viewspaper and the link is http://theviewspaper.net/who%e2%80%99s-your-city-by-richard-florida/#more-6198
In 2008, a book “Who’s your city? ISBN 0465003524” was written by Richard Florida, an American urban theorist to challenge the idea of globalization. If someone had read the nonfiction book “The world’s flat” by The New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman and got convinced by his radical ideas on the flattening of the world, then you should definitely read this book to consider the ambivalence of the globalization. To understand the concept of this book, we should first understand the economics of globalization and its ramifications. Globalization has equipped far flung regions from once impoverished like China and India to connect with the west and also eventually challenge them in the creative economy.

In the west, the word “Bangalored” is much hyped for the information technological innovations it provides to them. China is now considered to be the manufacturing hub of the world. Likewise several different places once impoverished are now plugging and playing with the American and European economics. So, the common deduction based on these developments is that the world is getting flatter than before. Moreover, these developments have also led to the sudden spurt of mega cities like Shanghai, Bangalore, Dubai, etc. But Richard Florida in his book has denied the flatness by facts and figures to conclude that the world is rather spiky.

He says where you live in this globalized world actually matters more than before. In his book, he puts forth cogent arguments on how only the spiky regions from USA, UK, Europe, Singapore, China, India, etc. contribute substantially to the economic development of the world. For example, people who stay in Bangalore have more opportunities to create and innovate than anywhere in India in IT sector. Mega regions such as New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai and very recently Mumbai compete among themselves for the pie in finance sector. The reforms done in any one of these cities will adversely affect the competition in other cities. The same principles also apply to other sectors like manufacturing, services, and agriculture.

Location is not only important in economic benefits in the creative economy but also for the other lifestyle purpose. Large population of single people in a place naturally attracts other single people from different regions to flock to that place. For example, there is usually a proliferation of night clubs and pubs where there is large number of single people.

Richard Florida’s insights on the location are interestingly important and make sense in Indian context when we face lack of political will to proactively fulfill the infrastructure in our megacities. His book explores important decisions every human being makes in his/her life like where to live, how to live, whom to live with. But most people tend to focus less on the location of their living. He explains where to live is the most important decision of the life since everything else comes on the way. It is also true in Indian context, like for example if you decide to succeed in the world of finance then you should probably choose to go to Mumbai to gauge the competition and hone your skills for the job. But if you do not go to Mumbai and clamor for the success then it is a distant dream. So, Location is the most important thing in this information rich world.

Richard Florida might have convinced people on the economic opportunities that each city provides but he didn’t ponder much on the economic impact of this congregation. He gave very little focus on the policies of why this urban area particularly attracts certain people. Some things will always be dependent on physical proximity, but it would seem that industries which can take advantage of the new electronic mobility will be growth industries. As for the people who love the peace and tranquility of the countryside or village Richard Florida’s “Who’s your City” is exuberantly urban minded. Nevertheless, this book is worth a read for people who love urban life and want to know which city will better qualify for their requirements.

Sojourn in India

Hello guys and gals!
Finally I am flying to my land of origin. I hope to discover more about the emerging new India and blog on the interesting people I meet in the journey and also their issues. As a rookie blogger, I am more interested in their perceptions of the current happening than mine.

A Blatant Mistake - SIPCOT Cuddalore

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

This article is published in "The viewspaper" and the link is http://theviewspaper.net/a-blatant-mistake-%E2%80%93-cuddalore-s-i-p-c-o-t/

The world is becoming a difficult place to live for all the living things including Homo sapiens. The World Health Organization (WHO) determined that 154,000 people die every year from the impacts of climate change (Global Warming) and particularly developing nations such as India are the most vulnerable. These numbers are estimated to double by 2020 as reported by BBC.

In India, the much needed industrialization is happening at rapid pace at the cost of resources. But industries in India are not acting responsibly to avert the plausible occurrence of incidents such as “Bhopal Gas tragedy”. This accident has taken more than 25,000 lives and also caused long standing problems to the residents of Bhopal. Indians obviously don’t want the repeat of this incident due to the negligence of Government and industry. Here is a case study to analyze the current problem happening in one of the most industrialized states in India, Tamil Nadu.

SIPCOT chemical industries in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu is notoriously known for the damage it has done to the environment. On 22 March 2008 a Nagpur based “National Environmental Engineering Research Institute” submitted a report for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Board that residents of the SIPCOT area of Cuddalore were 2000 times more at risk of likely to contract cancer in their lifetimes due to their exposure to high levels of toxic gases from chemical industries in the region. The different stakeholders involved in the SIPCOT problem are fishermen community, farmers, workers, Industries and Government.

Fishermen in the surrounding areas complain of the effluents mixed with river and sea water leading to the death of fish causing heavy economic liability to the community. Their livelihood is at stake because of the poisonous chemical wastages mixed with sea and river water without any treatment. Chemical effluents also equally pollute the soil in the region give poor yield of corps. If the companies move their plants from this region, workers’ employment opportunity will be at risk, currently SIPCOT employ around 5000 people. Governments need ample tax revenues from industries to support social programmes so it is not easy to dismantle these industries at the huge economic burden.

Contemporary India is also part of the global capitalistic agenda so it is not a sane idea to go against companies but the state government of Tamil Nadu needs introspection to avoid the previous mistakes such as in Bhopal. In 2005, Global Community Monitor declared Cuddalore, a toxic hot spot for rampant air emissions of volatile organic and sulphur compounds. The video above veraciously shows the problems associated in the chemical industries in Cuddalore.

Any serious government which wants to solve the problem in Cuddalore will form a committee or forum with all the different stakeholders to discuss and sort out the issue. The errant industries which have violated the standards frequently should be forced to shut down. The people who are severely affected by the pollution should be placed to safe locality for rehabilitation. There are feasible and viable technologies available to effectively treat the effluents before entering sea and river to avoid polluting the water. This will have a positive externality on the fishermen community.

Government should not give license to the industries which produces banned chemicals or emits the carcinogens into the air. It needs to educate the people surrounding the areas on the after effects of each chemical effluent so that people can refrain from doing dangerous activities. It is the responsibility of the industry to bear the cost of pollution since it enjoys other levy from the government.

If every stakeholder in Cuddalore can act soberly, we can avoid the repeat of Bhopal, otherwise a tragedy of that magnitude is not too far from happening. We must not practice capitalism at the expense of lives. We should make this world a better place for the next generation to live but not to extinct.

Self Realization

I am writing this entry particularly because I haven’t realized who am I completely or not even in half baked manner. If someone ask you, “Who are you?” how do you usually reply? I am sathiya son of subramaniyam, pursuing mechanical engineering in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). We may further go on to explain our interest and other stuffs. But how many of us really know our interest and purpose of our life. Honestly I haven’t discovered yet.

Many friends and relatives asked me why I choose to come to NTU over Indian universities. Did I make an informed decision of choosing the program and NTU? The answer to this question is a frank no. I didn’t make an informed choice. I chose to come to NTU for the exposure and better economic opportunities. I always had passion for chemistry but I betrayed my favorite subject and choose to study Mechanical Engineering thinking Mechanical has better career prospects than Chemical Engineering. I still don’t know whether I am right?

I do believe that destiny is always in the driver’s seat and we are in the passenger seat. So we don’t what is going to happen in the next few seconds. Things changes faster than we think. I met different kinds of people from the path of Cuddalore to Singapore. During tsunami, I met people who helps others whom they met for first time at Cuddalore. In Singapore, I met diametrically opposite end of people who are hypocrites’ want to manipulate others for their advantages. This is obviously not to brand Singapore is full of hypocrites, I personally think Singapore might have far more kind hearted people than Cuddalore.

I was fortunate enough to meet more brilliant and knowledgeable people than me. The conversations with them frankly increased my shallow I.Q by at least 1%. This is not an exaggeration because I asked them how they knew so much. Information is wealth; it may help you to explore lot of opportunities which were hidden. During the presidential campaign of Obama, Pastor Rick Warren questioned him on the greatest mistakes he had committed in his life. Obama is obviously smart so he replied that his greatest mistake was self obsession and in the process he figured out his life is to support the other people who are in dire of hope and change. These kinds of answers won him to white house which is even named as “white” ironically not to give political muscle to black Americans.

The greatest discovery in one’s lifetime is not discovering the honey in the stone but discovering himself. I am endeavoring to discover myself through the mistakes of my life and other’s too.

Stint

Hi readers!
I am writing for "The viewspaper" columns so I will publish my articles in an unedited form here. So please keep reading my blog. Thanks for your support.

regards

Sathiya velan subramaniyam

Do looks really matter?

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

I came across this fantastic article in “The New York Times” whether looks do matter in becoming successful in life. The article convincing says that looks do matter in landing a plump opportunity in career or social life. I also agree with the article on the major perceptive. Excerpts from the article

On a very basic level, judging people by appearance means putting them quickly into impersonal categories, much like deciding whether an animal is a dog or a cat. “Stereotypes are seen as a necessary mechanism for making sense of information,” said David Amodio, an assistant professor of psychology at New York University. “If we look at a chair, we can categorize it quickly even though there are many different kinds of chairs out there.”

If we step out of our home and observe the world outside, we find most of the successful people who are interviewed or celebrated are tend to be good looking. So what makes these good looking people successful? It seems good looking tend to gregarious because even if they don’t want to mingle around with others but people around them usually recognize their appearance and give space for their actions. It obviously true in any case, we always wanted to speak to good looking people get others attraction or people usually tend not to dislike handsome or beautiful people’s attitudes.

An example to elaborate on this point, assuming that kollywood hero “Kamal Hasan” and comedian “Vadivelu” are not celebrities. If these two people are also part of a five member group and this group now actually brain storming on some project. It is for sure in majority of the case that handsome Kamal will get more attention on his point or witty jokes than our real joker Vadivelu. Sad right! This is how the world works and we have to live with the stereotypes.

The debate of stereotypes became very popular after not so good looking and 47 year old “Susan Boyle” won millions of hearts in singing “I dreamed a dream” in Britain’s got talent. When she first appeared on the stage our famous judge Simon Cowell showed some bad grimaces for her age and aspirations and also the entire crowd was cynical of her ability. But she defied all the cynicism and emerged as one of the best singers ever sang in the Britain’s got talent. Yup! People overlook the hidden talent. I have posted the youtube video link (Since embed code is not available) also for reference.

It was a lesson learnt for millions of people who watched the video on youtube that sometimes we do need to break our stereotypes and gauge people based on their talent. Even there was some kind of cynicism and stereotypes attached when president Obama started his campaign to the white house. We all knew how well he was able to flare. I want to learn his skills of defying the stereotypes. Is anybody in my boat too?

NYT article :

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/fashion/26looks.html?scp=7&sq=susan%20boyle&st=cse

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

All about Girls

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

I neither have female friends nor girl friends so I don’t care about what girls think about me. But I do really want to have either of that, what to do I am not gifted to woo girls I think (lol). Anyway, I wanna write about girls too. Einstein has once said “Imagination is more important than knowledge” so I am going to contemplate having girl friend or lover. My Knowledge on relationship is nearly zero and I never dated a girl in my life. But I have concept on dating and love life, what kind of girls are good for dating and love? Let me ponder you more on this.

My dating concept is very simple. People usually date to have more fun than real commitment. So when I look for a girl to date I look for a girl like “Gossip girl” character Blair waldorf (Leighton Meester). For all the guys out there, she is god damn hot, talkative and fun loving girl at least in Gossip girl. I feel this kind of girl is apt for dating. A two to three months back I came across a lifestyle article on “The New York Times” which said dating in United States has declined but there is a new form of culture called one night stand has picked up in metropolitan areas especially among youth (GOD!I wish I was there). Unfortunately I am stuck in Singapore or India la (with Singlish accent).

Dating is all about fun. Here comes something very interesting and eternal in life which is obviously love life. There is only particular kind of girls will be suitable for love sometimes fortunately or unfortunately your date turns out to be your girl friend. If I am looking for a girl to love I will definitely fall in love with Kate Winslet of Titanic fame. I don’t mind the Kate Winslet of The Reader also (hehe). She has to be down to earth, caring, kind hearted, etc. Love is a kind of feeling which is never forced like studying math rather it has to be natural like eating food. Kate winslet actually portrayed in the movie as a very good lover who was faithful, down to earth, caring and etc. She is a woman of black hole in the universe where every man will fall into the gravity. At this point of time, you must realize I am a sloppy writer using irrelevant metaphor but I am actually enjoying it.

Last part of relationship is obviously marriage in most case but seriously I have no idea about this and I never thought of it too. I have only one opinion, it should not be forced marriages like what is happening in some cases of arrange marriage in India. Forced marriage may sometimes lead to infidelity. I am not a relationship expert but an ordinary man who wants to have fun with Leighton Meester and Kate Winslet at least in dreams.

Vegetarianism

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

I am currently residing in Singapore which is an entrepot and major hub of economic activities. So people may tend to think that everyone can get the food of their choice but that’s not the case especially if you’re a vegetarian. Vegetarians here in Singapore suffer a lot to get a decent food. Take an example of NTU, there are only 4-5 canteens actually serving vegetarian food in that only one or two is decent enough to eat. Then why be a vegetarian and suffer, common sense question. Yeah, there are lots of reasons too.

Let us look at the different kinds of vegetarian diets.

Vegan: Eats- Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes, Grains, Nuts, and Seeds; does not eat- Meat, Fish, Shellfish, Poultry, Dairy Products, and Eggs.

Lacto-vegetarian: Eats - Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, and Dairy Products; does not eat - Meat, Fish, Shellfish, Poultry, and Eggs.

Ovo-vegetarian: Eats - Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, and Eggs; does not eat- Meat, Fish, Shellfish, Poultry, and Dairy Products.

Lactoovo-vegetarian: Eats - Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, Eggs, and Dairy Products; does not eat - Meat, Fish, Shellfish, and Poultry.

Semi-Vegetarian: Eats - Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes, Grains, Nuts, Seeds, Eggs, Dairy Products, Fish, Shellfish, and Poultry; does not eat – Meat.

I am falling into the category of Lactoovo-vegetarian.

I am from Cuddalore that means sea town in Tamil. So obviously I have eaten fish from my childhood then I denounce fish and start eating vegetarian food which is not so tasty like sea food. For all the fish lovers, fish is the only food which has omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty is essential for your brain development. Vegetarians may take some recommended supplements. The reasons why I chose to eat vegetarian food are I don’t wanna be an obese by eating meat and not working out, meat has trans fat and saturated fats it will take very hard work to burn it (I am not a hard worker too), wanna reduce my carbon foot print (I am not religious at all) and last but not least I can save money (Non- vegetarian food are more expensive than vegetarian).

There are other inherent benefits of being vegetarian; it is proven that vegetarian diet improves immunity. A simple Google search will provide ample amount of merits and demerits of vegetarian diet. I don’t want to urge others to be vegetarians. Eat what you like.

Why I write?

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

Many of friends asked me why the hell you write. They have a very valid point why should I write and torment the readers. I have some purpose and reasons behind why I started writing blogs. I am always fond of writing, reading and debating though I am not an expert in any of those mentioned. It was in the middle of first year I realized that I should also start a blog and write about my perceptions on the things I come across mostly through reading newspapers, books. I strongly believe writing especially creative writings improve the thought process of a person and also language skills. I never in my life formally learnt any English grammar so it is a platform for me to expose my mistakes and also learn to overcome it. That said, I aspire to be a manager, one of the vital skills for managers is to express themselves succinctly and scrupulously. Hence, I believe writing blogs will definitely have a strong effect on it. I decided to give our infamous CAT or GMAT for some good Business admission; I think blog writing will certainly have a positive impact on my verbal skills.

Moreover I have a purpose for writing blogs too. I realized that during my second year journalism course called “Media in America”. It was lecturer senior fellow “Mr. Syed Javed Nazir” inspired me to think critically in every issue. He was a journalist from Pakistan who wrote a controversial column in Pakistan’s English national daily and his column provoked agitations all over Pakistan because he wrote about Isalimist radicalism. He told us in the class that he was chased out of Pakistan by his government and jailed also. He escaped from Pakistan and reached United States got a fellowship in Harvard for his journalist pursuit. He told us why he wrote such an article though he knows that he will be in trouble. He is a strong believer of change and opinion. If anyone wants to know more about him, you can just Google it. I realized that every writing has some influence at least though not too a great extent like how my lecturer’s one had. I am a citizen of India which is a democratic country and also a citizen of the world who has a part to play when it comes to educating others. Hence, I decide to write blog.

I am an ardent fan of “The Newyork Times” and always felt that such kind of journalist ethics and influence is lacking in India. For your information, The Newyork Times is free and will be found at www.nytimes.com or www.global.nytimes.com . It is worth reading the columns of Thomas L Friedman, Paul krugman, Nicolas kristof. For a democratic country to be strong and proactive it must have transparent and influential journalism. We in India don’t have ample information to make a wise choice in political spectrum or even in career. Whatever I read on NYT, economist or any other entertainment websites give me an idea or perception. I want to reflect on those ideas in my blog. But I try not to offend anyone in my blog. So I decide to mirror my perception based on others rather me alone. In the process even I can sometimes address the growing concern among the public, my travelogue, film reviews and etc. Eventually like every amateur writer I do want to capture a space in the realm of blogosphere.

Enough of boring stuffs, my blogging do have some selfish pursuit. Blogging has given me a full freedom to express my feeling to the outside world. I treat blogs has a pastor to whom I can confess but sometimes hiding the truth. I can bitch about lame things or complain that my life is too boring. It is basically my dear friend to whom I can share things but not confidentially. I recently figured out that through blogs you can make money in leaps and bounds. I haven’t reached that point yet but I want to explore that path too. Lastly, an anecdote from my life when I was a 10th grade I was ousts from class for having opinion but now I am an independent person so I want to have an opinion.

Brain Drain and Brain Gain

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According to Wikipedia, Brain drain is defined as a large emigration of individuals with technical skills or knowledge, normally due to conflict, lack of opportunity, political instability, or health risks. This is also called as human capital flight. There are inevitable advantages and disadvantages for the countries. Firstly, let us look at the disadvantages; the host country of emigrant loses economic benefits because he/ she are not contributing to the economic developments of the country though he/she studied at the cost of the tax payer money. On the other hand, the country which receives these expertise at free of cost is gaining brain. Most of the time, these brain are incredibly talented and contribute a lot to the economic success of the country. For example even American congress passed a bill to praise IITians for their tremendously contributions to the American economy.

This topic of brain drain was most discussed in India till India opened its closed doors to the foreign competition and started liberalizing its socialist era policies. But in recent times, Brain drain is never a hot topic to debated or discussed in the public domain. There are several reasons and now much hyped word is “Brain Gain”. We will look into Brain Gain later in this entry. Now let us analyze what caused the brain drain from some of our prestigious institutions especially IITs and IIMs. Undeniably these institutions are one of the elite institutions in the world and they produce best candidates for real world challenges. But our socialist era policies were not supportive enough to create economic or job opportunities here in India. Hence, they chose to travel abroad for better financial opportunities at the cost of our money. Most of us will know that IITs and IIMs education is heavily subsidized by the tax payer money. To quote a few facts “The UNDP estimates that India loses $2 billion a year because of the emigration of computer experts to the United States of America. Indian students going abroad for their higher studies cost India a foreign exchange outflow of $10 billion annually”.

How do we solve this problem in a simplest and logical manner especially the emigration from our centrally funded universities? There are workable strategies implemented in many countries to avoid emigration of best brain that were studied at the cost of their tax payers’. For example, we need to devise a bond at least two to three years for students who studies at the subsidized fee have to work mandatorily here in India. Students not paying subsidized fee should be exempted from the bond. In this way, it helps to tap their talent in India and reduces the brain drain by considerable amount. This is not coercive imposition on students because students are given choice to either choose subsidized fee or full fee. This will also help finance our strained and obsolete infrastructure. In the current scenario most of the IIT or IIM students must have gone for some form coaching classes. As we all knew coaching class charge a whopping amount of at least a lakh per annum. Only an upper middle or middle class can pay such a humungous amount of money. So it may not be wrong to ask these kids to pay their real fee and do whatever they wish to do after graduation.

Recent surveys and placements results from IIMs and IITs are conspicuous that now majority of students more than 95% want to work in India. This paradigm shift has to be attributed to the increasing opportunity in India and also dwindling financial opportunities abroad. Liberation of India from “Black capitalism” to real capitalism faithfully encouraged Indian elite to stay and contribute to rapidly burgeoning economy. Ironically, there is also perceived reverse emigration of brain from western countries which previously attracted best brain from developing countries. The word “Bangalored” was publicized very heavily in western media. India’s IT hubs and manufacturing hubs are attracting NRIs as well as foreigners to set up companies here in India. Interestingly more and more people are shifting their family to India for personal and cultural reasons. So, globalization has leads to reverse brain drain or brain gain to India and other developing countries. It is estimated that 90% of the world’s scientist and engineers will be living in Asia by 2010. That year is not too far, so let us wait and watch. May be recession is having an effect on brain gain as well as drain.

Lastly, even our prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh asked Indian students to travel and study abroad to bring unique skills back to India or build Indian brand overseas. Students who wish to explore and upgrade themselves may go overseas to learn vital skills bring it back to India if they wish. This actually makes sense because we do need Indians living abroad to convince their company to set up shops in India or start their own company in India. Though this may be categorized as brain drain but still India is gaining in long term economically and culturally.

View from top and bottom

I am feeling bored hence I need to write some crap to make me busy. Since chaotic democracy India is currently undergoing election, I want to look at democracy in the perceptive of elite and illiterate. But the funny thing here is these two people are invited for a forum on democracy in their local constituency by collector of the district. The illiterate dressed in lungi and cotton shirt; the elite dressed in branded pant and shirt. Both of them went into the room the elite wished the collector but illiterate bowed his head down to show his respect for the collector. Collector asked them to take seat and he started briefing these two people on the objectives of today’s meeting.

He says since our Indian democracy is going for election we, the government officials really wanted to know whether the objectives of democracy has been fulfilled in this 60 year long journey. So, He said, want an opinion of rich and poor, educated and uneducated on what really democracy means to them? He told them to be frank and honest but don’t quarrel among them. He basically gave some of his insights such as Do you think political parties truly represent the people whom elected it? What do you think we need to improve our governance? Do you think the Indian government really fulfilling your economic needs? And etc.

Actually in real debates or discussion it is always the uneducated who start first because he/she usually don’t speak from mind but they speak from their heart. Emotions always flow faster than thoughts so our illiterate started telling all the problems he was facing ranging from basic amenities to sophisticated schools. He said that his house most of the time experience outage, water problem and none from municipality attends his sewage problem. Government doesn’t pay market price for his rice he sells at its purchase centre. So he don’t care what democracy really means unless these buggers fix my basic problem which they are ought to do.

The rich elite guy started talking about freedom of speech, good governance, and regulation of markets, urbanization, Industrialization and modernization of education. Indian democracy is not true democracy at all, its policies never represent the popular opinion of the public and political parties basically polarize people based on caste, religion and status for votes. We know that wining of political parties doesn’t depend on its incumbent achievements or past track record or future policy goals but just depend on debauching the poor by liquor, money on the Election Day. It is not a democracy when people don’t vote by their conscious but by their guilt.

Collector was as furious as these two people so he really wanted an opinion on how to solve this mess. The uneducated gave an idea that candidates should be scrutinized by public in a public forum open to all. It has to be telecasted or broadcasted so that everyone can watch it. The elite said besides that we need to change the apathy of the upper and rich class towards to Election. We need to over haul our constitution to make two party political systems. We need to raise the bar on the eligibility of the candidates who are contesting in the election.

The district collector ended the forum and he said he will look into all the demands, will forward this forum discussion to the legislative committee to consider some changes. He was quiet moved by the co operation, passion and caring showed by two stark sections of the society. He said he will look into the problems of uneducated guy’s locality and also promised that he will conduct some awareness camp in rich neighborhood.

Confessions of a "Municipal School teenage boy"

I have moved my blog to www.spotalks.com

My family background actually rocks! You know what I mean. My father is just a construction worker but working in Dubai and my mom like other Indian lady she is a housewife. So, Education is a bitter to my genetic code. At tuition, I was doing the usual stuff not listening but watching and at home, I was sleeping, eating and the obvious. But I wasn't satisfied with the monotonous life, it was very boring to me. One day at tuition, I really wanted to strike conservation with this beautiful girl. I went to her and said hi, what is your name? I was shocked she actually replied and said I’m nikita kaur from St Joseph school. I was battling an insurgent infatuation at that time so I couldn’t concentrate on the conservation and my eyes are basically lost in something else. My first convo with a convent girl was terrible. But I did notice something; she was talking swiftly in English and Hindi mostly about studies.

I asked my nerd friend, Hey! why don’t you speak to these girls in tuition? He asked me, what is the purpose of speaking to them? I hid my intentions and told him; you can learn a lot from them especially English. He was like no man I am not interested. But I want you to do me a favor, teach me this bloody mathematics, so that I can at least ask those chicks doubts. A Pact was agreed by my studious friend. Every weekend I go to his house and get drilled by him in mathematics. I asked him, what inspire you to slog like this when none in our school actually not after textbooks (Inside my mind I thought of telling him everyone is after chicks)? Then, He started of telling his sad story almost sounded like any sad Hindi movie. I was able to understand something in mathematics but this bloody calculus is a bitter word for me. I decided to ask some doubts or questions to the tuition master to show off in front of girls.

There is always uncertainty and twist to the life. We always aspire to do something but we end up being something though we had good focus according to our self. This applies to me also; the show I wanted to put in front of girls exposed my vulnerabilities and it back stabbed me. I asked some lame question to the master I think, he screwed me big time by drilling me in calculus and the whole class burst into laughter and I burst into tears. Everyone in the class started making fun of me as if I don’t deserve to be in the class. My nerd friend is only sympathetic to me and urged me to buckle down. This is the point of realization you know, I thought if I could show off I may get some chicks coming down to me. But I realized even if I prove my intellectual capacity though I am not, it won’t get me any chicks because most of the convent chicks are only lured by money and power. After each tuition class, I follow these kids to understand how they behave outside class. I peep inside the glassed doors of Ice cream parlor and feel jealous of their privilege. At those moments, I realized the differentiation and integration of life before digging into the real calculus.

I thought I have done all the mischief without realizing that I am not entitled to do those things because education is the only way to uplift myself from lower middle class status. It is the degree or college education I am going to earn will bring laurels to my family and eventually changes my genetic code. But I don’t want to be like my nerd friend and I can’t be. I have started preparing very well for my board examinations. Mathematics has changed from a very tough subject to challenging one and others are ok. I have to specially thank those convents girls and guys I may pass English paper. I am left with only one week to go for exam, so I need to study very hard.

Confessions of a "Municipal School teenage boy"

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

This is a fictitious story about confession of teenage boy from some municipal school in India.

I can hardly speak, write or read English but I aspire to be one of those elite leagues of English speakers in my country. I am studying 12th standard in one of the town municipal school in Hindi medium. This is a boy school so I don’t have any chance of at least conversing with a girl. I see convent girls wearing short shirts walking on the road speaking in English among themselves. I wanna speak to them; will they speak to me if I open my mouth in Hindi? I always envy those boys who are of nearly my age flirting with girls. I curse God for not giving this most desired opportunity.

My friends, who are like me, don’t study at all, this partly due to bloody teacher who never used to teach in the class or come to class. Even if they come to class, we are always his or her prey to the long stick or become an outstanding student usually caught by principal. Ultimately we end up kneeing down outside his office. I used to wonder whether his only job is to grab all the outstanding students from different class to his office. The kneeing outside and getting beating from him is equivalent to corporal punishment. I tell my friends; I get frustrated because of this busy school schedule and need to relax. My ingenuous friends are also corrupted like me; they asked me to try a puff. Yes, I did and I’ve gone to the heaven when I did.

As an adolescent boy, I’ve an urge to hump those convent girls. But obviously I couldn’t do it. So my friends and I decide that the best way is to watch those girls getting humped on the big screen. That was a splendid performance by white guys and girls. It made me think why on the earth this India is so bloody conservative? I always travel to my school by government bus pass. If I miss the bus, it is a great excuse for me to skip the school. But I never tried to miss the bus. You know why? I usually board 7.30 am bus which is full of other municipal school girls. It’s a wonderful chance for us to socialize with them. I am a master of socializing but sometimes I get kicked for my biology topic. These girls on the bus aren’t like those convent chicks, they don’t have any attitude and most importantly they don’t speak English, like me. I still prefer short skirted convent girl that’s why I aspire to be an English speaker.

I wanna befriend at least a guy from those convent schools. I think that may give me an edge to speak with them. I know one of my schoolmates, is a nerd goes to the tuition where lots of convent girls also study. I know his parents literally relinquished necessary things for them and saving for his education. Even that tuition master is kind enough to subsidize his fee. So, Here I am who’s neither a good student nor a wealthy guy to pay the fee. I befriended this guy and begged him to get me an admission. He scrupulously explained to the tuition master about my situation. I think this tuition master has a very big heart, you know what he accepted this stupid. I was very excited to go to the tuition not to study but to ogle at those beauty angels and dream for a chance to speak to them.

I prayed to all the hundred Gods I know in Hinduism and asked them not to do one thing which is “Please don’t embarrass me in front of angels”. I always know if I pray to God in negative manner the probability of that wish fulfilled is 70% more than positive wishes. I was right in my calculation God was kind enough not to embarrass me in the first class of the tuition. I was really feeling weird because I felt that I don’t belong there. I am an outcaste among those students in dressing style, taking notes, asking questions and even in the way of looking at hot chicks. Convent guys do far better than me; I felt the tremor when the chick caught my two fixated eyes on her instead on the teacher. I said “What the f**? I am out today itself”. Fortunately that chick brushed me aside and she fixed both her beautiful eyes on the teacher. My friend who sat beside me asked, Are you able to understand the problem? I said to myself which problem you’re talking about. Thank God, days of tuition invigorated my nerves and something hit me very hard on one day. I was left with only seven months to board examination and I hardly knew anything.

continue..

The Flat world vs. the Spiky World

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

I believe most of you should have read “The world is flat” book by radical thinker of 21st century Thomas L. Friedman. He is also a famous columnist of The Newyork Times and several times winner of Pulitzer Prize. He says in his revolutionizing book about globalization that the world is flat; it means more and more people around the world started to plug and play in the world economy. I was constantly looking for different perspective to Friedman because you couldn’t form an opinion on single perspective though Friedman is undeniably a genius. I came across a book called “The shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein, a famous Canadian journalist who opposes globalization. She was succinctly arguing in her book that free market principles devised and advocated by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman erodes the freedom of ordinary people.
In the novel, she cited examples from South American dictatorship to democratic Bolivia how they implemented free markets with the help of CIA or some American foundation in a forced manner. These countries deliberately wiped the indigenous industries or people to allow multinational corporate to exploit the cheap resources. She was vehemently arguing that globalization is bad and can only benefit some elite people, others will be left out. My insatiable desire to understand why only certain cities or countries can innovate was not over. One day I was browsing through “Economist.com” and found an article about the book on “Imaging India” by Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys. As many might have anticipated, his book was all praise about how Bangalore was able to adapt to globalization and become a centre of innovation in IT services. I was very curious to read the comments posted by readers on how they react to his book and found an interesting comment asking others to read a book called “Who’s your city?” by Richard Florida.
As a poor jobless guy like me will always fall into the trap of others who say that this or that book is very good. So I went to library and borrowed this book to read, know what the hell is he talking about? Believe me this book is worth a read and it gave me a different perspective and trigger me to think also. He is not against globalization like Naomi Klein but he says “The world is spiky” rather flat. As a reader, I kept on reading to understand his intuition and logic behind saying that. He says only so called mega regions or cities around the globe produces almost entire goods and services and they are the major contributors for trade. He was able to prove this statement by facts and figures from credible agencies like IMF, World Bank, etc. I said to myself alright man; I may try to convince myself that the world is not flat but spiky.
But things usually don’t stop there, we need to introspect whether globalization is really good or bad or the world is flat or spiky. In my case, I hail from a small town which was/is (Don’t know I haven’t analyzed this yet) not well connected to the global economy. There are so indifferences or inequities among the guys or gals brought up in cities and my place which I can clearly observe. I gone to Chennai to pursue my junior college and understood that the world is competitive than what I thought previously so I started working my ass off. I got a decent score in A levels and land up in NTU, Singapore. I come here and find that the world is extremely spiky so I need to fundamentally dismantle myself or double hard work. So, I am doing my level best to keep my head above the water. For a moment, leave me aside and lets go to another interesting perspective who’s my cousin born and brought up in a village worse than my place actually (at least in education).
I took him to city and showed him the different world out there where there are so much of opportunities to grab. He made a sensible point “who will support me in city?” Unless you hail from middle class or upper middle class you have all the money to spend on your training and move up the ladder. I sincerely believe that he has a point. If we really analyze who are those people who plugged and played in Friedman’s the flat world? They are from mega regions or cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. It’s the safest assumption to say that all our elite class, entrepreneurs and business people are from those mega regions.
I wanted to know how the fastest growing country “china” looks like. So I asked my Chinese friend “Is china a flat country or spiky regions?” My friend admitted that china is also a spiky regional country but one commodity in china is very flat. Guess what? It is education which is the essential commodity for people from non flat world to compete with flat world people. For my cousin to be competitive in the cities first he has to acquire the right skills to succeed in this fast paced world. In near future I clearly don’t see India to be a flat country but with spiky regions. People from non flat regions of the country will definitely find hard to plug and play within the country but they should try to be the “Change Agents” to change India into a flat country.