The forbidden fruit

A and I have started a new pact : to write a 100 word blog that is based loosely on the "word of the day" word. Today's word is
verboten \ver-BOHT-n\ , adjective;
1.
Forbidden, as by law; prohibited.

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To stand on a friend’s shoulder to march ahead while pushing him down; it’s a forbidden fruit.
To express anger towards an elder even when the elder is at fault; it’s a forbidden fruit.
To escape from reality when the world’s responsibility weights down on you; it’s a forbidden fruit.
To think about taking your own life after the loss of a loved one; it’s a forbidden fruit.
To leave everyone who loves you for someone only you love; it’s a forbidden fruit.
To desire someone unattainable; it’s a forbidden fruit.
Don’t you sometimes want a bite of the forbidden fruit?

My Super Hero!!

An Artists Impression!!

what his story?

On my way to office I watch this middle aged bald guy sitting alone on a corner of a construction site having breakfast while facing the wall with a group of his colleagues eat in group. What is his story?

All of us have our own stories. But sometimes in the daily grind of life, the essence of the story gets lost.

PS: Celebrated durga puja with anurag yelling in background and reminding me how an agarbatti can douse the whole apartment in fire. What's his story ??

Kim Clijsters

I am so happy for Kim. Something about the pictures of her baby walking forward to touch the trophy is so damn cute.

Pictures

Many times than not, women have thoughts about quitting the rat race and taking it easy at home with their family. But after spending a few years off, many do want to return. Kim has showed its possible. Surprisingly, in a physically intensive game like tennis. I guess its all about the passion and dedication.
Quoting ESPN
{
When she came back, she was "starting from zero," she said. The work to get back in shape was not pretty.
"No swear words like Serena yesterday, but a lot of swearing at home," Clijsters said.}

Oh, I am sure...

US Open - Check

Ever since I came here 3 years ago, I have always wanted to attend the US Open. I am not a big tennis fan. But US Open is like Niagara falls. Every Indian who comes to the US has to visit the falls. Similarly, every Indian has to attend the US Open.

Anyways, enough of my ranting. Now to the US Open visit. It was fabulous. I had never watched so much tennis in my life that I watched in one whole day there. We had taken a day pass so we could visit all the stadiums till 7:30 pm. The atmosphere was awesome. There were so many people. The energy in the stadium was electric, especially during the Venus Williams and Kim Clijters match. We got to see the Williams Sisters, Nadal, Sania Mirza and who not....

For those of us who are not hard core tennis fans, there were other things to interest us. Like the free giveaways : we got a radio thingy from Amex, some hand fans etc...And the camera kept me busy like nothing else.

Some of my shots of Nadal :

Blogging from the iPhone

Just testing my new setup with the iPhone. Hope this works out smootly
so I can blog on the go. Keeping my fingers crossed.

WTF news of today

"Pawar said like leaders from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka have got a chance to occupy the prime minister's chair, a Maharashtrian should also be given the opportunity." [Source]

Yeah right. Now we should have a state wise rotation for the PM's seat. Last election someone from punjab was the PM, so this year someone from Haryana should be the PM.

Don't you get it you stupid politician. PMship is not a right. A PM is a leader. Be a leader and your turn will come. Stop this regional gibberish.

What would you look like if you were a superhero?

Have you wondered what would you look like if you were a super hero? I did and just found out.




You can become a hero as well. And don't forget to comment so that I can check your super hero image too.

What sex is your brain?

Inspired by the "GenderTrap" manifesto from Change This, I took the BBC's SEX ID quiz. The quiz was good. Most of teh sections were short and sweet ( Except the emotions part which had some 21 questions - it kind of dragged on for some time).

The result was something that I expected.


As the image shows, i got a score of 25 tilted towards the female side. As I said, I was not surprised as though I am a female, I am not the typical stereotyped female. Not too emotional, too much self-ego, very practical.

The results also had a breakup of the score. In most of the parts, my scores fell into the balanced male and female traits. Except Empathising and Systemising and Verbal section where I was clearly in the female section. In the 3D Object section, I scored well below thw male and female average which explains the problem I have with understanding maps. I am the worst navigator in the world as anyone who has sat next to me in the drivers seat will vouch for.


One thing that amazed me is that the ratio of the length of your index finger and the ring finger can also give a clue of your sex. This is what the quiz says.

"It's thought that your ratio is governed by the amount of testosterone you were exposed to in your mother's womb. The ratio of the length of your index finger to the length of your ring finger is set for life by as early as three months after conception. Even during puberty, when we experience intensive hormonal changes, the ratio stays the same.

Men generally have a ring finger that is longer than their index finger, which gives them a lower ratio than women, whose ring and index fingers are usually of equal length.

Studies have found that men and women with lots of brothers generally have more masculine finger ratios."

I checked Anurag's and mine and clearly, his ring finger is way longer than his index finger while mine is almost the same. Hmm..pretty cool huh?

Has anyone taken this quiz? Do you agree with your results?

Islam

Islam.

Before you assume that this blog is a Muslim bashing post - take a deep breadth. Go get yourself a cup of coffee and start reading this post again. I, out of all people have deep respect for all religions or no religion. It doesn't matter to me what faith a person conforms to. Like many secular Indians, I have very good friends who are Muslims, I enjoy the sevaiyan on Eid. I love the amazingly delicious food that marks the entire month of ramzzan. I see myself no different from my muslims friends. We wear the same clothes, we sweat after the same superstars. No one can look at my Muslim friends and me and say for sure what are respective beliefs are.

But then this Sunday happened. I was going on and on about how I wish the partition had never happened. So that all these incidents would never happened. There would not have been the threat of an angry neighbor. But one of my friend, Aditya a.k.a Chintu, pointed out that in one way the separation was a good thing. Being a country with equal number of people of two very different religion would have torn the country apart. Politics would have been based on nothing but religion. And who knows, if democracy would be the same as it is today. ( India, though very young, is lauded for its democracy). He also pointed out that India and Pakistan. Both the countries have the same history. The same people. The only thing that differs is the religion. But look where India is and where Pakistan is today. This itself speaks for itself.

At first, when I heard my friend say these things, it didn't seem right to me. Its not prudent to say one's religion is superior that the other. But the more I thought about it, the more it felt right. There are so many religions in the world. No one has done so much damage to innocent people than the people of Islamic faith. Most of the Islamic countries have inherent domestic terrorism.

This is strange because in all the pre Independence books and movies, Muslims are shown as learned men. What happened then? I believe how religion affects a person's action boils down to how stringent the religion is. Hinduism has always been forgiving and has been changing or rather evolving over time. For e.g., the belief of untouchable(practiced by every high caste Hindu, a few decades ago) has almost nonexistent. However, Islamic Universities still continue to teach that Jews are pigs and monkeys. And that women and men must be stoned to death for committing adultery. Source.

In the article linked above, the author says "There is a certain schizophrenia among many Muslims who seem to believe that it is acceptable to teach hatred and violence in the name of their religion, while at the same time expecting the world to respect Islam as "a religion of peace, love and harmony." " Its very important for Islamic community to show that their religion does not harbor hatred and that their beliefs too can evolve with the times. Issues such as modernization of madrasas, abortion, birth control need to be studied and agreed upon by the entire community. ( I have heard from many that birth control is unholy in Islam but also have read that its legal).

Lastly, after the 26/11 Mumbai incident, there was one flicker of hope. The decision of the Indian muslim community not to allow the burial of the terrorist in India reinforced the message of democracy and secularism of India. It was a brave decision and it sent out the right message in those dire days. A article by Thomas Friedman

Kudos to the leadership of India's Muslim community. Its time to speak up. Not as muslims, not as Hindus but as very proud Indians.

Is it time for Atlas to shrug?

I was reading this article from the Economist today. Link. The article gives data that since the US government has taken (or tried to take) the economic reins into its hand, the sale for Ayn Rand's book "Atlas Shrugged" has gone up. People have been comparing today's scenario with the times mentioned in the book. Many are hailing the book because many small or privately owned banks have stood tall during this recession while many big and public banks have weathered. While many say that the world is inching towards a situation where innovators will not be rewarded (like the anti trust case on Microsoft which broke the company apart)

This really got me into thinking about what do I think about what's happening nowadays?
There are many points that I wanted to write about
1) Nationalization of banks
I do believe that fascism, socialism, communism kills competition and in turn kills innovation. But what should be done in this situation? Should the banks be allowed to fail or should government stimulate the banks with more tax payers money? Many people believe that banks should be allowed to fail and the tax payers money should be given back to the people. It makes sense but this solution is wrong in the long term. The main agenda for the government to bailout the banks is to stop the market from coming to a complete standstill. Imagine the scenario where the government allows the banks to fail. Millions of people lose their jobs and their savings. The price of commodities/markets comes down to pennies. Now if the government gives money to the people, what will most of the people do? Put the money under the mattress and save like there is no tomorrow. So there is very little market circulation, there is plenty of supply, no demand and therefore price of most of the things is worthless. Now, if the government bails out these banks, people still have job, people can take loans, make deposits and the whole money supply chain continues. therefore I think, in this dire situation in which no one knows the correct solution, it is worthwhile for the govt to bail out these banks. Of course, its prudent that these banks and auto companies don't misuse these funds to pay off bonuses. Talent should be rewarded but not from someone Else's pocket.
2) an Lassiez Faire economy: I do not believe in a total Lassiez Faire economy. I think there has to be regulation. Greed is a double edged sword. In the right people, it can bring immense benefit but in the wrong people it can bring great despair. I am not worried about the first group of people , its the second group for which regulation exists. And since all men must be treated equal, regulation must exist. The bigger question is how much? Make it little and its next to nothing and make it more and it becomes a pain in the ass. I think all regulations should follow the imperial model. As it grows, refine it and adjust it to suit the conditions. Of course there is no correct answer (if there was, we would be living as robots).
3) Big companies. If I started the company and it really hit it off well, should I allow it to grow very big? Like google? I think even if my company became a hit, I will not want to let it grow into a big company. There are many reasons. With big company, I will loose control. There will be many decisions that I will not make. But since the company is my baby, I will want to make all decisions. What will actually happen, only time will tell

US Types SSN for all Indians

Today Indian Govt has announced that its undertaking a massive task of issuing an ID card to each of its 1 billion citizens. I am sure this whole procedure is a huge administrative task and requires huge plannings. But if done successfully, it will be a very advantageuous in stopping identity theft.

Anoop Doogg Millionaire??

Okay, This is funny. I was reading about this guy, Anoop Desai, who for the uniformed is a contestant in the American Idol 8. Everyone seems to like his voice and many are saying that he has taken American Idol by storm. Not bad for a Geeky looking guy who went to American Idol in a pair of shorts and flip flops. (Some people are also saying that the "brown" folks are taking the world by storm. First Slumdog and now Anoop Dogg) and I was like duhh...If you are at work, take a look at your right or left and chances are that one of them most be a "brown" folk. We are slowly but steadily taking over the world!!

Anyways, coming back to Anoop, people have to make fun ....That's our nature. Someone came up with this image. Its hilarious actually .

Indian Politics - when will a new era come?

Indian politics has always disappointed me. But every time I start to criticize politicians, I ask myself, what have you done? I am 28 years old and have never voted. So i don't even have the right to criticize anyone. But every once in a while I read of some news that I fail to understand.

Today is one of those days. I read this news :I will pattern my political career on Obama: Sanjay Dutt. After reading this news, I couldn't help but laugh - at Sanjay Dutt and other Indian politicians. How can you claim something like this? Obama was a community organizer ever since he started his career. What have you done? (And only being UN's ambassador on malnutrition doesn't count). What tangible changes have you done?

I think this is enough. We as voters need to ask our representatives what issues are most important to them and what actions/ plans will they be undertaking to fulfill them. And "Taking BSP to new levels" (Agenda of Mayawati's party) is not a valid aspiration for a party. You need to tell us the exact issues.

Also, we the middle class and the upper middle class needs to perform our duties. We need to vote, we need to be the face for the questions that underprivileged people have. We have to start something great. We need to make sure that being a celebrity is not the only criteria to get into politics. We need to get more people like Gurucharan Das to get into governance. They may fail, ( like Manmohan Singh's puppet prime ministership) but its alteast a start.

Quotes from Jay Leno - absolutely hilarious

1. The US has made a new weapon that destroys people but keeps the
building standing. It's called the stock market - Jay Leno

2. Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are? Wall Street is now being
called Wall Mart Street - Jay Leno

3. The difference between a pigeon and a London investment banker. The
pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW.

4. What's the difference between a guy who lost everything in Las
Vegas and an investment banker? A tie!

5. The problem with investment bank balance sheet is that on the left
side nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left.

6. I want to warn people from Nigeria who might be watching our show,
if you get any emails from Washington asking for money, it's a scam.
Don't fall for it - Jay Leno

7. Bush was asked about the credit crunch. He said it was his favorite
candy bar - Jay Leno

8. The rescue bill was about 450 pages. President Bush's copy is even
thicker. They had to include pictures - Jay Leno

9. President Bush's response was to meet some small business owners in
San Antonio last week. The small business owners are General Motors,
General Electric and Century 21 - Jay Leno

10. What worries me most about the credit crunch is that if one of my
cheques is returned stamped 'insufficient funds', I won't know whether
that refers to mine or the bank's.

India is everywhere??

During the past few weeks, there has been a huge increase of "Indianess" on American TV. Today in the John Colbert Report, they had a new report called as "Paging Dr Mandhvi" that started with a song and dance sequence. In teh Colbert Report, Steven talked about India waging a war against New Zealand and imagining how would that be - with India's army dancing in the typical Bollywood/Tollywood style and New Zealand's army as "Lord of the ring".

To top that, the next advertisement was of some vitamin drink that showed bolloywwod style dancing and tabla music in the background.

Well, I am not stating that America is mystified with the Bollywood. Bollywood is seemingly the most silly thing that India represent. Americans fail to understand why on earth do we Indian's dance around trees in absolutely perfect synchronization. So if that is being displayed in the mainstream american media, then we know India has arrived. Yoga, Sandeep Cabarwal ( of the "We all walk in different shoes" fame from Kenneth Cole, Goa, Taj Mahal, Mumbai, Shilpa Shetty is already very well known in the world.

Though a few foreigners still imagine that Indians travel to work on elephants and its the land of snake charmers and other mystique, most of them have realized that India has arrived.

Mumbai Terror attack

Mumbai is in chaos now. Its very sad so see such events happeneing in India. I shudder to think what's going on in the mind of thousands of people who are out on the streets. Its events like these that tug at your heart and kill any hope that you have of going back to your country.

I was just discussing this with one of my collgues and I was like, ist impossible to do anthing in big cities like Mumbai, NY etc. The only difference is in the intelligence. India needs to invest in security and Intelligence.

Nowadays, I am reading a book by Gurucharan Das - India unbound. Each page in the books has so much information about the history of India - it amaze me. I was reading through the chapter where "The Green Revolution" is described and therefore i thought it was apt to blog about it.

1950s: Famine in India, a common occurrence.
1961: India on the brink of mass famine.
1980: India is one the of world's largest exporter of rice. Famine has not occurred since.

A number of events transpired between the 1950s to 1980's that made India self sufficient in food. It all began with the untimely death of Nehru, appointment of Lal Bahadur Shastri (creator the slogan of "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan and also the promoter of the "White Revolution") as Prime minister. Shastri was a modest man - he was home grown ( unlike idealists like Nehru/Gandhi) and feeding India was his first priority. He appointed a scientist, Swaminathan, as the Minister of Agriculture. Now, Swaminathan was a very learned man and he came across an invention of a Mexican variety of Wheat by Norman Borlaug that produced 5 times of a normal wheat crop. India imported 150 million of this variety of wheat (by chartering flights) and experimented with it in norther west regions like Punjab, Haryana etc where water and fertilizer was in abundance( a prerequisite for the crop). To the amazement of everyone, the same results as in Mexico was achieved in India and eventually, India was self sufficient in being able to feed its rapidly growing population.

Swaminathan's efforts are commendable especially since he had to loop through a number of bureaucratic hurdles to ensure the success of this project.
There was this line in the book that struck me "Indian democracy is not used to bold actions by its leaders". But Swaminathan was adamant. He also put forward a proposal, amid criticism, to raise the price of wheat. the reason he gave for this move was, " the farmers need some incentive to move from the normal wheat to the high yeilding variety. The policies have to be changed in conjuction to the change in technology". How right he was, especially in those days of socialism.


Moment of Zen:
Has it occurred to anyone of the irony that, when education was a privilege, many learned men and women would get into politics (Like Nehru, Gandhi) and be so effective in sharing their ideologies. But now, when education is a no more a privilege ( in the urban areas), mostly uneducated people get into politics?

Ambani brother's handshake spurs rally in market

Just yesterday, the headlines of TimesofIndia.com was how Advani had mediated the Ambani brothers to shake hands. My thoughts on reading the article was, WHAT? Why does that have to be a damn HEADLINE in a newspaper? Family feud,Family reunion are a common fact of life. Newspaperps should do a better job at reporting (maybe about how farmers in Nagpur, or anythign else that's important). Anyways, Today morning I was proved wrong (once again!!) The handshake by the Ambani brother's led to a rally in the stock market with the market gaining 464 points. WHOA!!! Lesson to be learnt, N is that the ambani's are not just another family. Together, their net worth is 6.10 billion $. So anything that they do , is IMPORTANT. For e.g, if they sneeze, an epedemic may occur. If they brush their teeth with "Oral B Sonic" , the sales of teh brush will multiply.So at the end of the day, N. Never doubt the ambani brothers.


Today's Moment of Zen:
Money is the source of all evils. This has happened in the past..(Ambani Brothers) Its very sad but it has happened in my family and if the past is a precendent, it will continue to happen always.

This and That....

Democrats ask Automakers to prepare a plan in 12 days that describes how they will spend the aid money and what steps they will take to take the auto industry out of this mess.
My view: I think that the auto industry needs to be saved. The entire detroit and michigan area depends on them and everyone will be bankrupt. By providing aid to the industry, the govt is not only saving these companies but also its employees and hence the small businesses and the people

On another note: the rate at which the stock market is spirallying down is really scaring me now. My portfolio is at 50% loss. Though I am not much bothered about teh portfolio( well, it will get back to green, in maybe 5 years??) , i am concerned about the panic it is creating in the market. There are layoffs everywhere. The job market has practically frozen (esp in the tri state area) and teh jobless claims is at a 16 year high. Citi has announced layoffs of 53000 people. Freaking 50000. How will they run that mammoth of a company? JPMorgan is about to layoff 10% of its IB division. There is mayhem everywhere.

And in these moments, a feeble mind turns towards solace. Listen to this and I promise you it will bring a smile on your lips.Interview With God


My Moment of Zen today :
Today I went to a popular Thai restaurent, Village for lunch. Usually the place is crowded and has a minimum 30 mins waiting period. Today, the place was empty. We were the only ones in teh restaurent , that too at 12:30 which is when all the employees from the sveral corporate buildings go out for lunch. The reason is obvious. Most of these buildings are running at 50% (or less?) capacity nowdays and many have started packing there lunch from home ( the refrigerator on my floor is full). This is what is called as the trickle effect. When the "greedy" corporates go bust, its not only the employees who suffer but all the several small business owners who depend on them. And that is why I think the 700$+ billion bailout is neccessary - because its not only bailing out the corporates but all the people in turn.
Update: The senate has just passed a "extened" jobless benefit bill that will benefit those who have been jobless for more than 7 weeks. I wonder how much the US treasary is worth :D