Irresponsible politics

Recently Sushma Swaraj of the BJP said that the terrorist attacks that happened were part of a conspiracy of the congress to shift the attention of the people from the "cash for vote" scandal. That was an absolutely irresponsible and uncalled for statement from a relatively senior politician. That was a kind of statement that could create communal violence.

Well I am not going to question the validity of her accusation. It may or may not be right, but come on, give me a break. I don’t think any political party in India would put the citizens of the country at harms way for such an insignificant matter. With only a few months left for the parliament to conclude the chances of that scam to be solved/settled were very less. The reason why I felt that the comment was so outrageous was that, the logic behind that was so stupid and ridiculous. If she had said that the congress is behind the attacks because it wants to undermine the BJP lead state governments so that it can win the upcoming elections, it would have looked a bit more viable.

I am pretty sure that she didn’t mean to start any communal riots with the statement of hers. It was just plane old dirty politics to get more votes. People from the BJP have been making similar volatile comments in the past and party had faced a lot of criticism and embarrassment. I remember either Venkayya Naidu or Arun Jaitley saying in a press conference that the population of Muslims have increased a lot and the Hindu population has not increased correspondingly and hence Hindus should try to increase there population so that normalcy can be maintained. Similar outrageous statements were made by L K Advani on the Babri Masjid, and how can one forget Narendra Modi. The one positive that I found among these people were, even though they had done crimes for which they can never be forgiven, they have learned from their mistakes and have refrained from making statements that could lead to riots.(not included Sushma Swaraj). Even if Muslims still face a hard time in Gujrat, Modi is doing all that he can to clear his name and ensure that he is taking a comparatively more secular stand.

The antics of the BJP is nothing compared that to what Raj Thackery and the Shiva Sena do in Maharashtra. They have this obsession with the word "Mumbai" and everything Marata. They take up insignificant issues such as valentines day or westernization of the state and act as its moral police. Right now Raj Thackery is over shadowing the Shiva Sena in terms of violence caused. His aim is simple, to get more and more marata votes and for that he will use any means necessary, including violating the basic human rights and the Indian constitution. To a certain extend I can understand his point about Mumbai getting overcrowded with non Maratis, but Mumbai is what it is now because of such a culture. Not quite sure why he doesn’t have much of a problem with outsiders occupying other parts of Maharastra. Him being adamant over the word "Mumbai", ordering all films not to use the word "Bombay" and asking Bombay dieing to change its name to Mumbai dieing is quite outrageous and unconstitutional. The kind of hate he is spreading misguides his supporters. Even though i agree that the "marata" cause is important, to cause violence in that name is not acceptable. Raj Thackery is trying to eat into the Shiva Sena vote bank and for that he is creating all this havoc.

Getting voters on its side is what all political parties should do, but to adopt any means to do so is not right. Just like business ethics is given a lot of importance these days, lot of emphasis should be given to political ethics. I believe that the Indian voter get more mature and reject all unethical, immoral ways political parties use to come into power. Its quite sad that in the land of the Mahatma people find that only violence is the answer to any problem.

AIDS in India

I was watching a public awareness ad on TV regarding AIDS. A boy wanted to get some action with a girl and the whole theme about the ad was surrounded around saying no to sex. The girl was saying I am young but not stupid, you should have the guts to say no. Even if that was not an exact description about the ad it is more or less what they were trying to say. Even though they were trying to do a good thing, I believe the way AIDS awareness is being handled is wrong /inaccurate(in India).

Go and ask a 10th standard student about how AIDS spread. The answer that 90% of the students will give will be either it spreads to sexual contact or it spreads if you have multiple sexual partners. Even though this answer seems right its only half the truth. In fact its incorrect. AIDS does not spread if you have sexual contact nor will it spread if you have multiple sexual partners. It will only spread from one infected person to another through various ways including sexual contact. I do not know how other countries and going about informing people about AIDS, but in India, as we have a conservative culture I think people are trying to use the fear of AIDS as a way through which they can prevent premarital sex.

Having premarital sex may or may not be right, but to give false information and have things done your way is not right. I asked a few of my classes mates how AIDS spread. Quite a few of them actually thought if one had sex with many partners they will get AIDS. They were under the impression that you were supposed to have sex with just one partner. If engineering college students think like that god knows what the rest think.

Even in schools, in exams when they are asked the question how AIDS spread; the students write "through sexual contact" and get full credit for it. Luckily I had a good science teacher who corrected us when we wrote the same response for the question.

Most of the AIDS campaigns surrounds around not having multiple partners or not having premarital sex. I believe in doing so the public is getting misguided. You won’t get AIDS if you have premarital sex nor will you get AIDS if you have sex with multiple partners. You won’t get AIDS if you have sex without condoms with a person who does not have AIDS. AIDS is a dangerous disease, but people must get their facts right. Because of such misguided campaigns people are afraid to have premarital sex and have other false information about AIDS.

More importance should be given to the actual ways in which AIDS can spread. The fact that it can only spread from one infected person to another should be stressed upon more. Use of condoms is a good thing, but even if you do not use it when you are with a person without the virus you won’t get the disease. As getting AIDS through sexual contact is under our control, more importance should be given to it.Students in schools should be informed properly. All the ways through which they can get AIDS and ways through which they cannot get should be explicitly stated to them and not left to their interpretation of various sentences.

Getting AIDS through infected needles are being reduced by the way the syringes are being made. Getting it through blood transfusion is not exactly in ones control. Hence I believe that the Ads (prevention of AIDS) are made with a good intention but unfortunately they sometimes tend to mislead the public. If the school teachers are trained to properly inform the students I believe a lot of misnomers will be gone. The only way that people will get accurate information about the disease is that they get it in the grass root level.

PS: Just to clear the air, I do not have a girl friend nor am i writing this because some girl refused to have sex with me. Thought that people are getting their facts wrong :P

Am I doing the right thing ?

Even though I had promised myself that I won’t be writing any personal blogs, after getting loads of advice and opinions from concerned well wishers and bystanders, I thought that I should contemplate my decision here.

I just finished my final year of engineering and hopefully I wont have to write anymore exams under Kerala University. Last year I attempted CAT and after the exam was over I knew i got screwed or i screwed it up big time. The answer I gave when people asked me how did it go was that, I got gang raped over and over and over again for 2 hours 30 minutes. When the results came, I felt that to say that I was gang raped was an understatement. I was expecting the worst and what came was worse than the worst. It was like getting AIDS, herpes, gonorrhea, and various other STD's after getting gang raped and then finding that I would be the first male to give birth to a child. In the various other exams i fared decently. Not good enough to get into a good B school but was quite ok.

Now I had 3 options after passing out, join a software company or repeat my MBA exams or do both. Joining a software company and just settling down was not an option for me. Almost all my seniors who joined companies have told me 2 things. One that they are fed up of their lives, second that "MBA its now or never". Even if I ignore the second statement the fact that most of them hate their jobs and me being in that position was not something that I was looking forward to. To work and prepare for my exams seems quite impossible. It’s like trying to be good at two completely different and complicated things at the same time. I would reach home by 6 then be all tired and you know the rest. So I logically came to the conclusion that I got to repeat my MBA without going for any job.

Now is my decision right or wrong? People have been telling me, its a huge risk. if you do not get this time what are you going to do? You did not perform well last time what makes you think you can do well this time out? If you have work experience you will have an edge during the interviews. My parents were worried at first and I think they still are but are not showing it out.

The fact that I want to do an MBA shows that I got brains in my head. I know what i am doing is a huge risk. I know that there is absolutely no guarantee that I would get into a good B school this time out. Going for a job would be the easiest thing to do right now. You don’t have to study anything, you get paid for the work you do. You can party, do all kinds of stuff. I decided I did not want the easy way out. The fact that I am in touch with studies at the present moment and I would be more or less totally blank 2 years from now kind of went in favor of me repeating. The whole situation is filled with if's. If I go for a job I might grow roots there and would never do an MBA or 2 years down the road I might quit my job and prepare for MBA. Either way what I am doing now seems far less risky than the other options that I have. If you are wondering what all the fuss is about MBA to just clear the air, for having any kind of success in the corporate world you need an MBA, unless of course you are an exceptional person, which I might be but am not willing to bank on that.

Now I have taken a decision and there is no going back. Is my decision right? I do not know and do not think that any one can tell that. No one can ever know what would have happened if i had gone for the job. I might have become a millioner in a year or I might have quit and went for sanyas in the Himalayas. I have taken a decision and I got to stick by it. I may or may not get into a good B school. What i have got to do is give it my all. After that things are not in my hand. I do not want to be in a situation in which I would say to my self, if only I had done that.

So in general I would like to say. Take your own decisions, be responsible for it. Never regret any of the decision you have made for your on interest (by this I do not mean that if you think killing a man is good for you, you should do that). Do not worry too much about failures, better have them now than 20 years from now (you got to learn from them though :P). As they say failure is the stepping stone to success. Individual failures will be insignificant when you look at the larger scheme of things.

Population 436

You could consider this as a creepy movie. You can not consider this as a horror movie as such as there are not many seens which will scare the living hell out of you.
The story is about a village whose population always remains a constant436. A census officer goes there to update the records and gets into all kind of trouble. He tries to figure the customs of the village and gets to know how screwed up that place is.
This is one creepy movie. Its definitely worth a watch

The declining state of Indian media

Yesterday I was surfing through the news channels; saw a report on headlines today about a man in an accident. A rod had passed through the man and he was still alive and breathing. I have seen a similar story in Replies believe it or not. Even though I d not have much of an impression about headlines today, I thought that showing it was not such a bad idea. Most of the other channels did not feature this report and to an extend it was an interesting piece of news. Then on every time when I stopped at headlines today while I was surfing the channels I found that they were showing this report. At night they even went to the extend of reenacting the whole incident.

You could forgive the fact that this particular news channel has amateur reporters if they at least tried to report something sensible. A main stream news channel should be clear about its purpose of being a news channel. Its job is to keep the public informed about important matters that affects the public. It should bring to light issues that require the attention of the government and the general public. Other than the main stream news channels we have sports news channels, entertainment news channels, various entertainment channels and the job of these channels is to entertain the general public. News channels should not try and take the place of these channels. I remember Cyrus Broacha's comment when he was asked about the various innovations that cricket channels are bringing in during its match analysis, the idea of adding spic into cricket. What he said was when he watches the analysis he wants to know about the technical details about the match said by some cricketer, not what a beautiful 20 year old woman has to say. Channels like MTV are there to give the viewers beautiful women and spice. Cricket channels shouldn’t try and do that. I agree with every word that he says.

Similarly news channels try and dilute its content. The content that headlines today present is appalling. The 50 odd days in which Mr Rajesh Talwar was in jail, each day they used to enact the murder and do all kinds of non sense. Rakhi Savent is another of their favorites. Every day when you switch the channel one ridiculous thing or the other will be there. The madness is endless, breaking news about Saif and Kareena fighting, controversy about Bipasha and Ronaldo kissing, the ridiculous stunts that they pulled when Harry Potter was released. The list goes on and on. Not to mention their ridiculous "sting" operations. One could argue that if I have that much problem with a channel I should stop watching it. But that’s not the point here. I do agree that news channels should do what it takes to get more TRP, but to steep to this level is not acceptable. Showing such news reports once in a while is nice, but to over do it and make that the only thing that is shown in the channel is quite a waste.

I am quite sad that channels like headlines today are forgetting why they came into the news business on the first place. Each channel will have a set of audience and the channel should ensure that it keeps its viewers well informed about relevant matters. Channels like headlines today are failing to do the duties of a news channel. Labeling them as news channels is a disgrace. I really hope that the channel goes bankrupt. Their reporters are worse than teenagers amateur reporters, the content nothing but distasteful and their ad which takes a hit on most news channels is quite unethical and immoral. All journalists belong to the same group and should have mutual respect. I really pray to god that it goes off air sooner rather than later. I do admit that it has many viewers; even my parents sit and watch it. The question you go to ask yourself is that, are they really showing the news?

Nuclear deal text

Link to the full text of the 123 agreement between India and the US given in the official website of the ministry of external affairs

CLICK HERE

The link takes you directly to the MEA website

Indian and the world

My 10th standard History teacher was teaching about world history ( something that happened 6-7 years back). NAM(Non Alignment Movement) came up. NAM countries , founded by Nehru of India, Sukarno of Indonesia and Tito of Yugoslavia(mainly), are countries which during the cold war period did not support either the USA or Russia. This does not tell us about the entire working of NAM but a part of the motivation of NAM was to have a set of countries which were independent of USA and erstwhile USSR. After saying this, he added. I will tell you a secreat, do not tell any one. Even though India was a NAM country it secretly supported USSR and some other country supported the US(not quite sure which country it was ). I mentioned this to stress upon the relationship between India and USSR.

India and Russia/USSR were virtually allies since India's independence. USSR provided us with technology and other military equipments and a moral support in all international matters. On our part we provided them with food. Russia is a country with which India has had an excellent relationship with. Russia has always supported every international endeavor of India. We used to buy military equipments from them. One thing which any sensible person will tell you is that, never leave a friend for another friend nor never pay less attention to an old and faithful friend when you get a new friend. Russia is our old friend. We should not try and improve our relations with US at the cost of Russia. Even though Russia is currently not as big a supper power as it used to be, Russia still has a big say in the world. If not anything its ethically not right on our part to ditch an old and faithful alley of ours for a new one.

The recent pro US statements by various Indian officials can be considered equivalent to backstabbing. Bilateral relationship with Russia is at an all time low. We have been neglecting Russia for a getting a better deal with the US. Its not just Russia that we have neglected. We have always had a good relationship with Iran and Iraq. Unfortunately because of our fascination with the US those relationships are also getting weak. India is trying to achieve an impossible balancing act. India wants to have good relation ship with all the countries. India is trying to take political diplomacy to an all new level.

From personal experience and various global events, its next to impossible to be a friend to all. 999 times out of 1000 if you try to have such a balancing act the result is going to be that most countries would think that India has a weak foreign policy and its only aim is to prosper using other countries. India should have a strong foreign policy. It should not change according to India's needs. Either India should go with the US, and when i say go with the US it should have a similar relation with the US as NATO or she should have a neutral relation with the US at the same time re kindling its old ties with Russia and various other countries. Its quite hard to have an ally like relationship with both the USA and Russia.

I agree that USA is a great country. Its the current super power. The reservation I have with having a close relationship with the US is that it will be like a traditional Indian marriage, with India being the bride and the US the groom. India will be forced to dance to the tune of the US. That's the impression that I get when i look at the present situation between the US and its various allies. US is a super power and it will do everything it can to ensure that it retains the title for as long as possible. Hence we should be really cautious when we go in for strengthening ties with the US even though it might be the need of the hour.

Strengthening ties with other countries is far less risky. The whole situation is like making an IPL team. Should you spend large and go for the big guns or should you be selective and chose utility players. Its a very tricky situation and is one which needs a lot of thought. The only thing i have to say that we have to ensure that we do not do anything to upset out old friends at the same time should make sure that India does not lag behind when compared to other countries in the world.

Indians and NRI's

What is it with Indians and the people of Indian origin who live in other parts of the world? When ever a NRI or a person who is 1/512th Indian does some thing remotely significant, the entire Indian media goes gaga about the person. Since the media goes gaga it’s just a matter of time before the Indian public goes gaga over them. You can see various shows on the person. How a person of Indian origin achieved this and that. When I see the entire nation going gaga over some person whose only relation to India is that his great great grandfather was born in India and stayed here till he was 8 months old, one question comes to my mind. Are all of us out of our minds?

I can think of two logical explanations for this phenomenon. One is that we want to inspire the Indians. We want to show them that Indians can do anything. As a developing country we need to inspire the nations so that we can become a developed country. But do we really have to inspire people with stories about people who are 1/512^th Indian. Countless examples come into my mind. Sunitha Williams, Kalpana Chawala, spelling bee winners in the US, sports men in other countries, etc. I think there are plenty of Indians who live in India, whose stories can motivate us. Why makes stars of people who has got nothing to do with India. I am by no means downplaying their achievement, but it has nothing to do with India and hence I believe a bit too much importance is given to them. If the media searches inside India they would find plenty of examples of inspirational stories.

The second reason that I can think of is that we what to shout to the world that we are no less than any one. We want to tell them we are good in every field and we are a force to be reckoned with. It’s high time that we stopped doing that. We have been telling the world about ourselves for quite some time now. We should ensure that instead of ourselves bragging about India, the world must talk about us.

I do agree that NRI’s at one point of time was directly or indirectly related to India. But to be quite honest I don’t believe that we had anything to do with their success. It’s like a person donating sperm, finds out who bought his sperm, and then finds out that the grandchild of the child that was born using that sperm has won the Noble and the sperm donor taking credit for the success of that person. In short it’s quite ridiculous. It gives one the impression that we don’t have any successful person in India and we are so desperate that we try and look at all the successful people in the world and if they are related to India in one way or other we would try and take credit for it. (I remember a story during the 1999 or 2003 football world cup about Michele Oven being an Indian). My humble request is that don’t make act like fools. Be proud of being an Indian and of the success of other Indians. Do not try and take credit for matters where we don’t deserve any credit.

Secular Communal Divide

Since the previous elections the main election issue of the UPA and the left is "to ensure that the communal forces do not come into power". I know that the BJP follows the hindutwa ideology. Supporters might argue that hindutwa is not a religious ideology, its a way of living or something in these lines, but to be quite honest, as a non Hindu, I have the impression that hindutwa represents a Hindu religious ideology and fear the fact that there will be religious intolerance if the BJP comes in power. Even if the BJP and their supporters disagree with me its there job to ensure that I feel safe with them being around. With their past track record and their carefree press conferences they have done themselves no favors.

I agree that the BJP has a "communal" image. Most of their elections have been fought on the basis of its Hindutwa ideology, but is it right/wise on the part of other parties to make all elections a competition between the communal forces and the secular forces? Personally I believe that it will start a dangerous trend. Even if the BJP wants to be a secular or a party whose main ideology is not hindutwa they wont be able to do so as a major chunk of its vote bank are the Hindu hardliners and if they try modifying their ideology to a more secular one the hardliner vote might get diverted and the secular voters who already have a bad image of the BJP wont vote for them.

I personally believe that if not for their stand on hindutwa BJP is quite a good party. Unfortunately the BJP is left with no choice but to follow that path. Most of the secular/ non Hindu vote goes to the UPA/Left and various other parties, the only people in India with not much political representation are the Hindus which the BJP target. If the political parties separate BJP as a communal party they would have no choice but to fight election on the basis of religion. Even though this is happening now, the danger of this communal secular divide is that it will force the BJP to take a harder stand on its hinduwta agenda which will be quite bad for the country once they come in power.

I hate the current political situation in India. Parties just know to oppose each other and their focus is on belittling the opposition not the betterment of their constituency or country. I am not saying that the BJP does everything in a moral way. I just felt that there was too much emphasis given on this "communal secular divide". Making religion as an election statement is never good. If you consider all the political parties as companies selling their products, the UPA and the left are saying is that, the reason why people should buy their product is not because its good but because the BJP's is bad and that’s not a good way to market your product.

For India to progress many thinks need to happen and one of those things is that political parties should be more responsible and work for the development of the nation rather than coming into power. Even though we are the largest democracy in the world we need to learn many things from other democracies. The situation here is not hopeless but there is scope for improvement, which is need for us to become a super power.

The Invasion

Are we being invaded? Recently I have been reading/viewing reports of Russians settling in a particular region of Goa, and these Russians have a strong link with the Russian Mafia. There are reports of Bangladeshis occupying various parts of India and living in colonies. So are Nepalese, people from various other countries and these people have strong links with the mafias of various countries. Goa and various other tourist destinations in India is turning out to be a major hub for all the bad things.

As an Indian should I be concerned about people from various countries migrating into India? After all we can find Indians all over the world. I do not mind if people from other countries settle in India. The problem arises when they settle as groups. The same is true for Indians also. If the settlement is on the basis of some religious or nationality, then trouble is just around the corner. Take the example of the US, there you can find places where the migrant population has taken over various parts of the country. There are pockets where the Italians are strong and of course with the Italians there would be the Italian mafia. Similarly there would be Russian (Russian mafia), Chinese, Mexican, Colombian pockets. There are places where the blacks are more in number (no racism intended). These regions account for a large majority of crimes that happen in the US, ranging from drug trafficking, prostitution, extrosion, murder etc. The locals wont be able to enter these regions nor will any one from another group. There will be intra and inter gang wars which always leads to bloodshed. Right now the situation there is much better. In the early 70's and 80's the US government had absolutely no control over these people and the area they occupied. Only after a series of crack downs could they bring some normalcy. The situation is not still ideal there. Various diplomatic issues will arise when the police crack down on these pockets. America can be viewed as a country with many mini countries inside it. People in different groups consider each other to be enemies. In short there are many wars going on within America.

Allowing people to make groups and live is asking for trouble. People would be forced to live like animals, they would have to mark their territory, outsiders will try and control the territory and the Alfa males in the territory will defend it till they die. I believe that India should take note of what has happened in other countries and take appropriate action. I don’t think we should restrict people from settling here because we do that all the time and there is no need for that. What we need to ensure is that mini nations are not formed inside India. Many mini nations have popped up mainly in Goa, Jammu and various other tourist destinations. Handling this is a tricky situation but for the national interest we should so something about it. One possible solution is that our immigration department should be as strict as it is in other countries. Most of these foreigners are illegal immigrants. So for a start we should try implementing various laws that we have in this country. If this is done the chances of colonies popping up is reduced to a great extend. Various amendments can be made to the existing laws to prevent this from happening.

Living on the basis on certain ideologies is a dangerous thing. We have seen many riots because of this. If there are communal riots, Hindus will burn down a Muslim village and vice versa. Lot of these burnings could have been avoided if there was no separate village for the Hindus and Muslims. We can not stop the Hindus and Muslims or for that matter Indians of the same religion from living together as a group as the constitution gives the citizens on India to live where ever they want to. On the other hand we have more control over the settlements of the immigrants. Hence we should do every thing that we can to avoid various foreign mafias to take over various pockets in India. Various mafias having a stake in India is not good news. Until now we had to only deal with the Naxils, Mumbai's underworld and a few other groups. Just with these groups our police and various other security agencies are running out of ideas to tackle them. Even the notion of military intervention has been going around. Imagine the situation if along with these groups we have to deal with various highly organized mafia who are known to be more lethal than the underworld. This issue currently is not in the limelight. The sooner we realize the seriousness of the issue the better it is for the country and its citizens.

jane tu ya jaane na

Before going to any Hindi movie, I lower my expectations and brace myself for a new low in cinematic experience. The same happened with this movie. This movie is not as stupid as most Hindi movies are. The chance of you getting bored or feeling like running way is very less. Most people wont have any difficulty sitting through the entire movie. It is quite entertaining. Unlike the various "comedy" films in bollywood one would definitely have some laughs here.

Coming to the story. Well its nothing new. The whole movie has been copied/"inspired" from various other movies. The whole naration of the movie by the friends of the leading characters to an outsider has been copied from at lest two movies (if my memory is right, chalte chalte). The whole concept of a boy and gal cant just be friends is the backbone of most movies in the Hindi film industry. The whole story looks quite a lot familiar to a Malayalam movie called "niram". Every thing in this movie is very predictable, which is how it should be in these types of movies. People see these movies to rekindle their dreams and the movies is supposed to make its viewers wish their lives would be similar to the ones of the characters in the movie. I thought that the role played by the Khan brothers was quite wasteful. It felt like the write was short of ideas and to make the movie long enough they were added. There are numerous other flaws in the film, but you will tend to forgive that because of the whole innocent nature of the film. The ending was horrendous though. About a 100 police officers chasing Imran Khan around an airport, under the impression that he is a terrorist, and not shooting at him with the 100's of guns they had. I could go on saying about that damn ending but it will never be enough. The whole seen was very distasteful, again it seemed like something to just give the movie an appropriate length.

I found the actors in the movie to be quite decent. They could give the present set of actors a run for their money. Most of them are relatively new hence I do not think they did a bad job. All the guys can only get better from here.

Coming back to the movie, I wonder why people make movies which are the exact copy of other movies or bits and pieces of other movies. It is just a waste of resources. It would be better off seeing the original. This movie is a good example of a lack of creative talent in the Hindi film industry. I would say, if u are just looking for a few laughs go for the movie. There is nothing creative or new about this movie, very predictable, just the same old friendship/love story. There is nothing that you can take back after you see the movie. Unfortunately this is one of the better Hindi movies that has been released in this year, which tells something about the industry.

NUMB3RS

Its my time to be a critic now. I always wanted to do it. I am not much of a movie watcher but I watch a lot of English dram and sitcoms. So let me transform my wasteful habit into something productive.

Numbers, directed by Tony and Ridley Scott, tries to tell us about a new concept in crime solving. Here the FBI solves crimes with the help of Maths. The series revolves around an FBI agent Don Eppes who along with his team solves various crimes with the help of his brother Charley Eppes who happens to be a genius in Maths. It tries to introduce a new concept in crime solving to its viewers but i find it being done in a lackluster way. I do agree that mathematics can be used to solve crime to a certain extend but the way in which its depicted makes us believe that a mathematicians job is very simple. When ever a crime pops up, Charley has a magic algorithm put in place or or just gets an algorithm out of thin air within hours. The sheer magnitude of various mathematical problems are hidden from the viewer. The set of various databases they have is kind of absurd. It gives us the impression that crime solving is very easy. I guess most such TV shows are like that.

Along with the crime solving emphasis is given on the various interpersonal relationships. Its not an "in your face " kind of drama, but an effort is made to mix drama with crime solving. In certain episodes FBI agent Colby gets emotional with what happened to him in Afghanistan, which i think is quite needless. There are many needless ethical issues raised in various episodes.

With all its drawbacks Numb3rs is not by any stretch of the imagination a bad series. It is an entertainer. I would say a time pass. Even though its quite hard to find out the direct link between advanced maths and crime solving one can view it as any other crime series. Its sure worth a watch. Its neither critically acclaimed nor does it have a huge fan base. I would rate it as an average series which is quite watchable.

Break the rulz!!

I am from Kerala and hence this post is mainly based on what goes around in Kerala. I am not too sure what is the situation like in other parts of India but from what I hear it’s much worse. I would like to start off by asking a simple question. If rules are meant to be broken, then why have them at all?

There are numerous rules in India/Kerala, some may not make any sense at all and some might be very meaningful. Regardless of the sensibility of a rule, the rule has been formed so that people abide by it. The punishment that can be given out for breaking a rule is given along with the rule. I do not know what the problem of the police is, but they just do not care if rules are followed or not. I am not talking about major crimes like murder or rape. The lesser crimes, breaking of traffic rule and various other rules. Even though these rule are not that serious, they are broken the most and maintaining them is essential for the smooth functioning of society. After all because of lack of implementation of these rules all of us have suffered a number of times. All of us have been stuck in traffic because of a car parked in a no parking zone, or how many accidents have occurred due to over speeding or breaking traffic rules and dont get me started on the transport buses and they way they stop at different bus stops. Its not like people bribe the police so that they do not get caught. A bribe will cost more than the actual fine that they have to pay.

There is this helmet rule in Kerala, even though its absurd, because the law thinks the life of the person sitting in the front is more important that that of the person sitting on the back, but having said that, a law is a law. Same is the case with the seat belt law. The police come out once in a blue moon and checks and selectively catches people. There are so many traffic violations happening in Kerala. People park in front of no parking signs, break the traffic signals, overtake from the wrong side, over speed etc etc etc. Why is the police so reluctant to charge these rule breakers?

Most states in India are virtually bankrupt. The police to people ratio in India is horrible. By getting fines from the rule bakers, every state can open 100 new police stations. More officers can be added. Even if the money does not go to the government, with that money lot of development can be done in the police force. They can buy new firearms, vehicles, shields, etc. Why do they have this much hesitancy in fining people. I can understand if they are getting bribes to do so, but they are not.

If you have a law makes sure you implement it. There are laws in Kerala which prohibits smoking in public places; another law prohibits spitting in public places. Should these laws be there is a totally different question. When a law is made, the law makers should make sure that the people are informed about these laws and the punishment for breaking these laws through various mediums. Once that is done with they should implement these laws strictly. If they have no plan to do so then why make the law in the first place? Making a law just for the sake of making new ones is very useless and waste of the tax payer's money.

This is one of the main difference between the west and us. There the traffic laws and various other laws and implemented properly. They have enough police officers for the implementation of these laws. Here even if a fight breaks out it will take ages for the police to get to the seen and even if they get there, they will be completely out numbered and they wont have any proper protection/equipment to handle the situation. There are not enough police officers patrolling the streets. When you venture out at night its quite hard to find a police jeep patrolling the streets.

If these laws are implemented properly the situation in our country will improve to a great extend. There will be lesser traffic accidents. The roads will be much more safer. In general there will be greater order in the cities. Hence i believe that law enforcement agencies should be more alert and do their job with greater efficiency. What more motivation does one need than a better and highly advanced working environment, better pay and better safety?

Twisted Justice??

I really do not understand the justice systems prevailing in various countries. The whole judicial system is based on the principle that once an offender has committed a crime, he is send to jail so that when he comes out of his jail term he becomes a better person and can lead a normal life. I am not saying that the concept is right or wrong, but that’s the concept. That’s why people are sent to jail. That is one of the reasons why people are opposing the death penalty. But is the whole system hypocritical?

In the US and in most countries, finger prints, DNA etc of the convicts are stored and if at another crime seen if any trace of a former felon is found, then he/she would automatically be the prime suspect. If some crime happens and if a formal criminal is present in the neighborhood, then regardless of the evidence he/she becomes the prime suspect. In the US all sex offenders are registered. They are not supposed to live anywhere within 1000 yards of schools and other places where children can be found. When they move into a new locality all the neighbors would be notified about him. If the judicial system is do damn sure that if a sex offender comes any where close to a child, its almost certain that he would take advantage of the child, they why release the offender on the first place? To ensure that the police force doesn’t get bored! Aren’t jails and other centers constructed so that they can keep in trouble makers and make it outside world a lot safer?

If that’s the case I find two things wrong with the judicial system. First the judicial system works on the assumption that when a convict is freed, the chance of him committing another crime is very high. Hence I believe that the quantum of punishment and the severeness of punishments should increase. If you vandalize property, you would be given a hefty fine, which for most people is pocket cash. If you rob a bank, you would be send to 3-5 years in jail, which the appropriate time to plot another bank robbery. Unless a punishment acts as a strong deodorant there is no point in having the punishment. The punishment should bring a sense of fear in the minds of people. What people lose by getting caught should outweigh the benefits the person gets out of the crime by a huge margin.

The second problem I see with the judicial system is that even after a person pays his dues to the society, the tag of "criminal" still remains with the person. Like in the case of a sex offender, he has to go through a lot of formalities before he can do something. Many posts require its holders, not to have any criminal record. I can understand people preferring a person with no criminal over some one with a record, but I don’t understand the logic behind disqualifying a person because of his criminal record. That just downplays or overrides the whole purpose of achieving reforms by sending a person to jail. To say that a person is send to jail so that he can rectify his mistakes and then when he comes out he can have a new beginning and then when he comes out take away most of the person’s normal life is quite hypocritical.

I know that changing any system is next to impossible. I am not saying that the judicial system should be changed. I just do not get the whole idea of the various punishments given, the reason for giving punishments, the life of a person after his term ends. People say that after a jail term is over, the person is given a second chance to live. Life becomes very hard for them. In fact the present circumstances encourage former convicts to step into bigger crimes. I am just a confused person trying to make sense of the judicial system

The Nuke deal

We are hearing a lot about the nuclear deal between India and the US these days. The left pulling support, BJP calling for no confidence motion, the Prime Minister getting emotional, Sonia Gandhi looking for a compromise, this that and what not. I am not going to get into the technicalities of the deal, as a lot have been said about the deal and I am not too sure about the entire details about the deal. I am just going to say what I feel is happening and what I feel should happen.

Is this deal good for India? Well right now India is struggling to meet its energy demands. Almost all the state run electricity boards are almost bankrupt and most states do not have the resources to buy power from the center. There are private players in this sector and they are working in a satisfactory manner. Our energy needs can’t be met with these alone. The future lies in nuclear energy and without which there is no way in hell that we can move forward. To have a double digit growth energy is vital.

The present nuclear deal between India and the US is the best that India can get. It’s basically now or never. If the deal slips through two things are likely to happen. One, India's credibility in the world will be tarnished, which in turn will affect other international deals. Secondly the next US government would not be as kind to us as the present US government. They would at the very least make modifications to the deal or scrap it all together. So if people are expecting a better bargain then they are living in a world of their own.

If the deal is good why are the political parties all up in arms against it? The answer is very simple. Politics! Had the BJP been in power they would have gone through the deal with out any hesitation. The left, well they got serious issues. The communist in India are confused about their ideology. So as of now, their strategy is to oppose anything that is related to the US or the west, or any price rise without thinking about the need or benefit of the issue. So there is no surprise that they are opposing it. The little vote bank that they have in the country they are trying to retain it with an anti US stand and other ridiculous tactics.

In a democracy, the job of the opposition is to oppose and that’s the only reason why many parties are against the deal. This is the sad truth about the Indian democracy. This is the best system that we have and have to live with it until we find a better solution. The opposition will oppose anything that the government puts forward without thinking about the larger consequence of their actions. Our Democracy lacks strong men/women who would set politics aside and do what is best for the nation. There is no way that there can be any compromise when it comes to the nuclear deal. It’s way too late for that now. Even if the opposing parts believe in the nuclear deal, they can’t change their stand now as it will have severe consequences.

What’s the way forward? Right now I am pretty much neutral in terms of politics; do not support any political party as of now. If the congress goes ahead with the deal, and there is a strong chance of that happening, I would definitely be supporting congress in the next elections. It will give the congress a strong character, which quite frankly it lacks now. So according to me the congress should have a, screw the left kind of attitude, and move forward with the deal. The alliance with the left was a disaster waiting to happen from the beginning. The left will have to withdraw support. They won’t have any other choice. It does not matter if the elections happen in November or when the term of the government finishes, the congress is not going to come in power next time out, nor will most of its alleys. I do not see the government bringing down inflation in this term and I guess they know that too. I would not say that they have done a bad job, but they are a party which was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Early elections or late elections, the left is screwed any way. The only reason why the left had this much power during this term is because of their performance in West Bengal and Kerala, which this time out won’t come any way close to last time. It will certainly lose out in West Bengal and the congress will gain a few more seats than last time out in Kerala. Hence the timing of the elections won’t make much of a difference to the people in power.

So the Prime Minister should go ahead with the nuclear deal. He personally believes it’s good for the country. If not anything, we should give a person of Manmohan Singh’s stature the benefit of the doubt. As different permutations and combinations are being worked out by various political parties, for the sake of our nation I hope the deal is passed.