Bovines and Shelter

Yippe, blogging from office today (again)

I was just reading an article in today’s newspaper and I found it interesting enough to share it. Though I knew that Methane gas can trap heat to a large extent, owing to its carbon inheritance, I did not know that Methane Gas is actually a significant contributor in heating up our environment, especially when carbon dioxide takes up all the fame, energy and hype. What is more interesting is that Methane Gas is largely produced fro cattle or Bovine excreta.  Traditional Cattle food has always been grass and similar stuff….but large scale industrialization and other sophistication s have made us see the stage where Cattle are fed Corn n stuff.Research and studies have shown that this diet is actually causing a lot of Methane Gas to be released into the atmosphere and hence the ‘Global Warming’ (not entirely though). Hmmmn, interesting!!!!

Meanwhile the UPA govt has broken all records of optimism by stating that they will make India a ’slum-free’ country in 5 years time. Though Highly optimistic, I think that they are going the right way. Housing is definitely an important concern. I would like to look at this situation is a Pyramid way. The Urban population of India, as per the 2001 census, about close to 30% of the Urban population came under the ‘Urban Poor’ category, and obviously that figure must have rocketed in till date. But what seems to have NOT changed is the increase in the number of slum dwellers, especially in the big cities like that of Mumbai and Kolkata. With tier 1 cities raking up millionaires that might take up the tip of the pyramid….the Information Technology boom has actually helped the emergence of a new middle class in such cities,(like Bangalore of course) and this portion of the population forms the middle of the pyramid. But the people that for a wide base of the pyramid is the section in focus. Urban housing need not be only for the ‘not-so-poor’. Govt should take initiatives in acquiring land, and building homes for such people. Also, these projects should be taken up seriously, and must be completed within a stipulated time, with NO COMPROMISE whatsoever of quality. Only then can the Govt.  fulfill its promise. I know it is going to be a touch challenge, but, taking that first step is also not easy. Since now the ball has been set into motion, I only wish and pray that it gathers momentum and achieves that finish line.

I wonder, after all the Slums have eventually vanished, where will we get our Millionaires from? (SlumDog Millionaires…hehe )

Crisis : Omnipresent

I have been hearing this term pleanty of times everyday, most of the times when being referred to the current economic situation, yeah the ‘Economic Crisis’. Looks like the Central Statistical Org. (CSO) has released data suggesting the country s GDP has grows by 5.8 pc or so in the Jan-Mar 2009 quarter. It took some time for that huge ‘SlowDown’ to percolate to the developing countries, and that could have been the reason why India did pretty well in the last quarter of 2008, growing at 6.7 pc, a touch better than the IMF predictions but spot on as per the RBI. India will have to rely on its agriculture and services to pull up its GDP and cover for those lost areas in manufacturing. Looks like the crisis might not be completely over for us, but one thing is certain, the developing nations will have to join hands with the world s largest economies to get past this slumber.

Speaking of Crisis, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to having some of it at the top-most level. The poor show during the General Elections 2009 left a sour taste in L.K Advani s mouth. With his offering to resign as the tip of the spear, the second rung ambitious politicians of the party are in a ‘on-your-mark-get-set-go’ mode. One of the largest parties of the country has been reduced to one of the largest ‘opposition’ parties. Seeing this stature of the party, I guess, the so called ‘think-tank’ decided that Mr Advani should stay on to face some more music, atleast untill early next year (I think) when Rajnath finishes his Party Supremo tenure, and then things can get carried forward. In this dire situation, some strong Leadership is very essential. We will need focused and diligent leaders who can steer us through the troubled waters. Maybe the people understood this fact while voting, and hence a venom-spitting Varun Gandhi could not give that NO2 boost to his party. Even worse, the AIADMK and the TDP along with the BJD decided not to team up with the NDA.

I cannot say for sure that this might be the beginning of the end….but I strongly believe that whatever happens, happens for a reason. I sincerely hope that  someday the BJP would come back and give the congress a tougher challenge. After all, no harm in hoping for that to happen, because in such a scenario, the party that gets the maximum benefit is the ‘third-party’, or the onlooker, or We The People.

Just saw Andy Murray lose out to Gonzales. Federer s chances of wraping up this French Open loom at large…..I hope he does it this time.  On another note, I am  wary about the frequency of attacks on  Indians living in Australia, wtf is goin on? Cant understand. Also, My Heart goes out to all the kith and kin of the passesngers of Air France 447.

Pakistan Resolute, but Climate Unstable

Even when we come to deal with  the fact that the global temperature might increase by up to 2 degrees C by the end of the century, its the events that are going on in our ‘friendly neighboring’ country of Pakistan that seem to make us feel hotter. All of us are aware of the so called successful Swat Operations in the North-Western Frontier Province, but how many of us are really aware of the attacks on Military and Civilian populations taken up by those Islamist Militant groups. These were those very groups that Pakistan seems to have built for proxy wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir. What a Shame!! Pakistan might have made a strong resolve to battle extremism and militancy, but I keep on wondering how long are they willing to fend off the  Taliban and the Al Qaeda at the expense of  those numerous Bomb attacks.

I am watching the India vs NewZealand warm up match at Lords, and the term ‘WarmUp’  has significantly caught my attention. A little bit of reading here and there did help me understand that the World, thanx to Global Warming, might be facing some morbidity and mortality issues, especially those with respect to vector-borne diseases like those insects and pathogens who feel at home at warmer temperatures.  What are we going to do  when access to clean water will be compromised by severe droughts? And when more intense monsoon events such as cyclones and floods stare at our faces? Theory would suggest that a global policy framework at every level possible might do the trick…but……what about funding and institutional capacity for anticipating the effects of these vagaries of the climate? India might not have advanced monitoring systems like the US does, but a sound disease and monitoring scheme at least at the national level should help. Lets see what the newly elected UPA does about this issue at hand.

I sincerely hope India perform well in the T20 world cup this year. O this remins me of a funny incident….when India were crowned the World T20 champs in the first T20 world cup, 2007…Ravi Shastry actually said..”And India have been crowned the  TT champions….”. I found it hillarious, he saying TT instead of T20….

Mumbai and the Indians

My neighbor is playing  ” All things bright and beautiful, all creatures big and small….All starts bright and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.“

And guess what, I am now reading how Mr. Raj Thackerey and his MNS played an important role in the recently concluded General Elections , 2009 or  #indiavotes09 like its more popular. What I found interesting in the new emergence of MNS as a stronger ‘Sena’ than any that ever existed is that it turned the fate of existing ’so called’ sarkar-raj upside down, allowing the Congress and the NCP to make small break aways especially in Mumbai and Thane. When Raj headed out of the Shiv Sena after claiming to have found his passion in salvaging the Marathi Pride, no one would have thought that the MNS can stand tall on a very electrifying performance in the polls. Though the Shiv Sena seems to be flagging under the soft-spoken Uddhav, while Raj is the new Pinch Hitter, the cosmopolitan image of ‘ the city i d like to be in right now’ (Mumbai) seems to be up against an odd chalenge. Raj might have asked for the ‘ChhatPuja’ to be stopped in Maharashtra, or Marathi Boards and Hoardings be put everywhere or the North Indians be damned for the ill fortunes of the city, but one thing is for sure……he is hereto stay!

Speaking of Mumbai, I was ardently supporting the Mumbai Indians this IPL. Cant help it, I grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar grow…sometimes your loyalties grow with you and you are not even aware. Even though I consider Hyderebad to be my hometown, and since I work in Bangalore…it was not a very very hard decision for me to support the Deccan Chargers once the Tendulkar Brigade were ousted. Now that the IPL is finally over, and I get back 1900 hrs to 2330 hrs of my everyday life…i look back at what the IPL has done, and I tell you it is tremendous. Even though the competition was shifted to a different country altogether, it did not deter the fans to emotionally connect to their franchise, which is by far the most vital factor in such an event. Kudos to the SouthAfrican people!!! The first season an exciting affair when the team which was the least expected to win took away all the glory, and the second season topped all the excitement when the ‘last two teams’ from season one fought it out for the Gold…boy o boy!! Another highlight of the second season was that the typical ‘it is a big-hitters game’ notion was shed to a small extent, when the cold weather, frozen-hands-dropping-catches and some quality spin bowling changed many a games at crucial junctures. Hyper-commercialization was slightly controlled this year, with the television viewers being lucky to see the ball actually leave the bat and reach the fence, and then began the ‘ZooZoo‘ ads, tell me about controlled broadcasting!!!!

O great! Now my neighbours playing..” There shall be showers of blessings, this is the promise of love….“  So let me stop at this note. Dont forget to check out my HomePage : http://www.sidharth.me/

Public Office Inheritency!

Let me begin by Congratulating the Deccan Chargers for winning the DLF IPL 2009 , cricket T20 competition. If at all they proved something, it is that Adidas is right… ‘Impossible is Nothing’, though their sports wear sponsors are Puma.

Some strange and fascinating things have been going on around me….

What the Hubble Telescope having visitors from the Atlantis during those five space-walk sessions, and loads of repair work that went into it, meant that it now has a life upto 2014 with a 70-fold stronger ‘vision’….things in the newly elected Indian Cabinet got a touch groovy. Now coalition government might not be a new thing in India, but for many of the ‘youngistan’ generation, might not have seen a single party performing so well as the Congress did in #IndiaVotes09. Usually one would associate hassles with the post election-results-are-out-yay day, with parties desperately trying to form coalitions that would eventually allow them to take ‘that-coveted-oath’. But this time around, I felt it was different. The Congress has all the strings in its hand. The most interesting thing that happened, I think, was with the DMK.

Here is what I think happened. The DMK thought that like the last general elections, the Congress is desperate for a coalition. In 2004, the DMK had had a clean sweep of the state assembly seats. And hence Karunanidhi could force, or assuage the Congress to give them Key Ministerial Berths. The DMK must ve been in Newtons 1st law…O Mother! Inertia….and demanded the Congress gave it the same preferential treatment like in 2004. Not even realizing the fact that this time around it is the DMK that needs the Congress support in the state. Nice play huh!!! Karunaidhi believes in the doctrine of his Family members (atleast 3 in this case) inheriting the Public Office. But PM Singh seems to have read the googly well and was quick to get into position to fend off the attack. Smart.

By the way, I think Rahul Gandhi will get a berth in the next round of expansion. Do you?

Check out my HomePage if you havnt:  http://www.sidharth.me/

Stock em’ up!!

Yeah yeah, I now know what General Elections can do to the Market. Monday 18th May 2009 saw the Sensex jump by over 2100 points, and the Nifty by a staggering 650. Many of us think that this event of the Congress Party doing exceedingly well in the General Elections might bring in some ‘much needed’ stability and reforms. After all the unbridled enthusiasm shown by the Market participants might not quite be supoorted by the change sin fundamentals. It is the foreign funds that have been flowing in, which will mostly keep the markets buyoyant for some more time. Good for us.

Even though the Congress might not rope in any Market Freindly reforsm immediately, especially after showcasing the Rural Development programmes, and riding on it to a much needed victory in the #indiavotes09 , there are positive vibes goin on around us. Before the markets become mindful of subtelities of this environment, like the Disinvestment policy, or the Labour Laws and Capital account convertibilty ( phew!! big terms..i know)….the markets would strive if the Govt were to act upon the slowdown and control this financial rectitude. I only hope that the Govt can redefine its economic reforms in a very broader prospect and help us pass this darker times. ( too much analysis even before the Finance Minister is selected…yeah right!).

By the way, most of you must have made merry today ! The important question still remains….is this a good time to buy?

LTTE : RIP

There is so much happening in the last few days, that it has become difficult to keep track of the big ‘Events’. Never the less, it did not take me long to grasp that one important event for the day. It was today that the Sri Lankan military campaign that began in August 2006 against the LTTE reached its climax. After having stripped the rebel militant group of its leadership and management, and decimating the entire organization of its capabilities and various assets, the LTTE regime that saw twenty five years of struggle and scores of thousands of lives lost, finally came to an end.

The organization that started way back in the 1970s, with a bleak political vision soon turned into a very cruel regime with no regards to human values, leave alone human life whatsoever. This terrorist  organization is infamous for its role in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The rising graph of LTTEs militarism and uncompromising secessionism had no parallel in Sri Lankan history. And hence greater the responsibility of the Govt. to secure the integrity of the local people and rehabilitate those unfortunate villages which the group used as their human cover for protection. The current Sri Lankan Govt , having achieved which no other previous Govt. could achieve, should now hold fort and craft enduring political solutions for the Tamil people.

RIP……LTTE……Born: May 1976, Died: May 2009, Terrorist, Murderer, A Nightmare to the society.

The Winning Recipie.

Whatttttayyy day. As if the news of Roger Federer defeating Rafael Nadal on a clay court, and Machester United becoming English Champions yet again was not enough, the Kolkata Knigh Riders surprised everyone by defeating the Chennai SuperKings in the DLF IPL 2.

Too bad I am not writing about any of those spectacular events right now.

In lieu of the recently concluded General Elections in India, the Congress party seems to have surely rolled on to its juggernauts. But one interesting scenario popped up in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Though conditions were not as jubiliant as they were after the party performed a ‘clean sweep’ in the 2004 elections, but this time around, they would take pride for it was the victory of Performance over (fake) Promises. I could not help wonder how some hard work with a pinch of Good Fortune can make the winning recepie for you. Indian politics is such a spiderman’s web that Hard Work alone will get you only 10,000 votes (Sharath Babu, Chennai, Independent) but not that sweet taste of victory.

Perhaps one would like to argue about the fact that the Congress in AP exceeded expectations because it could successfully retain its support in the rural areas, kudos to the various Health Insurance Schemes for families below the poverty line, or the goodwill generated by schemes that raised agricultural productivity. But all the hard work done, it was that pinch of Good Fortune that made the TRS seem like an opportunist for tagging along with the TDP when the latter has always opposed with the ‘New State’ separation policies, or the Telangana issue failing to strike a chord with the vast majority. Then came the icing on the cake, with an Actor that superseeded most GodWorship myths, who dug deep into the TDP  vote banks.

Now that the YSR led congress has reaped benefits form the ‘Pinch Hitting’ by Praja Rajyam, being the single largest party in the state should mean a lot more than just coming back to power. For, a sharper focus towards poverty alleviation and poverty reduction should be considered the prime objective of the new Govt in Andhra Pradesh. Sweet Taste of Victiry it is….hope it brings prosperity to the people.

One thing that the British taught us well is ; Kabhi Matt Bhool: Divide and Rule. I planned to write two posts everyday, but then a random brainwave just helped me figure out that I would nt wanna over crowd this place. So friends, please visit my TumbleBlog for another interesting read for today.

” Spread Firefox ” Download Day 2008

Something within me tells me that this is going to be HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.                                           .

Firefox 3 ’s birthday celebration is going to be a world wide event. The guys over there have set out to create a world record by initiating the maximum number of downloads ( of firefox ofcourse!!!…so go on “spread firefox“) in a single day. The day firefox 3 is going to be released, kazillions of firefox users are gonna download it and also host parties in lieu of this event ( yeah i meant birthday celebrations)…and firefox guys are , at the end ofthe day are just gonna send the no. of downloads figure and pics of the parties that were hosted and create a guiness record.

I have already pledged for it….what abt you? Wish firefox a happy birthday….go pledge!!!!!

Pledge Here

Where have those Migratory Birds gone?

Someone who has gone to a lake bird watching, some 10 years ago, is certain to be in disbelief and dismay at the dwindling numbers of the migratory birds season after season. Bird Migration is truly a sensational natural phenomena. It actually is a generic process that involves the movement of birds ( both land and sea) with change in weather conditions to a place where the habitat is more conducive for survival…remember…survival is by far the only thing that they allllllll fight for out there in the wild. The most common of these movements of birds is from the cold arctic regions into the warmer southern regions, especially when the cruel winters set in. Bird Migration actually makes an interesting read.

But, recent study on the pattern and behavior of these migratory movements have shows shocking results. With the clearing of the natural habitats, massively, it is found that there can be disturbing climatic variations. From what is known, the birds travel upto 10000 miles during their migratory flights, and turbulent air conditions and ferocious winds can drain the smaller birds (especially) of their energy and hence hinder the process altogether. The harsh atmospheric conditions, if met during their flight will surely ensure that the birds do not manage to get out of their winter grooves, are drained of their energy totally and meet a tragic end. Also, it is needless to mention the problem that these little ones would be facing due to the enormous pollutions that we happily generate. I am not sure as to what is going to happen if these birds do get unfortunately wiped off the earths surface….how is it going to influence the food chain?…leave alone the fact that we will never get to witness this diaspora of beauty again!!!
I sincerely think this is an issue important enough to address immediately. As it is often said…better late than never….i would fervently hope that a solution to this catastrophic disaster should be anywhere but round the corner.