Global Shoe Throwing Pandemic

What began as a one off incident when an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at then US president George Bush has gone viral across the global.

The latest victim of this global shoe throwing pandemic is namma CM Yeddy. The pandemic's victims includes who's who in the political class including Wen Jiabao, P Chidambaram, LK Advani, and Manmohan Singh.

With so much action and drama happening with the shoe throwing pandemic and the high profile victims, who cares about the other pandemic that is sweeping the worlds.

Vodafone Commericals

These commericals for Vodafone are a clever way to demonstrate the various features that a Vodafone network has to offer. All of the ads are brilliantely designed.

Below is the one which depicts the Maps and GPS feature in the Vodafone phones and network

Questions For Karunanidhi

M Karunanidhi, the honorable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, began what was ultimately a fast of less then 24 hours to bring attention to the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils refugees.

I agree that the refugees that are caught in the crossfire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE rebels need to be granted safe exit. And the ceasefire may be the step in the right direction.

But my question to the earstwhile CM is why play politics with this issue? Was this just a political stunt during the election season to draw Tamil voters towards the DMK by playing the sympathy card? Ultimately what goal is it going to serve? Now that there is a ceasefire in Sri-Lanka, what is Mr Karunanidhi's next move? What has the CM done to ease the plight of millions of people in India who live in poverty?

Quantity Vs Quality – When it comes to Democracy What Matters?

Timesonline had a recent editorial in the current elections in India. The editorial questions whether, India the largest democracy, is just that or if there is any substance to the democratic process and the outcome as a result of it.

The editorial does raise some very serious questions about the role of government in improving the lives of its citizens, social and economic policy as well as the how the government going to position India in the changing world.

However, what the article does not address is that, for a country the size and scale of India, where every state is so much diverse in terms of culture, religion, languages etc, the fact that every five years we have a democratically elected government is a success worth celebrating in itself.

Also, India has been a democracy for a little over 60 years. And in these 60 years there has been tremendous progress to get the voice of the people heard. Granted there are still challenges in terms of factionalism, dynasty politics, corrupted elected officials, criminalization of politics, and the transparency of the various political parties in how they manager and choose leaders.

But with the growing clout of the middle class and the raising awareness of these issues among them are heartening signs that there is hope improvements can be achieved. In addition work being done by various organizations like the Association for Democratic Reform is creating awareness about the criminalization of politics will go a long way in cleaning up the elections process.

After all you don’t expect a diverse country like India to be a perfect democracy in just 60 years. Even America, which has been democratic for the last 200 years, is still a work in progress when it comes to democracy.

Cash or Credit - Which is Greener?

How many of us have thought about the environmental impact of using cash or credit card when we make any purchases? I know I have not. When it comes to being green and environmentally friendly, is one better then the other?

A recent article in Slate, How Green is the Greenback tries to explore the environmental impact of using plastic or paper money. Though for now there are no clear answers, at-least its a start.

Recovery, What Recovery?

With stock market recording the best six weeks since 1938, and banks reporting earnings which better numbers then analysts expectations (even if it is a loss as in the case of Citi Group, there is talk that the recession may be turning the corner.

In post for The Big Picture, Jack McHugh wonders if the Recovery is Just Around the Corner

While there was precious little in the way of actual positive news for investors to seize upon, hopes continue to rise because many parts of our economy are worsening at a slower rate. And, if “less bad” becomes widely accepted as the new “good”, then our capital markets may continue to work higher for a spell. The decision facing investors who are agonizing over whether or not to chase the ongoing rally in U.S. equities may come down to just how true are the claims that “recovery is just around the corner”.

The Future of India

With Indians voting to elect the next government, the scene emerging from most exit polls and political analysts is that of another fractured mandate where no single party will have enough seats to form the government by itself. One of two major parties, Congress or the BJP will win the most number of seats. But what will happen after that is anybody's guess right now.

In this uncertain political times, Ramachandra Guha looks at the past of the Indian elections and wonders how long will the era of coalition politics and uncertinity last.

In recent decades, then, Indian democracy has been increasingly influenced by identity politics, by parties and interests representing (or claiming to represent) various castes, ethnicities, regions, and religions. It is likely that a majority of Outlook readers, themselves urban and cosmopolitan, are not in sympathy with this trend.

Rather than 18-or-20-party coalitions, they would like to see a single party dominating the central government, such that it might frame the rational, sustainable policies this country desperately needs. The question is: will they get such a government in their lifetime?

Some trends are promising. More Indians now live in cities, where the pressures of caste and locality matter less than in the countryside. More Indians now contract marriages outside their communities. With economic development, more Indians are abandoning traditional caste-based occupations. In factories and offices, they work and break bread with Indians of different social backgrounds. These secularising tendencies are reinforced by TV and the Internet, which alert the young to mentalities and lifestyles very different from those of their parents or grandparents.

Can these trends collectively produce an electorate that shall come to vote not on the basis of identity, but with regard to the policies on offer?

Read the complete article at Past and Future of Indian Election

A Manifesto Towards Backwardness

The entire world is pushing for better use of technology to improve the lives of people. In this tech savvy world, where information can be at your finger tips, the manifesto of the Samajwadi Party calls for lesser use of computers. The party's reasoning:

The use of computers in offices is creating unemployment problems. Our party feels that if work can be done by a person using hands there is no need to deploy machines. The party is also against compulsory use of English language in education, administration and judiciary and would favor the use of regional languages.

This is all well and good, but if you look at the parties website;yes the party against computers has a website, it provides options for reading the website in English and Hindi. I wonder why the party which is against the compulsory use of English language in education has its website in English. Also what purpose would a website serve if you do not know how to use a computer?

What will be next on the party's hitlist, a ban on emails because they are hurting the postal service, or a ban on cell phones because the use of land-line phones is declining and thus people manufacturing them are being laid off creating unemployment.

Read more at Manifesto Towards Backwardness

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

The times are bad for newspaper publications across the US. With falling advertisements, the main source of revenues for all print media, cutbacks on key journalistic staff and even bankruptcies are becoming commonplace. Indeed these are desperate times if you are in the newspaper business.

In these desperate times, today's story about LA Times running a fake ad on the front page of the newspaper raises an interesting debate.

Traditionally, front page of the newspapers, devoid of any advertisements, have been reserved for the most important news of the day. Critics, even staff of LA Times, have come out opposing the front page ad, calling it an incalculable damage to the institution just to raise some quick cash. But defenders say, if selling front page advertisement can raise much needed money which will result in the newspapers not having to cut back staff, why not do it. After all newspaper is also a business which needs to survive and retain the best of talent.

So was the LA Times right in selling its prime spot for advertisement to generate some much needed cash? Has the front page ad compromised the credibility and integrity of the newspaper? Would enough readers care about the ad more or the contents that the newspaper covers?

I think as long as LA Times does not compromise on the credible and informative news coverage, most readers would not even bother about the advertisement. They would take it in stride for what it is "A necessary evil".

The Age of 24/7 News

In todays age of 24/7 news, information travels fast. If you do not believe me just ask Bob Quick. What was to be another day at the job for Bob Quick turned out to be his last day as United Kingdom's most powerful counter police officer. His fault, inadvertently holding a stack of papers marked "SECRET" in plain sight for photographers.



Being a top anti terror operative he should have known that information travels fast in todays age of 24/7 media coverage.

Read the complete story at British Anti Terror Officer Resigns

Greed Vs Stupidity

In a great op-ed piece for the NY Times, David Brooks tries to explore the reasons for the current financial crisis. He draws pieces from two different articles, one blaming greed in the financial sector and another blaming stupidity on the part of the financial industry because it forgot to do its own due diligence before investing heads over heels in stuff that it had little clue about.

In comparing the two schools of thought, David Brooks writes:

Both schools agree on one thing, however. Both believe that banks are too big. Both narratives suggest we should return to the day when banks were focused institutions — when savings banks, insurance companies, brokerages and investment banks lived separate lives.

We can agree on that reform. Still, one has to choose a guiding theory. To my mind, we didn’t get into this crisis because inbred oligarchs grabbed power. We got into it because arrogant traders around the world were playing a high-stakes game they didn’t understand.

How To Be a Better Dad

A new installment in the Priceless Series of advertisements from Master Card. This one effectively captures the urgency to act on climate change and what the new generation of kids do to make the planet a better place to live in.

In this day and age where corporations have been much maligned for putting the corporations interests ahead of everything else, it is good to see somebody practicing good corporate social responsibility.

This is how the advertisement goes

Water Glass - $5
Energy Saving Bulbs - $4
Reusable bags - $2

Helping dad become a better man - Priceless

You can watch the advertisement here

How Big Does Anything American Need to Be?

In the op-ed column for the NY Times, Maureen Dowd wonders how big anything from the cars that Americans drive to the nation debt can be.

How big do we need to be to still feel American? How big can our national debt grow? How big can our cars be? And how big is our clout abroad these days? Will Michelle’s style in Europe make as big a splash as Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s?How do we come to terms with the gluttony that exploded our economy and still retain our reptilian American desire for living large? How do we make the pursuit of the American dream a satisfying quest rather than a selfish one?