I read this article in The Indian Express today.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/revealed-by-lalgarh/480594/0
Excellent piece!Couldn’t have put it better myself.The Left needs to come out of it’s dogma and the “fear of the foreign hand” shell of yesteryears and adapt to the changing environment in India,and remedy it’s lack of action on the uprising in Naxalbari long long ago by taking tough and immediate action on the Frankenstein they have created.Now!

So there has been a whole lotta coverage in the media,print and electronic, about the spat within the Kerala CPM.

What I would say to Mr. Prakash Karat would be to rein Vijayan in and allow the inquiry against him in the SNC Lavalin case to proceed.No matter,if 90% of the party in Kerala has to be suspended as a result.If there’s no evidence(which is very likely,since we are considering a politico here)Vijayan walks free,and the CPM gets the glory of a clean party,which would enhance the polish on an already shining reputation of the Left leaders regarding propriety in public life.

If Vijayan is found guilty,please dismiss him and his coterie from the party.VS is on the right side,at least in the public view,and even if he’s wrong,the ganging up of Vijayan and company against VS leads to doubt on Vijayan’s motives and not on VS.That said,I agree with VS’ policies regarding demolition of encroachments,free software,et al and I grant that this is a biased opinion on what the CPM must do.

A post on this blog is what I want to get discussed,but don’t get the forum to.You may say it’s the archive of all the Letters to the Editor I wanted to write,but never got around to doing,due to assorted reasons.

Plus,I quite feel there is a de-facto monopoly on the Letters to the Editor space.I have got used to reading the same old names,the guys who’ve got nothing else to do but sit down and comment on every possible issue.A heart-felt letter is hardly considered,in my opinion(would be glad if I could be proved wrong),if it comes from an unfamiliar hand.So,I elect to write where I will be assured that my letter will be published,namely my blog.

So the other day I watched the film Crimson Tide on Star Movies concerning a clash of egos and generations on board a US Navy nuclear sub armed with nuclear tipped missiles which is on patrol near Russia to pre-emptively strike a rebel-held nuclear missile silo incase preparations for launch are detected.The issue at hand is whether to launch pre-emptively or not(Gene Hackman is in favour of launch,Denzel Washington is opposed) pending confirmation of a message which is only partially received due to destruction of communication equipment in a skirmish with a Russian submarine sympathetic to the rebel cause.

Said message looks like(from fading memory)  “Nuclear missile laun………………….”At the end of the film,I found myself thinking about it.

I recall a story often narrated by my father,relating to the Ramayana.The story goes that when Hanuman returned from Lanka after delivering the ring to Sita and setting the city on fire with his tail,as soon as he saw his comrades from the search party sent south waiting for him,he roared “Saw Sita….”This resulted in zero ambiguity and an unequivocal confirmation of the fate of his search for Sita.

In the case of Crimson Tide,all the unnecessary ambiguity and clashes etc could have been avoided if,had the message read “Abort nuclear missile launch” instead of reading “Nuclear missile laun………………….”Even in case of partial reception,the message would be to abort and there would have been no reason to doubt the instruction’s intention.As my father would say in Tamil,it should be “Kanden Seetaye” and NOT “Seetaye Kanden” because of the time (granted,very small) between Seetaye and Kanden which may cause anxiety in the mind of the receiver.

On a lark,I decided to find the meaning of the word serendipity,the meaning of which I already knew,in the Dictionary incorporated into OpenOffice.org.OpenOffice Dictionary got me the meaning if serendipity from Wordnet along with a humongous number of synonyms from Moby’s thesaurus whereupon I came across an unfamiliar word,trouvaille.Since some of the synonyms didn’t seem properly analogous to serendipity to me,I tried to find trouvaille in OO.o Dictionary.Zilch results.

I fired up Firefox and called in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary where I was told it would be found in the unabridged version,which is another method of saying,”You gotta pay for this”.

I wasn’t going to sit around for that,so I Googled “define: trouvaille” and the 1st result is from the French Wiktionary,sister project to Wikipedia.Now,I’m no French expert,but a cursory glance at the page via the magnifying glass of Google Translate gave me enough to understand that trouvaille is indeed a synonym of serendipity.

All this talk for one moral of the story:On the Internet,there’s indeed no way to hide knowledge.

Something strange is going on with me.Though I haven’t been able to discern any pattern to any disturbance which may be causing this phenomenon,almost always I wake up at 0316 sharp,no matter when I go to sleep,or when I plan to wake up,which is to say,no matter what I set the alarm for.

Update: On a day when I almost slept through the day,thanks to MSEDC giving no option with a whopping 8 hours of unscheduled load shedding in the two unlucky suburbs(hint:One of them is called The PRINCE of suburbs,bah) in Mumbai district,I woke up at 0300 hours.Number of hours I sleep during the day has nothing to do with this pattern,I guess.

Update2:The strange pattern has ceased,fortunately for me.:)

On the grounds of Bharat,Adi,Sarab,and Abhi needing to buy components for their Level3 autonomous line follower robot,above mentioned and myself,Divyesh and Ramya went to VT.Divyesh and Ramya came along for the ride.I went along to get some cheap books for GRE test prep(which reminds me,I haven’t started yet)Adi joined us later,so the early birds getting the worms(did I type worms?ewww,I meant getting their work done) were everyone mentioned except Adi.

So,well,we roamed around BMC,Fort,the Crawford market and Sara markets,The Taj,and the Gateway.

Abhi and Ramya reached earlier than Sarab,Divyesh and myself,who were travelling together by bus,on account of having travelled by train and Abhi showed me the bullet marks of the 26/11 attacks,and I was filled with the outrage and anger very much on display after the attacks,as to how could the terrorists even think of attacking such a beautiful place and a heritage structure.Saw the famous spot where Qasab was standing when he was clicked,which became the signature pic of the attacks at VT.

After waiting a bit for Bharat,and deploring the state of security at VT even after the attacks in the meantime(There were people busily walking in and out,avoiding the metal detectors,and zilch security personnel in sight!),we set off for Sara market.

At Sara market,while Ramya bought two watches(looked good,I must say)for 125 bucks apiece,I wondered and wandered with others in the Sara market area at the wide array of digital electronics on display,at dirt cheap prices,and strictly no warranty.

After this,we had a bit of confusion as to which bus to catch to Lamington Road,and ended up drinking sugarcane juice from a roadside stall,and taking the only sure bus route I knew,66,from behind the BMC HQ.

As L3 Group did shopping,I checked out the prices of a GB of DDR1 RAM,seems they move up than down,but that’s expected,since it’s quite a bit out of date,with DDR2 the de rigeur and DDR3 hitting the shelves on high end rigs already.And apparently,there are no more 2GB DDR1 RAM DIMMs available.Production has stopped!

After a bit of roaming,and lots of confusion over a ATMega 8 v/s a ATMega 16 uController,L3 group bought an ATMega 16,while a DC fan I eyed had a max diameter of 3 inches.Great difference,I have one of those already.All further sizes were apparently AC fans.Well,no custom for you from me,then.

After all this,Divyesh,Ramya and I were famished(and it took quite a lot of complaining to get that across to L3 group)and made our way to the McD opposite VT where Adi joined us at 1700.We then set off for Gateway,and I wondered at all the beautiful architecture(this was effectively the first time I had gone to VT while I remembered what I saw),and took liberties with Adi’s digicam’s rapidly draining battery.

Quite by chance,we chanced upon the first day of the Kala Ghoda Art Festival,which I had been yearning to see every year,since I started reading the coverage in newspapers(read as The Indian Express).Found the scorpion and the phoenix installations particularly significant.

While we spent about a half hour at the festival,and I saw the Naval Dockyard’s Elephant Gate,I had the “So near,yet so far” case with appreciating the art on the wall next to the gate,which was commissioned by the Navy.

That done,we continued on our way to Gateway,and Bharat and I helped a foreign couple out of a sticky situation with a guy asking for a 100 bucks for performing aarti,that too,right in front of the Mumbai Police HQ. Got them off with 20 bucks.Apparently,they had a culture shock with the guy asking them after the deed was done,rather than before it,which is what happens in their country(whichever it was,we didn’t ask).The uncle was quite used to be left alone after he had refused a few times,but aarti dude was quite persistent.

So we went to Gateway,stopping at Flora Fountain on the way(which was right opposite the KalaGhoda Fest,BTW),and a (alert:exaggeration at extreme)tense confrontation with one of the book sellers who sell books off the street,wherein I bought the 2008 edition of Kaplan for GRE test prep,while the rest of the guys waited impatiently……….

We saw Leopold,and while it was visible from the main road,it was next to impossible to notice it when walking the footpath.Just a small piece of metal pointed to the area where the horror started on 26/11.To our relief,the cafe was bustling,and didn’t look like being affected by the attacks.

A few shortcuts through bylanes later,we arrived at The Taj,and again I was overcome by the outrage,etc mentioned.All of a sudden,we became all conscious of civic sense,and made sure to throw our tea bags and cups into the garbage cans.And life goes on as usual,the hawkers run when the SRPF comes(which is an ugly addition to the landscape I must say,though unavoidable)and even try to continue selling while they run!Quintessential Bombay!

The SRPF van at the Gateway

So we left,and I made my way back by train,than by bus,due to certain unnamed reasons,which this sentence is enough to make me remember.;)

Update:

Long term intention,only now have I been able to set aside the time for this update.

On the way back home in the train,was standing in the corridor near Bhandup,when a conversation between me and another commuter was heard by a third commuter.<hindi>

Third commuter asks me:Are you going to be going by bus after alighting at Mulund?

Me(warily):Yes.

Commuter:Ok then,take this BEST Rs.20 ticket,it didn’t come of use to me,you might as well use it.(for those who don’t know,the BEST is a public bus service run by the Municipal Corporation,and a Rs. 20 ticket allows you to travel by BEST anywhere in the suburbs of Bombay till 0000 hours of the day you buy the ticket,correspondingly a Rs.25 ticket allows you to travel on all BEST routes except,I am told,on the routes in Thane district)

Me(taking the ticket):Thanks.

</hindi>

Another example of quintessential Bombay.

Also,the Kaplan book for GRE test prep paid off the slightly-on-the-higher-side cost I paid for it,got me 1480/1600 on the test,with an unbelievable(for me) 790/800 in the math section.

..or rather,cut the hype,prove yourself by actions.
This is my opinion on Obama,after all the inauguration fuss is over,and everyone has gone back to their homes.Sure,Obama has made a promising start with the order to shut down Gitmo Bay and talking a bit tough to Pakistan on the war on terror,but I’m afraid all the hype has raised expectations to such a frenzy,that people are expecting instantaneous results,maybe including myself, a la Nayak.

True,foreign relations is no cakewalk,and it’s layered with niceties and euphemisms which ideally should not exist in a straight talking,transparent world.But,the world is not transparent,and some egos are easily offended by straight talk.

IMHO,Obama should capitalize on all the goodwill he has in a judicious manner,while taking care to be in the common good books as far as possible.And,hopefully,not act too nice with terror actors,state or otherwise,(Hamas,Hezbollah,et al)

With regards to possibilities for India in the new administration,my gut feeling says that the next four years will either be very good,or very bad for us,and nothing in between.The bad may arise out of influences by Democrat ideologues on Obama,or his own inability to move away from the ideology in contrast to what is required to be done,or plainly incompetence of the IFS in capitalizing upon this opportunity.This is not to say that the IFS is incompetent,but we need to come out of the shell we are in,and act the role of a billion-strong democracy.

We are finally rid of a Home Minister who hardly rated the term,who was ineffectual,weak-kneed,an embarrassment to the country and more concerned about his hair and clothes when common people were dying in the streets at the hands of jihadi terrorists in Ahmedabad,Delhi and Jaipur.

His record is dismal even by the standards of Indian politicians and the weak example set by erstwhile Foreign Minister Mr. Jaswant Singh who escorted dreaded terrorists to Kandahar in the IC 814 episode,terrorists to capture whom,many brave hearts were lost.For the record,16 blasts took place under his tenure.16! He should have resigned when the count had reached,at the most,3.
But Indian politicians are famous for holding on to the kursi,though they may be widely reviled and looked at as objects of disgust.In contrast,National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan offerred to quit immediately.
I’m wondering what it will take for Mr. R.R Patil to think of offerring his resignation.He too should have resigned,given the situation of electric power and basic amenities in Maharashtra,”one of the most “progressive” states”,and for shamefully concentrating on bars and bar-dancers instead of the security of the nation’s financial capital and one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.
And who can forget the pusillanimity of the state governement who concentrated on weakening the Shiv Sena’s vote base while MNS thugs ran wild and held the state capital to ransom?They could think of putting Raj Thackeray under gag orders only after the Centre intervened,that after it’s allies threatened to quit if no action was taken.Apparently,the CM needs explicit instructions from the High Command at 10,Janpath before he dare go to the loo,too.

And Raj Thackeray.Where is he?Didn’t his MNS goons find the bravery to go save “Amchi Mumbai” from terrorists?Someone tell him he can come out of the attic corner where he is probably still cowering that the attacks are over and while you are at it,also tell him it was Indians from the North(I wouldn’t say North Indians,because the NSG has people from all parts of India) came to the rescue of our Bombay,NOT Mumbai,and it was the GRP and RPF,both of which I guess include North Indians,who prevented some “marathi manoos” being killed at VT(he won’t recognize the place,it’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus he will know) by their bravery.

After everything is said and done,please stop asking the columnists and CEOs of India about their views on these attacks and how they are different as in how they show the face of terror and not anonymous bombs which go off.

The true people to ask,if you are interested in finding the outrage and anger in the public mind,interview the “unwashed masses” in the slums and middle class localities.The attackers may have attacked the South Mumbai(no,it’s Bombay) “elite”,but what has been attacked is the identity of a Bombayite,whether they live at Malabar Hill,or in Dharavi.

Stop playing politics,stop trying to get only the views and opinions of those who speak English as their mother tongue,go to where the feelings which matter are pent-up.

AND STOP PLAYING UP THE FUCKED UP BOMBAY SPIRIT,THE BOMBAYITE’S RESILIENCE AND ALL THE CLICHED TALES OF HOW PEOPLE DID ACROBATICS TO GET OUT OF THE WAY OF BULLETS,THEY DID WHAT THEY HAD TO SAVE THEMSELVES,NOTHING MORE,NOTHING LESS;WHETHER THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE IT OR NOT,IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER.WHAT MATTERS IS THE PEOPLE WHO RISKED THEIR OWN LIVES TO SAVE THEM.

What’s the next step is to complete the Rapid Modernisation of the Army,before the “modern” weapons become obsolete with the time absorbed in the red tape of bureaucracy.Get the Navy the aircraft carriers they need,and the Air Force their trainers and the best aircraft and weapons money can buy.We don’t care whether they have to be bought from China or the worst-run African failed state there is,for heaven’s sake.

AND IT’S ABOUT TIME THAT B*****D HOME MINISTER RESIGNS.AND GET THE POLITICIANS TO EITHER PRESENT A UNITED FRONT,OR COMMIT SUICIDE,THEIR NSG SECURITY WOULD BE BETTER EMPLOYED FULFILLING THEIR INTENDED ROLE TO ACT AS AN ELITE COMMANDO FORCE.

AND,LAST THING TO SAY,instead of just sitting and analyzing and listening to the talking heads on TV,do something to prevent this ever happening again.As Linus Torvalds immortally said,”TALK IS CHEAP,SHOW ME THE CODE”

Here,talk and analysis is what talking heads with nothing better to use their time on do,show us some concrete action.