Mumbai Assaulted

Mumbai , the city of a million dreams, the financial capital of our country , the city of bollywood and celluloid dreams was assaulted again by agroup of terrorists.

I look at the news and I feel outrage. How did this happen and how long will this continue? Will those responsible for the murder of so many be ever brought to justice. The terrorists are all dead but this attack speaks of a military precision. This operation was planned for months and the planners deserve to be pursued to the end of the earth , if the need be.

Mumbai will recover. Life never stops in the cities. But the memories of these attacks will remain. So many people died. 14 policemen including two high ranking IPS officers. Fighting an enemy who had come with an intention to murder.

This must stop. This attack signifies a change of tactics. There was a specific targetting of high profile places and western citizens. In these jittery times it could dive away investos from India. 9/11 for US put them into a recession from a downturn.

Also this is no sucide bombing but a sophisticated assault. The problem is police is grossly inadequate to deal with such contingencies. A .306 pistol does not match an AK rifle. Its time to equip the police force and strengthen intelligence.

And lets step up the pressure on Pakistan. Even if their official involvement is nill as they claim the fact is Pakistan is only too happy to allow the militants to flourish in their territory.

Ending with a prayer for all those affected by the tragic incident.

Tired of work

The latest news is I have been loaned from my division IHL to IVS and I am now on a project for a large US insurance company( hint All+S from USA where + refers to concatenation of strings). Anyway each client is referred to as an account and each account may have multiple projects.



I tragically being a fresher am at the very bottom of the hierarchy, thankfully just above the housekeeping. The work is kind of boring. In fact let me confess its very boring. But succour is not far off. I shall move to a development project after some time.

Anyway the fun part is the project I am on has been deemed high risk and is very short. Contractually it will end on december 15th. This involves a different set of pressures.I shall be free after that and shall probably be moved to another project of the same client.



I am having to work with mainframes and a web based application in parallel and its kind of driving me crazy. But dont take this diatribe to imply that I dislike my work. I am enjoying every moment for the experience of it all. Its wonderful to finally enjoy the time spent in production(as contrasted to training).

43 white men and then there was a pause.

"If there is anyone out here who still doubts America is a place where all things are possible, who still questions the power of our democracy. Tonight is your answer." Obama acceptance speech.

A momentous thing has finally happended. A defining moment is history has finally been reached. We have Barrack Hussein Obama as the new US president. The story is inspiring. Son of a black Muslim African father and a white mother whose ancestors once held slaves. While to say he is muslim would be delusional but the fact that he has seen the faith close brings us hope that there could be a greater understanding of the problems surrounding us.

Because as I have repeatedly earlier addressed in this blog the problems that we face on a global scale like terrorism have less to do with religion and more with a sense of injustice and rule of the mighty. There is a PR war out there and Obama who used the internet to such deadly effect should know.

Barrack Obama is also an intellectual ,so we could see genuine logic and reason in his actions insted of the gung ho "Because we can do it, we will do it" that characterised Bush Jr.

And it was a moving moment to see Barrack Obama finally win. And I must confess I became emotional.

Because at every moment there were doubts . People were convinced Obama wont be able to do it. He will never get elected. How can a black man be the president in a country of majority of whites? This is just a red herring! Racism rules in America.

But he did win . And America has taught something to the world.

But the message in even in this defining is a bit flawed. Because the election was Islamaphobic in many ways. And even I accept that I cannot make the man who hates me like me simply because I say its racist to hate me for my religion,sex,sexual identity, or race. However as Collin Powell said "I hear all these Republicans say Obama is a Muslim. The truth is he is a Christian. But the morally and ethically correct answer is how does it matter if he is a Muslim? ".
There is supposed to be a thing that bans discrimination on a number of things including religion. The Republicans forgot it so many times. The Republicans preyed upon people's fears of the worst kind. When Obama was linked to terrorists like J. Wright, the terrorist image recalled wasn't an anti-establishment christian guy but a turban wearing Arab terrorist out loose.

But Obama did win and this moment is his. He deserves the credit for smashing several glass ceilings at one go. May he remain safe from all the dangers and all the folks who would be mouring a black man as president.

Lets see how the world changes in the next couple of years.

There were 43 white men and then came someone called Obama.

Obama or McCain

So the US election date is finally here. All the drama over the past year finally boils down to this day.

 

Poor Hillary would probably be ruminating over a day that should and could have been hers, had not a gentleman with a strange surname name of Obama and Hussein as a middle name stolen the show. I guess she needs a big glass of brandy to get over the day.  We can very well write off her aspirations to be a president as eight years from now (if Obama is elected), she would be way too old.

 

But Obama deserves all the credit. If he was white he could have been mediocre but with the background he comes from, he had to be and has been brilliant to even be inn contention. Everyone waited for his campaign to implode but it never did. His campaign is classic example of a smoothly run machine with little visible internal bickering.

 

Mc Cain on the other hand became a maverick who ceased to amuse. At 72 years old it is very likely he might not survive the next four years. His VP candidate was Sarah Palin, a gun tooting, moose shooting mannequin good only for posters. Imagine someone who claims that she has a special perspective on Russian affairs because she can see it from her home. Someone who did not even have a passport till last year! Sarah Palin probably became McCain’s nemesis. If Obama was not qualified, then Sarah Palin does not even deserve to be in contention.

 

So we have the two candidates- John McCain and Barrack Obama. Who would I vote for if I could. Hmmm as an individual I would any day choose Obama but there is a caveat. I am unsure about his economic ideas especially the line about taxing companies who outsource jobs. Frankly it makes me nervous.

 

It’s not because perhaps I am in the IT industry but more because I believe in the other side of the argument. Outsourcing is saving big bucks for the involved companies. And this money helps the companies grow by giving them that extra bit of capital to expand. McCain is more firm on the economic front. On the other hand I really believe Obama will understand the advantages and not really try to curb out sourcing. Surely don’t give tax-cuts to those who outsource but don’t penalize enough to make the benefits disappear.

 

So, I hope it is Obama 08-12. J

 

Moving on I have to mention that some time back I read Barack Obama’s “Dreams of my Father”. It’s a lovely delicate book chronicling the years of a mixed race kid and the story of his ancestors. I would recommend it as a read. AN interesting idea in the book is that maybe poverty is not the lack of things but an idea in itself that afflicts people telling them that they are poor. Imagine an area where the first white men reached only 130 years better.

 

So if Obama is president we could have an intellectual as a president of the USA. His book betrays a powerful intellect and maybe the world will change. If nothing more there could be more understanding between nations, races and religions.

 

I think I have used too wide a brush to paint tomorrow.

 

Maybe all the polls are wrong. It just might be McCain.

 

Pune or Mysore

So my training with my company finished finally and the postings came. In the two month training, I ended up with a CGPA of 4.89 out of 5 which is nearer the higher end of the spectrum. But then sprang a surprise. I had always nursed a desire to go back to Pune. My Pune, a place where I had spent four years, a place which had taught me so much, a place where mates still abound and a place seeped in old memories. But I got posted to Bangalore. If it was not Pune, it could be anyplace else. With this in mind, I swapped to Mysore which in my judgment would be a better place to live. So now I survive in Mysore.

 

But I miss Pune. And I am still wondering whether I should be on the lookout to swap to Pune. Presently I am but its half-hearted. I am not sure what is attracting me back there. Is it pure logic or remnants of long dead emotions? I will discuss more in further posts. I can just tell you this-A NEW SERIES OF POSTS HAS STARTED. One is Pune fragrances and the second is Mysore diaries.