Principia Unlogica

Some snapshots of the impressions India has left on me... Its your own country. You belong. And yet sometimes, people feel very different and you miss the place you call home. There is something funny about the government installing a reverse-osmosis filter at Mysore Palace for visitors. While its very nice of them, doesn't it amount to an admission that government supplied water is non-potable? Dunno, weird. Jaipur has banned plastic bags completely, without much ado. And they are pretty nonchalant about it. Other cities charge for plastic bags, thus reducing their usage. Things get done here without much back-patting and ado. If a film star has an affair with a lady co-star, and violently beats up his wife over it, the producers association bans the lady co-star for the next ten years. Speechless. Bangalore, Pune is full of youngsters. You can easily feel old. Jaipur is the opposite. Ads actually make sense. Even kiddo gets them. Thousand rupees is mere pocket change. Bollywood a

Yesterday while driving the kiddo back home we drove past an Auction sign. K: Hey mom, look at the funny way they have written Caution. Now it takes a minute for such things to click, then.. M: Baby, its not Caution, its Auction. K: Whats that? A different type of Warning? M: No, auction is a different way of selling things. I will tell you... umm... what would you like to sell? K: A donkey! M: Ah... Ok. So there are two ways to sell a donkey. You can either say 'Here's a donkey, I'll sell it for 500 dollars' or you can say 'I have a donkey to sell, how much will you pay'. If you do the first, someone will pay 500 dollars and take the donkey. But if you do the second, then Aji will say 'I'll pay $400 for the donkey', Papa will say, 'I'll pay $600 for the donkey' and Tanu will say 'I'll pay $800 for the donkey' Who will you give it to? K: Tanu. But then will Aji and Papa give me money as is? M: No, why should they, you have onl

As some of you might know, I oppose LokPal Bill. This is not a gesture of disrespect to Anna Hazare. It is more about opposing the fundamental provisions of the bill. And about opposing the concept that our governing problems can be solved by adding another layer of bureaucracy instead of doing the real work of fixing whats wrong with the current institutions and laws. And as an aside, I do oppose his method of coercing a functioning democracy (India is one!) with moral blackmail. Furthermore, it is saddening to see decisions made over waves of media fueled passion that considers any debate over the pros and cons as heresy. Please read the provisions of LokPal bill and share your thoughts. Here are my thoughts in detail: 1. Jan LokPal is not democratically elected neither is he/she elected by democratically elected representatives. LokPal is nominated by "notables" in the society and can be deposed by supreme court justices only. So the LokPal does not represent the people in

Wonder if its a want to wander, or to wander away... or both.

Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere . And such was it when a vegetable seller, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself alight after being humiliated by a police officer in Tunisia. Within three weeks, the galvanized masses of protesters had taken over the country and Ben Ali had fled. That spilled over to Cairo, and as the world watched and western countries made non-committal noises, Mubarak was pulled down. The domino effect that Bush sought for in vain had begun. There were protests in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Iran, Morocco, Kuwait, Algeria, Lebanon, Oman. And this has been followed by placatory gestures from their rulers. Jordan's prime minister was been dismissed, Yemen's Saleh and Sudan's Bashir promised not to seek another term, and a slew of political and economic concessions and incentives followed from other rulers. We are truly witnessing histor

... presenting Mrs & Mr Singhal. Congratulations guys!!!

I love KQED Forum, and heard one today after long. The guest was Kavita Ramdas, President, CEO of Global Fund for Women, and the topic was, of course, women rights. The podcast is here. Thats an issue close to my heart. It was a wonderfully balanced talk. S One point that especially struck a chord with me was when Ms Ramdas quoted a comment made by Shirin Ebadi, the Iraninan Nobel Prize winner. Ms Ebadi said something on the lines that in Iran we don't have a revolution for womens rights on the streets, but there is a revolution around the kitchen table in every house. How true. That is really where women begin to assert themselves. And though its not as impressive as demonstrations in Tahrir square, each of those struggles are as complex and courageous. They are a woman's quest to assert herself as a person, while being mindful of the needs and wants of the people she cares for. And that latter part makes it incredibly difficult. Women rights movement is greatly equated with