Will somebody listen

to Raghuram Rajan

Rajan ended his speech with a clear warning. “The history of development is replete with countries that grew strongly for a while, only to stutter and stop as their leaders and their people started taking growth as their birthright. Somewhat paradoxically, it is only when we are paranoid about sustaining growth that we will continue achieving it. We need to become paranoid again, as we were in the early 1990s, and perhaps then we will achieve the full promise of Manmohan Singh’s reforms.”

Full piece here. I am not sure!

The forgotten murders

The most conveniently forgotten murders from the last century. The cases still go on nearly after 30 years! I don't see any of the secular intelletuals talking about this. 

What the hell?

I am no expert on juducial matters, but the recent RTE ruling by the Supreme Court is genuinely out of place. I mean the concept that private institutions can be ordered to do what the Governement wants them to do is quite adhoc. I understand imposing rules on aided schools but to impose restrictions on unaided schools is infringing on the freedom. The biggest problem I have is not the fact that private schools have to follow this but that minority private schools need not follow this. I mean if a Christian Organization sets up a school for "rich" christian families and denies admission to "Disadvantaged Christians" it is perfectly ok according to the Supreme Court. It just wants to ensure "Hindu Schools" do not do this. Either you have a unfiorm rule system on everybody or do not force that rule on anybody. This is just blatant padering! Just as a segment of the population should not be penlaized because they are a minority it is not right to impose restruictions on the segment that happens to have a large share of population. And don't get me started on "disadvanatged". It is not just poor. It is our India's very own contribution to the world. The great undefinable 'distadvantaged' !

A nice piece on this here

Mamata Banerjee

This is outrightly autocratic

Well Well Well

Most people will be angry to read this piece by Mukul Kesavan. But he writes exactly what i have been feeling after the 100th 100.

Some excerpts

There were a series of press conferences and public events starring Tendulkar immediately after his 100th hundred at Mirpur. In none of them did Tendulkar spend much time on the fact that a) India actually lost to Bangladesh, b) that one of the reasons India lost was that Tendulkar was so focused on getting his hundred that his run rate dropped as he approached this landmark, leaving the team short of the 300-plus target that was there for the taking, and c) that India were eliminated from the tournament before the final.

.......

For a man who through his long career, has been a model of unassertive poise, the crassness of the publicity blitz and his own odd complicity, is startling. It cheapens a great cricketing legacy, like a tinsel garland on a solid gold icon. Tendulkar doesn't have to brief us about his retirement plans; he is the greatest batsman of his time and he ought to play for as long as he can hold his place in the team. But he should, as he did in his pomp, let his bat do the talking.

I do believe Tendulkar's achievement is great. 100 international 100s is awesome, no doubt. But if you are a team man, the loss to Bangladesh should have hurt. Over the 2 days after his 100 it never felt like it did. That bothers me.

Another thing that I felt was that Dravid's retirement was received very well in the press and for those 3-4 days Dravid was "Tendulkar" for India. indian cricket was synonymous with cricket and suddenly Dravid was being showered with paludits usually reserved for him. It did not sit well with the great man. nothing worng, most sportsmen have massive egos. Tendulkar did not like it. It showed in how he celebrated his 100th 100.

What does it all mean and some random stuff

You are born. You grow up. Everyday there is some little thing here and some little thing there that bothers you. Somethings make you happy and content while somethings make you sad and grumpy. But what is the reason for life? It is so hard to understand. There are irrational fears, unconquerable expectations and thoughts that you have no control over. What can we do? No idea.

Of late I keep finding it hard to be alone. May be its the winter. The need to plan based on the weather. I never had to do this in Texas.

At the sametime I dont mind being alone. I look forward to the company of very few people nowadays. Gone are the days where i was a very social person. I have changed into a person who is fighting hard to maintain those good old friendships with very little time to make new ones. I dont know if I would say my personal life is stagnating on the social front, but I am not so keen on new friendships anymore. May be its marriage or may be I meet so many people in my day job where i end up talking superficially I am just tired. 

Over the last two years I have realized i love my job, in spite of all the pressures. I particularly love teaching. it makes me happy giving it my all. I just hope i can continue doing that. Now this summer I really want to enjoy the other component of my job. Research. I will see how that goes. It is going to be hard work, but I wish to try my best.

Amidst all this I hope to keep in my mind the insignificance of one's life and the so called achievements. All you can do in your life is be happy. If you can say that you have genuinely tried to be happy, you can say its a life well spent. Thats my motto! Take up challenges that give you joy. Hopefully I can take up challenges for the right reasons!

On the recreational front, I hope to start trekking. I really want to enjoy the summer in Montreal. I am planning for it. Lets see how it turns out.

Will this matter

The quid pro quo allotment of profits to different companies during the YSR regime. Now, will this matter to the people of AP. I dont see that happenning!