One of those discussions

I am a non-vegetarian. It is no secret. My wife is a vegetarian. So, we end up disucssing about the pros and cons of being either. She came across a nice piece on vegetarianism. I will disucss this here.

Most vegetaarians claim that they are vegetarian becasue they are not harming life. i always had an issue with this. These vegetarians are eating plants which is life and as far as I am concerned killing life. Non-vegetarians eat meat grown explicitly for consumption and so do vegetarians except the plants do not move. So, I always wondered whether there is a true vegetrian way of life. This brings me back to the discussion with my wife and the piece she read. Yes, you can be truly vegetarian, if you eat plant food that is discarded (for the lack of a better word) from the plants. So, you eat fruits that have fallen down from trees then that is not harming any life form. So then you are being a true vegetarian. When you grow paddy, at harvest time the plant dies and after that you use your paddy you are not killing the plant for food. So, this for me makes sense. Of course, it is pretty damn hard. 

The article does mention that there is a natural gradation in life and animals have more choices than plants and hence killing them is "worse" than eating plants. So, if there is a scale, eating plants is better than animals. This seems dicey and a matter of opinion to me. But the concept of being a true vegetarian rings true to me. So, thought i would share this!

Feel free to disagree with me (I didn't have to say that, Did I?)

 

What more can you do?

You work hard. Try to be patient. Ignore the criticism and pessimism. Look for the positives even in moments of despair. Motivate yourself from these low points. Then start all over again. You can only try. I tried for a really realy long time. What do I have to show for this efforts at building a frutiful bond. ZILCH. Yes, thats where it is now and probably forever. Sometimes you just accept that not everybody will appreciate what you do (even if it is suppossed be pretty obvious). Probably today is one of those days. I just hope I am strong enough to accept it and move on.

Some good news

Got a paper accepted for publication. Why is it important? Well the importance of this event is based on people who are not part of it (I know its usually the other way, but well, who said I will be a usual guy). Pretty thrilled about this. The counting begins (I really hope so!)

So well put

I am not an admirer of Ayn Rand, the high priestess of unrestrained individualism and laissez faire economics (Alan Greenspan was a chela). But I am tempted to quote her on our neta-babu raj. “When you know that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing, when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods but in favours, when you see that men get rich more easily by graft rather than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them but protect them against you, you know that your society is doomed.” What could be the tipping point for a crisis? BoP? Fisc? Inflation? Infrastructure?

Full piece here by Rajwade.

Well, its been that sort of a day, where i just want to crib. anyway, you cant blame me, its been so bad back home for the last 4-5 years!I hope it ends!

Only Salil can put it so nicely

 

Given such a bleak picture, one would think that Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, the rector of the Darul Uloom Deoband, would know his chief priority: to ask the government to implement the Sachar report, identify the root causes and fix those, instead of tinkering at the margins. But Nomani seems to have a more pressing concern: keeping Salman Rushdie out of the Jaipur Literature Festival. With politicians offering questionable placebos which have expired use-by dates, and clerics misdiagnosing the disease, is it any wonder that the patient’s condition remains grave?

In Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Iff tells Haroun how certain things are P2C2E, (process-too-complicated-to-explain). But this process is simple: politicians and clerics gain by keeping the population uninformed. They fight chimeric battles and offer illusory benefits to Muslims, who want education and jobs. Instead they get quotas, and not skills, with the added bonus: to protest Rushdie.

In case there are disturbances after prayers at the mosque tomorrow in Jaipur or elsewhere, the responsibility will rest with the clerics, the politicians, and the rioters, not the writers.Ah, magic realism.

 

Full piece here

How Indian Muslim population has been maintained at a "certian" level through religious freedom - freedom that can be used - unless Congress deems its useful. Salman Rusdie is an Indian and for him to ravel to India it is hard now. All the psuedo intellectuals that do not recognize the role of the self-serving Congress governement at the helm for more than 60 years, please go check for some sense in your nearby grocery store. !

A great piece

comparing what has changed in this Indian team here!

You have to read this part.. Exactly my feelings, of course so masterfully written!

 

I’ve missed the Ganguly-inspired ballsiness. I’ve missed the ‘fuck you mode’ that John Wright asked the team to adopt during the 2003 World Cup. I’ve missed the unshakable belief that helped us come back in Headingley, 2002 and Durban, 2010. I’ve missed the spirit that won us the Mohali Test in 2010.

I’ve missed Laxman’s steely side. I’ve missed Tendulkar avatar that shelves shots. I’ve missed Dravid’s over-my-dead-body efforts on a spiked pitch. I have missed the team’s ability to counterpunch. I have missed Sehwag. Which senior player is going to reassure Umesh Yadav with ‘We’ll win in Adelaide’? Does anyone in this team even believe we have a chance?

And herein lies my anguish. This team is making me lose hope in turnarounds, they’re whimpering from one game to another, they’re acting like hesitant, shy schoolboys and walking into well-laid traps. They are showing no inkling to think out of the box. And they are bizarrely surrendering meekly rather than going down swinging. It’s a team I’m not used to. It’s a team that has forgotten how to respond. It’s a team that’s lost its bearings.

I don’t care which eleven Indian players walk out at Adelaide. I don’t even want to suggest who to drop and who to retain. Losing 4-0 isn’t the end of the world (after all, we’ve been there a few months ago). I am not paying any attention to all the speculation about impending retirements.

All I ask for is a sign. All I ask for is more of what Umesh did on the second day at Perth, more of what Kohli did on the third. All I ask for is any sign that tells me that this team is willing to reverse the tide, a sign that shows me that that these players haven’t forgotten the art of fighting the odds, a sign that reassures me that the wheels haven’t completely come off at the end of an ardous journey that began – thanks to many of the same players – a little over a decade ago.

 

 

Guha at its usual best

On our PM

These successive failures signal a character trait that one does not usually associate with upright and intelligent individuals -namely, a rather desperate desire to cling to office, at whatever cost to one's reputation, one's party, and one's nation. 

India and its economics (or the lack thereof)

A fabulous piece on what needs to be done in India by TN Ninan (link Anantha Nageswaran)

The essence of the reform programme of 1991 was to attack this approach to policy-making, to reduce if not remove the distortions. Twenty years later, however, the ancien regime is back with a vengeance — it was in the name of garibi hatao earlier, now it is in the name of the aam aadmi. 

Why rake all this up now, at the start of 2012? Because the hyper-ventilating leaders of an anti-corruption movement who roiled the waters for most of 2011 have not thought it necessary to say one word about how it is government-induced market distortions that lie at the root of corruption in so many sectors, and how reforms of the 1991 variety might provide solutions — indeed, better and more lasting solutions than sending Lok Pal hounds after every babu who yields to temptation. Not just Anna Hazare and his cohorts, most ordinary people can now see that no political party really wants a Lok Pal. But shouldn’t it be equally obvious that no political party wants reform either — because at the Centre, in the states, in panchayats, politicians of every party hue are the direct or indirect beneficiaries of government-induced market distortions that bring about market failure, and opportunity for scamsters?

Well, if it will be done is a different proposition altogether!

Cricket

Well, we lost 6 in a row. I mean it was pretty expected after the first innings disaster. At least, all the batsman seem to have clicked by now. This should be good if we can atleast win one match in the series! Tendulkar is playing very well. I haven't seen him play so well in the last 2-3 years. He is positive and bringing his A game. Sure he scored runs in the last 3-4 years but he started of in a conservative manner. This australia series he is palying positively except when he gets into his "century" mode. I mean the way he got out to Clarke yesterday clearly shows how much the 100 is playing on his mind. It is unfortunate that he has become a victim of meaningless stats. I hope for his sake and team Indias sake he gets it as soon as possible because, without that stat on his back, he might win games for India.

Also, its time Sehwag stood up in the series!

2011 - Year in Review

Well, well, well another year comes to an end. This was a year of many firsts for me. My first class as a Professor, my first grant success, my first marriage (:P), and so on. 

After many years I have spent majority of time in a city other than Austin this year. My move to Montreal was complete and I began teaching in January. It was only a small class whcih made it easier for me to handle the workload, but overall it went ok. The semester flew by with my course and some grant writing! I cant remember anything else that I did during the semester. I went for a trip to Burlington. It was al right to get away. 

The year did include a lot of travel: multiple trips to Austin, 2-3 trips to Houston, two trips to India, trip to Yellowstone (from Portland), trip to Denver, and trip to Jefferson (TX). 

The trips to India were hectic but very nice. I spent a lot of time with family (of course after august the size grew by 1). Slowly but surely, i am making progress in my relationships in the family. It feels good that way. The wedding was in Goa. The ceremony and the many proceddings went off smoothly. Considering the differences in our backgrounds I was quite pleased it went so smoothly. The marriage hall and surroundings were pleasant. Many of my friends did make it to Goa. It was great to spend sometime with my friends. Then the travel began, Goa-Hyd-Nandigama-Hyd-Bombay. It was hectic but it was fun to go around the country meeting family and friends. 

Once we were back from Bombay we went to Denver. It was a fun trip with both of us sick :). The locales were wonderful and I did squeeze in a lot in terms of sightseeing! After that the grind began. My first semester with two courses. Boy was it busy or what! It was very hard managing two courses (one of them over 100 students). Not to mention the many grant applications and other academic work that I had to do! There were many times where I felt pretty low teaching the large class. It felt I was not doing a good job of making the material interesting. But, I continued on hoping that even if 20 students are motivated I need to do justice to their interest and the moment I forgot about the results and focussed on the process of teaching it felt so much nicer for me. There were students who complained and probably hated my style, but there were a few who liked it. This gave me the motivation to continue further. For sure, i do enjoy teaching. I hope it will remain special all my life! The semester was so hectic i hardly got time for anything else but work (which did not include writing papers :(). The weekends were usually spent at home eating pizza, sleeping and preparing classes!

Then as soon as the semester ended I flew to austin. I was ready for downtime and boy did I have a great holiday of doing nothing but chatting, cooking and driving here and there! It was so relaxing, i still can't believe it. Now very soon I will have start work again. I am not ready for it for sure :P

On the physical fitness side, this year was ok. I am still trying to lose my excess pounds from the India trips. It looks like the process will go on for 6 more months or so! I picked up swimming and it went well. i have reached a stage where I can proclaim "I SWIM" without feeling bad:P. Hopefully over the next year or two I will start picking up skiing. 

On the sports front, it was a mixed year. India won the World Cup. Boy it was awesome. I was watching the final.. feeling desperate for sometime and then feeling great again. It was a wait for nearly 20 years for me and it was worth it. It was great that Tendulkar now has a world cup. Then the england tour was a disaster. On the other sport front, Federer had a pretty bad year, losing from matchpoint situations. But it does not bother me that much nowadays. Well I have learned to let go!

On the friends front, there were marriages of other good friends too this year. Then there will be many more in  the next year. I am looking forward to those. Will attend one  for sure. One of my close friends has a son now. Well its surreal to say the least. But pretty happy for him! I wish everybody will have a great 2012 too. It looks like more kids might be on the way! Man I am getting old or what!

On the family side, things have been al right, especially after the marriage I was worried, but things could not hace been better. I am so happy things turned out so good. It was nice to see the families genuinely enjoy spending time with us! It was fun and great! Now that the Eluru family has increased in size by one more (and many more relatives) it is fun keeping in touch with all of them.

On the "professional side", well this is something I dont try hard enough. I am not good at sweet talking or even talking for that matter. Had to endure some really rude meetings (some of them in French!). But it does allow me to realize what I like and help me direct my energies appropriately.

On the "spiritual side", well I have been able to learn a lot about myself, my weaknesses etc. due to the many conversations and fights. But they were very helpful and allow me to better myself. 

There is one thing that bothers me a little off late, but there is not much I can do about it except hope thinbgs will become better. Well, you can't ask for everything to be perfect in life anyway I guess! 

Still 2011 has been a great year and hope the future will continue to be as generous towards me, my family and friends!

2012

Happy New Year to everybody out there.

It has been a wonderful little vacation over the last couple of weeks. It was fun with some travel, some socializing and mostly great times! I have never expected it to be such smooth sailing especially nwoing our history :P. Well, i guess marriage does mellow people :)

Anyway, my year end summary post is still due! (Not that anybody is waiting for it!)