Nano - Is it time to say TATA to Singur?

The most talked about car of the year , may be the decade..the nano was gonna herald a new revolution in the indian auto industry but sadly its heralded in a political revolution in the communist stronghold against the communists rather than the latter.An ambitious project to manufacture a 1 lakh car needs all the backing from all stratas of society.But in India there is one class of people who wil always oppose it- the political class!!!They need a reason to protest and make an issue out of something to gain some electoral votes.The protests at Singur and the blockage of the highway is it making more and more difficult for the TATAs to continue with their factory there.Aprt from that there staff is being threatened too...Most of u who read my blog must be knowing abt the politics of it so i shall nto go into that.Ill bring out a totaly new angle....

Whose funding the protesters??Figures put it at Rs 1 crore a day is being spent on them...its too huge an amount for any party to spend on a daily basis.The CBI and the IT dept should go ahead and look into the accounts of these parties.Goin on with the next question..Who wil suffer the most if the NANO rolls out??The answer is pretty obvious the 2 wheelers companies...
SO my next question..Have they got anything to do with it??YES very well may be true..as Ratan Tata put it in an intervioew a few months back that certain corporates are tryin to sabotage this whole project..I cant give u the names cause i dono who they are..they are rumours abt certain companies and would like to keep them like that and not mention them here..

Now its no more just a political issue..its as much as a corporate battle as a political one..I think the TATAs ,who have been known for there humanity and are undoubtedly the most respected Indian corporate, should get out of that place and say TATA to Singur..monetary loss set aside..Its gonna hit them hard but then once the problems start they wil never end..a temp solution may com eout but peace and stability wil not be long lasting..

Beijing Olympics!!!

Less that 24 hours to go!!The biggest world sporting event is gonna kick off but wad does it hold for India?? Not much i guess..1 billion ppl and counting but sadly havent achieved anything at all at the olympics..apart from the few hockey medals and a medal or two here and there from shooting , tennis , weight lifting etc..And things dont look like they r gonna improve this year..eventhough we have chances of outdoin are previous records but even this is nothing of any significance when we compare it to the rest of the world..u really feel ashamed at this reality that olympics is a battle which we have no chances of winning anytime in the near future...

So where lies the basic problem? Why can’t we do well on the big stage? To me the problem lies in all of us.At the end of the day it is he himself who chooses to play and his passion is what should drive him.What I fail to understand time and again is how countries like Kazakhstan and Kenya stand way above us in the points tally when those athletes struggle for even two square meals a day. I'm reminded of people like Aslam Sher Khan, who learned the art of hockey with broken sticks and still brought laurels for us.Industry should also shoulder a huge amount of blame, though things are improving in this area. Companies have started to fund some sportsmen, but if we do see the reasons for India’s sustained failure in the Games over a period of time, one of the major points to come out would be lack of funding.The media must hold its hands up for not covering other sports with the same kind of enthusiasm that they cover cricket. There has been a lot of step-motherly treatment for other sports in this country but, fortunately for all of us, things are improving.

Every four years we live in hope of a miracle. The Olympics do not have the same importance for Indians as, say, the World Cup of cricket, but still the underachievers that most of us are, we love basking in the glory of some of our sporting icons who beat hardships day in, day out to still live hard and fight it out against the best in the world.Beijing 2008 is no different.

Thus, I would conclude by saying that I hope the 57-member contingent which is going to the Games and which has some star performers who are considered medal hopefuls do bring in joy to a sports-crazy nation like ours which has been craving success.

Best of luck, Team India!

A soldier's General, Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw !

Having met this great personality on 2 occasions when he had come down to the Hyderabad Public School for the prize distribution & investiture ceremonies and have received 2 prizes from him , news that Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, whose military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war led to the creation of Bangladesh, has died in Military Hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu late Thursday night was a shock. He was 94.The Padma Vibhushan and Military Cross awardee, who was admitted in the hospital for some time for "progressive lung disease", had slipped into a coma earlier and then finally passed away.

I'll like to throw some light on India's First Field Marshal who was fondly called as SAM BAHADUR!!

A soldier's General, Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw crafted India's greatest military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war that created just not history but also a new nation.

Affectionately called "Sam Bahadur", Manekshaw (94) was the architect of many a military triumph but his finest hour came when Pakistani forces were vanquished in 14 days flat. And Bangladesh was born.

Handsome, witty and sporting his trademark handlebar moustache, Manekshaw had the rare distinction of being honoured for his bravery - Military Cross - right on the battle front itself during the Second World War. He was also the first Indian officer to command the Gorkhas after India got Independence.

Manekshaw, who got a second life after the young Captain survived near fatal wounds during the Second World War in Burma, is the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army (The other being Field Marshal K M Cariappa).

His distinguished military career spanned four decades from the British era and through five wars, including the Second World War.

Flamboyant by nature, Manekshaw always had his way with people, including his seniors and even the country's Head of Government.

Just before the Bangladesh operations in December 1971, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw ,who was the Army Chief then, "General are you ready" (for the war). Pat came the reply from the dapper officer, "I am always ready sweetie." Gandhi was not unpleased, nor offended.

On another occasion, Gandhi asked him whether he was planning to take over the country. Pointing to his long nose, the General replied: "I don't use it to poke into other's affairs."

When Gandhi asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces, Manekshaw declined, magnanimously saying that honour should go to his army commander in the East (Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora).

Manekshaw said he would only go if it were to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani army.

A shrewd tactician, Manekshaw meticulously planned the Indian attack on Pakistan on both fronts -- East and West. While the Indian forces captured the then East Pakistan in the eastern sector, the army made heavy inroads in the western sector going up to Lahore.

Adopting a mature war strategy, he masterminded the rout of the Pakistan Army in one of the quickest victories in the recent military history to liberate Bangladesh.

Born on April 3, 1914 in Amritsar to Parsi parents who migrated to Punjab from the small town of Valsad on the Gujarat coast, Manekshaw rose to be the Eighth Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969. The year of the General's birth was around the time when the First World War broke.

During World War II, Manekshaw saw action in the Burma campaign on Sittang River as a Captain with the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment.

Manekshaw was leading a counter-offensive against the invading Japanese Army in Burma. During the course of the offensive he was hit by a burst of LMG bullets and was severely wounded in the stomach.

Major General D T Cowan spotted Manekshaw holding on to life and was aware of his valour in face of stiff resistance from the Japanese.

Fearing the worst, Major General Cowan quickly pinned his own Military Cross ribbon on to Manekshaw saying, "A dead person cannot be awarded a Military Cross." But luck was on the young Captain's side and he survived to be one of India's most popular Army Chiefs.

Manekshaw became the 8th Chief of Army Staff when he succeeded General Kumaramangalam on June 7, 1969. His years of military experience were soon put to the test as thousands of refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan started crossing over to India as a result of oppression from West Pakistan. The volatile situation erupted into a full-scale war in December 1971 and the rest is history.

During the 1971 war, Manekshaw showed uncanny ability to motivate the forces, coupling it with a mature war strategy.

The war ended with Pakistan's unconditional surrender, and the formation of Bangladesh. More than 45,000 Pakistani soldiers and 45,000 civilian personnel were taken as POWs.

This led to the Shimla Agreement which opened the door to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh as separate from Pakistan.

The Field Marshal's wit was legendary. Once on a visit to his unit as Commanding Officer he asked what action was taken against a man who contracted veneral disease and when he was told the man's head was shaved off, he roared. "Shaved off? Dammit. he didn't do it with his head."

After completing his schooling in Amritsar and Sherwood College (Nainital), he joined the first batch of 40 cadets at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun on October 1, 1932. He passed out of the IMA in December 1934 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. He held several regimental assignments and was first attached to the Royal Scots and later to the 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment.

Having recovered from those near-fatal wounds in Burma, Manekshaw went for a course at Staff College, Quetta and later also served there as an instructor before being sent to join 12 Frontier Force Rifles in Burma under General (later Field Marshal) Slim's 14th Army.

He was once again involved in a fierce battle with the Japanese, and was wounded for a second time.

In 1937, at a social gathering in Lahore Manekshaw met Silloo Bode. They fell in love and were married on April 22, 1939. Silloo, a graduate of Bombay's Elphinstone College made an admirable wife and a wonderful mother.

Towards the close of World War II, Manekshaw was sent as Staff Officer to General Daisy in Indo-China where, after the Japanese surrender, he helped rehabilitate over 10,000 POWs.

He then went on a six-month lecture tour to Australia in 1946, and after his return served as a First Grade Staff Officer in the Military Operations Directorate.

Manekshaw showed acumen for planning and administration while handling the issues related to Partition in 1947, and later put to use his battle skills during the 1947-48 Jammu and Kashmir Operations.

After command of an Infantry Brigade, he was posted as the Commandant of the Infantry School and also became the Colonel of 8 Gorkha Rifles (which became his new regimental home, since his original parent regiment The 12th Frontier Force Regiment went on to join the new Pakistan Army at partition) and 61 Cavalry.

He commanded a Division in Jammu and Kashmir and a Corps in the North East, with a tenure as Commandant of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) in between. As GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, he handled the tricky problem of insurgency in Nagaland and the grateful nation honoured him with a Padma Bhushan in 1968.

For his distinguished service to the country, the President of India awarded him a Padma Vibhushan in 1972.

The President conferred upon him the rank of Field Marshal, a prestigious honorary rank, on January 1, 1973. Manekshaw retired a fortnight later (although technically Field Marshals of the Indian Army never retire because the rank is conferred for life), on January 15, 1973, after completing nearly four decades of military service.

In 1961, his outspoken frankness got him into trouble with Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon and his protege of the time Lt Gen B M Kaul. He refused to toe Menon's line and was sidelined.

Manekshaw was vindicated soon after when the Indian army suffered a humiliating defeat in North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh, the next year, at the hands of the Chinese that led to Menon's resignation. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru rushed Manekshaw to NEFA to command the retreating Indian forces. This had an electrifying effect on the demoralised officers.

In no time, Manekshaw convinced the troops that the Chinese soldier was not "10 feet tall". His first order of the day said, "There will be no withdrawal without written orders and these orders shall never be issued." The soldiers showed faith in their new commander and successfully checked further ingress by the Chinese.

After retirement, Manekshaw settled down in Coonoor in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu.

Election Tamasha....

The tamashas just begun ..The results for the Karnataka assembly elections-2008 are out and even though BJP seems to be the single largest party and a stone throws away from the all important halfway mark..its very unlikely that things wil be smooth for them ..politics is a game of uncertainties especially when u have THE GOWDAS playing the game they way they do..already u have different permutations and combinations with some people stil predicting that JD(S) might have the last laugh..very well possible i say.One things for sure this was a mandate against the JD(S) and was an election which congress could easily win but the BJP played its cards well and have come out victorious till now.

Everybody is playing the game of musical chairs.... lets see who has the last laugh!!

Trial by Media??

Countless no of news channel..some figure puts it at 37 national news channels alone in india..all of them have one simple aim to get the highest TRPs by sensationalizing the news.So from actually reporting whats needed for the society..the media has now grown into a monster.They believe they run a parallel justice system and have the right to adjudge whether a person is guilty or not.Most of the times their justice system is found to be totally wrong..and the few times when they have actually been right , its not because they investigated the case well but because the case was so simple that even a child could solve it.The media turnin in to this monster , has ruined the lives of many a people..the Arushi murder case is one such example

Lets not speak abt the investigation because no ones sure of what happened but the point is the media keeps finding a new culprit..and as they say "hatyara kaun??"..in this case they have blamed everyone from the servant hemraj , who was found murdered later on, to the father of the girl just because the father and infact the whole family was asked a few questions by the investigative authority there.And bizarely some of our media had a new theory of thinking the father was involve din it because the family refused to speak and some one pointed it out by saying that "YOUR GUILTY THATS WHY YOUR NOT SPEAKING"... strange words man..common uve lost a close family member and u dont wanna get bugged by assholes who wil do anything for a bite and provoke u to loose ur cool so that they could turn it into a breaking news...damn it ..they r such losahs!!Leave the family alone..they r already goin through hell...

I would like to ask a simple question to the all powerful media..if it was someone of ur family ..would u have done the same??? Behaved the same?? The answer for sure would be know..the medias role is to report the truth and not to be a a parallel justice system.Help where needed and not interfere just to get the TRPs..

I saw this discussion on NDTV last night where the family members had come down and some of the noted journalists like deepak chaurasiya of aaj tak were also present and found it fitting to blog on a topic that is very relevant and important.We dont need a media which is out to ruin peoples live.Its time the media acted more responsibly and started lookin at issues which effect the society.

Quota!! The Verdict stil aint out!!

Before i begin with the whole quota thing il like to make it clear at the onset that I'm totally against the whole quota thing so my views will be biased so if u've got a problem with it .I really dont care!!

Ok..just when the whole jingbang supporting the quota thing from the government to the political parties to certain communities were celebrating there so called victory on winning the quota issue at The Honorable Supreme Court..they were in for a "rude" shock when the Honorable Kolkatta High Court put a stay in the implementation of it in th PG level!!

This stay has given a hope to us,the people against quota, that yes we can still see to it that quota isnt implemented atleast in the PG level!!The Supreme Court in its judgement according to the media has said that there is no need for quotas in the PG level.Different people have read this statement in a various ways..some say it hasnt put nay restriction in quotas while others say that the SC has clearly stated that there shouldnt be any quota in PG level at all! I'm 0 when it comes to law so i have no interpretation of this judgement.Though i have my own opinion on the whole quota thing at the PG level!

As i said am against quota but now as the SC has said quotas are needed atleast in the under graduate level..there is no point arguing or discussing that issue!! now comin to the issue of quotas at PG level!!First point ppl who are abt to do their PG by now should have a gud enough knowledge and u cant keeping pushing ppl all the way!! I hope their aint a day when i get treated by a doc who doenst know his subject well but became a doctor because he got a seat through quota even though they were many better than him who dint get a chance! Why do they want quota ??They have already got it at their under graduate levels and now are on par with the so called general category students..no one has a proper answer for this!!

Another debated issue is where do we draw the lines on cut offs ?? u cant have a student with quota comin in at marks less than half of that required by a general category student!!Common we need quality too..u just cant run after quantity and try fillin up the quotas...And please please keep the creamy layer out..who knows some billionaires son also might apply for the quota saying he is backward :p

A solution to this whole quota thing is to improve the education at primary levels in rural districts!!This will uplift the so called backward category students and then we wil not need a quota for higher education!!

The whole quota issue will not die down..Its been in the news for the last 60 years and will continue to be the central issue for long time in the future.Elections are here!! and parties al over wil try using the quota issue as their trump card...there might be a day when we general category students are forced to ask for a quota too..hope that day never comes though because quotas divide instead of uniting the people!!

Say No To Quota!!

Disclaimer:-I dint mean to hurt the sentiments of any caste/ community.If ive offended anyone its unintentional and my apologies for the same .This is my opinion on the issue and people are free not to agree with me on this and i will respect their opinions on the issue.

Blogging : The next fad??

Amitabh has one..even aamir has one and now srk too is supposedly joining the party!!Is blogging the next big fad?? Ur not hep & happening if u dont write a blog??i dont think so but then certain things point just to that..

Very recently a friend of mine asks me to check out her blog and when i asked "blogging and u?"?She said as amitabh's doin it so will she!! i was like..huh!!...ppl blog to put out their views or some like me to earn a quick buck :p..but now things r changing..ppl blog because big stars blog and as they say ur "happening" if u blog...strange it is..

The question arises how long can this fad continue?? And will it sustain?This same very friend hasnt posted anything new since that one off start up blogs of hers..the "josh" has fizzled out..There might be many more like her who adore their heroes/heroines and just because they r doin it so wil they..

Am just waiting for Rajnikanth to start a blog..Blogger,Blogadda and the rest of the pack wil see such huge new registrations that they'll probably crash..u'll have every single tamilian posting online..and there might be a day when the virtual world might just be taken over by his fans :p ....am predicting the invasion's gonna strike soon!

Even though more celebrity blogs are on the anvil i think the fads gonna fizzzzz out very soon.I have a suggestion if u just wanna blog because of the latest fad..ppl dont waste time in blogging cause its gonna be out of fashion soon and then "u" wil no longer be interested
and ur gonna waste ur "precious time":p which can be better utilized in other ways of being so called "happening" that wil atleast last longer than this....

P.S:- i havent read any celebrity blog yet!! yes no amitabh,srk,aamir and whoever..one reason might be ive had enough of it all over the news especially the so called "news" channels like aaj tak and headlines today!!

So until next time Keep Blogging!!

Jaipur - What Next???

Its been happening over and over again...each time the government responds back by saying that they will increase vigil and security in the whole country and take up issues of terrorists camps with our neighbours!!!How long can this happen...every big city..mumbai to delhi to hyderabad and now jaipur has been rocked by the serial bomb attacks and as usual very conveniently the blames put on HUJI...

It sounds more of an excuse for something they dont have an answer.The security agencies have become lack and the intelligence wing needs an overhaul.These attacks are happenin at more regular intervals and each time the scale of attacks is larger and the bombs used become more sophisticated...from cellphones to alarm clocks have been use.They probably did away with the cellphone systems to tick off the bombs because usually the networks go down and they cant detonate further bombs..These guys r intelligent and was just seeing how the bomb was ..it doesnt look like a lay mans work..sophisticated is the word!! small bombs with capabilities to damage big time!!Another alarming thing is the use of cycles..from madegaon to uttar pradesh to hyderabad..everywhere we had bombs detonated on cycles.I think registrations for cycles and number plates should be made necessary as they will atleast help in identifying the source and give us a better link to the whole thing!!

Another angle to it is that some of these attacks have been supported by locals too..from execution to funding.This has to be seriously looked into because we dont want home grown terrorists to join the party of destruction.Reasons and answers have to be given y our very own might be goin against us?? Is it the policies of the government ?? Is it poverty?? WHY????

How long can the government not do about it??Its election year from elections in 4 states and then the national elections comin up within a year!! The government has to give answers !! They have to take some drastic measures!!Enough of being nice!! its time for some action..they know if they dont..they'll get a fitting reply by the citizens of the country and wont be brought back to power on this one very issue...

India its time we changed!! Food for thought!!!

10,000 dead!!! And donno how many more.....Is India Prepared???

Really sad whats happened in china..but is India prepared for a calamity??Does the Indian government have the infrastructure to handle stuff like this??Are our buildings strong enough to take earthquakes of such scale??

The answers sadly to the above questions is NO!!!Its time our government gets ready with an emergency handling team not only on paper but also in actual physical existence.The Earths playing games with volcanoes erupting in Chile to earthquakes in China to cyclones in Myanmar!! We r not far away from one such one hitting our country.Its time we actively take part in Disaster Management..Times runnin out!!Lets make the move before its too late..Hopefully we'll be ready in the NICK OF TIME!!

Below are some of the pics and details abt the Earthquake that struck China.









The death toll in China's worst earthquake in three decades hit at least 10,000 people Tuesday, but was expected to soar amid reports of staggering numbers of students trapped in collapsed schools.

Rescuers also were scrambling to reach the cut-off epicenter of the Monday's earthquake, which struck central Sichuan province but killed people in at least eight other areas of China.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that nearly 10,000 people died in Sichuan alone and 300 others in other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.

It said 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake crushed a high school in Beichuan county, just east of the quake's epicenter. The deaths were separate from another collapsed school where 900 students are feared dead.

said up to 5,000 people were killed and 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan, in a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. The government has poured more than 16,000 troops into the area with tens of thousands more on the way.

Rain was complicating the rescue effort, which Premier Wen Jiabao said was forecast for the next several days. Wen, who flew to Sichuan to oversee rescue efforts, said a push was on to clear roads and restore electricity as soon as possible.

The quake's epicenter was in Wenchuan, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Chengdu, but landslides, boulders and downed trees blocked roads into the area.

Xinhua reported that efforts to reach Wenchuan and surrounding areas by land, water and air has failed so far. Rains had not made it possible to land helicopters, and police have even been sent by boat in a local reservoir

Reliance's BIG ready to take on the BIG DADDIES of HOLLYWOOD!!

In what could be the next BIG thing in the Indian entertainment sector..apna Anil Ambani's BIG Entertainment is in negotiations with the big daddies of Hollywood from stars to producers to directors.
According to media reports they have zeroed in on ..wait take a breath ..Tom Cruise,Will Smith,George Clooney and ...and.....Angelina Jolie.The movies will be targeted at a global audience and will be mainstream Hollywood.Anil Bhai kya baat hai!!!

The announcements are to be made at Cannes film festival coming up this month.And not one movie ..they will probably announcing a slew of movies.

Oye Anil bhai thoda hindi movie main bhi guest appearance mangta!!If it happens which i think will because a paper like ET has it on its main page ,its gonna be BIG!!!
Mukesh, you watching???ill keep u ppl updated on more as things happen...

Zoom in on the article From ET for more...

KHALLI????

Its been in the news forever...the hindi media is obsessed with this freak..its the only news they have the whole day apart from the IPL.They potray him as the next superhero.i fail to understand whether these hindi news channels are NEWS channels or just another form of entertainment channels who throw in some news as the side content.

He's coming to India soon and am pretty sure the media wil cover every move of his live..with news like wad he's eating,wearing,seeing.. takin the primetime and being termed as XCLUSIVE!!

Its a serious question to ask is this the MEDIA we deserve?