Who Defines Culture?

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Now I ask you this. Who defines culture?
Can a government define culture? Is culture something static like the freezing point of water?
Can culture even be defined?

TWO MEN kissing in a park and a topless woman bather are featured in a film that will be shown to would-be immigrants to the Netherlands.

The reactions of applicants — including Muslims — will be examined to see whether they are able to accept the country'’s liberal attitudes.

From this Wednesday, the DVD which also shows the often crime-ridden ghettos where poorer immigrants might end up living will form part of an entrance test, in Dutch, covering the language and culture of Holland.

What right does a government have to expect its citizens (or future citizen) to accept liberal values? Isn't it a bit conservative to expect other people to accept generalizedlised values that you define as culture?
I have been in UK for the past 3 and half years. To date I haven't seen two men kissing or a topless gal walking down the road (so sad!). Maybe this is the norm in Netherlands where gals roam around topless (sigh!) but to be honest if I don't want to see topless gals I won't go to a place where they are to be found! So why put such a thing in the test? And why should anyone accept the countries liberal attitudes? Do all Dutch people accept this? Are those people thrown out of the country or stripped of their citizenship? Then why not allow dissenting attitudes? Isn't that what being liberal is about?

I ask why don't they also show people who don't smoke? Show people who don't drink? After all smoking kills so many people and drinking leads to violence. So why not discourage such activities among the immigrants while making sure that they are 'liberal'?

About the language bit I agree since it is important to be able to communicate with people there.
While everyone might not share the same culture they do share the same language.

It is indeed a shame to see one the most liberal countries of the world make a mockery of the concept of liberalism.

Another quote:

However, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, a socialist from the parliament'’s immigration committee, said the film had been created to help prepare people for “open-minded” attitudes on issues such as homosexuality. “We have lots of homo-discrimination, especially by Muslim youngsters who harass gay men and women on the streets. It is an issue here.

Gay and Lesbians are hassled all over the world by all kinds of people. Hell even popular mainstream TV programs (like Little Britain) make fun of them by calling lesbians 'ming-munchers'.

The poor of India

Is poverty a bad thing?

I don't think so. They constantly provide us with a vitalised middle class. The poor of today will be the consumers of tomorrow. As long as the percentage is static it is all right. Thus if say 10 poor people jump the class boundary into lower middle class and population growth produces another 10 poor children then we have a cyclic system.

They are the masses who support the top floors of the pyramid. They form the foundation of our society.

That is why I don't see Indian people having robots doing their housework for them unlike say in Japan. In India we need human intensive processes to remain human intensive. That ways the foundation is maintained strong.

Today the person who is cooking food in your house enjoys a higher lifestyle than their parents back in the villages. The same person will be sending their kids to good schools and make sure that their kids are not serving some other family.
This cyclic process should remain.

The concept of welfare and social security just makes people lazy and worthless.
Life is a struggle. It should remain one. Except that is in special cases.

If it is your luck to be born into a poor house then it should be up to you to better yourself. Similarly if you are lucky enough to be born into a rich house then it should be up to you to identify such struggling people and to give them a boost in life.

Please note this does not mean that the poor should be disrespected or anything like that. It just means that everyone and everything has a place in the big scheme of things.

Our VVIP friend! 

SNAX N BOOZE 

Govinda (a.k.a. Bhuvan) 

Prashant Enjoying CHICKPEAS :D 

someone is DRUNK! 

Prashant and Rishi  

Me and Johnson at Sumans house 

Gambit

A Gambit is defined as:
"A chess move early in the game in which the player sacrifices minor pieces in order to obtain an advantageous position"

Gambit is also the name of one of the 'X-Men'.
Here is a pic taken from a site:


Gambit has this ability to charge up objects with Kinetic Energy (basically he can throw 'em real fast!).

I particularly like this pic because of the charged up Aces. A's rule my heart, mind and soul.
;)

Making India digestable..

Have a look at the RnD snapshot (PDF) on the Infosys website.

What I was surprised to note was a white guy on the cover and a black guy playing basketball (a picture which looks like it was taken from a Nike or Adidas ad) somewhere towards the end.
Why not show some Indian guys doing research. After all Infosys IS an Indian company isnt it? All of the researchers (by the looks of the papers) are Indian as well.

Then why not show them in the snapshot pdf.

Do we make such things look snazzy and westernised to make it easier for the western world to digest?
I know India is known for its hospitality. India is known for people who do go out of their way to help guests and to make strangers feel at home. These are good things.

But there is a thin line between helping people settle in and becoming their slave in thought and action.

A Hungarian proverb...

“If a thing is impossible, it can be done”
- Hungarian Proverb

Sensex at 11k: A Theory

Some days ago I asked myself why is the Sensex at 11k.

Now the operating principle of the stock market is quite simple. More profit your company makes more investors it will attract. It is a cyclic process. For the Sensex to be climbing Mt. Everest clearly the Indian companies had to be growing real fast and having excellent profit predictions (duh!).

Then I asked myself how are Indian companies able to generate insane profits and grow as fast as a fungus. Three simple reasons:
1) Availability of skilled labor at cut rate prices.
2) Re-investment of a part of the profit to fuel the growth of the company
3) Currency Imbalance.

The third point is a very interesting point. The Indian companies charge their 'international' clients in 'international' currencies. Thus an Indian company will charge a UK based client in pounds. Thus due to the conversion rate between currencies the relatively small amounts in the clients country become insanely large amounts in India. Ofcourse the actual guy doing the work in India never sees more than a small percentage of that (see point 1).

This led me to question till when will the Indian companies be able to generate this growth and attract the big FDI? How many Process Outsourcings (Business PO -> Knowledge PO -> Legal PO -> ?) can we exploit. We already remotely manage the computer networks and databases of the world. What do we remotely manage next?
The saturation point is surely coming. It might not come during my working life (next 20-25 years) but it will come. It will come years BEFORE India becomes a 'world power'.

The next logical question was: what can India do to ensure that when the saturation comes our growth and economic stability is not affected? The answer according to me is simple to state but difficult to implement.
We need to stop going after short term profits, change the 'make hay while the sun shines' attitude and start re-investing some of the profits into Research and Development activities (RnD). This RnD might not contribute immediately to the growth of the company but if done properly it will provide a solid foundation for its future growth.
Instead of dangling huge profits in front of people and investors if those profits are put back into things like local infrastructure development, human resource development and procurement of new technology it will lead to the creation of an ideal environment which can support the future growth of the company instead of hampering it.
Don't give out fat dividends at the end of the quarter. Trim them and use the extra cash to recruit top-notch researchers and to launch research projects to improve the position of the company within its field of work. Don't just provide support for new technology. Create the new technology.

It is funny but providing support (and thus understanding) new technology is just one step away from improving upon it and making your own.

It is a shame that our company solves the IT needs of the world. Yet we are not able to come out with any IT products/services of our own.

Furthermore research in India has been more about 'copy the west' or 'run to the Russians'. This attitude is developed right from the word go. In India most colleges and universities won't even bat an eyelid if you copy an assignment or indulge in plagiarism.
Here in UK such things are treated with a great deal of seriousness especially at the masters and bachelors level. Having done my MSc from a not-so-great university in UK I can attest to the fact that if you copy or plagiarise you are in deep shit. It is not just a question of repeating the module or re-submitting the assignment, your degree itself can be cancelled.

This is something we need to introduce in India from atleast the +2 level (11th & 12th class). In research community people who copy and plagiarise have no place.

Cozy view of the snow from my room (it was AMAZING!) (12th March 2006)




Let it snow! (12th March 2006)



A winter wonderland of cars and garbage cans (12th March 2006)

A picture of Anubhuti and Vibhore at Defence Colony market. Someone is wearing ladies goggles ;)
Anubhuti has a funny pet name.. its Bhuti or Bhutni (meaning Ghost in hindi).

Going Nuclear!

This is the Soviet SS-25 'Sickle' Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. Amazing piece of engineering isn't it? It can carry a 550 kilo-ton nuclear warhead (the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was just 22 kilo-tons!) halfway across the world.
The amount of death and destruction it can bring is simply unbelievable.
We should be thankful that these were never launched in anger.

Specs
Length: 20.5 m
Body diameter: 1st-stage 1.8 m; 2nd-stage 1.55 m; 3rd-stage 1.34 m
Launch weight: 45,100 kg
Payload: Single RV on a PBV
Warhead: 550 kT nuclear
Guidance: Computer-controlled inertial
Propulsion: 3-stage solid plus PBV
Range: 10,500 km
Accuracy: 200 m CEP

Man I love all things nuclear!

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!

Out of the blue - into the black says:
wow
kiara says:
hey!
Out of the blue - into the black says:
my sms has the power
kiara says:
LOL
kiara says:
u r crazy!
Out of the blue - into the black says:
y :D

I'm tired as to why all the gals think me to be crazy!
Somebody gotta explain this to me. What do I do to be called crazy?

YET! I LIKE IT WHEN GALS CALL ME CRAZY! ;)

Shakespeare Says....

But be not afraid of greatness.

Some are born great,
some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.

From
Twelfth Night: Or, What You Will, Act 2, Scn. 5

I love these lines. They give me a taste of:
A feeling of greatness, a rush of power through the veins.
To be the first soldier in the line facing the enemy head on. Out numbered, out gunned.
To win against all odds. To survive where others fall.

Too Funny! :D

adeshpratapsingh (3/6/2006 4:46:20 PM): sorry sir
adeshpratapsingh (3/6/2006 4:46:31 PM): i again forgot u to wish u happy birthday
adeshpratapsingh (3/6/2006 4:46:36 PM): belated happy birthday..
adeshpratapsingh (3/6/2006 4:46:44 PM): i got three reminders still i forgot
adeshpratapsingh (3/6/2006 4:46:59 PM): sir i have requested u last time also.. please tell me abt ur birthday

amachwe (3/6/2006 4:59:02 PM): dont worry i shall take out an ad in the paper next year that my birthday is coming up and those who want to wish me may call between 9am to 5pm GMT on my cell

Alcohol

Alcohol is a single guys best friend.
- Myself!