ISSUES AND CONCERNS ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ಷಕಿರಣ

Friends  With this issue we are ushering into the 13th year of its persevering and diligent existence. It was in Nov 2000 that we hit the trail Towards a Purposeful Regimen. As usual, in recent times, we are upbeat about our journey in the world of letters. We are looking forward with renewed vigour to make our journey meaningful in the larger context of pan Indian evolution. India is a happening place of all kinds, from bizarre to ridiculous. Take the case of a Samajwadi Party MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh. The other day he was protesting against the alleged ‘persecution of innocent people’ by the police, outside the police headquarters in the Baharaich district. On asking, ‘if he is into Gandhigiri of peaceful protest’, his answer spoke volumes of the rot within the political establishment of India and particularly in UP. “Hum Gandhi nahee, hum tho mafia hain, hamare khilaaf chaalis mukaddamein hain. Badmash Aadmi Gandhi Kahan ho saktaa hai”. At least, Sharan Singh was hon...

KARNATAKA: For quite some time Karnataka has been in the news, mainly for all wrong reasons. The most important being the continuous skirmishes within the state BJP body politic. Ever since BS Yediyurappa’s reluctant stepping down as CM, the circus within the BJP ruled state government had reached ridiculous proportions, with party insiders themselves feeling sorry for the low level of antics by all and sundry in the party hierarchy. It has already seen 3 Chief Ministers in less than 3 years period with BSY threatening to start his own political outfit. Then there was this foreign travels by legislators belonging to all political parties, having great time in South American countries, at the cost of public money, at the times of drought in most parts of the state, and perforce had to cancel their trip. Then there is this Cauvery water distribution problem. While it is true that there has been some 35% less rain and therefore less available for release at the KRS reservoir, there co...

SCAMS  UNDERGROUND-OVERGROUND -OVERTHEGROUND India is indeed a land of scams. Why? you would ask. Somebody deciphered SCAM, as representing - Scheming, Crafty, Aggressive, Malicious. We, Indians, probably have some of the best brains on this earth, and some of them are in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). To scheme, one needs good IQ, and these IAS have it in abundance. They are managers of our national resources. They are supposed to scheme for the nation, how to raise resources and how to deploy these resources for the greatest good of greatest number, that is Bahujan Hithaya Bhahujan Sukhaya. Of course the objective is ‘Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu’ of our sacred scriptures, or the Sarvodaya of Mahatma Gandhi. But somehow, being a vast country-geographically, socially and ethnically-the administrative apparatus, which is overseeing the re-distribution of our national resources, has for varieties of reasons, failed in fairer distribution of these resources. C...

Towards a Fair Society –  What Went Wrong with India? Respected judges and friends  I’m in a quandary… Should I speak on the topic ‘Towards a Fair Society – What Went Wrong with India’ or should I rephrase the topic and ask, “Is there anything at all that has gone right with India?” NO, NO… I’m not a cynic… But when I take stock of the situation that has been prevalent in Independent India, I wonder if there is anything at all that we can be either proud or hopeful of…  Think about this… Ours is a nation where pizza arrives before an ambulance does. Ours is a place where no one cries when a war widow is made to survive on a pension of Rs. 80 a month, but many blatantly celebrate the release of criminals guilty of bribery, scam, rape and murder. Ours is a country obsessed with getting money from Swiss banks but has turned a blind eye to 56  Indian soldiers who are still held captive by Pakistan from the 1971 War. I ask you, “What has gone wrong? Is t...

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY The Stay-Together Gang In the spring of 1996, I learned that I had received a junior fellowship at Harvard’s Society of Fellows. I was ecstatic; it was a much-sought-after position, a three-year salaried research post. I went to tell J.T. the good news, and that I would soon be leaving town, although I still planned to maintain my ties to Chicago. The smells of Ms. Mae’s cooking-collard greens, cornbread, and smothered chicken-hit me as I walked in the door. “You still manage to get here right when the food is ready, don’t you? J.T. said with a laugh. I apologized for missing the last few suburban Black Kings meetings. “They still think you’re the director of communications,” he said, laughing again but looking at the TV instead of at me. “There’s another meeting next Sunday if you want to come with me.” “Sure,” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “That would be great.” I explained why I’d been so busy lately. Until I learned of the Harvard fe...

A purse that charges your phone! New York : Now charge your phone by putting it in the purse! A new cute clutch hides cutting-edge technology in the lining that makes it possible to simply drop your phone in the pocket and watch it power up. Imagine a world in which you never have to worry about your cell phone running out of battery again. For women at least, that world is here, thanks to 27-year-old Chicago entrepreneur Liz Ormesher Salcedo, who has invented the ‘Everpurse’ that charges your cell phone on the go. ‘Everpurse’, hides cutting-edge technology in the lining of a cute clutch, making it possible to simply drop your phone in the pocket get it charged. Salcedo developed the technology while working as a social worker, where she regularly found herself stranded when her phone ran out of juice. Salcedo and her husband Dan, a serial entrepreneur, started experimenting with off-the-shelf parts from an electronics store until they made the first prototype in one of her ...