Thursday, March 31, 2011

Fulfilling Billion Dreams...One Match at a Time

             from Mirpur to Mumbai (via Mohali & Motera)


…and so the nation rejoices (and rightly so).

Needless to say yesterday night, whole of India was one big happy family. There was no caste discrimination, no social taboos, and no economic inequality. It doesn’t happen quite often but, not surprisingly, 'Bharat' & 'India' sat next to each other and enjoyed what might be one of the greatest games in India’s cricketing history. Everyone enjoyed the match in total peace & harmony, the only terror was the sound of drums & loud cheers. The mojo, (I love this term) of Nationalism was running high in every Indians DNA and that includes more then 15 million, like-minded, non-resident Indian’s. My hormones were on a high as well for I am the Indian Cricket fan from Jhanghad (rowdy) 90s.

Not only did India keep its un-beaten streak against Pakistan in World Cup alive, it also came one step closer to hold ‘The Trophy’ of cricket. Pakistan played a great game, if not for Sachin’s five lives; the game might have turned the other way. For ones India’s seamers bowled in sync. Nehra & Patel’s left-right bowling combo with Zak’s deceiving deliveries was too much to handle for young Pakistani team. Bhajji’s doosra’s didn’t help the Pakistani cause either. The find of this world cup was not a newcomer but a player who found himself, ladies & gentlemen please welcome…Yuvraj Singh. And of course how can we forget Suresh Raina’s two not-out innings in two ‘do or die’ games.

In there two knockout games in last week India have looked more and more sure of how they are going to get to their final destination. They have won and lost tosses, they have chased and they have defended, and surprisingly they now know how to seize the control of the game. Sri Lanka is not an easy opponent, for they have also reached the finals, but momentum, crowd & over a billion cricket fans from all around the globe are behind Team India.

Chak De India!!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

In WAR We Trust


There is an old Indian saying; Kutte ki dum tedhi ki tedhi!
(You can’t straighten a dog's tail by putting in a hose pipe.)

I mean come-on… when would the US administration learn to not meddle in others business, especially in the Muslim countries. Its not like Muslims (& Arabs) see the US as there savior.

The last time I checked a Democrat, on the election promise of ‘Change’, came in to the White House. I was one of the Bush Bashers for his ‘with us or against us’ doctrine. I guess I don’t dislike Bush 43 anymore.

I understand that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was about to send a very strong message to the rebels who were hold up in Libya’s second largest city of Benghazi and the Protectors of the Free World needed to do something. If fulfilling people’s verdict is what the, self proclaimed- police of the world, nations want, then why only Libya, why not Bahrain, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and other African war-torn nations? I do sympathies with President Obama. If he really felt that Libyans needed the external help then why not let the Arab league or NATO lead the attack.

In the present economic crisis when European nations are tightening there budgets and cutting back on there defense spending US increased its defense budget to $700 billion. I think the US defense spending has taken the form of a financial aid for Rich European nations. Why else will US get involved in ‘pure’ European crisis (Balkan war was the previous example). Gone are the days when US had to help war affected nations of Italy, France, Spain & Germany. They are developed now and should take care of there back yard. Also what is the plan, more importantly, where is the Exit strategy? When will the nations, particularly US, bail out of the situation?

As always, US policy on Mid-East & Africa raises more 'Questionable Answers'

Monday, March 21, 2011

Here’s to the Maazi (Past)

Last weekend was Holi, festival of Colors. Just like Gulal & Bhang, watching ‘Rang Barse…’ from Yash Chopra’s evergreen Silsila has become a tradition of sorts. Since, India Vs Australia, quarter finals was all but fixed, I sat down to watch SilSila.

In the movie, French Kiss, when Meg Ryan’s character goes to visit Kevin Kline’s character’s family at his wine yard, he asks her to smell the wine and name the flavor. She is not able to. Then he asks her to smell all the flavor seeds. And then when she smells the wine, she is able to name the correct flavor. Yash Chopra’s movies are like that wine. When you experience different flavors of life and watch the movie again, your perspective is totally different then your previous viewings.

I don’t need to give the synopsis of Silsila, for I am sure all my Indian friends must have watched the timeless classis. Everyone of us has a ‘maazi’(past), as Bacchan’s character puts it. Some maazi become sweet memories to savor some seem like a bad dream that you are glad is past, but some maazi’s leave an empty space. A space that always asks all the ‘what if’ questions about that someone. With all the serious issues that we dealt with during our youths, it’s funny how we remember ‘not so important’ things, like… (you know what I mean), of that someone.

Some one great once said Life is all about making choices. How would the life have been if the choices we made were a ‘little’ different. It’s not the question about loving our present, but if given a chance would we be willing to change any of the ‘choices’ we made in our past?

Here's to the maazi…

Thursday, March 17, 2011

'Dawn' in The Land of the Rising Sun

As I write this, Japan's military CH-47 Chinook helicopters began spraying tonnes of sea water on reactors 3 and 4 at Fukushima, 220km (140 miles) from Tokyo; water cannon had also joined in the operation from the ground.

Japan was hit by a, now revised, 9.0 magnitude earth quake on Friday afternoon local time. This is the most severe earth quake, this quake prone country has ever witnessed. And just as Japanese thought that they have survived, a tsunami with 30 feet high waves hit them. The tsunami was so strong that the islands of Hawaii, which are 4,000 miles away, were hit by the 7-8 feet waves as a result of the same tsunami. California also witnessed waves of almost 5 feet because of the tsunami. 

As if this was not enough and before Japanese could start looking for there loved ones, they were given the news that one of the nuclear reactor wasn’t cooling off and there might be a radiation risk. Japanese are far too familiar with the nuclear radiation, for they are the only ones who were directly targeted with the nuclear weapon. It has only been 60 years. Could history be so cruel that it will repeat one of the ‘darkest’ days of human past? Since last four days engineers are trying to cool the fuel rods with the help of sea water. News hasn’t been good, but important thing is there is no ‘bad’ news either.

I know considering the human tragedy that Japan faced and what they ‘might’ face, talking about economy could be the most insensitive thing. But I need to comment on what Mr. Martin Wolf of FT wrote, about how Japan can ‘easily’ overcome the losses that it has faced from earth quake and tsunami (We hope for the best and so nuclear disaster is not taken into consideration).

Goldman Sachs estimated that the total cost of damage to buildings, production facilities and so forth would be around Y16,000bn ($198bn). That would be 1.6 times the destruction from the 1995 Hanshin earthquake, which devastated Kobe. If this sum were to be correct, the cost would be 4% of GDP and less than 1% of national wealth. It seems extremely unlikely that the impact will be of the same magnitude as that of the global financial crisis that drove down Japan’s GDP by 10% between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009. The fiscal outlays related to the Kobe earthquake amounted to Y5,200bn ($64bn) over five years. If the cost to the government after the current earthquake reached 1.6 times that earlier cost, the total would be about $100bn or 2% of a year’s GDP and an annual average of 0.4% of GDP over five years. The OECD forecasts Japan’s gross government liabilities at 204% of GDP at the end of 2011 and net liabilities at 120%. The government fiscal deficit is also forecast at 7.5% of GDP this year. Against such vast numbers, the prospective cost of reconstruction after the earthquake looks almost non-issue.
Add to this fact, the Japanese private sector runs a financial surplus large enough to cover the government’s deficit and export substantial capital abroad. Japan as a whole is the world’s largest creditor, with net external assets equal to 60% of GDP. In short, the assets of Japan’s private sector vastly exceed the liabilities of its public sector.
Just as choppers are poring tones of water on the nuclear reactor, as rude as it may sound, but Japan can absorb the cost related to the current natural disaster. News from economic front is good; hopefully we will have the same positive news from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Refernces:
Wolf, Martin “Japan can meet the earthquake test”
www.ft.com. Published: March 15 2011 22:06


Thursday, March 10, 2011

Happy Obama Day

I had written this when Sen. Barak Obama won the US Presidential election in November, 2008.

What a day!! History is been made all over. Who could have imagined United States of America will be lead by an African-American President with in 50 years of Rosa Parks taking that front seat on the bus in Alabama. I have people telling me that this could only happen in the good old US of A. 

As Indians we always say that there are no grounds comparing democracies of United States of America and India, because one is 200+ years old and the other is 60+ years young. But Americans elected the, First-time, African-American Senator from Illinois, within 50 years of giving equal rights to African American. This is a ‘Progressive Democracy’. This is what Mahatma Gandhi was suggesting when he coined the term ‘Harijans’. Where are we, as Indians going? We are Balkanizing ourselves. A leader in a particular state doesn’t want people from other states. A union of state workers doesn’t want top posts going to people from different states. Most of us don’t even know how many states are there in North-Eastern region? Who are Naxalites and what do they want? The progress that we as Indians are making since last decade is concentrated in some parts. India, as a whole is not shining, but with the same breath I will also say that Manmohan Singh being the Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to India in recent times.

            The lesson we learn from the historic day is that we can’t always look down on history and complain or blame others for our problems. We have to find an Indian, living in each of us and think how long we will keep on fighting each other for petty things. Although, I agree that I am not the right person to comment anything about India, and especially not her short comings, because I left my beloved country for my personal goals. But the question again arises why did I, and 100,000 other students leaving annually since 1999, left?

Hope India keeps on shining…For ever…Happy Obama Day!!

                                                                                                                                          November 2008

Monday, March 7, 2011

Love Thy Neighbors


This morning was no different than any other week day mornings; (well actually, my sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy this morning…I became ‘uncle’, so it wasn’t a usual morning, per se!!) I went on bbc.com and to the ‘South Asia’ news for the up-to-date news from sub-continent.

The headline story was of the ‘Big, Fat, Indian wedding’. One ‘Big, Fat, Rich’ politician’s daughter is getting married to one ‘Big, Fat, Filthy Rich’ politician’s son. Groom was presented with a Bell chopper. Wedding went on for a week and reported wedding cost was around $55 million. As if this was out of ordinary for Indian politicians, I am still wondering why BBC published this as headline news.

I was reading Fareed Zakaria’s “Post-American World” (I don’t know why I am reading so much lately!! I guess I am making up for all my missed school homework…) over the weekend and he had mentioned about how two distinct, emerging economies, China and India will perform in the coming decades. Following are some of my favorite, distinct characteristics, of India & China:

  • First & foremost, the most natural difference, Indian’s can Vote, there Chinese counterpart can’t.
  • China & India both introduced population control measures in late 1970’s, China was successful with its “One Child policy”, and India’s “Hum Do Hamare Do” (We Two, Our Two) slogan didn’t work!!
  • Thanks to the ‘success’ of OCP, an average Chinese is 34 years old, not so good news for the World’s fastest growing economy. On the other hand, thanks to the ‘failure’ of H2D2 an average Indian is 26.5 years young!! This very reason leads most economists to project India as the world’s largest economy by the year 2045-50.
  • China benchmarks, US & European cities for there infra projects, India benchmarks China.
  • I have saved my favorite for the last…
China is rich, but Chinese are poor…India is poor, but Indians are rich!!

India has to stop comparing herself to other ‘successful’ nations or should care about what foreign media thinks of her. Not a single day goes by when a leading Indian newspapers publishes some foreign analyst’s views on how India ‘will be’ the economic superpower in the future. Worst, they even compare economic growth rates of Pakistan and Bangladesh to India’s.

As far as US is concerned, given the political scenes in China & India, I still think that US economy will remain the most powerful force in the World Theater for years to come.