He kicks my integrity. Everytime!

This lil dude always gets to me. I can watch this clip when I am sad, when I am mad, when I am stressed out, when I am sleepy, when I am depressed,...

.. he always moistens my lashes, kicks my integrity in the gut, and then leaves me all fueled up to 'make a difference'.

Truly an anthem, Sir!

Response: The Death of the Reasonable Indian.

This is my response to Suchitra Vijayan's blog “The death of the reasonable Indian ?”:

In my opinion (mark these words as you read further), in every human being,

[A] There is what we call national pride (clubbed with patriotism), and

[B] There is the will to make things better (nothing is perfect. is it?)

To some people, [B] gets sidelined because they refuse to admit to what is wrong under [A], and needs upheaval. This is what I call the ‘faux pride’, since it doesn’t make a progressive society.

To others, [A] causes them to notice what is wrong, to criticize it, and to make an attempt to better it. This is close to how I think too. You can’t improve something that you don’t even know is wrong.

Extremes of either would keep one tainted and away from performing a true citizen’s role. There has to be a balance. For example, bashing one’s nation always without providing the means to improve things would be a distortion of [B]. While neglecting everything that is wrong would be a distortion of [A].

In short, we are all different personalities, and love our nations in our own ways. Let us criticize what needs improvement, and leave personal opinions alone. So what if Radha’s thoughts are close to [A]? She has as much love for India as you do, would you not say?

The key is to not criticize each other so much, but criticize the system that led us to be this way, AND provide ways for improvement. With the risk of being blamed for over generalization, I would say that Indians (generally) love to criticize, without suggesting/providing means for a change.




Let’s first change this attitude, then we'll talk.

You may like to read a related blog on my website here.

Good luck!

The Death of Common Sense.

I am sure you are aware of the recent incidents that led to the arrest and interrogation of an Indian IFS official posted in Islamabad for espionage.

My first reaction was: Oh God. Not again. Don't they get paid pretty well already?

On the second day of reporting, I was telling myself: Ok. She is naive, and we caught her just in time. No big secrets compromised. Not a big deal.

But today, as I am reading about the 'real' reasons, I cannot believe but bite my toes off! She did that for WHAT? TO GET BACK AT HER SENIORS?? She frikkin compromised national security to avenge her colleagues??

What else would you call that except the death of common sense? Or perhaps we are the ones who lack common wit and she really is smart enough to have done a big harm, and now knows how to avoid a life sentence?

But it just doesn't stop there, you see. Our intelligence was so darn smart they broke the identity of a senior RAW official posted at the same commission. And not only that, THEY DID IT JUST THE DAY BEFORE premiers of India and Pakistan were about to meet for bilateral talks.

You go guys!

Don't get me wrong. I am plenty patriotic. But cases like these make you wonder if we have the controls in right hands.

May God bless our motherland. Jai Hind!

Hitler, Bose and a Common Enemy

Published CULTURE & LIFESTYLE | 11.08.2003. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,943230,00.html.

Director Shyam Benegal (far right) with actors during the shooting of "Netaji: The Last Hero" in Germany.

Subhas Chandra Bose, who raised an army in exile to fight the British, is revered as a freedom-fighter and patriotic icon in India. So why was Indian director Shyam Benegal shooting a film on Bose’s life in Germany?

The residents of Marquardt, a sleepy town near Potsdam west of the German capital, were rubbing their eyes in disbelief last week.

An Indian film crew had taken over the sprawling verdant grounds of their picturesque neo-baroque castle located on the banks of a lake. Vans full of technical equipment and costumes were parked in the driveway as technicians, actors and extra hands -- both German and Indian -- hurried around barking instructions and calling out to each other in German, English and a handful of Indian languages.

The fuss wasn’t about the latest glitzy song-and-dance movie churned out by India’s mainstream multibillion dollar Bombay-based film industry known as Bollywood. Rather it was the shooting of a weighty historical epic tracing the last five years in the life of Subhas Chandra Bose or Netaji (the leader), who set up the Indian National Army in exile to fight against British colonial rule during World War II.

Titled "Netaji: The Last Hero," the film directed by 70-year-old Indian cinema legend Shyam Benegal, throws light on a little-known, almost strange, chapter of Indo-German history. The shooting stint in Germany focuses on Bose’s two-year stay in Berlin in the early 1940s and his single meeting with Hitler when he requested the Führer’s help in the Indian independence struggle against the British Empire.

"It’s the story of a great adventure, of a flamboyant person who was obviously a romantic as well as a strategist, because who would think of leaving the country and trying to raise an army to fight for Indian independence from outside of India?" director Benegal, who is considered the pioneer of new wave Indian cinema, told Deutsche Welle.

The enemy of my enemy

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in INA Uniform

Bose (photo), a revolutionary lawyer and leader of the Congress Party in India who stood in direct confrontation with Gandhi’s passive and nonviolent resistance methods against the British, escaped from India in 1941 following British imprisonment and made his way to Berlin, after failing to get himself smuggled to the Soviet Union.

Bose’s plan was to get Hitler’s help to stage a revolution in India that would distract British forces from the war against Germany under the motto "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." He calculated that in the process, Britain would lose the war against the militarily superior Germany and as a consequence, lose India as well.

"However things didn’t quite turn out that way," Benegal said. Though the Germans provided financial support for Bose to broadcast radio propaganda messages to India, it wasn’t until more than a year later that Hitler, allegedly impressed with Bose’s cause, agreed to hear him out.

But the much-awaited meeting on May 27, 1942, ended in disappointment for the Indian revolutionary. "In that meeting, he [Bose] asked Hitler to cut out passages in "Mein Kampf" dealing with Asians and [Hitler said] that it was better for India to remain under British domination. Hitler refused to help him," Benegal explained.

German history professor Johannes Voigt, who authored a book on India during World War II, said it wasn’t just Hitler’s strong theories of race that stopped him from helping Bose, whom he considered racially-inferior. "He was convinced that colonial rule needed to be upheld if Europe’s dominance was to continue. Besides India was too far away."

Indian POWS and a submarine escape

Benegal’s three-hour, four-million-euro epic also dwells on what is considered Bose’s biggest accomplishment in Germany – the raising of a 3,000-strong Indian Legion force, made up of Indian POWS captured by the Germans in the course of fighting in North Africa. The Indian community in Berlin was pressed into service to play the role of the troops.

Bose envisioned the force spearheading an attack on the British while the Germans swung through the Soviet Union and the Middle East to India. But that plan fell apart, too, when the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad in early 1943. "Bose soon realized it was pointless for him to remain [in Germany] much longer," said Benegal.

The Germans, however, provided Bose with the means to get out of Germany to Japan, where he believed he stood a better chance of organizing a large-scale Indian army. In February 1943, the Indian exile leader boarded the submarine U180 at the Kiel harbor on the Baltic coast, and traveled to the coast of Mozambique, from where he transferred to a Japanese submarine.

Netaji: The Last Hero by director Shyam Benegal

In the movie, the escape from Germany and the spectacular journey are filmed on site in Kiel’s harbor (photo).

After Bose’s departure, the Indian Legion Force in Germany came to a sad end. "Their fate remains largely unknown. They were absorbed into the regular German army and sent to fight in Normandy," said Professor Voigt. "After the war, some came back through southern Germany, many perished and some were sent back to India after the war."

A gravestone inscription, "five unknown dead, 4.5.1945" in Immenstadt in Swabia, southern Germany, is believed to be one of the last remaining traces of the Indian Legion in Germany today.

Bose himself finally raised an army in Burma and led the soldiers into India to fight the British, but he died in a plane crash in 1945 and never lived to see Indian independence.

A touch of romance

The memory of Subhas Chandra Bose’s mission in Germany isn’t just consigned to history books and archives. Bose married Austrian Emilie Schenkl in the 1930s during his first visit to Germany. The couple moved to Berlin where they had a daughter, Anita. Today Bose’s daughter, Anita Pfaff, is an economics professor at Augsburg University in southern Germany.

Director Benegal’s shooting at the Marquardt castle involves romantic scenes with Bose and his wife (played by German actress Anna Prüstel) strolling through the picturesque grounds, a mellifluous Hindi song playing in the background. Berlin actress Prüstel said it was amazing how few people in Germany were aware of Bose’s visit to Germany. "This whole cooperation with Hitler, Bose’s go-it-alone attitude is simply so unbelievable. I find it hard to understand how nobody ever used this material and got it out in the public," she said.

Scheduled to release in January next year, both in Hindi and English, Benegal’s action-packed film is expected to raise awareness of the revolutionary and his cause. The veteran director (photo, below), who has also made a film on Gandhi’s life, said he wants "Netaji: The Last Hero" to set the record straight on one of the most controversial political figures in pre-independent India.

Shyam Benegal

"Among all the anti-colonial leaders in Asia, he [Bose] is the only one the British continue to claim was a traitor," he said. "But Bose’s idealism was free of any kind of cynicism. In that sense he had a simple, straightforward goal – to free India. That makes him a hero figure to me."

Sonia Phalnikar

The World of Greed and Debts

Greece crisis: Fears grow that it could spread http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8648029.stm

IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Khan: "We need Greece... back on track" The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the crisis in Greece could spread throughout Europe. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that every day lost in resolving Greece's problems risks spreading the impact "far away". World financial markets, recovering slightly on Wednesday, have been badly hit by fears of contagion from Greece. Mr Strauss-Kahn was speaking at a news conference in Berlin after trying to persuade reluctant German politicians to back the terms of a rescue deal. But even as politicians were trying to resolve the crisis, Europe's debt problems were flaring elsewhere.  We now enter an uncertain period. Will the financial markets test Portugal or Spain? The Spanish economy is five times the size of Greece. Will other bail-outs be needed and would the German taxpayer revolt against helping out others?  Gavin Hewitt, BBC europe editor Read Gavin's blog in full The Standard & Poor's ratings agency delivered more bad news by downgrading Spain's debt to AA from AA+. The agency said Spain's growth prospects were weak after the collapse of a credit-fuelled housing and construction bubble. Mr Strauss-Kahn's comments foreshadowed S&P's news. "What is at stake today is the economic situation of Greece. But it's more than that. "We also need to restore confidence... I'm confident that the problem will be fixed. But if we don't fix it in Greece, it may have a lot of consequences on the European Union," Mr Strauss-Kahn said. Mr Strauss-Kahn, and European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, were in Berlin to urge German MPs to agree to a rescue deal under which Greece would get billions of euros in loans. Deeply unpopular  For me personally, it's getting to be a real possibility that I may need to leave this country. We may see a new wave of people leaving, particularly young people, especially if our salaries decrease.  Ioannis Matzavrakos, Athens Eurozone crisis: Readers' reaction Greece faces 'death spiral' German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that talks on the bail-out package must be sped up. "It is perfectly clear that the negotiations with the Greek government, the European Commission and the IMF need to be accelerated," she said after meeting Mr Strauss-Kahn. "We hope they can be wrapped up in the coming days," she said. But many German politicians are opposed to the bail-out of Greece, and Mrs Merkel has herself been accused of offering only qualified support. Germany is facing elections, and with public opinion against giving billions of euros to Greece, Mrs Merkel must tread a fine line. As Europe's largest economy, Germany would provide the biggest single loan to Greece among the eurozone nations. The aid package being offered by the EU and IMF is currently 45bn euros ($59bn; £39bn). But support for the bail-out in Germany will not be helped by claims that the total cost of the proposed package could be up to 120bn euros over three years. After meeting Mr Strauss-Kahn on Wednesday, the leader of Germany's Green Party, Juergen Trittin, said the aid could total "between 100bn and 120bn euros". Risk fears Financial markets continued to be hit, following credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgrade of Greek debt to "junk" on Tuesday.  The message that has been emerging from the markets this week is that a resolution to the Greek crisis needs to be found in the next few days. A failure to resolve the issue runs the risk of sparking contagion through Southern Europe  Simon Derrick, Senior currency strategist, BNY Mellon Q&A: Greece's economic woes Greece crisis: What can be done? Could UK face same fate? Portugal hopes not to be next This means the rating agency views Greece as a much riskier place to invest, and increases the interest rate investors will charge the Greek government to borrow much-needed money on the open market. On Wednesday, that interest rate hit 11.3% for 10-year Greek bonds - another all-time high for a eurozone country. Interest rates on two-year bonds hit a new high of almost 19%, later falling back to 16%. The euro hit a one-year low against the dollar of $1.3146. European stocks also fell sharply on Wednesday, although they recovered some of their losses in afternoon trading. Overnight Japan's leading share index, the Nikkei 225, closed down more than 2.5%. The turmoil forced Greece's stock market regulators to impose a ban on short-selling, amid concerns that bank shares are being undermined by speculators. Contagion concerns Concerns about the Spanish and Portuguese economies also intensified following the downgrade by S&P. Spain's deputy prime minister, Maria Teresa de la Vega, appealed for market calm, telling reporters: "We have a very serious plan of... deficit reduction. We have adopted an austerity programme. "We are adopting all the measures needed to meet our commitments. So I want to send a message of confidence to the population and of calm to the markets," she said. PROBABILITY OF COUNTRIES BEING UNABLE TO PAY BACK DEBT With any debtor, there is a chance they will not be able to repay their debts. These figures in the above graph express the likelihood as a percentage called the Cumulative Probability of Default (CPD) The figures express the probability of a country defaulting sometime over the next five years Mr Strauss-Kahn also urged caution in the face of the downgrade. Ratings agencies "are reflecting what they are collecting in the market.... One should not believe too much what they say, even if they are useful," he said. But even before the downgrade investors were turning negative on Spain. Yields on Spanish 10-year bonds reached their highest level - 4.27% - since the euro was launched. Meanwhile, investors are demanding an interest rate of close to 6% from Portugal. "If yields rise much further Portugal may, like Greece, be in a position where [borrowing] on the open market becomes just too expensive," warned Jane Foley, research director at currency trader Forex.com. Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates spoke of "a speculative attack on the euro and Portuguese debt". He said he would work with the opposition party to restore economic confidence in the country which also had its credit rating downgraded on Tuesday. Time running out HAVE YOUR SAY The Greeks need to accept the pain that is the inevitable and foreseeable consequence MarkGE According to Simon Derrick, from Bank of New York Mellon, time is now running out for Greece to secure a deal. "The message that has been emerging from the markets this week is that a resolution to the Greek crisis needs to be found in the next few days," he said, warning that delays risk "sparking contagion through southern Europe".

The Last Lecture Before His death - Dr. Randy Pausch

[IPL Finals] Yes. Each one of 'You' is a Super King!

Call it a flick, lucky, or whatever the heck kind of moment you want to call it. But the truth is: Chennai Super Kings are now IPL 2010 Champions. All the excuses (Tendulkar unfit, Pollard's batting order changed, etc. etc.) cannot and will not change the outcome of the match.

It was a good match. One team won, the other lost. Hero of the millions (Little Master Blaster) lived his reputation, a not as famous sportsman (Raina) saw opportunities, and squeezed them.

Everyone put in their part. But in the end, it's a game of numbers, seconds, and mistakes. No rocket science there. The take away: great players may sometimes define the outcome of a team sport, but they always - and I repeat - ALWAYS make a good game.

So let's celebrate the victory of a sport. The victory of all the street cricketers who diligently make way for oncoming scooters by running off to the pavement with the stumps. The victory of all the chai and paan-wallahs who volunteer to put a TV screen for the masses. The victory of all the mommies who walk in the living room with half mended dough balls or half cut bhindis because they cannot focus on fixing dinner as their favorite player is hitting two consecutive sixes.

Let's celebrate Cricket. Go Cricket. Go India!

Increasing Blog Viewership

Review: HP Slate v/s Apple iPad

By Nilay Patel posted Apr 5th 2010 5:59PM. Exclusive original post was here.

Well, well -- what's this? We just got our hands on what looks like an internal HP Slate presentation given to cool down some of the iPad hype amongst HP employees, and it just happens to have specs and pricing details on the elusive Windows 7 tablet. As we'd heard, the Slate will run $549 in its base configuration, which has a 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 capacitive multitouch display, a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor with UMA graphics and an accelerator for 1080p video playback (we're assuming it's a Broadcom Crystal HD chip), 32GB of flash storage and 1GB of non-upgradeable RAM. There's also a $599 version with 64GB of storage, and both models will have a five-hour battery, an SDHC slot, two camera, a USB port, a SIM card slot for the optional 3G modem, and a dock connector for power, audio, and HDMI out. Of course, what this spec list doesn't cover is software, and we still haven't seen much of how HP plans to make Windows 7 on a full slate device with netbook-class internals perform as smoothly or as intuitively as its demo videos. That's not a small challenge, especially since the iPad is out now and setting some pretty high expectations for how this new breed of tablets should work. We've got our fingers crossed -- show us something good, HP.

Review: Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

This review has moved to our newly found Digital Imaging Review website. Please click here to reach that page. Enjoy reading another independent off-beat review at our new website!

Review: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

This review has moved to our newly found Digital Imaging Review website. Please click here to reach that page. Enjoy reading another independent off-beat review at our new website!

Review: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens

This review has moved to our newly found Digital Imaging Review website. Please click here to reach that page. Enjoy reading another independent off-beat review at our new website!

[Review] 15 Reasons the iPad is Better than a Netbook

The following is a guest post from Eric Jones, Erictric reader and blogger at CoreGeek. Highlighted are fifteen reasons why the iPad may just be a better choice over a netbook:

1. Hardware quality – Apple builds quality hardware, both in looks and feel. A lot of the netbooks are cheap and flimsy.

2. Functionality without hassle – No worries about managing anti-virus and all of the headaches of a Windows-based operating system.

3. It’s always ready to go – Leave it on, let it sleep. Touch the button to wake from sleep and you’re using it right away. No waiting for the device to boot up every time.

4. Excellent battery life – Apple says the iPad’s battery will last 10 hours on a charge. Some reviews, with heavy testing, have shown it to last even longer. “The iPad lasted 11 hours and 28 minutes, about 15% more than Apple claimed. I was able to watch four feature-length movies, four TV episodes and a video of a 90-minute corporate presentation, before the battery died midway through an episode of “The Closer.” – Walt Mossberg.

5. User experience – No more mouse. iPad uses full multitouch interface. To me using the iPad interface feels like the future. “The iPad user experience is instantly compelling and elegant. It’s not every computer and every function. It’s a computer that’s designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction (emphasis mine) above all other considerations.” – Andy Ihnatko.

6. E-Reader – With iBooks or Amazon Kindle software it’s an e-reader with the form factor of a book. “But it’s just such a bloody good book reader that some folks will never wander far from its eBook functions. And why not? From one perspective, it’s hands-down the best book reader you can buy.” – Andy Ihnatko.

7. Comics – “Reading digital comics on most devices is a pain: the screens are too small, or you’re confined to the landscape orientation, which forces you to scroll to see entire pages or zoom in to read text. The iPad, quite simply, was built for this. The colors are bright and beautiful, the text is perfectly legible, and being able to change the orientation of the screen on the fly allows you to adapt your reading to however the artists decided to lay out the panels.” – Ben Kuchera Ars Technica review.

8. Excellent Screen – Photos and movies look fantastic. It has excellent viewing angles too. Most netbooks I’ve seen have crappy screens. “You can lay the iPad flat on a table while you eat or drink and it looks just fine at a decidedly skewed angle — far more so than with the iPhone. This IPS stuff is the real deal; here’s to hoping for an IPS display in this year’s new iPhones.” – John Gruber.

9. Lots of applications (apps) at affordable prices – iPad is really about the apps with over 180,000 available apps — that’s a lot of software. Some are free, most $0.99, some more (the more expensive apps usually offer a trial version). Apps are without a doubt where iPad will excel. Soon enough, there will be some great killer apps coming, too. Right now, the Netflix App is being universally praised for more than obvious reasons.

10. Speed – iPad is very fast. Even some dissenting reviews commented on the impressive speed. “The performance is stunning. Unlike even the iPhone 3GS, the iPad never seems to be anything but snappy. Apps open crisply. Animations never slow the presentation.” – Paul Thurrott.

11. Gaming – There are some great games. I’m not a heavy gamer but have found the iPhone/iPod Touch the perfect platform for a casual gamer like myself. Many of the games available are cheap, if not free. If I get bored with a certain game, I don’t feel bad for not revisiting or quitting it because it didn’t spend $30+ for it. The idea of gaming on the iPad is similar.

12. Photo Frame – Put it on a stand and use the built-in photo display feature to run as a digital photo frame when it’s not in use.

13. Portability – The “slate” style form factor gives you options and positions that are difficult with a traditional “clam shell” style laptop. Ever tried to use a laptop standing up or lying down? It’s also a nice size to easily carry around in a bag.

14. It’s not just a bigger iPhone / iPod Touch – “The iPad isn’t a big iPod Touch—an iPod Touch is a miniature iPad that restricts the full multitouch experience in exchange for offering greater portability. With the iPad, in contrast, you get multitouch the way it was meant to be done.” – Jacqui Cheng Ars Technica review.

15. The Indescribable – Perhaps Stephen Fry has said it best:
“I had been prepared for a smooth feel, for a bright screen and the “immersive” experience everyone had promised. I was not prepared, though, for how instant the relationship I formed with the device would be. I left Cupertino without an iPad, but I have since gotten my own, and it goes with me everywhere.”
“…for me, my iPad is like a gun lobbyist’s rifle: the only way you will take it from me is to prise it from my cold, dead hands. One melancholy thought occurs as my fingers glide and flow over the surface of this astonishing object: Douglas Adams is not alive to see the closest thing to his Hitchhiker’s Guide that humankind has yet devised.”

Here's a link to the original post.