A take on India's retaliation on the US!

The mistreatment of Indias' diplomat in New York has light a fire under the belly of the Indian politicians!

Here's What happened!
This woman was stripped and cavity searched by the NY Cops.

Heres's what the Indian politicians want!

They want the American diplomats (these below) to be stripped too!
Tit for Tit!
Wastraharan for Wastraharan!

They also want to arrest the gay diplomat in India since they are violating the Indian law every time they are together!

Is Barack Obama a Flirt by Nature?

Look at these numerous images and you decide for yourself. Obviously he is good at making all these ladies smile.

Politics aside, how do you fix the Indian society in general?

In India there is a wave, they say. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAM) has swept the congress out of power in Delhi. This is the most encouraging thing that has happened in Indian politics since the freedom movement. Riddled with corruption and jungle Raj the Indian political system needs an overhaul, a revolution. Everybody realizes that but nobody believed that this could be achieved, until now. The success of AAP proves to the doubters that the political system can be fixed, the AAPs success is the beacon of hope nobody believed that it existed. Hopefully this demonstration will bring even more doubters out on Election Day and make the much sought after change finally happen.

While the AAP represent this hope, what India needs is something else and I struggle to define what that is or how it can be achieved. We complain about the corruption in politics, the netas swindling money from the public, misusing public funds and power to their own benefits. But what about the corruptions in our daily lives which occur at lower levels. When I was in college in India there was corruption there – by the students themselves. Student bodies like the college gatherings, food court (mess), and the regatta were marred with corrupt activities. There used to be fights between students for the organization committee elections. It just seems that power brings out the bad in everyone out there no matter the size of the organization or the level of it.

In families, the powerful elders / husbands use power to abuse their spouses (domestic violence), on road the guy with a bigger vehicle abuses power and size to squeeze other out of way, in government offices small clerks use power to keep people waiting…. And the list goes on.

What India needs is a lesson in courtesy, empathy and a basis thought of respecting the rights of others. People need to yield for others and adopt a “pehle aap” mantra. We all seem to be in a rush to reach somewhere (somehow) quickly, even if it is at the expense of others. Kill or you will be killed is what drives us all the time. What India needs is to hit the pause button for others.

When I started writing this article, I didn’t know what can help, but now I think sports could be a solution. Participation in team sports has shown to have a positive effect on peoples thinking, a team based all-inclusive spirit. The American society has embraces sports in schools and colleges and you see the patience and collaborative spirit in their real lives. I am not saying one the result of another – but lets give it a try. Indian schools are bereft of sports activities, the sole focus is on getting grades, getting grades that are better than rest of the people around you. A cut throat competition, individual sports of grades. Let’s not abandon the education for sports, because that’s what makes us intellectually superior. But at least give sports a chance? Change the mix of 100% studies, 0% sports to something like 90-10?

The business of consumption!

 The American holidays kick-off with a strange vibe. Instead of the festive spirit togetherness and camaraderie the message and vibes seem to be giving or gifting, rather.

I can understand the spirit of giving, but what is generally emphasized is giving to friends and family members i.e. gifting, rather than giving as in giving to the homeless, needy or the poor.

It can’t be a Christmas ritual or tradition to give. What it is, is the brainchild of giant corporations and companies to imbibe in the general population that you have to give a gift to everyone near and dear to you. So in a family of 4, every member will end up buying 4 gifts, a total of 20! Some people will go even far and get gifts for good friends.

The constant marketing and advertising, eggs everyone to go on a spending spree even if the can’t afford and any have to rake up debt in the process of doing so. The brainwashing results in people feeling guilty if they can’t gift. Inability to gift may also be perceived as a sign of poverty and some people will gift for not being seen as poor.

In a country where the savings rate is abysmal, people should be encouraged to do the right thing in the festive spirit, cut down their debts, be self-sufficient and economically empower themselves. What is being done instead is poor people are being driven into further poverty under spirit of festival. Such is the business of consumption.

Comeback of the Moochh!

India entered the new millennium, with a strong aversion to mens facial hair. Young guys in colleges were increasingly getting rids of the mustache that was the hallmark of the Indian  male. For a decade the mustache has been a no no in college fashion.

But suddenly the manly moochh sems to be making a comeback. Bollywood actors are increasingly resorting to beards and full grown mustaches to shun the boyish looks for a macho image. Abhishekh Bachchan had to do it to shield his abnormal face but the Ranveers are employing to much greater effect. Add to it that the indian cricketers have joined the moochh party as well. The mustache is definitely the upcoming fashion statement for the next decade.

Talk about being dramatic

What's Affected by a Government Shutdown?

The governments description of what will be affected by the Shutdown is quite dramatic. Look at the careful use of adjectives to scare people and amplify the effect on the reader

• Vital services that ensure seniors and young children have access to healthy food and meals may not have sufficient Federal funds to serve all beneficiaries in an extended lapse.
• Veterans’ compensation, pension, education, and other benefits could be cut off in the case of an extended  shutdown.
• Every one of America’s national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, will be immediately closed.
• New applications for small business loans and loan guarantees will be immediately halted.
• Research into life-threatening diseases and other areas will stop, and new patients won’t be accepted into clinical  trials at the National Institutes of Health.
• Work to protect consumers, ranging from child product safety to financial security to the safety of hazardous waste facilities, will cease. The EPA will halt non-essential inspections of chemical facilities and drinking water systems.
• Permits and reviews for planned energy and transportations projects will stop, preventing companies from working on these projects. Loans to rural communities will be halted.
• Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees including many charged with protecting us from terrorist threats, defending our borders, inspecting our food, and keeping our skies safe will work without pay until the shutdown  ends.
• Hundreds of thousands of additional federal workers will be immediately and indefinitely furloughed without pay.

They certainly know on how to work on peoples emotions!!

Story of two tragedies!

In India there was huge outrage about the rape of a young student last year. The public was furious, news outlets didn’t let the story die, the political system had to get on its feet, the perpetrators were arrested and less than a year down the line all 5 accused have been sentenced to a death penalty.

Justice done!

In US – Montana, a teacher raped a minor student. The teacher has been released from a Montana prison after completing a 30-day sentence for rape handed down by a judge.

Fifty-four-year-old Stacey Rambold left the Montana State Prison on Thursday after completing his term for the 2007 rape of Cherice Moralez.

The judge said at the sentencing hearing that Moralez seemed "older than her chronological age."

The girl committed suicide in 2010 before case went to trial.

There is no public support for this poor girls family, the mother is a lone warrior appearing on CNN from time to time. The media too uses the story to bump up the ratings!

These are two stories of two rapes! I fully understand that India is probably the worst place for a woman to be in terms of safety. But when it comes to prosecuting the culprits the US is not ideal either.

The Politics of Sarah Palin

One woman has influenced the American politics in no way has any other politician or leader. Woman who is a dumb cow but knows her politics well enough. Sarah Palin disgraced the American political scene when John McCain appointed her vice-presidential nominee and her legacy began. Her first big achievement was getting Barack Obama elected by undermining the presidency of Mr. McCain. Her views on foreign policy on Russia, her failure to name one newspaper she reads or one Supreme Court decision she disputes highlighted her intellectual illness.

In the following years her clout increased ad she began with a sequence of book releases, reality shows and her lecture series. Her glamour and her idiotic sense amuses her followers and detractors alike. What she had gained through this charade is unparalleled popularity sending her TV appearance and lecture fees through the roof. She was the darling of the conservative Fox News crowd.

But then something new happened. Michelle Bachmann appeared on the scene and she was suddenly the darling of the conservatives. Ms. Bachmann though not as hot as Ms. Palin was certainly evenly charming and may be a zillion times knowledgeable than Palin – not a compliment to Bachmans wisdom , this is more of a rebuke at Ms Palins lack of it. Sarah Palin started to fade away. So Palin had to act and she did. Embarking upon bus tours, political forums and creating an uncertainity about her presidential bid. Buying a house in Arizona, meeting Trump or gathering campaign funds, Palins activity level is up and brought her back in favor. So why do all this when the woman herself knows and even Bill O Reily knows that she is the most unfit person on the face of the planet to pull something like the US presidency off. The woman is playing her politics for the benefit of her economics.

So why can Palin never become a president or will never really run for president? If she declares that she is running she has to undergo a lot of scrutiny and answer a lot of questions on social and economic issues – but who will take all the trouble in the world to read books, newspaper and think about current issues? Like all of us she too has a limited time in a day whish the woman spends on makeup, dressing up, selecting designer glasses, skirts and tops and getting her fair done. The woman has a huge wardrobe appetite and it needs a lot of money. Sarah Palin needs all the money she can get to keep up with her taste in fashion ans hence she will never deny that she will not run for president. Now on until she turns 70 every 4 years there is a presidential election she will take up this charade of looking like she is running only to keep her current and in flavor.

The biggest sufferers from this Sarah Palin politics are the republican candidates who get little attention in view of her political circus.

The fraud banks

A few years ago, I saw a movie called ‘The International’ which I thought was utterly stupid and waste of time. The movie did not have a character as a villain. The villain in the movie is an institution – a bank!

But the more I think about it and the increasingly nefarious activities that some of the big banks have been caught doing, the more I am convinced the banks are indeed the root of all evil in our society. To make matters worse, in a world where money is everything, the elected officials, our executive and judicial branches of governance are afraid to punish banks forall the evil they indulge in.

Here is a comprehensive list of wrong doings by banks and their consequences to society!

Goldman Sachs Bundled Bad Debt, Bet Against It and Won

Goldman was able to profit from the collapse in subprime mortgage bonds in the summer of 2007 by short-selling subprime mortgage-backed securities. Two Goldman traders, Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum, are credited with bearing responsibility for the firm's large profits during America's sub-prime mortgage crisis. The pair, members of goldman's structured products group in New York, made a profit of $4 billion by "betting" on a collapse in the sub-prime market, and shorting mortgage-related securities. By summer of 2007, they persuaded colleagues to see their point of view and talked around skeptical risk management executives. The firm initially avoided large subprime writedowns, and achieved a net profit due to significant losses on non-prime securitized loans being offset by gains on short mortgage positions.

HSBC Money Laundering

HSBC acknowledged compliance lapses, including a failure to maintain effective anti-money laundering program, and conducting transactions on behalf of customers in Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya and Sudan, which were all subject to US sanctions.

HSBC punishment included a $1.26bn forfeiture and $665m in civil fines. 

Libor Scandal

The Libor scandal was a series of fraudulent actions connected to the Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) and also the resulting investigation and reaction. The Libor is an average interest rate calculated through submissions of interest rates by major banks in London. The scandal arose when it was discovered that banks were falsely inflating or deflating their rates so as to profit from trades, or to give the impression that they were more creditworthy than they were

On 27 June 2012, Barclays Bank was fined $200 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $160 million by the United States Department of Justice

A farce concern for privacy!

Fox News Reports - Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft are part of a broad alliance of technology companies and civil liberties groups that will demand dramatically increased transparency around U.S. government surveillance efforts.

For so long these companies were aware of this issue, and have had no problem in providing data to the NSA. They have been happy to spy on us and watch our lives.

But now that we know that they have been secretly doing this, suddenly they have the balls to write an open letter to the government and show how concerned they are about the privacy of the public and email accounts!

Slimy bastards! Fearing public backlash and the fear of loosing members suddenly they want to be the torch bearers of liberty and privacy.

Which is the best website for remitting USD to India

This question pops up in the brain of all desis when it comes to remitting money home. Nobody wants to miss out on the best remittance rate. So i have put together a plot of the remittance rate tracked on the few of the most popular websites over the last four months.

While tracking this over the last 4 months, the INR has depreciated significantly thus allowing me to track the flexibility of all these services in adapting to the changing rate.

One thing to note is that these are indicative rates advertised on the website and actual rate may vary.

Few key observations from this are:

SBI seems to be the least reactive to the exchange rate. It is possibly due to their website updates not keeping pace with the INR activity.

ICICI Money 2 India and Axis Bank services seem to be delivering the best exchange rate consistently.

How Republicans keep alienating the future!

They are opposed to gay marriages!

They want women to have babies they don't want by banning abortion!

They are opposed to immigration / immigrants who will keep coming in and eventually become citizens / voters, no matter what!

and now they are making lives difficult for students, who will eventually become responsible citizens and think of who caused them the suffering and financial hardships!

Subsidized Stafford loan interest rates went to 6.8 percent on Monday because Congress didn't strike a deal to keep them low. That translates to an extra $2,600 per student in costs. It affects roughly a quarter of all federal borrowers.

The well educated upper / middle class students traditionally are republican supporters, but the Republican hardliners in Congress are hell bent up on aggrieving them as well!

Who will be the winners of the shale gas boom?

Ultra Petroleum, pipeline company Williams and Quanta Services, a $6.3 billion market cap company that builds out both pipelines and electrical transmission lines.

Chicago, Bridge & Iron  remains one of the best positioned E&C to benefit from the investment in the energy infrastructure space.

Fluor is another bright name in the E&C industry. In fact, some believe that this company has the best earnings visibility among E&C players. The company remains a potential winner for many North American petrochemical and gas-to-liquid projects

Another stock that has not yet experienced growth is KBR Co. KBR remains another favorite in this space to benefit from the shale gas boom

Some of the direct beneficiaries of the shale boom in the US include oil and gas companies such as EOG Resources which has operations in the Eagle Ford, Barnett, Marecellus and Bakken shales.

Oil service companies that supply hydraulic fracturing technology and drilling services are also beneficiaries of shale development; these include Schlumberger, National Oilwell Varco and Halliburton.

 Valero Energy Corp, with a reputation as one of the US’s lowest cost and most profitable refiners is benefiting from surging oil output from the Bakken shale in North Dakota

US chemical producers who have become more globally competitive by switching to cheaper ethane feedstocks. Among the biggest beneficiaries of this is Dow Chemical, which after a decade of moving its production facilities out of the US to Asia and elsewhere, is now investing billions of dollars on new domestic production plants in order to take advantage of cheap domestic shale gas supplies.

Reducing the Competitiveness of the American Student and Society!

The US government is facing unprecedented debt. The levels are unsustainable and all the politicians in this country can do is to kick the can down the road. Each party claims to have plans that would cut the deficit by trillions but independent reviewers say that all they do is cut 20 to 40 billion dollars over 10 years. Ideologically these guys cannot agree upon defense, Medicare, Social security, union benefits, taxation, abortion, BUT – they certainly agree upon cutting student aid.

See this extract from a NY Times article.

“One of the few areas in which Mr. Boehner and Senator Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat and majority leader, agree is student aid. They both propose eliminating subsidized federal loans for students in graduate and professional schools — about 1.5 million borrowers who do now pay interest on their loans while they are in school. Graduate students could still take out unsubsidized loans. But they would be obliged to pay interest accumulated while they were in graduate school, so they would owe more to the government.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that this change would save $18 billion over 10 years.”

Any way I don’t care as I’m not eligible for student loans. No doubt this country is going bankrupt – one reason lack of education!

Final Destination 6: QPRs Season 2012-2013

“Final Destination” crop of movies have made a living out of selling the same formula over and over again. A group of young guys and gals hoodwink death by a whisker and then death comes to take them one by one over the course of the movie.

English Premiere League’s Queens Park Rangers in the league season 2012-13 reminds me of the movie.

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At the end of the 2012 season QPR were expected to be relegated. They were one of the bottom 3 teams with 1 game remaining. Their only remaining game was against Manchester City, the team that was about to be crowned Champions if they beat QPR, QPR being the away team. QPR’s loss and relegation was a mere formality. On the final day however, with City leading 1-0, QPR equalized. But then Joey Barton then QPR captain got a red card and the relegation was back on. But Jamie Mackie unexpectedly scored for QPR to take the lead and shattering City’s title hopes.

In the dramatic last five minutes of the season, City scored twice, QPR lost, but the unfortunate turn of events for Bolton Wanderers meant they drew their game and QPR escaped death (relegation) to be back in the ELP for season 2012-13.

Learning from the narrow escape of the previous season, QPR owner Tony Fernandes poured his heart, sweat and more importantly lots of pounds to build a new look QPR. The huge money infusion meant QPR now boasted squad members like – Jose Bosingwa of Chelsea, Granero from Real Madrid, Rafael and Park Ji Sung from Manchester United, Shaun Wright Phillips of Man City, Traore from Arsenal. The strike force included Bobby Zamora, Djibril Cisse and Jamie Mackie. This was in addition to the talents of Adel Taraabt and Faurlin they already had on their squad sheet.

Tony Fernandes had had enough flirtation with relegation and his new look squad wasn’t supposed to mention the R word, in fact they were considered to be challenging for European football. But things didn’t go according to the plan. Under the management of manager Mark “Sparky” Hughes, QPRs season start was in shambles. They failed to win their opening 6 games and things did not improve significantly after that. Mid-way through the season, as the possibility of relegation started to surface, Hughes got the sack and Harry Redknapp was brought in to wave his magic wand. There was enough time to correct things and most importantly there was a January transfer window available for QPR to improve the squad and stave off relegation.

Such was QPRs reluctance to accept relegation that they blew 12 million pounds on central defender Christopher Samba and another 8 million on Loic Remy a prolific striker from Marseille. Remy started well scoring in his first game for QPR, but was injured and out for over a month within two weeks of joining the club. With Bobby Zamora and Park already on the injury list QPR were again short of bodies – able bodies. QPR would have still made it out had they beaten fellow strugglers, Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic. But fate just didn’t want to take any chance this season - they lost to Villa to fall 7 point behind in the race to survival and then drew when Wigan scored a last minute equalizer - then playing against Everton a deflected shot goes in the goal and Bobby Zamora picks up a Red card to add to their woes.

Such has been the roll of dice for QPR that all holes have aligned and there are no barriers to arrest their fall into the Championship. At the time of writing this there are still 5 games to be played but I will be surprised in QPR manage what no characters in the Final Destination movies have managed till date.

IPL Tewnty Twenty Cricket will ruin Indian Cricket

It had to start somewhere and it starts here at Indias’ 2011 tour of England. No one saw the perils of the 20-20 format of cricket BUT Indian cricket is going to be a big victim of this entertainment form of cricket. No one will admit and no one will do anything to restore the situation – because there is a lot of money involved. And when it is money and India; it is a dangerous combination.



Test cricket is boring, it needs discipline, hard work, patience, concentration, skills, mettle and mental toughness. 20-20 is the exactly opposite, it appeals more to the hot blood of the youth. Why bother staying on the pitch for 2 days, score a painstaking century when you can hit 20 runs in 7 balls, with the crowd cheering in the backdrop of high pitch music and cheerleaders dancing by the boundary line. The choice for today’s emerging cricketers is simple. Get into 20-20 rather then yearning for a test spot. Above all 20-20 offers a lot more money for the entertainment value.



Against the backdrop of the picture I have painted Indian cricket is going to emerge a big looser. And it all starts here with loosing the #1 ranking in test cricket. So where do we go from here? Further more down the ranking ladder in the near future. Other big disadvantage for Indian cricket is going to be – loosing the dominance on home soil. With international cricketers being offered chance to participate in 20-20, sooner rather than later these guys are going to be acclimatized with the Indian pitch conditions and unlocking the prowess of Indias spin bowlers. The coming years will see India loose a number of home tournaments.



Many of you may not agree, but there is proof. The English premier league is football is the best and most exciting league in the world. It offers high quality football and immense opportunities to talent all over the world. But look where it has landed English football. England can only dream of winning a football world cup. Thankfully for Indian cricket the 20-20 mania did not destroy our cricket before registering a World cup win. If we don’t do anything to fix the 20-20 bubble, which we probably wont, India will not register a cricket world cup win for decades to come.

A tribute to Steve Job

When Apple CEO, Steve Jobs passed away on October 5 2011, the world around us has lost a spark of perfection. Many would credit Steve jobs with imaginative ideas, but it think his contribution to the world was the gift of perfection. Apple seldom made inventive products. The computer was there, music players were around, cell phones were common, tablets were already tried. But with the PC, the iPod, iPhone and the iPad we got products that worked with near perfection, products that were simple to use and products that never crashed.

Looking upon Apples success competitors are imitating products. To beat Apple at its own game they are trying harder by adding features that Apple does not have and in the process making these competitor products more complex. Steve Job would have loved this. Having competitors who make complex hi tech products is the sole reason Apple is at the top of the tech ladder.

Steve Jobs was genius who realized that most people in the world are not brilliant. They cannot use complex products. Simplicity was his gift to the people of the world and they embraced it. People have compared with to Thomas Edison, but to me he is truly unique. A human being gifted with technical genius, people management skills, presentation skills and the vision of god. Steve Jobs will go down in history as the true legend of the business world.

Star Cricket, Really?

With the first India Pakistan series in a long long time, Star cricket started the promotions on a war front.

Just before the first ODI, the marketing campaign started with -

"Aa raha hai pakistan" and a mean looking Dhoni stating "Aane Do" the campaign also went social with the #AaneDo

India Lost.

For the second ODI -

"Must win game for India, can Team India extract revenge" "Watch team India fight back" and more of #AaneDo

India lost again!

With the final ODI looming and the series already decided the campaign states

"Doosray ODI mein pakistan ke shikanj gendbaajo nay bharat ke ballebajo ko dher karr, shrinkhalaa jeet lee. Ab teesre ODI mein team India apne khoye hue sammaan ke liye khelegee"

Really?

All this non sense reminds me of the famous quote by George W. Bush

"Fool me once, shame of you. Fool me twice, shame on.... (long pause) shame on... (short pause) you?"

BP has to pay record $4.5bn fine whereas HSBC will get away with $1.9bn fine

The United States today displays its hypocrisy in its fight against terror and how capitalism truly interferes when it comes to big decision making. It will be shortly revealed that state authorities plan to announce a record $1.9 billion settlement with HSBC on Tuesday. The settlement with HSBC stems from accusations that the British banking giant transferred billions of dollars on behalf of sanctioned nations like Iran and enabled Mexican drug cartels to launder money through the American financial system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

BP on the other hand paid $4.5bn fine for the spill offshore Gulf of Mexico. What happened with BP was an engineering accident; a design used numerous times before failed. It was unintentional act that happened due to human error. To make things right, BP has spent over $80bn for spill clean-up, compensating fisherman and local businesses for their assumed loss of revenues, modernizing the gulf coast and now marketing the gulf to rest of the world. They have more then made right for all the repercussions of the incident, but still they will pay the $4.5bn in fine!

HSBC on the other hand willfully violated international money transfer rules, helped terror promoting countries launder money and created situations that potentially risked the security of the entire country.

So which crime is more heinous? According the Federal government of course it is BP. BP are an oil company, traditionally oil companies are with the Republicans and so the Democrats will go to all means to make life miserable for BP. The banks are with the Democrats so they can go away with things like letting Iran launder money in and out of the system. That’s how things are in Capitalist America!