Priorities for a nation

Hi people

Here's praying that everybody still has a job and has not been severely impacted by the recession.

I was recently involved in a discussion with people really close to me around what are the priorities for India as a country at this point in time given the recessionary times, given the terror threats, both internal and external, the development or the lack of it, education etc. Let me try and put in a viewpoint here on what I think should be the priorities for our upcoming nation.

I want to start off by splitting up the priorities into short term priorities and long term priorities

Short Term Priorities
1) Dismantling of terror machinery - I consider this priority as a combination of 2 parts, one, the dismantling of current terror threats through effective protection which is short term and two, dismantling of the underlying causes, both social and economic as a long term priority. So my thought is that protection against newer terror threats, both internal and external must be our top priority for now. It will require some tough steps, but it is time to step out of our moral appendages and take them, harsh as they may seem. First, any foreigner will be thoroughly checked before he enters the country aka the USA. Second, an independent agency like the IB or the CBI need to be given autonomous powers to arrest anyone on the basis of considerable doubt. To ensure independent functioning, they could report into the CVC or the SC. There may be persecution of certain individuals, but that happens anyways, so that is OK short term.
2) Economics - I call Economics as our second priority as it is economic growth that leads to social growth and stabilization. We need to work fast towards liberalization, disinvestment and increased industrialization. The world has left us behind in economics and we still claim a moral high ground of inclusive growth. A higher rate of growth will probably involve sacrifices for certain people, but it is a short term cost necessary for economic growth. Once the economic growth happens, social development will happen as has been proved in the case of the Tata's and the Birla's of the world. Lastly, the government has no business to be in business. Its high time we took out the government control and protection of the industry to make it a globally competitive one. It has worked before as with telecom, insurance etc. So we gotta believe it will work even today.
3) Infrastructure - Infrastructure, as it exists today in India is more of a show stopper than a motivation. We need to start focusing on developing our infrastructure for the years to come. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Development of infrastructure will involve some heartburn for some sections, but it is a sacrifice that needs to be made to get India on the world map. We need more dams, we need more factories setup, we need better roads, power supply etc.
4) Saleability - We as a nation need to realise that one of the biggest strengths that India brings to the table is the skill level of its people. So given the skill level that a lot of the population does attain especially with the robust education system we have, what becomes important is the saleability of an individual. The sooner we realise that people is just another 'P' in the production mix and that people are only resources in an organization, it will be beneficial for the country. It would allow 'resources' who are not in demand to accept it and enhance their skill set to a position where they are in a supply driven market.
Long Term Priorities - I would not concentrate more on the long term priorities as they would be useful only post the meeting of short term priorities and enough has been said about them already in various forums
1) Education
2) Abolition of reservation of any and every kind
3) Social empowerment through education only
4) Abolition of Poverty by using the saleability tool described above

Eminence

Rationality in India, a myth??

Hey folks

I was talking to a friend the other day.... He very carefully warned me that the next day there was a partial solar eclipse and so I should not venture out and I should not eat anything. Neither should I eat in that time frame nor should I drink anything!!! I was appalled at the narrow mindedness of the individual.... And hey, just to set the record straight, this guy was a pass out from one of the best schools I know and is a post graduate, in guess what, sciences!!!
Then, when I began to think about this, it stuck me that, the narrow-mindedness was probably not his fault.... Those problems were probably a manifestation of all the crap that is taught in schools in India....
Please do not get me wrong on this... We have an excellent system of education in this country inherited from the British... The problem is that, it is NOT as we inherited it from the British.... What we, as a nation have added to that system is a heady mix of emotion, politics and mass hysteria.... not a very potent combination!!!!
What I am going to pen down in this para needs to be read with a very open mind.... We as a nation are used to idolizing and we need one person or people to look up to and worship. They also serve as a means to blame in case of a mishap.... Collective hysteria has rooted itself so strongly in our pea-sized brains that we try to go any heights to twist the annals of history to accommodate our idiosyncrasies!!!! It just takes some bit of extra reading and expanding one's horizons to realize that Gandhi was human, Ambedkar did not actually favour Dalits, Solar eclipses do not cause anything, Nehru was an adulterer, just to correct a few anomalies in our thinking. The worst part of all of this is that schools in our country drill all of these mistruths into a child's mind when he is at an age where the intake and retention is maximum.... The purpose of education is to provide facts and allow the human brain to make deductions, not provide deductions based upon convenient and falsified facts to encourage mere machine like thinking.
If India indeed needs to progress politically, economically and more importantly socially..... we need to come out of all these idiosyncrasies and learn to trust only facts!!!! Schools need to realize their role and more importantly, parents need to encourage the child to read and assimilate a lot of stuff on his/her own....

Eminence

Live Scores

Indian English - Part 2 - Casual References

Hello people

Part 2 of Indian English where we cover Casual references in english desi Style!!!!

Casual use of words yaar (Hindi: यार meaning - friend, buddy, dude, man, mate), bhai (Hindi: भाई meaning - brother) and bhaiyya (Hindi: भइया meaning - elder brother) much as with the American English 'man' or 'dude', as in " Arey! C'mon, yaar! Don't be such a killjoy!", "Long time no see, bhai." or "Ay, bhaiyya! Over here!" Yaar is the equivalent of mate in Australian and British English. The word boss is also sometimes used in this way, among friends but also to male strangers, as in "How much to go to the train station, boss?", or "Good to see you, boss."
Informal and sometimes coarse assignations of familial relationships to friends. For example, alliyan in Kerala, machan in Chennai, mama in Hyderabad literally meaning uncle and sala (Hindi: साला) in Mumbai literally mean brother-in-law, but are informally used by the youth to refer to each other. Targeted at a stranger, such words may take a derogatory meaning (like "sleeping with your sister").
Use of interjections Arey!(Hindi: अरे) and acchha! (Hindi: अच्छा) to express a wide range of emotions, usually positive though occasionally not, as in "Arey! What a good job you did!", "Accha, so that's your plan." or "Arey, what bad luck, yaar!"
Use of the word "chal" (Hindi: चल - Imperative of the verb "to walk") to mean the interjection "Ok", as in "Chal, I gotta go now" at the end of a phone call
Use of T-K in place of O.K. when answering a question, as in "Would you like to come to the movie?" – "T-K, I'll meet you there later." (Hindi: ठीक है Transliteration: Theek Hai, literally meaning "fine is", meaning "okay"). T-K is an anglophonic homophone of the Hindi phrase "Theek hai" similar to the French "Ça va" similar to the English phrase "Alright then."
Use of oof! (Hindi: ऊफ़ - an interjection in Hindi) to show distress or frustration, as in "Oof! The baby's crying again!"
Along with "oof!", there is also "off-oaf!" [of.fof] which is in a more whining voice which kind of means "oh, no!". Not many Indians will say this, but it is used widely in Hindi movies or soap operas. The South Indian equivalent is "Aiyo!" [əiː.jo],(Kannada: ಐಯ್ಯೊ) expanded to "Aiyaiyo!"(Kannada: ಐಐಯೊ) in proportion to the provocation. The latter phrase is the trademark of the South Indian, as caricatured in Hindi movies.
Use of "Wah" (Hindi: वाह) to express admiration, especially in musical settings, as in "Wah! Wah! You play the sitar so well!"
Use of "just" and "simply" in a seemingly arbitrary manner in southern India, especially Kerala. e.g. Q:"Why did you do it?" A:"Simply!" or "Just I was telling to [sic] him.
"Lady's finger" means "Okra" (as in some other English-speaking countries). "Brinjal" or "Bai-ngan" (Hindi: बेंगन) means eggplant or aubergine.
"Hill Station" means mountain resort.
"Hotel" means "restaurant" (as well as specifically "big hotel") in India: "I ate in the hotel". "Lodge" is used to refer to small hotels. Sometimes "Lodge" refers to a place where you stay (in rooms) and "Hotel" refers to a place where you eat.
"stepney" or "stepaney" refers to a car's spare tyre. It is also used to refer to a mistress (i.e., a "spare" wife!)
"specs" means spectacles or glasses (as in colloquial UK English).
"cent per cent" means "100 per cent" as in "He got cent per cent in maths."
"centum" is also frequently used to refer to 100.
Overuse of the word "Please" as an interjection, often over-stressing the vowel. This could stem from "please" being implied within the verb conjugation in Hindi, causing speakers to overcompensate for its absence in English.
Use of the verb "sit" in place of "located" e.g. "Where are you sitting?" for "Where are you located? (for one's location in a school or office but not home)"
Use of "chumma chumma" (Tamil: சும்ம means simply) at the beginning of a sentence. (eg. chumma chumma dont talk)
Unnecessary repetition of a word to stress on the general idea. Used mostly with words like Yes No Right Ok etc. (e.g. A: Did you finish reading the book ? B: Yes yes !!) It is generally accompanied by an emphatic shake of the head.

Indian English - Part I - Idioms

Hey guys



The last time I was in the US, I had gone to a Subway and had a pretty tough time understanding what the man at the counter was saying.... Then I leant that we in India have our own way of talking English..... Here is the first part on the common idoms that we use.....



First-class - also pronounced "fus-class" or slurred together; indicates high-quality material, used to describe many things - lodging, cars, food, drink, people.
boy/girl - unmarried persons of any age. Matrimonial ads might describe the candidate as a 'boy, age 28 yrs'. The words 'man' and 'woman' are thought to imply lack of virginity and are thus particularly inappropriate in matrimonial ads unless the candidate is divorced.
B.A. - fail - used in matrimonial ads to describe someone who did not pass the final examinations but was admitted to college and did take college classes, as opposed to someone who did not go to college. 'Higher Secondary (fail)' and 'M.A. (fail)' are similar.
B.A. - pass - used as the opposite to the above
Condoled - as in 'The railway minister condoled the families of those killed in the accident'.
max (pronunciation) - for 'Mathematics or maths'.
Gone for a six or Taken a six - to mean something got ruined. (Origins linked to game of Cricket)
Eve teasing - 'Sexual harassment'
Pre-cap - 'like re-cap at beginning of serial TV show, a pre-cap at the end previewing the next one'
Convented - 'A girl educated well in Christian convent-style school'
I got a firing/I was fired by him - 'I got yelled at by him'
Sharma sir is not here - same as Sharma-ji is not here, a respectful address. No knighthood suffix.
I will make a move now - means 'I'm leaving', not 'making a move on someone', or anything related to chess.
Where are you put up? means 'Where do you live'?. Heard often in S.India.
Where do you stay? is the same as 'Where do you live?' or 'Where's your house?'
Cheap and best means good quality at a low price – i.e. - a great deal
I don't take meat/milk/whatever - 'I don't eat meat/ drink milk' etc
It is worst - 'It is really bad or of very poor quality'.
She is innocently divorced or divorced (innocent)- not the party at fault, or the marriage was not consummated..
Wheatish complexion - Seen in matrimonial ads. Means 'not dark skinned, tending toward light'
"What is [your] good name?" to mean "What is your full name?" is a carryover from the Hindi expression "Shubh-naam" (literally meaning "auspicious name") or the Urdu "ism-e shariif" (meaning "noble name"). This is similar to the way Japanese refer to the other person's name with an honorific "O-" prefix, as in "O-namae" instead of the simple "namae" when referring to their own name. Such a questioner wants to know the person's formal or legal given name that may appear on a passport, as opposed to the pet name they would be called by close friends and family.
"Out of station" to mean "out of town". This phrase has its origins in the posting of army officers to particular 'stations' during the days of the East India Company.
"Join duty" to mean "reporting to work for the first time". "Rejoin duty" is to come back to work after a vacation.
"Hello, What do you want?": used by some when answering a phone call, not perceived as impolite by most Indians
"Tell me": used when answering the phone, meaning "How can I help you?"
"send it across" instead of "send it over", as in "send the bill across to me" instead of "send the bill over to me".
"order for food" instead of "order food", as in "Let's order for sandwiches".
"What a nonsense/silly you are!" or "Don't be doing such nonsense any more.": occasional - idiomatic use of nonsense/silly as nouns (although this use of nonsense is not uncommon in British English).
"pass out" is meant to graduate, as in "I passed out of the university in 1995." Or it could also mean to be fast asleep.
"go for a toss" is meant to go haywire or to flop, as in "my plans went for a toss when it started raining heavily." Another cricket analogy.
"funny" is meant to replace not only "odd"/"strange" but "rude"/"precocious"/"impolite" as well. "That man was acting really funny with me, so I gave him a piece of my mind"
"on the anvil" is used often in the Indian press to mean something is about to appear or happen. For example, a headline might read "New roads on the anvil".
"tight slap" to mean "hard slap".
I have some doubts - 'I have some questions'
Timepass - 'Doing something for leisure but with no intention or target/satisfaction' For example, "Hows the movie?" reply - "Just timepass man... nothing great about it."
"maximum" is used where many other dialects of English would prefer "most."
Divorce (with the emphasis on the i as in pronouncing the word eye) same meaning but different pronunciation
Boss used to refer to any person, regardless of a superior at a place employment, as in (to a waiter) "Boss, come here, [take our order]."

Supreme decisiveness vs Sickening indecisiveness

Hello ppl

Too verbose a title!!! Well.....could not think of anything else to compare 2 nations' reactions to the same external stimuli. One, a nation of hardly a million people and a size not to be too proud of... and the other, an international behemoth... the cynosure of all eyes..... The world's fastest growing economy and largest democracy..... The stimulus - the same - meaningless terrorism.... For all the Einstein's who have not guessed it yet, I am talking about India and Israel.

Israel - One of the smallest countries in the world and also one of the newest countries in the world (Independence 1960s). Their only claim to the land that they are settled on is that their founding father Abraham bought that piece of land centuries ago for 400 silver coins. Surrounded on all sides by formidable enemies in Palestine, Egypt, Syria etc. Located in one of the most volatile regions in the world......
India - A global behemoth, the largest democracy in the world, a culture that has remained unchanged over more than 10000 yrs... established social structures, an economic powerhouse et al... Only major formidable enemy - Pakistan
Pakistan, Palestine - 2 examples of rogue states whose basis of survival is sponsor of terrorism and whose claim to fame is continual neglect and feigned ignorance of international norms.

The Reactions post attacks from the respective stimuli....
Day 1 (T+1) - Israeli government condemns the attack even as the air force starts aerial strikes in Gaza. In India, we start our discussion......
T + 2 - Israel continues the aerial strikes while no foreign power except France condemns the attacks. In India, we continue our discussion.....
T + 3 - Israel starts to launch ground attacks at Gaza... Troops move in to take control over Gaza and start moving towards the southern border. In India, we continue our discussion...
And so it goes on...... Israel keeps doing what they need to do while keeping the international community at a distance and we keep discussing......

I am tempted to compare similar reactions at Entebbe vis-a-vis Kandahar......

What comes out starkly is that we as a country, as an economy lack the balls(apologies for the language) to take any decision whatsoever...... It sickens me to realize that probably 3 yrs down the line when I write my blog, India would still be discussing the military option!!!!

What a joke!!!!!

Eminence

Recession Pangs!!!!

Hi Folks

Wshng al my redrs a vry hppy nu yr.......

In case you are wondering why.... Cost Cutting my friend, Cost Cutting.... lesser words, lesser efforts, lesser time spent and as they say time is money.....

Recession, Recession.....seems to be all I hear nowadays everywhere right from the corporate honchos on TV, news channels (but of course), company execs, leadership, colleagues, my newspaper guy, teashop owner everyone!!! I believe New year celebrations across the country were pretty muted due to the R-word.....

Suddenly, increments, bonuses and all the other perks that every employee enjoyed even without working is all going down the drain for no fault of theirs.... It is lately in vogue just to have a job!!!

Governments are pumping money into the economy, inflation is at an all time high, real estate is as cheap as it can get, banks are facing the crunch etc etc.... the list seems to be endless....

Cant think of anything much else to say as enough has been said and discussed about this topic.... Just wanted to pen my observations. Apologies to those who thought that this was going to be another flurry of expletives and people bashing.....

Here is hoping that 2009 turns out to be a much better year and provides scope for all of us to see more bonuses, increments and all the other works!!!!

Eminence....