My Reactions To News | Inside the mind and heart of Venkatesh Sridhar

Thoughts on today’s test match India – Australia at Sydney

India lost the second test in Sydney, Australia today. As many of us who followed the match know by now that the match is and will always be marred by the dubious decisions that directly impacted the outcome of the match and now the ban imposed on Harbhajan Singh for ‘racially abusing him’.

Now these are the points I have problems with:

Click to continue reading “Thoughts on today’s test match India – Australia at Sydney”

Now these are the points I have problems with:

Click to continue reading “Thoughts on today’s test match India – Australia at Sydney”

Would you vote for a party launched by idealistic IITians?

I was just browsing the Times of India website and came across this article titled ‘Would you vote for a party launched by idealistic IITians?‘

I despise the title completely. I mean, WTF, the title looks like its asking me a straight forward and simple question – Would I vote for a party launched by idealistic IITians? The straight forward, answer is HELL NO. (I will give my reasons later in the post)

Click to continue reading “Would you vote for a party launched by idealistic IITians?”

I was just browsing the Times of India website and came across this article titled ‘Would you vote for a party launched by idealistic IITians?‘

Click to continue reading “Would you vote for a party launched by idealistic IITians?”

Why I am pissed with the Indian Media?

This post might come as a shock to many. But, this time I am going public with my opinion on the ineffectiveness of our Indian media. I am getting frustrated with them more and more as I finished reading the story of Watergate Scandal in the book, All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. These are the two journalists of The Washington Times. The entire scandal was unraveled by them. Imagine something of this sort happening in India. Considering the current bunch of nincompoops in the media in our country, there is a real fat chance of it happening.

Click to continue reading “Why I am pissed with the Indian Media?”

Should Orkut be banned in India?

Protagonist and characters – Abhijit Panse is a man on a mission, the mission is to simply ban Orkut. Yes, the very same orkut that brings people together, especially friends who have not been in touch for a long time.

The Plot – There is a hate group for Bal Thackeray, the erstwhile leader of Shiv Sena and for Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj.

The Act – Cyber café’s rampaged across Thane and Mumbai.

The Climax – Govt. mulls over ban on Orkut.

Click to continue reading “Should Orkut be banned in India?”

The Plot – There is a hate group for Bal Thackeray, the erstwhile leader of Shiv Sena and for Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj.

The Act – Cyber café’s rampaged across Thane and Mumbai.

The Climax – Govt. mulls over ban on Orkut.

Click to continue reading “Should Orkut be banned in India?”

An obnoxious editorial in the Times of India

Today, I was just browsing the Times of India website and I came across their editorial page titled “DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: Bye-Bye Tata” by Sauvik Chakraverti, I was intrigued by the title and I clicked on the link to further read it and I found this article by Sauvik was about the recent land acquisition controversies in Singur. As I read on, I was shocked and appaled and I decided to let Sauvik know why, click on more to see what I wrote to him.

Click to continue reading “An obnoxious editorial in the Times of India”

What I think of Mumbai’s spirit

I was recently going through Purnima’s post on Mumbai’s never say die spirit and the following are what ideally should be a comment to her post, but it was way too long to be a comment so I spun it off as a blog.

Let me begin by talking about what happens when a blast occurs? There is massive chaos, destruction and mass hysteria. These are the reactions that a terrorist wants. His aim is to spread fear across the minds of the victims. It is simply to make a point saying we are going to strike you anytime anywhere anyhow we want and you cannot do anything about it? This is pure Guerilla warfare, and they are utilising the element of surprise to the maximum.

Let’s contrast 9/11 93 blasts. The pecularity of the situation was that only one particular area in the city was attacked in 9/11. In Mumbai, there were 13 blasts and they were kept at different parts of the city. Let’s contrast the reactions of the two cities, Mumbai was up and running back on its feet, NYC was panicking and eventually the nation was panicking.

So, why did Mumbai and NYC react differently, Click on more to read further.

Click to continue reading “What I think of Mumbai’s spirit”

So, why did Mumbai and NYC react differently, Click on more to read further.

Click to continue reading “What I think of Mumbai’s spirit”

Paying the price of speaking out

Aamir Khan’s latest movie – Fanaa has been banned in Gujarat due to the fact that he was against the increase in the height of the dam before displacing those who are affected by the Narmoda Sarovar Project. This is clearly an infringement on the part of the Gujarat Govt. on the individual fundamental right of Aamir Khan. This clearly shows that the Gujarat Govt. is playing the game of vendetta politics.

How can a Govt. decide to ban an individual’s film on the basis that he had said something against the Govt.? This reminds me of the Emergency era, an era which incidentally gave birth to the current version of the BJP. It amazes me that the Central Govt. kept quiet and so did the Gujarat Congress as it would have been political suicide if they had gone for it.

I am getting more and more worried about the carelessly and so effortlessly and ruthlessly the Govt. is abusing its powers to espouse its views. In a democratic nation they should have been ready for a debate which they were not and decided to twist the arms of the poor Gujarat film distributors and cinema owners and thus was able to ensure that no distributor picked up the copy of the same.

But, one thing this has exponentially increased the media coverage for Fanaa and Aamir Khan and in the showbiz anything and everything that comes for free is welcome and so is the free publicity being generated for Fanaa. If only the Gujarat Govt. could market itself so effectively in terms of tourism, etc.

Rain, Rain go away !!!

We in India are always praying to God for rains, rains and more rains but sometimes God grants us more than what we asked for! Tuesday to Thursday Mumbai was raining. On Tuesday the rain was pouring heavily and one of my friends mentioned it to me on MSN that it is raining like crazy and I replied yeah Mumbai is missing me!!! But now I realise how partially wrong I was …

There are many people who are dead and my deepest condolences are with their families.

It was so heavy that Dad got stuck in VT and somehow managed to reach home, trust my dad to be innovative in such situations. Sandy got stuck in his office from Tuesday and he returned today morning. Amresh was cheerfully taking pics of the situation which I am attaching. Aarthi’s dad was stuck in the car for close to 22 hours. He and his colleagues had to get out of the car and swim towards the hotel and they did finally managed to reach the hotel.

This is the view from Amresh’s house….. you will see how it changed soon…

This is the same view after some time … see the difference??

I tried reaching my dad and my friends and surprisingly dad’s MTNL worked whereas my other friends much touted service providers like Orange, Airtel, BPL and Reliance conked off.

I was online and Arun Anand logged in and he asked me to check out his blog to find out the latest. While going through his post on the rains, I (and even you) will find out the heart rendering effort that people from NMIMS put in to help those stranded school kids. My respect has grown for these guys they will surely become good managers because you need to be sensibly sensitive and also a good manager is one who can steer the ship when there is a storm and this was a storm like situation and these guys did a good job and the way they were organized and split into teams looking after various things shows that these guys aint less than others.These guys deserve an award for this, is the NMIMS admin reading this?

I read on The Times of India that there were people who INVITED people who were passing by, absolute strangers into their house and use their toilets,etc. There were local Gujju and Marwari community which pooled in resources and kept dishing out vada pav’s for free to passer by’s. Who says Mumbai does not have a heart we have one BIG heart.

I received a mail from Firoz Amir about the rains and he was pissed that the western media did not find the issue big enough to report. I am also pissed we should recirpocate by not showing what the f@@@ goes on back in the US and the UK. If BBC and CNN think that this aint a big issue to cover then they have their priorites wrong. But on hindsight there are few things that go unreported in the Indian newspapers about stuff that happen in many places that are covered by the local newspapers here in Dubai. So, I guess what goes round comes round. But the local newspapers did cover the thing in detail here so I guess these are the most responsible media companies.

While I was writing this down I came across this blog by Khyati Danani about how Mumbai does not limp back to normalcy but it simply jumps back to life

Here I would like to add that again the BMC proved that it cannot be trusted in times of emergency. Where is the goddamm Disaster Management Cell that was supposed to have been formed when the Latur earthquake stuck in 1993. Another reason why the politicans asses should be kicked. Take their beloved chair and shove it up their a$$.

Mumbai as usual was like a city that had to sustain on it’s own. The apathy of the Central Govt. towards Mumbai was clearly visible as they have not yet come up with any specific plans on how to do the reconstruction and rehabilitation work. I think it’s high time that Mumbai gets its dues. I mean Mumbai alone, singularly gives 65% of India’s total taxes ( Personal + Corporate + Indirect ) and we have not been given a status that befits Mumbai as the financial capital of India. So much for Chidambaram talking about how he wants to make Mumbai, one of the major financial centers of the world. May I ask you Mr. Finance Minister how do you intend to do that, when the infrastructure is so bad? Do not make promises and claims you can NEVER keep.

I would love to see the people’s reaction to the Airtel and Hutch/Orange ads touting about their networks. Hutch/Orange had a cute dog and a cute boy both inseparable where the dog was supposed to be the network. I guess the dog drowned in the water. Airtel touts saying that their network is the best. So much for their superiority. Good old MTNL Cell network was the only one which was functioning. Their landlines were screwed but atleast the cells worked. Those people who bashed MTNL saying that my Orange/BPL/Airtel/Reliance is better have to eat their words.

I may be physically in Dubai but my mind and heart is in Mumbai. I wish I was there would have gone out to help those who are affected. I think it was not my destiny to be there. God’s will is the ultimate will, no one or nothing can be done. God Bless Mumbai and India and the World ( together at the same time and not in that order )

Indian Civil Aviation

Isn’t this what the Indian consumer always wanted. Cheaper air fares more competition and better service (hopefully) due to the intense competition brewing in the Indian Civil Aviation sector for quite some time now. Air Deccan came and announced unbelievable fares @ Rs. 700 inclusive of taxes though for a limited no. of seats. But, the blow had been stuck. Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Indian Airlines had already been hard pressed due to Apex fares scheme which though enabled them to have higher capacity but the revenues were strained. Though in it’s filing of the Red Herring Prospectus Jet Airways revenues have increased on a CAGR of around 50 %.

The Indian Govt. under Mr. Praful Patel, the Civil Aviation Minister announced an ‘Open Sky Policy’ which means that the Indian Skies are finally opening up to competition. So how ‘open’ will Indian skies will become is a big question mark as of now as there are too many nitty gritty yet to be worked upon. The biggest question is are domestic airlines capable of taking on competition from foreign airlines. It’s a different ball game to be the dominant player in a market where you can count your competitors on one hand. But with many business houses now keen to jump onto the no frills low cost airlines business the heat is going to be intense and also the fact that now even foreign airlines will be able to compete makes for an interesting scenario in the Indian Civil Aviation sector.

Mr. Patel insists that the govt. wants to have a level playing field. But, critics are of the view that the policy favours players like Jet and Sahara as they have more than 6 years of flying experience a major criterion for getting the nod for flying out of India which is where higher revenues lie. Critics say that the PSU Airlines namely Air India and Indian Airlines have not purchased any new fleet in the last decade and this would be a major hurdle for them. It is often said that govt owned airlines are competing not only with their hands tied behind their backs but also with their shoe laces tied. They are forced to fly on unprofitable routes primarily because of the Govt.’s stake.
From liquor baron Vijay Mallya to Bombay Dyeing’s Wadias everyone wants a stake in the Indian skies. So, the question that arises in the minds is whether there is enough space in the airline industry for an influx of new airlines. The Govt. does not want a repeat of the early 90′s when except for Jet all other private airlines went kaput. Also, is the domestic airline market big enough to accommodate such a huge increase in terms of seat capacity that will soon be available. Industry analysts are of the view that the domestic market is on a high growth phase and there is time before saturation levels are reached. The biggest factor still remains the price and affordability. How low would the prices be? Whether they would be sustainable and most importantly profitable for the airlines. In a price sensitive nation like India, price would be biggest factor that would determine who emerges as the dominant player.
The other aspect of the ‘new’ Civil Aviation policy is the proposal to privatize the process of modernization of the four major airports where the management of the airports would be entrusted to private players. This is said to be a ‘priority’ for the Govt. but there has been no urgency being shown on this front. Also, the cost of landing at the airports in India is one of the most costliest in the world. There has been no mention on this. Also, the Govt. has not come up with any plans to augment the existing capacity of airports and with an increase in the number of airlines that will be flying from, into and within India the already fragile infrastructure at these airports will be strained. Already when there are more than 6 airlines landing at the Mumbai International Airport, it causes some amount of discomfort.
Despite all these negatives the biggest positive of this civil aviation policy is the fact that there will be cut-throat competition and this will certainly improve the efficiency of the industry by a certain extent and the biggest beneficiary would undoubtedly be the customers. The scenario would be extremely good for the ordinary consumer as battles will be wages over Indian skies and Indians would as the Air Deccan punchline says, can ‘Simplifly’.

The timing of the U C Bannerjee Committee Report on Godhra and

What timing! A committee actually comes up with the findings of the
probe in time for the assembly elections in Bihar. The Bannerjee
Committee came out with a report saying that there was no provocation
on the part of one particular community and puts the blame squarely on
the previous government. Co-incidence or Tremedouns timing?
The Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav goes on air with glee and
waves copies of the report in front of cameras, in front on the
election rally crowds and is kicking the BJP’s butt. He is out to
politicise a report on one of India’s most horrendous communal riots
ever. What does the BJP do? It complains to the EC which is one
organisation that people actually think would do something but it is as
spineless as a amoeba. Nitish Kumar, the former Railway Minister and
the Railway Minister during the time when the riots happened
complained to the EC that the whole thing was done to suit the
political interests of the RJD . In face of it, it does look like
that.

Why is that politicians have to resort to stuff like this when they
have to win an election? Why is there no committee reports that come
on time before the elections is announced? The answer lies in the kind
of support they get from citizens like you and me in terms of votes.
Godhra was the most shameful incident in the history of India and they
do bring back bad memories, so what we do – we think the same could
happen here if the same party comes to power. If this was the case
then the Congress which was responsible for the Anti – Sikh riots in
Delhi in 1984 is no better than the BJP which is the ruling party in
Gujarat- then and now. It maybe that people like you and me who have
access to education and media, thereby enabling us to think. But what
about those poor people in Bihar whose access to education has been
taken away by the very same person who claims to be their saviour.
Yes, I am talking about Laloo Prasad Yadav. What has he or his wife
done for Bihar and its people that he claims to be the messiah of
Biharis? Nothing.
We see that but no the people in Bihar dont see that. Why? Because
they have not been provided access to education. He does not want
Biharis to become educated. Already, there is a brain drain in Bihar
wherein a majority of well educated Biharis come out for Bihar. They
dont want to go back and they dont go back. They do not want to see
hell again. NEVER EVER AGAIN.
The educated strata of Bihar cannot do much as they are a miniscule
minority. When would Bihar improve? WHEN?? That is the question that
cannot be answered by anyone but God. Is God listening??

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