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The alchemists

2008-05-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

By William Pfaff

Friday, May 23, 2008

PARIS: The global financial market has become "a monster," responsible for "massive destruction of assets," according to the president of Germany and former head of the IMF, Horst Kohler. It "grotesquely" remunerates its executives, he added.

According to Kenneth Griffin, founder and head of the $20 billion Citadel Investment Group - one of the biggest and most successful American hedge fund companies - international finance has been functioning on the judgment of "29-year-old kids" who "control the capital markets of America ... young guys right out of business school."

In the big banks that provide universal financial services, he said in an interview published in the International Herald Tribune, the chief executives often "only understand a part of the business."

In the celebrated case of the French bank Société Générale, it appears that the head of the bank had little idea what went on in its trading rooms, where a young man, eager to earn the approbation of his superiors and a larger bonus, made trades involving sums exceeding the total worth of the bank.

Griffin says his "tentative" conclusion is that the industry needs greater regulation. To the industry outsider, regulation is needed not only because of what the CEO does not know, but because of the discrepancy between reality and the academic market-models that provided the rationale for the vast deregulation of the global economy in recent years.

As viewed from universities, the international economy is thought to be composed of well-informed individuals and companies acting rationally in their own and their customers' best interests, maximizing profit opportunities, aware of risks and managing them prudently, committed to the integrity of the system upon which they and their national economies depend.

The academic model of commodities trading does not regard speculation as a problem because any anomalies are corrected by rational consumer reactions.

Paul Krugman wrote last week in the International Herald Tribune that if the world oil price had been quadrupled by speculation, "drivers would cut back on their driving; homeowners would turn down their thermostats; owners of marginal oil wells would put them back into production."

I'm sure they would. Industry would develop Canadian shale oil, the big oil companies would resume exploration (which they have neglected) and start building new refineries, General Motors and Ford would make smaller cars, and the Japanese and Europeans who already make small cars would have booming sales.

That's what happened in the wake of the 1973 OPEC oil price crisis, which was a deliberate oil producers' boycott. By 1982 the oil price was forced down.

That experience has nothing to do with the present situation. No market speculator intends to hoard his oil until the price goes up.

Speculative trading deals in points and quarter-points. You buy a contract if the oil price is moving up, and sell it three minutes later to someone convinced it will go higher. Traders buy their contracts and spread rumors suggesting increased shortage of the commodity (not too hard to do with nonstop financial TV, which lives by reporting every scrap of news affecting commodity or stock prices). When the price begins to move, the trader unloads.

Real or rumored problems in the Nigerian oil fields, political troubles for Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Gazprom uncertainties - all have been the stuff from which trading fortunes are made.

Futures trading in commodities originally had a necessary role in stabilizing prices. As the financial frenzy of recent years took over the big banks, the markets obliged by creating derivatives and other new instruments of trade, while the futures market retained traditionally low margin requirements.

The Chicago commodities markets, the Mercantile Exchange and the Board of Trade, merged to form a new company in order to create new trading opportunities. The volume of this year's trades - now over a million a day - is already close to the total for all 2007.

As a general rule, the margin required to buy an oil futures contract is 10 percent. Pledge $10,000 and buy $100,000 worth of oil. Or why be a piker? Put up $100,000 and buy a million-dollar contract. The price goes up one dollar five minutes later and you've made a million.

These are not transactions between producers and consumers, when the classical economic rules would function. These trades, unregulated, have virtually no useful economic role. They have become a form of parasitical professional gambling that distorts the transactions between producers and buyers.

Kohler compared the speculative bankers with alchemists, who purported to make gold from dross. It is not a bad comparison, and our contemporaries have, thus far, done better than their medieval counterparts, who often ended burned at the stake.

Source: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=13161495

Nobody loves you like Mama does

2008-05-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

By Garrison Keillor
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The last time I witnessed a woman becoming a mother, it wasn't anything like the frilly sentiments of Mother's Day. She lay on her back, perspiring heavily and yelling, "Oh my God, why did you do this to me? I'll never forgive you in a hundred years. I hope you hurt like this someday. Give me another epidural, you sadists. And get this thing out of me!" and looking up at me as if she were burning at the stake and I had lit the fire. And when the Infant appeared and was placed on the Madonna's chest, she said, "What in the world am I supposed to do with that?"
It begins in innocence. Music is playing, the night smells of lilacs, she asks if he would like to come in for a minute, and he does, and little does she know what cataclysm awaits her inside: the loss of individuality as she joins the Holy Order of Maternity.
Mothers were, at one time, young women with possibilities who might have taken a different route and become glamorous and powerful figures in size-two dresses and instead found themselves cleaning up excrement and jiggling colicky babies to get them to stop screaming. They hardly ever get to London anymore or have time to read James Joyce. They sit down to dinner with adults and feel brain-dead. A bouquet of flowers hardly seems compensation enough. How about a million dollars and a house in the south of France?
My mother appears in a photograph of five young women in white summer dresses walking hand-in-hand, grinning, on a country lane near Cottage Grove, Minnesota, in 1932 when she was 17, not long before she met my father, and they all look so fresh and happy, as if in a careless paradise all their own.
She is willowy, shy and beautiful and she might've modeled evening gowns at Dayton's Sky Room and maybe been spotted by a Hollywood scout and wound up in pictures, playing the village girl who charms the world-weary tycoon stranded in Littleville by the blizzard.
Instead, she became a suburban pioneer, making a home in a muddy cornfield, putting up the stewed tomatoes and canned beans every fall, raising six children, slogging through bouts of mumps and flu, whomping up big Christmases, fishing the laundry out of the washing machine and putting it through the wringer and hanging it on the line. Is that what the smiling girl of 1932 had in mind?
The cruel injustice of motherhood is that, out of devotion to her brood, she sacrifices so much of her own life that her children grow up to find her a little boring in comparison to the maiden aunt who is a little rebellious and more fun to be around, whereas Mom is just the lady who runs the vacuum. As Erma Bombeck said, the kids walk in and ask her, "Is anybody home?"
But she loves you. You could come home with snakes tattooed on your face and she still would see the good in you. Most great men were mama's boys. She encouraged them long before anybody else could see any talent there.
Your mother is on top of the situation. Your father has a hard time remembering your birthday or even your Christian name, but your mother knows you by scent, thanks to years of doing your laundry. She knows when you're in trouble. And you will get into deep trouble someday. Count on it.
Someone will file a lawsuit against you and subpoena your e-mail and it will all come flooding out, your dark secrets, your nefarious dealings, and your friends will cross the street to avoid you and your brothers and sisters will fade into the woodwork, but your mother will still love you. Like an old lioness, she'll come running even if you're two thousand miles away.
That is why you pay homage to the old lady on Mother's Day. You entered this cold world causing her more pain than she thought possible and now she won't ever give up on you. Those old ladies you see being wheeled onto airliners are the mothers of children facing imminent indictment for terrible things. Mama will be in the courtroom for you, baby. She will look the jury in the eye and her look may get you acquitted.
Buy her something nice for Mother's Day this spring, like a set of gold ingots. Or a black car with a chauffeur. She's your mama, honeybuns. At least you could write her a note.

Source: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12652559

Can you become a creature of new habits?

2008-05-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

By Janet Rae-Dupree
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. "Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd," William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word "habit" carries a negative connotation.

So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try the more we step outside our comfort zone the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.
But don't bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the hippocampus, they're there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

"The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder," says Dawna Markova, author of "The Open Mind" and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. "But we are taught instead to 'decide,' just as our president calls himself 'the Decider.' " She adds, however, that "to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities."
All of us work through problems in ways of which we're unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. "This breaks the major rule in the American belief system that anyone can do anything," explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book "This Year I Will..." and Markova's business partner. "That's a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence."

This is where developing new habits comes in. If you're an analytical or procedural thinker, you learn in different ways than someone who is inherently innovative or collaborative. Figure out what has worked for you when you've learned in the past, and you can draw your own map for developing additional skills and behaviors for the future.

"I apprentice myself to someone when I want to learn something new or develop a new habit," Ryan says. "Other people read a book about it or take a course. If you have a pathway to learning, use it because that's going to be easier than creating an entirely new pathway in your brain."
Ryan and Markova have found what they call three zones of existence: comfort, stretch and stress. Comfort is the realm of existing habit. Stress occurs when a challenge is so far beyond current experience as to be overwhelming. It's that stretch zone in the middle activities that feel a bit awkward and unfamiliar where true change occurs.

"Getting into the stretch zone is good for you," Ryan says in "This Year I Will... ." "It helps keep your brain healthy. It turns out that unless we continue to learn new things, which challenges our brains to create new pathways, they literally begin to atrophy, which may result in dementia, Alzheimer's and other brain diseases. Continuously stretching ourselves will even help us lose weight, according to one study. Researchers who asked folks to do something different every day listen to a new radio station, for instance found that they lost and kept off weight. No one is sure why, but scientists speculate that getting out of routines makes us more aware in general."

She recommends practicing a Japanese technique called kaizen, which calls for tiny, continuous improvements.

"Whenever we initiate change, even a positive one, we activate fear in our emotional brain," Ryan notes in her book. "If the fear is big enough, the fight-or-flight response will go off and we'll run from what we're trying to do. The small steps in kaizen don't set off fight or flight, but rather keep us in the thinking brain, where we have access to our creativity and playfulness."

Simultaneously, take a look at how colleagues approach challenges, Markova suggests. We tend to believe that those who think the way we do are smarter than those who don't. That can be fatal in business, particularly for executives who surround themselves with like-thinkers. If seniority and promotion are based on similarity to those at the top, chances are strong that the company lacks intellectual diversity.
"Try lacing your hands together," Markova says. "You habitually do it one way. Now try doing it with the other thumb on top. Feels awkward, doesn't it? That's the valuable moment we call confusion, when we fuse the old with the new."

AFTER the churn of confusion, she says, the brain begins organizing the new input, ultimately creating new synaptic connections if the process is repeated enough.
But if, during creation of that new habit, the "Great Decider" steps in to protest against taking the unfamiliar path, "you get convergence and we keep doing the same thing over and over again," she says.
"You cannot have innovation," she adds, "unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder."

Source: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12604112

Who will tell the people?

2008-05-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

By Thomas L. Friedman
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Traveling the United States these past five months while writing a book, I've had my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My own totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one overwhelming hunger in our country today it's this: People want to do nation-building. They really do. But they want to do nation-building in America.

They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan, with so little to show for it. They sense something deeper - that we're just not that strong anymore. We're borrowing money to shore up our banks from city-states called Dubai and Singapore. Our generals regularly tell us that Iran is subverting our efforts in Iraq, but they do nothing about it because we have no leverage - as long as our forces are pinned down in Baghdad and our economy is pinned to Middle East oil.
Our president's latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia and beg King Abdullah to give us a little relief on gasoline prices. I guess there was some justice in that. When you, the president, after Sept. 11, tell the country to go shopping instead of buckling down to break our addiction to oil, it ends with you, the president, shopping the world for discount gasoline.

We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents' generation - work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means - have given way to subprime values: "You can have the American dream - a house - with no money down and no payments for two years."
That's why Donald Rumsfeld's infamous defense of why he did not originally send more troops to Iraq is the mantra of our times: "You go to war with the army you have." Hey, you march into the future with the country you have - not the one that you need, not the one you want, not the best you could have.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York's Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In JFK's waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore's ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children's play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, as if we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

How could this be? We are a great power. How could we be borrowing money from Singapore? Maybe it's because Singapore is investing billions of dollars, from its own savings, into infrastructure and scientific research to attract the world's best talent - including Americans.

And us? Harvard's president, Drew Faust, just told a Senate hearing that cutbacks in government research funds were resulting in "downsized labs, layoffs of post-docs, slipping morale and more conservative science that shies away from the big research questions." Today, she added, "China, India, Singapore . . . have adopted biomedical research and the building of biotechnology clusters as national goals. Suddenly, those who train in America have significant options elsewhere."

Much nonsense has been written about how Hillary Clinton is "toughening up" Barack Obama so he'll be tough enough to withstand Republican attacks. Sorry, we don't need a president who is tough enough to withstand the lies of his opponents. We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people. Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I'm voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV - at 8 p.m. - from the White House East Room.

Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.
I don't know if Barack Obama can lead that way, but the notion that the idealism he has inspired in so many young people doesn't matter is dead wrong. "Of course, hope alone is not enough," says Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics, "but it's not trivial. It's not trivial to inspire people to want to get up and do something with someone else."

It is especially not trivial now, because millions of Americans are dying to be enlisted - enlisted to fix education, enlisted to research renewable energy, enlisted to repair our infrastructure, enlisted to help others. Look at the kids lining up to join Teach for America.

They want our country to matter again. They want it to be about building wealth and dignity - big profits and big purposes. When we just do one, we are less than the sum of our parts. When we do both, said Shriver, "no one can touch us."

Source:http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12547158

Ford reaches deal to sell Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion

2008-03-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

By Heather Timmons

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors, part of India's fast-growing Tata Group, is buying Jaguar and Land Rover from beleaguered Ford Motor for $2.3 billion.

The purchase price is more than the market expected, but still about half what Ford originally paid for the brands several years ago. The long-awaited deal, which was announced Wednesday, also carries a painful payout for Ford. After the transaction closes, which is expected midyear, Ford will give Tata $600 million to make up for shortfalls in the two brands' pension plans.

Tata Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, has been on an overseas acquisition spree in recent years, buying up everything from tea and coffee companies to steel manufacturers. Other Indian companies are also eyeing overseas acquisitions as a weak dollar, coupled with strong domestic growth, make takeovers attractive, particularly in the United States.

When Tata does deals, it rarely changes the character of the company that it buys over the near term. Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Motors, reiterated that strategy on Wednesday, saying the Tata Group "will endeavor to preserve and build on their heritage and competitiveness" of the two brands, while "keeping their identities intact." No changes are expected to employment terms for the approximately 16,000 employees of Jaguard and Land Rover.

Ford is in the midst of a painful overhaul, shedding costly units and workers in the United States. The Ford chief executive and president, Alan Mulally, said in a statement he was confident that Jaguar and Land Rover would thrive under their new owners.

"Now, it is time for Ford to concentrate on integrating the Ford brand globally, as we implement our plan to create a strong Ford Motor Company that delivers profitable growth for all," he said.

Ford has lost $15 billion in the past two years.

Ford will continue to provide some components, including power trains, to Jaguar and Land Rover, which are built in Britain, as well as some research and development support. Ford's finance arm, Ford Motor Credit, will continue to provide financing to Jaguar and Land Rover dealers and customers for up to 12 months.

Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/26/business/26tata.php

In most species, faithfulness is a fantasy

2008-03-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

You can accuse the disgraced ex-governor Eliot Spitzer of many things in his decision to flout the law by soliciting the services of a pricey prostitute: hypocrisy, egomania, sophomoric impulsiveness and self-indulgence, delusional ineptitude and boneheadedness. But one trait decidedly not on display in Spitzer's splashy act of whole-life catabolism was originality.

It's all been done before, every snickering bit of it, and not just by powerful "risk-taking" alpha men who may or may not be enriched for the hormone testosterone. It's been done by many other creatures, tens of thousands of other species, by male and female representatives of every taxonomic twig on the great tree of life. Sexual promiscuity is rampant throughout nature, and true faithfulness a fond fantasy. Oh, there are plenty of animals in which males and females team up to raise young, as we do, that form "pair bonds" of impressive endurance and apparent mutual affection, spending hours reaffirming their partnership by snuggling together like prairie voles or singing hooty, doo-wop love songs like gibbons, or dancing goofily like blue-footed boobies.

Yet as biologists have discovered through the application of DNA paternity tests to the offspring of these bonded pairs, social monogamy is very rarely accompanied by sexual, or genetic, monogamy. Assay the kids in a given brood, whether of birds, voles, lesser apes, foxes or any other pair-bonding species, and anywhere from 10 to 70 percent will prove to have been sired by somebody other than the resident male.

As David Barash, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, put it with Cole Porter flair: Infants have their infancy; adults, adultery. Barash, who wrote "The Myth of Monogamy" with his psychiatrist-wife, Judith Eve Lipton, cited a scene from the movie "Heartburn" in which a Nora Ephronesque character complains to her father about her husband's philanderings and the father quips that if she'd wanted fidelity, she should have married a swan. Fat lot of good that would have done her, Barash said: we now know that swans can cheat, too. Instead, the heroine might have considered union with Diplozoon paradoxum, a flatworm that lives in gills of freshwater fish. "Males and females meet each other as adolescents, and their bodies literally fuse together, whereupon they remain faithful until death," Barash said. "That's the only species I know of in which there seems to be 100 percent monogamy." And where the only hearts burned belong to the unlucky host fish.

Even the "oldest profession" that figured so prominently in Spitzer's demise is old news. Nonhuman beings have been shown to pay for sex, too. Reporting in the journal Animal Behaviour, researchers from Adam Mickiewicz University and the University of South Bohemia described transactions among great grey shrikes, elegant raptorlike birds with silver capes, white bellies and black tails that, like 90 percent of bird species, form pair bonds to breed. A male shrike provisions his mate with so-called nuptial gifts: rodents, lizards, small birds or large insects that he impales on sticks. But when the male shrike hankers after extracurricular sex, he will offer a would-be mistress an even bigger kebab than the ones he gives to his wife for the richer the offering, the researchers found, the greater the chance that the female will agree to a fly-by-night fling.

In another recent report from the lubricious annals of Animal Behaviour entitled "Payment for sex in a macaque mating market," Michael Gumert of Hiram College described his two-year study of a group of longtailed macaques that live near the Rimba ecotourist lodge in the Tanjung Puting National Park of Indonesia. Gumert determined that male macaques pay for sex with that all-important, multipurpose primate currency, grooming. He saw that, whereas females groomed males and other females for social and political reasons to affirm a friendship or make nice to a dominant and mothers groomed their young to soothe and clean them, when an adult male spent time picking parasites from an adult female's hide, he expected compensation in the form of copulation, or at the very least a close genital inspection. About 89 percent of the male-grooming-female episodes observed, Gumert said in an interview from Singapore, where he is on the faculty of Nanyang Technological University, "were directed toward sexually active females" with whom the males had a chance of mating.

Significantly, males adjust their grooming behavior in a distinctly economic fashion, paying a higher or lower price depending on the availability and quality of the merchandise and competition from other buyers. "What led me to think of grooming as a form of payment was seeing how it changed across different market conditions," Gumert said. "When there were fewer females around, the male would groom longer, and when there were lots of females, the grooming times went down." Males also groomed females of high rank considerably longer than they did low-status females with nary a diamond to their page.

Commonplace though adultery may be, and as avidly as animals engage in it when given the opportunity, nobody seems to approve of it in others, and humans are hardly the only species that will rise up in outrage against wantonness real or perceived. Most female baboons have lost half an ear here, a swatch of pelt there, to the jealous fury of their much larger and toothier mates. Among scarab beetles, males and females generally pair up to start a family, jointly gathering dung and rolling and patting it into the rich brood balls in which the female deposits her fertilized eggs. The male may on occasion try to attract an extra female or two but he does so at his peril. In one experiment with postmatrimonial scarabs, the female beetle was kept tethered in the vicinity of her mate, who quickly seized the opportunity to pheromonally broadcast for fresh faces. Upon being released from bondage, the female dashed over and knocked the male flat on his back. "She'd roll him right into the ball of dung," Barash said, "which seemed altogether appropriate."

In the case of the territorial red-backed salamander, males and females alike are inclined to zealous partner policing and will punish partners they believe to have strayed: with threat displays, mouth nips and throat bites, and most coldblooded of all, a withdrawal of affection, a refusal to engage. Be warned, you big lounge lizard: it could happen to you.

Source:http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=11209673

As Turmoil Subsides, Tourism in Nepal Surges

2008-03-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

By SETH SHERWOOD

AS morning crowds of sari-clad women and mustached men packed the busy streets of Katmandu on the first day of December, The Himalayan Times, an English-language daily newspaper, trumpeted a staggering discovery.

“Yeti Footprints Found at Khumbu,” declared the headline in bold type. An article explained that an expedition had come across a mammoth five-toed footprint buried in the ice near the base camp for Mount Everest. After a long period without a credible sighting, the elusive creature seemed to have suddenly reappeared.

In fact, it was hardly the only reappearance to celebrate. All over Katmandu that week, from trekking agencies to curry houses, some almost equally prized specimens were leaving tracks after years of scarcity: foreign travelers. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, December capped a banner year, with air arrivals up 27 percent over the 2006 total. Overall, 2007 welcomed some 360,000 foreign air travelers to the country, making it the most successful year for tourism since 2000.

For a poor but picturesque country that was nearly pulled apart by a decade of bloodshed and political turmoil — which witnessed some 13,000 deaths from a Maoist insurrection, the bizarre murder of most of the royal family by the crown prince, the seizure of absolute power by a subsequent king and the resulting pro-democracy riots — the numbers are heartening indeed.

They owe much to the calmed political situation. The civilian government has been restored, the Maoists have signed a peace treaty, and democratic elections are scheduled for later this year. As a result, several airlines resumed service or began new routes to Katmandu last year. Hotels report surges in bookings. And the streets of the city where raging protests once flared are again humming with bicycle rickshaws, sacred cows and beat-up taxis ferrying international visitors to the numerous World Heritage Sites in and around the capital city.

“We had planned to come a couple of years ago, but the political unrest made it impossible,” said Christa Hoyal, from Utah, as she lunched at the Katmandu Guest House with her traveling companion, Liz Tanner, also from Utah. A copy of The Himalayan Times with the yeti article on the front lay next to them. “But when things settled down,” she said, “we rebooked our tickets and came over.”

So far, Ms. Hoyal said, they had ridden elephants on safari in Royal Chitwan National Park and explored Katmandu’s centuries-old Hindu shrines and former royal palaces.

“There have been no concerns at all in terms of personal safety,” she said.

For others who have canceled or deferred journeys to Katmandu, the good news is that the troubled decade did nothing to harm the city’s age-old appeals.

THE snowcapped Himalayas, visible on clear days, soar eternally upward. Impervious to the vicissitudes of politics and trends, Katmandu’s artisans continue to produce rich carpets, yak-wool clothing, wood sculptures and thangka paintings. Day after day, crowds still await the appearance of the Kumari — a Nepali child considered to be the incarnation of a deity — below her mansion’s window in the city’s iconic Durbar Square.

And while the city might not be the mythical Shangri-La — crumbling buildings, rusted-out vehicles, emaciated dogs and impoverished families fill the poorly drained streets — the ancient religions of Hinduism and Buddhism do much to infuse meaning and color into the landscape. For more than anything else, Katmandu’s twin faiths make the city one of the planet’s most powerful magnets for spiritual seekers and philosophic souls.

In myriad guises and manifestations, each threads itself through daily life: the vermilion anointments on the foreheads of clerks and laborers; the wreaths of marigolds hanging from motorcycle handlebars; the prayer beads wrapped around wrists and necks; the colorful pictures of Shiva painted on huge exhaust-spewing trucks; the temples that draw worshipers from all over the world.

On an evening in late November, the scent of smoldering incense mingled with the stench of burning garbage as dusk settled over the massive stupa of Boudhanath. Resembling a gold pyramid propped on a mammoth white dome, the stupa is the center of Buddhist worship in Katmandu.

Around its base, hundreds of Tibetan and Nepali worshipers walked in a ritual clockwise circuit, spinning prayer wheels and muttering chants. A couple of dozen Westerners, many of them dressed in the colorful fabrics and hammered metal jewelry sold in nearby shops, also joined the human tide. Some were students at the White Monastery, one of the 30-odd Buddhist monasteries tucked into the predominantly Tibetan neighborhood. Some were on more private and more personal missions to Katmandu.

“A friend of mine died in Fiji while he was scuba diving,” said Mark Daddario, an American traveler from Southern California, as he watched the slow-moving pageant. “He was wearing some of my equipment when it happened.

“I have some of his ashes with me on this trip,” he continued, explaining that he had quit his job as a beer salesman to make time for the journey, which was also to include India and Southeast Asia. “I’ve been depositing them at monasteries all over the country.”

High above, painted atop the stupa, the huge, disembodied eyes of the Buddha gazed downward at the procession. Was Mr. Daddario at all concerned about visiting a remote nation that, until recently, tourists had largely avoided?

Mr. Daddario shook his head and smiled.

“My mom is probably worried about me,” he said, “but she knows that I’m on my fourth passport.”

A few days later, a diverse crowd of Nepalis and foreigners milled among the Ganesh and Shiva shrines in the temple complex of Pashupatinath, the holiest spot of Hindu ground in Katmandu. Situated along the banks of the Bagmati River, a tributary of India’s sacred Ganges, the assemblage of time-eater stone statues and buildings suggests a Nepalese version of Angkor Wat.

As hordes of brown monkeys scuttled over the stones, the human throngs peered at an unfolding spectacle along the riverbank. Several large cremation platforms — known as ghats — began to crackle with flames and billow with smoke and ash. Many of the bodies could still be perceived, like shadows, within the roaring orange blazes. Next to one of the ghats, a Nepali family lay out the stiffened body of a white-haired woman on rock slab and began to wrap it in an orange sheet.

“The conception of death is amazingly different here,” remarked Sean Speers, from San Francisco, as he watched the scene. Nearby, a group of sadhus — Hindu holy men — with painted faces and limbs coated in white ash were chatting with Mr. Speers’s girlfriend.

Mr. Speers said he had come to Nepal to visit his girlfriend, a fellow San Franciscan who was living in a rural village, and to trek to the base camp of Mount Everest.

“But a big draw for me was also just to meet the Nepali people,” Mr. Speers added, motioning to the sadhus. “I have to say, they’ve been delightful.”

As night arrived on the first day of December and news of the yeti footprint spread though the city, thousands of young Nepalis and scores of Westerners packed the lanes of the Thamel neighborhood for the fifth annual Tuborg Project: Peace, an outdoor music festival. On a series of stages, D.J.’s and bands played loud sets, sending music reverberating through the district’s tightly packed guest houses, bars, ethnic restaurants and handicraft shops.

For years, as the Maoist insurgency gained steam and political tensions mounted, no neighborhood suffered as much from the tourism drop-off as Thamel. On this night, however, the many foreign faces and accents in the streets gave the promise of better times ahead.

After the final set, a Nepali M.C. took the stage and addressed the crowd in English. “Remember, tonight is for peace!” he yelled to the sea of waving hands. Green shafts of laser light streaked overhead in the sky. He paused, then shouted, “We’re all happier with peace, right?”

His words echoed through the streets and faded into the night. But judging from the burst of cheers that followed, the message clearly lingered.

VISITOR INFORMATION

HOW TO GET THERE

There are no direct flights between the United States and Katmandu. For certain dates in April, Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways.com) offers flights from Newark airport to Katmandu, with a stop in the Qatari capital of Doha, from about $1,600.

WHERE TO STAY

In the busy Thamel entertainment district, the Katmandu Guest House (977-1-470-0800; www.ktmgh.com) has standard doubles from $25 per day. Doubles with air-conditioning from $50. A stone’s throw from the iconic Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath, Pal Rabten Khansar Guest House (www.sakyatharig.org.np) has very simple double rooms from 900 rupees ($13.39 at 67.2 Nepalese rupees to the dollar).

WHERE TO EAT

Outfitted with a pleasant roof deck, Third Eye Restaurant on the main drag in Thamel does very good Indian and Nepali foods, such as nan, kebabs, curries and fruit lassis. Around 1,000 rupees for a three-course meal for two people. Overlooking the Boudhanath stupa, the Stupa View Restaurant (977-1-448-0262) serves momos (Tibetan dumplings), pizzas and pasta with yak cheese. A three-course meal for two people is also around 1,000 rupees.

WHERE TO SHOP

The Thamel district teems with shops selling all manner of handmade Buddha statues, woven fabrics, ritual masks and yak woolens. Small but worth tracking down, Best Tea and Spices Shop (across from the Hotel Garuda in Thamel; 977-1-470-0505) sells spicy Nepali masala tea (250 rupees a box), jasmine tea (200 rupees a box), Darjeeling tea (200 rupees a box) and more.

Just inside the Boudhanath Gate, dozens of small shops sell Tibetan and Nepali woodwork, instruments, carpets, clothing and jewelry. Tibet Furniture (977-1-207-3412; www.tibetfurniture.com) is a trove of painted wooden doors, carved chests and fine metalwork.

Source:http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/travel/23Next.html?pagewanted=print

36 hours in new Delhi

2008-03-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

By Somini Sengupta

Friday, March 21, 2008

A seat of power for more than a thousand years, the city-state of Delhi is a survivor of conquest and change. The Lodi and Mughal dynasties ruled this area, as did the British, until it was again transformed by the refugees of partition. Today, new money has conquered the region, which includes New Delhi, the capital of a rapidly changing India. Spiraling rents have put a Swarovski shop where a small independent bookshop once stood, and in the same market, a shop called It's All About Bling sells spangly earrings. Thankfully, much of the remarkable history has survived, allowing the visitor to travel easily through the accordion pleats of time.

Friday

4 p.m. 1) SUNSET TOMB

This is a city of ruins and none is more elegantly preserved than Humayun's Tomb, a precursor to the Taj Mahal and an early example of Mughal architecture. Built in the 1560s for Humayun, the second Mughal emperor, the domed mausoleum has an elaborate garden, potted with red sandstone tombs, gates and a mosque (admission is 250 rupees for foreigners, about $6 at 41 rupees to the dollar). Savor it at the golden end of the day.

6 p.m. 2) ART NOW

The new prosperity has spawned a thriving contemporary art scene. Several galleries are within a 15-minute ride into South Delhi, and new exhibitions usually open on Fridays. The Neeti Bagh neighborhood has Nature Morte (A-1 Neeti Bagh; 91-11-4174-0215; www.naturemorte.com) and Talwar Gallery (C-84 Neeti Bagh; 91-11-4605-0307; www.talwargallery.com). Nearby, Defence Colony offers Aryan Art Gallery (D-25 Defence Colony; 91-11-4155-1277; www.aryanartgallery.com) and Vadehra Art Gallery (D-40 Defence Colony; 91-11-2461-5368; www.vadehraart.com). Palette is on the top floor of a house in Golf Links (14 Golf Links; 91-11-4174-3034; www.paletteartgallery.com). Consult TimeOut Delhi and other local magazines for listings.

8 p.m. 3) ART OF THE PALATE

To continue the sensory overload, head to Basant Lok Market, a buzzing middle-class shopping center in Vasant Vihar, in the southwest sector, whose star attraction is the restaurant Punjabi by Nature (11 Basant Lok Market; 91-11-5151-6665; www.punjabibynature.in). Everything about this place is loud and large, including the food. Try the vodka gol gappa aperitif: crispy shells filled with a spiced vodka shot and popped into the mouth whole for a hot, boozy explosion. Carnivores: Try the tandoor-roasted lamb or the fish tikka. Vegetarians must make do with overspiced, tandoor roasted broccoli. For mellower non-Punjabi fare, head to the Defence Colony market and prepare to stand in line with Delhi chowhounds at Swagath (14 Defence Colony market; 91-11-2433-7538; www.swagath.in), for southern seafood dishes. Not to be missed: squid in butter garlic sauce and Chettinad-style prawns. Dinner for two runs about 2,000 rupees, at either restaurant (not counting the vodka gol gappas).

10 p.m. 4) ICE CREAM RUN

For dessert, go to one of dozens of ice cream vendors in front of India Gate, where balloons, cotton candy and the cool night air provide an evening picnic.

Saturday

8 a.m. 5) OLD GLORY

Take a taxi to the 17th-century Red Fort and Jama Masjid mosque early, when they are most
glorious. Then give yourself the rest of the morning to take in the uninterrupted life of the walled city of Emperor Shah Jahan, also known as Old Delhi. Every street is a world unto its own, devoted to auto parts or wedding cards or freshly roasted spices. One of the liveliest is Kinari Bazaar, a crafters' paradise bursting with haberdasheries, bead shops and vendors of bright red wedding turbans, alongside crumbling mansions. This is also a portrait of the head-load economy of old India, with porters ferrying everything from saris to bananas on their heads.

1 p.m. 6) TRANS-DELHI EXPRESS

The chaos of the old city dissolves in the spick-and-span Chandni Chowk station of the Delhi Metro. Eight minutes and 8 rupees later, you are at Rajiv Chowk station, in the city's modern heart, Connaught Place. Retail chains are fast taking over the early 20th-century colonnades, though several independent bookshops, jewelers and gun dealers and several lunch options remain. Few beat the buffet at the 1911 Restaurant in the Imperial Hotel (Janpath; 91-11-2334-1234; www.theimperialindia.com). For 3,000 rupees for two, you can choose from warm calamari, crisp rucola and tiramisù. For unusual regional dishes, try the Mosaic (M 45/1 Connaught Place; 91-11-2341-6842). Dishes include Bengal shrimp steamed in coconut and tart South Indian spinach with rice. Lunch for two, 800 rupees.

3 p.m. 7) SITAR SHOPPING

To walk off your feast, try shopping. For table linens, quilts or kurtis, there's Fabindia (B-28 Connaught Place, Inner Circle; 91-11-4151-3371; www.fabindia.com) and Soma (K-44 Connaught Place; 91-11-2341-6003; www.somashop.com) opposite the PVR Cinema. Boho chic is the specialty of People Tree (8 Regal Building, Parliament Street; 91-11-2334-0699; www.peopletreeonline.com), and a few steps away, the legendary A. Godin & Company (1 Regal Building, Parliament Street; 91-11-2336-2809) sells sitars and tablas. Keep walking down Parliament Street, past a sprawling observatory called Jantar Mantar, to the city's public soapbox. When Parliament is in session, groups line up to protest along this street, whether college students opposed to affirmative action or farmers aggrieved by loan sharks.

5 p.m. 8) FASHION ROW

If you want to go upmarket, head to the Lodi Colony main market to check out two of India's most innovative designers: the understated Rajesh Pratap Singh and the overstated Manish Arora. Singh (9 Lodi Colony Main Market; www.pratap.ws) offers a muted palette, and his cuts are lean and clean maybe too lean if you happen to have hips. Men's shirts and women's blouses start around 6,000 rupees. Manish Arora (3 Lodi Colony Main Market; 91-11-2464-8898; www.manisharora.ws) is cheeky and loud; a black velvet tunic appliquéd with tiny clock parts goes for just under 10,000 rupees. If you would rather explore Indian crafts, skip the designer row in favor of Dilli Haat (C-126 Naraina Industrial Area; www.dillihaat.com), an outdoor bazaar where artisans peddle everything from hand-knitted socks to Madhubani-style paintings.

8 p.m. 9) UPMARKET TASTES

The young, rich and restless have many more watering holes than ever before. Smoke House Grill (Vipps Center, Masjid Moth; 91-11-4143-5530) occupies two floors in the Greater Kailash II neighborhood, and its gimmick is smoked food. For vegetarians, the offerings include smoked artichoke ravioli; for others, smoked chicken and fennel soup, or prawn and calamari ajilo with a warm, subtle red pepper bite. If you want a proper dinner, book a table upstairs. Dinner for two is around 5,000 rupees. The bar menu downstairs is limited, unless you intend to gorge on apple mojitos (350 rupees) and admire D.J. Cheenu.

11 p.m. 10) POOLSIDE COCKTAILS

For a nightcap, you could head across the dark courtyard to Kuki (E-7 Masjid Moth Complex; 91-11-2922-5241), a tony disco where the cover charge ranges from zero to 2,000 rupees a couple, and on Fridays and Saturdays, "gents" without arm candy are turned away. Better value is the shimmering poolside bar Aqua, at the Park Hotel (15 Parliament Street; 91-11-2374-3000; newdelhi.theparkhotels.com). A disco ball hovers by the pool and admission is free.

Sunday

9 a.m. 11) YOGI RETREAT

The city's pièce de résistance, also its green lung, is Lodhi Gardens, a free, quiet sanctuary for parakeets and lovers. Early mornings are for yogis saluting the sun, influential bureaucrats on power walks and chipmunks and doves drinking from the same puddle. There are also 100-plus species of trees and tombs dating back to the 1400s. For breakfast and a morning paper, walk over to ChokoLa (36 Khan Market; 91-11-4175-7570), a lovely café at the Khan Market with still-lousy service. For one last kebab fix, it's worth dawdling until Khan Chacha, a stall inside the market, opens its shutters (75 Khan Market, Middle Lane; 91-98106-71103). The specialty is the kathi roll, stuffed with chicken, mutton or paneer and is arguably the tastiest memento of this new old city.

THE BASICS

Continental (www.continental.com) and Air India (www.airindia.com) fly direct from the New York City area to New Delhi, with fares in mid-April starting about $1,000. The Indira Gandhi International Airport (www.newdelhiairport.in) is undergoing a major overhaul, so be prepared for more chaos than usual.

Hotel rates have lately shot through the roof. If you're ready to splurge, stay at the ultra-modern Park Hotel in Connaught Place (15 Parliament Street; 91-11-2374-3000; newdelhi.theparkhotels.com). It has a poolside bar and modern rooms normally from 16,000 rupees, about $390 at 41 rupees to the dollar, but with discounts online.

Thikana (A-7 Gulmohar Park; 91-11-4604-1569; www.thikanadelhi.com) is a new, elegant bed-and-breakfast with modern fittings and home-cooked meals on demand. Doubles start at 4,500 rupees. The one drawback is the location: it sits along a traffic-choked artery.

The 18-room 27 Jor Bagh (27 Jor Bagh; 91-11-2469-8475; www.jorbagh27.com) is basic to the point of sterile, but it is across the street from Lodhi Gardens and the Book Shop (13/7 Jor Bagh Market; 91-11-2469-7102), perhaps the coziest book store in the country. Doubles start at 3,500 rupees.

Through all the changes, New Delhi remains a city of contrasts, so gird yourself for wrenching scenes of destitution. Charities that work with children include: Childline (www.childlineindia.org.in), Butterflies (www.butterflieschildrights.org) and Child Rights and You (www.cry.org)

Source: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=11317206

Greenway: The power to charm

2008-03-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

By H. D. S. Greenway

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The power to charm

As Americans struggle to choose their candidates to replace President George W. Bush, there is no lack of argument as to what qualities a president should have. Enter Harvard University's Joseph Nye, who introduced "soft power" into the English language some 20 years ago. In his new book, "The Powers to Lead," he deconstructs just what it takes.

There are many qualities of leadership of course, which Nye examines, but what struck my eye in this political season was his discussion of "charisma." It comes from the Greek for "divine gift, or gift of grace," and those so gifted include, in Nye's eye, Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Benito Mussolini, Tony Blair, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Osama bin Laden, Jack Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, Joan of Arc and Eva Peron.

Charisma can be a great source power - the power to persuade rather than force - but then soft power itself can be put to evil use. Hitler came to power through free elections, after all, and his speeches brought his audiences to a frenzy. And bin Laden spreads his lethal mischief by persuasion rather than coercion.

"Does charisma originate in the individual, in the followers, or in the situation?" Nye asks. The answer seems to be all three. Sigmund Freud thought charismatic leaders represented the return of the primal father. The sociologist Max Weber argued that charisma represented an ideal that is only approximated in reality, and that charisma grew out of the relationship between the leader and his or her followers. Therefore charisma lasts "only as long as it receives recognition, and is able to satisfy the follower . . ."

Winston Churchill's charisma was not universally recognized until his country was in a desperate war. But he had an innate gift of oratory that served him well. As John Kennedy said, Churchill took the English language and marched it off to war. Yet, when the war was nearly over, the British public voted him out of office. Worse yet, he lost to Clement Attlee, a modest man who had much to be modest about, as Churchill said, probably the least charismatic politician of his generation.

In time people can grow tired of charisma, especially if they begin to think it masks character faults. As Tory politician Michael Portillo said of Tony Blair: "What he was able to accomplish was largely due to his charisma . . ." At one time he was the master of spin, but "by now it is hard to find anyone who believes a word he says."

Nye doesn't address the current political debate, but in today's race it seems to be Barack Obama who drew the charisma card. Like Reagan and Kennedy he seems to come up with the words that inspire, much to the annoyance of Hillary Clinton who is forever wonkish. Her husband seems able to coast on charisma, but she seems doomed to impress rather than inspire.

As for John McCain, there can be a kind of charisma in a candidate's record. That was true of Dwight Eisenhower, who would not otherwise have been considered charismatic. Then there are the nonverbal elements of charisma. Nye points to academic studies that show that a handsome man enjoys an edge over an ugly rival. For a woman the advantage is even greater. Focus groups could predict the winners when shown images of candidates in unfamiliar elections. Predictions became less accurate when images were accompanied by the sound of their voices.

The journalist Martha Gellhorn once wrote, in 1946, that she could tell that Indonesia's Sukarno was a great orator "by watching his hands and following his voice and the eyes and faces of the children. One could feel his power," she wrote, even though she couldn't understand a word that he said. "One remembered Hitler."

Yet charisma for one ethnic or linguistic group can be anathema for another. Hitler's undoubted magnetism might not have worked on Italians. And Mussolini's operatic style would have seemed hilarious had he tried it on the British. But then the British never produced a Verdi, a Donizetti, nor a Rossini. Who knows, Obama might be boring in Burma, while Clinton might be electrifying in Beijing.

H. D. S. Greenway's column appears regularly in The Boston Globe.

Source: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=10925718

Investment banker becomes best-selling author in India

2008-03-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

HONG KONG: Until about four years ago, Chetan Bhagat was an investment banker who was distinguished from the suited phalanx of his colleagues in this city's crowded financial district only by his secret hobby.

While others planned weekend excursions on the golf course, Bhagat, then employed by Goldman Sachs, indulged a passion for writing, laboring in his private time on a racy and comedic little novel about life on the campus of an elite college in his native India.

In the early morning before going to the office he would work on draft after draft of the book, trying to get it right. He did 15 drafts in all. He almost gave up when publishers kept turning him down.

Today, Bhagat is still an investment banker, now with Deutsche Bank. But he has also become the biggest-selling English-language novelist ever in India.

His story of campus life, "Five Point Someone," published in 2004, and a later novel about a call center, sold a combined one million copies. Only the autobiography of the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi has sold more.

Less than three days after the release in 2005 of "One Night @ the Call Center," another slim comedy about love and life in India's ubiquitous call centers, the entire print-run of 50,000 copies was sold, setting a record for the country's fastest-selling book.

Bhagat, who wrote his novels while living in Hong Kong, has difficulty explaining why a 35-year-old investment banker writing in his spare time has had such phenomenal success in reaching an audience of mainly middle-class Indians in their 20s. The books, which are deliberately sentimental in the tradition of Bollywood filmmaking, are priced like an Indian movie ticket - just 100 rupees, or $2.46 - and have won little praise as literature.

One reviewer in The Times of India concluded a review of "One Night @ the Call Center" with the suggestion: "Time to hang up, Mr. Bhagat?"

"The book critics, they all hate me," said Bhagat in an interview here.

But Bhagat has touched a nerve with young Indian readers and acquired almost cult status, and this undoubtedly says a great deal about their tastes, attitudes and hopes. Bhagat might not be another Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie or Arundhati Roy, but he has authentic claims to being one of the voices of a generation of middle-class Indian youth facing the choices and frustrations that come with the prospect of growing wealth.

"I think people really took to the books mainly because there is a lot of social comment in there," said Bhagat. "It's garbed as comedy. The plot structure is like Bollywood, because that is what my audience has been used to."

Bhagat's choice of subjects for his first two books - life at a highly competitive Indian Institute of Technology and at a call center - allowed him to explore some perennial themes: the pressures, many of them parental, to get into a top school, earn high grades, get a good job and find the right partner, while still taking time to enjoy one's youth. His argument is that for the current generation of young Indians those pressures are greater than ever before.

He described the country's current young generation as "more gutsy" than their parents, and as interesting as the generation that led India to independence in 1947.

But the competition among them is severe. Bhagat said only 1 out of 700 applicants now gets into the Indian Institute of Management that he attended in Ahmedabad, compared with 1 in 200 when he applied in 1995. That experience and his undergraduate studies at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi are the inspiration for "Five Point Someone: What Not to Do at IIT," the title an allusion to the struggle his three main characters have with low grades.

The pressures to succeed are part of what is making India a vibrant, fast-changing economy and society, Bhagat said. But he added: "Competition has its limits. Some of it is good and some of it is harmful." A message of "Five Point Someone" is that poor grades and happiness are not mutually exclusive.

This month, after more than 10 years in Hong Kong, Bhagat moved with his wife, also a banker, and their 3-year-old twin sons back to India, where he is a director in Deutsche Bank's distressed-assets team in Mumbai. When he left India with an MBA to start a banking career in Hong Kong, just before the 1997 Asian economic crisis, there were fewer opportunities at home even for graduates of the best schools.

Bhagat now wants to be a part of the historic changes taking place as India awakens to its potential.

Still, he sees a lot wrong with the model of economic success, particularly from the perspective of the country's youth. His "One Night @ the Call Center," which is being made into a Bollywood film entitled "Hello," is, beyond its story line about frustrated office romance, a critique of a nation climbing to prosperity by answering phone calls from American consumers.

Millions of Indians might have lifted their incomes by doing call center work. But the jobs are dead ends, said Bhagat, and no well-to-do parents want their daughter to marry a call center worker.

"Is this the best we can offer to India's young generation?" he asked. "If call centers are so great and brought riches to the country, like the government says, why aren't they marrying their daughters off to a call center guy?"

With each new book, Bhagat is attempting to toughen his social criticism. He has just finished writing "Three Mistakes of My Life" - a pun of sorts, this being his third novel. But this time he is tackling a far more sensitive theme than campus or call center life.

Set in the northeastern state of Gujarat soon after the bloody sectarian riots of 2002, it deals with issues of tolerance and the confusion Bhagat maintains that young Indians feel about religious values.

"India is a very religious country, and older people have extreme views on religion," he said. "Young people are not able to relate to it."

True to his form, the story will have a "very modern twist, Bollywood comedy sort of format," he said. "If you read my books they are comedies, but very dark."

The Web chatter and e-mails Bhagat receives about his books suggest that the dark social messages, wrapped in what he described as "quick reads" in the style of the humorous British writer Nick Hornby, have been getting through to his young audience.

But it is a balancing act, Bhagat said. His is an audience that grew up with Bollywood and wants a story that "tugs at the emotions" rather than moralizes or betrays serious literary ambitions. Bhagat said he develops his plots using a computer spread sheet before he sits down to write.

Initially, he did get some literary praise, winning a Publisher's Recognition Award and a Society Young Achievers Award in India in 2005 for "Five Point Someone." But the first flush of critical success has worn off. Ravi Rao, a critic writing in The Times of India, said Bhagat had gone from "candor, easy wit and tight structure" in his first book to "a dud" with his second.

Bhagat and his publisher, Kapish Mehra of the company Rupa, have an easy retort to the critics: The books sell.

"He is not a literary writer," Mehra said. "But, more importantly, he is a successful and popular writer."

Source: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=11084160

SRK Unplugged

2008-02-17T01:12:00.001-08:00

Deepika Padukone said to the media that she wanted to touch my body? Why? She should have talked to me! Do you want to touch my body? Mansoor Khan once told me, ‘Finally, we have some ugly faces becoming heroes.’ I told him, ‘Are you talking about Ajay Devgan?’ Jokes apart, I think Ajay and I are the two ugliest heroes around.

You want to see my muscles? Let me tell you, I have muscles in all the right places.I want to start an academy; I don’t want to sit on my money. I am not saying that I am doing social work. It’s just that I have principles in life. If that can change anything, I’ll feel as if I fulfilled the purpose of my life. Hopefully, by the end of it, I will be able to change many youngsters’ lives. T20 is not a gamble – it is sheer passion. I wanted to start from the sport that is popular – cricket – and use the profits to help develop other sports as well. If I go to a cricket match, it is because I like to watch sports. I also enjoy badminton, tennis, or for that matter, kanche. Main kanche bahut acche khelta tha! Why should I have tried for the Delhi team? In any case, I would not have been able to afford them. But then, don’t regionalise the game. It is, after all, about India. I am not a businessman. I have reached that juncture in my life where I can give something back to the youth.

I would like to provide the best infrastructure to the youth. I wanted to go to hockey matches, football matches. I don’t think I need any medium to promote my films. If not an actor, I would surely have been a sportsman. I used to play hockey and football in school and college. It was when I realised that I couldn’t be a sportsman that I came to Mumbai to be an actor. It’s strange that I am considered a youth icon. I believe that the youth likes me for the kind of person I am and not because I dance well or act well or look good. It’s been a 17-year-long career and they have seen the hard work I have put in. They see me and get motivated to go for the gold. Make your dreams come true, go to a town where nobody knows you and make a name for yourself there. (On smoking) Actually, people have more intelligence than you credit them with. I have also watched movies as a kid, but they never motivated me to copy them. Finally, what we do is what our heart tells us to do. There are very few people whom on screen characters can sway. Even in Don, I tell Kareena, ‘Don cigarette chodne ki koshish kar raha hai. It kills you...’ We want to convey the message subtly. Whenever I come to Delhi, people don’t say that he is drunk, vulgar and a smoker. Instead, they say that he is an educated, articulate and well-bred guy.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2772501,prtpage-1.cms

We need schools for all our children

2008-02-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I visited a school run by the Bangalore charity Parikrma, which offers a world-class English-language education for slum children. Interacting with the kids, who ranged in age from five-year-olds, who had just started schooling, to 16-and-17-year-olds about to take their board exams, provided no clue to their humble origins. One child spoke boldly of his plans to join the civil services. "Three years ago," Parikrma’s founder, Shukla Bose, whispered to me, "I found him selling newspapers at a traffic light."

The Parikrma model sets out to prove that the poorest and most disadvantaged of India’s children can, if given the education, match the best of our elite. But it is not just that Shukla takes in the poorest kids - only those whose families earn less than Rs 750 a month are eligible.
It is also that she recognises that education only succeeds if other factors work in its favour. Of what use is excellent teaching if the child is too hungry to concentrate or too undernourished for her brain to develop? So Parikrma provides all the kids with a full breakfast on arrival in the morning, a solid lunch at mid-day and a snack before they leave for home. What if they can’t afford to get to school from where their parents live? So, bus-passes are provided. But how can you expect poor kids to stay in school if their parents are ill at home and need their children’s help? So, Parikrma provides healthcare assistance to the entire family during the student’s years in school. And what good is a first-rate school education if the child does not have the resources or opportunities to go to college? So, Shukla has been busy fund-raising for full scholarships to send her first graduating class to university next year. Parikrma’s approach is impressive, its experience entirely positive, and the stories of its children heart-warming. Whereas, in Bangalore’s government schools, the drop-out rate by the eighth standard is as high as 72%, and the pass rate for the higher secondary exams 8%, Parikrma’s children, despite coming from poverty-stricken homes, all stay in school, and are expected to fare extremely well when the first group of them takes their board exams. What is more, to see the discipline in the smartly-uniformed children (uniforms also provided by Parikrma, of course), the intelligence shining through their scrubbed faces, the confidence in their questions to a visitor, and above all, the hope, is to see lives transformed, and futures built where there was only despair. Parikrma’s is not the only example of such educational endeavour.
The Shanti Bhavan school in Tamil Nadu, run by the hugely impressive Abraham George - a former army officer who made his fortune in computers and is determined to give it back through his philanthropic George Foundation - also educates slum children to the highest standards, though it does so in a boarding-school format. ( The New York Times’ columnist Thomas L Friedman has written extensively of Shanti Bhavan in his book The World Is Flat .) I would not be surprised if readers write in to tell me of other charitable organisations trying to do similar work elsewhere in the country. Their methods and operating principles may vary, but the essential thing is this: they all realise that India is never going to be a great 21st century power if it doesn’t educate its young - all of them, not just the ones who can afford an education.
I am sure the government recognises this too, but it has neither the resources nor the ability to deliver quality education to all of India’s children. Education is a state subject in our federal constitution, so its quality varies widely, from Kerala’s 100% record in putting all children through school, to Bihar’s female literacy rate of 27%. Our state governments have not been able to enroll all children between the ages of five and ten in school, nor are they able to retain the ones they enroll - some drop out because their families can’t afford to keep them in school when they could be out to work in the fields or weaving rugs or making footballs, some because the teaching is so abysmal that they don’t learn anything at school anyway. The result is that more Indian kids have never seen the inside of a school than those of any other country in the world. And those who have may not see a teacher, since we hold the world record for teacher absenteeism, or be given the books and learning materials without which the educational experience is incomplete.
How on earth can we maintain our much-vaunted economic growth rates if we don’t produce enough educated Indians to claim the jobs that a 21st century economy offers? And how does the government expect to ever remedy the problem if it holds onto antiquated ideas about restricting educational opportunity to the non-profit sphere, when it is clear worldwide that the private sector is providing the best models for education? It is ironic that the man who bids fair to become the Bill Gates of schooling around the world is an Indian - Sunny Varkey, whose Global Education Management Systems already runs 65 for-profit schools across the Middle East, and who is the world’s biggest employer of British teachers outside Britain. But this Indian cannot open his GEMS schools in India, because our educational system won’t allow him to. That leaves us with a handful of excellent private and missionary schools, a large number of uneven (but mostly hopeless) government schools, millions of kids with no schooling at all - and the efforts of charities like Shanti Bhavan and Parikrma. I asked the Parikrma high school kids what they wanted to do in life. Sixteen opted for computer programming - a reflection of our era. One wanted to join the army, half a dozen the IAS, and one girl the CBI, "because I want to bring justice to our society." Our society needs justice - and it will only have it when we have enough schools to do justice to the potential of all our children.
By Shashi Tharoor
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2788535,prtpage-1.cms

Feel like a fraud? At times, maybe you should

2008-02-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Stare into a mirror long enough and it's hard not to wonder whether that's a mask staring back, and if so, who's really behind it.
A similar self-doubt can cloud a public identity as well, especially for anyone who has just stepped into a new role. College graduate. New mother. Medical doctor. Even, for that matter, presidential nominee.

Presidents and parents, after all, are expected to make crucial decisions on a dime. Doctors are being asked to save lives, and graduate students to know how Aristotle's conception of virtue differed from Aquinas's conception of uh-oh.

Who's kidding whom?

Social psychologists have studied what they call the impostor phenomenon since at least the 1970s, when a pair of therapists at Georgia State University used the phrase to describe the internal experience of a group of high-achieving women who had a secret sense they were not as capable as others thought. Since then researchers have documented such fears in adults of all ages, as well as adolescents.

Their findings have veered well away from the original conception of impostorism as a reflection of an anxious personality or a cultural stereotype. Feelings of phoniness appear to alter people's goals in unexpected ways and may also protect them against subconscious self-delusions.
Questionnaires measuring impostor fears ask people how much they agree with statements like these: "At times, I feel my success has been due to some kind of luck." "I can give the impression that I'm more competent than I really am." "If I'm to receive a promotion of some kind, I hesitate to tell others until it's an accomplished fact."

Researchers have found, as expected, that people who score highly on such scales tend to be less confident, more moody and rattled by performance anxieties than those who score lower.
But the dread of being found out is hardly always paralyzing. Two Purdue psychologists, Shamala Kumar and Carolyn Jagacinski, gave 135 college students a series of questionnaires, measuring anxiety level, impostor feelings and approach to academic goals. They found that women who scored highly also reported a strong desire to show that they could do better than others. They competed harder.

By contrast, men who scored highly on the impostor scale showed more desire to avoid contests in areas where they felt vulnerable. "The motivation was to avoid doing poorly, looking weak," Jagacinski said.

Yet if feelings of phoniness were all bad, it seems unlikely that they would be so familiar to so many emotionally well-adapted people.

In a 2000 study at Wake Forest University, psychologists had people who scored highly on an impostor scale predict how they would do on a coming test of intellectual and social skills. An experimenter, they were told, would discuss their answers with them later.
Sure enough, the self-styled impostors predicted that they would do poorly. But when making the same predictions in private anonymously, they were told the same people rated their chances on the test as highly as people who scored low on the impostor scale.
In short, the researchers concluded, many self-styled impostors are phony phonies: they adopt self-deprecation as a social strategy, consciously or not, and are secretly more confident than they let on.

"Particularly when people think that they might not be able to live up to others' views of them, they may maintain that they are not as good as other people think," Mark Leary, the lead author, wrote in an e-mail message. "In this way, they lower others' expectations and get credit for being humble."

In a study published in September, Rory O'Brien McElwee and Tricia Yurak of Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, had 253 students take an exhaustive battery of tests assessing how people present themselves in public. They found that psychologically speaking, impostorism looked a lot more like a self-presentation strategy than a personality trait.

In an interview, McElwee said that as a social strategy, projecting oneself as an impostor can lower expectations for a performance and take pressure off a person as long as the self-deprecation doesn't go too far. "It's the difference between saying you got drunk before the SAT and actually doing it," she said. "One provides a ready excuse, and the other is self-destructive."

In mild doses, feeling like a fraud also tempers the natural instinct to define one's own competence in self-serving ways. Researchers have shown in careful studies that people tend to be poor judges of their own performance and often to overrate their abilities. Their opinions about how well they've done on a test, or at a job, or in a class are often way off others' evaluations. They're confident that they can detect liars (they can't) and forecast grades (not so well).

This native confidence is likely to be functional: in a world of profound uncertainty, self-serving delusion probably helps people to get out of bed and chase their pet projects.
But it can be poison when the job calls for expertise and accountability, and the expertise is wanting. From her study, McElwee concluded that impostor fears most likely came and went in most people, and were most acute when, for example, a teacher first had to stand up in front of a class, or a new mechanic or lawyer took on real liability.

At those times feeling like a fraud amounts to more than the stirrings of an anxious temperament or the desire to project a protective humility. It reflects a respect for the limits of one's own abilities, and an intuition that only a true impostor would be afraid to ask for help.

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=9760467

Office romances rarely kept secret

2008-02-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

Story Highlights
Survey: Forty percent have had office romance
Sixty-six percent don't feel it needs to be a secret
Workers aged 35 and 44 are most likely to have office romance

By Rosemary HaefnerVice President of Human Resources

Office romances are nothing new -- they've been around as long as there have been offices. After all, co-workers spend so much time together attractions are bound to occur. Today, however, workers aren't afraid to admit that, in addition to a paycheck, they're also looking for love at the office.

Love is most definitely in the air

Forty percent of workers have dated a co-worker at some point in their career, according to CareerBuilder.com's annual survey on office romance. Twenty percent of the 6,700 surveyed workers have engaged in an office romance more than twice. For those who think these relationships lead nowhere, consider that 29 percent of these workers ended up marrying their workplace sweetheart.

People aren't waiting to set the wedding date before announcing their relationship, either. Sixty-
six percent of workers don't feel the need to keep their romances a secret these days. Just three years ago the same survey found only 53 percent of workers felt they could be open about their workplace romances.

Of course, just because you can be more open about your relationship, don't forget there are still risks involved. If you can't leave a fight or a bad breakup outside of the office, you both might end up looking unprofessional, regardless of whose fault it is.
Also, colleagues might form their own opinions of you if you date a superior, which 27 percent of surveyed workers have done. Although 98 percent of those who dated a higher-ranking co-worker say the relationship had no affect on their career advancement, many people will assume a promotion -- not mutual attraction -- is your motivation.

Love knows no bounds

Cupid doesn't just strike co-workers when they're on the clock. Thirteen percent of workers began their relationships when they bumped into each other away from the office. Lunch and happy hour were the next most popular places for sparks to fly, with 11 percent each. Yet, despite their reputation as prime opportunities to make a romantic mistake, company parties only accounted for two percent of relationships.
So just who's doing all this dating? Workers between 35 and 44 years of age are the most likely demographic to date a co-worker, with 44 percent having done so. Even though workers aged 55 and older are the least likely group, 34 percent still admitted to an office relationship. That's a lot of love in the air.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/02/12/office.romance/index.html?eref=rss_latest

36 Hours in Napa Valley

2008-02-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

STRIKING waves of mustard flower. Rolling fields of budding vines. No traffic. You might need to pack an umbrella and an extra sweater, but winter is a surprisingly beautiful time to visit the Napa Valley of California. A misty and painterly moodiness sweeps over the 30-mile-long region this time of year, scattering the crowds, sharpening the colors and infusing the oak-scented tasting rooms with coziness. Daytime temperatures hover as high as the 50s, and though the season brings rain, it encourages an air of reflection perfectly suited to those big California reds.
Friday

3 p.m.1) VINTAGE CYCLING

Winter’s calm makes this a great time to explore Napa’s winding roads on bicycle, as traffic slows to a mellower clip. Some of the prettiest roads are found around Calistoga, a funky and unstuffy town on the northwest tip of the valley — a bit of whiskey before the pinot. The Calistoga Bike Shop has sturdy rentals starting at $10 an hour (1318 Lincoln Avenue; 866-942-2453; www.calistogabikeshop.com). For your first taste of Napa, pedal two miles to the Michael Graves-designed Clos Pegase Winery (1060 Dunaweal Lane, Calistoga; 707-942-4981; www.clospegase.com) and feel the terroir under your tires.
7:30 p.m.

2) GLOBAL LOCAVORE

Fussy marble, garish fountains, overdramatic underlighting — Napa’s fancy sheen can obscure its simple, earthy charm. For a taste of the valley’s homey side, try the Wappo Bar & Bistro (1226 Washington Street, Calistoga; 707-942-4712; www.wappobar.com), a shoe-box-size restaurant where locals mix easily with wine-chasing tourists. It feels like a country inn, but the food is international. The menu includes cassoulet, tandoori chicken and Singapore noodles. Dinner for two is about $60, not including, of course, wine.
9:30 p.m.

3) BRING YOUR EARPLUGS

Beer in Napa? It might sound like blasphemy, but the Calistoga Inn Restaurant & Brewery (1250 Lincoln Avenue, Calistoga; 707-942-4101; www.calistogainn.com) makes a mean Pilsener, along with various ales and stouts ($4.50 a pint). The wood-paneled watering hole, after all, has live music every night — and who wants to drink merlot while dancing to rock? Besides, there’s plenty of time for wine tomorrow.
Saturday
9 a.m.

4) SLING SOME MUD

Calistoga’s name has been mud, or at least synonymous with it, ever since the Gold Rush pioneer Sam Brannan dipped into the Wappo tribe’s ancient mud baths. Some claim the volcanic ash and geyser-heated water rejuvenate the pores; others find relief from aches and pains. At a minimum, it’s fun and weird to float in hot goop with cucumbers on your eyes. With manicured lawn and white cottages, the Indian Springs Resort and Spa (1712 Lincoln Avenue; 707-942-4913; www.indianspringscalistoga.com) resembles a colonial hill town under the British Raj and claims the title of the oldest continually operating spa in California. Soaks start at $75.
11 a.m.

5) A LITTLE HISTORY

If you walk around Calistoga long enough, you’ll eventually stumble upon the unassuming Sharpsteen Museum (1311 Washington Street; 707-942-5911; www.sharpsteen-museum.org; $3 donation requested for visitors over age 11). Like the town itself, this charming collection of local history, Indian artifacts and Disney cartoons (you’ll see) hasn’t yet polished away all traces of quirkiness. A 32-foot-long diorama depicts the town’s early vacationers at play, when Calistoga was known as the Saratoga of the Pacific.
Noon

6) SIZING UP THE GRAPES

Time to see what this valley’s made of. Grab a picnic-friendly sandwich ($5 to $9) from the Palisades Deli Cafe (1458 Lincoln Avenue, Calistoga; 707-942-0145) and hit the vineyards. With hundreds to choose from, there’s no perfect lineup. But the following offer personality, memorable wines and a departure from the more generic tasting bars. (Fortify against bad wine humor: “Forgive us cabernet, for we shall zin,” they say over at Chateau Potelle.) Large wineries often suffer in the character department, but not Quintessa (1601 Silverado Trail, Rutherford; 707-967-1601; www.quintessa.com). From the graceful crescent facade to the fascinating tours of its production facilities, this 280-acre estate makes a great first stop — and it produces wonderful Bordeaux-style wines. At the other end of the winemaking spectrum is the Green Truck Cellars (Stags Leap District; 707-649-1200; www.greentruckcellars.com), a one-man-one-truck pinot noir operation; call in advance, and the owner, Kent Fortner, might offer a highly personalized tour. Casa Nuestra (3451 Silverado Trail North, St. Helena; 866-844-9463; www.casanuestra.com) offers another take on old California informality — just ask the goats out front that clamor for snacks, emboldened by having a blend named after them (Two Goats Red). And for drop-dead gorgeous scenery, swing by Frog’s Leap (8815 Conn Creek Road, Rutherford; 800-959-4704; www.frogsleap.com) and its five acres of lush gardens, orchards, beehives, chickens, photovoltaic cells and everything else that makes this among Napa’s more forward-thinking operations. Appointments are required for tastings at each of these vineyards, and fees are $10 to $35.
5 p.m.

7) SHOPPING BUZZ

The precious town of St. Helena, eight miles southeast of Calistoga, is a shopaholic’s delight. Footcandy (1239 Main Street; 877-517-4606; www.footcandyshoes.com) sells Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks with heels that are as high as stemware. Woodhouse Chocolate (1367 Main Street; 800-966-3468; www.woodhousechocolate.com) sells handmade artisanal chocolates in an elegant space that looks more like a jewelry shop. And the local interior designer Erin Martin sells bronze sculptures, porcelain lamps and other housewares at her namesake shop, Martin Showroom (1350 Main Street, 707-967-8787; www.martinshowroom.com).
8 p.m.

8) RIVERFRONT DINING

For memorable fare and setting, go to Angèle in the city of Napa (540 Main Street; 707-252-8115; www.angelerestaurant.com), a converted boathouse on the Napa River where locals and tourists come to get away from the tourists. French brasserie classics like roasted cod ($22) and braised lamb shank ($26) are served under a beamed ceiling and warm lighting. Regulars can be spotted ordering the off-menu burger with blue cheese ($13). Needless to say, the wine list is varied and extensive.
9:30 p.m.

9) MAKE IT SWING

The city of Napa rolls up its sidewalks after dark, but Uva (1040 Clinton Street; 707-255-6646; www.uvatrattoria.com) makes an exception for free live jazz every Saturday until midnight. Photos of old jazz greats crowd the walls, and you can tap along from the swanky dining room or the crowded bar.
Sunday
10 a.m.

10) ART OF WINEMAKING

For a nontipsy perspective on wine, drive up the winding, woodsy road to the ivy-covered Hess Collection (4411 Redwood Road, Napa; 707-255-1144; www.hesscollection.com), the winery and contemporary art museum built by the Swiss multimillionaire Donald Hess. Tours of the bright gallery, which are self-guided and free, take you past works by Frank Stella, Robert Motherwell and Francis Bacon. At one point, a window provides a view of the fermentation tanks — the suggestion that wine equals art is not lost. Judge for yourself: the tasting room, just off the lobby, specializes in mountain cabernets ($10 for four wines).
12:30 p.m.

11) DOWNWARD DOG

Feel uncentered from all the wine touring? Stop by Napa’s sleek new yoga studio Ubuntu (1140 Main Street; 707-251-5656; www.ubuntunapa.com) for an anusara or vinyasa yoga class ($18). Or, if that’s your stomach growling, Ubuntu also has a great vegetarian restaurant. The mushroom pizza is topped with a terrific local crescenza cheese ($14), and you just might bend over backward for the marinated beets and Asian pears ($9), some of which come from the restaurant’s own biodynamic gardens.

THE BASICS

The Napa Valley is about 50 miles north of San Francisco, just over an hour’s drive. Vineyards dot both primary roads, Route 29 and Silverado Trail, as well as the many connecting back roads. In winter, traffic should be minimal, but just in case, Silverado tends to be the calmer of the two.
The Indian Springs Resort and Spa in Calistoga (1712 Lincoln Avenue; 707-942-4913; www.indianspringscalistoga.com) offers retro glamour, boccie courts and a short walk to restaurants and shops. The 24 rooms and 16 cottages start at $225. The geyser-heated pool is kept at 102 degrees in winter, with an inviting outdoor fireplace nearby.
In the city of Napa, the 106-room River Terrace Inn (1600 Soscol Avenue; 866-627-2386; www.riverterraceinn.com) manages to accommodate large numbers without sacrificing comfort. The well-appointed rooms start at $179, though specials are sometimes found online for as low as $149.

For wallet-emptying luxury, the 52-room Auberge du Soleil (180 Rutherford Hill Road, Rutherford; 800-348-5406; www.aubergedusoleil.com) provides a sumptuous hilltop perch from which to peer down on the valley. Terrace doors open onto misty views, and a tennis court, soaking pool and boutique are steps away. Rooms start at $525.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/travel/10hours.html?ei=5087&em=&en=4ee338ffcca8a9d0&ex=1202878800&pagewanted=print

An exquisite take on the Taj!

2008-02-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

I see myself now. I am standing amidst sighs of exclamations and soft footsteps, my breath surprisingly audible from beneath the odd electro-mechanical clicks of cameras. My vision pricked by the bright flashes pouring synergistically from all directions, almost.

I am standing in the shadow of the Taj.

First experience fading mildly, I realise the ache in my neck, and the continuous shuffle. I move ahead to give others a space of their own and relocate to a place from where I could see the Taj with minimal interruptions, trying repeatedly to evade the numerous cameras’ line-of-sights, aimed to capture memorable pictures of couples in love, happy families and small children trying to hold the monument from the its top or one of its minaret. I see extraordinarily happy people around me.

Where do I belong, the thought comes to me as randomly as the thought itself is. Do I deserve to be in this heaven? I found comfort in the words of Emperor Shah Jahan:
“Should guilty seek asylum here, Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin. Should a sinner make his way to this mansion, All his past sins are to be washed away. The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs; And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes. In this world this edifice has been made; To display thereby the creator’s glory”.

I feel out of place here since this was not what I had expected. Of all the things I have ever seen or experienced, I always thought that the Taj is going to be the least surprising since I have seen it so many times in pictures or on television. I knew what it looked like, in and out. But that is the sheer surprise when you enter from one of the three gates that wall the Taj. No picture can do justice to the Taj – immense and beautiful; something a picture or a video has forever failed to capture. Standing mesmerised

I stood mesmerised for hours and in the process, marvelled at the Taj changing colours amidst the setting sun – white to blue to pink, with a touch of translucent green thrown in. The sun went down and the Taj metamorphosed into a wax lamp, irradiating wisps of soothing light. I wondered if the mildly glowing Taj soothes the soul as it soothes the eye.

I looked around. The pious assemble at Jama Masjid, on the left of the Taj. Another similar building Jawab on the right, meant perhaps as a guesthouse, symmetries the mosque. The entire complex, with overwhelming symmetry and manicured gardens, is capable of settling down the most restless soul. I wonder how much wanderlust melted to satisfaction in the calming shadow of the Taj.

I had come to Agra a few hours back. The stench at Taj Ganj emitting from the open sewers, mixed profusely with smell of food originating from behind the doors, had a nauseating effect as I tried to shuffle through the crowd to find an inexpensive accommodation in that area. There are better places to stay in Agra, but the lust to capture Taj in the early morning made me look for an option near it. Narrow lanes digress at fixed distances to lead to the North, South and East gate. I headed for the farthest and the least crowded, the East gate.

A short, restless wait in the line followed by a stiff security check, lead to the common corridor from all the gates. The top of the minarets of the Taj grew behind the red wall and indicated the enormity to the monument. A few steps later the marvel struck. “One tear-drop...upon the cheek of time”, how true!

One evening with Taj was not enough and I came back the next day before day-break. Again I witnessed a riot of mild colours blending into one another while playing on the white marble surface of the Taj, as the sun rays slowly slanted to engulf the amber lily monument. Calling this event as the most beautiful ever witnessed would be an understatement.

They say that the Taj is a symbol of love. More than that, Taj is a temple of human spirit. It signifies 20 long years of efforts of twenty thousand workers from all over the world to raise this temple on an elevated platform. Taj speaks of a collectivity, of coming together to achieve the impossible. Borne out of love, but bricked together through sustained never-spoken-of efforts,
Taj Mahal makes an earnest humbling impression in such narcissist time.

by: NITIN CHAUDHARY

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008021150250300.htm&date=2008/02/11/&prd=mp&

The Making of…a LEGO

2008-01-30T10:23:00.000-08:00

The bricks are so versatile that just six of them can be arranged in 915,103,765 ways. No wonder LEGO has been named "Toy of the Century"—twice
by Joseph Pisani

Dig through any child's toy chest across the world and you're sure to find a few rectangular LEGO bricks in the mix. The colorful bricks have retained their popularity since being introduced 48 years ago. In 2000, LEGO was named "Toy of the Century" by Fortune magazine as well as by the British Toy Retailers Assn., beating out such other classics as the teddy bear and Mattel's (MAT) Barbie.

The LEGO Group's story begins in 1932, when Ole Kirk Christiansen began making wooden toys for children. However, the LEGO brick—as we know it today—wasn't launched until 1958. Simple, durable, and colorful, the LEGO brick design created that year was ideal for a child's toy. The plastic bricks are part of an interlocking system that has just the right amount of grip: The bricks hold together well but can be taken apart easily by a child. And consistency has been key. The bricks produced today can interlock with those produced back in 1958.

The rise in popularity of LEGO bricks can be attributed to the amount of imagination a child can use to build something with the bricks. The bricks are so versatile that the LEGO Group has calculated that just six eight-stud bricks can be arranged in 915,103,765 different ways.
Bigger Bricks for Smaller Kids

Today LEGO bricks are primarily produced in a factory at the company's headquarters in Denmark. The bricks are so meticulously made that the company claims that out of every 1 million elements made, just 18 will be declared defective and removed from the set. Impressive numbers, considering that the LEGO Group is producing 15 billion components a year—that's 1.7 million items an hour, or 28,500 a minute. Tire production accounts for some of that number; the factory also produces 306 million tiny rubber tires a year. In fact, going by that number,
LEGO is the world's No. 1 tire manufacturer.

After the original bricks were launched Christiansen's son and heir to the LEGO Group, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, developed LEGO DUPLO in the late 1960s for younger children who had trouble handling the original tiny LEGO bricks. The DUPLO bricks are larger in height and width than the classic bricks and are easier for young hands to handle.
The next chapter in the LEGO Group's history was the creation of the LEGO figure in 1974. The little yellow figures added a different dimension to play, letting kids role-play and inject their personalities into their LEGO creations. To date 4 billion LEGO figures have been produced and have been outfitted in countless disguises, ranging from basketball players to Star Wars characters to pirates.

Video Game Tie-In

LEGO sets might seem too low-tech for kids today, but the LEGO Group continues to keep its brand in the limelight by getting involved in cutting-edge play-models and trends. In 2004 the company launched LEGOfactory.com, where anyone can download a LEGO Digital Designer and build his own LEGO model. After that, you can either save it in a gallery or buy the pieces needed and have it sent to your home to build it in real life (see BusinessWeek.com , 8/23/05, "For Lego, an Online Lifeline?").

LEGO also has a licensing deal with publisher LucasArts for creating video games, which have become tremendously popular. The most recent video game, LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, has been a top-selling game since its release on Sept. 12. Developed for eight different gaming platforms, the game sold 1.1 million units in its first week of release and continues to be a bestseller. For the holiday season LEGO also launched the high-tech LEGO Mindstorms NXT (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/24/06, "Brainier Robots, Brainier Kids?") for kids over 10 allowing them to create their own motorized robots.

Whatever the future of LEGO may be, the colorful bricks will always be the hallmark of the company. To take a look at how the classic LEGO bricks are made, Click here for the slide show

Pisani is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2006/db20061127_153826.htm

The war of the sexes, continued

2007-11-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

By Maureen Dowd The New York Times

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

In 2005, a year after Ellie Grossman, a doctor, met Ray Fisman, a professor, on a blind date, she was talking to her grandmother about her guy."Never let a man think you're smarter," her grandmother advised."Men don't like that."Ray and Ellie "had a good laugh, thinking times had changed," he recalled. The pair went on to marry - after she proposed.But now, he says, "it seems like the students at Columbia University should pay heed to Grandma Lil's advice."

Fisman is a 36-year-old Columbia economics professor who conducted a two-year study, published last year, on dating. With two psychologists and another economist, he ran a speed-dating experiment at a local bar near the Columbia campus.The results surprised him and made him a little sad because he found that even in the 21st century, many men are still straitjacketed in stereotypes."I guess I had hoped that they had evolved beyond this," he said in a phone interview. "It's like that 'Sex and the City' episode where Miranda went speed-dating. When she says she's a lawyer, guys lose interest. Then she tells them she's a flight attendant and that plays into their deepest fantasies."

As he recapped the experiment in Slate last week:"We found that men did put significantly more weight on their assessment of a partner's beauty, when choosing, than women did. We also found that women got more dates when they won high marks for looks."

He continued: "By contrast, intelligence ratings were more than twice as important in predicting women's choices as men's. It isn't exactly that smarts were a complete turnoff for men: They preferred women whom they rated as smarter - but only up to a point. It turns out that men avoided women whom they perceived to be smarter than themselves. The same held true for measures of career ambition - a woman could be ambitious, just not more ambitious than the man considering her for a date.

"When women were the ones choosing, the more intelligence and ambition the men had, the better. So, yes, the stereotypes appear to be true: We males are a gender of fragile egos in search of a pretty face and are threatened by brains or success that exceeds our own."

Hillary Clinton, who is trying to crash through the Oval glass ceiling, may hope that we're evolving into a kingdom of queen bees and their male slaves. But stories have been popping up that suggest that evolution is moving forward in a circuitous route, with lots of speed bumps.

Perhaps smart women can take hope - as long as they're built like Marilyn Monroe. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Pittsburgh have released a zany study on the zaftig, positing that men are drawn to hourglass figures not only because they look alluring, but because hips plumped up by omega-3 fatty acids could mean smarter women bearing smarter kids.

Yet Alex Williams recently reported in The New York Times that the new income superiority of many young women in big cities is causing them to encounter "forms of hostility they weren\'t prepared to meet," leaving them "trying to figure out how to balance pride in their accomplishments against their perceived need to bolster the egos of the men they date."

"We found that men did put significantly more weight on their assessment of a partner's beauty, when choosing, than women did. We also found that women got more dates when they won high marks for looks."He continued: "By contrast, intelligence ratings were more than twice as important in predicting women's choices as men's. It isn't exactly that smarts were a complete turnoff for men: They preferred women whom they rated as smarter - but only up to a point. It turns out that men avoided women whom they perceived to be smarter than themselves. The same held true for measures of career ambition - a woman could be ambitious, just not more ambitious than the man considering her for a date."When women were the ones choosing, the more intelligence and ambition the men had, the better. So, yes, the stereotypes appear to be true: We males are a gender of fragile egos in search of a pretty face and are threatened by brains or success that exceeds our own."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/14/opinion/edowd.php

Should we be proud of Bobby Jindal?

2007-10-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

The election of Bobby Jindal as governor of the US state of Louisiana has been greeted exultantly by Indians and Indian-Americans around the world. There’s no question that this is an extraordinary accomplishment: a young Indian-American, just 36 years old, not merely winning an election but doing so on the first ballot by receiving more votes than his 11 rivals combined, and that too in a state not noticeably friendly to minorities. Bobby Jindal will now be the first Indian-American governor in US history, and the youngest currently serving chief executive of an American state. These are distinctions of which he can legitimately be proud, and it is not surprising that Indians too feel a vicarious sense of shared pride in his remarkable ascent.

But is our pride misplaced? Who is Bobby Jindal and what does he really stand for? There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of Indian migrants in America: though no sociologist, i’ll call them the atavists and the assimilationists. The atavists hold on to their original identities as much as possible, especially outside the workplace; in speech, dress, food habits, cultural preferences, they are still much more Indian than American. The assimilationists, on the other hand, seek assiduously to merge into the American mainstream; they acquire a new accent along with their visa, and adopt the ways, clothes, diet and recreational preferences of the Americans they see around them. (Of course, there are the in-betweens, but we’ll leave them aside for now.) Class has something to do with which of the two major categories an Indian immigrant falls into; so does age, since the newer generation of Indians, especially those born in America, inevitably tend to gravitate to the latter category.

Bobby Jindal is an assimilationist’s dream. Born to relatively affluent professionals in Louisiana, he rejected his Indian name (Piyush) as a very young child, insisting that he be called Bobby, after a (white) character on the popular TV show ‘The Brady Bunch’. His desire to fit in to the majority-white society he saw around him soon manifested itself in another act of rejection: Bobby spurned the Hindusim into which he was born and, as a teenager, converted to Roman Catholicism, the faith of most white Louisianans. There is, of course, nothing wrong with any of this, and it is a measure of his precocity that his parents did not balk at his wishes despite his extreme youth. The boy was clearly gifted, and he soon had a Rhodes scholarship to prove it. But he was also ambivalent about his identity: he wanted to be seen as a Louisianan, but his mirror told him he was also an Indian. The two of us won something called an ‘Excelsior Award’ once from the Network of Indian Professionals in the US, and his acceptance speech on the occasion was striking — obligatory references to the Indian values of his parents, but a speech so American in tone and intonation that he mangled the Indian name of his own brother. There was no doubt which half of the hyphen this Indian-American leaned towards.

But there are many ways to be American, and it’s interesting which one Bobby chose. Many Indians born in America have tended to sympathise with other people of colour, identifying their lot with other immigrants, the poor, the underclass. Vinita Gupta, in Oklahoma, another largely white state, won her reputation as a crusading lawyer by taking up the case of illegal immigrants exploited by a factory owner (her story will shortly be depicted by Hollywood, with Halle Berry playing the Indian heroine). Bhairavi Desai leads a taxi drivers’ union; Preeta Bansal, who grew up as the only non-white child in her school in Nebraska, became New York’s Solicitor General and now serves on the Commission for Religious Freedom. None of this for Bobby. Louisiana’s most famous city, New Orleans, was a majority black town, at least until Hurricane Katrina destroyed so many black lives and homes, but there is no record of Bobby identifying himself with the needs or issues of his state’s black people. Instead, he sought, in a state with fewer than 10,000 Indians, not to draw attention to his race by supporting racial causes. Indeed, he went well beyond trying to be non-racial (in a state that harboured notorious racists like the Ku Klux Klansman David Duke); he cultivated the most conservative elements of white Louisiana society.

With his widely-advertised piety (he asked his Indian wife, Supriya, to convert as well, and the two are regular churchgoers), Bobby Jindal adopted positions on hot-button issues that place him on the most conservative fringe of the Republican Party. Most Indian-Americans are in favour of gun control, support a woman’s right to choose abortion, advocate immigrants’ rights, and oppose school prayer (for fear that it would marginalise non-Christians). On every one of these issues, Bobby Jindal is on the opposite side. He’s not just conservative; on these questions, he is well to the right of his own party. That hasn’t stopped him, however, from seeking the support of Indian-Americans. Bobby Jindal has raised a small fortune from them, and when he last ran (unsuccessfully) for governor in 2004, an army of Indian-American volunteers from outside the state turned up to campaign for him. Many seemed unaware of his political views; it was enough for them that he was Indian. At his Indian-American fundraising events, Bobby is careful to downplay his extreme positions and play up his heritage, a heritage that plays little part in his appeal to the Louisiana electorate. Indian-Americans, by and large, accept this as the price of political success in white America: it’s just good to have “someone like us” in such high office, whatever views he professes to get himself there. So Indians beam proudly at another Indian-American success story to go along with Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, Hargobind Khorana and Subramaniam Chandrasekhar, Kal Penn and Jhumpa Lahiri. But none of these Indian Americans expressed attitudes and beliefs so much at variance with the prevailing values of their community.

Let us be proud that a brown-skinned man with an Indian name has achieved what Bobby Jindal has. But let us not make the mistake of thinking that we should be proud of what he stands for.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/SHASHI_ON_SUNDAY/Should_we_be_proud_of_Bobby_Jindal/articleshow/2495846.cms

Internet revolution reaches India's poor

2007-10-12T14:37:00.001-07:00

By Anand Giridharadas

International Herald TribuneThursday, October 11, 2007

Manohar Lakshmipathi does not own a computer. In fact, workmen like Manohar, a house painter, are usually forbidden to touch clients' computers on the job here.So you can imagine Manohar's wonder as he sat dictating his date of birth, phone number and work history to a secretary who entered them into a computer. Afterward, a man took his photo. Then, with a click of a mouse, Manohar's very own social-networking page popped onto the World Wide Web, the newest profile on Babajob.com.

Babajob, an Indian start-up aiming to bring the Facebook/MySpace revolution to the world's poor, is just one example of an unanticipated byproduct of the outsourcing boom: Entrepreneurs and large multinationals are making India a hub of computer innovation targeting the poor.

Outsourcing brought hundreds of multinationals and hundreds of thousands of techies to Bangalore. Now, more than a decade into the outsourcing surge, many of those companies and their employees are applying their skills not just to developing software, but to confronting the grinding poverty around them too."In Redmond, you don't see 7-year-olds begging on the street," said Sean Blagsvedt, Babajob's founder, referring to Microsoft's Washington State headquarters, where he once worked. "In India, you can't escape the feeling that you're really lucky. So you ask, 'What are you going to do about all the stuff around you? How are you going to use all these skills?' "Perhaps for less altruistic reasons, but often with positive effects for the poor, corporations have made India a lab for extending modern technological conveniences to those long deprived. Nokia, for instance, develops many of its ultracheap cellphones here. Citibank first experimented here with a special ATM that recognizes thumbprints to help slum-dwellers who struggle with personal identification numbers. And Microsoft has made India one of the major centers of its global research group that is studying technologies for the poor, like software that reads to illiterate computer users.

Babajobs is a quintessential example of how Indian back offices have spawned poverty-inspired innovation. The best-known networking sites connect the computer-savvy elite to one another. Babajob, by contrast, connects the Indian elite to the poor at their doorsteps, people who need jobs but lack the connections to find them. Job seekers advertise skills, employers advertise jobs and matches are made through "friend-of-a-friend" networks.For example, if Rajeev and Sanjay are friends, and Sanjay needs a chauffeur, he can surf onto Rajeev's page, travel onto the page of Rajeev's chauffeur and then see which of the chauffeur's friends happen to be looking for similar work.

Blagsvedt, 31, joined Microsoft in Redmond in 1999. Three years ago, he was sent to India to help build the local office of Microsoft Research, the company's in-house institute.But the Microsoft employees who worked here led very different lives than their counterparts back home. They had servants and laborers. They read newspaper tales of undernourishment and illiteracy. The Indian employees were not seeing such conditions for the first time, but many of them felt newly empowered to confront them.Equipped with world-class computing skills, many felt an urge to do something to help their society.At the same time, Microsoft, with software piracy limiting revenues in India, was looking to low-income consumers as a vast commercial opportunity, so engineers' altruistic urges were encouraged.

In Blagsvedt's research office, poverty became a major focus. Anthropologists and sociologists were hired to explain things like the effect of the caste system on rural computer usage. One day, in the course of that work, Blagsvedt stumbled on an insight by a Duke University economist that first unnerved and then inspired him.The economist, Anirudh Krishna, found that many poor Indians in dead-end jobs stay poor not because there are no better jobs, but because they lack the connections to discover such jobs. Any Bangalorean could confirm the observation: the city teems with laborers desperate for work, and yet wealthy software tycoons complain endlessly about a shortage of maids and cooks.

Blagsvedt's epiphany? "We need village LinkedIn!" he recalled saying, referring to a professional networking site. He quit Microsoft and, with his stepfather, Ira Weise, and a former Microsoft colleague, built a social-networking site to connect the yuppies of Bangalore with its wage laborers. (The site, which Blagsvedt began this summer and runs out of his home, focuses on Bangalore for now, with plans to spread to other Indian cities and perhaps globally.)Building a site meant to reach laborers earning $2 to $3 a day presented special challenges. The workers would be unfamiliar with computers in general and with Babajob in particular. Moreover, wealthy employers would be reluctant to let random applicants tend to their gardens or their newborns.

To deal with the connectivity problem, Babajob pays anyone, from charities to Internet cafe owners, to find job seekers and register them. (Babajob earns its keep from employers' advertisements, diverting a portion of that to those who sign up job seekers.) Also, instead of creating an anonymous job bazaar, Babajob replicates online the process by which Indians hire in real life: using chains of personal connections.In India, a businessman looking for a chauffeur might ask his friend, who might ask his chauffeur. Such connections provide a kind of quality control. The friend's chauffeur, for instance, will not recommend a hoodlum, for fear of losing his own job.

To recreate this dynamic online, Babajob pays people to be "connectors" between employer and employee. In the example above, the businessman's friend and his chauffeur would each earn the equivalent of $2.50 if they connected the businessman with someone he likes.The model is gaining attention, and praise. A Bangalore venture capitalist, when told of Babajob, immediately asked to be put in touch with Blagsvedt."Wow," said Steve Pogorzelski, president of the international division of Monster.com, the American jobs site, when told of the company. "It is an important innovation," he said, "because it opens up the marketplace to people of socioeconomic levels who may not have the widest array of jobs available to them."Krishna, the Duke economist, praised the idea as a "very significant innovation," but he cautioned that the very poor may not belong to the social networks that would bring them to Babajob.

In its first few months, the company has drummed up job seekers on its own, sending workers out into the streets with fliers promising employment.When it comes to potential employers, in addition to counting on word of mouth among those desperate for maids and laborers, Babajob is also counting on Babalife, the company's parallel social networking site. People listed on Babalife will automatically be on Babajob, as well.So far, more than 1,100 have registered on Babajob. The listings are a portrait of the floating underclass in India, millions and millions seeking a few dollars a day to work as chauffeurs, nannies, gardeners, guards and receptionists.A woman named Selvi Venkatesh was desperate. "I am really in need of a job, as our residential building collapsed last month in Ejipura," she said, referring to a disaster in July that killed two people, including an infant, according to The Times of India.I

n Blagsvedt's apartment, Manohar, the painter, professed hope. He earns $100 a month. Jobs come irregularly, and so he spends up to three months of the year idle. Between jobs, he borrows from loan sharks to feed his wife and children. They levy 10 percent monthly interest, enough to make a $100 loan a $314 debt in one year.Manohar wants his three children to walk a different path. They must not know his pain, he said; they should work in a nice office. So he spends nearly half his income on private schooling for them. That is why he was at Babajob in a swiveling chair, staring at a computer screen, dreaming of more work.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/10/asia/jobs.php

The Odyssey years

2007-10-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

International Herald Tribune

Brooks: The Odyssey years
By David Brooks

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.

During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school. They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.

Their parents grow increasingly anxious. These parents understand that there's bound to be a transition phase between student life and adult life. But when they look at their own grown children, they see the transition stretching five years, seven and beyond. The parents don't even detect a clear sense of direction in their children's lives. They look at them and see the things that are being delayed.

They see that people in this age bracket are delaying marriage. They're delaying children. They're delaying permanent employment. Americans who were born before 1964 tend to define adulthood by certain accomplishments - moving away from home, becoming financially independent, getting married and starting a family.

In 1960, roughly 70 percent of American 30-year-olds had achieved these things. By 2000, fewer than 40 percent of 30-year-olds had done the same.
Yet with a little imagination it's possible even for baby boomers - the 76 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964 - to understand what it's like to be in the middle of the odyssey years. It's possible to see that this period of improvisation is a sensible response to modern conditions.

Two of America's best social scientists have been trying to understand this new life phase. William Galston of the Brookings Institution has recently completed a research project for the Hewlett Foundation. Robert Wuthnow of Princeton has just published a tremendously valuable book, "After the Baby Boomers," that looks at young adulthood through the prism of religious practice.

Through their work, you can see the spirit of fluidity that now characterizes this stage. Young people grow up in tightly structured childhoods, Wuthnow observes, but then graduate into a world characterized by uncertainty, diversity, searching and tinkering. Old success recipes don't apply, new norms have not been established and everything seems to give way to a less permanent version of itself.

Dating gives way to Facebook and hooking up. Marriage gives way to cohabitation. Church attendance gives way to spiritual longing. Newspaper reading gives way to blogging. (In 1970, 49 percent of adults in their 20s read a daily paper; now it's at 21 percent.)
The job market is fluid. Graduating seniors don't find corporations offering them jobs that will guide them all the way to retirement. Instead they find a vast menu of information economy options, few of which they have heard of or prepared for.

Social life is fluid. There's been a shift in the balance of power between the genders. Thirty-six percent of female workers in their 20s now have a college degree, compared with 23 percent of male workers.

Male wages have stagnated over the past decades, while female wages have risen.
This has fundamentally scrambled the courtship rituals and decreased the pressure to get married. Educated women can get many of the things they want (income, status, identity) without marriage, while they find it harder (or, if they're working-class, next to impossible) to find a suitably accomplished mate.

The odyssey years are not about slacking off. There are intense competitive pressures as a result of the vast numbers of people chasing relatively few opportunities. Moreover, surveys show that people living through these years have highly traditional aspirations (they rate parenthood more highly than their own parents did) even as they lead improvising lives.

Rather, what we're seeing is the creation of a new life phase, just as adolescence came into being a century ago. It's a phase in which some social institutions flourish - knitting circles, Teach for America - while others - churches, political parties - have trouble establishing ties.
But there is every reason to think this phase will grow more pronounced in the coming years. European nations are traveling this route ahead of Americans, Galston notes. Europeans delay marriage even longer than Americans do and spend even more years shifting between the job market and higher education.

And as the new generational structure solidifies, social and economic entrepreneurs will create new rites and institutions. Someday people will look back and wonder at the vast social changes wrought by the emerging social group that saw their situations first captured by "Friends" and later by "Knocked Up."

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=7815532

Eager dragon, wary bear

2007-09-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON:

Most people looking at Russia and China when Mao died in 1976 would have assumed that Russia was better positioned to become a major player in global technology industries.
The Soviet Union was a superpower with many of the requisites for development. Its literacy levels and enormous numbers of scientific, technical and other specialists with advanced education far surpassed China's overwhelmingly peasant society emerging from the chaos of the cultural revolution.

Yet since Mao's death it is China that has generated consistent high economic growth rates, fostering increasingly competitive industries and lifting a significant number of people out of poverty. China is an important global player in a growing number of technology industries and in the international economic system, things Russian leaders merely talk about.
Russian growth since August 1998 is attributable overwhelmingly to the ruble devaluation and increased oil prices. Despite the windfall oil revenues, Russia's growth rate since Vladimir Putin became president has been lower than most of the countries of the former Soviet Union.

What accounts for an outcome that contradicts most people's expectations?

Many analysts cite "initial conditions," but explanations based on large numbers of peasants not covered by social welfare systems, diasporas with capital to invest or beginning reform with agriculture do not withstand a comparative test. Other countries with similar conditions have not matched China's growth.

Others emphasize the stable environment provided by authoritarian leadership. But if government administration was the key, the state sector should be the basis for China's success rather than an anchor dragging on the economy.
The crucial difference, I believe, is the quality of China's and Russia's integration with the international economy. China has embraced economic globalization and integration; Russia remains wary and peripheral.

Russia's economy is open, but selling natural resources and arms generates few linkages leading to higher value-added production. Russia's economic integration is "thin." China's integration is "thick" - it involves linkages in technology chains and participation in entire product cycles. China joined the WTO in 2001; Russia has been a year or two away from membership since 1993, largely because so much of its economy is outside WTO's scope.

These differences influence internal politics. China's thick integration has fostered regional, sectoral and institutional interests that have defended and expanded the policies of reform and openness. Economic retrenchment was repeatedly abandoned because coalitions of entrepreneurs, officials and investors benefiting from openness helped pro-reform leaders to prevail. Russia's thin integration generates few forces to contest renewed administrative domination of the economy.

Chinese discourse portrays globalization as the great opportunity to overcome centuries of relative backwardness; Russian elites equate globalization with Americanization, often viewing it as a threat to Russia's future.

Why do Chinese elites embrace globalization while Russians question it? The answer, I believe, is found in the mutually reinforcing interaction of historical legacy with political and economic conditions.

Deng Xiaoping's policy of openness followed China's cultural revolution, so China began its reforms with neither a self-confident ruling elite nor a horde of policy intellectuals invested in the old system. The Communist Party remained in power but accepted new economic approaches.

In contrast, the Soviet cultural revolution of 1928-31 created a new elite that remained in power until the 1970s and bequeathed economic autarky and superpower myths to the next generation. Russia's elites are descended from the Stalinist party faction that explicitly rejected the West and internationalism. When Mikhail Gorbachev initiated perestroika, Russia considered itself a co-equal superpower. Not only do Russians have ambivalent attitudes toward the West; they think the West has nothing to teach them.

While both China and Russia have become major exporters, the nature of those exports differs markedly. China is a global manufacturing center, producing a mix of value-added products three times above what economists would expect.
Russia is a petrostate. In contrast to China's robust manufacturing sectors, finished goods represent less than 10 percent of Russian exports. Hydrocarbons and other natural resources account for an overwhelming share of both exports and state revenues.
Power devolved to the regions in both countries in the 1980s. In some areas of China, this resulted in rapid economic development. Regions and enterprises competed for capital and workers competed for jobs. China is a case where economic success derives from sometimes harsh competition.

When Russian regions were given the opportunity to establish free economic zones in the 1990s, they produced a flurry of special commercial privileges, tax evasion and black market schemes rather than industrial development. Now regional development depends on Kremlin approval and funding.

International linkages are helping China overtake Russia in education and scientific research. At China's National Conference on Science in 1978, Deng proclaimed that "one must learn from those who are most advanced before one can catch up with and surpass them." Russian leaders remain convinced that they have the best schools and best scientists in the world, and everyone else should learn from them. Four of China's top universities now hire almost exclusively from among Chinese with foreign Ph.Ds; Russian universities refuse to recognize foreign credentials.
China's embrace of globalization and resulting thick international economic integration have been the key to its emergence as a commercial and manufacturing power. Russian resistance to integration makes it less able to overcome resource dependence. When Russian leaders suggest that they need to emulate China's policies, they emphasize strong governmental control rather than the diverse and independent local and regional economic activity that accounts for China's early success.

China has not solved all its problems or discovered an optimal development model. Weaknesses are easily identified, particularly uneven development, weak property rights, safety standards, environmental damage and demographic shifts. Whether China can continue to grow despite these challenges is the question for the global economy. Russia's economic prospects are mainly of concern to commodities markets.

The character of integration with the international economy not only explains why China, and not Russia, has become a commercial and industrial power. It also has profound implications for their future development trajectories.

Both countries need greater societal involvement in political life. By generating diverse economic interests that at times can affect policy, China's thick international integration has created the potential for continued influence. Russia's thinner integration places fewer constraints on leaders who appear to be dizzy with petroleum.

Harley Balzer is a professor in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/24/news/edbalzar.php

€1 million Lamborghinis sell like hotcakes

2007-09-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

रॉयटर्स

Thursday, September 13, २००७

What price exclusivity?

If you ask Lamborghini, €1 million should do it - before tax, of course।

In a bid to burnish its prestige, the Italian maker of the super luxury sports car unveiled the Reventón earlier this week at the Frankfurt International Motor Show - a very limited edition car that looks more like an arrow than anything on four wheels।

With the $1.4 million price tag, it is the most expensive car ever built. Needless to say, Lamborghini has already sold the 20 cars that it planned to build."As soon as the word got out, we sold out in four days," Stephan Winkelmann, the company's chief executive, said, adding that Lamborghini could have easily sold another 20.Most of the buyers were men from the United States, some of whom already own a Lamborghini, Winkelmann said.Lamborghini named the car after a bull that killed matador Felix Guzman in 1943.

Although it is based on its Murciélago LP640 model, Lamborghini's engineers took inspiration from a fighter jet and reworked the composite carbon fibre body to accentuate the sleekness and angular edges usually associated with its cars.The engine is the same as the LP640: a 12-cylinder rocket that can propel the car from zero to 100 kilometers per hour, or 60 miles per hour, in 3.4 seconds.By comparison, the coupe version of the LP640 costs a relatively more modest €219,600.

Lamborghini, which is run by Volkswagen's Audi division, will start making the Reventón in January and deliver them in October.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/13/business/auto.php

Import Indian bridegrooms for Russian brides

2007-09-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Vladimir Radyuhin

New Russian magic mantra to reverse alarming fall in the country’s birth rate

MOSCOW: Desperate to reverse a steep decline in their numbers, Russians are coming up with some bold ideas on how to overcome Russia’s demographic crisis.

A Russian feminist has proposed a radical solution to the falling birth rate — importing Indian bridegrooms for Russian girls. Maria Arbatova, writer and TV moderator, who married an Indian businessman a few years ago “after 25 years of keeping marrying Russians”, thinks Indian men make ideal husbands.

“They are crazy about their family and children,” she said presenting her new book, ‘Tasting India’, here. “What is more, Indians, like Russians, are Indo-Europeans, and many Sanskrit and Russian words have the same roots.”

Indian bridegrooms can help ward off a Chinese demographic invasion in Russia, says the feminist: “If we do not balance off the Chinese with Indians, Africans or aliens, by 2050 China will annex Russia’s Siberia up to the Ural Mountains.”

Russia has a population of 142 million spread across a territory five times the size of India. Its population is shrinking at one-third of a million a year. Under a federal programme launched this year, women who give birth to a second or subsequent child are given certificates worth $10,000, which can be used for education, mortgage or pensions. Monthly support payments to young mothers have been raised from $28 to $60. Afraid that the Government measures are not enough, the Governor of Ulyanovsk has suggested his own way of getting Russian couples to have more babies.

This Wednesday, Ulyanovsk residents will enjoy an extra day off work that the Governor decreed to give them more time to produce babies. The holiday, officially called “Family Contact Day”, was quickly renamed by locals as “Day of Conception”. That day the people will be invited to join a festival, “I Love You”, while teams of gynaecologists, midwives and psychologists will fan out to all parts of the region to advise women on having babies.

September 12 has been chosen for the new holiday so that babies conceived that day may be born on June 12, Russia’s National Day. Couples who hit the target date win prizes, including refrigerators, TV sets and washing machines. The main prize is an Ulyanovsk-built all-terrain vehicle called Patriot.

© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007091256220100.htm&date=2007/09/12/&prd=th&

In Its Match With China, India Penalizes Its Own Team

2007-09-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

In Its Match With China, India Penalizes Its Own Team
(from the New York times)
April 24, 2007Op-Ed ColumnistBy NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
KHAWASPUR, India

India is stirring after many centuries of torpor, and it has a chance of ending this century as the capital of the world, the most important nation on earth. You see up-and-coming cities like Hyderabad or Ahmedabad, and it’s easy to believe that India will eventually surpass China.
But here in rural Bihar state in northern India, there’s no economic miracle to be seen. And it’s difficult to see how India can emerge on top unless it takes advantage of its greatest untapped resource: its rural population.

The village of Khawaspur has no electricity. It has a school with 600 students, but — as is common in Indian state schools — many teachers show up only rarely. “We go to school, but the teachers don’t,” explained Doli, a second-grade girl.
On a typical day there will be just one or two teachers in the whole school, and the students learn next to nothing. “You have to bribe your way to be a teacher there,” explained Yogender Singh, who tutors children for payment.
No child I met in Khawaspur had ever been vaccinated for anything. And the local government hospital exists only in theory.
“There is a hospital,” said a villager named Muhammad Shaukat. “But there’s not even a door or a window. Forget about a doctor.”

That’s a common problem: the government pays for schools, clinics or vaccinations, but someone pockets the money and no education or health care materializes.
In a village in Gujarat that I visited on this trip, all the children were out of school because the teachers had decided to take a monthlong vacation. One sixth-grade student, Ramila, could not write her name, not even in Gujarati.

Another sixth grader, Janah, said that when it came time for exams, the teachers wrote the answers on the blackboard for students to copy so the exam results wouldn’t embarrass the school.

Then there’s the toll of malnutrition. India has more malnourished children than any country in the world and one of the highest rates of malnutrition, 30 to 47 percent, depending on who does the estimating.

Those malnourished children suffer permanent losses in I.Q. and cognition, and are easy prey for diseases. There is some evidence that widespread malnutrition lowers economic growth in affected countries by two to four percentage points a year.
So in the middle of this century, India will still be held back by its failure to educate, feed and vaccinate its children today. This failure will haunt India for many decades to come. Sure, China has many similar problems, with growing gaps between rich and poor and an interior that is being left far behind. But rural Chinese schools provide a basic education, including solid math and science skills.

India’s boom is real, and its overall growth rate puts India right at China’s heels. Its middle class is expanding, governance is improving, and the transformation is one of the most exciting things going on in the world today. The 21st century will belong to Asia, and young Americans need to study Asia, live in it and learn its languages.

But Indians refer to the “Bimaru” states — a play on the word “bimar,” which means “sick” in Hindi. The Bimaru states are Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and Orissa deserves a spot as well.

In the Bimaru states, there is no boom. “We see nothing here,” said Vidya Sagar Gupta, a businessman who once operated many factories in northern Bihar. Now he has closed most of
them down and is trying to sell his properties.

Electricity is unreliable, crime is growing, corruption is endless, the agricultural sector is in crisis, supplies are difficult to get, and criminal gangs and politics are so interwoven that it is difficult to foresee improvements, he says.

For anyone who wants to see this country succeed, a visit to rural India is a bitter disappointment. Ela Bhatt, who founded the Self-Employed Women’s Association, a union of poor women that now has nearly one million members, told me that India’s economy is profoundly limited: “It is like a car having one motorized tire, and the others are cart wheels.”
So in the great race of this century, the race to see which country will lead the world in 2100, I’m still betting on China for now. I’m having my kids learn Chinese, not Hindi (or Indian English, a remarkable language in its own right).

Until India’s economic boom becomes much more broadly based, and until Indian schools manage to teach their students, this country will continue to waste its precious brainpower and won’t achieve a fraction of what it should.

Our Achilles heel

2007-09-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

MEN & IDEAS
Our Achilles heel
9 Sep 2007,
0239 hrs IST,
Gurcharan Das

A friend of mine, who hikes frequently in the Himalayas, showed me a solar torch the other day which gives light for seven hours before you need to recharge it in the sun. It has a hook for hanging and can light up a small room. My friend uses it for camping. But what a boon, i thought, for our 250,000 villages without electricity and the millions of school children who can't do homework at night and village women who fear walking after dark.

I googled the maker of the torch and discovered an inspiring story about how to be both a good and an effective human being. Mark Bent, an American, worked for 20 years in Africa and saw the waste behind government aid programs. He came home and invented what he calls the BoGo solar torch. BoGo means 'Buy One, Give One'. When you buy one flashlight for Rs 1,000, Mark gives one at half price to NGOs in Africa, who give it to villagers at a nominal price. Mark makes the torches in China to keep costs low. The story is remarkable not because Mark is a 'do-gooder' but because he has found an innovative and sustainable way to profit from the rich and benefit the poor.

Rich campers bring light to African villagers. I hope some NGO in India will google Mark and begin distributing these torches here. Now, why couldn't one of our boys or girls invent and market this lamp? The answer, of course, is our education system, which stifles all creativity through rote learning. It was modelled on the British system, but the British have moved on and reformed theirs, partly under American inspiration. But our kids are still stuck in a world of cramming and coaching classes.

The disease lies in the lack of autonomy. The ministry of HRD and its children, University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have a stranglehold. A college cannot decide what courses to teach, what fees to charge and what salaries to pay its professors. How could creativity emerge from this servitude? Creating new universities, as the PM proposes, is not the answer unless you give them autonomy. Forget creativity, Indian companies are frightened by the shortage of basic skills which is currently driving up salaries unhealthily. Of the 400,000 new engineers that graduate each year, roughly 100,000 have the skills to enter the job market. It is tragic that over 400,000 students strive for 6,000 IIT and IIM seats annually.

The answer, of course, is to increase the supply of good colleges. As it is, we lose 160,000 students to foreign universities and parents pay $3 billion in fees and costs. Indian 'edupreneurs' and foreign universities have repeatedly tried to start high quality campuses but the HRD ministry's 'licence raj' drives them away. AICTE even wants to close down the prestigious, private Indian School of Business which offers a better education than an IIM. The draft foreign universities bill doesn't provide autonomy either and ensures that no decent foreign university will enter India. Our education system is our Achilles heel and we will not spawn Mark Bents until we do a 1991 on HRD and unbind India's education. Meanwhile, I console myself in knowing that there are individuals like my friend, N S Raghavan, who is using part of his Infosys fortune to incubate entrepreneurs at the IIM Bangalore. He will make a difference and modest breakthroughs like Mark Bent's will contribute more to human happiness than either the massive aid programs of governments or the soul-killing mediocrity of our universities.

2007-09-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

Japan's subtle etiquette code
By Kumiko Makihara
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

TOKYO: Every day in Japan I face etiquette dilemmas.

My son returns from camp with another child's clothes. Do I ship them back dirty, which seems sort of mean, or do I launder them, which would cause the owner to lose face?
My neighbor tells me to leave my phone number in her letter box if I want to occasionally receive baked goods from her. It seems forward of me to leave her my number, but I don't want to ignore her request.

I'm in a crowded train, and my nose is running. Blowing is considered disgusting here, but the alternative is disgusting to me.

From the proper degree of a bow (15 to 45 degrees depending on occasion) to how a lady eats a rice cracker (broken by hand into bite size pieces with handkerchief on lap), a\ncomplex and subtle etiquette code dictates the proper way to do everything in Japan.

Japanese embrace the rules because following them assures there will be no offensive or embarrassing moments. My parents implanted the code into me from childhood, warning that I would be shunned if I didn't learn the protocol. But my reflexes are rusty from having lived abroad for many years.

Judging from the large section of manners books at my local bookstore, I'm not the only lost, rude soul. Increased social interaction and new technology like cellphones and computers have diversified scenarios giving rise to more rules and a big demand for the latest etiquette guides.

Last year, long-time former bureaucrat Mariko Bando set out to write a book on how professional women could maintain their emotional dignity in a male-dominated workplace, but her publishers urged her to cover etiquette tips like attire, manners and polite language. She complied, and "Dignity of a Woman" has become a best seller.

Manners books traditionally focused on "kan kon sou sai" - literally meaning the rites of coming of age - weddings, funerals and ancestor worship. Now they offer titles like "PTA Dictionary for Getting Along with Others and Writing Notes," which tells you how to inform the teacher that your child has to sit out gym class or how to wiggle out of committee duties. A letter-writing guide offers tips on composing an apology note to a store where you have shoplifted two packs of gum and some AA batteries, (express deep remorse even if the items are small) and declining an offer for a second hand piano (blame it on a scatterbrained child who now wants to take swimming instead).

It doesn't all end in this lifetime either. Funeral preparation books offer pointers on how to be well-regarded after death. Want to make a phone call? I found four books on the store shelf devoted exclusively to phone manners with tips like no walking and talking on a cellphone because the other party might detect a roughness of breath or hear your footsteps. If you buy the phone guide, you might need a language handbook, too, to guide you through the\nmaze of honorifics. I was recently tongue-tied with confusion on the phone with\nmy father's secretary when trying to tell her my father didn't need to call me\nback. I must use respectful forms when addressing her but humble language when referring to my father or myself.

There are plenty of\netiquette guides for foreign visitors, but it's probably most important to try to do as others do instead of flaunting what you think you may know. On several\noccasions I've seen foreigners striking wooden chopsticks against each other, smug that they know how to smooth off any splinters. That's actually a crass gesture. These people probably don't know that there are more than 30 faux pas chopsticks maneuvers each with their proper term like sucking and wandering.

A likely infraction that is a topic of much discussion these days is applying makeup on trains. It's become a common sight to see young women drawing their eyeliner and\nbrushing on mascara with great dexterity in crowded morning commuter trains. While critics say grooming is a private act that others don't wish to observe,"there are still no rules for anonymous situations," says Bando.

It doesn't all end in this lifetime either. Funeral preparation books offer pointers on how to be well-regarded after death.

Want to make a phone call? I found four books on the store shelf devoted exclusively to phone manners with tips like no walking and talking on a cellphone because the other party might detect a roughness of breath or hear your footsteps. If you buy the phone guide, you might need a language handbook, too, to guide you through the maze of honorifics. I was recently tongue-tied with confusion on the phone with my father's secretary when trying to tell her my father didn't need to call me back. I must use respectful forms when addressing her but humble language when referring to my father or myself.

There are plenty of etiquette guides for foreign visitors, but it's probably most important to try to do as others do instead of flaunting what you think you may know. On several occasions I've seen foreigners striking wooden chopsticks against each other, smug that they know how to smooth off any splinters. That's actually a crass gesture. These people probably don't know that there are more than 30 faux pas chopsticks maneuvers each with their proper term like sucking and wandering.

A likely infraction that is a topic of much discussion these days is applying makeup on trains. It's become a common sight to see young women drawing their eyeliner and brushing on mascara with great dexterity in crowded morning commuter trains. While critics say grooming is a private act that others don't wish to observe, "there are still no rules for anonymous situations," says Bando.

I'm still trying to get my bearings back, and my current strategy is to overcompensate. I laundered and ironed the scraggly camp clothes and took a gift with me when I presented my neighbor with my phone number. On the packed train, I dabbed my nose and swallowed the rest. All for the sake of politesse.

Kumiko Makihara is a freelance writer based in Tokyo.

Poor Calcutta!

2007-09-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

September 5, 2007

Op-Ed Contributor
Poor Calcutta
By CHITRITA BANERJI
Cambridge, Mass.

ONE morning in January 1997, I walked into my office at a nonprofit group here after a visit to my hometown, Calcutta. A very senior colleague, whom I would have, until then, characterized as being the “sensitive” sort, greeted me: “Welcome back. And how is everyone in Calcutta — still starving and being looked after by Mother Teresa?”
At first I thought this might be a bad attempt at humor, but I soon realized that my colleague was seriously inquiring about my city’s suffering humanity and its ministering angel — the only images Calcutta evoked for him and countless others in the West. When Mother Teresa died eight months later, 10 years ago today, foreign dignitaries and the Western news media descended on the city. The reports on the funeral portrayed a city filled with starving orphans, wretched slums and dying people abandoned on the streets, except for the fortunate ones rescued by Mother Teresa.

They described a city I didn’t recognize as the place where I had spent the first 20 years of my life. There was no mention of Calcutta’s beautiful buildings and educated middle class, or its history of religious tolerance and its vibrant literary and cultural life. Besides, other Indian cities also have their share of poverty, slums and destitution, as would be expected in a country where a third of the population lives on $1 a day — for example, more than half of Mumbai residents live in slums, far more than in Calcutta. Why were they not equally damned in the eyes of the world?

The answer was that none of them served for seven decades as the adopted home base for a saintly European crusader whose work could succeed only if it was disproportionately magnified. It was an instance of spin in which the news media colluded — voluntarily or not — with a religious figure who was as shrewd as any fund-raising politician, as is evident from the global expansion of her organization. For Calcutta natives like me, however, Mother Teresa’s charity also evoked the colonial past — she felt she knew what was best for the third world masses, whether it was condemning abortion or offering to convert those who were on the verge of death.

After the funeral, I comforted myself with the possibility that Mother Teresa’s death might redress the balance of perception. Calcutta, once called the second city of the British Empire, would again be seen as a pulsing metropolis of 14 million that has survived despite being twice slammed by huge influxes of refugees, once after the partition of 1947 and again during the Bangladesh war of independence in 1971. In the absence of a missionary who had never allowed her compassion to be de-linked from Catholic dogma, I hoped the world would recognize that Calcutta has not merely survived, it has battled tremendous odds without losing its soul.
Ten years and one beatification later, however, the relentless hagiography of the Catholic Church and the peculiar tunnel vision of the news media continue to equate Calcutta with the twinned entities of destitution and succor publicized by Mother Teresa. With cultish fervor, her organization, the Missionaries of Charity, promotes her as an icon of mercy. Meanwhile, countless unheralded local organizations work for the needy without the glamour of a Nobel Prize or of impending sainthood.

Charity need not be inconsistent with clarity. Calcutta is a modern Indian city where poverty and inequality coexist with measurably increasing prosperity, expanding opportunities, cautious optimism and, above all, pride in its unique character. Mother Teresa might have meant well, but she furthered her mission by robbing Calcutta of its richly nuanced identity while pretending to love it.

Chitrita Banerji is the author, most recently, of “Eating India: An Odyssey Into the Food and Culture of the Land of Spices.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/opinion/05banerji.html?_r=2&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print

India at 60 - An interesting read!

2007-08-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

India's democratic path
By Salil Tripathi
International Herald TribuneTuesday, August 14, 2007

At their blood-soaked independence 60 years ago this week, India and Pakistan embarked on unique experiments in nation-building. Pakistan was to be a nation bringing together diverse languages, ethnic groups and cultures, united by a common faith - Islam - even if its eastern and western wings were miles apart, with India, a neighbor it considered hostile, straddled in between.The Indian dream was to unite an even more diverse body of ethnicities, languages, castes, cultures and religions, to mold a country built on the ideals of secular, liberal democracy.The difference between the two visions is so fundamental that the many ties that bind the two nations - music, cinema, food, cricket, culture and a shared history - cannot overcome it.Pakistan made religion its centerpiece, making people subservient to the state. India, despite its overt religiosity, officially swore by secularism, and its institutions strove to keep its people politically free for most of its post-independence history - with the exception of the "Emergency" of 1975-1977, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended key provisions of the Constitution and jailed many of her opponents.

There was never a race between the two countries: India is, after all, many times bigger and has far more people - but the world, and Pakistan, saw it as a rivalry. The politics of the Cold War polarized that thinking, with Pakistan being a U.S. ally, and for some time a member of Central Treaty Organization; India opting ostensibly for nonalignment, but in essence, supporting Soviet positions on many issues.Those ties notwithstanding, it was India's great frustration that it could not decouple itself from the politics of the subcontinent.Strangely, it was the tit-for-tat nuclear tests of 1998 - and not the original Indian nuclear test of 1974 - that helped India sail away from being linked with Pakistan. By making its nuclear program overt, Pakistan thought it secured parity; instead, it became the subject of international pressure. India escaped much censure because by then India was already a booming economy; its businesses critical in the globalized world of multinational business and trade; and what India considers its crown jewels - its rule of law, its English-speaking elite, and its dynamic private sector - were being recognized internationally.

To be sure, both had internal strife. India in Punjab, Kashmir, and its northeast; Pakistan had skirmishes in its frontier provinces, its business capital Karachi becoming the capital of lawlessness, and its social structure disintegrated after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan of 1979, which helped consolidate the nearly decade-long rule of General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, under whose leadership Pakistan embraced a form of Islam that its founding fathers had never bargained for.One could argue Pakistan had little choice, once it had chosen to be a theocracy. The more Pakistani society modernized, the more its people sought freedom, the more Pakistan would begin to look like India. But being like India was not the point of the Partition: The point was to create a home for the subcontinent's Muslims, who were presumably unsafe in India. But while India has a shameful record of riots in which many Muslims have died, and many Muslims lead lives of utter destitution (but then so do many Hindus and others, too), it was also electing Muslims as presidents, appointing them to head the air force, to the supreme court, and Muslims dominated Bollywood, played cricket for India, and founded multimillion dollar companies.

In Pakistan, the record of advances for minorities was poorer.Faith alone could not bind Pakistan, in any case. East Pakistan went its own way, becoming Bangladesh in 1971 after a civil war that killed over 300,000 civilians. In 1984, the astute British author of Pakistani origin, Tariq Ali, raised pertinent questions about his former home in a book called "Can Pakistan Survive?" A year later, M. J. Akbar, an Indian writer, wrote a sobering yet sunny book about India, called "The Siege Within," suggesting that despite its internal turmoil, the country would hold together because its democratic form permitted dissent.Today, India connotes images of the hi-tech city of Bangalore and shopping malls of Gurgaon; Pakistan reminds many foreigners of madrasas from where militants emerge. Indeed, that is a caricature, but like all clichés, there is a grain of truth in these images.Clearly everything isn't sound with India. Maoists control stretches of Indian hinterland; the caste wars have not abated; bomb blasts occur periodically; and there are concerns over perceived rise in inequality. (In fact, after 15 years of economic reforms, India has lifted more people out of absolute poverty than at any time in its history). India has succeeded, not only to break free from being compared constantly with Pakistan, but it is being taken reasonably seriously in world affairs. The nuclear agreement between India and the United States and the important role India plays in current global trade negotiations are examples of that.

What brought about that change in perceptions?National choices may provide the key. Pakistan opted for religion and military, two forces that require submission to authority, to bind the nation. The corruption of its military could not be questioned; and its flawed democratic leaders rarely given the opportunity to complete their terms.In India, such choices were left for the people to decide. The military largely remained in the barracks, brought out on the Republic Day in January every year like family silver for display. Of course, it suppressed - often brutally - insurgencies in the northeast, Punjab and Kashmir. But those insurgencies existed in the first place because India did not fully extend its democracy to those regions.Elsewhere, India trusted the basics of democracy - where people could, and did, vote out governments, and elect leaders who more accurately represented their interests.When political pressure increased, India had the mechanism that permitted the steam to be let off. Pakistan did not, except rarely - which is why the recent reinstatement of Judge Iftikhar Chaudhry to the Supreme Court, whom President Pervez Musharraf clearly does not like, is all the more remarkable.

The rise of China has resurrected the old debate: Does democracy help, or hinder development? The Chinese compromise - that the rice bowl will be full but the peasants shouldn't ask questions - has seemed attractive to many autocrats around the world, who portray freedom of expression and civil liberties as inconvenient luxuries poor countries cannot afford.But Pakistan shows that an absence of democracy does not mean sustained high growth or a stable order. And India's old excuse - that being democratic it can't grow fast - is also wearing thin. It is among the fastest-growing economies in the world today. What keeps nations free and prosperous, then, are those fundamental freedoms - to think, to speak, to trade?Pakistan has been ruled for nearly half its 60 years by unelected generals and its economy still runs along feudal, monopolistic lines. For its first 45 years, Indians had abundant political freedom, but limited economic freedom. (Wealthy Indians could have any car they wanted, so long as it was a white Ambassador). That has changed, and its people are free, and its businesses are becoming so. That's the real meaning of freedom and the ultimate lesson of this anniversary, for both nations, and beyond.

Salil Tripathi is a London-based writer.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/14/opinion/edtripathi.php

About Shekar Kapur

2007-07-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

The below piece is taken from one of the posts published by Shekhar Kapur on his blog: http://www.shekharkapur.com/blog/archives/2005/11/about_myself.htm#more

The crux of what he says about love echoes what Albert Camus says: That love is noble which is exceptional and short lived..

November 18, 2005 01:32 AM

About Myself

At 22, was an accountant in London long before I dreamt of bieng a film-maker ..
I was successful. But uncomfortable.
I remember strongly feeling the chasm between what I did and who I was. The young man at play (those were the swinging 70's don't forget), and the one at work were two completely different people. With almost a schizophrenic relationship with each other.

So I left accounting in search for a way to overcome that duality.

On the way I have been a model, an actor, a chat show host both in India and the UK, a commercials film maker both in India and Europe, and a film director, also in India and internationally. I also ran an entertainment TV channel, and was for a while a scuba diving instructor.

To find a way define every moment of my waking life as one complete whole, rather than one that is structured into different compartments. One complete emotional all encompassing feeling that embodied everything I did,felt and thought. I just wanted to express myself completely in everything that I did.

The journey turned out much much longer than I thought. It continues to this day. Because the duality existed not merely between work and play, but within work and play.
But on the way, I started to understand some things.
That the words 'truth', 'love' and 'compassion' took on different meanings from those boring idealistic interpretations that were rammed down our throats when we were kids.
There was power,I later discovered, in these concepts. The power to hold everything together. Like falling in love, I discovered.

All structures fall apart in the throes of the first passions of love. All duality dissapeared. Everything emcompassed by that one emotion. Bieng in the throes of love, even life and death encompassed by that one emotion.

Whenever I fell deeply in love, I lived the moment completely. That's what I realized it was all about. I felt a surge of courage I had not felt before. With that courage came such incredible fullfilment of that moment, thatI did not fear the next. Death too, at that time became acceptable. My 'cup of love' as they say, would be full.

But how does on stay in love all the time ? How does one continue this passion all the time ? If the love was derived from one singular person you could wreak havoc on their lives. I have done that before. And my own too. For I had not (atleast not at that time) learnt to 'let go' in love. I had not learnt that the attempt for permanence would utimately kill passion. That love was so much greater when lived in a womb of freedom. That there could no 'ownership' in love.

Thats where I began to understand the concepts of Meera's obsession for Krishna. There was no desire on Meera's part to have a singular relationship with Krishna. Or the Poetry of Rumi and his obsession for his friend. I discovered the difference between Obsession and Ownership. By directing all your passions to an imagined universal force, you could go on deriving from it. Forever. As long as you realized that the obsession for other person was only your conduit to the universe. To yourself.

And then u could continue to exist in that state of creative passion. I began to understand the concept of Prasadam. Where everything you create, you are merely the conduit. Everything you own, is merely an offering that is never complete. At a function in New York where I was awarded the critics award for Best Director, I said from the bottom of my heart :
" I did not direct the film. I am learning not to direct my films. I am learnng that I am merely the gardener. The garden grows. The sun shines. The rains come. The seeds sprout. the flowers bloom. And I watch. Having been the conduit through which the seeds were planted, I merely encompass the garden with love. In return the garden encompasses me with love. And together, we watch in wonder at the creation of the Universe's bounty"
I am learning the power of not imposing. I am learning the power throwing everything to the moment. I understand that is what the concept of Prasadam means.
and gradually, in this path, I try and let the duality, my individuality melt away. Will I suceed ?
Well, isn't that question once again reaffirming my individuality though ? Who is that 'I' that wants to suceed.
Shekhar

Giving credit where it's due

2007-07-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

The Article below appeared in the New York Times/International Herald tribune (Dec 8, 2006) and is by the 2006 Nobel Peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Truly Inspiring...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DHAKA, Bangladesh

When I stepped out of my classroom at Chittagong University 30 years ago and into Jobra, the village next to my campus, I had only one goal in mind: to see if I could be of service to a few starving human beings.

Little did I know that those walks into Jobra village would lead me to walk across a stage in Oslo, Norway this Sunday afternoon to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. What I learned in that village changed my life and the lives of hundreds of millions of others around the world.

In 1976, I met Sufia Khatum, who made bamboo stools. This hardworking woman, who could neither read nor write, became my teacher. She didn't have the money to buy the bamboo for her stools and so she borrowed from a local moneylender on the condition that she sell the finished stools back to him at a price he set.

The moneylender's price barely covered the cost of the bamboo, leaving her with only a two- penny return on her work. This forced her to continue borrowing from the moneylender and placed her in a condition of slave labor. My students found 41 other people like Sufia who needed a grand total of $27 to free themselves from this debt trap. She and the other 41 microentrepreneurs were the first borrowers of what would become Grameen Bank, the institution with which I share the Nobel Peace Prize.

They, and our nearly 7 million current borrowers, who are the owners of the bank, will be with me on that stage receiving the prize. Ninety-six percent of Grameen's clients are women, affecting a total of 35 million family members. We have lent nearly $6 billion over the last 30 years in loans that average $130 each.

The $27 I lent to 42 people 30 years ago was my first lesson in a new kind of banking. The first rules to be broken were the rules of banking. We made small loans to women without collateral, not large loans to men with great holdings. We required no paperwork of our illiterate borrowers, only that they learn to sign their names, and we did our banking in the villages.

Our work is built on the realization that our society has not only marginalized the poor, but also marginalized women. That is why our housing loans are in the name of the woman and require that the title to the land on which the house will be built is also in the name of the woman. We have made nearly 600,000 housing loans on these conditions.

One of our sister organizations, GrameenPhone, has 10 million cellphone subscribers in Bangladesh. There is no revolution in getting cellphones to better-off people in poor countries. Our revolution, however, is placing cellphones in the hands of 300,000 village phone ladies who use the phone as a profitable business. The Nobel Peace Prize has established the link between poverty and peace, and underscored that poverty is a threat to peace. Microcredit plays a very important role in reducing poverty. From humble beginnings 30 years ago with a loan of $27 to 42 people in Jobra, this work has now spread rapidly worldwide, empowered by the Microcredit Summit, a global campaign committed to ensuring 100 million microcredit families rise above the $1 a day threshold by the end of 2015, thus lifting half a billion people out of extreme poverty.

She and the other 41 microentrepreneurs were the first borrowers of what would become Grameen Bank, the institution with which I share the Nobel Peace Prize.
They, and our nearly 7 million current borrowers, who are the owners of the bank, will be with me on that stage receiving the prize. Ninety-six percent of Grameen's clients are women, affecting a total of 35 million family members. We have lent nearly $6 billion over the last 30 years in loans that average $130 each.

The $27 I lent to 42 people 30 years ago was my first lesson in a new kind of banking. The first rules to be broken were the rules of banking. We made small loans to women without collateral, not large loans to men with great holdings. We required no paperwork of our illiterate borrowers, only that they learn to sign their names, and we did our banking in the villages.
Our work is built on the realization that our society has not only marginalized the poor, but also marginalized women. That is why our housing loans are in the name of the woman and require that the title to the land on which the house will be built is also in the name of the woman. We have made nearly 600,000 housing loans on these conditions.

One of our sister organizations, GrameenPhone, has 10 million cellphone subscribers in Bangladesh. There is no revolution in getting cellphones to better-off people in poor countries. Our revolution, however, is placing cellphones in the hands of 300,000 village phone ladies who use the phone as a profitable business.

The Nobel Peace Prize has established the link between poverty and peace, and underscored that poverty is a threat to peace. Microcredit plays a very important role in reducing poverty.
From humble beginnings 30 years ago with a loan of $27 to 42 people in Jobra, this work has now spread rapidly worldwide, empowered by the Microcredit Summit, a global campaign committed to ensuring 100 million microcredit families rise above the $1 a day threshold by the end of 2015, thus lifting half a billion people out of extreme poverty.

Poverty does not belong in a civilized society. It belongs in museums. We are committed to building a world in which our children and grandchildren will have to go to museums to see what poverty looked like..

Alleviating poverty with deep pockets!

2007-07-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

Another encouraging trend that has stated in India..

India Rides the VC Wave
[Source:http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070629_887666_page_2.htm]

The fishermen from the Indian village of Chidambaram live a hard life. They sleep most of the day, then spend the night out on the water. For light during those dark hours, they have long depended on wobbly kerosene lamps that were easily blown out or, worse, toppled by the wind, risking deadly fires on their boats.
But these days, the kerosene lamps have been replaced with MightyLights, $50 solar-powered fixtures. "I save 100 rupees [$2.50] a month on kerosene alone," says K Kanimuri, a fisherman's wife, who also uses the MightyLight in her makeshift kitchen. With her savings, she now makes and sells candles.
Kanimuri and her fellow villagers may not know it, but the change in their fortunes is rooted in global finance. MightyLight is the brainchild of New Delhi-based Cosmos Ignite Innovations, a Stanford University-incubated startup by Matthew Scott and Amit Chugh that aims to provide simple products for the world's poorest people. And Cosmos got its start with backing from Vinod Khosla, a veteran Silicon Valley venture capitalist. Now Cosmos is in talks with other groups, including London-based 3i Group (TIGRF) and eBay (EBAY) founder Pierre Omidyar, for a second round of funding. "For us, it's not just the light, but using a sustainable model to affect social change," says Scott, chief executive of Cosmos.

Going Beyond Tech

Just a few years ago, most venture capital funds focused on pure technology companies operating in industrialized countries. But now, VCs are starting to look for opportunities in the developing world. They believe that it isn't just the tech plays that are scalable and sustainable. What was earlier shunned as small is suddenly a potential business opportunity.
For U.S.-based Matrix Partners (with $150 million under management), the low-hanging fruits in India now include companies in consumer services, health care, financial services, travel, media, and entertainment. Avnish Bajaj, managing director of Matrix Partners India, says the fund is interested in bottom-of-the-pyramid ventures in two potential areas—rural credit and finance, and agriculture-related industries including retail services.
"The base of the pyramid is often ignored, but offers a tremendous opportunity," says Katie Hill, the India representative of Acumen Fund, an $8 million fund backed by the Cisco Systems (CSCO) Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Acumen has put $1.5 million into Ziqitza, a Mumbai-based ambulance company that offers deep discounts on its service for residents of the city's vast slums. Shafi Matther, the founder of Ziqitza, says the funds will be used to stretch the company's ambulance fleet of two dozen vehicles to 70 in the next two years, and roll out service across India. It is already operational in the south Indian state of Kerala.

New Investment Waters

The trend is due in part to the amount of money chasing deals. VCs these days are forced to "invest in less-fished areas," says Sumir Chadha, managing director of U.S.-based Sequoia Capital India, an arm of the famed Silicon Valley VC firm. It was the 25%-to-30% profit potential of Hyderabad-based SKS Microfinance, which gives loans to poor entrepreneurs across India, that attracted Sequoia to invest $11.5 million in March, 2007.
A clincher was also SKS founder Vikram Akula's plan to leverage the microfinance distribution network to sell a range of products from insurance to consumer goods, mobile phones, and even home loans. "This is the next big thing for us," says Chadha. He claims that they are now actively looking at bottom-of-the-pyramid projects.
Or take IT-rural, set up by a group of software engineers from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A clutch of U.S.-based VCs are circling the startup technology venture, which develops solutions for rural India. The company doesn't just provide a bunch of computers and conduct basic-training classes, but has a Web site to educate farmers, giving them information about crop patterns, nature of soil, crop diseases, and remedies. IT-rural also has established backward and forward linkages, from buying the seeds to branding and retailing products.
The company has just finished a pilot project in the 30 villages of the Pulivendala district in Andhra Pradesh. According to Ramakrishna Thiruchelvam, the brain behind IT-rural, the project has covered about 30,000 people and 6,000 farmers cultivating more than 20,000 acres, "raising the GDP of the villages substantially." Some of their fruit has even made it to the shelves of Singapore's retail stores. IT-rural is currently negotiating with the state government to undertake similar IT-related projects in other villages.

Good Business, not Goodwill

But don't mistake such investments as charity. Clearstone Venture Partners, based in Santa Monica, Calif., has put $5 million into DigiBee Microsystems, which expects to pocket handsome profits by selling low-end mobile phones to poor Indians. "We are excited about consumers choosing differentiated products," says Rahul Khanna, a Clearstone director. And two California VC funds—Walden International and New Enterprise Associates—are considering a $5 million investment in Novatium, a Chennai-based company that has developed a $100 personal computer. The machine uses microprocessors similar to those found in cell phones, and Novatium hopes to offer a suite of products including Internet connectivity, application software, and services for $10 a month, according to founder Rajesh Jain. Novatium expects to sell 3 million machines, with the potential to reach 40 million households by 2010. Says Alok Singh, CEO of Novatium, "We have always been market-driven."

The Eternal Question

2007-06-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?

taken from the book, Repetition, Kierkegaard's literary character Young Man laments..

Life in a Metro - My views...

2007-06-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

That modern India has become mature enough to make and positively accept movies that are a reflection of the current state of society has come as a pleasant surprise to me.

Yes, movies like Mother India and Zanjeer did depict the malaise that was prevailing in India at that time. But that was yesteryear. Movies like these have been few and far in between – Rang De Basanti being the most recent example.

Being such an integral part of the “metro” culture, it was possible for me to understand the characters pretty well – and I felt that given such a huge starcast, the director did an excellent job of etching the characters, played by an exceptionally talented star cast - Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay being the obvious standouts. Sherman Joshi was also given reasonable screen time to prove himself yet again. Need I mention Konkana Sen? She, Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay have become brands of quality cinema in India. Shiney was superb too…I only wish he starts doing roles which showed other sides of his acting skills. He seems to be stuck in the I-am-always-so-screwed-in-life roles.

The music is excellent and the way the band (Pritam) keeps appearing sporadically throughout the film is very stylish and entertaining. Someone mentioned that this was inspired by Woody Allen movies. Maybe, but this is inspiration in a very positive way. The camera work was decent, but then such films are not made with an emphasis on cinematography. One of the critical success factors of such multi-story movies is the editing. And full marks to this film for this. The editing was extremely crisp and the stories were seamlessly bound together.

But let me to cut to the chase (whew!), the film shows what’s happening in metro India – infidelity being the most pervasive theme throughout the film. It’s not as if infidelity is a new phenomenon, but yes I tend to think that current lifestyles make it easier, which is alos what the fim implicitly shows - the heavy workloads and crazy ambitions are causing people to enter a vicious cycle where people spend more time at their workplaces, and lesser quality time at home, disrutping their relationships and making them look for other avenues...

The film ends on a happy-happy note – but let’s not kid ourselves; do relationships in real life necessarily see the light at the end of a dark, tumultuous tunnel? You take the call!

Working Class Hero

2007-06-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

Note: I came across this poem on a blog of my friend Mr. Jindal (http://zombieworld.blogspot.com/)
Had to put it on mine too...

A tribute to the working class hero by the one and only Johnny Lenon!

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they're telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me

arre o jumma..

2006-02-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

Finally, besides being famous for IT, Taj mahal, IIT(ahem!), Darjeeling Tea and Goa, India also holds the fascinating distinction of being the first place where a kiss was officially recored. At least thats what Vaughn Bryant, an anthropolgist at Texas A&M has stated (see - http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/13/opinion/edfoer.php). And interestingly, its beacuse of Alexander that the culture travelled to the west.