My Life ... My Journey

As I write this post, a lot is happening in the world. Tunisia recently saw its people force its President to flee the nation and thus usher a new era of welfare and development policies. Egypt is following suit as thousands of people protest on streets against the President Hosni Mubarak who has become a dictator. The oppressive regime of 30 years has infuriated the people to rise against him. As of now, Mr Mubarak is holding to it and has been unrelenting to the demands of the protestors. There is a clampdown including disruption of internet, strict actions against protestors and any action that could intimidate the people. They are projecting a state in chaos if the Mubarak Government concedes to their demand. While the face-off between the two sides continue, we would have to wait and watch what comes out of this. This leads to some serious questions. Was it some recent incidences which led to the current Egyptian revolution or was it a process of accumulated grievances. If the pe...

There was a time when I used to love quizzes. I used to answer the questions posed at me and I took pride in answering them. Soon I realized that I had decent knowledge about India but when it comes to world, I am as good as anyone. I did participate in few quizzes in school and won as well (not necessarily because of my contribution). Nevertheless, I came to college and I actively participated in quizzes. Oh I know some answers, I helped my team get some score but every time I did not clear the preliminary round. It was sad but I did not lose hope. I persevered for a complete one year before realizing it was futile. I had to either get a partner whose knowledge complements me (world, sports, entertainment) or I had to raise my comfort level in the weaker fields. Unfortunately, I failed in both and lost interest in quizzes. Despite this, I did seldom frequent quizzes. After all these years when it's almost time to say goodbye to college, something unbelievable happened. ...

As I set to write this post, two things are remarkable :- It is after a long time I am posting on my blog. (Never tired of being lazy) It may be a race against time as the internet goes in 12 minutes. (restrictions are omnipresent) It is the latter I would talk about. Internet has coem a long way from its use as Darpanet by US Army to becoming a necessity of modern life. You no longer need special LAN wires to access it. It has become as ubiquitous as gossip. (comparison just for the sake of it ;) ) Even the mobiles can be used to access net. The world wide web today allows us to be aware of what's new, gain information regarding specific fields, do research, stay connected with friends and family, play games, look for job to do invest money, do shopping, read books and what not. And because of the versatile nature of internet , it has assumed such a great place in our life. Of course internet has its advantages. Who would deny it. But what amount of time we should spend onl...

India is an emerging superpower. It is expected to be the third largest economy in 2030 after China and US. It's definitely something to feel proud of. But will that pride be accompanied by true happiness. In 2030, India is expected to be the most populous country in the world. More than 6 decades after independence, we are still fighting the same problems of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, malnutrition and corruption. We are the world's largest democracy and have set examples for the world to emulate. We have also in turn been good at absorbing and assimilating ideas, practices and technology from the world, from the people we have come in contact. While it is quite debatable to comment on whether we have imbibed more good things than bad, it is certainly true that we have not been smart enough to solve our problems effectively either through indigenous ideas or best of the world techniques. The reasons are many. Some blame it on the huge population which nullifies whatever...

This discussion ensues from the recent report on demand of separate time zone for North-east. A time zone is a region of the earth that has uniform standard time, usually referred to as the local time. By convention, time zones compute their local time as an offset from UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Local time is UTC plus the current time zone offset for the considered location. India currently has a single time zone compared with Russia's eleven time zones, the US and Canada's six zones, Brazil's four zones and Australia and Kazakhstan's three zones. China, however, is a notable exception with a single time zone. India's east-west span of more than 2,000 km covers over 28 degrees of longitude, resulting in a two hour difference in the sun rise and set across the eastern border and the Rann of Kutch in the far west. Thus, is the demand for separate time zones in some circles. Academicians, youth, teachers, students and women organizations gathered recently to at...

The world must be envying India for its citizens owning mobile phones are in a state of bliss. Calls as cheap as 1 paise/sec and SMS expected to follow soon is a far cry from the early years of 21st century. When once, the customer had to pay hefty price for even incoming calls, the decision to make incoming free has changed the whole scenario. While Mr Raja allegedly involved in spectrum allocation scam may not be feeling 'princely', the mobile users surely would be. There are some reasons why this tariff war is believed to last a little longer :- The new license-holders who have already launched or are going to launch their telecom operations are giving the existing players stiff competition. The proposed number portability system when launched would allow easy migration of customers from one operator to another The Government's decision to reduce termination charges from 20 paise/min, which is the charge one operator has to necessarily pay to other for a call emanating ...

This article which appeared in Economic Times on 29 October 2009 tells that at least half a dozen of top 25 in the world's largest software maker shows significant Indian contribution. Its not only Microsoft, but Indians have proved their mettle in almost every successful business and technology start-ups. Silicon Valley hosts one of the largest Indian tech-force. Its not technology and business alone, Indians have shone in almost every field, ranging from spelling bee contests to music. The diaspora has carved a space for itself. It brings back the old debate of brain-drain. In this globalized world, its impractical to control flow of talent. Whether NRIs have done us more harm than good is a controversy in which I don't want to indulge. But it is true that we must identify the potential of our citizens and give them ample opportunities to hone it and benefit the society, nation and humanity at large. From ' Vishwaguru ' to an urge to become a knowledge economy, all de...