Monday, January 17, 2011
Government Against Going Green
With the rising fuel prices, it is completely ridiculous that the Government is not promoting green technology. It continues to heavy tax hybrid vehicles which are an answer to the fuel woes of the country in the new decade, but not surprisingly, the Government taxes these vehicles because of most, or almost of the technical input in these vehicles is imported from other countries. This speaks volumes for the sheer lack of creativity and vision of the Congress-led UPA. It can easily control and reverse the dependence on the OPEC controlled fuel cartel, but here too, I feel a scam could be unearthed. Since playing the country into the hands of a cartel does not make economic sense, but for a privileged bureaucratic few and we all know the reason for this...bottom-line, Corruption with a capital "C".
Monday, July 5, 2010
Nooks and crannies
Some nooks and crannies in and around Nainital
in reference to: Facebook | Upload Photos - Stuff (view on Google Sidewiki)Friday, April 30, 2010
The Hunt for Summer Activities
Summer vacations - man, do I dread summer vacations! My kid's is going into her summer break from today and the hunt for summer activities has begun. Troll through dozens of Web sites; try innovative keywords like "summer activities for kids ;-)"; click through link after link only to find dozens of albeit meaningless posts that are often outdated links of "entrepreneurs" offering everything from figure skating lessons (in 40+ degrees Celsius) to guitar classes to pottery works - I am spoilt for choice.
What do I select? When I ask my kid, her definition of fun is vegetating in front of the telly or a visit to her perennially favorite little hill station town of Bhowali, in the hills of Uttarakhand(formerly, Uttaranchal)! A beautiful, sleepy little town around 11 kilometers away from Nainital. While I try and find the purpose of this blog, I wonder what I, as a kid would do in my summer vacations...
Well, to begin with, I was lucky that my dad was posted in Saudi Arabia and every summer and winter break, I would get to fly "first class", I might add to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The moment my mom and I would step off the plane, I would be greeted by the stoic and stiff handshake of my dad (too shy to hug!) and the standard "Hello Son", greeting. Then my dad would whisk us to my favorite Al-Nafora restaurant and I would gorge on "Shawarmas" like no tomorrow.
Thereafter, it was endless days and evenings of swimming, vegetating in front of the telly, meet and greets with the local diplomatic community from India. Fun though it was, the best part of the trip was definitely the vegetating, till on one such trip, my harried dad couldn't take any longer (much like me) and suggested that I take up a summer job.... WHAT!...I shouted, work...are we so poor that I need to work during my summer holls! The world of endless TV, slipping coke and gorging on Shawarmas had come crashing down. Nevertheless, I did take up the assignment that summer and learnt my first lessons in earning money, and was I happy. I made a decent package and got to buy a long cherished Casio watch (with heart rate monitor :)), music tapes, clothes and a bunch of other things.
Which brings me to the point. Summer activities back in the day was about learning life lessons, now however, it is parents spending money just for the sake of it or for bragging rights at the next party. While I am not being a skeptic, I sometimes feel that life is now all about perception and lacking in depth.
Any ideas?
What do I select? When I ask my kid, her definition of fun is vegetating in front of the telly or a visit to her perennially favorite little hill station town of Bhowali, in the hills of Uttarakhand(formerly, Uttaranchal)! A beautiful, sleepy little town around 11 kilometers away from Nainital. While I try and find the purpose of this blog, I wonder what I, as a kid would do in my summer vacations...
Well, to begin with, I was lucky that my dad was posted in Saudi Arabia and every summer and winter break, I would get to fly "first class", I might add to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The moment my mom and I would step off the plane, I would be greeted by the stoic and stiff handshake of my dad (too shy to hug!) and the standard "Hello Son", greeting. Then my dad would whisk us to my favorite Al-Nafora restaurant and I would gorge on "Shawarmas" like no tomorrow.
Thereafter, it was endless days and evenings of swimming, vegetating in front of the telly, meet and greets with the local diplomatic community from India. Fun though it was, the best part of the trip was definitely the vegetating, till on one such trip, my harried dad couldn't take any longer (much like me) and suggested that I take up a summer job.... WHAT!...I shouted, work...are we so poor that I need to work during my summer holls! The world of endless TV, slipping coke and gorging on Shawarmas had come crashing down. Nevertheless, I did take up the assignment that summer and learnt my first lessons in earning money, and was I happy. I made a decent package and got to buy a long cherished Casio watch (with heart rate monitor :)), music tapes, clothes and a bunch of other things.
Which brings me to the point. Summer activities back in the day was about learning life lessons, now however, it is parents spending money just for the sake of it or for bragging rights at the next party. While I am not being a skeptic, I sometimes feel that life is now all about perception and lacking in depth.
Any ideas?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
It’s The Age of Social Networking
I happened to peruse a video that mentioned some staggering statistics. Social networking and user generated content has finally arrived, and here are some of those amazing facts. Read on…
Almost 96 percent of Gen Y is now on some social network or the other. Social media has now taken over porn as the Numero Uno activity on the Web – probably giving Hugh Hefner some really serious nightmares about the future of Playboy
What social networking sites have accomplished in a few months when compared to traditional media:
• Radio will take 38 years to reach 50 million users
• TV will take 13 years to reach 50 million users
• IPOD will take 3 years to reach 50 million users
In context and comparison, Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months – at the rate it is growing, if it were a country, it would be the World’s fourth largest! Even more amazing is the fact that Facebook’s fastest growing segment is 55-65 year-old females.
It is time the Indian Government realized the potential of online instruction when you read that a Department of Education survey done in the United States revealed that students receiving online instruction out performed those in a traditional classroom mode of instruction!
As a potential employee, if you’re not present on LinkedIn, well, do it soon, since 80% of the companies are using this Web site to find potential employees!
And for those who know of or use Twitter, chew on this. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama, and almost 80 percent of Twitter users use mobile as their primary tool for uploading their tweets!
E-mail is slowing losing its relevance at a social level. Gen Y now connects with each other using Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Flickr, Digg, MySpace and YouTube. Speaking of YouTube – it is now apparently the second largest search engine and Wiki’s 13 million plus articles are considered better and more accurate than even the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Unimaginably, the power of social networking can potentially make or break a product or a service. And what better way to promote a product or service that word of mouth. Internet users care more about what or how their social circle ranks or reacts to a product as compared with Google rankings. Understandable when in context that more than 75 percent people trust what their peers say about a product and a dismal 14 percent trust advertisements. Sooner rather than later, the concept or television, radio and print advertising will be akin to flushing money down the toilet.
Social networking is no longer a fad, it is the future.
Almost 96 percent of Gen Y is now on some social network or the other. Social media has now taken over porn as the Numero Uno activity on the Web – probably giving Hugh Hefner some really serious nightmares about the future of Playboy
What social networking sites have accomplished in a few months when compared to traditional media:
• Radio will take 38 years to reach 50 million users
• TV will take 13 years to reach 50 million users
• IPOD will take 3 years to reach 50 million users
In context and comparison, Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months – at the rate it is growing, if it were a country, it would be the World’s fourth largest! Even more amazing is the fact that Facebook’s fastest growing segment is 55-65 year-old females.
It is time the Indian Government realized the potential of online instruction when you read that a Department of Education survey done in the United States revealed that students receiving online instruction out performed those in a traditional classroom mode of instruction!
As a potential employee, if you’re not present on LinkedIn, well, do it soon, since 80% of the companies are using this Web site to find potential employees!
And for those who know of or use Twitter, chew on this. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama, and almost 80 percent of Twitter users use mobile as their primary tool for uploading their tweets!
E-mail is slowing losing its relevance at a social level. Gen Y now connects with each other using Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Flickr, Digg, MySpace and YouTube. Speaking of YouTube – it is now apparently the second largest search engine and Wiki’s 13 million plus articles are considered better and more accurate than even the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Unimaginably, the power of social networking can potentially make or break a product or a service. And what better way to promote a product or service that word of mouth. Internet users care more about what or how their social circle ranks or reacts to a product as compared with Google rankings. Understandable when in context that more than 75 percent people trust what their peers say about a product and a dismal 14 percent trust advertisements. Sooner rather than later, the concept or television, radio and print advertising will be akin to flushing money down the toilet.
Social networking is no longer a fad, it is the future.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Is premature death, destiny, fate or an act of God?
I awoke this morning, pondering this thought. A few of days ago, I read a new clipping about a bus full of people plunging into a dry river bed in Rajasthan killing a number of children and adults. Was it destiny, fate or an act of God? I wonder…
It is quite possible that a brilliant child who died in that accident may have grown up and discovered a cure for HIV AIDS; or another passenger on that “ill-fated” bus could have possibly solved the global demand for renewable, non-polluting energy. Why would the cruel hand of destiny, fate, or any act of God change the course of humanity in such a catastrophic manner?
Ponder another thought – what if Adolph Hitler or Attila the Hun were actually “destined” to die prematurely? Imagine Hitler as a young boy playing in the fields. He then accidentally stumbles into a mine shaft and remains trapped, possibly wounded. Along comes a farmer who rescues him and Hitler grows up to inflict the worst human holocaust the World has ever known – exterminating the Jewish community by the hundreds and thousands, and inflicting a World War on humankind. What if, that farmer never came along, or even if he did, never heard a young Adolph’s cries for help? Adolph Hitler would have died as a child and the Holocaust and the Second World War would never have happened. Was it destiny, fate or the hand of God that intervened and saved Hitler from a premature death?
What if, Hitler had a choice? The choice to systematically exterminate a race or spread the message of peace and win the Noble Prize, and be counted among the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Would he have chosen a different path or did “destiny” drive his choice?
Had the driver of the pickup truck chosen to park his vehicle at the side of the road instead of leaving it on an unlit, narrow bridge – the accident would not have happened. The gifted and brilliant child would have grown up and discovered a cure for HIV AIDS and the World would have a renewable source of non-polluting energy. Unfortunately, this did not happen; why, because the driver of the pickup truck chose to leave his vehicle on a narrow, unlit bridge which resulted in an unnecessary and tragic accident.
Is destiny, fate or an act of God as we see it, linked inextricably with choice?
It is quite possible that a brilliant child who died in that accident may have grown up and discovered a cure for HIV AIDS; or another passenger on that “ill-fated” bus could have possibly solved the global demand for renewable, non-polluting energy. Why would the cruel hand of destiny, fate, or any act of God change the course of humanity in such a catastrophic manner?
Ponder another thought – what if Adolph Hitler or Attila the Hun were actually “destined” to die prematurely? Imagine Hitler as a young boy playing in the fields. He then accidentally stumbles into a mine shaft and remains trapped, possibly wounded. Along comes a farmer who rescues him and Hitler grows up to inflict the worst human holocaust the World has ever known – exterminating the Jewish community by the hundreds and thousands, and inflicting a World War on humankind. What if, that farmer never came along, or even if he did, never heard a young Adolph’s cries for help? Adolph Hitler would have died as a child and the Holocaust and the Second World War would never have happened. Was it destiny, fate or the hand of God that intervened and saved Hitler from a premature death?
What if, Hitler had a choice? The choice to systematically exterminate a race or spread the message of peace and win the Noble Prize, and be counted among the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Would he have chosen a different path or did “destiny” drive his choice?
Had the driver of the pickup truck chosen to park his vehicle at the side of the road instead of leaving it on an unlit, narrow bridge – the accident would not have happened. The gifted and brilliant child would have grown up and discovered a cure for HIV AIDS and the World would have a renewable source of non-polluting energy. Unfortunately, this did not happen; why, because the driver of the pickup truck chose to leave his vehicle on a narrow, unlit bridge which resulted in an unnecessary and tragic accident.
Is destiny, fate or an act of God as we see it, linked inextricably with choice?
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