Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Play me a game - CHESS

Some time back I was hit by an idea - to play the rest of the world in a game of chess. Quite a daunting challenge, but when taken lightly enough, it is fun. The forum I chose to host the game is Orkut – a social networking site. I have been interacting with my friends through this site and have also been a member of various communities but was disheartened by the lack of momentum in such groups. I am a member of a group on Chess which has more than 28000 members, yet the momentum is so very slow that it never seemed that anything was happening there.

And my love for the game saw me host a game of chess.

The rules are basic. I’m playing with White pieces while the Rest of the World is busy defending the Black King. The first move that is made for the Black pieces is the accepted move, and anyone (except me) can make that move. No takebacks allowed. And all players are requested to abstain from computer analysis. Once a move is made, others can continue to voice their moves/better moves, missed opportunities and provide analysis for the same. In short, others who missed out on making the move can continue to participate in the game to make it even more interesting.

The game has already started. Some moves have been made.

White: Ranjan
Black: Rest of the World
Site: Orkut

1. e4 e6 (Kunal)
2. d4 d5 (Kunal)
3. Nd2 a6 (Mohinder)
4. Ngf3 c5 (Ram)
5. e x d5

And the current position is shown in the picture below.

The whole idea is fun. So join along and get your brains working. To join in the game, please visit
Orkut

Also I would like to know whether you would like a separate and totally committed blog for this game and for any subsequent games or may I continue here itself. Please let me know what you think.

Hyderabad Trip

Some pictures from Hyderabad

Pigeon

One of the pigeons at the Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad

Portrait

Trying my hand at portraiture

The Flight of Pigeons

Shot at the Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad

Pictures from Hyderabad

Sunset on Hussain Sagar Lake, Hyderabad

Would love to know which one you like better......

Terror Strikes Uttar Pradesh

Back from Hyderabad

I was planning to post a blog entry as soon as I got back from my trip to Hyderabad. I wanted to write about our journey and also prepare an itinerary for travelers and others interested in visiting the city.

However, the theme changed. The terror blasts in Uttar Pradesh changed the course, content and mood. It is yet another heinous and dastardly act of terrorism, through which nothing will be gained. Killing, injuring and maiming countless innocent people is no solution to any political or any religious end. When will people realize it?

The three blasts occurred around noon in and around court premises. The terrorist attack on the Parliament is still fresh in our minds. This time the attack is on the judiciary. If I may hazard a guess – who’s next? The President? There seems to be a system – a pattern in the attack. The terrorists are focusing on the three pillars of democracy in India. They have hurt two till date.

At this juncture, the security forces must tighten their defences in and around the Presidency. And a heavy hand must come down on all terrorists captured. They must all be taught the hard lesson that the unity, the sovereignty and the social and democratic mosaic of India cannot be perturbed.

I have always spoken against capital punishment, always sided against such punishment. Today, I feel that such capital punishment is a necessity for terrorists. Bring them to the court rooms they attacked, prosecute and hang them.

Read more from Rediff

Bandhs and Fundamental Rights

The Bandh culture is back to haunt the city of Kolkata and the state of West Bengal. This time around almost all the Opposition Parties in the State Legislative Assembly have come together to bring West Bengal to a standstill. All of it in protest over the atrocities allegedly committed by the West Bengal government, their administrative wing and the State Government controlled police force, and most importantly the alleged waves of attack using human shields on the followers of BUPC(Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee).

Local newspapers have reported that CPM controlled cadres have used hostages – captured BUPC supporters, and left-supporting residents of Nandigram who were rendered homeless when BUPC started becoming a force to reckon with in the early part of 2007. Violence and lawlessness ruled and civilians were dropping like flies.

It needs a protest. The so-called intellectuals of Kolkata protested. Some of them were even detained at Lalbazar, the police Headquarters. More to reason, than to arrest, I am sure.

The Trinamul Congress Party which has openly been rallying for the BUPC and supporting the movement against CPM followers in Nandigram moved back. The charismatic leader of TMC, Mamata Banerjee even resigned as an MP in protest. But somehow, the parties could not stop calling a Bandh to paralyze the state.

All of it when the State was just recovering from the SUCI bandh on 30th October and the TMC bandh on the 31st in protest over the high handedness of the state administration in the Rizwanur Rehman case and Nandigram. This was followed by an extended weekend due to Diwali and Bhai Dwuj or Bhai Phonta celebrations from last Friday to Sunday.

Come Monday we find the Congress calling a 24 hour Bandh, the SUCI initially calling a 24 hour Bandh and then extending it to 48 hours, the BJP calling a 48 Bandh and the best one from TMC – INDEFINITE.

Of course, these days Bandhs are pretty successful. What with a government bus being set on fire at Moulali, Kolkata this morning and another one torched in Durgapur. Passengers are few, vehicular traffic is minimum, train services are hit and almost all major markets are closed. Is this shutdown on the part of the people in support of the protests at Nandigram?

Would you drive your car around the city when buses are being torched? Would you risk your child’s health and life by sending him/her to school today, when a stray fight or shrapnel could cause fatal harm? The people are staying in, neither in support of the Bandh nor in protest over Nandigram but because of fear of loss of life and property.

The politics of fear and the culture of Bandhs need to cease. A Supreme Court verdict has rendered all Bandh calls by political parties illegal and fines have already been imposed on some parties in other states. People have a right to carry on with their life normally. This is a fundamental right and depriving a citizen of this right is an outright violation of the Constitution of India and a major blow to human rights. The right agencies should take up the matter seriously, as also the political parties.

Whereas I totally agree that the culprits of Nandigram should be booked and brought to justice and my heart pains for the lives lost in the struggle there, whereas I want peace to dwell in Nandigram and all across the State, I don’t agree to the fact that Bandhs are the means to achieve such goals, and I protest this blatant violation of my right to get on with my work and daily life.

A Day at Shantiniketan, Bolpur

Thanks to Hemanta Sarkar who was kind enough to give me this trip, explaining the significance of each place.

GREENERY

Paddy Green

I Love Chandeliers

Almost all Durga Puja pandals have one or more chandeliers, and when lit up - they look wonderful.

DURGA PUJA

These are some images from the Durga Puja in and around Kolkata

PEACE BE AT NANDIGRAM

It causes grave concern that the boiling issue of land acquisition took such a turn as to take the horrifying shape of war at Nandigram. Hundreds of people have died in this pseudo war raging in Midnapur, West Bengal. Clearly, two factions have emerged and both appear equipped with modern assault weapons, and since January 2007, the warring factions have further aggravated the situation.

The unfortunate situation has been marked by a conspicuous absence of police and other administration personnel. The matter and the burning issue should have been resolved and contained with an iron hand of the administration and the government. The government in West Bengal continues to remain accountable for the maladministration in Nandigram. The government is answerable. So where are the answers? I fully support our current Chief Minister. He appears to be an honest person driven by development prospects within the state. But Sir, where are you and where are your comments?

The media has been blaring on the issue and all political parties are putting forth their views and opinions. I, however, fail to understand why should there be a Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee. The government had announced way back in March that there would be no immediate land acquisitions in Nandigram. So why should the BUPC still exist? If there is no land acquisition, why should there be a committee to prevent it. More so, with weapons. Ultra modern and automatic weapons!

All the killings need to stop at the earliest. I am sure that the government of West Bengal is committed towards the Constitution of India and would safeguard the interests and fundamental rights of all its citizens in Nandigram and all over the state. The culprits would be brought to book and peace should dwell.

Read more on this issue at http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/11nandigram3.htm

For peace at Nandigram.

I AM BACK

It feels good to be back once again on blogger and blogspot. I have been really very busy over the last few months with work at my office. From now on I intend to be online more often and write a bit more frequently. Please help me people with your feedback and suggestions.

Twenty20 and Indian Captain

I have been planning to write a lot on the latest version of cricket matches - the Twenty20 format for quite some time. But before I could start on it, the World Cup took the whole cricketing world in its grip.

I think it is a wonderful format. Twenty overs per innings, and by three or three and a half hours, the game is won or lost. Let us not assume for even a moment that the players workload has gone down. If one watches the telecast, it can be seen that the bowlers are actually running back to their marks. No time is allowed to be wasted. In fact, if any team cannot complete their bowling of twenty overs then they are harshly penalised. All for the good of the game.

I especially enjoyed and liked the concept of "BOWL OUT". The league match between India and Pakistan was tied, and to break the tie, "BOWL OUT" had to played out. Just like penalty kick shootout in football, here five bowlers are selected by their respective captains and they bowl a ball each, by turn, alternating between the two teams and the team which knocks off the stumps more number of times wins. Just like India defeated Pakistan 3 - 0.

Dhoni, the Indian captain in this version of the game, however, doesn't prefer to win this way. That brings me to the next point of discussion. Rahul Dravid's resignation. Frankly, he should have resigned after the World Cup debacle and retired right now. His performance as a batsman and as a captain hasn't been good enough to merit any continuation. In fact, everyone agrees that Sourav Ganguly has been one of India's greatest captains ever, so if you have him in your team, use his cricketing brain. Very much like having Edison in a summer camp and not inventing a thing or two.

In any case, Ganguly's captaincy was never questioned. So why wasn't he reinstalled to his rightful position within the team. However, the shameful and shoddy way in which he was treated by BCCI, More and Chappel, he would naturally stay away from any important position.

So who should be the captain???

The certainties within the teams are few - Dhoni and Yuvraj, Sourav and Sachin, Dravid and Zaheer.

My suggestion would be - Dhoni as captain and Piyush Chawla as vice captain in all formats of the game. Please let us not make the same mistake by selecting a senior player as the captain, we are a futuristic team and let us not err in selecting both captain and vice captain of the same age group. One may end up never becoming nor standing a chance to lead the team. Of course they'd be groomed by the greatest maestro - Sourav in the fine art of captaining the side, forming a cohesive unit with a common objective.

My best wishes with the Indian Cricket team in South Africa.

Of TV Shows and Consumerism

It is such a nice feeling to be back on Blogger. I have been missing a lot. However, things at home that kept me away were no less important.

A lot has been happening, and even though I was reading my daily dose of Times of India, I was missing the fun part of commenting on the many happenings. One of the happenings that has hooked me proper is the Voice of India – a singing competition on Star Plus. I really like the show and make it a point to catch it on Fridays and Saturdays.

But I somehow feel that the judging system isn’t all that fine. I mean, it is fine for people to vote and let the singers know what they think about them. But I guess the audience should play second fiddle to the ones who can actually judge. I feel when you open the judging process to the public, the biggest element becomes popularity. In strict marketing terms, you are not looking for the best nor the most versatile singer, but rather the most popular one – one who can sell your label. Well, that is frankly, the ugly face of consumerism.

A blog entry reads
“Big Business has always had a reputation for taking the common man for a ride. For instance I have been using Axe Deodorant for years now and EXCUSE ME BUT WHERE ARE THE WOMEN IN SKIMPY CLOTHES FOLLOWING ME AROUND GRADUALLY SHEDDING CLOTHES IN THE PROCESS AND GETTING ALL WORKED UP IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? HUH? HUH?”

In this era, we have come to equate our happiness with material possessions. And most of these possessions have no practical utility. Hence, now the trend is to purchase and be happy. This is today’s CONSUMERISM.

During my days at the University of Calcutta where I was pursuing my Master’s degree course in Economics, the meaning of consumerism was something different. It was close to Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand Theory or the fact that when consumers choose freely, they dictate and thereby create the edifice of the economy – a holistic view towards the improvement of the consumption basket and therefore ensuring maximum utility and maximum satisfaction. All of it aimed for the consumer. But that was a few years back.

As my Strategic Management teacher at BHU would have said – In this era of tumultuous, turbulent and tectonic changes in the mosaic of our society, it would be rather naïve to stay put with such a Jurassic ideology. The present context of consumerism - that people would buy goods in excess of their requirements is, however, not a new phenomenon. The phrase simple living is not new. So if there was something called simple living, then there should also have been some living style that was not so simple.

It would be prudent to mention at this juncture that my thoughts channeled herein would have a tinge of communism, a tinge of Karl Marx, but I want to essentially stay away from any criticism on that regard. The most basic concept in Economics is to understand that resources are scarce and these scarce resources can be combined to satisfy certain wants, which in turn stem from needs. But wants are many and resources are scarce, so one has to choose. Loosely speaking, Economics is therefore the art and science of making choices in an environment of scarce resources and unlimited wants - to put resources to optimal use to maximize human satisfaction.

Does the reader get a feeling of a zero-sum game here?
If one combines 5 units of labor with 2 units of capital, therein exhausting all resources, then the economy may get 5 units of food and 5 units of wine.
But if one combines 3 units of labor with 3 units of capital, therein exhausting all resources, then the economy gets 4 units of food and 6 units of wine.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. A food crisis develops. Prices rise. Inflation. People start consuming more wine to forget the pains and pangs of scarcity of food, depression sets it. Fights break out. People steal. Kill each other.

Look around yourself. What do you see?
Pick up a newspaper. What do you read?

The present variety of consumerism is peccably skewing the society’s matrix towards an abyss. A generation is being told what to consume so very aggressively that one would become confused. And I still remember a friend’s quote – to win an argument, a debate, first confuse, then tell them what you think most logically, they will buy it.

And yes we are buying it. We are buying it all. The aggressive line remains that one identifies with what one consumes – products and brands. Brands today have status-enhancing capabilities. If you are not spending half your salary on the latest mobile phones and the other half on cold drinks and pizzas, then are you man or woman enough?

I liked how Chetan Bhagat used a scene in One Night @ the Call Center. Please read the book to find more on that. It is a good one and not a waste, trust me.

Lifestyle. Parties. Junk food. Laptops and computers. Mobiles and digital cameras. Cars and bikes. I Pods. How could I miss one??????

No, seriously, as I said – economics is about choice. We have a choice. A better future or more butter?

Judging Singing Competitions on TV Shows

Every channel on the Television seems to have been bitten by the American Idol Bug. All of them are organizing competitions for singers and the competitions never seem to end. Interestingly, all the channels have roped in eminent personalities from the music fraternity, music composers, lyricists, singers, et al. Quite an illustrious array at that. Somewhere one would see Asha Bhonsle (my all-time favorite), elsewhere Alka Yagnik, somewhere Anu Malik, elsewhere long lost Bappi Lahiri. And what do they do?

They judge. They judge the singers whether they can win it at all. But hold it there. Soon enough and quite expectantly, you would see a singer speaking to you directly. Please vote for me so that I may go into the next round, so that I may win. I have never voted, yet. Give me the power of veto and I will use it for a larger proportion of those wannabe singers. And when people vote, it isn't so much a contest on singing abilities, but rather of looks and popularity.

But if we are voting and making them win, why have they hired judges? To add to the attraction of the package? To fight amongst themselves and make it appear spontaneous? What is the purpose of judges when people would decide? More importantly while awarding points for individual performances, I am sure a sheep logic is at play at times. And the variation in the points, at times, also brings in a lot to discuss and comment upon.

The variations, I have noticed are, at times, big. For instance, Judge A awards 9 out of 10 to Singer S, and Judge B awards 5 out of 10 to the same singer. And to make matters more suspicious, Judge A awards 7 out of 10 to Singer T, and Judge B awards 9 to singer T. I don’t get it. Surely, the evaluation is subjective. But what makes matters worse is the fact that there are no norms laid down for the evaluation process. Each judge looks for something he/she thinks is more important. And in the process ignores all else.

And it looks so ugly when they fight. They think they are standing up for what they believe is right. God! Respect each other’s opinions, and get on with it. Surely, 20 judges will not come to an agreement that easily, but they could just respect each others’ opinions and not invade all too frequently on their spaces.

And honestly, give the audience a break. A long one. Not the kind which says, “ We’ll be right back, kahin jayi’ega nehin.” But the kind which says, “See you next year, till them, relax and watch sensible programming.”

On Blogging

Are we now approaching the phase in the internet world when blogs would gradually start phasing themselves out?

Here's an article that caught my eye.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jul/03guest.htm

I also remember having had a bitter fight over a Google Talk window with a senior from BHU on blogging. He somehow felt that it was for people with an awful lot of time and nothing much else to do.

Obviously, i don't agree. But there are certain aspects that bloggers have to be careful about.
The issue is that of waning interest. Just like in school, one is taught to write a fantastic first paragraph in the essay, similarly every blog post needs to be catchy. A diificult task for even the best.

However, there is a shortcut. Be genuine. Be true. Be clear. Voila, you have the make up of a good blogger.

ENTRAPMENT

One fine day you decide to buy something. Say, a Dish TV connection. Wow! The lure of the age of DVD quality digital images, Direct to Home service, most importantly freedom to choose what you want to watch and what not, and to be part of the new age bandwagon. Ah! Satisfaction defined.

On second thought, it is not much of a freedom of choice kind of thing either. I mean, come on, I am ok with 10 music channels and another 10 sports channels. But when did I claim I want to watch all those channels in all those languages don’t have the slightest clue of. Hell, I don’t even know which language it is in. And I am paying for it.

That was, however, a digression. So you have decided to buy a new Dish TV connection (could also be a Tata Sky one). Great. But like me you are too lazy to explore the dealers in your locality. Well, you want to, but not physically. Like me, you log on to the net and check out the details in their site and keep looking for a series of numbers which will establish your connection with further laziness. And then you actually get the 1-800 number, supposedly toll free.

Well, the moment you get THE NUMBER, 90 percent of your work is done. The rest 10 percent is to write the cheque, for they believe in providing a package solution, where all you literally do is write that cheque. But hold on, not too fast, you have just got their number. YOU NEED TO CALL THEM.

You do that.

Entrapment.

Hello, I am Vikas from ….., how may I help you?

Errrr, hi,….errrr I was hoping to collect some information about the packages errrrrr ……….. schemes and offers ……errrrrrrr…….dealers near me…… errrrr, could you please help me in this regard

Ya surely, says the bright voice from nowhere, may I have your name please

Yes, my name is Ranjan

Ranjan, right – sounding absolutely nasal on the R

Yes.

Ranjan, may I have your number please

Ya it is XXXXXXXXXX - - what the hell for????????????????

And then my friend Vikas explains to me everything about the product and where and how I can get it. A friend in need is a friend indeed!

I am now happy, I know everything I need to know. And I make the contacts and proceed to get the new connection. The next day, Vikas’s friend calls to ask me what I have thought about the new connection and I happily inform him that I will get the connection in two or three days’ time.

The following day, another friend of Vikas (it so turns out that he has got many), calls to find out, and I inform her that I am getting the connection within the next two days. One day was lost because of a Sunday. The following day another of his friends’ calls up to inform me about the new schemes and which spell BLISS for me. I inform this friend that my dealer has already told me about it and it also turns out that I know more about the scheme than the caller. By the way, I have already opted for that scheme.

That same evening, another friend, or perhaps of one of the previous ones, I lost track, calls up to inform me about the schemes. I try to be polite but fail. Sarcasm starts creeping into the conversation. Yet the call ends on a polite note.

Next morning, I again receive a call from a similar number. I reject the call.

Instead I call up my dealer and ask him to cancel my booking.