GUYS, i have decided to post most of my stuff in SULEKHA where there is a wider audience. Also, it helps not to ask everyone to read it personally. I would be posting here too, but only on topics where we would have to know each other. Here is the link to my sulekha posts, Sulekha blog

HINDI NAHI MALUM

The experience that i have had as someone from Tamilnadu, which for many by default means i am anti-hindi, is not unique. In fact i am sure that many have had similar experiences. I have been asked so many times why we tamils hate Hindi, why we refuse to learn hindi or why don't we learn hindi. I don't really care about the politics being played out by the political parties on this, but i really see nothing sinister in not learning Hindi. But, i have had a tough time explaining to my hindi speaking brethren that not learning hindi does not mean that we are anti-hindi.

Take my own case, I did my schooling in a pretty good school in Chennai. I was offered the option of learning Hindi or Tamil along with English which was the medium of instruction. My parents reasoned, and i completely agree with their notion, that first i have to learn my mother tongue and for communicating with the rest of the world i have English. There was nothing like, i should not learn Hindi. As a matter of fact, i did take private Hindi lessons since i felt it would help if i worked in North India. Again, it was a very practical consideration that it would help me communicate if i end up working in North India.

But, once i moved to US for my graduate study, i have been asked the same line of questions over and over again. It all starts with why do you tamils not learn Hindi? I have to explain that i was given an option of choosing between Hindi and Tamil, and i chose Tamil since it was my mother tongue. The fact that tamil has a vast array literary work and is used extensively in TN validates my reasoning. Then the question becomes, why do you guys hate hindi? When i confront them to give me an example where tamil population in general being anti-hindi. The best they can come up with is the DMK anti-hindi agitation which used to happen even before i was born. The only way anyone can define the attitude of majority of tamils towards hindi is apathy - indifference. We know it is a major language spoken in the Northern parts of India (40 % of India, i suppose). But more than that no-one really keeps hating hindi. The same indifference can also be seen towards Bollywood movies. Its not that we all hate Bollywood movies, its just that we have an industry which produces equally "good(?!)" movies. Once they find me uncompromising, they of course use the Brahmastra, a question that supposedly should make me see their point.

The Brahmastra their questioning my patriotism because i don't speak hindi. I should say that most of the times it was never asked straight. It was always a little play with the words where you can see that they are trying to appeal to the patriot in me. So, the question begins with 'Hindi is our national language. You would learn a completely foreign language like English, but you wouldn't learn Hindi you National language.' I used to get really really angry when i used hear that. I came to realize later, when i have heard the same enough number of times, that this argument does not stand scrutiny. First of all, only 40% of India speaks Hindi. That means 60%, a majority does not speak hindi. Two, Indian constitution itself specifies that both Hindi and English are the official languages for the central govt. Three, there are 21 official Indian languages, so its not like Hindi alone is given some official, sacred position in the constitution. And nowadays, i don't fail to inform my friends who invoke patriotism as a reason to learn hindi, that Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. The other thing i have realized is that the people who complain the most are the ones who would come to chennai, where they know people don't speak hindi, unprepared and come out of the central station and expect everyone to understand them. They don't understand that they be a little more prepared when they go to a new place.

The point is, we indians have so many things to worry about, food, electricity, water (bigtime in chennai), school, exams, job, spouses, siblings, career etc., Nobody has the time to hate a language that they don't even know.

POLITIKX MACHI

I was totally indifferent to American Politics, that was until Iraq happened. Having seen the build up to this war up close, it just hit me how a decision, however stupid it might be, taken in washington can affect the lives of hundreds of thousands half way across the world. Unlike most of my fellow desis who are in this country who kinda know where they are with respect to the Iraq war and indifferent to American Politics nevertheless, i started paying attention to some of things happening in Washington. So, i would note down some of the absurdities as i find them myself or noted elsewhere weekly as America prepares for elections in Fall 08. Anyways before i go on with this weekly American and Indian Politics update, i thought i would give in some links to presentations which were quite thought provoking. I have seen each of these presentations more than once and thought a bit about the stuff they are talking about. Take a look at these videos with an open mind. It would give a whole new perspective on the kind of journalism that is present here in the US.

The first video is a talk by Noam Chomsky (one of the intellectuals i respect the most) and by well known Journalist Robert Fisk. Its more than 1.5 hrs, but believe me, it will be a well spent 1.5 hrs (certainly better than Spider Man III). http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8431351908091440891

The second video is a documentary by Bill Moyers titled 'Buying the War'. This is about how the mainstream media capitulated at the feet of this administration instead of doing its job. Cheerleading as they were when their services were needed the most in asking the tough questions, they have now taken a U-turn in their approach and have started asking some questions (though not quite tough enough, i would say), but only after the approval rating has plummeted to the late 20s. A case of too little, too late. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

The third one is an interview with Jon Stewart of the Daily Show by Bill Moyers again. Unlike other interviews you might see on TV here in the US, this is an intelligent conversation between two men about the Iraq war and Gonzo-gate. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04272007/watch.html

What is the case in India? From what happened in Dinakaran Office in Madurai, there is nothing to feel proud about. Shameful is the first word that comes to my mind, Madurai being my native place.

C Karthikeyan

Evolution vs Surface Tension: A comparitive study of Absurdities in democracy

Atleast one Presidential debate, however early or premature it might be at this point, is over and its funny to see what passes off here for debate. Take for instance the Republican Presidential debate in Reagan library in California. After all the softball questions, John "trying-to-sound-hawkish-inspite-of-truth" McCain was asked specifically if he believed in Evolution. He took a second and gave out a yes, albeit cursing his own luck for getting this question. Then came the question to the bunch as a whole, asking anyone who doesn't believe in evolution to raise his hand. Three of them raised their hand. McCain was mentally kicking himself for telling YES instead of filibustering. He needed to change or adapt his story in the next one or two seconds. How does he do it? He immediately starts speaking, calling the host by name before he goes to the next question and tells him," you know what, i believe in Evolution, but when i hike the Grand Canyon i can see the hand of GOD." I was like, WHATTTT? He is flip-flopping at a rate that would make a commercially available flip-flop proud. The irony in this whole issue is this. US took home all the 5 NOBEL Prizes for Science last year, yet their presidential candidates are being asked if they believe in Evolution.

Think about this happening in India. I don't think there is any debate (or Primaries in our country like here, but no one can beat us in rhetoric) in this format in India. Anyways, our politicians do have the worldview to talk about absolute rubbish with such conviction that you would forget the real issues at hand. Like in Gumidipoondi, when i was on the way to Tirupati from Chennai, there was a meeting (looked like for one of the councilors post) a DMK guy was on stage thundering aloud at the injustices happening in Iraq. I was like what about the local issues of water, electricity etc., NOPE those are real issues never to be touched.

Having slept while watching this debate, i had this weird dream. Its a Prime Ministerial Debate. The hopefuls for a future PM for India are all standing there trying to prove who is more religious than the other and why they have to be selected. Prannoy Roy asks Candidate 1 this question - Do you believe in Surface Tension? Quite taken aback, the candidate says, "though i feel tensed most of the time, i don't let it surface. I control myself." Thanking for giving a new perspective on surface tension, Roy moves on. Candidate 2 is asked the same question. Being a man of Science and reason he says, "yeah! of course." Then Prannoy Roy with a tongue in cheek asks, how many of you think Ganpathy really drank milk? When half the stage and almost all of the audience raise their hands, Candidate 2 immediately interjects and says, "ROY, i believe in surface tension, but when i saw the milk being sucked in from the spoon, i understood Ganpathy was thirsty", to thunderous applause and everyone going Ganpathy Pappa moriya!!!

I woke up and started thanking GOD (irony!!!) that our country hasn't come to this level. Atleast, not yet!

C Karthikeyan

RESERVATION - Who will bell the cat?

Reservation, this one word will evoke a whole gamut of emotions in every Indian, whether he is either for or against the idea. Each one of us, Indians, have an idea about how this immensely important issue should be. Yet, i see no intense intellectual debate or rational reasoning put to use within our society, right from the street corner tea stall to the corridors or power in New Delhi. Rather, our emotion seems to take a lead leaving us with more agony, people digging their feet deeper into their beliefs however bigoted it might be without a chance for any form of compromise. The media, which always sensationalizes everything from a petty robbery and something as personal as marriage, has only fanned the flames of anger and passion.

Everytime the idea of Reservation comes up in the national conscience it brings up a passionate, though with either impractical or unreasonable, debate about what form Reservation should take. The most common and an idea that almost every educated Indian seems to agree is the idea of Reservation based on Economics. At this point, i agree that the current form of reservation is not serving those who really need it and it is for this reason i want to explore, open this question before you guys, to have an honest reasonable interchange of ideas on what should and could be done. I don't want some general vague talking points we see everyday on TV.

These are some of the conclusions i came to when i thought about Reservations based on Economics. Though, if there is a way to successfully implement this which is not a small task by any means, this idea might be one of the fairest, i couldn't see how this can be brought about. I want to just go through some of these issues that i can think of and to see if we can with a solution through this discussion. I am thinking of a practical solution, not some Utopian idea which should make everyone happy in India. That is impossible.

Firstly, how do we decide on some one's economic strata, when only a minuscule percent of the Indian population pays tax. Herein lies the biggest problem. When such a huge chunk of population depends on the agriculture and other small businesses where we don't have any form of accounting, how to formulate a solution where again a privileged few won't take advantage of the loop holes of the system?

Secondly, in the system how do we decide who become eligible for reservation? If we are going to make the decision based on the incomes of the parents, what if someone tells that he doesn't need any support from his parents, for that matter he has separated from them and expects to be eligible for reservation? If there is a tangible benefit, i.e., difference between a seat in IIT or some private college, in showing yourself to be economically disadvantaged then people will abuse the system. We all know that.

Thirdly, we all know that the true spirit for reservation has long been dead. In fact it died the day it was written. Think of the idea of reservation. It is for people who have for generations have been on the margins of the society, who without any form of help from the Govt in an apathetic society like ours will never be able to compete in the mainstream. However, whenever there is a debate on reservation, whether you watch NDTV or IBNLIVE or whichever channel, who do you see shouting at the top of their voice, its the people who are in the IITs, the AIIMS and other prestigious institutions.

I accept, they too are affected by the way politicians play with reservation as a tool to be in public memory whenever they get lost in the crowd. But have you ever seen these channels go to a remote corner of India, ask a villager who still fights daily to survive about what he needs and how this system has to be changed to bring him into the mainstream. No, i have never seen it. For the news channels its about money, viewership - the middle class and advertisements. For the politicians its about the votes. Much like the Africans (refer previous post) who have to be kept poor to display the benevolence and magnanimity of the rich, there is a huge population in India in who's name there is a struggle going on, but surely they wouldn't know what happened in the end, for they will be left untouched just as they were left untouched when Reservation Version 1.0 ran through its life.

I will post some of the ideas that i have seen that are not really based on pure economics in my next post.

C Karthikeyan

Beyond a Mosquito Net

(Frederic Courbet/Panos Pictures, for Fox)

I must admit this picture made me think like none other, atleast in a longtime. Most will recognize the guy in this picture, Ryan Seacrest of American Idol. It brought to my mind so many questions about charity. As can be seen in this photograph, a person from a wealthy nation is giving away mosquito nets to another in one of the impoverished places in our planet.

Malaria being one of the biggest killers in Africa, it is a very practical way of helping these people out. But, for some reason, i felt this was not right. There is a small controversy surrounding this act of philanthropy. You can read this here NYTIMES Story. Notwithstanding FOX network's generosity, there is something wrong with that picture.

This picture represents the current trend of someone who is doing this just for his or her own satisfaction. In this particular case, it is even more insincere, you just have to read the NYTIMES article. For all the highfalutin claims of generosity by FOX i don't buy their case. I might sound cynical but i do believe it was all for publicity. And it was cheap. There is no underlying sympathy, let alone empathy in these acts of generosity. It takes more than just handing out mosquito nets to these people. And the fact that Africa has been kept impoverished inspite of their natural resources tells you the story. The big pharmaceutical companies wouldn't spend their money on coming with a malarial vaccine since it is a third world disease and would spend millions coming up with Viagra shows where their priority is.

Take the picture above. What does Ryan Seacrest know about the problems faced by these people in their everyday life? Why not spend 10 minutes and explain the challenges these people face in FOX and FOX NEWS. This will reach a larger audience which might lead to a change in the priorities of the American Govt. But in this world of instant gratification, if i send 20 bucks to some charity and if possible i get to know that someone got a mosquito net from that money, i feel morally satisfied. I start to think i have done my part for this society, feel a little more self-righteous. Never do I stop to think what should be done to root out this endemic poverty and diseases that plague the African continent. The reason for this rant is the apathy that runs deep in our society. Its like, if you want fame and if you feel a little deficit morally or spiritually, donate some money to africa and if possible squeeze every ounce publicity that you can get out of it. It is in this regard that i have my greatest regard and appreciation for people go out of their way to make a change.

The case of Corporate America is even worse. Why is FOX news not using its reach in washington (we all know who owns it) to influence the policy of the American Government. We all know what is happening in DARFUR, Sudan. I hate it when corporations give out puny amounts in the name of charity and publicize it shamelessly. It is beyond SHAME.

I must at this point appreciate my friends Prasanna and Arul who take sometime out of their lives to do some work on charity and other literacy programs. And if any of you readers want to participate in these programs please contact me or Prasanna.

C Karthikeyan

Cho Seung-Hui of Virginia Tech gunned down 32 people on 4/16: heinous, meaningless and utterly inhuman.The media went berserk. It's fitting if CNN, NY Times and the like cover the event and its aftermath extensively. What's puzzling is that the Indian media has left no stone untunrned in covering the event. Two indians Minal Panchal and G V Loganathan perished in the shootout.

With all due respect to the departed souls, since when has an event on foreign land started to occupy the front pages of Indian media for days together? Since eternity.My condolences and sympathies are with the families who lost people that fateful day. When you compare how such tragic events are treated in India versus any other country, my head hangs in shame. The media here writes up about each and every soul lost and posts condolences thus showing sympathy. When was the last time Indian media did that? Does anyone know the names of people who lost their lives at nandigram recently? Or the names of the security guards who faught bravely to avert an major disaster at the parliament?

I had come to terms with the importance of life in India versus the west. What's disturbing is the fact that the importance of a life lost on Indian soil is nothing compared to when a soul is lost on foreign soil.Probably every body would have read something like "14 people were killed today at a police firing. There were 3 men, 5 children and 6 women among the dead."

Cattle get a better treatment in the west!

Iphone, Ipod, Imuse

Like everyone else i was also caught up in the hype surrounding iphone announcement. As i started reading more and more about this phone, a question kept arising in my mind again and again. The question is this.

Why do people fall head over heals to talk about this phone. After all this is just another product from a company and why does all the media and people talk about it and market the product (the so called media hype) even before seeing the product? In short why are people and media marketing this product instead of apple or cingular?

As someone who is trying to drop his Electrical Engineering skin and start seeing things from a business perspective, i tried to look at this question from different perspectives and what i obtained were more fundamental questions and few answers. I will post these questions and some of my inferences and want to know your perspective on these. I don't want superficial answers to these questions guys. Think over it and post in your comments. You are also welcome to give me a call. We can discuss this. Srini, Sunil and Sapan, i am looking forward to your comments as i know you guys have interest in this area.

Here are my musings. What is so special about this iphone except that its coming from a company whose last product was a big hit (ipod). And if you really think very objectively there is nothing special about ipod. Its only "revolutionary" idea was the circular scrolling type access. The sound quality from its headphones is not so great. I have heard better sound from a cheaper Creative made product. People have already analyzed and come up with their own reasons why it was a hit. But my question differs a little. I have a few related questions which if we can answer, we might get a better insight into marketing.

We all know that if you ask anyone if they like to buy things that are unique, something which kinda reflects their identity or otherwise, they would atleast in theory almost always say they want something unique. But why do people go in for a product like ipod as if that is the only thing available. There are other music players that are as good if not better than ipod.

1) Why do people buy Ipod just to make a fashion statement? Is it because Ipod was released as a higher end product in which case many of the current Ipod users couldn't afford and slowly when the the price was reduced (its still expensive) people wanted to just satisfy their earlier desire to own something that they once couldn't afford. Now they are part of the "elite" crowd.
Or is my presumption wrong that people would want something thats unique (the idea that i have of Mankind is that every individual wants to be included in every group, but whatever group he is in already should be exclusive, meaning not everyone should be allowed in that) or something that's different from others is wrong?

2) This question came from the previous one. If you are to start a new business, which is a better way to brand yourself? Is catering to the masses like what WalMart does is better or branding yourself slightly upmarket so that you can keep coming up with new products for the upmarket and give out your older products to the masses (something like what apple is doing) better. I don't think walmart is such a good example since it is the biggest company in the world

Another observation here is that once you position yourself as a low cost product, it is very difficult to break into the higher end market. Even walmart couldn't move into upmarket products in fashion (if you have been following business news closely you will know that when it introduced the Metro 7 line of apparels it was a big flop). I think a better example here would be DELL. Can anyone think of a highend laptop like APPLE MACBOOK PRO from DELL. Will anyone even think of spending around 3000 bucks on a system from DELL. I don't think so, since DELL positioned itself as a low cost seller of computers. But the margins it is getting out of PCs are getting lower and lower. I read a report in NYTIMES (sorry i don't save the link, it was a couple of months back) telling that DELL is trying to move into the higher end because its current business is not getting it enough profit (quite logical, since there is only so much you save by cutting costs through efficient supply chains). The point is in the longer run which one is a better strategy.

3) The other observation here is with ipod, nothing was revolutionary except probably the way it was marketed and the way it looked. There were and there are better music players. It didn't have any of those revolutionary, earth-shattering technology involved to make it a big success. It was just a music player packaged in a neat looking way and tied with iTunes where people can download music. Simple stuff put together to make a very successful product. Something to think about......

Anyways please post in your comments. I have written it in a hurry, since this blog has been without any activity. I will from now on post atleast once a week. Part of my experiment at re-organizing my life towards a better lifestyle.

Hi,
It's Christmas and New Year time and as expected, it's a busy week or two for the telecom companies around the world. I usually use USPcard to call people back home in India. They have a decent quality and charge 9 cents a minute which was much better than Reliance's 13 cents. I was excited to see Airtel launching their new service to India and that too for a throwaway price of 7.9 cents and double talk time for the first month! I immediately bought Airtel and I realized that Reliance has also slashed their prices. It's party time for people calling India! Suddenly a thought came to my mind... Wait I haven't heard anything from USPcard yet! What's happening. I analyzed a few things: Service, Cost, Bank Balance, Brand name, Marketing of the product. I realized that USPcard is lacking in all these aspects at this point. Their main selling point was their cost. And now they have lost their cost advantage to Airtel and Reliance. They also donot have deep pockets like Reliance and Airtel to sell their service at a loss to retain their customers. What are the steps USPcard can take to survive the price war and retain/increase their customers? What would you have done if you were a USPcard CEO at this point? Would you have invested in improving the internal processes/customer care/marketing/call quality or anything appropriate? Would that investment have met the cost/benefit analysis? These kind of challenges are supposed to come anytime soon in our careers. So your comments are welcome.

Looking back at 2006

----------------------

I had a chat with a good friend of mine and the subject veered on how good 2006 was. I responded without even thinking that it sucked. I had reasoned that i was left moneyless, jobless and was sick, so it sucked. I also thought it was a year where my life drifted without any direction (not that i was focussed in the previous years of my life). This part of the conversation stuck with me long after i kept the phone down. Was 2006 so bad after all. I started to think.

2006 started in the most unhappening way as it only can in 101-27. It was just another day except for the pleasantaries and formal wishes you get from your friends and your acquaintances. At that time i had extended my graduation by yet another semester, so had one full sem to complete my thesis work and get myself a job. Or so i reasoned to justify my indolence. Had already applied for my OPT, no on campus job, no savings what-so-ever and no job interviews in sight. So there was nothing special to write about with the way 2006 started. Yet, all i had was the gut feeling that inspite of my own fallacies i will come good, for if there is one thing that i can say is my strength is that i don't let my failures and situations affect me for too long. Rather i have learnt to live in denial (of course the truth catches up with you soon enough, but the immense disappointment one might feel at that particular moment is put off to sometime in the future). Sometimes, I feel frustrated and i crib, but i move on.

I started writing my thesis, thanks to my professor who absolutely had no expectations from me , Rahul (one of those few souls i respect in this world - especially for his ability to say things as they are, sometimes much to your dislike) for giving me some timely advice and sometimes reprimanding me. Somehow, I ended up doing it in time to graduate in May inspite of myself. So, after all the self-made trials and tribulations, fighting and struggling with my own mental demons, i managed to graduate. There is one good thing about 2006 i realized. So, 2006 was not that bad academically. i was just reaping the "benefits" (if i can call it that) of my (in)actions of the previous years and yet managed to graduate this year.

In the job front, i did miss those opportunities that one yearns for as a graduate student. I had interviews with many top rung companies - Bloomberg, GE Medical Systems, Qualcomm, Citigroup, but either i was too late to pick up on the new topics i had to learn or was not good enough in my own field (i could have easily written it in graduate student lingo putting the blame on how the job prolife didn't fit my background - the real meaning is that i didn't have what it takes to do that job.), so as i said earlier i was just seeing results of my (in)action during my student years. I don't want to fool myself anymore how with my so called "knowledge" (i can see some of my close friends falling down from their seat laughing ;)) i should be doing something much more challenging. I have come to realize that you reap what you sow, and yet we tend to see those exceptionally lucky ones who make it through for no apparent reason and crib. Also, it was only in 2006 that i got my first job. Whatever i might say about this job not being satisfactory or challenging enough, it will always be close to my heart for being the first (something like the first infatuation we might have had in our early teens - it might be meaningless, but it will always be special). So, i took my first step (professionally, and hence financially) towards building a career this year. So, i cannot complain much in that front either.

In the personal front, I can't complain much. Though i have not been in the best of my health, it has been a good year nonetheless. Throughout my life i have been blessed with some good friends and this was another year in which i met a lot of new people and have made some really good friends, some of which i think will stand the test of time. As some of my friends know, i have a small circle of close friends who have always stood by me. So, if i really think about it, this year has not been so bad after all. Only some of the mistakes i did in the past caught up with me and exposed my vulnerabilities. But they have only made me wiser and stronger if nothing else. Weird isn't it, 2006 is exactly opposite to what i thought it was. All it needed was some thought. Interesting, given the fact that we jump to judge people based on one glance or just after one meeting. But here, one whole year of my own life looks a whole lot different when i sit and think about it.....an eye opener atleast for me!!!!!

Thanks to my job, i have so much time to think about a whole lot of stuff including myself.

WISH EVERYONE A VERY VERY HAPPY NEWYEAR!!!!

Lage raho Munnabhai

I recently read a news story that tirelessly applauds the latest bollywood flick lage raho munnabhai. The story also explains the movie's effect on general indian public. I was surprised that the movie received a lot of praise from people who hadn't watched a movie in years; from management institutes; from school headmasters and from parents. Free tickets were being given out at management schools, high schools and even software companies.
The state government in andhra Pradesh has decided to waive the entertainment tax for the movie. Cinema theater managements are getting ready to screen special shows at reduced prices.

The reason: The movie shows Gandhian principles in a fresh light and it is important for today's youth and children to realize the importance of believeing and following them. The principles of satyagraha and nonviolence, the art of offering the other cheek when you receive a blow on the first one, the point in being truthful all the time and probably many more that I am ignorant of.

First off, who verified these principles?

Do these principles work? Can the basic human nature of retaliating and seeking revenge be curbed? Did somebody prove that curbing basic human traits is safe emotinally and psychologically? For example, (and i might be wrong here) the way priests turn pedophiles and gay just because they curb their sexual desires? Do we really know that Gandhi's principles have brought us freedom? If so, why was he assasinated. What is the assasin's defence?
Did the British just leave the country for reasons other than satyagraha like the second world war or maybe subhash chandra bose or maybe because there was nothing left of India?

Are Gandhian principles India's saving face?

Lage raho India.

United States of India - Year 2147

Since my previous post, i have been chugging along having the same routine everyday. Probably thats the reason i didn't post something for sometime now. Looking back however, I can't quite say that it was totally uneventful. There were few interesting ideas that i came across. One of them, atleast according to me, is pretty revolutionary. In it I see the future of the world say 100-150 years from now. A couple of other things were the arguments that my friend(Shyam mantravadi)and I had over dinner in Saravana Bhavan and a coffee at Starbucks. One was about Gandhi (i should confess i never had a clue when i was back in India, that he could be such a controversial figure) and the other was about how closed we tamils are to people from other states.

I am travelling a bit these days (around 3 hrs). This commute gave me an opportunity to catch up with that reading habit I never quite had. My roomie recommended a book called The Next Global Stage. I started going through the book without too much of an expectation. I thought that it would be one of those books which would ramble on and on about the benefits of globalization and give strategies to succeed in this set up, only to come up with a totally new set of strategies in the name of an update a year later(Stephen covey's The Eighth Habit comes to mind). I was swept off the floor by the way the auother saw the current set up of the world and his views on how it should be. To put is simply, he is totally against the concept of nation-states. His opinion is like this. When we say India is growing at 8% that basically means that regions like Bangalore (and surrounding areas), Hyderabad, Chennai etc., are growing at 15-20% and the rest of India that is not doing anything just piggybacks on the growth these regions have. And these regions don't get the benefits nor all the investments required that they deserve. In his view that makes no-sense and that the world should be reordered into region-states. And like many other economists, he is also for the free movement of capital, goods and labour(atleast in this case, i am quite sure that its a good idea). But think about this, if the countries start becoming region-states (i.e., independent states within a federation where the centre's only job is defence), then a particular region can take advantage of everything at its disposal like geographic location, climate, terrain etc., Since there is no restriction in the movement of capital or goods or labor, the productivity and efficiency will be at its best. In pure economic sense this concept is a winner hands down. Can such a setup be possible or is it pragmatic? I think its an idea way ahead of its time. But just like democracy, there will be no stopping it when its time comes, for no one can stop an idea whose time has come (paraphrasing Victor Hugo). EU can be taken as a very primitive form of the concept he is talking about. To me this idea is pretty revolutionary. It would mean that capital and labor will be put to the best use to produce the best goods. Think about it, this might have serious implications for the future generations.

Hi guys…to the people, who don’t know me, let me introduce myself. My name is Shivaram and I was a classmate of Anand, CK and Raghu back in school.

Let me start. Since Anand brought up the subject, “sense of belonging” and there is a big controversy on caste reservation going back in India right now, I thought this would be a good time to post my first blog. I had a chat with CK a few weeks ago on the issue of casteism and he sounded really pissed off with the so called “stupid” idea. He was questioning me on its purpose but I couldn’t give him a convincing answer. All I know was that something was not right and we were both losing the bigger picture. He was also convinced that a developed India is not possible unless it is eliminated. I am sure that most of the educated Indians here in the US and back in India would agree on that. I agree on it too but are we missing a point here…let me explain my thoughts a little bit…

Anand in your post the point you make is, let me quote your own words.... “One feels happy to see people from same planet in another planet.. people from same country in another country.. people from the same state in another state.. people from the same city in another city.. Now where does this sense of belonging come from? If we think at the level of planet now itself… then in that case will not the problems related to territory/language cease?” The irony Anand, the converse of this idea is the basic root for casteism….it is this SAME narrow-minded sense of belonging that is responsible for segregating groups of people all over the world, including India. So, where does this sense of belonging originate from? It takes its root from an inherent tendency of the human mind. Everything arises from the mind and this idea of segregation or dividing is no exception. The human mind tends to group similar things together to better understand and assimilate it. You name it, we group people in the name of religion or way of life (Christians, Muslims, Hindus,…), colour (black, white, yellow, wheatish brown..), governments based on political regimes (communist, democratic, totalitarianism…), profession (engineers, doctors, teachers…) and a little further…for example, you can subdivide engineers (CSE, ECE, EE, ME, CHE..)….etc, you can keep on subdividing it and group it further and further based on some common qualities all the way to the end. A paleontologist can help us understand this concept a little better. While this human faculty endures on, there are other qualities of the human mind that come into play such as ego, anger, hate, dominance, etc… that tag along and it is here that we begin to discriminate people between these segregated groups. As time grows, the groups begin to overlap and the lines of distinction become blurry making it only worse as we completely lose all laws of rationality ending up pointing fingers at everyone.

So what then, can we eliminate casteism or anything similar in lines to it? Is it a boon or a bane? These questions arise in our minds almost instantaneously. If you ponder about it, you will only end up going around in circles. No wonder it has been a subject of debate for decades. However, in my opinion the answer is simple, you cannot eliminate casteism. Why? As long as the human mind takes up the policy of “divide and rule” or should I say “divide and assimilate” there is no way of getting rid of casteism in India or anywhere in the world (rascism). It is neither a boon nor a bane, it a just a FACT waiting to be accepted and no amount of logic, reasoning and demands of rationality is going to eliminate it. It has been there from time immemorial (refer last chapter in the Bhagavad Gita) and will be there till the end of time or at least I would say till the end of human existence. All we can do on our part is we can strive to attain oneness and practice equality among the existing groups in this world. But I guess that would be an impossible task. Hence, I would say that all the “isms” are here to stay whether you accept it or not. If you are still not convinced and you believe you can eliminate it, then let me give you a small test. Try naming your children with a single name (the idea here is to eliminate discrimination, i.e. treating them as equals ) and if you are successful in calling out the right child every time you shout the name, then you might have a solution. But on the other hand, if you extrapolate this method to higher levels (city, state, country), then you might end up having groups of people segregated based on their different names…hmm….guess then we would all end up with the same problem here too.

SAAPAN - The Insider Story

NOTE: This will make sense only to people who are either from POLY or who have lived with SAPAN or know about 101-27.

This is about a friend of mine, who left for California to begin his own tryst with destiny. He is a changed man nowadays,changed in a lot of ways from the one I met first in the fall of 2003. Then he was this thin, wide-eyed, "innocent" desi fob, but not now. He is a changed man indeed. Gone are the days when he was like me or some of my roomies, cracking jokes, taunting others with his inimitable style and of course had everybit of the care-free attitude about studies one gets as soon as the first midterms are over and one realizes that only the place of study has changed(US) and not himself. But now he wants to find meaning in life, order in chaos, light in darkness, melody in the cacaphonous world around him. If you are still not able to appreciate what i am driving at consider this, he even tries to find "sense" in 101-27.

He left to California last weekend, leaving behind a bunch of guys in 101-27, who owe every bit of their unquestionable knowledge of human anatomy (he doesn't discriminate between male and female form) to him. He was such a dedicated teacher in human anatomy that he used to bring up some part of the human body, some of them really vital for survival of humans as a species, in almost every conversation of ours, be it cricket or cooking or studies or something as mundane as weather. He had such a deep understanding of biology, that he used to explain topics as varied as aero-dynamics to engineering drawing to plain physics to even literature using biology, anatomy especially. I myself used to wonder what such a brilliant mind as this with such a bent for biology doing at POLY. I could only envision the presentations he has given over time in INDIA and in POLY for GRADCENTER and i can sense the sudden euphoria (the eureka feeling) people in audience would have got with every intricate detail explained away with HUMAN ANATOMY. Some say Mathematics is the universal language. I used believe it blindly until i met this soul. He is also the one who showed us the joy in calling someone a fatherless child. I used to be very very apprehensive of the word, even a kinda phobia initially, because of societal conditioning, until i met him and moved into 8425, the first stop for almost everyone in POLY during our times. Just like MORPHEUS (MATRIX), he showed me how to free my mind and call anyone any name. Now there is a whole crop of us (the ZION if you will) waiting to unleash the joy upon others by calling them a fatherless child. Anyways, he became a little reclusive of late, and when SUNIL tried to impress him with some of Biology lessons learnt from him he was reprimanded and admonished for even trying to bring up something remotely related to human anatomy. We wondered what on earth has made this soul to revile something that used to be the source of knowledge and joy and which held the key to all the answers in this universe.......It was only a few weeks later that things began to unravel in front of our eyes.

Anyone who has lived with him, or for that matter know him a little would know his love for cooking. This was the guy who used to cook for many persons, multiple dishes in 8425, before the kitchen there was renovated (few know the true condition of the kitchen it used to be). He even invites people (ALEX will know) to cook along with him to come up with exotic dishes that would make anyone to salivate. He is such a brave soul that he used to say that he just saw a mouse run over the stove casually and start cooking as if nothing happened. But recently i heard him say he was against cooking at our kitchen because it is unhygienic. I was confounded to the core, for only the previous night i saw him making a good meal for himself in the kitchen. As usual, the simple mind of ours couldn't fathom what was happening in our kitchen. I was all the more confused because i was in the kitchen cooking at that time.

Everyone in POLY knows how well the POLY BROADCASTING SERVICE(PBS) works. Seconds after you think of doing something, everyone and anyone in POLY knows about it. Thats how efficient and professional the PBS works. But, how many of them know that it was founded single-handedly under the able leadership of our guy. He used to dorn multiple roles, apart from the founder, he used to be the president, Public relations officer, recruiter etc., until PBS had enough people to manage itself (it took like a couple of semesters for a critical mass of desi students to build up). As one of the intial members in PBS i can only attest to the sincerity and commitment he had for this new service. However, one day he said something which made me think i was hallucinating. This is what i heard, and even now i am not able to believe it happened. He came to me and said, "Dude, do you know what I realized?" I as usual gave blank look, for i was sure if it had taken so long for this GUY to realize, it would take a few lives for me to understand. He went on, "Dude we should speak some sense. I realized we should stop talking non-sense." A lot things raced through my mind. The sleepless nights we spent creating an establishment like PBS, the hard work put in by so many people only to be forsaken by the founder himself. And that too in a place like 101-27, the temple of GOSSIP and that which represents all that stands for non-sense. It was heresy. And the founder himself committing blasphemy. My eyes welled up. My anger knew no bounds, and all the biological words he had taught me came to my mouth in an instant, only i couldn't utter even a single one. Thinking i was understanding what he was saying he went on and on...........

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR JOB DUDE....It was fun living with you.

C Karthikeyan

Musings of an idle Mind

Now that the elections are over, here are some of the thoughts i have had over the past few days. I have not tried to analyze any of these thoughts, but merely seeked to walk through these lines of thought just like a traveller who knows the destination knows not the path he is going to take. I tried hard to find a conclusion, my logical mind trying hard to reason with some of the facts that was staring right into my face, only to find myself standing with more questions than i started with. Never did i realize that there are occasions when the mind tends to lose the forest for the trees. I was running behind the minute details, instead of looking at the bigger picture. When i realized i was just chasing my own tail, i convinced myself i should stop analyzing and just record my thoughts, for there might be someone with a deeper insight and a clearer mind who with the detachment of a Tibetan Monk can reason it for me. It is with this idea that i am recording this. Please don't think i was thinking about some profound idea, chanced upon when walking through the miles and miles of unmarked cerebral territory, which in my case has been a like a ghost town, long abandoned with few houses of thought, which from the outside sometimes gives a look of a haunted house where I myself find it hard to venture into. But i am confident that one day I would find my treasure trove in this country of mine.

I will just give one thread of my thought, for not all my thoughts are correlated. What do we all think of as success in life? It might differ from person to person, but only in shades just like the color of skin, but basically it will all boil down to financial independence, a safe and fulfilling life and in some cases fame. We all base our career decisions and look twenty or thirty years down the line based on our experiences which if it has any value, in most cases, is merely nostalgic. We all want to settle down with a big house (sea facing preferably), a few cars (luxury models will make them that much more special) and a good dose of travelling to break the monotony. But how many of us pass to think that all this is based on one big assumption? And that item has been a reason for concern for almost a century. Just as with any of Nature's gift, instead of finding reasons to celebrate over it, we humans have come up with every reason to fight over it. Every instrument, however benign has been turned into a weapon, which only a human mind with its own ingenuity and perversity can do it. If there was ever a natural resource which has been more of a bane than a boon for the people, it is this. CRUDE OIL is one which every country in this world craves to get as cheaply as possible and as much as possible.

Civilization as we know it is fundamentally dependent on this. And there are reports informing us that we have already peaked in the production of OIL and it can only go down. How many of us think a little more deeply when we say we are running out OIL? Car pooling, a higher use of public transportation, alternate source of enery like SOLAR, WIND etc., come to our mind, just because we think of OIL as a source of energy (for transportation and power generation). But how many of us realize that there is more to Petroleum than just that. Right from the plastics, to pesticides, to fertilizers, to synthetic clothes, to most other things that we take for granted are by products of refining CRUDE OIL. With over 6 Billion humans in the world, will there be enough food produced in this world to support this population (without enough pesticides and fertilizers)? Even if enough food is produced, can they be transported to every part of the world at a cost that is affordable? Are the governments around the world working even thinking on these longterm aspect? How can we expect the politicians to think long term when we ourselves cannot think about anything other than our immediate needs, typically material and about creature comforts? I tried hard to see if we as a people would be able to overcome this big transition which might come during our own lifetime and as i said earlier, i ended up with more questions than when i started.

I will record more of this in my next post.

C Karthikeyan

And the Comedy Continues......

This is the lastest update i got regarding the elections....Here are some of the promises made by Vijaykanth in chennai.

1) 15 kgs free rice (one up on JJ -- suddenly TN is becoming the breadbasket of India, don't know where they will go for all this free rice - and we hear that farmers in some parts of TN are eating rats just to survive).

2) Rs.500 everymonth for every household (don't know if they have any fine print) for grocery expenses -- ppl in TN are goin to be spoiled by our politicians no matter who comes to power, just look at the promises made by each party, forget about giving uninterrupted power supply, clean water and good infrastructure. He thinks if he gives 500 everymonth then everything in TN will be fine.

3) For three years, every mother will get Rs.500 a month (for upto 2 children) for proper nutrition. ( i am getting dizzy......)

4) This is THE ELECTION PROMISE i ve seen in my entire life. Here it is. Relate this with the first one. To help all the poor households, he will give one free MILCH COW. (Man i am stumpted....does he think that giving a cow will bring all these families out of misery.....i know that politicians are myopic in their thought, but maaaannnnn our politicians make my jaws drop with their stupidity.......

it would be fun to hear the promises of the other parties....

According to a professor in my Univ, a big name in the network security area, the $100 laptops are nothing more than an advanced calculator. It seems to get all the attention because MIT is involved. Anyways i guess everyone will understand the point i was driving in my previous post.

Mindless Pandering

As usual the election campaign has brought with it the mindless pandering of the public with freebies, a potent weapon used by politicians of every ilk. Our politicians show their ingenuity in finding new ways to keep the state coffers empty. The promises made my the two main parties DMK and AIADMK is laughable at best. Consider this, one is offering free rice (10 kg) per family a month. The other is offering rice at Rs.2 per kg . DMK has gone a step further. They are offering a free COLOR TV, free GAS STOVES, free land to poor farmers and top it all free cable television (check here). Don't think about whether these promises can be kept or not. Think how ridiculous these promises are. What do they think of the people? He promises all these freebies from tax payer's money and not from the crores he and his family has amassed. Remember when DMK last left office, TN's coffers were virtually empty and it took a couple of years before the fiscal situation was set right. Why not spend the money he is spending on COLOR TVs and cable connection to equip the GOVT schools with the $100 computers that MIT is coming up with or even the simputer.Atleast this will bring more people to the better side of the digital divide. Why not provide free internet connections to GOVT schools and people who cannot afford it, instead of giving free cable connections which will make the people even more stupid with the endless number of soaps.

I am not going to comment on rice for 2 rupees, coz there are millions who might be able to feed themselves with that scheme. But you can be sure that acres and acres of land is going to go into DMK cadres in the name of landless farmers. I am not totally against freebies. There are ways and places where freebies can work wonders. Kamaraj brought in free lunch. That was amazing. He brought in ITIs and other educational institutions to TamilNadu. I can say for sure that I wouldn't have been able to do my masters in the US if not for him, coz my father wouldn't have left his village for chennai but for Kamaraj. Guess its time the Mr.Karunanidhi retires from politics before his own senility becomes his undoing.

C Karthikeyan

If there is something man made that can come close to being divine, its music - not the variety we hear in tamil cinema nowadays. I am a great fan and admirer of Bharatiyar and when his songs are rendered the way they should be, man you are closer to heaven. I happened to come across this in musicindiaonline website (some songs are from the movie 'Bharati'),

Bharatiyar songs

It was just too good and you just have to marvel at the genius of our own Mahakavi, be it for the use of language or for the profundity of his thought. But i still had one reservation with the album. The music for 'ENDRU THANIYUM' is too mellifluous for its meaning. I am sure, Bharatiyar would not have thought of it that way, it should have been more like the song 'AgniKunchondru'.

Watched V for Vendetta last week. One of those movies that would leave you thinking long after the movie is over, though it had its share of cinematic excesses. But this guy Hugo Weaving brings the character to life without ever showing his face. Beware this movie might not interest you if you expect an action flick based on the trailer. But all in all, a movie worth watching (though not sure if it was worth the 15 bucks i paid for).

Now that campaigning for the assembly elections have begun, it will be interesting to watch what all crap the parties come up with to garner votes. We have already seen how Vaiko shifted his alliance with AIADMK. Quite funny when you realize that this was the same guy who was pounding and shouting at the top of his voice about the dictatorial ways of JJ when he was put behind bars. To get an idea about how silly the whole issue of elections have been made by these scumbags, check out vaikos interview in rediff
Vaiko Interview
He shamelessly contradicts himself throughout the interview. Asked why he joined with JJ after being put in jail for 19 months, he gives an answer that does not refer to JJ even once. Read through the interview, either it will be incredibly offensive or outrageously ridiculous based on the perspective you see it from. So much for the democracy that supposedly would take us over china in the long run. Anyways, i had told in one of my earlier posts that JJ would win. This alliance will only make it that much easier for her to win.

C Karthikeyan

What makes one think that he is superior to others around him? Is it because of the money he has, the political power he wields, the influence he has to determine the lives and death of others, the ability to get away with whatever one does or just because he supposedly belongs to one caste just by the accident of birth? This kind of reasoning pervades our thought, except for some real good souls. Why are men ready to demean, belittle or for that matter stereotype others based on just about anything from "CULTURE", "CIVILIZATION", "SKIN COLOR", "ECONOMIC STATUS", "CASTE", "GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION", "LANGUAGE"? And this list could go on and on of course. Few events that's been happening over the last few weeks have made me think along these lines.

The doctor's strike in Maharastra to me is a classic example of a group of people in position to decide the fate of other people exploiting their power, which is basically derived from the responsibility that is placed on them, at the cost of life of the poor. How else can one explain the doctors across the state going on a strike for such a long time on what can be explained as an unfortunate incident? For those who don't know what i am taking about, here is the gist. A doctor was beaten up by a man and some of his relatives when his mother died in the hospital. However regrettable the incident might be, is it worth putting so many lives at risk by going on an indefinite strike? Can you imagine this happening in Apollo or other big private hospitals? Why is it easy when it comes to poor people who cannot go anywhere else but the govt hospitals? How can people take a moral high ground just because they take up some profession? Was it not their choice to take up that profession? Anyone who knows a little about any ecosystem will recognize that for a society to perform well, it needs a certain number of doctors, certain number of engineers, certain number of people in every other profession. So, how can one profession be better than the other when the society needs each one of them as much as the other? And in a highly populated, poor developing country like ours (alas, some people tend to live in denial that just telling that India is poor offends them, however true it might be), where the number of doctors to population ratio is so low, going on a strike is pathetic to say the least.

Or let us take Justice. Take Bihar. Over two months back, there was an absolutely horrendous crime that was committed which hit the headlines. But as usual the news lost its value on the same day. So, i never heard of it since then. The news was this. I will give the act first, and the reason next just to show the level of social injustice prevailing in India right now. There is this guy in Bihar. A group of people came to his hut, beat up this guy, pulled him out and burned his family (wife and five children) with the hut. All for what? This guy was supposedly from a "lower caste" and he gave a complaint in the police over a dispute on some buffalos with a fellow from a "higher caste". How can one even begin to contemplate the magnitude of this crime over such an inconsequential dispute? Does ideas as specious as caste and religion warrant killing another human being just because he might not share your identities? The other case is that of the murder of Jessica Lal. Murder in front of so many, in a public place and for what? And what does the justice system do? The killer is let off because there isn't enough evidence. But one can be optimistic from the fact that people have started demanding justice and the police have opted to have a relook after the protests. The media will still make it an issue only if its sellable. Jessica Lal was and the poor guy from Bihar was not. Hence the difference in coverage and hence the difference in outrage from the public varied between the two cases. However this is just the beginning and one cannot do away with the injustice that has pervaded all walks of life in our society for millenia. I hope the public outcry in the Jessica's case have a trickle down effect and the poor man in Bihar will get justice sometime soon in the future........

With all this, just ponder over how great and revolutionising the following is,

"Thani Oru Manidhanukhu OOnavillaiyenil Jagathinai Azhithiduvom"
" Lets destroy this world even if one man goes without food"
- MahaKavi Bharatiyar

Hez Here

Now that George.W.Bush is on his way to India, i felt its time to write something about the Nuclear Deal that has been discussed by every major media outlet and strategic think tank. Though I don't have much of an idea about this topic, often i found myself coming up with the knee-jerk reaction (very typical of us, desis) of opposing this idea just because it involves the US. I am not sure if my reaction would be the same if it had been with Russia or any other European state. But, I also understand that i was not being paranoid. After all, the US does not have such a great record in dealing with countries around the world. It had such a close relationship with Saddam Hussein until he became expendable in the larger scheme of things. No one can forget the support it gave to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan until the Soviets were thrown out. It didn't care to bring back the country into the international mainstream; the rest as they say is history and we know what Afghanistan stands for today. All the so called allies in Asia are either its client state or its vassal with a form of quasi-sovereignity. Let me get back to the topic instead of digressing. Is the Nuclear deal really good or bad for India? I read through some articles to find what's the fuss is all about. I will give the essence of what those articles say (at times just parroting what they say) and also give the links at the end (for those who are interested).

What's the deal to begin with? To say in simple terms (the following has been repeated in so many newpapers and website, it may sound like cliche for those who follow the news), the deal is that India will follow the procedures and take the responsibilities of other Nuclear powers (which in essence means, all its civilian reactors would follow IAEA safeguards and are subject to inspection by IAEA) and in turn India will get civilian reactors from the US. The problem as all of you know is that Indian reactors are not separated as civilian and military. So, Indians and Americans are locked horns in the list of reactors that should be classified as civilian and military. The bone of contention is the Fast Breeder Reactor (the ProtoType Fast Breeder Reactor) in Kalpakkam ( the CIRUS reactor near Bombay is another case where the US and India have a disagreement). For the uninitiated, the Fast Breeder Reactor produces more fuel (a very simplistic explanation) than it consumes. Also, the Fast Breeder Reactor uses Thorium , of which India has one of the largest reserves in the world. Apparently, the process leaves a large residue of weapon grade Plutonium (or is it Uranium ?) with which India can have as many weapons as it wants. It is this reactor that the US wants to bring under inspection. But, Scientists are dead against it (PM has also issued a statement today that fast breeder cannot be included in the civilian list). Another important reason why the scientists are against this is that India has probably one of the most advanced Breeder Technologies. Opening it up for inspection would be like opening up this technology to others without getting our due. From the perspective of the military strategists, putting too many reactors in the civilian list would curtail the amount of fissile material India could have for its strategic uses. If there are so many reasons for opposing the nuclear deal, why did India even go in for a deal with the US?

1) It would come out of the Nuclear Pariah status (a tacit acceptance of it as a nuclear power).

2) It would get to buy URANIUM (India has a very little reserves of Uranium) from the NSG.

3) It needs Uranium immediately in the short term for the Tarapur Reactor.

4) Once it is accepted as a Nuclear Power, obtaining of the Permanent Seat in the Security Council would be easier (or so some people in the Govt think).

Are these considerations enough to go in for a deal with a country like US which is so well known for breaking a lot of interational treaties (remember how India would always be told why it should sign CTBT until the US Congress failed to ratify it)? I don't want to say an absolute No to the deal, but given the secrecy with which the Govt is handling the issue, every bit of news typically comes out US media, I am very apprehensive about the deal. Why so much secrecy? Also, the number of reactors to be classified should also be nominal; right now the numbers floating around 12 to 17 of the 22 reactors India would have. My apprehension arises not merely because of what the deal gives India, but also from the noise that is emanating from Washington. Bush only a few days back changed his stand and said India was a nation with developing nuclear technology from a nation with advanced nuclear technology. Robert Blackwill said that if the deal does not go through then it will paint a very bad picture of the ruling elite and the people of India. Mulford says what is credible and what is not in selecting the reactors. While Americans are well known for arm-twisting, i don't find any reason why we as nation of a billion would have to bend over backwards to sign this deal.

Note : US last built a reactor in 1979. So, they are lagging behind in this area. This is all the more reason for thinking twice. Also, the western nations (except i guess France) had given up on Fast Breeder Technology long back. So, if US is asking us to open up the PBFR, you can understand that something is not right.

C Karthikeyan

P.S. Anyone with more foresight and knowledge please leave your suggestions. I request all to leave a statement on where they stand on this issue.

References:

1) http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_VVGJRQP&CFID=76061273&CFTOKEN=41c98b1-ac27c735-5c40-45b4-ab00-4052fff6ee74

2) http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86424

3)http://svaradarajan.blogspot.com/2006/01/make-indo-us-nuclear-deal-more.html

4)http://www.manoramaonline.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=manorama/MmArticle/CommonFullStory&cid=1141071473673&c=MmArticle&p=1002194839100&count=10&colid=1054406791048&channel=News

5)http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/955/safeguarding-breeder-reactors

6)http://news.ft.com/cms/s/eaab3590-a883-11da-aeeb-0000779e2340.html