The Small Voice

The new version of Mahabharat seems to substitute weak direction and unimpressive acting skills by eye-pleasing actors, fancy camera work and background score. In the BR Chopra version, the dialogues, the script and the acting (in most parts) was superb and very meaningful. Just get the DVD and listen to Vidur or Krishna ’s dialogues and you will see the point. You will discover them a lot more philosophical, realistic and meaningful than what you did when you watched them as a kid. Full marks to Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza (the scriptwriter of the BR Chopra’s Mahabharat) who did a awesome work. Mahabharata, The Epic's story is awesome The script of the original epic Mahabharat is very solid and like all good scripts its characters and storyline is so rich and well-fleshed out that they are open to different interpretations and viewpoints even today and are not just cardboard characters with black/white personalities and happenings. More importantly, its message is relevant ...

Today is 1 st may. Labor day. It also happens to be Maharsahtra day. Maharashtra has been the torch bearer for this country for long. Today too, it is bringing to attention, a different kind of issue. The issue of rampant regionalism which has the power to undo whatever India has achieved in the last 60 years. An issue which has and already is making the “aam aadmi” lose focus from the more critical and important issues. Today, I am sure, if people like Tilak, Sardar Patel etc. would have witnessed the state of affairs, they would have been more than worried. We have people spreading hate in this country against our own countrymen. We all know that such ideas are being used to get political mileage. But sadly, neither the common man on the streets, nor any public representative (read politicians) is able to rise out of the petty mentality to lead the people to rubbish such sentiments and instead focus on the bigger and core issues. There are BIGGER Issues facing us, ...

Climate is changing for the worse Climate change is there for all to see. Wherever you are placed on the globe, please jig your memory and you will realise seeing weather phenomena getting weirder every year. Climate changes are happening NOW as we speak and dither on what to do or not do. Sweaters in Mumbai, blizzard in China: indicate terrifying change happening For example, record low temperatures across globe, resulting in galloping food prieces in China and world over. In Mumbai, we had 9 degrees temperature (coldest day for the last 10 years) which is a surprise as this seaside city usually is warm or hot round the year. People wearing sweaters in Mumbai, is the weirdest that can be. Various news article and reports claim that within 10 years the global warming will be irreversible. I feel that we may not have even that long. Forget politicos: Let see what we can do As concerned and free individuals, it will be great if we all could have found a way to contribute to lessen the ir...

I came across a great blog on the telecom dispute dealt with great clarity and depth. You can read the same on http://www.neerajgutgutia.blogspot.com/. It explained Neeraj's point of view over the spectrum tussle in great detail and clarity. Though i may lack his long experience, in my view, auction of available spectrum by TRAI will be a WRONG move. Let me explain how. Govt's prime motives are (in order of priority): 1. consumers benefit with quality of service at reasonable rates 2. increasing teledensity 3. making sure market remains competitive Assuming govt decides to auction all the available spectrum. Then we will not acheive any, though the cellcos will certainly be very happy and i will sell all to buy their shares. Lets see what happens to the above objectives in their order of happening: 3. all the spectrum is gone so new players cant enter and thus existing players got legal right to squeeze customers, shoddy service 2.No effort taken to increase no of cell sites by...

Its a bit out of the usual boring stuff that i post but can't help it... HAPPY Birthday Menaka!!! Thanks for lighting up the dull and dreary evenings of legions of market followers.

So much has already been said about the pros and cons of the Tata car: NANO that more in the same vein will be mere repetition. Hence am touching the untouched topics. We did it!!! First of all, the towering but aristocratic Ratan Tata is the perfect Indian answer to the doubting thomases of the world. Osamu Suzuki’s words that the 1 Lakh car is impossible to make will continue to mock him(Suzuki) and will soon be inducted into the unofficial Hall of shame quotes amongst other legendary faux pas of history. Remarkably, what was impossible for the Japs (who are making cars for almost a century) was made possible by a Indian team who has been making cars for a mere decade now. That’s the power of conviction and the power of the young India for you. Protests of Singur displaced: Secondly, the silent protest of the well-wishers of the displaced of Singur was a jarring note in the whole episode. I believe that for one, these well-wishers should be going hammer and tongs after the g...

According to the “ International Comparison Program” of 2005, which recently published its report, the largest contributor to the world GDP is US at 23%. Next comes china with 10%, Japan with 7%, whereas India stands fifth at 4%. This GDP contribution is PPP adjusted, which means that it takes into account the latest currency movement where the USD had depreciated against ALL the major currencies of the world, and the Indian Re appreciation wasn’t an isolated event. US Recession: the impact We believe, that with 23% and more than double of its nearest competitor (China), US is too important an engine for the world to go into recession. Approx. a quarter of China’s GDP comes out of exports, and more than half of the total exports, are to the US. This means, that any slowdown in the US may immediately impact the GDP and hence the GDP growth of China too, immediately, ceteris paribus. This is just one case, and other countries like India again owe a major portion of their GDP to ...