Go India!

A report prepared by an investment commission had forecast that India would require an investment of over $1.5 trillion in the next five years to sustain a growth rate above 8%. One of the most exciting ways of getting there is by creation of 140 SEZs across the country. The country expects an investment of Rs 1,00,000 crore over the next three years in these SEZs. Gujarat would get a lion's share of almost 40% because of the sheer magnitude of some of the SEZs coming up in the state. There are also plans of transforming Mumbai into a global financial center.

One of the best things I have heard in recent times is a corporate like Mukesh Ambani take responsibility in banishing poverty from the face of India. sweet music. India was all over Davos and everything sounded brilliant, but I was skeptical then. Were we over-promising? But there are just soo many positive developments in the papers & on the TV everyday that I can't help but jump in my seat!

I think the media is playing a brilliant role in exposing corrupt practices in the government and other bodies, it's taking people to task, not letting people go without convincing answers, putting pressure on the government, educating a lot of people around important issues. Whatz different about the role that media played in the past? I think it is more positive now and they actually feel that they can make a contribution and they want to expose everything thatz going wrong. There are more than 20 news channels here and all of them seem to be doing well!

So the corporates are doing well, the media is playing a big role, and I think key positions in the government are held by deserving people. Our Prime Minister - Manmohan Singh is the most education & experienced person in the parliament. A lot of people are critical of the split in responsibility between him and Sonia Gandhi, where she is the chairperson of the UPA coalition, and he is the PM. But I think without him, Congress would not have been able to form the UPA government. And with the current set up, Manmohan Singh has more time to take care of administrative duties of the position, which has resulted in a lot of work getting done (or atleast initiated) in a brief amount of time - which I think is very important of the current situation India is in.

Kamal Nath seems to have done a good job at Davos (ofcourse with the Indian delegation and the corporates), and the industry is on a role, and he needs to get his act really wrong to interfere with that.

And our Finance minister Chidambaram. He has come out with a decent to a very good budget. The spending on education has seen a steep increase. A lot of impact measurement studies have shown that the money allocated on education and other social causes has not really caused the intended impact and the money never trickled down. So there is a section of people who do question this steep rise in education. But I guess it was required and they just need to work on better models of ensuring impact.

And lastly, I never thought he would be part of this elite list of politicians, I am proud of - Lalu Prasad Yadav. He did suprise all us with railway budget, his plans for the coming years and most importantly that he delivered on most of the plans of last year - which seemed very ambitions. In addition to all of this he has also generated a huge surplus for the railways. Way to go!

Ofcourse everything is not perfect a lot of work needs to be done. But so far so good.

Some people I would keep my eyes on - the politicians and our judicial system. With only coalition parties forming the government in recent years, parties can only win elections by splitting the country. Congress has been criticized for playing with the sentiments of the minorities, and the BJP for playing the hindutva card. I think this is really cheap - shameful to say the least. In my opinion, LK Advani, leads these group of politicians. He has lost his control over BJP, but hasn't lost his ambition to become PM of India. What I see as his last attempt to become PM of India, he plans to split up the country by fostering communal tension, by organising a rath yatra through different states of India over recent terrorist bomb blasts in Varanasi. Logic?!?! Beats me, and I am willing to bet that it doesn't make sense to him either. But he will organise the yatra, communal tension will increase, innocent people will die - but it will help his party get some extra votes in the next elections and his chances to become PM of India might improve.

And then there is the Left. They refuse to listen to logic and refuse to change their ways. It is as if they are blind to all the developments taking place in India. They are part of the coalition that forms the Government and I can think of a zillion ways how the Left can indulge in constructive decisions with the Congress and come out with 1 government move. But NO, they need to carry out their stunts/strikes and all - slow the pace of the country. Logic? Same, try and get more votes. Give the impression to voters they are actually getting some work done.

I am counting on rationality of the Indian people and the media to play a big role in preventing further harm to the country by such politicians. And most importantly, I think the youth of this country are enthusiastic and ambitious and will play a big role in shaping the future.

In the next 5 years India as we know it is going to change dramatically! I am so excited! :)

Currently I am reading "The world is flat" by Thomas Friedman. I am sure you have heard of it (or have already read it). I think the book is brilliant and a must for zippies (esp. if you have a bent in IT).

Soft Drinks - Drink your way to Cancer

Soda has already been linked with weight gain and cavities; now the FDA admits that some popular soft drinks could contain a carcinogen. Last month, the FDA quietly revealed that some soft drinks were found to contain the human carcinogen benzene in levels up to 10-20 parts per billion (ppb) - four times the acceptable limit found in drinking water. Benzene, a chemical linked to leukemia and other forms of cancer, forms in certain beverages under certain conditions, such as exposure to heat and light.

Almost as alarming as the existence of benzene in soft drinks is that the FDA knew about the problem for more than 15 years, yet never revealed it to the public or took adequate measures to fix it.

For more details: http://www.alternet.org/story/33380/

Among others FDA, Coca cola, Pepsi & Cadbury Schweppes are the guilty parties. I was really surprised to find Cad Schweppes part of this list! After attending ICs I thought that this was one company you could trust.

Be comfortable in Ambiguity

When in ambiguity, put your questions/fears on paper. It helps you acknowledge your fears. It helps you realize that they are just a few. It helps you schedule "worry breaks" and focus in them. It helps you realize that most of your fears never come true. If they still persist, you have at least learnt to embrace your fears/questions and do something about them.

As someone very special, shared a poem with me, by Rilke

"I beg you to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves...
like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not seek the answers which cannot be given
because you would not be able to live them
and the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answers."

Greatest ODI ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia made one day history. They scored the highest ever total in ODIs - 434 for 4 and lost!!!!!! South Africa batted second and won the match by 1 wicket and 1 ball to spare!!!!!!!!!!!

Scores: Australia 434 for four (Ricky Pointing 164, Simon Katich 79, Mike Hussey 81); South Africa 438-9 (Graeme Smith 90, Herschelle Gibbs 175)
Scorecard: http://imsports.rediff.com/score/in_match9063.html

A total of 872 runs scored in the day, highest numbers of fours and sixes hit in a day. After watching Australia bat, I had lost all hope of a South African come back. But from the first over itself South Africa maintained a run rate of 8, and ended up winning the match. South Africa lost 9 wickets in the process and ensured a nail biting finish. The best match I have ever seen and I can't wait to get it on DVD.


The winning captian - Graeme Smith


The man of the match - Herschelle Gibbs

After Hanse Cronje I thought South Africa would never come back so strong. But the team is back and definitely my favorite to win the World Cup. Sorry Dravid, but I am switching sides!

Red rain from another planet?

On July 25th, 2001, red rain fell over Chenganacherry in Kerala. People said that the red color shower began after an airburst. Closer examination by Indian Scientists, Dr L Godfrey and Chandra Wickramasinghe, found that red rain wasn’t because of dust particles. They have found organisms that look like biological cells under a microscope, but under an electron microscope they show the total absence of DNA. All life forms on the earth have DNA, so the absence of DNA indicates that they are extra-terrestrial!!!

The scientists propose that extra-terrestrial life was brought from space by a streaking comet, which burst over the sky creating the boom that people reported.



Red rain has also been reported in Europe in the 19th century, which was considered to be dust from the Sahara desert. So red rain can be considered as a process by which extra-terrestrial life can reach this planet. If this discovery is verified by scientists from different parts of the globe then it could change our idea of life and our universe. Aliens don’t need to be creatures from X-files or Men in black, but could be all around us. We probably just haven’t opened our eyes to them!

Interesting Links:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723913,00.html
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/08gspec.htm
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601022