gavin's blog

that SM profiles here has me excited! Among the most important experiences of my childhood were the comics from Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle, which I enjoyed every bit as much as the universally consumed Tintin & Asterix & Obelix. I've been saddened by the lack of new titles over the years, and especially that there hasn't been a maturation of the genre, unlike Japanese anime, that is enjoyed as much by adults as by kids, and often features titles specifically aimed at adult audiences. This new range of comics does not go that far, but looks sufficiently sophisticated to be a good start. An interesting thing is that these comics are not Made in India, geographically at least, but then what is India in a globalised world?

Harold Pinter's extraordinarily bold criticism of the U.S. at his Nobel Prize acceptance speech is all over the net, but if you haven't seen or read it, you can do so here. Read the whole thing, it's worth it, but if you prefer excerpts, check out the NY Times story. My favorite part:

 
I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love.

According to this TOI story:

A Turkish villager who ran away with his friend's wife has offered his own wife in exchange, newspapers said on Thursday.

Last evening NDTV managed to get two of the biggest boys in the world, Bill Gates, and Narayana Murthy together for a chat moderated by Prannoy Roy (PR) with hundreds of top corporate honchos in attendance. 90 minutes flew by as TV came into its own.

Some observations I had during the show:

1. When asked for the defining moments in his life, Bill chose his first exposure to a computer at 13 and his learning of Moore’s law at 16. Only when goaded on by PR did Bill add his leaving Harvard to start Microsoft. And PR said ‘so you’re recommending that students quit school to start business?’ BG immediately clarified that he wasn’t, while I cringed thinking ‘this man did something that seemed right FOR HIM AT THAT POINT OF TIME. How it that supposed to be an universal injunction for success?’ Sheesh. Bad point if it was serious. Bad joke, even if it was meant in jest.
2. When PR talked of how both BG and NM were philanthropists, BG simply spoke of the necessity of using his wealth, considering he wasn’t leaving it to his family. Simple, unassuming and matter of fact. NM on the other hand spoke of doing ‘small’ things with his wife, emphasizing the word small two or three times. False modesty, I thought.
3. NM kept starting his answers with ‘As Bill said’ or ‘Like Bill said’, referencing his answers with Bill’s own, whether he agreed with them or otherwise. Bill rarely if ever did. NM’s referring to Bills response was very similar to what I’ve noticed on several Indian reality TV shows – that each judge in commenting, always references other judges’ comments – unlike what I’ve seen on ‘foreign’ reality shows. Why are we Indians so conscious of company?
4. PR asked BG about America’s loss of stature/respect in the world and ‘recent foreign policy mistakes’ to much excitement in the room. BG did not agree, argued cogently and admirably in a room full of people who evidently did not share his opinion, even as he admitted there was much concern in the US regarding whether the ‘very high threshold’ of factors necessary to justify recent actions (okay we are talking about Iraq) was met. NM made an unwarranted dig at him for not being ‘open’ about criticizing his country, like he was in being critical of India, to much applause, which made BG clearly uncomfortable as he went ‘What was that?’ in his head. Just like I was doing. NM’s comment was just not on.

that I blogged in my previous post in Mumbai Mirror today. He looks really serene. And the manner in which the middle finger and thumb are kept in contact on both hands looks to me like the man knows what he's doing.

Read about it here:

 
'A teenage boy has been locked in mediation allegedly without food or water in a Nepalese jungle for six months, and thousands have flocked to see him with some believing he's the Buddha reincarnated, police and media said on Wednesday.

 
Many visitors believe Banjan is a reincarnation of Gautama Siddhartha, who was born not far away in southwestern Nepal around 500 B.C. and later became revered as the Buddha, which means Enlightened One. But others aren't so sure. 

 
Mahat, the journalist, said visitors can catch a glimpse of Banjan from a roped-off area about 25 meters away from him between dawn and dusk. Followers then place a screen in front of him, blocking the view and making it impossible to know what's happening with him at night, Mahat said. We could not say what happens after dark, Mahat said. "People only saw what went on in the day, and many believed he was some kind of god.'' '

Reincarnation sure seems to be in style on the subcontinent. 

Really bizarre story, this: 'Reincarnated' murder victim gives evidence from the TOI:

 
'Could a dead man, or rather his reincarnation, give evidence in his own murder case?

A six-year-old case of murder in Hathras town in western Uttar Pradesh has given rise to this million-dollar question following the deposition of a five-year-old boy, Durgesh.

Creating a sensation in the trial court Friday, he alleged that during his previous birth he was killed by his own friend Ved Prakash six years ago.

..............

While deferring the judgement, the court has asked the prosecution to produce the legal provisions relating to reincarnation if any.'

This last line disturbs me. I know that it is very possible that the boy has been 'tutored' to give false testimony, this taking place in the cow belt, where superstition runs high and the rule of law more manipulated than followed. But what if this is a genuine case phenomenologically at least, in that the boy's memories are genuine? If they are, then the lack of legal provisions regarding reincarnation would be doing his testimony an injustice, no? And here would be an epic tale of truth and justice from beyond the grave dismissed by man's sticking to narrow precedence.

is now taking place as is argued in this article titled Second wave of outsourcing from the Times of India.

Excerpts from the article:

‘"Over the past year or two, the outsourcing industry has been throwing up jobs for doctors, engineers, CAs, architects,"says Jacob William of the Bangalore-based Outsource2India, which employs 500 people and offers services in the big-buzz, big-bucks area of knowledge process outsourcing. "Unlike the first wave which was more about entering data and answering phone calls, these jobs involve skill and expertise."

"I wonder how many American students and job aspirants realise that, to a large degree, their fate is decided in India."

"A lot of high-end work is also coming our way. We have a client called Roamware which provides roaming software to mobile providers, and we negotiate and draft agreements between them and third parties like Singapore Telecom,"says Kamlani, whose organisation comprises 35 lawyers and engineers. "Or recently, a Top Ten US law firm gave us 24 hours to find out whether a client's technology and patent was being infringed. We put three engineers and a lawyer on the job and delivered the goods."

"It certainly seems strange that we are sitting in India and treating people in America,"says William, whose company is also involved in teleradiology. "Sometime ago we got an inquiry asking if we would man the security cameras installed in a Las Vegas casino. That's the level of craziness we are reaching."

"The Mumbai office is today much bigger than the New York office and is the nerve centre of the organisation. This is largely due to the fantastic talent available here."

"This I think is it — the elimination of all borders, especially in the economic sphere." ’

in droves, this year during Navratri, according to this Times of India story.

From the article in The Times of India:

'The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been ranked the third best technology universities in the world for 2005, according to the prestigious Times Higher Education Supplement (THES).

The publication, which is highly respected and read in the world of academia, said: "Our peer review of the world's top technology universities shows that in 2004, the high praise for the Indian Institutes of Technology was no fluke.

"Up to third position in 2005 from fourth place last year, the IITs are a source of Indian national pride as well as innovation and wealth".