Eliminating Poverty !

Poverty is the bane of this world. Contrary to popular (and ignorant) perception even the western/developed world has loads of poor people. (I define poor not in the relative sense but in the sense that food and shelter is a constant worry and seldom attained.) But yeah this is a more ugly and visible problem in the 'developing' countries. The whole political game in our country has revolved around the promise of removing it, but have we ever thought on it with a sane mind. What will be the consequences of eliminating poverty, can it be realistically done? As a kid I wished that there be food for all, living conditions and opportunities like what I was blessed with and all other things like health and education. We argue that the world has enough resources and it is through our insane bickering that we have created a virtual scarcity of every basic resource. People find it convenient to blame people/conditions on the state of affairs but ugly reality is that there is no immediate solution. I am not able to come up with any magic solution either. There are two things that I understand that people do need to look into. First the government can/will do only so much, the rate at which problem come up can not be tackled with the resources of the government or a few super rich philanthropist. All the people who have made good of the opportunities have to contribute and help the unfortunate. It does not mean to leave your work or go to educate kids in slums, that might be good too but maybe it is not for everyone. The problem is that this is like killing a few viruses but does not stop their multiplication process. Our efforts should be to eliminate the growth of these problems. I see the role of technology today as something that can reshape the life of numerous. We can help boost the research and help the students and young researchers, provide funds and expertise, help make collaborations. Indians currently spend ~15 bn USD yearly in universties abroad, and a large portion of these students are in such a position to help do this economically as well as providing expertise. If out of millions of us everyone helps one researcher/student we can make India into a educational/technological powerhouse. This as I see it can be the only route of elevation of poverty. Second is to have realistic targets, eliminating poverty has to be defined properly, we have to face it that we cannot have a level field. That would be akin to having a level earth with water (wealth) distributed all over it, submerging the whole of it. It would be both unrealistic, and harmful. But what we can realistically attempt is to bring up the fallen back ones, so that they too can rejoice in the facilities possible today. The solution lies in unity and not just economic measures or schemes.

Perfection

Perfection, the ever eluding, the ever so alluring dream that remains unattainable for almost everyone. Well have we ever thought about how it feels being in that state. Perfection is perhaps invaluable since it is rare and the reason it is rare is that it is a state where even a minor deviation is read by the ever focused eyes trained on the entity in that state. We see an analogy in a pyramid, the tip represents perfection and getting on it is difficult enough, staying on it impossible. The question we need to ask ourselves is what is the need for perfection. We are after all perishable items, we were not built to be perfect and there is no real long term use of attaining this either. The only purpose it serves is perhaps our vanity. The whole problem as I see it is the sheepy nature of mankind, the tendency to follow. The will is not strong enough in most to be able to make sensible decisions and this is the reason that we seek goals which we don't even want for ourselves. Goals which don't affect our happiness are not the ones we should be after and Perfection is one of them.!

Racial Blackmail

White people are deemed rascists and have now been made to believe so and even mortally scared of it. It is a sick thing to do and most white folks are now scared of being associated with it. What they don't realise is that rascism is not a characteristic of a particular race, it is more of a cultural thing and more importantly every race today has elements of it. The world is no more global than it is secure. The people are rascist as a rule rather than exception. Indians are from my experience a rascist lot, we take this to a step further discriminating even within our own race and based on every difference we can find. So are chinese and other folks. The only thing different about white people is that they are industrious and determined. That is the major reason that the white world has made most of the strides for humans and responsible for most technological advancement. They thus are the richest and most powerful lot in general. That being said, it is not as if they are a race that has been wrongly accused, they have plundered the world over and collected resources from them, people as slaves and money among other things. The black or African American community has been wronged by them being made to work as slaves all these years. But if i know my history right, officially changes began in removing slavery in the US as early as 1865 and from early 20th century blacks have had equal rights. Even so more they are being awarded in form of special scholarships, funds and programs. But still there is resentment and a lot of what i would say 'racial blackmail' associated with the situation. Take on the other hand, the slavery in India. The British government took steps towards abolition of slavery as early as 1833, but excluded India from the laws, where slavery and exploitation of it's resources and people were in full flow. Even when they left (being left with nothing to loot and no ability to do so either) there was no real helping hand to help up the one they had trampled so mercilessly. It is a miracle that India has managed to reach the stature it has today. Now even after being dealt with such a poor treatment, I have not seen any resentment in Indian people towards their former oppressors even when they prouldly showcase many of the most precious pieces of our art and wealth as trophies of their exploits. Thinking without a bias, returning these possessions back would be a beginning of compensation for the years of oppression. But Indians have no hope of that and we haven't really pursued that with much vigor mostly. How do you compare the two situations - how were the excesses on the blacks more inhuman to warrant this resentment even after an attempt to compensate them. Or are Indians just meek.

Another example : Come to think of the Jewish use of the past excesses on them and reference to holocaust to get away with their excesses on the Palestinians. Compare that to the Japanese. The Japanese have chosen to rebuild after the bombings and are helping others even rather than use the past as a leverage to get favours and get away with crimes. We have to realise that past has to be forgotten and attempts to help undo the mistakes and help in the recovery is the only sensible thing that can be done. Using this as an excuse for further misdoings will not really help in any way other than bringing the world closer to it's end.

Chinophobia

Chinophobia is not chionophobia, it has nothing to do with snow or ice cream. It is a new term coined by yours truly in the face of the dangers and fears that I sense. China is a big country and has been known for its impervous nature in the sense that the world has never known (for most of last century) about the goings on there. But now with so much exposure to the present world scenario I see/ know more of china now. China is largely thought of as a oppressed country by many, they consider that china is powerful but have no idea largely of the extent. Here I intent to state some facts to bring in the cold truth. US has been wary of the growing influence/power that china has been gathering over the past 2 decades. Not only does it hold the largest value of usa t-bills (external debt) - almost a trillion, but also its military power is beginning to challenge US. And for Indians who wish to believe that whatever power China may have should not affect India - well China is interested in expanding and for a country that is a dangerous thing for it's neighbours. China lays claims to Arunachal in NE India and it is not interested in the Hindi-Chini bhai bhai crap. It has shown that it is determined to oppose and hinder India at all possible points. The security council seat or the recent veto of the 3billion ADB funding to India. It has come to light that China has been trying to malign Indian industries - selling goods (spec garments and medicines) with fake 'Made in India' labels in countries where India's most export go to. Such is the determination of China in breaking India. What is going on is perhaps a cold war of sorts that has not been acknowledged by either side as yet.

Also it is a well known fact that industry in US is dying and china has become as the manufacturing centre for the whole world. It operates factories in 'inhuman conditions' and can obviously mass produce goods at - often unbelievably cheap rates. India has been allegedly 'shining' etc based on the few call centres we have managed to open up. Added to that we believe that because we have some IT companies that we are beginning to emerge as the next superpower. We cannot be more wrong - all that is produced in India is lowest quality stuff - the engineers we produce are good just because they are so many and so cheap. The work done in IT in India is mostly stuff that is low end. On the other hand chinese engineering technical supremacy was apparent in the recent top coder contest. There were as many as 800+ competitors from India but none managed to reach the final rounds. China had quite a few of the top places including the #1 winner. There are many other incidents that point to one direction - that china is taking over the world. If you are not bothered by it, enjoy and start learning chinese oops cantonese. But if you are not - then don't do anything out of the charts - we need to at least acknowledge and accept the position we are in. Acceptance of the problem is the first step in solving any problem and it is high time we begun.

0% Syndrome - A product of Procastination Inc.

Being a total geek, even my jokes have their source in academics. In software engineering there is term called the 90% syndrome (there are even papers on it). It basically means that a software project after reaching 90% completion takes till eternity to finish the last 10% because people make assumptions, over estimate their deeds and underestimate the remaining tasks. So basically things drag and makes the whole project very inefficient. Now we as elders of the procastination society (no one holds elections, so everyone can take as many posts as he feels like) take it upon to give back to the society (contrary to the claims that procastinators have no useful output).

I give you the 0% syndrome. It is based on studying the doings of myself as well as fellow members of the procastination society. The fact that a job has not been started means it is at 0% completion. And it remains so until the very last moment, the job is done (if done) so fast that it spends almost all of its time at 0%. We find this is very efficient to the worker in the sense that he gets from being fired (mostly) and doesn't worry about work except the bare minimum required.

If only I could get a research paper out of this too .. ! :D

Talibanisation

So today we see how precariously Pakistan is placed. India and Pakistan started of as kind of similar nations. Just that Pakistan was smaller. Even in early nineties economically they were not far apart. But now when Indian are going out and making a name for themselves around the world, we have millions of Indian researchers in premium universities, companies trading with fortune 500 companies and PIOs working in those companies as well. But what about Pakistan, its busy making headlines as the home grown terrorism hit country. The nurturing of Taliban and other 'Islamic' forces have now been proven to be disastrous out in the open, its not a new suprising thing as such, people always knew what they were dealing with. Just that they had been denying it as everything was not out in the open. Now that they are being held hostage and their existence is more than in danger. Now we don't have anything to rejoice because India's stand is being vindicated. The thing is now India has a more grave responsibility, to forgive and help. That requires a very big heart and lots of humility from both sides. But that alone can be the solution that can now resolve this situation so that both continue to survive. Its not fair to expect this of India but come to think of it, Pakistan is a way better neighbour even at its worst than Taliban. To support Pakistan is somethng unimaginable in India and I dont see any party with thing on their agenda getting a single seat.. But good thing that politicians are not answerable to the public unless their time is almost up. Lets hope that leaders on both side see some sense and act with maturity of mind and not only age.

Dignity of labor

Well no work is bad, the fact that you are doing a work that enables you to live with self respect is sufficient to make it dignified. Well how did this idea come to slip in through the crack while the rest of the world is based on nothing but egoist principles. The reason I believe is the white collar people who need the workers to do work that they consider below their dignity. They know that the common man has to do whatever work he gets - its not an option for most. But the thing is that the need is dual and instead of a symbiotic relationship with mutual respect, we know that practically the man with less manual work and all the power has indeed been dealt the higher hand. Now they can be mean and let the rest know who is the boss. But then they are smart in the fact that they know that workers with even a false reason of self-respect and sincerity are better than those that are forced  and so we have such a fancy show. They do that from time to time but at the same time they have this propoganda  teaching kids that no work is bad. Hell if it aint why the difference in position, power and money. I am not saying that they dont deserve it, just that giving the people a false sense of respect is somewhat cruel - practical but cruel.

Sense of Agnostic Redefined

Agnostic is as defined a person who doesn't believe that a certainity pertaining to God can be reached. I have refined this in my earlier post and myself defined it as a person who believes there is no reason to attempt to define a religion, belief and impose it on all others. Basically I am against the forced cloning of ideals that religion basically has come to be. 

Now with new insights I intend to add some thoughts to it. Religion is not a bad thing, the same old logic of too much = bad applies here. The problem is that religion may at best be a consolation to the people who might need it from time to time when in need of support and strength (though its always better to find it within yourself). But people will be the same, they tend to over-rely on anything that gives them comfort, be it medication (druggies), entertainment(lazy bones) or food (fatties) and the same is true for religion. The reform we need in here is more self-restrain and not simple abolishment of religion or any such sweeping change. We need to realise that all people are not strong enough for them to be able to deal with the realities of life and the idea of having some sort of a emotional support for them is not at all repulsive. It's more like we need to make it more of a personal thing. Do what you need to help yourself and thats it. There is no need to make everyone see the things in the same way as you. An anology I can see of the present situation is of a addict under influence hating all the sober people around him. Actually there is nothing more interesting about this whole thing. More focus needs to be given to actual important stuff that may help people live better. ~!

too random this time - i put no effort to rein it in

I just discovered. In old movies when the hero is saddened for some reason that cannot be solved by his almighty fists he sings .. well we normal people do other stuff less filmy. I for instance write. So I through that chain of thought I realised that my writing is more of a device to cope with pain. Its not a rule but thats mostly the case. So why is it that I am saddened on holi eve. When i talk to people they believe that I must be having a time of life, enjoying myself and basically worthy of being envied - all because I am in USA. But then what does being at any place do, will a dying man be happier just because he is living in switzerland or in paris. No, thats a basic immaturity of folks, I cannot be innocent of this crime myself - I used to think so just few months back to some extent. Ya this is pretty obvious but it does pain you when you realise that your suffering is going unrecognised rather misinterpreted and even envied.! 

So the thing is I havent written a diary for a while - by diary I mean not a thing recording what happened but what I thought. Because thoughts like time fly by, you seem to retain only a few seemingly important ones. But then there are things that you would like to know later on but it slips your tiny brain. 

So here I am blogging my thought out in the world naked for everyone to see. Doesnt that make me an exhibitionist - I am not sure. An exhibitionist in the known literary senses is somewhat of a repulsion for various people including myself but come to think of it exposing your body is less weird than opening your mind and thoughts to everyone. Why there is nothing new in any body but every mind has something peculiar and new in it (at least mine does). But exposing it is not blasphemy as it probably should be. Well I dont know - a closed mind doesnt really spread out new ideals and thoughts if you think in that sense.

So I have discovered that this is what my style is in writing- I guess I am more consious than I should be about my style - part of the reason being that I sometimes fancied(or rather still do fancy) myself to be a writer of sorts - but well then I should produce coherent, free flowing, seemingly effortless stuff - but boy have I realised that it is though to take a dictation from the mind and compose it in a decorative language at the same time. I could write it down first and then perhaps try to beautify it - but that would be cheating and somewhat fake - so I tend to keep a clear consious and provide readers( if any :D - my lame humor is glued to me tight, there is one regular reader i believe) this incoherent piece of unintentional crap. 

Well seeing that I have creative juices flowing today and that I have typed this whole thing till now without a pause to think, I should probably go on till it goes - just to see how much I can write without actually saying anything of much consequence. That will be a fun experiment - for me at least.

So coming back to the original topic - why is it that I am sad on a jolly holi day. Well the thing is that its nothing new, nothing that anyone can change and not anything weird. I mean I guess almost everyone has this kind of trouble give or take a little in magnitute.  But the reason is that the most important person from my perspective is what I think about most and am effected by him - and as it turns out for me its myself. Thats the case for most normal people. So that explains sadness as a result of environment and some problems( wont go into details - ya am cutting that supply of masala) so why today then. Hmm still figuring it out, I guess you tend to miss people more in times of 'fun that could be but it not to be'. Not a very innovative answer I know - but then thats the best I got - guess becuz its the most sensible one. 

I am beginning to realise how much of a narcassist I am turning into - I am writing this as basically a record of my talks to myself - it is a weird minute of the meeting that I am having with myself. Well from my viewpoint.

Kind of a different track now. I was thinking why/how do old friends/friendships die out. Its not a machine made of nuts and bolts that just die out of wear and tear. I have seen many (some including myself as a member) friendships die out as a star out of fuel. The reason is distance - well in most cases it is an important part. But there are other reasons such as girls, economic divide, ego and many other follies that man has created to nullify all his intelligent gifts given in the form of such wonderful things. And the thing is it saddens my heart to see that indifference also figures among them - ya its not for an egotist to admit it out in the open - but thats why I name no names and I am sure no one knows exactly who I am talking about - because I myself am not sure. he he .. Ya I meant the general trend of people in general out of which some are important to you. I guess I am going to make a novel of crap if I dont stop, so I will force a stop at this point.  

But ya continued this whole thing w/o a pause. I can produce good volume work if not good work. . lol

Depression v2.0

The great american recession... havent talked about that and somehow this is one thing that has affected everyone (myself included) in more ways than one. We had the last big depression in 1930s and this was a time that I know not much about, but the least I can tell is that this was a time when the developed nations had conditions not much better than what poor nations have today .. or state it simpler suddenly the great nations had gone poor. Now what baffles me is how does a nation become poor and more stupefyingly how can the whole world become poor. Well this is what happened in 1930s and is happening in the present and coming years. The reason is obviously some sort of a scam - a conspiracy ( that's a chic word to use today for some reason!). Well I am not the right person to comment on the depression v1.0 but since I have seen the depression v2.0 released by Mr. Bush I surely can give an insight into that. The USA has been for a long time been the dream of dreamers, who wish for success - material success at least. Many have come in and realised their dreams. But now suddenly why has USA got nothing to give its own people now. It's poor - one of us. There can be no one reason for this. One is obviously the war that America has waged over the past few years in Afganistan and Iraq. Official figures are around __ billion usd so we can be sure its at least __ billion usd . But this amount though very large it's not enough to pull down a prosperous nation as USA. The reason is that it is more of a case of a terminte infested house being subjected to floods - a sort of double whammy. The other reason is inertia - the tendency of being in the flow of the situation, with rising belief that a bleak future is ahead of us the future is made more bleaker with the death of each hope. Also I am not a real fan of Bush. I do believe that other than the war his policies had a lot to do in fucking up the economy. So basically the wrong choice made by american voters has been the reason that other countries have suffered.!! Other reasons include the oil prices. Oil is the necessary and OPEC is the devil with its key. Now it can hardly be the case that all the countries are helpless in front of opec. They have oil but the rest of the world has lots of things that they dont. The reason that they yield so much power is the greed of men of power that make the powerful countries meek in front of them. Now i dont mean that Bush was on a direct payroll of some oil lord - but in some sort of indirect way he has profited or else he is why has he let the opec come across terrorist powers. It may seem that this essay is somewat scattered but the reason is that the problems associated with the topic are a web and concentrating on just one part will give only part of the picture. There is a lot more to the topic and it shall be continued ............