Living Diagonally In My Parallel World!

On the occasion of Maratha reservation Maharashtra government has made a decision to designate Maratha caste as OBC. Maratha is politically the most powerful caste in Maharashtra. An overwhelming percentage of politicians are of the Maratha caste. So why was there a need to declare Marathas as OBC’s? Is there an electorate out there who will vote for the government on this issue? That raises the question why do we need reservations? If the government has a vision of classless society then the castes should be done away with. Why is it mandatory to put in the caste while applying for a school/college admission or applying for a job? Aren’t there any better ways to improve the social conditions of the so called under priviliged citizens? By bringing in quota’s aren’t we limiting the number of bright students thereby putting a restriction to India’s future? Aren’t we denying opportunity to the elligible? Aren’t todays elligible persons being punished for something that happenned few cent...

Vilas Deshmukh again The Comptroller and Auditor General of India ( CAG ), in the latest report, has singled out Vilas Deshmukh’s educational institute for taking undue benefits through land allotment in the MIDC in his hometown, Latur. The annual audit report of MIDC released last week showed that the Vilasrao Deshmukh Foundation got undue benefits during Mr Deshmukh’s tenure as CM. This apparently caused losses to the tune of Rs 1.19 crore to the MIDC, the CAG report of 2007 said. It noted that the MIDC received a ‘suo motu’ application from the Deshmukh Foundation in 2001 seeking allotment of 3.56 lakh square metres for establishing an educational campus in Latur.

Another one on the dirty politicians - Narayan Rane has alleged that a powerful politician who is close to Vilas Deshmukh was invloved in the 26/11 Mumbai blasts. He told this in the legislative assembly too. This is a very serious allegation. This raises some questions – Why isn’t anyone enquiring with him about the proof? Or is it that this guy is a nut and so his statements are to be ignored? Why haven’t the police questioned him? Isn’t hiding vital information on a crime itself a crime anymore?

I have thought for a long time about writing on India and the quality of its politicians. We have had so many discussions within friends on this topic. Everyone agreed that India needed better politicians – some suggested that the rulers will only be as good or bad as the citizens so if we want to improve the quality of politics, we must join politics. I was thinking about the Raj Thackeray issue. See even I am referring to the fiasco as “Raj Thackeray” issue. In my opinion the problem lied somewhere else but the media presented the issue as an anti North Indian issue. The basic point was that in the past few years, the adverts for railway exams that are held in Mumbai/Maharashtra are consistently not published in the local newspapers. The only newspapers that they were published in Maharashtra were a few Nagpur based newspapers and Loksatta in Mumbai. This issue had been taken up with Maharashtra MP’s but they had failed to act on it for whatever reason. (maybe they were vetoed by th...

Near the Prince's Island View from IBM office on 11th AVE SW Outside McKnight train station Enroute to North East for Indian groceries! Pedestrian bridge at the Prince's Island Park A canopy overlooking the Bow River Jogging track in the Prince's Island Park Jogging track in the Prince's Island Park The Bow river - completely frozen! Park benches City skyline as seen from the Park Another view Memorial

Interestingly, just as I had completed writing this blog I got a mail with two questions - What is the likely impact of the low oil prices on the Oil sands companies? Which will lead to another question . What can we all do, in our own small ways in IT , to help reduce impact? So I have added a paragraph trying to mention how IT can contribute. Impact of Low Oil Prices Generally low oil prices means less expenses and lower inflation. But how would it impact various countries? I have also tried to find the answer to this question. I was trying to co-relate the impact it would have on the Canadian dollar. When I landed in Calgary the CAD was trading at Rs.40.65 , now it is Rs.38.34. From what I have been reading in the media the oil price is expected to dip to USD35 by the last week of December '08, but is expected to recover to upto USD50 in February. Now that the oil prices have dipped there are bound to be some who will benefit and some losers. The ones to benefit- Based on the da...

काही उत्तम मराठी कविता सुधीर मोघे न्हाउनिया उभी मी सुकवीत केस ओले वेड्या मुशाफिराने त्याचेच गीत केले अवकाश भारलेला, माझे मला न भान अनिवार एक होती, ओठावरी तहान खासाचिया लयीत संगीत पेरलेले वेड्या मुशाफिराने त्याचेच गीत केले साधून हीच वेळ आला कोठून वारा सुखवीत फूल त्याने लुटला पराग सारा मग होई चंदनाचे अस्तित्व तापलेले वेड्या मुशाफिराने त्याचेच गीत केले दाही दिशात तेव्हा आली भरूनी तृप्ति अंगांग तेवणारी होई निवांत ज्योति येई न सांगता जे असे घडून गेले वेड्या मुशाफिराने त्याचेच गीत केले