Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Friends.....and Gender bias

Ok ...I know i am touching a sensitive issue. But y'day's CNBC discussions on the relationship between the beautiful Pak journo and former Chief Minister of Punjab Capt. Amarinder Singh made me think what is it that makes friendships between people of different gender more conspicous and newsworthy ? Ok i am not discussing their relationship...simply because i dunno the facts.

But on a broader level what is it that makes relationships between people suddenly unsavoury to the society at large when it is between 2 people of different genders?

I have had a long innings with education where in I have mostly studied in co- ed institutes because the professional courses have never had gender specific colleges at least in my times. Of course here (in chennai) I was surprised to see some colleges purely women's college providing course like MBA and Journalism. Let me deal with in detail another day.

Today, i want to just concentrate on 2 adults from different genders and being friends. The way this society is designed ...it is impossible for adults however old they are to have a friendly relationship without being accused of having sexual relationship. My problem is ...is life all about sexual attractions and relationships....actually it could be something even more deeper than that.....or it could just be a frequency matching. Why are we as a human race hell bent on putting all relationships into a straitjacket man-woman relationship?
Celebrations transcend religions - so should the sops and subsidies

It is christmas and new year time. The time of the year when celebrations galore. As a matter of fact the whole country wears a festive look.....guess i must say the whole universe. Even though in this country christians are grouped under minority the celebrations reach out to one and all. It is truly one of those mega events which is also a time for major marketing and selling activities ala diwali. So is this country secular? Has the celebrations transcended religions...yeah it has.

But unfortunately the politicians are stuck to the rhetoric of minority sops to attract - or so they think the vote bank. If there is someone who delivers on the development front they are bound to make it to the post against all odds. While the congress is probably realising it albeit slowly and so are other parties it seems it takes a dictator like Narendra Modi to prove this point.

I agree most of us think he is a killer....maybe even what sonia gandhi said in her speech is true....but the fact is gujurat is the best infrastructure in the country...the roads are world class the industries are doing well the investments are flowing - eventhough the western world wont let him visit them to get investments....he has proved he doesnt need to go on foriegn visits the money flows. Why ?

Because he is made sure the State Machinery runs...and removed corruption. And if one thing that made me sit up and think here is a leader with a difference and Man at it...is when he had the guts to come out of chief ministers meeting and question the Prime Minister on providing sops to religious minority in the name of poverty alliviation. Why? Are the poor of hindus inferior to those of christians...or the definition varies with religion?

It is time the congress party realises this country has come a long way since the mother in law ruled this country. What worked for her then may not work for the daughter in law!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Reading

The other day i was telling a friend....an online friend ofcourse...that since the computer has come and all this new medium of keeping in touch with friends has emerged...my reading habit..which was pathetic to start with....but could boast of a few newpapers and magazines seems to have been relegated to a "only if time permits" kinda reading. And believe me it is not a great feeling at all. For one i always thought i was well informed person..had to be at the cutting edge of the News and Happenings.

But it is amazing hows hours go by when one is in front of the computer. Be it any of the social networking communities or just reading comment and reviews on news networks....and then there is the chats....even before i realise the day has gone by...literally

My dad had a touring job and in those it was even before the onset on TV....when we were in school, me my mom n brother used to live mostly on our own...and the amount of reading we used to was amazing. We used to be members of a library and it appeared like we were the only ones reading....returning books and magazines almost on a daily basis and demanding new ones....lollllllllllllll.

Today on the other hand while i am happy with my computer ...my son watches cartoons continuously....well one would argue...the comics books are replaced by video and made life more enjoyable. But is it true....

For example we had to go to the library to get books, which was an activity in itself...and had to choose and pick books....we used to read..which meant learning language...new words....understanding the useage....etc etc....but now...he is developing into a couch potato...and me a e potato...hehehehe

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

We the Living - Ayn Rand

Whether it was nandigram...the communists apathy to voilence or the general goings on in this country....for some reason...i picked up this book which describes the days after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia.

My heart bled to read how the individuals suffer during any such socia-political upheavels. This the story of this girl who was 18 and stood witness to the change of Russian socialism. It clearly opened my eyes to the fact that at the education or policy level one doesnt wait even a minute to think how these changes could affect people at the individual level. An economist by education, i have been trained to think statistics and econometrics is everything to come up with a policy. While it is but true...that sometimes not everybody can be pleased..i am more drawn today than ever to the welfare economics approach and the pareto theorems which explicitly states that policies are paratian optimal solutions if and only if they dont make anybody worse off while making some one better off than at the beginning.

Coming back to the book and Ayn Rand.....who is not really a favourite of mine since she really writes big fat book and heavy philosophical stuff....but i like this book ...because it is more an autobiographical and the background brings out the situation in Russia in 1919 when the revolution had just taken place and all the so called capitalists were in doldrums. It sends a chill down my spine when i read about the train packed with people moving slowly in the russian winter and people fighting over food.