Atanu Dey On India's Development

“In facing your own mortality, what final message would you leave for future generations?” That question is from the 11th Hour series from Colorado Public Television which records living testaments from distinguished individuals delivering their lasting message to the world. Roger Ebert delivered this in 1994. He passed away just a month ago on April 4th, 2013.

We spend a great deal of time in mostly trivial pursuits on the web. But the web has an enormous wealth of content that could be of value to us. However we have to invest time and concentration to take what we are given so freely. This talk by Roger Ebert is worth the time.
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The 3rd president of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan, must be the original “My Name is Khan.” In 1971 he instructed his army to “Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands.” He was talking about his compatriots in the eastern half of Pakistan, present day Bangladesh. Not just the borders, Pakistani innards are bloody as well. Anyway, the Pakistani army proceeded with the job of killing three million and by some estimates, achieved that target. India helped in bringing the killing spree to a close but at an enormous price. Staggering humanitarian costs: The Indian army suffered thousands of casualties; around 10 million refugees flooded into India (most of whom never returned). I don’t know if anyone can reliably estimate the economic costs. What bothers me is that too many people did not learn the important lesson even after this. I want to know why.
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I have had the privilege of calling both India and the US home, and have had the opportunity of observing both from near as well as from afar. I am not an impartial observer because I am too emotionally invested in both countries. However precisely because I care for both countries that I bother to observe them so carefully and criticize them so relentlessly. The words of an old song express my feelings well: “I love you too much to ever start liking you // So don’t expect me to be your friend.” I feel pity, sorrow, anger, fear and loathing for what they have done (and are doing) to India.
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“It was 20 years ago today, Sgt Peppers taught the band to play . . .” Actually, I got carried away. What I really meant was that it was 20 years ago today, on April 30th 1993, that a bunch of researchers at CERN, a physics lab in Switzerland, decided that they would put some of the software they had created for sharing data in the public domain. That was the birth of the World Wide Web. And the first website, you ask? Here is a screen capture. (Click on the image to visit the world’s first website.

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I don’t usually argue with people’s claims about their objectives but once in a while when I see a claim that is absurdly irrational, I cannot but call bullshit. So it was that I (perhaps irrationally) decided to challenge a person’s stated objective. Here’s what @ReclaimBharat’s twitter header says:

I responded. Here is a picture of that twitter exchange.

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Go click on the poll at rediff.

I am guessing that the numbers for Modi will drop and Pappu’s number improve on the rediff poll. The #twitterNREGA people have yet to get on the ball.

Most people realize after a little bit of observing and thinking that terrorism is not a matter of poverty. In most cases, the terrorists themselves proclaim their motives quite loudly which does not ever include poverty. The poor may have legitimate grievances against the others but they don’t resort to the indiscriminate killing of people as a result. Every act of terror is ideologically motivated and in most cases it is an intolerant vicious desert religion which promises terrorists rewards in their afterlife. But there are people who are either afraid or too stupid to acknowledge that; instead they blame poverty — and therefore the poor — for terrorism. That is insanely immoral.
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So the big news is that the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) had a meeting which was addressed by the appointed prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the son of his Italian madam, the half-Italian Mr. Raul Vinci who goes by the name Rahul Gandhi.

Referring to Raul/Rahul as “Pappu” is becoming popular. The name pappu (pronounced ‘pup-poo’) has a passing resemblance to ‘puppy’ but in many parts of north India, pappu is a term of endearment used for very immature little boys. Continue Reading →

It is time once again to lay that old chestnut to rest. The specious claim that the IITs are better than some of the best universities in the world is beyond slack-jawed silliness. I am reminded of that by this tweet by my friend @KiranKS

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy’s son wanted to do Computers at IIT. But didn’t get within 200th rank. Went to Cornell. Ivy League a backup!

— Kiran Kumar S (@KiranKS) March 29, 2013

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