Although it is true that I went to Addis Ababa to attend the World Information Technology Forum 2007 as a speaker, it is a hollow claim to say that I visited Ethiopia, or even Addis Ababa. I did land at the Bole International Airport early morning on 21st Aug and departed late night on 24th, but for all practical purposes, I might as well have been elsewhere. The airport terminal was the generic glass and steel tubing terminals you see around the world. The Addis Hilton was just another …

If you were wondering what happened, wonder no more. I am in Africa. To be more specific, I am in Addis Ababa attending a conference called World IT Forum 2007. Yesterday I made a presentation on “Information Technology and Economic Opportunities.” Went off OK.
Lots of interesting things going on. Will get in touch later. Bye for now.

Chennai Policy Makers’ Conference Oct 2003
Date: 10th October, 2003.
The digital divide seems to be all the rage these days. Take for instance the recent two days I spent in Chennai. The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) had organized a Policy Makers’ Workshop at their campus in Chennai on October 8th and 9th. The workshop was supported by two “Canadian crown corporations”, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). (Those two have a budget of about Canadian $100 million.)

Ever wonder why we call 15th August “independence” day? My interpretation when I first heard this English term was, “on 15th August 1947 the British became independent from India”, because before that day, they depended on India for cotton, silk, indigo, metalware, jewelry, perfume, paper, grains, spices, labor, and many other commodities and services. I was soon “corrected” and it was explained to me that before 15th August 1947, WE were dependent on the British. I could never figure this out. Clearly “independence” and “swadhinta” …

Yoda editor must have been of the column Ashok Desai by Telegraph in of Aug 15th.

Sayeth Desai:
If instead of the Hindu rate of growth of 3.5 per cent, India had achieved 6 per cent in 1950-80, we would have been twice as rich as we are today. But we have lost even more in terms of distribution of growth than of growth itself. We would have been even richer in terms of consumer goods. We would have worn better and cheaper clothes, and owned more white goods that take …

Sri Aurobindo was born on this day, Aug 15th, in 1872.
Among the intellectual and spiritual giants born in this land, Sri Aurobindo has a special standing. Go read about Sri Aurobindo and lament the fact that dwarfs rule the land today.
Here’s Sri Aurobindo on Indian spirituality:
Spirituality is the master key of the Indian mind. It is this dominant inclination of India which gives character to all the expressions of her culture. In fact, they have grown out of her inborn spiritual tendency of which her religion is a natural …

Happy 60th Independence Day!
My analysis is one of hope, potential and possibilities. Although political freedom was achieved 60 years ago, economic freedom is still a distant dream for the majority of the population. It is understandable why political freedom is easier to achieve relative to economic freedom. The entire population of the nation has an interest in political freedom — with very rare exceptions. But there are factions within the country that oppose economic freedom because they have a vested interest in the perpetuation of a command and control economy. …

Jigsaw Puzzles
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When we first practice to deceive,” lamented good old Scotty (the poet that is, not the guy with his warp drives and dilithium crystals). But I have noticed that in our attempt to un-deceive ourselves, which is what learning is about, we are also forced to weave a tangled web. It is a tangled web of relationships we slowly build in our minds and gradually a pattern emerges if we are lucky. Unresolved variables and dangling references scattered around the edges of …

I suppose in the end, babies are babies and mothers are mothers.

While the video is loading, take a look at a few pictures of the piglets and a tiger.
Believe It Or Not !!! Pig Feeding Tiger Cubs And Vice Versa – video powered by Metacafe

My friend Nitin Pai of The Acorn has an op-ed in the Mint, “Why India must export its Islam.” He writes:
In a secular state such as India, there is little role for the state in matters of faith and religion. But the rise of a radical, intolerant version of Islam around the world is also not in its interests. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran have no self-imposed restrictions on promoting their own Islamic values. It is unlikely that India can counter these exertions of soft power by promoting the virtues …

The co-author of Freakonomics, the celebrated economist Steve Levitt, who recently moved his blog to NY Times asks in his Aug 8th post “If You Were a Terrorist, How Would You Attack?” He states that his general view of the world is that simpler is better (and I agree with him on that) and goes on to wonder about simpler, more efficient ways of creating terror. He asks his readers to think creatively about how they would go about the business of terrorism.
I would love to hear them. Consider that …

So the story goes that there was an amateur photographer who would every year bring his crop of new pictures to an old man who was a master. Every year the master would go through the pictures and sort them out into “good” and “not good” piles. Funnily, the amateur would keep bringing back an old picture which invariably ended up in the “not good” pile.
Finally exasperated, he challenged the master, “Every year I bring this picture to you. Why do you keep putting it in the not-good pile?” …

“If you take all the pieces of Bollywood out of our lives – the celebrities on the billboards, the songs in the nightclubs, the stars on Page 3 – Indians would find their lives to be completely empty,” said Shuchi Pandya, a jewelry merchandiser in Mumbai. “It’s subconscious. Even if you don’t enjoy Bollywood movies, it becomes a part of your life.”
[The concluding lines from an Iinternational Herald Tribune article "Can Hollywood make a Bollywood movie?"]
I don’t have a very high opinion of the Indian masses (and that goes …

In a few days, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living will be right outside my door for an entire week. The AoL is having a huge gathering not just within Magarpatta City but in the common area in front of the building I stay in. I will have a bird’s eye view of the proceedings from the balcony of my 11th floor apartment. Lucky me.
SSRS’s followers continue to send me unsolicited mail. Lucky me once again.
They don’t seem to understand that I express my views on my …

Thanks to all who wrote in with the suggestion that it should be “just desserts” and not “just deserts” as I had written in “Just Deserts for Mr Dutt.” Actually, it is “just deserts” and “just desserts” is an eggcorn.

Go read Tubular Belle if you have a few minutes to spare.

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash

The Aug 2007 issue of “Pragati” — the publication of Indian National Interest is out. This special issue is called “Rejuvenating India” (pdf download 2.3MB).
I have two pieces in there. The first is a reprint of an op-ed piece for Mint which I had with Reuben Abraham. The second is a piece I titled “The Age of Profound Ignorance.” I try to make a case why India needs to liberalize its education sector.
I must say that Nitin Pai and the team have done a fine job. I am …

We find ourselves in the midst of a transition, from the industrial-value-added analog world to the information-value-added digital world of the future. The relatively static world of the past is giving way to a dynamic world that defies comprehension and easy descriptions. The institutions that worked in the past are losing their relevance in an accelerating and rapidly changing world economy – one that is getting more interdependent and interrelated. This change is more radical than that which accompanied the transition from a primarily agricultural to an industrial economy.

The vilest deeds like poison weeds
Bloom well in prison-air:
It is only what is good in Man
That wastes and withers there:
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate,
And the warder is Despair.