Thursday, June 17, 2010

Socialist America and Capitalist India

USA is kicking BP's ass for the oil rig explosion in the gulf coast. Yesterday Obama met with BP execs and make them setup $20billion fund for damage claims. Although it is a much smaller money compared to their stock loss of $83billion since the oil spill started, it is a move forced by the US govt. What more? more drastic steps on future oil drilling there and other places. In India, Bhopal gas leak killed 20,000 people and the company Union carbide was not held responsible for the cleanup, they let their top guy Warren Anderson leave the country safely with the help of politicians. Eventhough the accident happend in 1984, it is not something that happend out of the blue. There were several safety issues years prior to that.
WTF moments:
* US owned Union carbide or its new avtar Dow chemicals is not expected to spend money on cleanups in return they will invest in India?
* Congress party says "Anybody questions Rajiv Gandhi in Bhopal accident is unpatriotic".
Every citizen has a right to question his leader. If he is not questioning, then alone he is unpatriotic. Secondly, it was questioned by opposition party who ran the govt before. Calling them unpatriotic is unpatriotic.
* Warren Anderson says, I was forgiven by the Indian govt.
* Congress party says "Prime ministers office was not involved in Anderson escapse".
* Congress party says "Anderson escape happened due to systemic failure".
* Then foreign secretary M K Rasgotra says "Then US president Ronald Regan spoke to Rajiv Gandhi".
* Congress party says "If we hadn't let Anderson go, mob would have killed him".
* Congress party says "We let him go on condition that he will be present for trials".
* Congress party says "Narendra Modi signed MoU with Dow Chemicals in 2008"
* Union carbide settled $470 million in 1989.
* USA says "Bhopal case is settled, we can't open it now and Anderson won't go to India"
* 26 Years later, still the plant is not cleaned up. The chemicals got into the earth, spoiled the water table.

Alright forget everything ever happened,
1. Who is responsible for bhopal plant cleanup? if state govt, do they have the infrastructure/money?
2. There are many dyeing and leather tanning industries in remote places which pollutes the neighbourhood. Could cause cancer to people who live there causing slow death, many of them are not even licensed. Will someone act on that?

Friday, June 11, 2010

Getting attestation from Indian Consulate needs Apostille.


Indian Consulated added a new requirement for the miscellaneous services like Power Of Attorney requests to them. It says,
  • All documents should be apostilled / attested by the Authentication Division in the State Department before submission of attestation at the consulate.
Traditionally we get the document attested from Indian consulate if we want to sign on a power of attorney to be executed in India. Doing it with the Indian Consulate proves that you live overseas. Since we won't be present in front of the consul, we sign in front of the Notary and submit the notorized document to the Indian Consulate. Apparently someone forged the notary in the past so, they added this new requirement to get the document apostilled on top of notary.

Apostille
Secretary of State office in the state capital is the authority responsible for certifying the authenticity of the signature of the Notary who signed the document. They will give their apostille seal mentioning that the Notary is valid. Usually this procedure takes few days for them to do and it depends on the state. Some states have expedited service by paying extra. Otherwise, it just cost around $20 per apostille seal.

Catch 22
We get the Notary if we can't be present at the place to sign a document. We sign it in front of the Notary instead. But these notaries are only recognized within that country. In 1961, several countries including India and USA signed a treaty called Hague convention. This says once a notary is apostilled by the state authority, it should be treated valid by all countries participating in the Hague convention. This means we don't even have to get it from Indian Consulate but not many organizations (mainly banks) recognize this apostille procedure and are strict in getting it signed from Indian Consulate where you live. And Indian Consulates needs it apostilled before it authenticates. Who will tell them that Indian Govt has signed a treaty so follow it!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Legalize gambling?

Amit Verma in his Yahoo opinions - Viewfinder argues the need for legalizing gambling in India. His argument is, everyday - everyone is involved in decision making which he calls it gambling. The fact he is missing is that they are actually just changes we take.
Secondly, not everyone is educated and rational enough to decide whether to gamble or not. Agreed that govt should serve people, not rule them. If the govt legalize gambling, it will spoil many workers into gamblers (I know this well because I lived long enough in Nevada). So, sometimes govt should proactively control and form rules so as to protect its citizens. He also justifies the tax from gambling would cover the expenses of the NREGA. Ok, legalize gambling and next what? legalize brothels? where do we stop?
Before asking for legalizing anything, we must just see if someone has done it before and see whether it worked. I am not saying that gambling must be banned in Nevada aswell. Its just not for everyplace particularly for the whole nation particularly not for India which has different culture.
Long time ago, when I and my friend were walking, we were stopped by a missionary. She went on to speak about the need for god and stuff. My friend got mad and started fighting with the missionary pointing her that she is just trying to convert him. I told my friend, she is just doing her job. She may not be right in talking to you about her god but the fact is, there are missionaries is some jungle in Africa who have no values and eating human flesh. They are needed there but not to someone like you who belong to a culture which has over 3000 years of human values.
My point is, certain things belong to certain places.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Friend's influence

You pick certain things from your friends. When I was a kid, I used to watch my friend passionately draw what he see. He thought me to draw not just beautiful things but to draw something that convey somthing. When we were in 7th grade and it was the first time we had a signal in our town, above the signal it said "stop, watch, go" he drew a comic strip of a homeless guy standing under the signal thinking "I stopped, I waited but where to go". I saw that and I drew a picture of a girl and wrote a poem about women.. all in 7th grade.
I bet I have an impact on his life aswell. I remember few incidents. When we were in 4th or 5th grade,
me: I'm excited to go home and watch people setting up overhead tank at home.
friend: What is a overhead tank?
me: It holds water. Remember we have a well in our backyard? this is just like that but on the roof.
He went home that day and asked his mom
friend: when will we build a well in our roof?
his mom: No one will build a well on the roof.
friend: but vasan said they are doing it in their house.
his mom: its a lie, don't listen to him.
When we were kids, we never understood why adults watch News on TV instead of dance and fights, but once I saw my mom talking to my aunt about what jewels the news reporter was wearing. Next day I told my friend that the thing about watching news is, it is not about understanding what they are saying, its about watching how they look. One day when he was at home, his sister was fighting with his parents to change the channel because the news is coming up. So, my friend told my theory to his sister. His mom saw that and got mad and started yelling at him and somehow my name cameup in the investigation.
We both grewup and when he was about to get married, he was confused as to what kind of girl to look for to get married. He called me..
me: Its not about the beauty. After sometime you will stop noticing it. The most important thing is see what you want in your life and find a girl who will help you in setting up a good family.
friend: so what kind of girl are you looking to marry, who is your ideal match?
me: my ideal match should not be exactly like me, then we won't improve much. she should be everything I'm missing in me.
friend: that means she should be exactly opposite of you?
me: no, she should complement me, she must be a driving force. If I lack something, she must drive me and push the family forward. So everyone should look for that they have and what they need and look for their partner.
friend: got it!
Later that day, he called his mom.
friend: I know what kind of girl I should look for to get married.
his mom: What kind?
friend: She must be a driver..
his mom: what?? are you talking to vasan?
friend: yeah..
his mom: still he didn't change!

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Best job of the time

1000 years ago - a soldier.
200 years ago - a trader.
100 years ago - a farmer.
now - a software engineer.
after 100 years - ?

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

What our temples need?

Religion is about building faith and teaching way of life. Going to hindu temple helps only in building belief system. We need to have some well learned guru giving sermon that explains the morals and way of life based on our religious scriptures in all temples. This will also prevent ashrams growing like mushrooms all over the country. Government agency that oversees temples must regulate temple activities and improve them.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Capitalism threat

While capitalism brings lot of positives like improving overall life style, innovation etc. It puts people in a rat race and hugely favors winners. Most of the time, people who stay behind end up surrendering to the winners. This creates a big gap between rich and the poor. When socialist counties move toward capitalism, will they learn from developed countries and avoid the mistakes like major corporations lobbying government?

On a lighter note..2

I heard someone saying in an interview that
"Behind every successful man there is a surprised woman".
Its kinda funny but he said it in a serious tone. If that is even remotely true, wouldn't it be true the other way as well? Do we generally ignore to notice people who are really close to us?
Do we see our Dad as Dad and not what he does? How often do we see our spouse as someone who is good in what they do.

Monday, March 15, 2010

On a lighter note..

guy1: Look at the moon, its beautiful.
guy2: Wonder why people compare moon with women. Is it because the moon looks beautiful only from distance?
guy3: and it looses its shape every 15 days, that may be another reason!

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Nithyanandha act and aftermath.


Many people reacted differently on this issue. Leave those non believers who laughed at the issue and said "I knew it". Hardcore followers were shocked. First of all they went to him for his preachings and learning yoga, nothing changed now. It is surprising to see they didn't expect their godman doing earthly acts eventhough he has been showing other signs all along. He was visibly getting richer everyday, letting people treat him like king, setting up ashram forts and makingup rules.
Next the press, SunTV which "uncovered" the story. It is one thing to show sex in tv and it is something to show real sex acts - yikes. Why don't we have censorship for TV again? Others like Nakeeran went overboard showing unconventional stuff. Why didn't they go to police first with the video before telecasting it?
Next the government, aren't they responsible for the safety of their people? To what extent are they controlling the ashrams? Even temples come under 'Hindu Aranilai thurai' but not ashrams, so whatever happens within ashrams is beyond government authority? - rubbish.
Then came officials, now all those officials investigating ashram's involvement in crime, tax fraud(?), sandalwood, tiger skin acquisition and land encroachments. They didn't even think of those possibilities before?

Friday, March 05, 2010

Bhagavad Gita and war

Why would a religion preaching based on war?
Vyasa wanted to pass the wisdom in form of a story, what best backdrop than a battlefield to depict the complexities of life. On another level, it is arjuna's war within.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

What makes you a good programmer?

Being a good man will not make you a good programmer. Programming requires a different set of characteristics than life. To be a good programmer, you need to have
1. Effort
2. Aptitude
3. Attitude
4. Basics
Effort is desire to keeping yourself up to date with technology, willing to make a positive change in every aspect of the project. Ofcourse, aptitude is required to complement the effort to make it useful like identifying the problem and solution. Attitude is as important in programming as in real life. Nothing works without having a good understanding of basics.

Where do you see truth?

Truth is completeness more than reality. I see truth in an artist's work. When you see a master piece, you will see how truthful the artist was in making that piece. Lot of people with passion are truthful in whatever they do. So, what stops us from being truthful in our work? - distractions - distractions - distractions.
Next time when you do something, ask yourself 'Am I being truthful in this work?'