Sunday, April 26, 2009

One flu over the pig sty

I thought we had to be ready for Bird Flu? People stopped eating all sorts of fowl and poultry for a year to prevent the deadly pandemic from occuring. Places of worship raked up billions, as poor souls wanted the Big Dude to save them from this outbreak which had the potential of being worse than the great Influenza outbreaks of the 18th century..

Turns out the flu showed a right indicator and turned left..

It should have been the pigs we should have been worried about

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Main toh raste se jaa raha tha...

Expectation is a funny animal. Almost always set to let you down. In my personal experience, my best work has always come through when I have had the least expectations out of the work. Be it at work or in personal life, when I expect too much, I end up disappointed. So, I try not to expect anything. Expectations from self causes too much pressure to perform well, and you end up disappointed.

Why did I think of this now?

Just generally, actually. But more because of the Fake IPL Player, a fantastic blog which has come up on the web. Supposedly written by someone on the inside from the Kolkotta Knight Riders, it has created a storm on the internet. So much so, that the KKR team management is out to get him. They had promised to find him within 24 hours but that was 3 days ago, and still no news of who he is. Various cricket bloggers have him listed as Sanjib Sanyal, Ranadeb Bose, even Saurav Ganguly himself.

But that's not what I am writing about. I am writing about his writing style.

He started off unknown, and wrote amazing stuff. Now, the expectations of a fantabulous blog post are getting to him. And the quality suffers

That right there shows, he's not a true writer. My guess is he's a cricketer and my money is on Murali Kartik

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

How not to report the news

Here is the front page news report in today's The Times of India(italics are mine)

New Delhi: In a bizarre directive, vulnerable to be misused by the authorities,Election Commission on Tuesday said the electronic media cannot telecast anything which can influence voters in areas where elections are to take place, in the 48 hours preceding voting.

In a separate order, EC has also banned dissemination of results of opinion and exit polls by the media.

The gag on electronic media, issued under section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act that prohibits displaying any election matter on television or any related medium 48 hours before poll, is seen as unsuitable for multi-phase elections as well as innocent of the ways the media functions. With their satellite uplink, the channels beam programmes of all-India relevance completely uncircumscribed by the geographical division that the commission wants to enforce.
It also carries the danger of harassment of the media by local authorities.
Take the case of a national news channel which may show a programme on starvation deaths in Andhra Pradesh or impact of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh which, like most of others, have multi-phase polls. Both starvation deaths and Salva Judum are issues that can have impact throughout the state, and any functionary can easily argue that their telecast was violative of the EC order and, therefore, liable to be punished. How will EC check the misuse?

In another instance of its naive understanding of working of media, EC has said programmes like debate/panel discussions may be telecast provided they are not in the nature of election campaign or promoting/prejudicing the prospects of any particular party or candidates.

But since most of the news channels call representatives of key parties for panel discussion, will it be possible for EC to make the fine distinction between harmless debate and promoting/prejudicing prospects of any party? It may all boil down to the subjective assessment of the local official
.

Given the legion of cases of harassment of the media in districts on various excuses, EC clearly seemed to have erred big time by not factoring in the risk of arbitrary enforcement of its directive.

As part of the order, EC has also said the programmes involving the candidates from the constituencies that are going to polls including interviewing or projecting the candidates should not be telecast/ broadcast during the prohibited period of 48 hours


Now here is the same article without the italics. Request to read independent of the news report above.

(The) Election Commission on Tuesday said the electronic media cannot telecast anything which can influence voters in areas where elections are to take place, in the 48 hours preceding voting. In a separate order, EC has also banned dissemination of results of opinion and exit polls by the media.

The gag on electronic media, (was) issued under section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act that prohibits displaying any election matter on television or any related medium 48 hours before (the) poll

As part of the order, (the) EC has also said the programmes involving the candidates from the constituencies that are going to polls including interviewing or projecting the candidates should not be telecast/ broadcast during the prohibited period of 48 hours


Notice any difference there?

All I did was remove the opinion pieces from the news report. Nobody wants to know what some news reporter thinks. He is just like you and me. Not an expert on anything worthwhile. Hence he has a job to report the news. If he wants the world to know what he thinks about this order of the Election Commission, he write a blog. But not on the front page of (supposedly) India's leading newspaper.

Unfortunately, the Times of India today, is a newspaper which has sold it's journalistic soul to the corporate devil, who demands that newspapers sold count more than it's own integrity. Why it disappoints me is because the Times more than any other thing has a special place in my memories. It is the disappointment that comes when someone close to you breaks your trust. You get bitter towards that special someone.

When I was a kid, my grandpa would read me the Times of India. From front page to last (or rather in reverse) we would go through the previous days news. With no TV, and definitely no internet, the Times would serve as our eyes and ears to the world. My world views were definitely formed in a large part by the newspaper, which in it's own words was "The Leader (who) guards the Reader". It would be neutral and almost sage-like. News reports would be on the front pages and the opinion pieces would be in the middle pages. The news reports would not be judgemental, just report the facts. The middle pages would use these reports and pass their analysis. Life was quite simple. You want to know what someone said, you read the front page and if you want to know what he/she meant, you read the op-eds.

One more noble profession bites the dust.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Are you a proud Hindu??

I am actually..

Regardless of the fact that I don't quite understand the logic of a God most of the times. What I do like about Hinduism, is that it is not forcing you to do anything.. You want to eat meat on Ganpati day, go ahead. You don't want to, no-one's forcing you to.. There's no self-styled expert in Hinduism, who I HAVE to follow just because he has read some books which I haven't..

As they say in the business world, there are no rules, just guidelines.

But articles like this one tend to dilute my pride in being one.

It's not what is written that bugs me. Dogs bark and journos write. It's their job to write. But it's the tone. It's one of anger and hatred. It's one of taking yourself and your so-called Gods so seriously, that you put down others. Even putting them down would be fine, but reading this, can someone tell me how this writer is any different from the "neocon Christian right", or the Taliban or any of the other hatred spewers of the world? I am debating whether by putting his article on my blog, I am only giving him encouragement. But since I have to denounce him, I have to link to his writing.

Anger leads to hatred. When a majority shows tendencies of hatred, genocides happen.

And responsible journalists go scot-free.

Side Note: I didn't know this, but apparently Sanskrit and Hawaiian are the only two known languages which do not have a word for religion. Shouldn't that give you a hint?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Things I think I think -- Election edition

- I know I am not contesting the election, and I thought I had made it clear that I wouldn't be, but I got a call this morning, from an old friend from my college days asking if it was true that I was contesting. Which means, someone reads this blog after all. I think I ought to do something about it.

- Now, all the obstacles for my candidacy for the next elections have cleared. The only thing I didn't have on my political CV was nepotism and family history of politics. No more.. My mom's elder brother is indeed contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Pune. His symbol is the torch, so request everyone to take a look at the candidacy of Dattatraya alias Deepak Talgeri. You're in for a fun ride if he were to win.

- Why the BJP / NDA ought to win -- Your "enemy" has presided over the scariest terror attack in the history of the nation, has ruled during the times of the biggest global meltdown in the history of the world barring the Depression, has lost its base support base in the biggest states, doesn't hold the power in any of the major states barring Rajasthan by itself, and really has no dynamic leader barring one, though a dynastic choice, who has said he doesn't want to be the leader. You ought to win, right??

- Why the Congress / UPA ought to win -- You led the country through 5 years with rampant growth despite support from Communists, your policies ensured that even during the greatest trough since the Depression, the economy is at 6% growth, you had to deal with terrorists, but at least you killed them all, and not released some, your leader is a renowned economist, your rural sector growth (roughly 60% of the electorate) has been enormous over 5 years with employment guarantees and proposed national pension schemes. You probably deserve another try (without the Communists this time)

- Why the Third Front ought to win - I don't know. Why Not???

- Why any of them don't deserve to win -

The BJP has no one beyond Advani, who's 81 years old. He says he's 81 years young, but I don't want to hand over my country to an 81 year old. I am not discriminating. I don't want an 81 year old running the coutnry, just as I don't want a 22 year old. And as long as the BJP cannot get to 272 by itself, Mr. Modi is going to remain in Gujarat. He won't even become sports minister, so they do not have another PM. I'd take Rahul Gandhi over Rajnath Singh any day. That, and that they have hijacked my blog with their crappy ads..

The Congress doesn't deserve to win because it is the Congress

The Third Front doesn't deserve to win either because it is simply too regional with too many regional heads figuring in there. It's never going to go 2 years, let alone 5. In times of austerity, I'd rather vote for any of the other two combinations so that we don't have to go through this entire cycle in 2011.

So who deserves to win??

Me.

And my uncle..

And all independents..

Because they're the reason why India is truly the greatest democracy in the world..

Monday, April 06, 2009

FYI...

Something that I had been itching to know is finally common knowledge

I don't know why I am posting this.. But I am .. So you better read it..

Saturday, April 04, 2009

How to increase viewership of your website

This has been a question in my mind for the longest time. I have tried everything from dava to dua. I have my blog mentioned in my email signature. I have created an AdSense account, tried couple of different layouts, tried to put up a counter of the viewers 1000+ in the last 8 months.. Not bad, but when you find out that possibly 500 of those are you checking if someone has commented, that means there are very few people who bother to come back.

But nothing worked..

So, I said I shall try saying I am contesting the election.. To stir up some interest in my blog more than anything else. We all know how that ended up. Even my wife was not sure if she would vote for me. So much for manipulating the public.

But there must be something.. Something that can increase viewership and participation on my blog.. So, I have decided to do what rediff does..

Say bad things about the BJP.

I have nothing personal against it, I only want more people to see my blog and write on it.

Why do I think this will work?? It seemed to work for the Economist so it might work for me.

The BJP has so many supporters on the web, who are so passionate about the party of old people that minor hint to their "communal" aspects stirs up a debate unseen on the site. People call each other names and write long letters..

Hey.. might work.

FYI, at the time of publication, this site had 2640 hits as of 4/4/09. Let's give a week's worth of hatred to all main political parties, and see where we stand.