Kerala – The rum capital of asia

Many people might not know this interesting factoid; but the small southern state of kerala in India has the highest per capita consumption of rum in asia. Every Onam the citizens of this state consume run to the tune of 100′s of crores of rupees. The questionable practice however is that in kerala retail sale [...]

Happy Independence day the 64th.

Well like I always to on every independence day; introspect. Today after an hours of news media assault on a ‘bribe bandh’ campaign. I was forced to think of why and when a middle class person like me would be forced to pay a bribe. In most cases it would be to gain ‘access’ to [...]

Karnataka’s political circus a common mans view

I’ve been watching the political drama unfolding in Karnataka for the past few days and in the midst of all the analysis and counter-analysis happening on 24×7 news channels I took a moment to step out of the frame and look at it from the ‘whats in it for me as a common man’ angle… [...]

Terror in the days of pansy politicians

Today 13th July 2011 mumbai succumbed to another terror strike in broad daylight. Lives lost, many injured. Today was cause for us to reflect on what has changed since 26/11. The govt went on the defensive yet again. We never pursued the perpetrators of 26/11 to a definitive closure. We played by the book. What [...]

Politics offset the benefits of research.

The recent saga of fuel price hikes by the UPA government left me wondering how the fuel price would offset my personal budget…. A tangential thought occurred to me this morning; over the years automotive manufacturers have pumped in millions of dollars into engine research to make engines that are more fuel efficient. This is [...]

No country for young men

Well if you landed here wondering about the movie then you’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that it’s got nothing to do with it. The problem with the world today is that it is run and dominated by ‘old men’. This is something which is ridiculously against the very nature of existence on this planet. [...]

Is the India Inc story over hyped

Recent times I’ve noticed the emergence of the term”India,Inc” especially during interviews with businessmen and what follows the term is always a satisfactorily pretty picture. The term is however seldom referred to in the context of India as a welfare state and no questions are asked or print space devoted to what India, Inc is [...]

A Bovine Conspiracy – Some practical questions

The Karnataka state legislature recently passed the cow slaughter bill some sections of the society condemn it while others approve. The emotional sensationalism apart when I get down to thinking about it, there are some practical questions that I hope readers who support the bill could answer. Is it socially acceptable in a democracy for [...]

Bike to Work

The traffic situation in Bangalore city got me thinking whether high traffic  volumes on the roads during peak office hours are genuine or ‘man-made’. I kept observing the cars i passed during a time period a found that most cars have 1 occupant mostly and in good cases 2. So that meant 2 people were [...]

India at 60 – What makes democracy tick?

On the day when the Indian democracy turns 60 I feel compelled to write about what my perspective as a vulnerable common citizen makes this democracy tick at 60. I feel that 90% of world democracy as we know them would cease to exist if we succeeded in locking down the system to prevent “profit [...]