Employers of the so-called journalist who threw his shoes at Bush at a press conference in Baghdad are alleging that the security personnel who arrested him broke his arm and some ribs. They should actually break his legs, so he can never wear shoes again.
Journalists, regardless of their capability (or--in case of some--their lack of it) enjoy several privileges by virtue of their profession. One of them is being able to meet the high and mighty and ask them awkward--and sometimes infuriating--questions. These privileges are based on the premise that they are just playing the role of eyes and ears for the people at large. It is implicit that they will not bring in their personal agendas--or footwear--into action when given such opportunities, whatever the anger or anguish they feel as individuals.
What Muntazer Al-Zaidi, the nutcase TV reporter, did will undermine the credibility of the whole media fraternity and deal a blow to the trust that those they get to meet repose in them. In fact, as an immediate fallout of the incident, for the press conference in Afghanistan--Bush's next stop on the tour--the scribes were asked to remove their shoes before entering the venue (thankfully, Zaidi did not throw his pants at Bush).
Bush has probably realised now that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, or civilise the savage against their will. The difference in the two civilisations that are clashing here is obvious in the reaction to the incident. While Bush kept his cool (and even his presence of mind in ducking both times) afterwards and laughed it away saying, "in case you are curious, it was a size 10", the Arab world is celebrating Al-Zaidi as a hero. America should probably leave these fighting tribes alone until they kill enough of their own--without outside help--with their MAD (mutually assured destruction) actions and create more Saddams and learn the cost of gratuitously insulting a head of state or a leader when invited in good faith (Saddam would have probably cut off some precious parts of this reporter had he been the target) .
Meanwhile, Bush is probably regretting making this last trip to Iraq before hanging up his boots.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Ringing in 3G
This call was waiting. For over a year. But the PM finally rang. He made the first 3G call last week. A video call. On a 3G-enabled phone. He also watched mobile TV.
Delhi is the first to get 3G service. Courtesy service provider MTNL. No surprises there--it's owned by government.
Now, we can look forward to 3G spectrum auctions. That is, to more confusion, and more corruption, while distributing the 3G licenses.
And video calls: suspcious spouses can ask their better or worse halves to turn the camera around and prove that they are actually where they say they are; ragpickers can show their masters their invaluable finds using their phones (yes there are ragpickers with cell phones--remember, it's Incredible India).
The nation with a billion people has over 300 million mobile phones. It took about 12 years to get here from zero. But in another 4 years, this is expected to become 600 million. Which means everyone except infants and the insane will be carrying this in-your-face device.
Until now, if you were dismayed by an increasingly familiar scene--two people sitting across a table in a restaurant, both talking to someone else on the phone--it could get worse. You may not even need two. Thanks to 3G, every table could host just one person, who talks to another one face-to-face, over his video phone.
The "largest youngest population" is eagerly waiting for the rollout of 3G nationwide. Considering the efficiency of the ministry and the regulator, this could be at best by end 2009. But their parents are shaking in their shoes. This hi-speed service will need high-end phones and result in higher monthly bills. At the end of the day, it will be they--the mostly technophobic ones--who will end up paying for this latest technology upgrade.
Delhi is the first to get 3G service. Courtesy service provider MTNL. No surprises there--it's owned by government.
Now, we can look forward to 3G spectrum auctions. That is, to more confusion, and more corruption, while distributing the 3G licenses.
And video calls: suspcious spouses can ask their better or worse halves to turn the camera around and prove that they are actually where they say they are; ragpickers can show their masters their invaluable finds using their phones (yes there are ragpickers with cell phones--remember, it's Incredible India).
The nation with a billion people has over 300 million mobile phones. It took about 12 years to get here from zero. But in another 4 years, this is expected to become 600 million. Which means everyone except infants and the insane will be carrying this in-your-face device.
Until now, if you were dismayed by an increasingly familiar scene--two people sitting across a table in a restaurant, both talking to someone else on the phone--it could get worse. You may not even need two. Thanks to 3G, every table could host just one person, who talks to another one face-to-face, over his video phone.
The "largest youngest population" is eagerly waiting for the rollout of 3G nationwide. Considering the efficiency of the ministry and the regulator, this could be at best by end 2009. But their parents are shaking in their shoes. This hi-speed service will need high-end phones and result in higher monthly bills. At the end of the day, it will be they--the mostly technophobic ones--who will end up paying for this latest technology upgrade.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A poor job (cut)
When the going gets tough, the tough let their people go. As the global layoffs season returned, Yahoo! joined the bandwagon recently, firing 1500 of its employees in a cost-cutting move.
Of these, 30-40 (depending on which news report you would believe) were laid off from its India office in Bangalore. Although an infinitesimal number for a country of 1.1 billion, the irony was striking. Most of these people worked for its Yahoo!HotJobs division, helping other people find jobs.
To add insult to injury, Jerry Yang, the company's CEO and Chief Yahoo (as he calls himself), sent a parting e-mail--explaining why and how these layoffs would help the company--without bothering to use any capitalisation!(You can read his note here)
The phenomenon is getting nauseatingly familiar--during good times, hire like mad, when the dowturn starts, fire like mad. The common denominator: madness.
The reason for Yahoo's job cuts is "to better align costs with revenues", says Yang in his note. Which, in a way, is admission of the fact that they were not well-aligned before.
Anyone--including myself--who has worked in a large, global company can vouch for the incredible inefficiencies that these corporates build up when times are good: more people than they really need, more space than they require and more spending than is necessary. The employees, in turn, are pampered with ridiculous pay packets, bonuses, business class travel, five-star accommodation, etc.
When the business cycle turns south, head honchos of most of these corporations react with extreme steps in the opposite direction--layoffs, pay-cuts, freeze on expansion plans and mindless cost-cutting--all in an attempt to please the markets. The markets punish their stock anyway (just as they had overvalued them previously in bouts of irrational exuberance, ignoring their obvious inefficiencies).
The herd mentality that results in these ups and downs has only one victim in the end : the employee. But when you didn't mind being battened up by the employer during the boom, how can you complain when he leads you to the slaughterhouse during a bust.
Of these, 30-40 (depending on which news report you would believe) were laid off from its India office in Bangalore. Although an infinitesimal number for a country of 1.1 billion, the irony was striking. Most of these people worked for its Yahoo!HotJobs division, helping other people find jobs.
To add insult to injury, Jerry Yang, the company's CEO and Chief Yahoo (as he calls himself), sent a parting e-mail--explaining why and how these layoffs would help the company--without bothering to use any capitalisation!(You can read his note here)
The phenomenon is getting nauseatingly familiar--during good times, hire like mad, when the dowturn starts, fire like mad. The common denominator: madness.
The reason for Yahoo's job cuts is "to better align costs with revenues", says Yang in his note. Which, in a way, is admission of the fact that they were not well-aligned before.
Anyone--including myself--who has worked in a large, global company can vouch for the incredible inefficiencies that these corporates build up when times are good: more people than they really need, more space than they require and more spending than is necessary. The employees, in turn, are pampered with ridiculous pay packets, bonuses, business class travel, five-star accommodation, etc.
When the business cycle turns south, head honchos of most of these corporations react with extreme steps in the opposite direction--layoffs, pay-cuts, freeze on expansion plans and mindless cost-cutting--all in an attempt to please the markets. The markets punish their stock anyway (just as they had overvalued them previously in bouts of irrational exuberance, ignoring their obvious inefficiencies).
The herd mentality that results in these ups and downs has only one victim in the end : the employee. But when you didn't mind being battened up by the employer during the boom, how can you complain when he leads you to the slaughterhouse during a bust.
Watch your breath..it can set you free
Tucked away in a picture-postcard locale amid India's western ghats is an institution which has been quietly teaching thousands the real art of living for the last 40 years. For free.
Every fortnight, about 500 saadhaks (students) walk into this island of serenity next to Igatpuri station--a stop on India's first railway line built by the British in 1853 from Mumbai to Nashik. For 10 days, these saadhaks observe complete silence of body and mind and learn to live life according to pure dharma--the universal laws--which, when practiced enough, leads to Nirvana.
First discovered 2500 years ago by Siddharth Gautam--the Indian prince who renounced worldly treasures in search of the reason for human suffering--this art of meditation is called Vipassana, a Pali (Sanskrit dialect) term for seeing things just as they truly are, and not how they seem to be.
That famous night, when Siddharth meditated all night under a pipal tree in Bodh Gaya, he realized that all human suffering is a result of ignorance. As he learnt the 'truth', he became the "Buddha" (the enlightened one) as we know him now.
Buddha realized that it is due to our ignorance that we continuously react to inputs provided by our senses with either craving or aversion. He discovered that as one watches one's breath long enough, the senses turn inwards, and one can sharpen the mind enough to pierce through the innermost layer's of one's consciousness. Once there, you can observe these bodily sensations (created by the mind), and if you observe these sensations objectively--with the knowledge that everything in the world is impermanent--they just die down. And when you continue to do so, even previous impressions (samskaras) of cravings and aversion come to the fore of consciousness and are eradicated. When all such past impressions (collectively called one's karma) are erased, you realise the ultimate truth and are freed from the cycle of birth and death, thus attaining Nirvana, or moksha.
Buddha was eager to share this incredible discovery with the multitudes who he could not bear to see suffer all through life due to this ignorance. He taught Vipassana for 45 years, till his demise in 554 B.C. The technique spread far and wide and millions benefited from it for the next 500 years. However, as rituals of different religions and sects took precedence, the real technique disappeared from India and most other countries. It survived in just one country--Burma--where a group of monks continued to hand over the technique from one generation to another in the famed Guru-Shishya (Master-Disciple) tradition.
In 1959, Satyanarayana Goenka, a maarwari businessman based in Burma, went to these monks to learn this meditation technique to see if it could cure his unbearable migraine problem. In the 10 days that he learnt Vipassana, not only did his migraine vanish, but he also reached the Nirvanic stage. Overwhelmed by the power of the technique, he came to India to teach the same to his ailing parents. Seeing the benefits, an ever-increasing number of people started coming to him to learn this powerful form of meditation. This grew to a stage where he decided to stay back and spread the practice in a country that had originally given birth to it.
He started a centre in Igatpuri in 1967. Today, there are almost 70 such centres run by the institution Goenka founded--Vipassana International--including the Americas, Europe, Australia and Africa. In each of these centres, for all 10 days of the course, lodging (which is pretty decent with everything provided for), 3 meals a day and the teaching are all free of charge. They are paid for by donations from past students only--a miracle in itself--since the organization does not take any donations from outside. Past students also come and serve as 'Dhamma Sevaks', assisting in the running of these courses.
Despite its success, the organization keeps such a low profile that no advertisements about the organization, Mr. Goenka, or the courses appear anywhere. Ever.
However, an ever-increasing number of those aspiring to learn Vipassana--from across the world and across all classes and religions--continue coming in to these centres, and the donations keep flowing in. Consequently, the practice of one of the world's most ancient and dogma-free meditation techniques is spreading--relentlessly. The latest proof of this is the Global Pagoda, a centre coming up off Mumbai's shores, where over 8000 people will be able to meditate in one go!
Every fortnight, about 500 saadhaks (students) walk into this island of serenity next to Igatpuri station--a stop on India's first railway line built by the British in 1853 from Mumbai to Nashik. For 10 days, these saadhaks observe complete silence of body and mind and learn to live life according to pure dharma--the universal laws--which, when practiced enough, leads to Nirvana.
First discovered 2500 years ago by Siddharth Gautam--the Indian prince who renounced worldly treasures in search of the reason for human suffering--this art of meditation is called Vipassana, a Pali (Sanskrit dialect) term for seeing things just as they truly are, and not how they seem to be.
That famous night, when Siddharth meditated all night under a pipal tree in Bodh Gaya, he realized that all human suffering is a result of ignorance. As he learnt the 'truth', he became the "Buddha" (the enlightened one) as we know him now.
Buddha realized that it is due to our ignorance that we continuously react to inputs provided by our senses with either craving or aversion. He discovered that as one watches one's breath long enough, the senses turn inwards, and one can sharpen the mind enough to pierce through the innermost layer's of one's consciousness. Once there, you can observe these bodily sensations (created by the mind), and if you observe these sensations objectively--with the knowledge that everything in the world is impermanent--they just die down. And when you continue to do so, even previous impressions (samskaras) of cravings and aversion come to the fore of consciousness and are eradicated. When all such past impressions (collectively called one's karma) are erased, you realise the ultimate truth and are freed from the cycle of birth and death, thus attaining Nirvana, or moksha.
Buddha was eager to share this incredible discovery with the multitudes who he could not bear to see suffer all through life due to this ignorance. He taught Vipassana for 45 years, till his demise in 554 B.C. The technique spread far and wide and millions benefited from it for the next 500 years. However, as rituals of different religions and sects took precedence, the real technique disappeared from India and most other countries. It survived in just one country--Burma--where a group of monks continued to hand over the technique from one generation to another in the famed Guru-Shishya (Master-Disciple) tradition.
In 1959, Satyanarayana Goenka, a maarwari businessman based in Burma, went to these monks to learn this meditation technique to see if it could cure his unbearable migraine problem. In the 10 days that he learnt Vipassana, not only did his migraine vanish, but he also reached the Nirvanic stage. Overwhelmed by the power of the technique, he came to India to teach the same to his ailing parents. Seeing the benefits, an ever-increasing number of people started coming to him to learn this powerful form of meditation. This grew to a stage where he decided to stay back and spread the practice in a country that had originally given birth to it.
He started a centre in Igatpuri in 1967. Today, there are almost 70 such centres run by the institution Goenka founded--Vipassana International--including the Americas, Europe, Australia and Africa. In each of these centres, for all 10 days of the course, lodging (which is pretty decent with everything provided for), 3 meals a day and the teaching are all free of charge. They are paid for by donations from past students only--a miracle in itself--since the organization does not take any donations from outside. Past students also come and serve as 'Dhamma Sevaks', assisting in the running of these courses.
Despite its success, the organization keeps such a low profile that no advertisements about the organization, Mr. Goenka, or the courses appear anywhere. Ever.
However, an ever-increasing number of those aspiring to learn Vipassana--from across the world and across all classes and religions--continue coming in to these centres, and the donations keep flowing in. Consequently, the practice of one of the world's most ancient and dogma-free meditation techniques is spreading--relentlessly. The latest proof of this is the Global Pagoda, a centre coming up off Mumbai's shores, where over 8000 people will be able to meditate in one go!
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