Shatranj ke Khiladi

re:#228 by sunlight
While on the subject of rain, i read an interesting news item the other day. It was about water consevation in TN, which seems to be leading the pack now-a-days.
You can read all about it here:
http://www.goodnewsindia.com/index.php/Magazine/story/98/P3/
Sridhar

This is where India is at in the course of its` foreign policy objectives......

......... Having shed most of its ideological burden, and adopted more pragmatic policies at home and abroad, India is in a position to move into the ranks of the major powers. In order to do so, it must continue its steady embrace of market-oriented policies, expand its ties to the United States, and pursue negotiating strategies in international fora that will enhance its national interests rather than those of some rag-tag global coalition.

http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj03-4/ganguly.html

Paging capt clueless...Canuckistan`s new foreign policy roadmap is out...

Canada Unveils Plan to Bolster Influence Internationally

The plan also urges strengthening the United Nations, increasing ties with the ``new global powers`` China, India and Brazil, and diversifying trade links with countries other than the United States, which now buys about 80 percent of Canada`s exports.

All you people please stuff this news in your pipes and smoke it.....

Apparently Saudis (the ruds of this life) butchered a man (beheaded them). Then sent an effing apology ...no not to the FAMILY but to the govt concerned. Those Mo.fu.s can kill but find it demeaning to apologise directly to the family concerned. On the other hand iof the man was a white european or a white american HE WOUDL HAVE BEEN SPARED and sent home.

That is the state of the two southasian countires. THAT IS THE RESPECT THESE CAMEL JOCKS ACCORD SOUTHASIANS. And here were discussing who is the pet of the American and who is top dog between the two.

If there is any energy left in you guys after this - WHY NOT GO TO THE NEAREST SAUDI EMBASSY AND GIVE THOSE THRASY TURDS a PETITION AND PROTEST IN FRONT OF THEIR EMBBASSY. Naaahhh! far to scary...hey if we were white (european or american) we would have done that till the govt did something about it. That is the reason why these gys are top dogs and we southasians are lap dogs.

#213 by kardesh on April 19, 2005 6:47pm PT

Amit dost, yaar I was trying to encourage our middle-aged average middle class Indian friend, Mr. Cayenne, in his nocturnal adventures. It would be hypocritical......


What are married men supposed to do in Mumbai now??.They go and shut own the dance bars in the city.Variety is the spice of life my friend.The Mrs. is grateful i look at porn, instead of ending up like my neighbor , a christian, who alleges that his local bishop was caught `red-handed` in the arms of another woman.Why my neighbor chose to share this little titbit of gossip with me last night i don`t know, but this is life for you in Mumbai.Diverse, steamy and fascinating.My wife says all men are dogs and she`s grateful i`m into porn.She says she`s also grateful she doesn`t have to bail me out of a police station for ending up with a `john` like her friend`s husband, who picked up a guy at Mumbai`s premier gay bar , the ``voodoo lounge``.``Kardesh``..i hope the last bit of info doesn`t make you change your mind about marriage and make you move to Mumbai , find a nice indian guy and settle down!!!.I don`t want to be responsible for ruining your family`s reputation.Chuckle.

It makes me uncomfortable to concede this, but India might be playing a role in destabilizing Balochistan.

Some parts of the report that might interest Chowkies...

In Kohlu they met with some Baloch youth and one American stayed in Kohlu while two Indians and one American went to Dera Bugti and returned after a few days. They spent the next couple of weeks in intense consultations with some Baloch activists and their mentors and then the work started for setting up a camp.
.
.
Some Indians, a curious mix of businessmen and crime mafia, came in fishing boats from either Dubai or Oman and landed on the Gwater Bay in the Iranian territory before the start of 7 Jan eruptions. From there they traveled to Khuzdar and then Quetta where they met with some Baloch militants. It is rumoured in those areas that the Indians came with heavy amounts of cash but there was no way of verifying it. They were escorted both ways by some Sarawani Balochs who run their own fishing vessels.
.
.
Because of intimate connections with India and Russia, it was no surprise that Balach Marri was picked as the new head of the revived BLA. The mountains between Kohlu and Kahan belong to the Marris.

The first camp had some 30 youth and initial classes comprised mainly of indoctrination lectures. The main subjects were: 1. Baloch’s right of independence, 2. The Concept of Greater Balochistan, 3. Sabotage as a tool for political struggle, 4. Tyranny of Punjab and plight of oppressed nations, and 5. Media-friendly methods of mass protest.

Indian attempts at destabilizing Baluchistan

#183 by kardesh

Salim Baba,

I am utterly disappointed in your destroying that middle age mirchi baba’s porn nights. That ruined my evening too. Yes! I admit I am one of those middle age men who after a couple of drinks go to a couple of porn sites just to reminisce the good old days. I also visit chowk afterwards to sort of cool down after being on fire with some sizzling blonds on the net. After reading your posts, I feel that may be there is life after porn.
The thought that you will be married soon and join the porn watchers club, brought much needed comfort to my otherwise porn less night tonight.
Thanks!

PS
Sunlight below seems to have his lights blown out. He really needs porn sites to lighten up!

Re: # 207 by delhiwala

You got carried away and answered my question with more subjective patriotic feelings.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sorry, actually I replied a bit strongly because I feel you are unduly pessimistic. I feel that the major thing we Indians lack is self-confidence; for example, I believe that this is one of the major factors why the Indian cricket team lost the recent series. Having observed people from many countries, I feel that this is one of the major weaknesses of Indians.

In another posting, you had asked why there is a mad rush for US visas. This is also because of lack of self-confidence (possibly due to years of colonialization) and the desire to lean on a foreign society for support.

I am a very practical man who likes to formulate his own opinion rather some articles written by others.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reading gives one access to the information and experiences of others.

Providing Potable water to masses in India.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am not an expert on this area. However, I had attended a public talk on water here in Bangalore by an expert from the Karnataka government. His view, while stressing the need for action, was not pessimistic. He felt that a combination of strategies could solve the problem. For example (i) rainwater harvesting can significantly reduce the water needs of Bangalore since the annual rainfall in Bangalore is greater than the non-potable water needs (now rainwater harvesting is compulsory in both Bangalore and Chennai) (ii) dryland farming can also reduce water needs; during the Chinese PM`s visit to Bangalore, there was agreement that China would help Karnataka with dryland farming. So while I cannot answer the question conclusively, it seems to me that the Government is aware of the problem and will solve it. From a practical point of view, the politicians better solve the problem, otherwise all the land they have bought around Bangalore will be worthless.

I have not come across one single innovation or Patent from India in IT, closest thing was PARAM computer using RISC...Infosys, Satyam etc are leader in outsourcing or 24/7/365 backend Operations support. Not in making new Technologies.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Actually, the Indian branches of MNCs in IT produce patents at about the same rate (per engineer) as the US. Infosys, etc may not (not sure) because they are not into product space.

Before getting into products, let me point out that innovation need not only be technical. Infosys, etc are able to grow and train the number of employees by over 20% each year, while maintaining strict control over costs and quality. How many US companies would be capable of this? In my opinion, it is this ability to scale (rather than low-cost labour) which is the reason for the success of the Indian IT industry and why there is no competitor on the horizon.

Regarding products, now there is a great interest in the IT industry in doing this. Earlier attempts failed (e.g., Wipro) because the customers were in the US, and there was no understanding of the market. In fact, at one NASSCOM meeting, Kanwal Rekhi stated that India would never make products since we were too far from the US market. Now, with the growth in the Chinese, Indian and SE Asian markets, this is no longer true. Already, there are some locally made successful products: iFlex, Finacle from Infosys, Ramco`s ERP solution, the WLL products from Tejas Networks,... I would expect the number of such products (and patents) to increase greatly in the future.

How about Defence?
++++++++++++++++++
Let us assume that our defence capabilities will increase in proportion to our economy.

delhiwala,
``despite the progress that India has made, it is not enough to be in rank and file of World Super Powers yet``

and that is the honest truth.

Re: # 212

Thanks Sridhar!
I know that, even I had contemplated that myself.
However in this discussion I was pointing to the previous writer that despite the progress that India has made, it is not enough to be in rank and file of World Super Powers yet.

Kardesh,

Congrats on your forthcoming marriage. Welcome to the club!! Hope you still find the time to visit us at chowk afterwards :-).

You wrote:``Lahoris will take special classes in Mumbai to learn how to pronounce Q, KH, and GH sounds for proper Urdu sounds``.
This reminds me of the typical Punju pronounciation or rather the massacre of words like measure, treasure, pleasure. For some reason, any Punju worth his salt, will always say meiiuuure, treiiuuure, pleaiuuure, which is totally hilarious. I remember attending this conference in Boston, where this stylish Sardarji was speaking. This guy had lived in UK for a while and had picked up the British accent quite a bit. Yet when he started his presentaion and hit a powerpoint with numbers, out came the word meiiiuuure instead of measure :-).

Re: # 219
I don`t know if you heard about him or not. In Bollywood there used to be a Comedian called JankiDas from Lahore, he was also a National Level Cyclist.
This Guy had a similar story, he jumped the border many times to see his woman in Hira Mandi.

Re: # 123, Dear DM, and others.

Over the last two days (and late nights) I have escorted a few Pakistani media types and perception builders through the backlanes of Old Delhi. This is the usual jalebi wallah, food stalls, shopping areas, Town Hall, Kalloo Ram Haveli, Ghalib Haveli, Ballimaran, Chitli Kabar, Fatehpuri Mosque, Sisganj Gurudwara, GhantaGhar, Old Delhi RS, Company Bagh, Kaudiya Pul . . . many of which areas stay alive and rocking on a 24x7 basis now . . . add to that Bazar Sitaram, most of the gates (Turkman, Ajmeri, Delhi, Kashmiri, etc.) the Baptist Church opposite the Jain Bird Temple in Chandni Chowk, the old Imperial Bank (now SBI) building, etc.etc.

And in the course of these expeditions, I have introduced them to a variety of Pakistan-returned Muslims. This is not a strange or rare sub-set anymore. They have a loose association, and the Old Delhi (Chandni Chowk area) area alone has about 80-odd families on its list. These, by the way, are those who have declared. They need the ration cards and election IDs and other documents, including passports, as much as you and I.

According to a free and frank discussion, with men and women from this sub-set present, in most cases the families have returned to India because they wanted better living conditions and education for their children, especially their daughters. This is from people who were able to buy houses in Frere Road and LightHouse areas of Karachi. There is also the usual story of not getting on with relatives, feeling like unwanted outsiders, the violence in Karachi, etc.

The availability of education in ENGLISH for them and also for the poorest of the poor in their families in India, if that is a priority with the parents, seems to be a big reason. The safety of the women in their family, the difficulty with learning Sindhi in Karachi and Hyderabad, the job and business opportunities in India . . . the reasons are many but I have spelt out the main ones.

A few of the Pakistani journalists got stuck on the ``whither Urdu`` kind of issue, to which the simple reply was, fine, we shall study Urdu at home, but we need English to get ahead.

An interesting nugget that emerged was that till January 1993, which is also when the last Hindu-Muslim riots took place in Old Delhi, this category of people used to be the prime suspects. Now, it seems, it is this category of people who take the lead in ensuring that the riots do not take place, and get support from the local police, authorities, etc. Whether it is the BJP MP or the Congress MLA, the idea is to support whosoever is democratically elected for his/her tenure, and to derive maximum benefit for the society living and working there.

I myself walked Old Delhi (non Jama Masjid, which is still a mess) after years, and was amazed at the cleanliness and social responibility. Both Sisganj Gurudwara and Fatehpuri Mosque seem to be competing in terms of cleanliness in and around, and there were people washing down the area at 3am, with fire hoses linked to fire hydrants which seem to have been re-activated after decades. The ``I love my Country, I Love My City, I Love my neighbourhood, and I love my family, (and I shall earn for all of them a lot of money)`` slogan seems to be bye-passing the ``I will die for my religion`` jingoism.

This was a revelation to me, too. An article shall follow, though I have assured a few of the Pakistani journalists that this can be their scoop if they so desire.

tahmed32 #221,
``Bring me chicken masala and lassi (shaken, not stirred) with halva and for dessert.``
Not a good diet plan. You are going to be pope fatty.

Salim #214 I always knew you had excellent judgement, and now you confirm it when you say all those nice things about me and recommend me for the job of muslim pope. I am already preparing my acceptance speech in latin which translated into english goes like this: I am a humble worker of Allah`s non-alcohol producing vineyard. Bring me chicken masala and lassi (shaken, not stirred) with halva and for dessert. Aaaaamennnnnnnnn.

Re: # 218
MaheshG2,
Thank you, sir. Marriage is a big step. Bas aap ki aashirvaad chahiye. Dhannewad. :)