TED India

The following is the speech by Shasi Tharoor in the recent Ted India conference. Apart from the over-used sonia-manmohan-abdulkalam example, everything else was good.

I am proud to be an Indian. It is really easy to dimiss the idea of India, saying it is full of chaos. But for anyone to appreciate the true meaning of indian-ness, you need an open mind. We do have problems. No denying that. Poverty, malnutrition, illetracy, bribery, corruption, bueracracy. But let me tell this. The next century is India's century.

Book Reviews

'2 states' by Chetan Bhagat:

Obviously the book is not as good as the first one. But i feel it is better than Chetan Bhagat's second one, "One night at a call center" (It was crap!). You have to give full marks for his sarcasm and good narrative style. The story is a bit boring. I mean, we have seen million movies with the same story. That is exactly why this novel by Chetan Bhagat can never become a movie, unlike his previous novels.

He has made some really bold observations about Tamils and Chennai. Sadly most of them is true. Inspite of being a Tamilian, I kind of enjoyed the mockery. Not too bad. It was actually only 95 INR, which is pretty cheap and I finished the book in 3 days. So no complaints.

'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell:

Brilliant book. When I first heard about the concept of the book, I immediately decided I should read the book. It is an analysis on why some people in the world are way too successful than others. What apart from talent, distinguishes success? Why some smart people can never reach the top? How much can the cultural legacy of your ancestors affect your success? The book is an answer to all these questions. A must read for people who love non-fiction.

Thesanthiri by S.Ramakrishnan:

I love S.Ramakrishnan's writing. It is more natural and it makes you ask questions. His writing takes you back to the beautiful days of your life. I have read Thunai Eluthu. I wanted to read Kathavilasam next. But my mom highly recommended Thesanthiri. She is an avid reader of Tamil books. So I bought this one. And it is a very good book, if you like travel writers and memoirs.

There are so many places, within India which are completely forgotten by people. This is a compilation of his experience when he travelled to these places. There is a part about pudukkottai and a place called "Nartha malai" in pudukkottai. I have lived in pudukkottai for about 7 years now and I had no idea about this place. It made me feel, how much I have missed in life in the last 21 years, given the fact I am an Indian. Reading the book, I swore to myself, one day I will take a month long trip from Kanya kumari to Kashmir.

The book is not just about the different experiences but also about the good people he meets along the way and interesting realizations about life. I simply loved the book. And have decided to read all of S.Ramakrishnan's work. (After I finish all of Malcolm Gladwell's books).

Summer movie review

1. UP:

Another great Pixar movie. Really liked the movie. The movie was released in the US months ago. But i waited until i can watch it on theatre. Didnt want to watch in my laptop. I dont understand why all Pixar movies are released late in Singapore. Anyways, the movie is not as good as Wall E or Finding Nemo. For pixar standards, not so great. But definitely 8 out of 10.

I liked the first 10 minutes of the movie. Without a single dialogue, that part was good. I also liked the speaking dog idea.

One more thing, there is no point in watching the movie in 3d. Wasted 5 bucks there.

2. GI JOE:

Please dont watch the movie. It is really bad. I hated every part of it. But that could be because i am not a great GI Joe fan. My friends and colleagues were surprised to learn that. They kept repeatedly asking if i have never played with a GI Joe action figure, when i was a kid. To be honest, nope. I have never played with a GI Joe. When i was a kid, i had so many toy cars around me and i always made up a story of how a convoy of cars go before and after my car. (Remember Basha movie?)

Anyways, the movie was a mixture of Iron man, spiderman, Superman, Terminator, Transformers, and even Star wars. But the car chase scene in Paris was good.

3. The Hangover:

It is a really surprise movie. I was once watching the preview of this movie in golden village few months back. And said to a friend sitting next to me, that this movie is going to be a big flop. I mean, we have seen loads of movies like this. And that too, the trailer was not so fantastic. But the movie was good. Really funny.

4. Harry potter:

The movie was really good. The special effects was also good. I like harry potter movies. But I dont read the book. There is a problem in reading harry potter books now. I shall give an example to explain why. It was before the 5th movie was released. I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. So i decided to go to a store nearby and bought the book. (I was in Chennai then). I started reading the book and i didnt understand anything. Then I said to myself, i will start reading from the first book, so that i shall understand what is being said in the 5th book. So wat did i do? I bought the first two books. I start reading the Philosepher's stone and it is damn boring. All i see are Daniel Radcliffe and Emma watson. Really difficult to picturize the book and it is quite bouring too. I mean, i have seen the movie. So you see my dilemma? The information shown in the movie is too minimal. So for people like me, we gotta wait until the next movie is being released.

5. Ice Age 3:

Was pure fun. Loved the movie. Wish i had seen it in 3D. Would have been amazing.

Looking forward to - District 9(directed by Peter Jackson), Still walking (a very different plot), Jennifers body(no reason, but Megan Fox)

Book Review: Three cups of Tea

This is a very inspiring book. Everyone should read it.

I really liked the book. It is a real life story of how Greg Mortenson, transformed the lives of so many thousand people in Pakistan. It is really amazing to read how much trouble the guy has endured to build a school in Pakistan and how he has built so many schools and enlightened so many lives after that incident. Mind you, he has spent more than a decade in a country, that is on top of the "Dangerous places on Earth" list and a country, where people like him (Americans) are generally disliked.

We all know, people are generally scared of Muslims in the western world. In their eyes, all muslims are terrorists. Recently the Bollywood star, Shah Rukh Khan was detained in the Newark airport, just because his last name was Khan. But it plainly is a very normal name in the muslim world. Pretty much 60% of all muslims i know have some sort of Khan in their name.

Along with Greg's troubles and pains in building schools in Pakistan, the book also touches few important events, like the 911. Greg Mortenson was actually there in Pakistan during the incident. And as he recalls in the book, one villager came running by and said to him in urdu, "I am really sorry. Some one has bombed a village named New York. You should leave Pakistan immediately" Imagine how much trouble Greg should have had to raise money for his foundation, after the 911 attacks.

I personally feel, American government can give few millions to him rather than giving billions to the Pakistani government. It will be spent more wisely.

As argued in the book, proper education alone will eradicate terrorism. Education about the world and education about Islam itself is necessary in that part of the world. The main reason for all this trouble is that few people completely mis-interpret Islam and use the strong belief that Muslims have in their religion for selfish needs.

I recall a recent article I read in New York times. Americans use the Drone missiles to just bomb the hell out of every inch of Swat valley in Pakistan and that is not going to control terrorism. It might eradicate few important terrorists. But normal citizens of Pakistan are angry. This anger itself will give rise to new Al-qaedas and LeTs. As Amartya Sen once said, the only way to develop a country is to educate the girls. Read the book and you will certainly agree with him.

Few useful links:

1. http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

2. http://www.gregmortenson.com/

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortenson

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia_Institute

5. http://twitter.com/gregmortenson

6. http://gregmortenson.blogspot.com/

NUS life

I am a graduate now. It does feel good.

I discovered something interesting today. I started using my current google id, 4 years ago. And it became my primary contact id. Which means, my google account has the complete details of my NUS life. The mails, chats with my friends, etc, etc. I took some time today to go back and read through the chats and mails. It was really funny. I can see the difference between me 4 years ago and the me, today. It is surprising really how much 4 years can change you completely.

NUS life did change me a lot, both in good and bad ways. I became more aware of things around me. I was this innocent school kid, who didnt know anything. My parents gave so much importance to studying that they never taught me how to socialize with people. Adding to that the inferiority complex of coming from a village and lacking good english language skills, my first year in NUS was hell. But good thing was I wouldnt have faced my deepest fears, if i had chosen to study in Anna university instead. In that way, NUS was a great idea.

Looking back, third year of Engineering was very busy, with internships and attachments. Fourth year was the best year of my university life. Got a bunch of good friends during this year and my decision to stay off-campus was the best decision during my NUS life. Inspite of FYP, it was the most fun-filled year.

But NUS life has made me more cynical. I completely and honestly believe that people around me are selfish and cunning. These days, i never trust anyone. Thinking about it, me being a cynical person is not bad after all. Maybe NUS did prepare me for the future.

Most people in my batch accepted the NUS offer because of interest. But i accepted the offer only because of compulsion from my parents. During the first two years of my university life, i truly regretted my decision to come to NUS. But i completely changed my opinion during the last two years. The amount of oppurtunities provided to me by NUS was staggering, thousand times better than any Indian universities. There is a question of how much opportunities i made use of. But the fact still remains, NUS is easily far better than any Indian university. I gotta admit, I could have done so much more in NUS, if i had the maturity that i have now. Thinking about this, maybe, schooling when you are 3 years old is not a great idea. Maybe you should wait until you are 5 to start schooling.

I have few regrets though. I should have gone to Germany for the student exchange programme. I should have gone to NewYork for the Harvard conference. I should have stayed in PGP atleast for a semester. I should have spent more time in pudukkottai during the vacations, which i utterly wasted doing some pointless courses in chennai. I should have completed the Technoprenuership minor, which i dropped after doing one module. Shoudlnt have judged the minor based on one bad experience. If i had a time machine and i were able to go back and redo my entire university again, the first thing I would change is, i wouldnt have attended even one 'orientation' session.

And one very important realization after 4 complete years. Never ever take a module in NUS, which people say is easy. Always do the modules which you like.

ஒரு வானம் இரு சிறகு

Recently read this collection of tamil poems by Mu.Metha, titled, ஒரு வானம் இரு சிறகு. Not an amazing classic. But a pretty good read. It is a very small collection. I was able to complete it in one night. Anyways, some good poems from that collection.

சூரிய சந்திரர்

சும்மா இருக்கையில்

விளக்குக்கு கேட்குதாம் விளம்பரம்

.....

பதவிக்காக வலை விரிக்கப்பட்டது

பதவியும் வலையாய் விரிக்கப்பட்டது

கண் விளித்தால் இந்தியாவை காணவில்லை

......

கூடி கூடி பேசிக்கொண்டு இருகிறார்கள்

எபோது பிரிந்து போகலாம் என்று

.....

இங்கு யாருக்கும் முகமூடி தேவை இல்லை

எவனிடமாவது முகமிருந்தால் சொல்லுங்களேன்!

.....

இந்த மனிதர்கள்

முகவரிகளை

பத்திரப்படுத்தி விட்டு

முகங்களை

மறந்து போவர்கள் !

I personally liked the last two poems in the book. One about Barathiyar and the other about the cinemas.

Indian Foreign policy

Recently read this interesting article in the Reuters blog. It got me thinking about the challenges that Indian government is gonna be facing in the years to come. We need a strong foreign policy. It is time, we move on from free TVs to how to tackle china. I strongly believe, that India should take a leading role in the world. Afterall, we are one of the worlds fastest developing country. Unlike china, the growth of India is completely internal. We dont have a bunch of smart technocratic geniuses working in our capital for the betterment of the country. (Maybe we can hope to see that in the next 5 years) 

We badly need a foreign policy(I dont think we have one, except for a policy towards Pakistan. On a side note, i recently read, the Pakistan government has 64 nukes pointed directly at India) Pakistan is completely unstable now. No doubts there. They have a nuclear weapons programme that gets constant support from the people and the government. I dont think Pakistan people and the politicians get the idea that India is lot bigger now to worry only about Pakistan. 

Last few weeks, we have been getting Time Magazine in our home. Though you can read all the articles for free online, nothing beats reading the real magazine itself. On average, you can see  2 articles in every issue of Time about Pakistan. People in the west are really scared about Pakistan and most importantly about its nukes. US is already in too much trouble. Add to that the Pakistan nuke problem, Iran's Ahmadinejad and N.Korea's Kim Jong-il. The press is going crazy. 

My worry is this. Pakistan is getting so much support in terms of money, weapons and technology from the US for the time being. I dont wanna comment on the imminent threat that might post to the Indian stability. But I feel that the Indian government shuould be ready to tackle the military nightmare this advancement can pose in the later years. Indian army is one of the biggest in the world, with respect to manpower. But not in terms of technology. We are still far behind. The number of nukes, air-craft carriers, submarines we have can be counted. That is not a good thing. 

In every possible aspect, India should focus on how the future is going to be. I mean the future 10-20 years down the line. We are not a small under-developed third world nation anymore. With the US, Europe in shambles, it is time, we and other BRIC nations take responsibility in the global stage. 

It seems like China is already ready to do that. Their relations with many countries are constantly improving. China is funding billions to other nations, including countries in Africa and srilanka. They are constantly voicing their opinions against the Americans. Chinese premier recently called on to create a new currency that will replace the green back. Do you know what will happen, if that was made possible? With people dumping the US dollar, the dollar exchange rate will go down and the US government wont be able to afford anything, let alone the bailouts. 

And one more strategic thing is that, the Americans are getting more dependent on China and its exports. Add this to the fact that Pakistan is also getting close to the americans. Given this scenario, there is a very high probability that India could be left out. 

The new congress government should ensure this doesnt happen. They have enough smart people in the cabinet and hopefully they should realize what India should become in the future and act accordingly.