Social network- is it needed?

I was always a skeptic when it comes to revealing personal information on the web. Things that matter to me the most should be out there on the web for everyone to see, neither was I registered on classmate finder nor Facebook.

My logic is if I have to get in touch with someone why don't I just pick the damn phone and talk to the person. One of one phone/ face conversations are things that I am more comfortable with. Facebook doesn't allow me to do that hence never cared to open an account. Moreover with recent stores where people have gotten themselves in trouble by posting views, images on social networking sites. Recently a girl in India was arrested when she expressed her anger on the political system in India.

There are numerous examples of people posting about an upcoming vacation on Facebook, and finding their houses robbed on their return. Having said that, my recent experience in a small town in Germany lead me to understand the need of social networking in our daily life.

During our stay in Germany a few years ago, me and my wife used to dine at a small restaurant. We wanted to keep in touch with the restaurant owners, and with language a barrier it was getting difficult to converse via skype/ phone. On my recent visit to the town, I asked to the owners if there was an effective way of communication between us that allowed us to stay in touch and overcome the language barrier and voila the answer was 'FACEBOOK'. It not only allows us to share picture/ comments but also makes it easier to communicate using Google translation, problem solved!

It's finally over

Kasab is dead finally.

For those who aren't aware who Kasab was, he was one of the many terrorists that waged a war against India in Nov-2008.

Few gun man came from Pakistan, had come in from Pakistan and started shooting as if they were playing a video game! They specifically targeted luxury hotel and Jewish center the beacons of India's progress and secular corner stones. What really bothers me is not the fact he was hanged, but the time it took for the process to go through India's judicial system.

It was pretty obvious that he was on the forefront of this attack, our journalists and media personals had done a good job capturing the attack, for god sake we had seen countless re runs of these attacks on various news channels. So the question is why did it take 4 years to finally put the guy down.

I think the reason behind was that we wanted the world to know that India is a secular and democratic nation, where everyone has a right to appeal and defend himself especially if he belongs to minority and is coming in from a Pakistan ('the country that looks like a Dog'- go see Google maps and you will realize what I am talking about') but instead of being a loyal Dog, Pakistan has always been a country that is forefront when it comes to terrorism. Hey they were hiding the most wanted enemy 'bin-ladin' for years is close proximity to a site that hosted nuclear weapons.

When I first heard the news this morning didn't know if I should feel happy or sad, happy for the fact that it is over finally 'Kasab is DEAD' and sad because it took so long for the judicial process. Anyhow it is finally over now we can go back to blaming Congress for corruption.

Does India really need Lok Pal.

Over years various versions of Jan Lok Pal bill have been introduced in the Indian parliament, one of it narrowly passed the Lok Sabha but was rejected later.

Subsequent attempts to introduced this bill have failed and Indians are yet to see this bill passed, one wonders does India really need this bill.

Supporters of this bill would defend this bill as a citizen's ombudsman bill, an impartial governing body similar to election commission. Responsible for investigating and resolving complaints from consumers or other members of the public against any MP,
Prime minister or any government officer. People would have the right to complain and have their side heard when it comes to corruption investigations.

Logically this does make sense for a country like US where corruption happens at a very high level and common man isn't directly affected by this corruption and it is more infrequent.
When it comes to a developing country like India corruption happens at every level and it is part of doing business in India.

People often joke, of being fortunate, for not asked to pay a fee (bribe) to enter a government office, current state of affairs in India.

Imagine the number of cases this Jan lok bill would have to deal with once it comes into existence. Logistic wise this would be a big nightmare, talk about job security for people representing Jan lok pal :) their jobs are secured for life, who do I have to bribe to get in :).

Sorry, jokes apart but the logistic is not the only thing here, people who are unhappy with their current local government official might just complain against him/her and create what we call here in US law suits.
Lawyers and malpractice insurance companies will have a sudden jump in demand.
Every official under the gun would need a lawyer to represent him and would need to have a malpractice insurance if he/she needed to pay for the damages.

Instead of a having a lok pal bill, why don't we use our police force to its full potential.
Make them autonomous so that they are not reporting to any government official that they might have arrested in past.
This would help them stay focused in doing their job and not worry about consequences that might lead to any politician's arrest.
Instead of adding a new Lok pal, let us add an autonomous body that the cops would be answerable to and people representing this body are elected by people in the particular state.

Proposed solution is a part of lok pal bill but not a fully functional organization, I believe it is a best compromise for now instead of a fully blown lok pal bill.

Irony- Customers do not know what they want!

Transitioning to a non-technical job, the first thing I was told to remember is "customers are always right and knows exacly what they want" and we have to meet his needs even if we thing there are better alternatives. Now is retrospect, I believe this statement has major flaws, and most of the time the customer is confused and doesn't know what's right or wrong. History teaches us a lot, and if you look back through modern history the customer has majorly been confused about what his/her needs are. The class example is an automobile, when it first started people were really confused why they needed to have an automobile when they had a perfectly fine horse cart to take them from point A to B, what they forgot was the costs of owning and maintaining a horse cart was far higher than the automobile, apart from the fact that its top speed was faster than that of a horse. Second example to quote here is what Steve Jobs did with the whole Apple gig.He had people not only embrace the product but adore it, 20 years ago if someone told me that you could actually listen to music on a device that fits in your palm I would answer back why! What is the need of having such a device, when my walkman can do the exact same thing except it can be hooked on to my belt. Now 20 years later, people like me can't get their hands off one. More often we see customers completely unclear about what their actual needs are, they are unsure and need guidance constanly from entrepreneurs/ manufacturers. A good manufacturer is not the one who creates a good product but the one who creates a need for the product. The old saying "Necessity drives invention" is challenged at every step in modern history. This often makes me wonder if it is the other way round today.

Indian rupee crisis- possible solutions

Indian rupee crisis- possible solutions. There are headlines circulating all over the world about the currency crisis Indian reserve bank is facing due to ever increasing current account deficit. For naïve people like myself, current account deficit in simple terms means "India as a whole is shelling out more USD than it is attracting through investments, exports etc. This makes it a primary target for currency attacks " people start pulling their investments out of the country and are risk adverse to invest due to currency fluctuations, once this happens the reserve bank has to intervene and start buying Indian currency. Major problem here is that India has 300 billion in foreign exchange reserve available to meet this demand. Once this the foreign exchange reserve is meet the only option felt is to go to IMF (International Monetary Fund) and beg for more money "similar to Asian currency crisis in late 90's". Adverse affects of begging to IMF would be slower growth and further devaluation of rupee. One might say this would increase imports and attract investment in India, but on the other hand the major backlash would be increased inflation and higher priced imports. To get out of this spiral, Indian reserve bank should restore investor confidence and start attracting further investments into the country. For starters it would need to open up some of its markets especially retail for FDI "Foreign direct investment" this not only helps regain investor confidence but also lower the food prices within the country. Competion within the retail industry would mean lower prices for common man! However the person who is currently in this industry would get wiped out or would need to migrate into something different. But by providing them opportunities India would be in a better position than the current path they are on. Lastly, they would need to increase interest rate for investments within India, to a level where it would manage to attract FDI. There isn't a silver bullet to get out of this current crisis but by implementing these initial steps, India would give out a positive message to the world that they understand the magnitude of the problem and a pro active in finding the right solution. Amit

Developed world v.s. developing world

The question seems to come up again, should the developed world lower its living standards to accommodate rising demands in developing world.

Soon or later people will have to face this challenge where on one hand you will find a huge up grade in the developing world which would mean higher demand for scare resources. Economics has already shown us that with higher demand and stagnant supply the prices are bound to increase. Gone would be days where a gallon of gasoline was $4.00, people in developed world would face the rising challenge to either innovate of perish due to lack of resources.

In terms of innovation our Scandinavian friends have come a long way, instead of just developing an alternative to combustion engine with an electric car they have gone a step ahead and actually developed alternative ways to produce electricity. American's need to realize that it is not just about reducing the dependency on oil but reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

A dense network of alternative means of energy through investments through solar and wind energy is the need of the hour and an whole new infrastructure needs to be developed.

It is about time the developed world wakes up and find alternatives for their own existence or perish. The developing world is catching up at a rapid pace and will stump everything that stands on its path toward its well being.

Hindus in Pakistan

Pakistan, a country formed when British left Indian subcontinent in 1947. Partition that not just took the right of Hindus to live in their ancestral land (no deemed as Pakistan), but also took their Freedom to practice religion in the country.

During the formation of Pakistan, Hindus were either asked to leave the country or live a life as a 2nd grade citizen. On the other hand thanks to Mr. Gandhi, Muslims in India were given a second chance to live and prosper in India.

What amazes me is the fact that Hindus born in Pakistan have no right to vote, express their religion nor practice their beliefs, where as muslims in India have every right under the sun! They can still be treated as Indian and practice their own laws when it comes to being Muslim.

the root of this situation lies when the country under went partition back in 1947. While India was formed on principles of human rights every man/woman should be treated equal, pakistan was formed as an islamic state which meant every non-muslim is a criminal and has to pay taxes in order to live within a muslim country.

This same guiding principles evolved over years, in India muslims gained prominence as a minority vote bank and were exploited by politicians for their own benefit and were given additional rights than their Hindu counterparts.

Where as in pakistan, the life of a Hindu kept on deteriorating to a level that he no longer had any rights and was treated as cattle a low life creature that didn't have a right to exists. They are ridiculed, taunted for being different.

I am not trying to create a debate here, but what I want my muslim friends in India to comprehend the fact that the liberties that they enjoy in India as minorities should be enjoyed by Hindus in pakistan.

As you know the plight of considered a minority in India, please help your Hindu brothers as they face the same plight in pakistan.