Jewish- Muslim-Hindu- Christian… how about a human first!

Organized religion is something I never understood.
How can a person be told what to do or follow certain rules go to a church, mosque to worship?
I was always told your body is a temple where the almighty resides and all one has to do concentrate and look within. I don’t know how going to a church, mosque or temple help you attain God, neither do I understand how praying collectively help us gain the ultimate supreme. When ever I went to a place where they preached or organized a collective way of praying it was mostly to meet and socialize with other people than praying.

And then there are fanatics who believe that anyone who doesn’t follow the way they pray will go to hell. I remember a funny incident that didn’t happen long ago I was invited to a friends house for thanksgiving after dinner I was asked by his father in law (who by the way was a preacher) did I believe in Jesus to which I politely answered “No”, what happened after that was not what I expected he blankly burled out “You are going to Hell”, I smiled and replied thanks for giving me the heads up.

What people forget is God created man and man was the one who created religion, so to force people to believe in something is absurd, God has given you a brain please use it to think instead of blindly following.

Indians attacked in Australia. Is it really racism, or just a grudge shown on a skilled community?

The definition of racism has undergone a drastic change in recent years. Earlier racism meant differentiation due to color/race (something a person is born with). In today’s real world, the term racism is a differentiation between skilled and unskilled (goons as we call them) people. The irony is that the goons have an upper hand today.

Skill is something a person acquires through his/her hard work slogging for years it changes him both mentally and physically. Acquiring knowledge opens up his prospective and helps him understand and analyze situations, something that non-talented goons lack, they see people with skill as a threat and the only way they can retaliate is through violence.

Classical example is recent attacks on Indian students in Australia, attacks on Indians in Europe, US and even middle east (who by the way share the same skin color as Asians). If they cannot physically abuse you, they find ways through their legal immigration system, e.g. asking Indians and Chinese to wait for 10- 12 years before they can achieve legal residency in US, and an unskilled Hispanic get the green light to stay, ironic isn’t it.

Bottom line, goons no matter how much you try to push us down we will be victorious in the end.

GM Bankruptcy a stunt

June 1st 2009 was a day that I would never forget throughout my life. this was the day when the industrial power house General Motors declared Chapter-11, I knew this was going to come but it still hit me like a rock. my whole belief that a company this size and so intermingled in it's day to day operation over 5 continents would ever go that route.

People tell me that this was bound to happen, the retiree pension and health care costs were slowly drilling holes in their profits, making it a Swiss cheese foundation and we all know that such a configuration won't help to support load in terms of ever-growing costs.
Some say that the government is to be blamed for it, due to the lack of socialized health care in this country. To which I say that it is not the government that is at fault but the retirees and the board members. you can't expect a private organization to be responsible for your costs, that's what the government is for.

With the government supporting them with billions of $$ this might actually work, after all the government doesn't have to make money. They can afford selling cars for next to zero profit, after all they need is a country like Japan, China or India willing to buy their debt with treasury bonds right??

The New GM = Government Motors!

Father's day

What does father's day mean to me... hmmm thinking deeper it means more like a friendship day to me. My dad has always been more of a friend who I can trust for unbiased advice who knows my shortcomings and my strengths.
Someone who taught me how to walk the walks be it the stock market or riding the bike. I still remember my first bike ride with him where we went through the woods near the lake. I was six back then but the whole experience has been embedded in my brain. Also remember Sunday mornings we spent around the table talking about everything from the recent events to the political situation in India.
Picnics were always fun be it walk in the ocean towards the Sindhudurga fort in Maharashtra or the car ride from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, where we visited all the places that he grew up in as a kid.

There are a lot of funny, sad, angry moments but the ones that left a lasting impression were when he took time off from his job to spent time with me during my preparation for my high school exams and making sure I did well, now that I am a Dad myself I hope that I spend quality time with my son.

Dad wish you a happy father's day!

American Doom’s Day

Last year in october the American stock market shed about 30-35% of its value over a short period of time, before the major economist woke up we saw a free fall of the prestigious Dow Jon’s industrial average. Some blamed the sub prime mortgages others blamed the slumping economy and the price of gasoline for this catastrophic situation.
This might be true in a sense but let me put forth a totally different scenario before you guys, I think most of you are aware of a disorder called ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) where a person suffers from a short attention span and is unable to plan ahead or finish up what he has started, in the same way most of the Americans behave when it come to shinny objects that they can flaunt around for e.g. when the new I-phones came out people waited in the lines outside an apple store to get one, 6 months later when the new Black Berry’s came in the market the same people were seen standing in front of the store that sold the new gadgets.
When a person in India or a third world country buys a house he meticulously plans his expenses around the mortgage. In short plans his whole life around so that he can make those monthly payments that he owes to the bank contrary to this when an American buys a house he even takes a loan on the minimum deposit that is required to secure the house and consequently lives beyond his means.
This is what happens when you become a spender’s economy, the trade deficit to other countries is at an all time high and you feel yourself stuck in a spiral downturn. The only way a country can lift itself up from this economic spiral is to embrace the principal that has prevailed for generations “Planning ahead”.

Ironic- US war on Terror

If US attacks Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks on World trade center it’s deemed as “War on Terror” , while if India even thinks of attacking Pakistan after it’s shameful attacks on Mumbai we are asked to be considerate and think rationally before planning any moves how ironic. Recently read in the papers than Rice was flown over to the sub continent with one and only one agenda “Stop India from attacking Pakistan” and why because Pakistan had threatened to with draw troops on the western front thus crippling the so called “War against Terror”.

USA is probably the only country on this planet who doesn’t want to learn from its past mistakes be it managing ones own finances or deciding between a friend and a foe. Never seen such a short sighted nation with not beyond couple of years, when are these guys going to ever realize their past mistakes have come back to bite them in next 10 years, be it helping Saddam against the Russian during the war against Iran in the early seventies or recently enough helping the Taliban over throw the Russian government from Afghanistan. Both these lead to a regime which eventually turned against the people that created it in first place. Today Pakistan might seem like a very friendly country to USA but in years to come this might prove to be a fatal mistake.

Madhuri Dixit India needs you

Today NBC started a new show "Superstars of Dance", this competition represents performers from 8 countries around the world and luckily or shall I say unluckily India is a part of these 8 countries. The major difference between Indian performers and other country performers is that Indian performers are born in US of A (ABCD: American Born Confused Desis kids) mostly 2nd generation desis out here, unlike the other country dancers.

Not that I have any thing against these guys, but they suck big time. I know I shouldn't be blaming them they perform what they are taught by the choreographer (Nakul: self proclaimed Bollywood diva), his dancing choreography sticks. What I don't understand is some one who gave us hits during the show "So you can dance" last year can choreograph something that pathetic. We need looks of Saroj Khan or Farah Khan to choreograph something memorable.

Moreover this program is been judged by judges representing 8 countries on point basis, one is not suppose to judge when his country performs which means if Indian dancers are performing the Indian judge is not supposed to judge them hence no points from the Indian judge too bad.

We all know that Indian culture goes all the way back to 5000 years, the only culture that comes close to India is Chinese. Now such traditional dances are judged by countries like USA, Ireland, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Argentina and China. The dance these countries are familiar with is either an acrobatic display or romantic love stories with cool moves without expression. Indian dances show expressions something these judges are not familiar with hence we lack numbers.

On the whole if India has to win this competition we would need Farah Khan or Shiamak Davar and the great old Madhuri Dixit..