Month: March 2008

Look at our neighbors
China’s architect Chairman Mao said “Power flows from the barrel of the gun”.
Pakistan for more than half of its independent history has been under one dictator or another.
Myanmar is still under military junta.
Neighbors like Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka still have strong influence of army in the daily matters of the state.
India itself also had a dictator, who almost successfully legitimized herself.
Yet Indian army simply minds its own business. It has no political ambition and its preferences never shape the policies of the nation. WHY?
What is there in the country that is preventing them to do it?

My first response would be size and complexity. India is too large for a coop to be successful. To stage a military uprising, you would have to arrest 700 members of parliament, another 25 Chief ministers, have the support of atleast 100 military garrisons (army, airforce, paramilitary and navy) All this in a country where the 3 dense chiefs can’t even talk to each other informally over a phone (unless the defense minister is present) would sound like a remarkable feat. But then military chiefs have ruled over China and Russia.

Then I thought maybe politics is not what they want. But then I could find 3 well publicized instances where the Army Chiefs said a few words against their incompetent political masters and were dealt with.

1) Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, a war hero and the first army chief of independent India, said a few words against politicians. Nehru, could not ask him to resign, so he had him exiled in a golden cage. Nehru promoted him to High Commissioner to Australia in 1953.

2) In 1959, K. S. Thimayya was forced to resign when he bad mouthed his Defense Minister V.K. Krishna Menon

3) Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, after liberating Bangladesh, stupidly said that he had an offer to join the Pak army and if he had did, Indians would have been defeated. Indira Gandhi made sure that this was his last public appearance.

So what do you think is the reason?

Recently there was an office email debate going on about the benefits of Homeopathy

The views range from:

Homeopathy is a glorified placebo prescribed by quacks.
There is so much diet and other restrictions. Do you think I am crazy that I would go for it?

to

Homeopathy is the best medicine that a man can get. It boosts ones immunity, has no side effect. What else can you ask for?

One gentleman even forwarded me the link to this 5 million dollar experiment conducted by BBC proving that Homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo.

My personal take after all this (and I am no qualified medical professional) is that:
Most medicines have a psychological element attached to it and hence the very feeling that some near and dear one cares for us and that we are getting the right medicine has more healing effects than the medicine themselves. Hence even if they don’t work, I would prefer a pill popper to consume Homeopathy/Ayurvedic medicine rather than any toxic bio-medical concoction which the doctors normally prescribe.

Whats your take?

I have seen this a lot of time. You make a new acquaintance, talk for a couple of minutes and then want to exchange contacts. But then you will realize that the other person is not carrying his/her visiting cards. Its not the other person does not wish to exchange the number, because he/she does take down my number and give me a missed call…. but they (esp the girls) simply never ever felt the need to carry heir business cards…. Is it because i am outdated and in today’s world they r no longer relevant?

I prefer business card because:
1) A typical phone book can carry only 100-200 contacts, and just based on a 5 minute conversation i would not like to throw somebody out just to make space for you.
2) Exchanging emails r always tricky. You need to search around for a piece of paper and then a pen… it takes a lot of time and trouble. Won’t it be simple if you just pass on the rectangular piece of paper called visiting card where it is already printed.
3) If you do not wish to pass on your mobile/personal number, then its much more convenient to just pass on your visiting card where only your office desk number is listed (no more annoying sms) then to bluntly refuse divulging that info.
4) It looks much more professional and best part is that your employer will print it for free and makes sure you always have an ample supply of them.
5) If you are an entrepreneur, then it is a nice way to pass on a little advertisement and let your acquaintance at least know the name of your venture.