india's london

my first visit to calcutta .. and i guess ive been slightly offset by the places i saw the first night, part street, vict mmrl .. have to say, its the poshest place ive seen in india! 

guess the fact that the indian govt has given my friend a huuge place to bunk in right behind vict mmrl was the catch :P .. aah, i love psu's and the army, especially they're thing of providing acco to employees .. 

a few chaps singing 5 ft away from you can make such a difference to music, as compared to a tape and speakers, nice one at a pub on park strt .. someplace else, thats the name of the pub btw

the train journey was fun .. i was planning to keep my expenses to the min and this led to me to take the rather stupid decision of booking sleeper class tickets from hyd to cal in this "pleasant" weather ... its the first time ever that i took 2 baths within 24 hrs, in a train loo .. with paper soap .. touche? 

elections and democracy

i havent read ayn rands "atlas shrugged" completely .. after about 300 pages, i stopped for some reason ... but the over all feel in the book, where a few people mostly run the world and others just tag along, seems to be strikingly similar to the india our politicians want if manifestoes are anything to go by .. 

everyone is competing with each other to give sops to the "needy" .. suppose there are 100 people in india and 10 are taxpaying employees or employers .. the remaning 90 are "needy" .. it is clear that anyone who wants to win needs the support of the needy coz elections are all about numbers .. the flaw here is clear .. every politician will promise the world to the 90 "needy" folks .. no one would give a damn about the 10 workers coz that segment is too small to make a difference .. now the politicians who love sops win, and they use the tax money to pay for the sops .. the "needy" stay "needy" but are well fed and taken care of .. its hardly a surprise if 1 from the 10 workers think "why in gods name am I working!,  I can just be a "needy" person and chill out" .. its clear where the country will be headed given this incentive structure for hard work and chilling out .. 

somehow, i dont see a solution to it .. the concept of majority wins will have this flaw always .. and the only solution is that everyone sees the flaw and works against it .. something i feel may be possible with education to all .. but we are far away from attaining that in India ... so maybe democracy will mature in India only once the social factors mature .. but dont we need a good govt for that? hmmmm

time off

always thot that having a few days off would be the best thing possible! now i've been given the gift of time till october this year (thats 6 months!) and within just 2 weeks, im bored to death :(

planning a trip to sikkim and calcutta (i can relate to that city, after i am from the only other remaning bastion of commies in india, kerala!), all said and done, i think im slightly left of center. 

trying my best to find some work for the few months coming up but somehow, the emails im sending out are going into balck holes i think, no responses at all and if any, its been negative :(

something came over me when i  booked the tickets, a sudden burst of "economical living" .. ive taken sleeper tickets from hyd-calcutta in sleeper class .. its 40 c in hyd right now and i heard its warm enough in cal to boil momo's on the balcony .. sigh, y oh y! 

the internet has been my best friend in these days, i keep refreshing my email as if that one all important mail that will define obama's new world strategy is gonna land up in my inbox and i have to reply within 2 min to prevent a nuclear war .. im sure everyone online in my gtalk id has blocked me, and those poor souls who still think of me empathetically are probabaly wishing that an orange pop up doesnt jump in with my name on it :) .. sorry guys, cant help it .. something instinctive makes me wanna ping everyone online i see!

facebook is another revelation .. its like talking to oneself .. the more u talk, the more u get talked to! (like a nice mirror)

the IPL is on, not so interesting now .. no idea why .. i want the chennai super kings to win though :)