At Darmstadt Hbf Park
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Today around 20:30, as always, I wanted to be alone, sitting and talking to myself. So, as I used to, I went to the park that's still coming up in front of my hostel. Though the park is yet to be completed, there are plenty of benches around for people to sit. I was sitting in one of them and talking to myself about my opinions on the article that I just read in FORTUNE about China's IP protection and the multi national companies views on it. To sum it up briefly, although China consists of 22% of world market today, it has 95% piracy. So, it means there is not enough IP protection, but surprisingly the counterfeit producs using another International brand, say Nike, is not at all bad and actually good if not the same as the original. So, the conclusion was, once china build's its own brands, it will become more active in safe guarding the Intellectual properties. I was talking about all this to myself.....and about 20 metres aways there was a man sitting...for me he was looking like a nomad and dressed as one. Whenever, I see these kind of people roaming around in streets in Germany, coming from a developing country, India, I used to wonder, why are these people roaming like a nomads despite having the gift of being born in a developed country like Germany. My justification for these kinda thinking was, either these people should be learned or of course can get some jobs if they want (my feeling was despite the record unemployment there are always enough jobs for people who genuinely try for it) or at the least would get money from the government for keeping themselves moving. Then , why are these people even roaming like this. As, I was thinking this, I suddenly noticed the man was approaching me. With all the obvious questions in my mind, I was waiting to see what's gona happen. This man came near to me and said, Hallo, Ich habe eine frage, (I have a question). and he continued in german and asked for some paper. Despite my german is not good and me having a good interest to learn it, I didn't respond this time as usual asking whether he speaks english. I wanted to manage this with my own german knowledge and also try to communicate with him in german. yea, he asked for paper and as usual I was carrying 2 papers for scribbling my thoughts and with all due respect to him, I communicated to him in my own german, I can give you half bcos I want the rest for my own use now (read scribbling). He replied, no, I dont want even half of it, a small bit will do for smoking this tobacco. Laughing at myself, I gave him a small bit of it and he said Danke schön (Thank you) and left back to his bench 20 m's away.
But, this left me with so many questions to ponder with. What he did was, he came to me and asked for a bit of paper with all due respect to me.I gave it to him and he thanked me and left. Fine and cool. You may be wondering what's there to ponder about. Well, I asked the same question to myself. The answer was, I am fine and really cool about what he did, but as an Indian I cant stop comparing the same with his Indian counterpart, not so learned and almost a nomad person. How is his behaviour different from his counterpart back home. His counterpart, back in India will almost do the same, but the difference is, I felt this person's thanks so genuine but I don't feel the same when his counter part thanks back home. Because, I as an Indian always have a feeling that his counterpart may go and bad mouth on back of me and that is a big MAY and such a possibility. But, I didnt feel the same with this person. What am I missing on here. Is it because even though I was living in Germany for around 2 yrs I dont understand Germany or its because these people are genuine in what they say. Should I blame it on cultural differences.
This left me with one conclusion. For all the people to respect all others no one should be deprived of basic necessities and I always have a feeling 99% persons of not so good people have been like that because they lack basic necessities of life and in their fight for their very existence they dont have respect for his fellow human's and their lives.
Praveen jothi
Posted byPraveen J at 9:20 PM 1 comments
Sting operations
Recent revelations and Sting operations in and about India
Sting operations in and about India are among the glamorous things happening today. After following religiously almost all the sting operations starting from Tehelka to today's Bollywood casting couch and most recent one by SUN of Britain about Indian BPO's. Sting operations and its aftermath have always been exciting. It gives one a justified scenario, like the, yea I told you, Bollywood is like that and yea ofcourse they are Indian politicians what else you expect kinda responses from people.
So sting operations, now let's ask some basic questions. Ah, Sting operations, why are they for? and what do they try to accomplish ?, Does it benefit some or more?...these questions should be answered with all honesty one can muster.
Sting operations, no matter what they expose are always with one motive behind. Publicity. Think of corrupt politicians, its most certain, if you are the one who is following the news, you dont miss out on Tehelka. Think of so called casting couch in Bollywood, it certainly brings India TV to my mind, which I have never heard before the expose. Lets come to the British tabloid SUN's revelations of the corrupt and insecure Indian BPO's. SUN is arguably more famous than their Indian cousins Tehelka and India TV , but then , why should SUN do it. well come on guys grow up, after all there are many people who are losing their jobs or living in insecurity of losing their jobs. wouldnt this be the perfect opportunity to increase the circulation. would you miss on something , so much of interest and almost be damn sure about the increase in circulation. So, as we said Sting operations are done always in some way or the other to help the source, in our case, Tehelka, India TV and SUN. But, what are these news diseminating vehicles justifications for these sting operations.
Ask Tehelka, India TV or SUN (tabloid not the TV), you certainly will hear arguments that they are serving a higer purpose by bringing corrupt politicians to light, exposing lusty actors to the people and thereby trying to eliminate "casting couch" out of Bollywood and finally exposing to the world and the people how bad is it to outsource for short term profits and how risky people's personal & confidential data are in INDIAN BPO's.
So lets take it one by one. Tehelka, handling bulks of currency to politicians who does not have enough power in their hands. India TV exposing actors again who doesnt have any absolute influence and guarantee in the industry. Revelations,by SUN that an employee of an Indian BPO, Infinity e-search , sold the personal and confidential data to the SUN reporter. But the irony being, Infinity e-search is not a BPO and certainly does not deal with any confidential data.
Come on guys, if there should be any real impact on the people's mindset and you want to see a change, you should not beat around the bush but directly hit the bull's eye. You want to expose politicians, expose those who are at the power. You want to expose the casting couch, expose the big wigs of the industry who set the rules. If you want justify anti-outsourcing do it the right way, differentiate how bad is the risk compared to your own country. One has to prove, the risk is considerably worser than doing it in your own country. Personal and confidential data are ultimately guarded by humans, and any human can be lured. So any way out.
My take:
Sting operations are good, only if it impacts a change in the society.For the change to happen, hit the bull's eye.
regards,
Praveen jothi
Posted byPraveen J at 9:34 AM 0 comments
Why Siachen Matters - the highest battle post in the world 22,000 feet
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Why Siachen matters
June 16, 2005
Source : www.rediff.com
When the India-Pakistan secretary-level talks took place in Islamabad, the demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier was one of the issues on the agenda.
I had predicted there would be no breakthrough on the issue. The reason was Chief of the Army Staff General J J Singh's categorical statement that any agreement would have to proceed from recognition of the Actual Ground Position Line.
Siachen talks inconclusive
Pakistan is loath to accept this since it would mean admitting it lost the Saltoro ridge and the Quaid Post (named after the founder of Pakistan) now renamed Bana Post after Param Vir Chakra winner Subedar Bana Singh who captured it.
Interestingly, the post was held by the much heralded Pakistani commandos and was captured by the India Army's 'ordinary' infantry.
Having said all this, one must admit the utter futility of the fight over the Siachen Glacier. The area is over 22,000 feet high, offers no military advantage to either side, cannot be either a viable defence line or a launch pad and has no habitation and no economic significance.
Strategically, tactically, it is a useless piece of real estate.
The cost is horrendous, a chapatti delivered to a soldier there cost Rs 500. Even the excreta of soldiers manning these posts has to be lifted by helicopters and brought to base for disposal!
More soldiers have died there due to weather and accidents rather than enemy action.
In Siachen now weather the only enemy
Then why is the Indian Army insisting on recognition of a line on a map, and Pakistan resisting it?
World's highest battlefield
First and foremost is the lack of trust between the two sides.
A discussion organised by the Observer Research Foundation on May 4 unanimously recommended that unless Pakistan recognised the existing positions, India should not agree to demilitarisation.
The story of Pakistani perfidy on Kashmir goes back to 1947. Then it claimed that tribals had invaded Kashmir, while the truth was that regular Pakistani soldiers and officers were part of the invading force, a fact later admitted.
Make Siachen a peace mountain: PM Singh on Siachen
In 1965, it maintained a fiction that Kashmiri civilians had infiltrated.
In 1999, in Kargil it similarly claimed that 'mujahids' had crossed the Line of Control, when even tea shop owners on the Lahore-Islamabad highway knew the Northern Light Infantry was involved.
What is to prevent Pakistan in future from claiming similarly that it has withdrawn the military from Siachen, but 'mujahids' or freedom fighters have occupied it?
But the real unsaid reason for the Indian Army's reluctance lies elsewhere: The lack of trust in our civil leadership on military issues.
This may seem a harsh comment, but what has been the past record?
Kargil and Post Point 13620 offers a classic case study in decision making.
This post overlooks Kargil town and the Srinagar-Leh road, for long the sole lifeline to Ladakh. Artillery observers from this post used to bring down accurate fire on the town and the highway at will.
In May 1965, while the attention of the Pakistanis was focussed on fighting in the Rann of Kutch, a Rajput battalion in a daring daytime attack on May 17, 1965 captured the post and made the highway secure for the first time since 1947.
But under UN pressure, it was handed back to Pakistan.
When infiltration in the Kashmir valley began on August 9, 1965, the Indian Army again attacked Post Point 13620 and captured it. But then came the Tashkent agreement of January 10, 1965, and along with the strategic Haji Pir pass, the Kargil post was again handed back to Pakistan.
Finally in 1971, the Ladakh Scouts under the inspiring leadership of Colonel Rinchan captured not only Point 13620, but the entire ridge during the December war.
It is difficult to find a parallel in world history of an army capturing a mountain post at great human cost and giving it back to the enemy not once, but twice!
The strategic importance of the Kargil heights is self evident even to an amateur but that was never an input in political decision making in India.
In 1971 when Indira Gandhi had all the aces up her sleeves, she still bargained away the advantage and did not secure binding Pakistani commitment on Kashmir. To her credit, like Lal Bahadur Shastri, she at least did not give back territory won in Kashmir.
The errors of Simla
Closer to our times, in the Kargil conflict of 1999, we unilaterally declared that we would not cross the LoC.
The argument that India's restraint won it global support holds no water. The West (meaning the hyperpower, the United States) changed its stance not because the justice of the Indian case on Kashmir had suddenly dawned on it, but because it was a part of its re-assessment of the world in the post Cold War era.
By our lack of understanding and timidity, we have now established a 'rule of the game' that while Pakistan can cross the LoC we will not, even when it is tactically unsound. Thus, the duo of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then defence minister George Fernandes forced our soldiers to adopt virtually suicidal tactics to re-capture the Kargil heights.
Lack of geo-political vision
India never understood the vital strategic importance of the Northern Areas of Kashmir (comprising Gilgit and Hunza). This is an area where India, China and Central Asia meet.
The British, well schooled in the art, engineered a revolt in Gilgit (led by Major Brown and Captain Matheson) and unfurled the Pakistani flag there on November 3, 1947. Lieutenant Colonel Sher Jung Thapa then defended the Skardu fort for nearly eight months. But without ammunition and supplies, he finally surrendered on August 14, 1948.
Major Brown's action were not in isolation. A year earlier, a freelance explorer, Sir Francis Tillman, had undertaken the arduous trek from Urumachi in Chinese Sinkiang to Chitral. Right from the early days Britain saw Pakistan as an imperial outpost of the West in Asia (V K Krishna Menon in Michael Breacher's Krishna Menon's View of the World).
In 1971, we had a golden opportunity to concentrate our military efforts in the direction of Northern Areas, if the military was told in advance about the intention to keep territory captured in Kashmir.
It appears that no such directive was given and retention of land captured in Kashmir was an afterthought at Simla. The success achieved in capturing Turtuk and various peaks in the Partapur sector was a 'freelance' operation by the great Colonel Rinchan, almost a solo effort.
A solution for Siachen
Imagine the strategic situation today if we could have cut off land/airlinks between China and Pakistan, and had a direct land link to Central Asia and Afghanistan (the Panjsher Valley). Could the Pakistan-China nexus have flourished if the contact between the two was through the long sea route?
Pakistan China to sign fighter jet deal
It is this dismal history of lack of strategic thought in India that sends shivers down the spine of any serious soldier when our politicos enter into 'peacenik' competition (the latest entrant into this is L K Advani of Secular Jinnah fame.
What is the guarantee that some future Pakistani general/president will not re-occupy Siachen with 'freedom fighters'? And a future Indian government will not ask the armed forces to take back the Soltoro ridge?
This factor is a bigger obstacle in solving the Siachen issue than even Pakistani untrustworthiness.
Colonel Dr Anil Athale (retd) is a former joint director, War History Division, Ministry of Defence.
Posted byPraveen J at 11:52 AM 0 comments
VoIP-SIP
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
SIP and VoIP combination is winning the world and giving nightmares to telecom companies. In today's scenario VoIP (Voice over IP) is all set to win the world replacing the traditional old telecom and the concept of billing based on the time one uses it. SIP, the signalling protocol of everyone's choice because of its flexibility to work in many scenarios is the killer protocol for the moment and I have found some sites on SIP and VoIP
www.voip-sip.de
www.sipforum.org
www.sipcenter.com
www.iptel.org/sip
www.voip-info.org
www.cs.columbia.edu/sip/
SIP cook book
http://mit.edu/sip/sip.edu/
SIP-Wiki
http://www.toyz.org/cgi-bin/sipwiki.cgi
You can soon find more information and sites on my soon to come personal home page on a yet to name - domain name
luv all
Praveen jothi
Posted byPraveen J at 7:34 AM 1 comments
Own the BRIC-Sleep with a kick
Saturday, June 11, 2005
| Four Countries You Must Own |
| Every investor needs a stake in Brazil, Russia, India, and China |
The newest megatrend? It's the rise of the BRICs. That's shorthand for four dynamic developing nations with large populations -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The four now account for less than 15% of the economies of the G6 nations. But collectively they could be larger than the G6 in just four decades, say economists at Goldman, Sachs & Co. (GS ). That depends, of course, on whether they get the fundamentals right: sound fiscal and monetary policies, free trade with the outside world, and massive investment in education. "It's a story for the future," says Robert Hall, portfolio manager for global emerging markets at Russell Investment Group.
That means you might want to start making investments now. You can choose individual equities or take a basket-of-stocks approach with exchange-traded indexed funds or actively managed mutual and closed-end funds. Don't invest a huge lump sum at once. Instead, put your money in over time. The markets are volatile, and there will be pullbacks offering cheaper entry points.
These economies have weaknesses, too. For instance, foreign capital is pouring into China so quickly that some economists fear the combination of a speculative frenzy and a backward banking system will eventually burst the bubble. Watchdog group Transparency International ranks India among the rampantly corrupt nations in its latest Corruption Perception Index. And investors are questioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's commitment to capitalism after the recent crackdown on oil giant Yukos. Any one of those could derail the markets or the economy for a bit.
Still, there is precedent for making a long-term bet on an emerging frontier. In the years after the Civil War, America's industrial output lagged far behind that of Germany, France, and Britain. Yet from 1870 to 1914, America's economy expanded fivefold, and the U.S. became the world's leading industrial power. Along the way there were about a dozen sharp downturns and a handful of financial panics, yet stocks returned an average of 6.5% a year after inflation. "If you can close your eyes for years, you'll probably do well," says Stuart Schweitzer, global markets strategist at JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management in New York.
In part driven by the economic performance of the BRICs, the entire emerging-market sector put on a stellar show this year. The Morgan Stanley Capital International Emerging Market Index is up some 14% through Dec. 10, vs. 6.8% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.
And 2005 looks good, too. Emerging-market stocks are cheap, with valuations about 40% lower than in the U.S. The sinking dollar is prompting investors to send more money abroad, says Brad Durham, a managing director at Emerging Portfolio Fund Research in Boston. Currently, global mutual funds and pension funds are underweighted in the BRICs. As investors become more familiar with the BRICs, says Durham, more money will flow to them.
One strong global theme that benefits the BRICs in particular is demand for industrial commodities. Brazil's Bovespa stock index is up some 15% this year, powered by companies such as Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, a major exporter of iron ore, and CSN, a major steelmaker. Rio Doce, CSN, and other basic industry companies should continue to do well considering the world's voracious appetite for raw materials, especially in China. Russia's Gazprom, for instance, will account for a quarter of world gas production, and it will be one of the international oil giants after buying a chunk of rival Yukos. "It's Russia's Aramco," says James Fenkner, chief strategist for Troika Dialog, a Moscow investment bank, referring to the Saudi Arabian oil company. "You don't need to be born into the House of Saud to benefit from Gazprom."
While commodities are expected to remain strong, many global investors believe rising incomes and growing employment in the BRICs will make consumer companies golden. In a decade, say the Goldman economists, the BRICs' middle class will total more than 800 million, greater than the populations of the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan combined today. The BRICs' middle class now number more than 250 million, says Goldman, and those consumers are already spurring demand for cars, cell phones, and better food, furnishings, and clothes.
Investing in the consumer sectors of these countries has been hard because of a scarcity of good, publicly traded companies. But that's changing. New opportunities are opening in Brazil, for example, after a rash of initial public offerings there. Among the IPOs were Natura, a cosmetics company, and Grendene, a footwear maker. In Russia, mobile-phone companies such as Mobile Telesystems are benefiting from growing usage. When Putin came into office in 2000 there were some 1.5 million cell-phone subscribers in Russia. Now there are more than 50 million. India's Pantaloon Retail is building both food hypermarkets and clothing stores that appeal to young buyers. Same-store sales are expanding at a 12% to 15% annual pace.
FOOLHARDY -- OR FARSIGHTED?
In China, consumers are also inveterate savers, salting away some 40% of their incomes. That's good for financial-services firms such as China Life Insurance (LFC ), a favorite of Agnes Dang, an investment manager for Standard Life Investments in Hong Kong. China Life is the country's biggest insurer, and its premium income is growing at 15% a year. Phillip Ehrmann of Gartmore China Opportunities Fund, a U.S. mutual fund, expects a number of state-run Chinese banks to go public in 2005, and they may make attractive investments. You heard that right. China's banks have a reputation for bad loans and poor management, yet Ehrmann thinks some of them will clean up their acts because the government wants them to go public.
For sure, those who invest in those Chinese banks -- or in the BRICs -- will be called foolhardy by some doubters. But much the same was said in the 19th century about those who invested in a wild and raucous nation called America.
By Christopher Farrell with Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong, Jason Bush in Moscow, and Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo
Source:Business Week
Posted byPraveen J at 3:37 PM 0 comments
Sanskrit at MIT
Friday, June 10, 2005
hello peeps,
offlate was not able to write.......so here i come with another interesting news ....
SANSKRIT CHANTS AT MIT GRADUATION
- something that you cannot think of in India with majority of Hindu Population....you tend to flourish when you are a minority...
BOSTON: Amid chants of Sanskrit prayers on a bright and sunny morning, some 2,300 students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) received their graduate and undergraduate degrees in Cambridge. Swami Tyagananda, the institution's Hindu chaplain, offered an invocation in the language of the gods to reflect the large international crowd's spirit of unity and goodwill at one of the best-known educational campuses in the US. "May we come together for a common purpose - common be our prayer, common our goal," Tyagananda, who also quoted from Swami Vivekananda's works, told the institution's 139th commencement exercise. "May the one and the same divine reality lead us. May we be granted clear understanding and the courage to pursue the goals of social justice, non-violence, harmony and peace," he said. "Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all." Barun Singh, president of the Graduate Student Council, saluted the Class of 2005, echoing the themes introduced earlier by key speakers, Irwin Jacobs, the co-founder of Qualcomm, and Susan Hockfield, MIT president. "We celebrate the hope and promise of times to come in the world we all share. You have demonstrated the ability to reason. Be open to unconventional solutions. Keep alive your passion and drive," Barun Singh said. "The world needs this, and it waits for you." Rohit Gupta, president of the senior class, presented president Hockfield with the senior class gift, $31,000 for a new student lounge. MIT has 2,724 international students - 348 undergraduates and 2,376 graduates - registered for the current academic year, with a bulk of them from India and China. Among the international students, 45 per cent of the students and 41 per cent of the scholars are from Asia. The institution has a vibrant Vedanta Society, which even holds a 'satsang' of prayers and discourses every Tuesday. The hour-long programme also comprises guided meditation, study and discussion. Even though the programme is primarily designed for the MIT community, students from other campuses also attend the programme.
Posted byPraveen J at 7:04 AM 0 comments
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