Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Justice … as we know it…

Terrorism was never so much in focus….never so much used, never so much talked about and never so much prosecuted. The Bombay blast case got the verdict after 14 years and only one of the 100 convicted was left loose.
I think this is commendable but little is talked about it, as more focus is on Sanjay Dutt gets a six-year imprisonment.

Somehow if look this verdict and try to bring parallel to Haneef’c case you notice
• Sanjay is a celebrity & Haneef a commoner.
• Sanjay convicted & sentenced in motherland & Haneef convicted in a foreign land. We have no idea if he will be prosecuted and if yes, then where.
• Both, if any how involved, were on the fringes of terrorism. One convicted of acquiring firearms while other is accused of having knowledge of a potentially deadly crime.
• Sanjay Dutt’s conviction is harsh on Bollywood with amount worth 50 crore resting on him while conviction of Haneef (who can still be convicted) will be embarrassing to a nation and challenge to the foreign relation officials.
• Media encashes on the pictures and statements of the near n dear ones of both.
• Majority of population of a nation infested with terrorism is sympathetic to both of them.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Reusability of Business model?

As a child my dad explained me about construction work and workers.

He told me you can hire them in two ways. One is on contract bases, where you pay them x amount to a contractor. He will get x people to complete the work. but he also warned, that the contractor try to get less number of people finish work the work at the earliest, since the payment has already been decided so that he can move on to the next piece of work. Work may suffer he warned.

The second way was to hire x number of workers on a day to day payment basis. But he warned that the workers try to extend work as much as possible to ensure the employment. Budget may suffer he warned.

He also told once they enter your house to work on something, they look around to see more opportunities. Like if they came to build an extra room, they will suggest how the electric wires of the house should be re-laid, telling how they can sense a huge problem in near future.

Also the workers who do actual work get paid less as compared to the contractor/“thekedaar” whose responsibility is mainly to get the workers and manage them.

And in case, more then one of these group is hired for a construction work, say one doing the flooring, another electricity lines, another plumbing and so on; the workers will change focus from work to proving that the other group inefficient and taking over their piece of work.

Oh my god! Are Indian software service providers successful because to some age old wisdom? [:)]

Sunday, July 15, 2007

What goes around comes around

Pakistan has a history of training militants. Pakistan helped the Afghans against Russia, partially to destroy the Russian plans for expansion and partially to solve its own refugee inflow from Afghanistan as a result of unrest in Afghanistan. This help was both in terms of training and arms, the role of Pakistan was so evident to the world that countries like US and UK provided it financial aids, to be shared with the Afghani’s. In fact India’s tryst with its so called “pro militancy stand” came much later, when its trained militants targeted India after not finding there place in Afghanistan. It was in 1989 that widespread insurgency started in Kashmir, largely started by the large number of Afghanistani mujahideen who entered the Kashmir valley following the end of the Soviet-Afghan War.

With Afghanistan now open to direct intervention from US directly and India somewhat in control of Kashmir situation, the demand and supply rhythm of arms and militants have got disrupted.

The Lal Majid episode proves what the experts always warned Pakistan about, that if Pakistan fails to export terrorism to its neighbors, it will manifest and kill in Pakistan itself.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Marriage Musings …

Thought 1: Why people think spending lacs of rupees in the celebration of the wedding of their kids is a symbol of love?
Thought 2: Why should one make loads of sound and block roads to celebrate new relationships?
Thought 3: Why all best wishes have to be accompanied with envelops carrying cash?
Thought 4: Why and how some unknown people can come to your house to “give badhai” and demand to be paid for this?
Thought 5: Why the only way to ward evil eye from the newly wed couple is by distributing your hard earned money amongst the grumpy servants?

Thought 6: When getting married is a personal choice then why is being married not so personal? Why should one “look” married after marriage?
Thought 7: Why should the surname of the bride is changed when both bride and bridegroom are starting a new relationship?
Thought 8: With relatives loosing their relevance and friends being the new support system, why relatives kick a fuss in the celebrations while friends wish well, irrespective to whether they witnessed the wedding or not?
Thought 9: Why people at work place assume that you will not be as sincere as before, if you are married?