After Tsunami, what next?

Tsunami came , it saw and it conquered the entire coastal area of south asia and the western coasts of southe east asia.

And it(the Tsunami) was hardly elegant in its victory. It came like a thief trying to break in to a house and then took on the form of a relentless marauding invader, interesting in only looting, plundering and destroying lives and livelihoods of innocent villagers and fishermen. I do understand the plate tectonics behind the origin and development of a Tsunami. Still I can't get over the images of innocent children and women being taken in a flash by the dastardly and savage beast called Tsunami. Moments like these bring into question the faith in a benevolent power all seeing and all knowing and all caring. If there was any power even remotely similar to GOD mentioned in mythologies and religions, then this Tsunami is an indelible blot in the resume of that so called almighty power. I say, resign if you hold a position. Adding fuel to the fire are irresponsible people who attribute this and countless other natural disaster to "wrath of GOD". I say, next time I come across someone saying"Wrath of GOD", that person surely is going to face my "WRATH" for sure. If it is indeed "Wrath of GOD" then it is one more argument to remove such a GOD, who on one hand says"Do not kill" while having "killing millions of innocents" as a leisure activity. Practice what you preach sir! SCIENCE, I say is a better substitute for GOD.
1. For it says hours in advance when a "tsunami" is going to strike.
2. For it tells from where an earth quake originates.
3. For it tells which way a storm is going to turn.
4. For it tells when a high tide is going to come.

Belief in GOD has led us nowhere! Belief in SCIENCE can take us to the ends of this universe.
Come on, let us take on this beast(earth quakes) and slay it!

Forgive me for the passionate comments on GOD, for they are triggered by comments of certain ignoramuses who said that this dance of destruction was due to the arrest of a religious person in Tamil Nadu. I believe in a GOD who is LOVE personified and my GOD cannot move a mountain if it will kill an ant. Forces of nature are mechanisms of regeneration of energy and can be analysed and in future be made harmless to lives by SCIENCE.

There are heartening stories of brave and kind people who put their life in the rope's end and saved innocent lives. There are also stories like the one I read in thats tamil(Thamizh) site, where mortuary attenders in certain government hospitals in chennai, demand money for releasing dead bodies to victims' relatives. There are more stories of this kind emerging along with stories of heroes and volunteers. The government and the people running the machinery have to understand that they are sitting on a seismic fault in political field. They are in whatever position for the people. If they fail to grasp this, very soon a Tsunami of public anger will topple them and destroy them completely.

Personally I am proud to say that my elder brother has joined as a volunteer in Aid India . He has contributed both monetarily and physically. He recently returned from Australia and is awaiting his H1 interview. Ever since he flew off to US for his MS, I have lost touch with him at apersonal level. Though his thoughts are radically different from most of my typically Indian middle class conservative ones, I must admit that in terms of such acts(volunteering for relief work) he is way ahead of me. And I feel very proud to be his "Thambi". I am going to Chennai this weekend (Jan 1st). Thanks to his acts, I am also planning to lend my hand in the "world's biggest relief work"! Let us see how it shapes up.

To aid the relief work or to know more about what aid india are doing, you can email karthik (my brother).

Alternatively you can also look into Aid India's Website. You can donate online from their website too.

Consolidated links to various relief websites are as given below:

1. The tsunami blog site.
2. The ramakrishna math at mylapore.
3. The Red Cross.
4. Indian PM's relief page.
5. Lazy geek's blog has further links.

The only noble thing that tsunami has done is that it has shown that we are vulnerable. But not anymore! The governments in the affected areas should have the resolve that this calamity may have broken the bodies of many, but not the spirit to survive and conquer.

The year 2004 will be forever remembered by this world as the year of the killer "tsunami". But let us proclaim that 2005 will be remembered for better things, for faster rehabilitation of affected people, for efficient rebuilding of crumbled lives and hopes, for better cooperation among nations of this small world in improving the lives of the "vulnerable" people.

Let peace and progress be our hope.

Let our hopes manifest into reality.

Let us give birth to a benevolent GOD sans wrath.

Let Love and universal brotherhood be the guiding principle!!

Live with prosperity!

Jaiganesh.

The Boxing Day punch from Tsunami

I am writing this as I am witnessing terribly depressing news footages detailing huge loss of life all over coastal districts of Thamizh Nadu, south of India. This is by far the worst natural disaster in recent history.Most striking aspect of the disaster are the detailed accounts of such tsunamis in ancient Tamil legends. Legends have it that a land mass called 'Kumari Gandam'existed in the area stretching from "Thamizh Nadu" as it is marked in the map now to Indonesia inhabited by Thamizh speaking people. Historians have rebuffed this theory as a story all along. But the striking feature of legend is the extensive recounting enormous tidal waves that submerged this land mass eventually driving thamizhs to the area that they currently occupy. I never dreamed that nature would choose to reawaken this legend in such a rude manner.
Nature also showed that majority of India is still unprepared for a disaster of such a scale.Coming three years after India's worst earth quake in Gujarat, one would have imagined that India would be well prepared to handle such a natural disaster faster. The number of people who have lost their life in this disaster is considerably less compared to the 2001 Bhujearthquake. Nevertheless, one only wonders how things would have been if this quake that happened in Sumatra had occurred in Thamizh Nadu. A lot needs to be done in remodelling our crisis management along the lines of USA and europian nations. Only then we can even dream of being a super power. All said and done we can only offer our condolences to the innocent lives that have been lost in this tragic disaster and pray for the brave shoulders that are lending their invaluable efforts in relief operations. Let us also pray and hope that such a grave national disaster is not misused by politicians belonging to the D.M.K or A.D.M.K for their political purposes and the underlying message of this disaster, which is better preparedness for prevention of loss of life is taken by one and all in India.

with prayers,
V.P.Jaiganesh

For more scientific information on this killer quake and the force that created tsunami, visit US Geological Survey site. Indian meterology department's seismology wing can be accessed from here.

• PM has appealed to the general public to donate generously.
• Instructions for NRIs and people in foreign countries to contribute are also given in the site.

Here is the gist of the message for those who do not have the time to go to the site.

"

Donations may also be made directly into Central Bank of India, New Delhi/Mumbai’s following accounts stating beneficiary “ Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, SB A/C with Janpath, New Delhi”.
U.S. $: A/C No. 000-03847-4 with HSBC BANK,USA, New York. ( SWIFT Code :- MRMD US 33 )
Pound Sterling: A/C No. 203253-80412368 with,BARCLAYS BANK PLC, London. ( SWIFT Code :- BARCGB 22 )
EURO: A/C No. 4112222001 with CITI BANK,Frankfurt. ( SWIFT Code :- CITI DE FF )
To enable us to send you an appropriate receipt, please furnish details to our bankers in M.T 100 Formats through SWIFT – SWIFT CODE “CBININ BBAPAR”.

"

As far as fellow indians are concerned, it is very simple to do the following:

The donations can be made by cheque or draft in the name of “The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund” and sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi 110001. As per directions on the subject the nationalised banks are not to charge any commission on preparation of drafts favouring the PMNRF.
Contributions can also be made directly to the branches of the following banks:
1) State Bank of India
2) Central Bank of India
3) Union bank of India
4) Dena Bank
5) Syndicate Bank
6) Corporation Bank
7) Bank of India
8) Indian Overseas Bank
9) Punjab National Bank
10) Indian Bank
11) Allahabad Bank
12) Citi Bank

whats on your desktop?

As an addict of National Geographic nature programs, this is no surprise to me that the site National Geographic provides beautiful pictures on nature. But the interesting fact is that there is a photgraph of the day feature in the site, that hosts amazing high resolution photographs just for the sake of wallpaper hunters like me. Get the photo of the day or browse through archives to find your wallpaper signed by NGC.

Another exciting feature in the site was the promo of an upcoming feature that is going to trace the path of my current favourite novel 'Da Vinci Code'.

Read an interesting take on the Laloo money distribution episode by Dravidar Kazhagam chief K.Veeramani. I apologize for people who can't read thamizh. The gist of his argument is that as laloo went to his home state, few dalit followers asked him for a 'sweet treat' on his becoming Railways minister, which laloo could not provide immediately so chose to distribute the next best sugar substitute "Money honey". So Laloo is as innocent as a baby claims Veeramani. I just wonder, since when did people of India have become gutsy to demand a 'treat' from their political masters?

The Hindu is running a feature on the "Maargazhi Utsav" which is on in full fervour. Read the article related to Maargazhi month in Hindu.

I wish all a Merry Christmas!!

Look out for Santa!!

My First Letter to the hindu

It was funny/sad seeing Laloo back to anarchic best last week.
The icing on the cake for any Laloo fan was the money distribution in a dalit village. The most disturbing aspect of laloos buffoonery is the love and attention media showers on him. It was as if we were watching a Kalabhavan Mani performance as a villain in a Tamil movie. At any point , we do not know whether to laugh or cry at the state of affairs. On top of all that "The Hindu" carried an editorial which would not even amount to "a slap on the wrist" in journalistic parlances. Anyway, that gave me something of an impetus to write a mail to "The Hindu". I do not know whether the letter would be published or not. Well, that does not mean you are going to be denied the contents of the historic letter. So here we go...

"
Sir,- I happened to read your editorial on Hindu dated December 21.I had observed earlier the NDTV reports on the exploits of Shri Laloo yadav, arguably most 'colourful' Railway minister to have graced anygovernment since independence. The footage shown in undoubtably the most balanced TV channel clearly showed our honourable minister helpingcertain weaker sections of our society in his home state monetarily.Immediate thought that crossed my mind was, how naive was Shri. Ashutosh Gowariker in asking NRIs to come to India leaving their high paying jobs abroad for the sake of their fellow countrymen/women. Well, here is an alternative script he can write in a jiffy and hit box office bulls eye.Mr.Mohan Bhargava(played by Shahrukh Khan) simply collects money from fellow NRIs and safely transfers into the hands of Shri. Railway Minister(prefereably played by Shri.Prasad himself) who goes on distributing all that money to the end user(Shri/Smt. Janata). And guess what? India becomes a superpower in one year!! Welcoming you back to reality, I was surprised at the soft approach by you in advising the honourable minister on how to do the social service(distributing hot cash, or shall we call it bribing?) in a more discrete manner which could deny NDA shouting points in the parliament! I was doing a double check as to whether I was reading "The Hindu" or some UPA internal circular. I would like you and fellow readers to recall the hard hitting and balanced series of views in this same paper months ago when the "India Shining" campaign was blaring at us. I am one of those millions of readers who still believe that your paper is not just another 'leftist' paper, but a highly respectable news paper that calls a spade what it is.I hope that you correct this error further on.Looking forward for better balanced commentaries from you,
Sincerely yours,
V.P.Jaiganesh,Bangalore
"

Bangalore's Bag Of Woes

Rewind to... May 2002.
I came to the "Silicon Valley" of India, at a time when rest of India-IT was undergoing a recession. Coming from Chennai at that time, I was in awe of Bangalore, particularly the sight of the impeccable International Tech Park in whitefield, the many gardens that graced the fast growing city and the presence of an open and cosmopolitan ambience. Also interesting and strange was the traffic flow management with electrnic signal timers and relatively clean traffic cops(I come from Chennai!! sigh!). Though the roads were narrower compared to Chennai, there were many fly-overs and underpasses like the sirsi flyover, the Richmond circle flyover and the majestic Mekhri circle where I am yet to witness a traffic jam. The air was relatively less polluted(breathable) and the numerous parks were well maintained and all this inspite of being a drought year! The infrastructure, was good with the private - public partnership effort BATF(Bangalore Action Task Force) championed by Jaykar Jerome and InfoSys going full throttle. Nothing could go wrong except for the yearly Cauvery fiasco and its associated political baggages(infact S.M.Krishna the then CM was on the verge of being arrested for contempt of court on this issue).
Back to the Present..
December 2004. Bangalore of the present is giving nightmares for people who want to travel, whichever mode they choose, the scenario is frightening!! The city has been growing monstrously, while the civic administration has been sleeping shamelessly. Pollution levels are at an all time high and as a result the summers are getting longer and hotter. The very charm of the weather which used to attract all the CEOs of major companies is slowly but surely withering away. Added to that the clogged roads, jammed signals are increasing the travel time manifold. The government which was responsive to the industry (IT and ITES) earlier has now grown indifferent. The indifference has effectively crippled the BATF and the infrastructure projects like various flyovers are lying in doldrums. Added to that the international airport project in Devanahalli has proven to be the ideal non-starter. All the outlying suburbs which were being developed with an eye on the future are now languishing for want of better infrastructure. Case in point is the Uttarahalli road (if you travel once, I bet you will not call it a road), a promising suburb with a huge Brigade residency apartments is having one of the busiest traffic for a suburb while the road looks like a NASA Marslander's snap of Martian terrain. The residents feel that the roads are a throwback to Satavahana era or the chalukya era(historians may dispute saying that even people of that time enjoyed flatter roads!!:-)). As the roads are getting bombarded with infinitely expanding number of vehicles and infinitely delayed flyovers, Bangalore Traffic police are rerouting traffic in the city in a manner that can be plausible only to the proponents of String theory!!! The Richmond circle rerouting clearly goes on to show that the life time worthiness of an idea behind a flyover is not even 3 years!!! Refer to this article which hails the Richmond circle flyover at the time of completion and contrast it with the current rerouting of traffic around it!!! There is a race going on between the Airport road flyover project and Bannerghatta Road flyover project (near Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology), as to which will finish last and let me tell you the race is very tight! I guess even snails would have completed the project by now. Industry tried cajoling the political bosses! It didn't work! Then they cried foul !! It didn't work yet!! Latest salvo fired is the threat to run away!! And early signs indicate that this missile is also way off target, for a government that is committed to non-improvement of everyone involved, including the poor farmers, whom they claim to represent. If the industry keeps up the threat, then it will be an irony of sorts for me, who left Chennai for better prospects in Bangalore, will be returning to Chennai, albeit with the entire industry floating with me!!!!
As a tail piece you can add the unbeleivable rowdyism involved in the display against other language films in Bangalore offlate, to the overflowing cup of woes of "Namma Bangalore". I do sympathise with genuine kannadiga displeasure over domination of Hindi in the local media (Listen to Radio city FM programs and you will think that it is being broadcast from Delhi rather than Bangalore!), the manner of stoning the theatres is in bad taste. I am an eternal optimist and I cannot do anything but hope that powers that be in Bangalore wake up and take note of the crumbling state of affairs. I think that with outsourcing being the mantra for global companies, cheaper cities like Chennai will soon overtake Bangalore. From problems of plenty to plenty of problems, From an overfilled cornucopia to an overfilled bag of woes, Bangalore is seemingly on the downward spiral to a state of destitution. But hope lingers on since for that to happen, Bangalore's bosses have to remain in slumber for a few more months. I hope they wake up!
Tring!
Tring!!
Tring!!!

Welcome to the month of maargazhi!

The month of margazhi started off couple of days back! As usual, the first thing to change during margazhi month is the morning radio programs and TV programs. As the month of margazhi is earmarked for spiritual activities only, the programmes in media also have started reflecting the same. Interesting fact to note about this spurt in spiritual activity is the fact that both the shivites and vaishnavites regard this month as holy. If the vaishnavites throng the streets early in the morning singing hymns of "Srivilliputtur Aandaal, the shivites hit the streets singing thiruvembaavai hymns written by that famous tamil saint "Maanikkavasagar" whose "thiruvaasagam" is gaining a new musical form by way of "Thiruvasagam in Symphony Oratario" pioneered by Thamizh mayyam and Isaignani Ilaiyaraja. Both the hymns have kind of similar theme and structure, i.e., both devotional in content and set as being sung by women. What sets "thiruppaavai" apart is the fact that it was written by "Sri Aandaal" who happens to be a woman from 7th to 8th centure A.D. Myths surrounding the "Saint poet Aandaal" apart, the hymns have deep spiritual meanings with a resonating sonic quality, which enables it to be set to tune in carnatic tradition in a beautiful way. For most children in brahmin families, Thiruppaavai and thiruvembaavai are some of the usual music starter courses. Towards the Christmas time (which too falling under margazhi period) Christmas carols could be heard in the street early in the morning. A sweet synthesis of an ancient indian tradition adopted by another faith. Added to all this is the expectation of Pongal festival by the month end( not to leave out pongal release movies!!).

To cap it all I shall rest by quoting Lord Krishna from Bhagwad Gita,
"Among months, I am Maargazhi".
Appropriate indeed!!