These were the words of Mid-Day editor Vitusha Oberoi, when asked on the line of defence they adopted in the Delhi High Court. This happened as the Delhi High Court sentenced 4 journalists of Mid Day to 4 months in jail for contempt of court. What irked the court was a report published in the Mid-Day that suggested that a former Chief Justice had benefited from his judgments.

This raises a gamut of very disturbing questions. (more…)

Before you guys panic and start frantically calling me up, I must tell you that I am well. Mainly because I was shot with a Canon EOS-5D. And as Bond would say,

I live to die another day!

Well, the entire story goes like this. A couple of weeks back, we got an e-mail telling us that my company wants to photograph its employees, albeit not working. But along with their favourite hobby. And how could I stay behind. So I registered myself to be shot.

Today was the D-Day, and I walked in the shoot carrying my Empty Head and my Canon S3-IS. A few poses later, the shoot was over. What really impressed me was the interest of the company in portraying its employees with their hobbies. Really, how many employers really care about the hobbies pursued by their employees?

I can say that it gives me pleasure to work for a company where my hobbies are as valued as the work I do is.

Way to go.

Oh, and in case you think I didn’t get a chance to shoot, well surprise surprise….I totally did!!! And here’s the guy who shot me, with excellent results.

Update: The photographer here is Mr.Geoffrey Boorman from the award winning event management and corporate films agency, Miner Productions. Thanks a ton to Kavita for this info.

The French don’t seem to be good at a lot of things. Making cars is one of them. Now France is a beautiful country, but that is almost where it ends. And now, France has another feather added to its infamous cap. France has now proven beyond doubt, that it is no good at international politics. France has now publicly announced that its citizens should be ready to go to war with Iran, should Iran continue with its nuclear enrichment program.

The French foreign minister said,

“We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war.”

Now there is nothing new for the world to see USA flex its muscles this way. There have been times when the US has spoken tough, and acted tough too. The most recent example stands in the form of a ruined country. But America has the military power to talk tough. An American aircraft carrier typically has enough Army, Navy and Air Force on it to launch a dedicated strike on its own. And typically, carriers float around in carrier groups. So for the US to flex its biceps, is understood. They can act the threat if they want to.

France, on the other hand, would not really want to do what its foreign minister has so proudly proclaimed. With a small military force, trying to attack Iran would not make a lot of sense, politically or otherwise.

Let us go a step back and put a thought to why France, the entire Europe and the US is opposing the nuclear advances that Iran is making. Iran started its nuclear program by making centrifuges, that purify Uranium. This was the first step that peeved the world. A potent anti-west power would have in its hands one of the most potent weapons of destruction, a nuclear device. Since the time of Ayatolla Khomeini, Iran has not been a very country favored by the west, esp. America. Most Iranians would view America as its biggest enemy, and it is wise for America to think that a nuclear device in the hands of such a country could prove to be a direct threat.

After assuring the world that its nuclear advances were purely for civilian purposes, and would be used to quench an ever increasing thirst for electricity, Iran allowed IAEA inspectors to enter and inspect its nuclear facilities. This was more of a confidence building measure, as this was the time when US was advancing in Iraq. Iran most certainly did not want the humvees and F-32s headed its way. So Iran played good.

But as time passed by, Iran’s President got more and more vocal. Iran wanted its nuclear power in the hands of its military. Which is when the problem started.

Though I wonder, why is France preparing its people for war? Even though the IAEA has sought to pacify the situation by having entered into an agreement with Iran. And Iran has also repeated its commitment to not making a nuclear device. Iran wants to make electricity out of uranium, the IAEA seems to believe Iran. Why does France have a problem with this?

Luckily, Iran has the support of Russia in the United Nations security council. Russia, with its veto power would stop any international attempt at a military strike or further sanctions on Iran. So a strike cannot be enacted via the UN. France alone would not send its military into Iran to get killed. They will look at NATO support. I am sure that other NATO members will be wary to attack Iran. They have seen the blunder of Iraq. An invasion that seemed to be a noble idea turning into an international farce.

France, in this announcement, would be piggy-backing on the US for support. But the French have possibly forgotten that with a presidential election scheduled in 2008 and worries of slow economic growth in the coming fiscal year, America has a lot at home to take care of. Would France have the guts to go forward with this alone?

They probably would not. And France must remember that the recent crisis was first reported by BNP Paribas, a French bank. Oil prices are at an all time high, there are more short term and long term economic growth worries projected from the US. We now stand looking at another global economic slowdown in the next one or two years. War talk is not going to do any good. What economies around the world need are confidence building measures, especially with oil & natural gas producing countries like Iran. Only then would there be a little sense of stability in the current politico-economic situation.

France should probably stick to making wines. Drinking too much of it, and then crying war is probably not the best thing to do. Because when the wine wears off, it will be one hell of a hangover for the French.

It is funny when a before and after kind of advertisement appears in the newspaper. And most of these are for slimming clinics, or places that promise to make you beautiful.

This one before and after I will talk about, is not one of the above. It is from an article in Gurgaon Plus, a weekly magazine sent out by the Times of India for residents of the city of Gurgaon. They do try to take populistic journalism initiatives, by clicking photographs of failing civic amenities and reporting on those photos. When the authorities take action, these guys do a before and after segment. This post is the story of one such segment gone wrong.

This is the “before” photo:

A very haywire traffic junction, which happens to be very near to my office and I travel from there daily. It is really messy.

Now see the “after” image:

Now what the TOI guys noticed is the cop standing in the left corner of the “After” image. What is funny is, even after the traffic cop is standing there, a school bus is driving up the road THE WRONG WAY(see encircled bus on right side in the “after” image).

Now, nothing wrong with the newspaper taking a good initiative. But some editor should have looked at the image and said, well, there is a cop, but he is not doing his job!!!

A freudian slip perhaps? Well, whatever it was, the headline was what set me off laughing.

It said,

Here begins the management

Some management this is.

P.S: Apologies for the poor resolution photographs.

Evolution is defined by Wikipedia as

“the change in the inherited traits of a population from generation to generation.”

So are we changing as we proceed from generation to generation? And are we changing for better, or for worse?

I read this report on the CNN website about a sect that allows the practice of polygamy. Now polygamy might be heaven for a man, but it sure is hell for the woman. And if it is difficult to fathom why, try to think of a scenario when a man is one of the many husbands of a woman? Ready to submit his body to her at her wish, and yet be neglected as he is one of the many options she has.

I am sure most men would now understand the humiliation and suffering of a woman who is into such a relationship, by her own will or by the will of some religious group she happens to be a part of.

Maybe, the shock quotient of this incident would have been a little less had it been in one of the under-developed societies in Africa, or the still evolving Islamic countries. But this incident happened in America. A country that prides in being the leader of the developed world. And yet, for some reason, such a faith and its followers existed for many years in America.

This makes me ask the question about human evolution. Is evolution simply restricted to what Darwin defined it? I tend to believe that societies, and social structures need to evolve with times. The world today happens to be an amazingly open place, where human rights are well understood, and such incidents are frowned upon.

And yet, we do not seem to evolve. In a country that promises to have one of the most developed and evolved modern day societies, such incidents do make one wonder. Is the human race really heading in the direction it should?

Are we learning from the mistakes that we make, or are we going to remain oblivious and keep prodding forward? Are we just going to remember this incident for as long as the media wants us to, or are we going to take a lesson to avoid such happenings in the future?

Evolve, or perish. This is what Darwin said. And even though the evolution that I mentioned above isn’t what Darwin said, this postulate still holds good.

Evolve, or perish!!!

On a very eventful Monday for India’s neighbor Pakistan, its exiled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned from London and after a lot of drama, was deported. Mr Sharif is back in Jeddah, and Mushy has some peace to himself. At least, he can get sleep tonight. Over the world, the media won’t. And it wouldn’t let anyone else sleep too.

The funny thing is the analysis of this incident by media across the world. BBC News has taken a very neutral view of the entire incident, trying to avoid one side or another. Also mentioning in a very subtle way that US has washed its hands off the matter, terming it as Pakistan’s “Internal Affair”.

CNN on the other hand, seems to be leaning more towards the Musharraf story of things. Though the major overtone in CNNs coverage is the neutral stand that the US has taken, and moved on to the coverage of the congressional report on whether the Iraq troop surge has worked.

The Indian media, is simply hammering this incident over and over again. If you see any private news channel here, you will know that Mr. Sharif stayed for 90 minutes in the airplane on the tarmac and a little over 90 minutes in the airport. Then he was deported to Jeddah. These channels seem to be possessed by some demonic power that forces them to show the same news again and again. More interestingly, there were panel discussions on whether Mush is trying to stop the return of democracy to Pakistan.

Whether democracy returns or not, I believe it is good that Nawaz Sharif does not return. Remember the Kargil war, when a nation’s military prepared to launch a proxy war against a country that was being kissed and embraced by its own Prime Minister.

Whether Sharif had any knowledge of the advances made by Pakistan’s army in Kargil is a topic for debate, what became clear after the whole incident is that he was a spineless Prime Minister. And in today’s unstable Pakistan, torn between extremist elements and elements still loyal to the US, a spineless premier is the last thing needed.

Before even thinking of the other choices in front of Pakistan to lead a democratic government, I would ask, is Pakistan ready for democracy? There are reports of Al-Qaeda and Taliban operating from the northern regions of Pakistan that border Afghanistan, there are tribes who are totally against any form of authority forced on them, democratic or not. And then there are the terrorists, once harbored and promoted by Pakistan, who are now disillusioned in their own masters’ support of America. This is clear by the increasing number of suicide bombings in Pakistan itself. Terrorists are irritated, and irritated big time.

With so much volatility, a democratic government will not really succeed. Especially the toothless and spineless democracy that usually exists in Pakistan. Any democratic government cannot take the harsh steps needed to control religious fanatics, terrorists and instability. All that said, is the current military dictatorship doing its job to stablize Pakistan? Statistically, it is a failure. The promise of helping the US reduce Islamic terrorism is yet to show some character. Terrorism is on an all time high, Osama keeps sending one video after another, and Taliban is growing in strength.

I am tempted to ask, if I can see all this with my limited vision of world politics, served to me by the media….why can’t the US government see it? Any major instability in Pakistan will lead to major instability in the entire South Asia. With the terrible backlash on its hands in Iraq, can US afford such an instability in this part of the world? Is the US just ignorant, or are they closing their eyes with their own hands?

No one can predict the future. But the present is clear, and the entire world can see Musharraf sitting on a time bomb. Nobody can predict when it’ll explode right under him, but as time passes, the bomb becomes a bigger threat. Would Musharraf flinch? I guess we will soon find that out.

Howdy….

Emptiness is good. Emptiness signifies a new beginning, and a mind open to new thoughts and ideas.

An all accepting head.

But an empty head, as they say, is the home of the devil. And that is mainly what I intend it to be.

So welcome to the empty head. Welcome to the head that plays host to the devil.

Do keep visiting this space for more.

Credits: Empty head thanks Amit(www.amitgupta.in) for everything.