Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Chandrayaan

India can now say hello to the man on the moon through their own phone lines. ISRO has successfully launched Chandrayaan, its first indigenous unmanned mission to the moon. Plans to send people to the moon in a another couple of years are on. One small step for ISRO, a giant leap for India? Bravo!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

What the $@#% do these people think they are doing?

This is beyond disgusting. I quote from the PanIIT 2008 site-

The theme for the spouses' track in this year's PANIIT is "Sampoorna" - programs meant for the complete woman, who is able to perfectly balance her personal, professional and public personality. With this in mind we have a galaxy of presenters and performers who are bound to enlighten the IIT spouses.

And who should represent this 'galaxy' better than Hemamalini - A professional dancer, a top-notch film actress, a successful home-maker, now devoting time to charitable and social ventures, she has lived life on her own terms, and remained 'beautiful' in terms of outlook and attitude over the years. She epitomizes the Complete Woman.

There is more - a tour to arts & crafts villages, dance academy and - hold your breath - shopping trips! The message is loud and clear, isn't it? Granted, most IIT alumni might be male, but the "Especially for spouses" programme takes home the trophy for the most male chauvinistic ever. And IITians (at least the ones who are organizing it, or are participating without a murmur of dissent) are now firmly etched in my mind as the most stupid tribe of intellectuals ever, Bill Gates' attendance at their events be damned!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Revelation

... of the non religious kind. I mean, of the kind you get when you are non religious. Discrimination is the last thing you'd expect though. And of all places...! Anyway, another first - experienced discrimination on the basis of belief, or lack thereof! Its sheer coincidence that I am currently reading Richard Dawkins. What did the hubbysaurus say - why bother about things that don't affect you personally?

PS: Heard this nugget of 'wisdom' - "atheism is something that people do to seem cool". I wonder what Dawkins would say to that?

Friday, October 10, 2008

And so it begins

Infosys, the bellweather Indian IT Services firm cut its earnings outlook for the year citing uncertain demand conditions. In my last post, I talked about the possibility of dark days for Indian IT. And Infosys' guidance of negative growth for the next quarter seems to signal the beginning of just that. IIP numbers also signalled ominous trends for other sections in the economy. The world as we know it could very different by the time the global economy revives.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Happenings

The Karthik Rajaram shocker has laid one fact bare - no one is immune from what's happening in the current financial crisis. Sure, one could always argue that he might have been mentally unstable, which is why he killed his hapless family as well. But it makes me wonder if we are likely to see more opting for this route out of financial ruin. Indians may be less immune to the economic downturn that currently believed - lifestyles have changed since the last downturn in 2000-2001.

The average young urban professional has a much more expensive lifestyle and much less savings than ever before. Add to this the huge EMIs on houses and leveraged investments in the stock market, and we are looking a potential disaster in the making. The software sector has been feeling the heat for the last 2-3 quarters already, and the next 2-3 could well be dark days for the industry. Things are likely to get worse before they get better. Brace yourselves, and stay strong!

On another note, here's a sure shot way of guaranteeing economic aid - grow a particularly nasty and resilient brand of terrorism and all those dumb western nations will form a group and continue to support you economically. Bangladesh, sub-Saharan Africa, are you listening? Starvation and death doesn't move the west anymore, except maybe aging rockstars!