get the president of turkmenistan to pay a visit to washington.
the said gentleman is the honourable Gurbanguly Malikgulyyevich Berdymukhammedov.
he was recently elected to the presidency of the republic of turkmenistan.
it is a whopper of a name - no offense at all.
his victory is quite easily explained:
his opponents choked to death during the presidential debates.
all his class-mates and college-mates love him to no end. you can imagine the scene during class attendance.
washington ahoy - mr. urban ganguly
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
tough decisions
the dalai lama receives the prestigious US congressional gold medal. here is the news report on rediff and fox news.
this is a list of all the awards and recognitions he has received. almost half a century of awards and recognition.
the dalai lama is an incredible person - there is no questioning that.
but to receive any award from bush... i wonder if he ever thought about.
and today bush is at his cowboy best on iran. world war 3 indeed... iran rebuts as expected.
the growing russian connections may be unsettling bush.
ok ok, i digress.
the credibility and support that this gives the tibetan cause is undeniable. this potential leverage over china probably weighed his mind.
tough decisions.
this is a list of all the awards and recognitions he has received. almost half a century of awards and recognition.
the dalai lama is an incredible person - there is no questioning that.
but to receive any award from bush... i wonder if he ever thought about.
and today bush is at his cowboy best on iran. world war 3 indeed... iran rebuts as expected.
the growing russian connections may be unsettling bush.
ok ok, i digress.
the credibility and support that this gives the tibetan cause is undeniable. this potential leverage over china probably weighed his mind.
tough decisions.
ama'zonked'
this piece on 'The Amazon burns once again' in the hindu columns caught my attention.
the original article from the guardian has a photo (the quest for which has lead me this morning onto this post).
i think world war scenes would have been much less disturbing.
these are some wonderful imagery from the mongabay site.
don't miss.
the amazon rainforest slideshow
deforestation pictures
the forest destruction statistics (also referred to as forest usage)
and a whole kids section which has very nice presentations.
the original article from the guardian has a photo (the quest for which has lead me this morning onto this post).
In August, government satellites registered 16,592 fires across Brazil, the overwhelming majority in the Amazon.world war?
Three thousand feet over the burning forest Paulo Adario, the Amazon director of Greenpeace, let out a sigh of resignation. “It’s like a scene from a world war,” he said gazing down at the forest, which now resembled the aftermath of a napalm bombing.ok, greenpeace is extreme sometimes.
i think world war scenes would have been much less disturbing.
these are some wonderful imagery from the mongabay site.
don't miss.
the amazon rainforest slideshow
deforestation pictures
the forest destruction statistics (also referred to as forest usage)
and a whole kids section which has very nice presentations.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
sufi-ism and religious pluralism*
the famed ajmer dargah of khwaja moinuddin chishti is recently in the news for the wrong reasons.
what is a dargah? (from wikipedia). it is the abode of the saints (usually sufi).
staying in bombay, one cannot miss the geographically outstanding haji ali dargah.
my interest in sufism arose with the album by rabbi shergill which featured the moving 'bulla ki jaana main kaun' (watch on youtube). a seering philosophical kafi - a verse form written by baba bulleh shah.
here are more examples of bulleh shah's kaafiyaan.
the feature of all of the above is the pluralism - in thought, philosophy, acceptance and practice.
and it seems like the radical muslims are not very supportive of sufi-isms and the extensive popularity of the sufi saints. praveen swami writes in the hindu on this phenomenon.
in my younger days, though living in a typical religiously insular setting, studying in a christian missionary school (i guess) gave some of us a slightly 'outsular' perspective. i recall going to the school chapel with pals before exams for prayers.
small acts but great meaning.
* - never expected to use such words
what is a dargah? (from wikipedia). it is the abode of the saints (usually sufi).
staying in bombay, one cannot miss the geographically outstanding haji ali dargah.
my interest in sufism arose with the album by rabbi shergill which featured the moving 'bulla ki jaana main kaun' (watch on youtube). a seering philosophical kafi - a verse form written by baba bulleh shah.
here are more examples of bulleh shah's kaafiyaan.
the feature of all of the above is the pluralism - in thought, philosophy, acceptance and practice.
and it seems like the radical muslims are not very supportive of sufi-isms and the extensive popularity of the sufi saints. praveen swami writes in the hindu on this phenomenon.
in my younger days, though living in a typical religiously insular setting, studying in a christian missionary school (i guess) gave some of us a slightly 'outsular' perspective. i recall going to the school chapel with pals before exams for prayers.
small acts but great meaning.
* - never expected to use such words
Monday, October 15, 2007
KISSmat ki baat hai
the media went ballistic over the tribal boys from kalinga institute of social sciences (KISS) winning the under-14 rugby world cup.
i wrote about it here. and that it was smelt.
the cat's out of the bag.
asian age has uncovered the real story.
http:\\www.asianage.com\archive\htmlfiles\\India/Under-14 Rugby Cup victory raises doubts.html
some issues with the way the link is named and hence the full URL. cut and paste link into browser and will come up.
the tournament background and details of the finals are here.
with all this subterfuge and wool over the eyes, i think the indian over-age trick is almost a certainty.
well, hope the poor boys don't get the flak and the real perpetrators are shamed.
i wrote about it here. and that it was smelt.
the cat's out of the bag.
asian age has uncovered the real story.
http:\\www.asianage.com\archive\htmlfiles\\India/Under-14 Rugby Cup victory raises doubts.html
some issues with the way the link is named and hence the full URL. cut and paste link into browser and will come up.
the tournament background and details of the finals are here.
with all this subterfuge and wool over the eyes, i think the indian over-age trick is almost a certainty.
well, hope the poor boys don't get the flak and the real perpetrators are shamed.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
grilled olmert
it is not a new sandwich item.
ehud olmert is the PM of israel.
he is under investigation in a corruption case.
well thats not abnormal - happens to politicians all across. also it is likely that olmert will walk free after all this.
if you read the first news item carefully, it says that the police questioned him for under 4 hours and for the second time.
can you imagine the same happening in india?
ehud olmert is the PM of israel.
he is under investigation in a corruption case.
well thats not abnormal - happens to politicians all across. also it is likely that olmert will walk free after all this.
if you read the first news item carefully, it says that the police questioned him for under 4 hours and for the second time.
can you imagine the same happening in india?
Friday, October 12, 2007
randy pausch - a posh life
i briefly read on dilip's blog here about a randy pausch. did not pay much attention.
i read the same stuff on dilip's article in tehelka magazine.
so i thought, dilip recommends, so might as well check. (the power of the printed word)
in brief here is the story. randy is a great student, becomes a CS professor at carnegie mellon, is a wonderful teacher and human being AND has terminal cancer BUT none of the above matter.
in this blitzkrieg speech/talk/presentation, randy rocks the world with his wisdom. speech of the decade.
the video and the report is available on wsj site.
the transcript of the entire speech is what i read.
am reproducing some stuff here as it is a long speech (1.75 hours or 26 pages).
weekend is coming and certainly certainly worth it.
1. on obstacles
……I dashed off my letters of applications to Walt Disney Imagineering, and they sent me some of the damned nicest go-to-hell letters I have ever gotten. So that was a bit of a setback. But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.
2. on coaching
…I had a coach, Jim Graham,…he showed up for practice the first day, and you know, there’s big hulking guy, we were all scared to death of him. And he hadn’t brought any footballs. How are we going to have practice without any footballs? And one of the other kids said, excuse me coach, but there’s no football. And Coach Graham said, right, how many men are on a football field at a time? Eleven on a team, twenty-two. Coach Graham said, all right, and how many people are touching the football at any given time? One of them. And he said, right, so we’re going to work on what those other twenty-one guys are doing. And that’s a really good story because it’s all about fundamentals. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.
3. on coaching (again)
…the other Jim Graham story I have is there was one practice where he just rode me all practice. You’re doing this wrong, you’re doing this wrong, go back and do it again, you owe me, you’re doing push-ups after practice. And when it was all over, one of the other assistant coaches came over and said, yeah, Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn’t he? I said, yeah. He said, that’s a good thing. He said, when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up. And that’s a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
4. setting the bar
The first assignment, I gave it to them, they came back in two weeks and they just blew me away. I mean the work was so beyond, literally, my imagination, … I had no idea what they could or couldn’t do with it as undergraduates, and their tools were weaker, and they came back on the first assignment, and they did something that was so spectacular that … I had no idea what to do next. So I called up my mentor, and I called up Andy Van Dam. And I said, Andy, I just gave a two-week assignment, and they came back and did stuff that if I had given them a whole semester I would have given them all As. Sensei, what do I do?
And Andy thought for a minute and he said, you go back into class tomorrow and you look them in the eye and you say, “Guys, that was pretty good, but I know you can do better.”
5. indirect learning - the head fake (i love this part)
… experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And I think that’s absolutely lovely. And the other thing about football is we send our kids out to play football or soccer or swimming or whatever it is, and it’s the first example of what I’m going to call a head fake, or indirect learning. We actually don’t want our kids to learn football. I mean, yeah, it’s really nice that I have a wonderful three-point stance and that I know how to do a chop block and all this kind of stuff. But we send our kids out to learn much more important things. Teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, etcetera, etcetera. And these kinds of head fake learning are absolutely important.
And you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.
The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they’re learning something else.
6. on parenting
… but when I was in high school I decided to paint my bedroom. I always wanted a submarine and an elevator. And the great thing about this is they let me do it. And they didn’t get upset about it. And it’s still there. If you go to my parent’s house it’s still there. And anybody who is out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me let them do it. It’ll be OK. Don’t worry about resale value on the house.
7. on communication
And I was quite an arrogant young man. And I come bounding in and you know, I’m just going to save the world. And afterwards, Andy put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word “you’re being a jerk.” Right? He doesn’t say you’re a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish.
i read the same stuff on dilip's article in tehelka magazine.
so i thought, dilip recommends, so might as well check. (the power of the printed word)
in brief here is the story. randy is a great student, becomes a CS professor at carnegie mellon, is a wonderful teacher and human being AND has terminal cancer BUT none of the above matter.
in this blitzkrieg speech/talk/presentation, randy rocks the world with his wisdom. speech of the decade.
the video and the report is available on wsj site.
the transcript of the entire speech is what i read.
am reproducing some stuff here as it is a long speech (1.75 hours or 26 pages).
weekend is coming and certainly certainly worth it.
1. on obstacles
……I dashed off my letters of applications to Walt Disney Imagineering, and they sent me some of the damned nicest go-to-hell letters I have ever gotten. So that was a bit of a setback. But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.
2. on coaching
…I had a coach, Jim Graham,…he showed up for practice the first day, and you know, there’s big hulking guy, we were all scared to death of him. And he hadn’t brought any footballs. How are we going to have practice without any footballs? And one of the other kids said, excuse me coach, but there’s no football. And Coach Graham said, right, how many men are on a football field at a time? Eleven on a team, twenty-two. Coach Graham said, all right, and how many people are touching the football at any given time? One of them. And he said, right, so we’re going to work on what those other twenty-one guys are doing. And that’s a really good story because it’s all about fundamentals. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.
3. on coaching (again)
…the other Jim Graham story I have is there was one practice where he just rode me all practice. You’re doing this wrong, you’re doing this wrong, go back and do it again, you owe me, you’re doing push-ups after practice. And when it was all over, one of the other assistant coaches came over and said, yeah, Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn’t he? I said, yeah. He said, that’s a good thing. He said, when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up. And that’s a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.
4. setting the bar
The first assignment, I gave it to them, they came back in two weeks and they just blew me away. I mean the work was so beyond, literally, my imagination, … I had no idea what they could or couldn’t do with it as undergraduates, and their tools were weaker, and they came back on the first assignment, and they did something that was so spectacular that … I had no idea what to do next. So I called up my mentor, and I called up Andy Van Dam. And I said, Andy, I just gave a two-week assignment, and they came back and did stuff that if I had given them a whole semester I would have given them all As. Sensei, what do I do?
And Andy thought for a minute and he said, you go back into class tomorrow and you look them in the eye and you say, “Guys, that was pretty good, but I know you can do better.”
5. indirect learning - the head fake (i love this part)
… experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And I think that’s absolutely lovely. And the other thing about football is we send our kids out to play football or soccer or swimming or whatever it is, and it’s the first example of what I’m going to call a head fake, or indirect learning. We actually don’t want our kids to learn football. I mean, yeah, it’s really nice that I have a wonderful three-point stance and that I know how to do a chop block and all this kind of stuff. But we send our kids out to learn much more important things. Teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, etcetera, etcetera. And these kinds of head fake learning are absolutely important.
And you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.
The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they’re learning something else.
6. on parenting
… but when I was in high school I decided to paint my bedroom. I always wanted a submarine and an elevator. And the great thing about this is they let me do it. And they didn’t get upset about it. And it’s still there. If you go to my parent’s house it’s still there. And anybody who is out there who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me let them do it. It’ll be OK. Don’t worry about resale value on the house.
7. on communication
And I was quite an arrogant young man. And I come bounding in and you know, I’m just going to save the world. And afterwards, Andy put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word “you’re being a jerk.” Right? He doesn’t say you’re a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish.
generation Q
tom friedman is a renowned columnist and is actually tom flatman after his infosys-worship laden 'the world is flat'. i could not make it through the book. nilekani overdose.
here is his nice article on american youth - the generation Q.
he says
here is his nice article on american youth - the generation Q.
he says
But Generation Q may be too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country’s own good.too online...
America needs a jolt of the idealism, activism and outrage (it must be in there) of Generation Q. That’s what twentysomethings are for — to light a fire under the country. But they can’t e-mail it in, and an online petition or a mouse click for carbon neutrality won’t cut it. They have to get organized in a way that will force politicians to pay attention rather than just patronize them.he is saying america, i am reading world.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
remarkable turnaround story
rediff carries this story of a certain remarkable gent - dimple bhatt.
the life-cycle is stunning - dont pull butt to damp ill butt to damn cool burt.
here is the same story from ny daily news.
should complain less.
the life-cycle is stunning - dont pull butt to damp ill butt to damn cool burt.
here is the same story from ny daily news.
should complain less.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
loss of vision
there are tons of NGOs working in the area of education and children.
fundraising is as competitive as in dalal street.
to facilitate the personal connection, some orgs offer a 'sponsor a child' scheme where the sponsors can 'see' their child who is being 'educated' on their donation.
and the medium to large orgs claim to connect to more than 10K children,
and they end up in a mess like this.
the level of tracking and monitoring required for such a intensive donor-child connection is enormous and requires lots of people (needs tons of money) or smart technology (need smart people).
fundraising is as competitive as in dalal street.
to facilitate the personal connection, some orgs offer a 'sponsor a child' scheme where the sponsors can 'see' their child who is being 'educated' on their donation.
and the medium to large orgs claim to connect to more than 10K children,
and they end up in a mess like this.
the level of tracking and monitoring required for such a intensive donor-child connection is enormous and requires lots of people (needs tons of money) or smart technology (need smart people).
Monday, October 08, 2007
where our taxes go - 2
will you kill yourself
saawariya is the most anticipated movie of the year.
i am certain that it is likely to be constipating.
while it means a well intentioned "beloved/darling" in hindi, it means "will you kill yourself" in tamil.
ouchie.
i am certain that it is likely to be constipating.
while it means a well intentioned "beloved/darling" in hindi, it means "will you kill yourself" in tamil.
ouchie.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
raju narayanaswamy
i joined college in 1991.
at the convocation that year, the usual awardees like the president's gold medallist (same for each iit) and governor's gold medallist where eating humble pie to my subject.
raju topped the IAS that year. an unheard of occurrence in the annals of iit madras.
he was the toast all along the place.
obviously, the euphoria and the memory faded rapidly.
till i saw this article in tehelka.
obviously raju was thriving and swimming strong against the sewage.
and in the meanwhile, we heard a lot of the famous munnar demolition drive initiated by kerala cm - achuthanandan. almost ruthlessly, illegal encroachments were being razed to ground.
and guess who was one of the lead men - correct - rns was the collector of the district.
no one was spared - tatas, CPI, CPI(M) were all deemed to be illegal squatters and rapid action was underway, when money power spannered everything.
he has been covered by mainstream media in his struggles.
indian express from sept 2007
telegraph from sept 2002 on his move to the UN
the week (latest news) on the dismantling of the elite squad.
the hindu from july 2007 where CM shows true colours.
this is a connection that has been re-established after 16 years and i am not hanging up soon.
at the convocation that year, the usual awardees like the president's gold medallist (same for each iit) and governor's gold medallist where eating humble pie to my subject.
raju topped the IAS that year. an unheard of occurrence in the annals of iit madras.
he was the toast all along the place.
obviously, the euphoria and the memory faded rapidly.
till i saw this article in tehelka.
obviously raju was thriving and swimming strong against the sewage.
and in the meanwhile, we heard a lot of the famous munnar demolition drive initiated by kerala cm - achuthanandan. almost ruthlessly, illegal encroachments were being razed to ground.
and guess who was one of the lead men - correct - rns was the collector of the district.
no one was spared - tatas, CPI, CPI(M) were all deemed to be illegal squatters and rapid action was underway, when money power spannered everything.
he has been covered by mainstream media in his struggles.
indian express from sept 2007
telegraph from sept 2002 on his move to the UN
the week (latest news) on the dismantling of the elite squad.
the hindu from july 2007 where CM shows true colours.
this is a connection that has been re-established after 16 years and i am not hanging up soon.
Friday, October 05, 2007
troubled bridge under waters
ok. i have avoided the sethu schema all this time as there is more muck than the dredgers can rake up.
its all over the place.
the hindu
rediff
this is the official site, but doesn't open.
this site looks really official, but is surely a smart bunch of anti-sethu activists.
they have a news blog site too
what got me starting was this rediff interview with a mariner. he says that the sethu project does 'naut'ical make sense :-)
i was waiting to see the financials and 'if this report is correct', then this is a classic fill the pockets project.
i feel that any opposition from the opposition parties at the center and the state are purely due to the fact that they missed a golden goose.
am now trying to read all the official documents to get a further grip on the technicalities.
its all over the place.
the hindu
rediff
this is the official site, but doesn't open.
this site looks really official, but is surely a smart bunch of anti-sethu activists.
they have a news blog site too
what got me starting was this rediff interview with a mariner. he says that the sethu project does 'naut'ical make sense :-)
i was waiting to see the financials and 'if this report is correct', then this is a classic fill the pockets project.
i feel that any opposition from the opposition parties at the center and the state are purely due to the fact that they missed a golden goose.
am now trying to read all the official documents to get a further grip on the technicalities.
blackwater
this is not about the infamous cooum river of madras.
neither is it about the just as infamous mithi river of bombay.
it is about a private US military firm - blackwater on wikipedia and their own site.
they were in iraq, ostensibly helping out in the military operations.
and by that it is meant that they were protecting the US military forces. weird.
and this is what they are accused of doing.
they obviously retort that they were doing a fair job.
while we all understand the mess that is iraq today and the gargantuan economic looting that is happening on iraqis as well as the US taxpayer, this takes the cake.
now what the hell is a private military firm doing in another sovereign nation.
and how is the UN ... sorry.
neither is it about the just as infamous mithi river of bombay.
it is about a private US military firm - blackwater on wikipedia and their own site.
they were in iraq, ostensibly helping out in the military operations.
and by that it is meant that they were protecting the US military forces. weird.
and this is what they are accused of doing.
Blackwater members accompanying the convoy returned fire, leaving nine people dead, one of whom was an Iraqi police officer.this is from here.
they obviously retort that they were doing a fair job.
while we all understand the mess that is iraq today and the gargantuan economic looting that is happening on iraqis as well as the US taxpayer, this takes the cake.
now what the hell is a private military firm doing in another sovereign nation.
and how is the UN ... sorry.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
where our taxes go*
the ministry of defence - government of india had released a tender today - which flummoxed me.
the title read "director general married accommodation project (MAP), ministry of defence, government of india"
director general !!
married accommodation project !!
typical a director general (of police) is responsible for the police force of an entire state. that's all the cities, towns, villages and assorted administration and recruitment and training. in short a CEO level.
and the MoD has a DG for building apartments and houses and that too only for couples.
christ, allah and ishwara.
do we need external agents to spawn confusion at all...
* - borrowed from indiauncut
the title read "director general married accommodation project (MAP), ministry of defence, government of india"
director general !!
married accommodation project !!
typical a director general (of police) is responsible for the police force of an entire state. that's all the cities, towns, villages and assorted administration and recruitment and training. in short a CEO level.
and the MoD has a DG for building apartments and houses and that too only for couples.
christ, allah and ishwara.
do we need external agents to spawn confusion at all...
* - borrowed from indiauncut
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
the KISS boys
the students from the kalinga institute of social science (KISS) have won the under 14 rugby world cup.
here it is from:
the hindu front page
mint
ndtv
the pride is multiplied many times over as the boys are from the tribal zones.
all that is perfectly fine and i laud the team for doing themselves, KISS and india proud.
but tell me,
how do you have 13-14 year olds in an 'institute of social science'. should they not be in school.
or did we pull of the classic indian overage trick.
here it is from:
the hindu front page
mint
ndtv
the pride is multiplied many times over as the boys are from the tribal zones.
all that is perfectly fine and i laud the team for doing themselves, KISS and india proud.
but tell me,
how do you have 13-14 year olds in an 'institute of social science'. should they not be in school.
or did we pull of the classic indian overage trick.
retiring gandhi
sonia was at the UN general assembly on the occasion of Oct 2 'gyanning' (giving gyan) on non-violence. here are news report: AOL and rediff
wondering what was her standing to represent
a) india
b) non-violence
as chairperson of the UPA coalition, she enjoys no constitutional power.
but looks like even the UN will not stoop to indulge in "kehdo na, kehdo na, you are my sonia".
i would like india to retire the surname gandhi to prevent such blatant misuse (like they retire jersey numbers of Sports Icons in american sports).
here is something for all to chew on. classic conspiracy theory.
look at these 2 images and tell me if you are thinking what i am. click on them for larger images.
sonia is from the rediff news item and IG from google image search.
wondering what was her standing to represent
a) india
b) non-violence
as chairperson of the UPA coalition, she enjoys no constitutional power.
but looks like even the UN will not stoop to indulge in "kehdo na, kehdo na, you are my sonia".
i would like india to retire the surname gandhi to prevent such blatant misuse (like they retire jersey numbers of Sports Icons in american sports).
here is something for all to chew on. classic conspiracy theory.
look at these 2 images and tell me if you are thinking what i am. click on them for larger images.
sonia is from the rediff news item and IG from google image search.
three gorges dam - disaster in making
the three gorges dam project is one of the modern day engineering miracles.
being built on the Yangtze river, it is china showing its muscle to the world.
we are familiar with the sardar sarovar project on the narmada river and the narmada bacho andolan fighting for the rights of the displacement and questioning the disputed benefits of the project.
3G is almost 15 times the size of the SSP (in terms of design hydroelectricity production capacity).
massive does not even start describing the project.
just with above info, one could hazily visualise the kind of impact that 3G will have on the environment.
the chinese government has come clean and have said exactly the same.
here are the reports from the times, london and planetark.
it takes tremendous courage to publicly own up mistakes.
good show china.
being built on the Yangtze river, it is china showing its muscle to the world.
we are familiar with the sardar sarovar project on the narmada river and the narmada bacho andolan fighting for the rights of the displacement and questioning the disputed benefits of the project.
3G is almost 15 times the size of the SSP (in terms of design hydroelectricity production capacity).
massive does not even start describing the project.
just with above info, one could hazily visualise the kind of impact that 3G will have on the environment.
the chinese government has come clean and have said exactly the same.
here are the reports from the times, london and planetark.
A report issued by the Xinhua news agency, mouthpiece for the Government, said: “There exist many ecological and environmental problems concerning the Three Gorges Dam. If no preventive measures are taken, the project could lead to catastrophe.”"catastrophe" in an official press release.
it takes tremendous courage to publicly own up mistakes.
good show china.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
day of gandhians
oct 2 is a special day.
and not only the in the well known way.
it is the birth anniversary of lal bahadur shastri - 2nd prime minister of independent india.
it is the memorial anniversary of kamaraj - the 3 time chief minister of tamilnadu and 'kingmaker'
both these stalwarts were born within a year of each other at the very ends of the country, but shared a destiny which gave india the answer to one of the most intriguing (and impertinent) challenges - "after nehru, who?"
it is a history worth digging into. lots of links given at the end of the wiki.
i think one of gandhiji's greatest leadership traits was succession planning. think of the next-in-line he groomed. thank god.
and not only the in the well known way.
it is the birth anniversary of lal bahadur shastri - 2nd prime minister of independent india.
it is the memorial anniversary of kamaraj - the 3 time chief minister of tamilnadu and 'kingmaker'
both these stalwarts were born within a year of each other at the very ends of the country, but shared a destiny which gave india the answer to one of the most intriguing (and impertinent) challenges - "after nehru, who?"
it is a history worth digging into. lots of links given at the end of the wiki.
i think one of gandhiji's greatest leadership traits was succession planning. think of the next-in-line he groomed. thank god.
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