UN Politics: The Sweeter, the tougher

Obama's state visit to india is largely a success- more for yankees and less for indians. Obama came here as a salesman in disguise and was pretty successful in his pitch. He signed 20 different deals worth US $10 Billion. india is buying all kinds of stuff from US starting from Military transpost aircraft to passenger aircrafts to jet engines to oil and gas equipment. He claims that he created 53670 jobs for americans. Well quite true! But most of the americans still think that india is taking out their jobs. As obama pointed out, these are "old stereotypes and old concerns ignore today's reality".

But what india got? Nothing solid but assurances that US will back india's quest for UNSC permanent seat and will use its leverage on pakistan to bring 26/11 responsibles to justice. Out of these two,UNSC is definately more important and interesting. 26/11 is gone and Ajmal kasab has already been through trial and the world knows that pakistan is now the epicentre of global terrorism and is unfortunately a soon-to-be failed state. While we keep the past in our head and learn from it,its also important to focus on future. India is back in UNSC after a very long time. The happy moment came after the embarrasing fiasco of 1996 where india was deliberately set up to lose (which i think is western countries punishment to india for being too close to communists). That was what i say " ab tera kya hoga kaliya?" situation.


But things have changed now. India is a growing economic and military giant and has shown it to the world that embargos, corruptions and forced isolation cannot stop this nation to claim it's rightful place. In recent elections India garnered something which can be a UN record. Normally a country needs 2/3 votes to be elected as a member of UN security council but India got the assent of 187 out of 192 possible voters. But as they say great power comes with great responsibilty. What can india expect out of this stint in security council? And how should india work?


Well, the expectation ball was rolled when prez Obama asked india's intervention in myanmar situation. Quite true! India is acting like a rock when it comes to myamnar crisis (today i heard that suu kyi is going to be released). Once in the security council, people will expect india to take steps regarding Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan, Palestine and global terrorism. Suddenly the responsibilities will expand. Western countries are already performing war games with indian forces to increase the interoperability. So the mentoring and grooming has already started for some time now. But in UN - it all about international politics and mature diplomacy. India may have to offend many friends like iran- so we will have to learn the fine art of negotitations.




Pakistan is already miffed with the US endorsement of india's bid for UNSC perma-member seat. Out of the five perma members, China can shoot down india's aspirations. Rest of the four countries US,UK France and Russia are already in sync with india. 


Perma seat is still few years away but india has to prove a lot before reaching that level.

Google Image Search: Re-Vamped

By now every one must have noticed that google overhauled it's image search pages. The results are more like arranged in tile like format which expands on mouse action. This is significant improvement. It's good to see that google is concentrating on commonly used features. So far , i found google to be pretty busy with lesser known features like adwords, pagerank and labs.

Keep up the good work...

"America! You are depressed!"

I really thought a lot before publishing this post. And i hate to post this. But you know, some things are so intolerable and shameful that you hardly keep it to yourself. Democrat senator of new york Charles E Schumar is spitting out criticism on companies that outsource high end tech jobs to indians. He thinks that companies like infosys are "chop shops " where used cars are dismantled and parts sold seperately. The comments were made during the disccusion of border security meeting.

This senator needs to know that his america doesnot produce enough skilled people to do these high end tech jobs.Mr Senator, you need to tell your kids that boozing and fuckin around is fine but not sufficient to build nation. Mr senator you also need to know that america is technologically dependent on these "chop shops". Should we give you a demo- Let's make 15 august an absolute holiday. Shut down all support, maintanence and operations supporting american lines. What do you think will happen? It would not be less than an information blackout in US. Someone tell him how many engineers are working in american organisation like Microsoft and IBM. This senator is a complete jackass and puts a big question mark on american people's judgmental ability. The senator shows the current picture of american people- Low IQ, Arrogant fool, Selfish giant and a Shining Gasbag.This senator represents the class of american people who are afraid of hard times, competition, co-existence, mutual support and politeness. His statements are really sad and shows that he is frustrated and lacks the ability to analyse the facts, judge the right path and act accordingly.American people like him are bringing down the image and popularity of  this pioneering nation.

I hate to say this but america is definately a racist country. White americans still hate black americans. British don't like you, French hates you, Russians make you uncomfortable, Arabs wants to kill you, Chinese say "mind your own business", iranians say "Go fuck yourself", Pakis are making fool of you..and the list goes on. Mr Senator, it seems india is the only friend you have got. Those who have not seen racists in 21st century america can actually see Obama's presidential campaign movie. America as a country is very greedy, self centric, arrogant and impolite.

America needs to change it's self perception. Come down to earth , ol man!. Be modest and humble.Regain the respect of other people. Don't blame others for your own mistakes.You went through recession because american people created sub prime mortgage crisis, because you spend billions on war- not because indians snatched your jobs. you need to stop fighting and arguing with others. You are america, but the world is still big for you ol' man!Take responsibility of your own actions.

The world is an imperfect place but the people who are knowledgeable and are from advanced civilisation can come together to make it little more perfect. I still see america as an often right, often wrong country but the time asks for bigger changes in american mindset and thinking.

Tollywood Queens

I just finished watching the final part of antaheen on youtube. Sadly i could not arrange for the dvd or vcd of the movie as none of the stores here have that. I will have to probably get it when i go back to kolkata. I have not seen much of bengali movies but recently watched some excellent movies like Antaheen, Arunanan, Choker Bali to name a few. Bengal certainly has got talent as far as movies are concerned. People are well aware of bong presence in Bollywood and Music industry but not many people know about the mainstream actors and actresses in Tollywood(comes from Tollygunge), that's the name for bengali movie industry. Confusingly tollywood is also used for telugu movie.


As far as actors are concerned rahul bose is the only one who does smart work. But to be honest i would like to talk about bengali actresses only!

Here are the best 5 of them..

1) Rituparna Sengupta: She is probably the best known tollywood actress with huge fan following in bengal and some considerable and serious work in bollywood also. Lately, I saw the trailor of Mittal Vs Mittal..Looks like a really serious role movie.

2) Koel Mullick: She's a superb actress.The girl is beautiful, smart and acts really well. Why not! She's got the acting gene from her father, Ranjit Mullick(Who is a legendary actor).She really has that typical urban bengali girl looks.

3) Swastika Mukherjee: She's my favourite! One of the prettiest faces in tollywood , she has huge potential.I first saw her on a pathetic blog but i kinda instantly fell in love with her beauty.The girl-next-door type looks and superb screen presence are her real strength.

4) Raima Sen: She needs no introduction.Eldest of the two sisters, She is not exactly type- 'hot' actress like her sister riya but she illuminates the screen with her superb acting.She is the daughter of moon moon sen and grand daughter of legendary actress suchitra sen.









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..for your eyes only!!

 

Saturday mornings are always kinda calm at office but yesterday was something different . People were stumbling upon each other to get a copy of a forwarded email which apparently had pics from some holi celebration.

What’s the matter??  I asked..

Doctor, you need to see this  ..I am speechless..Manu said.

Ok! Forward me..will see it!!!

Well ,that halla was all about the pics of girls playing holi in some lahore suburb. Now it says that location is lahore,Pakistan. But i doubt that.

But anyways, pics are pretty delighting..oh correction..girls are pretty delighting…sensory manifestations;)

This will definitely give support to “Aman Ki Ashaa” Campaign ;)

 

have a look at some of the pics….enjoy!!!

 

 

Spark Becomes Flame….

 

2010 winters Olympics just went by- I was not that interested ,ever , in winter Olympics but i just happened to see the ski-dance performance by Davis and Charlie white on a bollywood mix.

I have one thing to say- That was spectacular!

 

Have a Look…

 

 

Quake in Chile…

Why did fewer die in chile’s earthquake than in haiti’s ? This is not me asking that strange question…Anthony Reuben on BBC News is asking that question. It’s more towards analysing the situation. He is right, the death toll of chile is much less compared to 220,000 toll of haiti. Why is that. Sure, chile is much more presperous and building qualities and relief work is swifter there. But it’s also because chileans know how to tackle earthquake. Chilean infrastructure organisations use a safe and proven seismic design code for new buildings, which makes them more stronger. the system is known as “Strong Columns Weak Beams”. the idea is that buildings are held by reinforced concrete columns, which are strenghtened by a steel frame. Reinforced concrete beams are used to lay the roofs. If there is an earthquake , the idea is that the concrete on the beams should break at the ends which will dissipate much of the jolt-force of quake. But the steel reinforcement will remain and colums should stand upright , which means that the building will stay upright. Chileans were lucky also , the epicentre was 21 miles underground, offshore and 70 miles fom the nearest biggest town. On the other hand the haitian quake was only 8 miles underground and right on the edge of port au prince.

Iran on the path of "Liberty"

What might have started as an isolated protest has become a major and important revolution. Nearly six months have passed after the controversial, high-margin win of president Ahmendinejad in this years Iranian presidential elections. The system loyalists are thinking how long they can withstand the fierce persistance and defiance of the orninary people. Leaving all the state-imposed rules aside, iranians are sending out tweets,creating forum on facebook and orkut, posting videos on youtube. With prominent leaders such as Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Khatami joining the rallies despite official warnings, and the rank and file willing to risk being beaten and arrested, the flames of revolt are clear. I was bit concerned coz two of my good friends are iranians and they are right in the center of action. Both are
students of fine arts and are actively participating in the protests.Most importantly the president is about to come to New york for the meeting of UN. This civic unrest and resistance from the inside has definitely shaken the hardline government. Ahmendinejad used the Jerusalem day to show off the stringent posture which is pretty synonymous with hardliners and most importantly he has openly declared that destroying Israel is the responsibility of all true Muslims.

Now the protests are clearly showing that general iranian public are not quite impressed with president's agenda. Ok! well iam sure there are many people amongst muslim population who want the destruction of Israel. But i seriously believe that the youth of both the countries dont care much about hardliners and softliners or Orthodox and Liberal. I have friends from both these countries and whatever interaction i have with them i can say that they want to move on.In my opinion Turkey is the ideal muslim country and other muslim countries can definately learn it from turkish people- they have been true to their religion and culture but they are also considered as a modern country with strong economy and good civic satisfaction. May be turkey is on the crossroads of Asia and Europe, so probably many people say that the european wind touches turkey as the morning breeze.Well , to be honest , that is not at all an excuse. The country is doing good and maintains healthy relation with almost all the countries. Turkish people don't have any major disputes with any nation and neither they have any political or economic instability. I wish the same for Iran..Maybe some day we can roam around "Tehran Bazar" and enjoy the hot "Shaawarma" and Lamb meat .

Amen!!!

iPhone going Musical!!

The Web-o-sphere is almost buzzling with the i phone musical performance at University of Mich. One of my pal posted a media on facebook(who happens to be in UoM) and also John brownlee at the blog " Cult of Mac" could not take his eyes of the event. The article was really good and interesting. First of all cheers to John for writing a mag grade article. Georg Essl leads a group from University of mich on a music composition ride aboard apple's IPhone. and as a matter of fact Georg is a professor with the electrical engg department of UoM. Definately a revolutionary thing. I bet Steve Jobs must be having a shiny day. Well afterall his baby is getting all the media attention and that to without paying any promotional campaigns.I remember when iphone was first launched and the media hype around it. It didn't really penetrated well into most of the asian and european markets and drew lotsa criticism for the "all-aspect-exclusiveness" of this "revolutionary" gadget . Well clearly at first attempt iphone couldnot just satisfy those geeks and left people gasping for an "ultimate tech-orgasm" from Apple Inc.

Over the years things are getting easier for this petite gadget. Creativity in the form of unique inovations are pushing new boundaries. Over the years i have seen so many iphone apps which meet the eyes and mind equally. Apps like BDB, Urbanspoon , Woo, iPint are really amazing and make full use of creativity and technology. My personal fav is though the " YOU BOOZE, YOU LOSE" application. The application tells you how much was your consumption is in the past week, how much you have spent ,how much calories you gained and i hear that the latest version suggest effectve diet also.

I am sure that an music composition related app or an motion app would soon be coming but i have an advice for Steve Jobs..plz don't screw it up ..Take care of Context and Specificity.

Bamyan! Yes, Buddha left it...and so has Peace

Afghanistan is still under ruins and is still chained to taliban-loyal warlords.Afghanistan is back to chaos and violence has increased not only against coalition soldiers but also against locals.US coalition is no longer interested in afghanistan and flipping around to check chances and to abandon afghanistan.And why not! this part of the world was never their agenda.They used afghanistan as a scapegoat to attack iraq and seige oil fields.White house and NATO commanders know that this is a dead land and the only thing it can give is opium.They probably think it as "USE-N-THROW" state.People are dying there. Many americans and commenwealth nationals are regular on my blog to read about aviation and military articles.MY Feedjit visitor-counter takes quantum leap whenever i post something about weapons and war.I wish we were more interested in humanity than in weapons.Recently i got a report in my thuderbird through my RSS feed that a 14 year girl was butchered in the name of family honor.The incident happened in Bamyan province.Bamyan- Rings any bell...Oh yes!!! Once upon a time, though not long ago, this place was an international heritage site because of the the famous n huge Buddha Statue.The statue was brought down by taliban when US forces the afghan campaign in 2001.The girl, Maryam, 14, was raped by a man in the Yakawlang District of Bamyan Province, central Afghanistan, five months ago. Her mother and brother used razor blades to cut the girl open, take out the foetus, and bury it alive to hide the disgrace, according to Habiba Surabi, the governor of Bamyan.
Maryam had initially concealed the rape, fearing this could devastate her family and possibly end her own life. But five months later, when it became clear that she was carrying a baby, her family decided to “remedy” the problem.
“The baby was alive when they took it from my body… and buried it as it was crying,” Maryam was quoted in the local media as saying.
The “surgery” was conducted violently, recklessly and without any medical arrangements.
“She was butchered like an animal,” said a physician at Yakawlang hospital where the victim was in intensive care.
After the painful “surgery” which lasted almost an hour, Maryam’s abdomen was stitched up with an ordinary needle and thread, medical experts said. Dirty wounds led to her condition deteriorating rapidly. Five days later, she was reportedly taken to hospital half-dead.
“They [her parents] said she was bitten by a dog in the stomach a few days a go,” Ehsan Shaheer, director of Bamyan’s health department.
A quick look at her butchered body convinced doctors it was not a dog that had ripped Maryam’s body apart.
“We informed the police and other authorities, and now her mother and brother are in custody,” said Shaheer. The alleged rapist has also been arrested, local people said.
Shaheer said Maryam’s life had been saved but extended treatment and care - unavailable in Bamyan Province - was needed for her to make a full recovery.
“Horrific crimes”
Confirming Maryam’s tragedy, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said it had registered over 2,000 cases of violence against women in the past 10 months - a marked increase on previous years.
“We’re particularly worried about the worsening nature and characteristics of violence against women,” Soraya Rahim Subhrang, a women’s rights commissioner at the AIHRC.
A widespread culture of impunity and lack of support for victims of gender violence has further exacerbated the situation, Subhrang said, adding “The culture of violence has increased because there is no fear of the law.”
The AIHRC called on the government to bring the man who raped Maryam as well as her mother and brother to “transparent and unbiased” justice.