Month: December 2007

Cargo for Pakistan

I have previously observed here that India has what I call a “cargo cult democracy.” In India’s neighborhood that is not a distinction. The entire Indian subcontinent suffers from that malady. The short version is that around here democracy as practiced is a simulation, a facsimile that should not be confused with the real thing that has something to do with informed choice based on differing perceptions of priorities that matter in the larger scheme of things.

Informed choice is not a matter that can be delegated to people who are not only not informed but for the most part cannot be informed even if you wanted to because the basic channels for information transmission are denied to them. Most of the electorate is illiterate to begin with and to add insult to injury, meaningful debate concerning the issues is entirely non-existent in the mass media. In the absence of substantial policy choices, it all boils down to names and faces. In every nook and cranny of the country, one comes face to face with huge billboards with the faces of people with names—never mind what they represent or what their accomplishments are.
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The Age of Content-free Communications

One of the more irritating aspects of the change of calendar years is the increase in meaningless messages that land in one’s inbox. I love the internet and the world wide web, but that love is severely strained when I have to wade through gratuitous messages wishing “All” a happy new year. It’s a palpable sign of the Age of the Content-free Communications.
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Summing Up

Time to take stock. It’s been a good year overall, but I am sure that 2008 is going to be even better. The trends are all good. Except in the US, thanks to George W Bush. No, I take that back. GWB is only the visible sign of decay, the festering pustule on the diseased political body of the US. I don’t see much hope in the inevitable change of administration post the 2008 presidential elections in the US either. It’s stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

I see India doing well. Narendra Modi’s win is going to cause some short-term trouble. The UPA led by Antonia Maino aka Sonia Gandhi is weakened sufficiently and therefore will not be able to make any policy changes desperately required to chart a reasonable course for the economy. The foxtrotting commies have the UPA by the short and curlies and will continue to threaten to bring down the government. But the commies are convulsing in their death throes, taking their last gasps as they choke on their stupidity. I believe that in 2008, India will be able to give the commies a decent burial. It is high time. India can only get on with life after the death of the commies and their fellow travelers.
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The Most Important Image Ever Taken

The Hubble Deep Field and the Most Important Image Ever Taken by Humanity.

Watch it and wonder. Wonder how insignificant our concerns are, how parochial our interests, how utterly immaterial even our greatest conflicts are. Watch it and wonder how ignorant the so-called sacred scriptures of humanity are. The visible universe is 78 billion light-years across. Our galaxy is huge — with about 5 billion stars, one of which is our sun. There are hundreds of billions of galaxies.