Category: Random Draws

Blogging will resume now that I am done with nearly all my domestic travels. Tomorrow I get back to Mumbai for a few days and then off to Brussels. And now the gratuitous insult to the Congress — the party of crooks & criminals led by the despicably dishonest Dr Manmohan Singh. Below the fold, a tweet from the last day of the last year.
Continue reading “A Congress of Baboons”

I have a piece on NitiCentral.com where I argue that FDI in retail is good for India. Naturally, the comments are negative since Indians have the milk of socialistic thinking coursing through their veins. India would not be so poor without that mentality, would it? It’s all karma, neh?

I am at Chicago’s O’Hare International airport, about to board Air India flight 126 to Delhi (via Frankfurt.) I will be off the air since I will be in the air during the next 24 hours or so. Which means that I will not be able to respond to the outrage that I have caused in some quarters. I have stirred a hornet’s nest. The game is afoot. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

Old age, degeneration and death is pretty much the way of all flesh. Impermanence is a feature of the universe, not a bug. Still it is depressing to witness someone’s mental decline, which is worse than watching them physically decline. Mr B Raman, once a somewhat sharp mind, is evidently losing his grip on reality.
Continue reading “The Sad Case of Mr B Raman”

That question is the topic of an ongoing debate at the Economist.com. Pete Spence of the Adam Smith Institute says no, as one would have expected given his institutional affiliation. Similarly his opponent in the debate, Alan Davey, chief executive of the Arts Council England, quite understandably says yes. Mr Davey has to support the motion — otherwise he’d be arguing for the abolition of the Arts Council. I suppose it is easy for you to guess where I come down in this debate. I stand for freedom, and consequently stand against governments dictating to people.
Continue reading “Should Government Fund the Arts?”

The Sanskrit word “niti” connotes politics, governance, economics and a whole bunch of other things. As in the case of all abstract nouns, it is hard to precisely translate into other languages. Anyway, today we launch a new initiative for transforming India — NitiCentral.com!! My use of the double exclamation marks — I am usually very sparing with the use of even single exclamation marks — should tell you that I am really thrilled about it. Go visit and lend your support to a site that promises to neutralize the leftist insanity with classical liberal right value-based sanity. Hey, I am associated with it. How can it not be insanely sane?

Happy Independence Day, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters. OK, now that we have got the pleasantries out of the way, let’s talk turkey. I really don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade but it seems to me that reports of India’s independence are seriously exaggerated. Why so, you may ask. Because to me it does not appear that India’s much of an independent country. Independence, if the notion has any meaning, must mean freedom. Otherwise, it is a meaningless word bandied about by the ignorant self-deluded for comforting themselves in the face of bitter reality.
Continue reading “Happy 65th Anniversary of India’s Independence Day”

Though not everyone, many people who are genuinely concerned about the state of the world bitch and moan (I use that phrase advisedly) about the deplorable news media. It is said that the Indian media — notable examples being NDTV, the Times of India, The Hindu but not restricted to them — really earn the distinction of being unprofessional, lazy, dishonest, opportunistic, shallow, callous, narrow-minded, myopic and bigoted. Futhermore, they appear to be generally stupid and yet they are quite successful in their evil intentions to misinform and mislead the public which of course is well-meaning, good-natured, broad-minded, generous and wise. What’s wrong with this picture? It just does not make sense.
Continue reading “In Defense of NDTV – Followup”

This is what happened in a little town in Wisconsin today morning around 10:30 (CDT). A man went to a gurudwara and shot some people there. The police arrived on the scene and killed the man. The media were naturally on top of it, reporting live as as the event was unfolding. The police instructed the TV channels to not show any live helicopter video footage to avoid revealing their tactical moves to the attacker(s). The TV channels complied and that was that. The twitter channels burst into frenzied activity over the incident. Naturally enough, many Indian twitterers noted how restrained the TV channels were and how quickly they followed the police’s request to avoid jeopardizing the law enforcement’s response to the killer(s). NDTV, tweeters said, should learn a lesson.
Continue reading “In Defense of NDTV”

A 100 years ago on this day, July 31st, Milton Friedman was born. The one passion that motivated his entire life was the quest for freedom for every individual, freedom from coercion and violence from others. He spent his life arguing and persuading people about the value of being free and why they should be free to choose and that they should choose to be free. He cared about India and wanted India to succeed. I believe that India’s success is ultimately tied to India’s freedom — and the fact that India is not a successful economy supports my claim that India is not really a free country. Here are a few selections from Uncle Milton’s voluminous writings.
Continue reading “Happy 100th Birthday, Uncle Milton”