That image is from a site in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. The caption to it says: “When Hindu Lord Ganesh came to Ireland he decided to go native, as indeed, he had done when he went to China and Japan. He is accompanied by his servant, the rat, the latter playing the bodran and enjoying a pint of Guinness. The sculpture is 6’4″ high and weighs approx. 4 tonnes.”
Have a pint and enjoy Ganesh Chaturthi. More images from the site below the fold.
Continue reading “Happy Ganesh Chaturthi”
I am tickled that the National Knowledge Commission website has linked to a post on this blog. This page entitled “Governance” (?) lists an article as “The Better, Faster Way to Help Rural India (Perhaps the answer to India’s rural development woes lies in creating cities instead).”
Heh heh!
Education in India is generally in dire straits even though some people mistakenly believe that it is excellent from the successes of some ex-IIT non-resident Indians in the US who made piles of money. It is not hard to figure out what is the root cause of the distress of the educational system in India: the near-monopoly control of the system by the government.
Continue reading “Power, Scarcity, and Corruption”
Click on image to see web album.
San Francisco Bay Area
It feels good to be back to the place I called home for much of my adult life. After just a few days it feels as if I had never left the San Francisco bay area, even though I have been living in India for the past four years. Certainly I visit this place frequently enough. Even then the fact that I can pick up a car right after a 12-hour flight and drive 100 kms to a friend’s place is a testament to how much at home I feel here. Driving a good car on excellent roads is a pleasure denied to one in most of India.
Continue reading “Sept 11, 2007”
The problem with the typewriter monkeys has been solved. An entirely new crew has been hired because the older bunch were slackers and did not produce enough posts. I am back on the road, vagabonding in Paris today. Here are some pictures of my afternoon in Paris with my friend Courtenay. Tomorrow I leave for the San Francisco Bay area.
Needless to say the new crew of monkeys are going to be hard at work while I am away. Posts will be regular and well considered — none of the low quality stuff we had been seeing of late.
Although it is true that I went to Addis Ababa to attend the World Information Technology Forum 2007 as a speaker, it is a hollow claim to say that I visited Ethiopia, or even Addis Ababa. I did land at the Bole International Airport early morning on 21st Aug and departed late night on 24th, but for all practical purposes, I might as well have been elsewhere. The airport terminal was the generic glass and steel tubing terminals you see around the world. The Addis Hilton was just another Hilton. And the UN Conference Center where the conference was held was, well, just a UN conference center which could just as well have been in NYC. The only thing that I was surprised by was the weather. I had expected Addis to be hot; it wasn’t. Temperatures were around 20 degrees Celsius and even though it rained frequently, it was not humid.
Continue reading “World IT Forum 2007 — Part 2”
If you were wondering what happened, wonder no more. I am in Africa. To be more specific, I am in Addis Ababa attending a conference called World IT Forum 2007. Yesterday I made a presentation on “Information Technology and Economic Opportunities.” Went off OK.
Lots of interesting things going on. Will get in touch later. Bye for now.
Chennai Policy Makers’ Conference Oct 2003
Date: 10th October, 2003.
The digital divide seems to be all the rage these days. Take for instance the recent two days I spent in Chennai. The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) had organized a Policy Makers’ Workshop at their campus in Chennai on October 8th and 9th. The workshop was supported by two “Canadian crown corporations”, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). (Those two have a budget of about Canadian $100 million.)
Continue reading “The Tangled Web – Part 9”
Ever wonder why we call 15th August “independence” day? My interpretation when I first heard this English term was, “on 15th August 1947 the British became independent from India”, because before that day, they depended on India for cotton, silk, indigo, metalware, jewelry, perfume, paper, grains, spices, labor, and many other commodities and services. I was soon “corrected” and it was explained to me that before 15th August 1947, WE were dependent on the British. I could never figure this out. Clearly “independence” and “swadhinta” are two different words? Shouldn’t we call it “liberty day” or “freedom day”? How did “independence” work in its way into the jargon? Or was that the parting shot of imperialism?
That is from an email from a friend. Hmm.
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 