Sunday, September 26, 2010

Serious External Affairs Problem In A Neighboring Country Due To The Commonwealth Games

My cousin was telling me about a mail written by terrorists (from a neighboring country trying to ruin Commonwealth Games) written to the their boss, the head of ISI.

"
Boss,

1. Some of our bombs got wet and deactivated, because of leaks in the plumbing system

2. Rats ate many detonators so some bombs are out of action

3. While Kalmadi was inspecting a toilet, he pulled the flush in the toilet and the flush broke and the bomb inside the flush also fell down and got wet.

4. The rains have wreaked havoc. Two people in our team have caught a cold, a third slipped and fell down because the roads have been dug everywhere.

5. One of our team members was bitten by mosquito, got dengue and died..


The Indians are hampering our attempts at every step. Our presence here is not adding any value. Can you please tell us what we should do now?
"

I understand the country is complaining that India is quite unsporting, that India is not allowing them to make an honest living since Indians are doing by themselves what the crack team had sworn to do. I will wait for more update on this from my cousin.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

More On India's Capabilities

In a previous blog I had written about the possible problems that could happen in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) due to start in 10 days (http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-can-go-wrong-in-commonwealth-games.html).

Yesterday there was the incident of a footbridge that collapsed in the Jawahal Nehru Stadium. Today the false ceiling of the weight lifting venue seems to have collapsed. Now I am not sure whether these are incidents of sabotage or just examples of poor engineering capabilities.  There was a story in the paper today that an Australian agency bypassed the security and carried inside a bomb that could have been made to go off inside the stadium had there been a detonator. The Delhi police are claiming that this is "bogus". It may be true or it could be an incident to embarrass the security agencies. Either way it's quite a sad reflection of India's security and/or engineering prowess.

Earlier today I read that India is ranked the 3rd most powerful nation http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/From-Third-World-country-to-third-most-powerful-nation/articleshow/6603835.cms. The ability and power that India has a nation is only equaled by its ineptitude in other fields. There seem to be multiple parallel organizations in India some extraordinarily talented and some extremely debilitating.

Other developing countries in Asia and outside have made quite a progress. China hosted the Olympics. Korea co-hosted the World Cup Football. Both events happened without any hiccups. 

Can India scrape through with the CWG games? Or will it be an embarrassing disaster? 

This is a news report on 24th Sep 2010 on how India bribed its way to being awarded the games
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/events-tournaments/commonwealth-games/top-stories/India-bribed-72-nations-to-get-Delhi-CWG-Report/articleshow/6616467.cms) and another on how it might be better to award the games to the private sector to organize (http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2010/09/24/privatise-the-commonwealth-games/.)  There is another interesting blog about Emaar Properties (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardspencer/100055018/dubais-unique-contribution-to-the-commonwealth-games/). This is another one about what India can learn from its mistakes (http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2010/09/23/at-indias-commonwealth-games-shame-might-be-a-blessing/).
How many more incidents and embarrassments will we see in the next one month? How and when do we make progress in our security and engineering? 

We need to have the conviction and ability to solve our own problems. We need to progress from providing just manpower in IT and BPO industries for serving Europeans and US customers to creating IP (Intellectual Property) providing solutions. I think it starts with education and research. 

I think the next wave in India will need be Education and research. If we started now, we could become a leader by 2030.

Monday, September 20, 2010

World's Most Beautiful Garages !!!

I used to be mad about cars some 20 years back. I used to take lots of  pictures of cars. Though I am no more as fascinated about cars as I was then, when I saw the pictures of cars and garages that my cousin sent me, I was exhilarated. I thought I would put those pictures up here. Unfortunately some garages don't have cars. Maybe there ought to be an ordinance against having empty garages.

Have fun.





































Sunday, September 19, 2010

Old Photographs Of Kolkata

Couple of friends of mine sent me these photos. I loved them. So here they are. Have fun.

Don't Know Where In Calcutta


Entrance To Ballygunge


BANDEL CHURCH - 1851


ESPLANADE - THE MASJID BEHIND THE PAVEMENT SHOP - 1851


STRAND ROAD - 1885 


GOVERNMENT HOUSE - RAJ BHAVAN - 1860

DALHOUSIE - 1865


ESPLANADE - 1885

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