Last week I visited the offices of Sulekha.com in Chennai. I have been a regular “columnist”:http://www.sulekha.com/columninfo.asp?cid=113166 there for almost two years now (with occasional six month breaks). This was the first time I was seeing the human beings with whom I had interacted via e-mail over the years. One piece of information I got while I was there was this – Sulekha has launched a weblogs section. Please “take a look”:http://www.sulekha.com/weblogs/ and send your feedback.
Author: जयकृष्णः | ജയകൃഷ്ണൻ
How Globalization can eliminate Bandhs
“How BPO is changing India”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=311406
bq. One Bangalore bandh over Cauvery waters sent shock waves through the industry (a call centre should normally never close down), bringing forth so many queries from clients that chances are the political class will in future decide never to have bandhs.
Yet another evil of globalization. You will have to change your work culture, else due to the “democratization of finance”:https://varnam.org/archives/000117.html, the investment meant for your country can easily go to another country. That was why the IT minister of Karnataka told this to the Nasscom BPO Summit, “We will accept whatever your recommendations are and adapt our policy to the changing times”.
What causes Globalization
The book I am reading now, Lexus and the Olive Tree by “Thomas L. Friedman”:http://www.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/index.html explains three major factors for the spread of globalization
Continue reading “What causes Globalization”
Evils of Globalization
While traveling in Kerala the past month, I saw lot of handwritten posters all over the place asking people to be aware of the evils of globalization. According to these posters, which were written by various left-wing organizations, globalization is an evil ploy by the Americans to take over the world.
Continue reading “Evils of Globalization”
Monsoon
Andhra was the state that was badly hit by the heat wave. More than 1000 people died there. Now the south-west monsoon which started in Kerala on June 8th, has covered Karnataka and reached Andhra.
“Monsoon sets in over Andhra Pradesh”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jun/16ap.htm
bq. Meteorological Centre Director C V V Bhadram told rediff.com the monsoon has covered the Rayalaseema region, most parts of Telangana, except Adilabad district, and south coastal Andhra Pradesh up to East Godavari district.
Back in L.A
I am back in Los Angeles. Since we had four pieces of luggage British Airways decided to leave two of them at Heathrow. They will be delivered at home tomorrow (within 24 hrs, that is the promise). This was the first time I travelled by British Airways and still I think Singapore Airlines is the best in terms of overall professional service.
Chennai airport has a new International Departure terminal, which is very spacious and has polite policemen.
Yesterday I was in Chennai, and it rained. The day I landed in Chennai from LA, it was the hottest day in 100 years. Now there is nothing more to see in life.
Blogging will resume in full swing from tomorrow.
Finally..
Finally it poured — the South-West monsoon. The first rains came on the morning of the 8th. It was a real good downpour. Today the whole day it did not rain, but a weak shower has started now at 10 PM here. The Met dept after watching the rain yesterday predicted that monsoon would hit the coast yesterday. After seeing that the rains were weak, it also added that the rains were weak.
Updates from Kerala
I have been travelling extensively in Kerala, both to the North and South. Everywhere there are posters asking people to boycott American and British products. There are also posters saying that we don’t need globalization. There is no poster which tells what Kerala needs.
There was an extensive and violent campaign against Coke and Pepsi. Today I read in “The Hindu” that for the first time, since its entry into India, Coke has registered a ‘modest profit’. So the only benefit of the Communist campaign has been that, lots of poor people who made a living selling Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks, lost their daily wages for some time.
Hot Days
These few days have been unbelievably hot here in Kerala. Every day when I wake up, the sky is overcast. By 9 am the clouds vanish and the sun comes out. Then the air becomes humid and you start oozing sweat. The onset of the monsoon moved from May 21st to June 5th.
Who shot Mohammed Al-Dura
The June 2003 issue of Atlantic Monthly has an article by James Fellows titled “Who shot Mohammed Al-Dura”. Al-Dura is the little boy who was shot dead in the arms of his helpless father’s arms during an Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. Television cameras caught the final moments of his life, when the father and son were crouched behind a concrete barrel, and few moments later, Al-Dura, 12 years old was shot dead. This scene has been repeatedly played in the Arab media to rouse up passion. Many countries have issues stamps in his name and even Osama bin Laden has mentioned him in one his messages.
In this article, analyzing television footage, it establishes that the boy was not killed by Israeli bullets
bq. The fundamental point of the Israeli investigation—that the concrete barrel lay between the outpost and the boy, and no bullets had gone through the barrel—could be confirmed independently from news footage.
From the analysis, the article says that possibility that the boy was killed by Palestinians seems more plausible, as the boy was in their direct line of fire with nothing to obstruct the bullets. But since this article is the result of an Israeli investigation, no one will believe it, even though that appears to be the truth. According to the investigator in the case “The entire goal of the exercise, was to manufacture a child martyr”
Whatever may be the truth, the image has been successfully conveyed that Israelis are killers of innocent children.