Story : The King and the Well

Scene 1: Prologue:

Once upon a time, in  land far, far away, there was a princely state having a beautiful capital town which was very prosperous and had a generous King.
This state and its neighbors would hold gatherings every four years, with the venues being rotated among the states. Now was our King's turn to plan. He wanted to showcase something great, something brilliant, to all the other states. So, he sent out an edict : On the chosen Day, the main well in the town (now dry and unused) was to be filled with milk!

All the milk sellers in the town were at first worried, because understandably how could one produce so much extra milk when they regularly didn't. But their fears were allayed when it was announced that they would all receive the necessary funding from the royal treasury for the same. It was a matter of national honor - no compromises were to be made.
Strangely enough, the town had got an extra dozen milk-sellers registered in the main market just days before the announcement, so there, everybody was happy. A well full of milk! Wow, that would Really psyche the visitors out! This town, and this state were on the path to become legendary!

Scene 2 : 6 months to the Day:

It seems the treasury was indeed very generous - to facilitate all the world-class requirements of the milk suppliers, no expense was spared; on the contrary more were regularly added to the whole, in bits and pieces, that is! Right from imported grass to special medicines for the cows to the latest preservatives and refrigeration technologies- everything had to be world-class! It was a matter of honor! Some people did point out that the combined budget was going over 10 times the initially planned one, but it was all taken in good spirit.

Scene 3 : 1 month to the Day:
Everyone was now gung-ho about it! The checking commission decided to inspect the well. They were all expecting a treat. What they got was a shock.

Should a person who exposed the truth, get prosecuted?

Lots of stuff going on on the international scene regarding Wikileaks and its sensational disclosure of confidential US army data, that blew the lid off some very questionable acts committed in Afghanistan.

Rather than looking into the matter of actually prosecuting the people behind the atrocities, there is a debate ranging on whether Wikileaks and its founder/spokesperson, Julian Assange, should actually be prosecuted! The Pentagon is said to be seriously looking into how best to get him incarcerated or worse, killed.


http://opiniojuris.org/2010/08/21/can-the-us-prosecute-wikileaks-founder-sure-if-they-can-catch-him/

My opinion:
If a law, when interpreted in a certain way, allows you to commit a crime, then it is the law or its interpretation that is wrong. Either an exception must be made in its application in exceptional circumstances, or the law in its present form, must be struck down to be replaced by a better one.

But following a law despite knowing that doing so violates a bunch of preceding laws and also defeats the main purpose for which the law was created - to protect the country and its citizens - would be more illegal than the original act.

Social Entrepreneurship : Why the government is best when not interfering

This is my addition to a brilliant post about social entrepreneurship in India on:

http://aartishrivastava.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/social-entrepreneurship-in-india

The part at the end about the Indian Government helping by not doing anything to stop - is actually very good news.
To expect governments to take care of each and every aspect of society is to put the powers of a God in the hands of fallible humans. We know how that venture has ended. The profit-centered capitalist system then went on to put those powers into private individuals' hands, and even that model seems to be collapsing.

The best bet, in my opinion, is to allow the people to help themselves.
I have observed that we have big heartless profiteering that harms the BOP - Bottom of the Pyramid, only in places where there is some or the other regulation, licenses, rebates, sops or other such artificial barriers or stimuluses. However noble the intentions may be, the top-down model seems to screw up something or the other everywhere.

Maybe not taking sides, maybe letting go and giving true freedom - Swarajya - is what we need to do.
I can see social entrepreneurship expanding into evermore sectors in the coming years. Hope I can be part of this wave as well.

Related stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6a9549ZeqQ - American constitutionalist Ron Paul explaining the easy pitfalls of pretending that government should be taking care of this and that part of day to day life, and clearly, factually, explaining why minimal government is the best bet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z9Pe2y0GBE -  My speech titled "Let Go" (now I'm just bragging!)

Parody : Bomb Iraq

[This was in the 'letters to the editor' section in Arab News, back in 2003 when the Iraq invsion was just beginning. Back then I'd found it hilarious and noted it down - and even now, after all this time, it's got a truism to it that's hard to dismiss!
Sung to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It, Clap Your Hands"]

If we cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.
If the markets hurt your Mama, bomb Iraq.
If the terrorists are Saudi
And the bank takes back your Audi
And the TV shows are bawdy,
Bomb Iraq.

If the corporate scandals growin', bomb Iraq.
And your ties to them are showin', bomb Iraq..

Poem : Give Peace a Chance

Blast from the past! Just came across this poem I'd submitted for our yearly magazine when in Final year of engineering!

Give Peace a Chance
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” - George Santayana

Let's make clear everyone realizes the price we pay for war
The way humanity takes a back seat as tempers soar
The way we forget what's really important in this life
It's the love of loved ones, not a land in strife.

There are more bullets today than the world’s population
Yet for a fraction of the cost we could rid it of malnutrition
We’ve made nukes as a deterrent to wars
But yet our defense budget soars.

While we spend billions guarding our so-called borders
The people, stuffed with xenophobia, are dying from inside
What we need is more friendship, openness and respect
Not ‘enemies’ getting fried.

You say we’ll beat terror with the force of bullets
But tell me, when was the last time you fought fire with fire?

Featured Software : Opera Unite

Opera Unite

Last night I shared 200+ MBs of pics with a friend without having to upload / email anything. I just enabled the File Sharing in my Opera browser, set my folder and my friend was able to copy over everything directly!

Direct computer to computer file sharing, no restrictions or limitations, and the other person can use any web browser - you don't have to have Opera installed!
For my web browsing experience I still prefer Firefox, but this new feature of Opera  - Opera Unite - has got me floored. They've brought the true power of the internet to the end user : It's not just file sharing; I can host photo sharing, chat rooms, games, ....

Choose your destiny

Greedy CWG officials play with nation’s reputation

This might turn out to be the Biggest foreign relations disaster in our independent history. It may sound difficult, but it is our moral and ethical obligation to suspend/postpone the 2010 CommonWealth Games (CWG) and open full investigations, preferably call in someone from outside Delhi, as they did for the Metro, seeing the fact that practically every govt agency in Delhi is in on it. What we need here is a leadership that chooses to be accountable rather than convenient. Choosing to keep going ahead with the CWG in the name of pride, keeping the fraudsters in the driving seat, will only cause more disaster. After all, you should never put a criminal in charge of the crime scene.

Appeal to Delhi Government:

Here is a different take on the issue and a solution for you that will ensure your long term success.
You are worried about what is happening. That's understandable. The Commonwealth Games were supposed to be the hallmark of your tenure. The jewel in the crown. The showcase to the world. But step off the clouds and look at the ground for a moment. It's covered in ...

Fools rush in...

Fools rush in, where Angels fear to tread

 ...And so the Fool can go ahead and live his life, whereas the Angel stays above, away, proud, haughty, untouchable, yet scared and lonely.

I believe the "fool" and the "angel" referred  to here aren't how we see them from the outside, but rather how we see ourselves, from the inside. Let's analyze the two, shall we?

1. The Fool
If we accept that we are but fools, then we will not fear to do the things in life that can change it for the better. We will be open to change, rather anxiously awaiting it. Another popular book's title comes to mind : "Stay hungry, Stay foolish".
A person who considers himself/herself as a fool, recognizes that there are things to be learned, wisdom to be gained, from all the people around them.
So we venture forth.
We make new friends.
We build bridges.
We learn.
We grow.
By treating ourselves as but fools, we make it possible to do the things that were once considered impossible.

Look around you. Could our entire world of today have been possible without some fool somewhere rushing into hitherto unexplored territory? At some point, while others saw things as they were and wondered why, our fool saw things that never were and wondered, why not?

2. The Angel
If we consider ourselves to be the Angel, then we think too...

News that makes me think

With the onset of televised news coverage, I feel that we have stopped perceiving. We start seeing all events and happenings as disparate dots. But wouldn't intelligence require from us to connect the dots?

Their implications extend beyond the disparate events themselves; I advise you to read them with insight of what happens before and after - maybe then we can begin to see a pattern emerge and possibly predict a future trend?

Russia scientist fears arrest over Olympic warnings -
Decisions made by the top order sitting in Moscow, and implemented with an...

You judge too soon...

When others commit a blunder, it's a mistake. When I commit one, it's a crime.
When others think for themselves, it's being independent. When I do so, I'm being selfish.
When others act irrationally, they must have their reasons. When I do so, I must be insane.
When others follow their feelings, they're being romantic. When I try to, I'm called a pervert.

People, please start treating others as you would treat yourself.
Please try to understand more than you judge.
Please learn to discern the mountain from the molehill.
And, most important of all, Please grow up.

Facebook posts on the blog

Check it out!
New page: Facebook links

I usually share the nice webpages / articles / videos I see on facebook .. here I've embedded an RSS reader into the page that will bring all my posted facebook links out for all the world to see!
So now I only have to share stuff on facebook, and the same will be shared on my blog too ;)

My 20th Speech : Split Civilization

Friday, 18h June 2010 - Today I finished my 20th speech in Toastmasters... YAY!!

Best part : I've recorded it and put it on youtube! Click on more to check it out!!

My Contest Speeches

Expand this post to see the Videos of my contest speeches :)

What an idea!

How fruit trees in Indian village save girls' lives

What an amazing concept! Poverty, female foeticide and global warming all dealt with in a single blow!
Read this story about a village in Bihar where they have a tradition of planting 10 frut (mostly mango) trees when a girl child is born... by the time daughter's grown up, the family's rich!

Plus, they've written that this village stands out with its dense tree cover amidst an otherwise arid landscape - REFORESTATION!
Wow, what an idea!

Brute strentgh Vs Flexibility

He looked at the tree and thought, "enough time spent on that thing, I want something flat and square and rigid where no one else trespasses!"
So he built a house - broad, flat, with lots of room and off limits to all but Him and his family. It was better, more luxurious, easier to get into and out of.

He built them across the Earth, got used to thinking that this was the only possible way of living. The tree became a disdainful thing, probably just good for oxygen making but to heck with any other uses - he had his House for protection!

Then the rains came a little too much, the rivers jumped the banks and flooded His streets and cities and inundated His house, pillaged everything. In some places His house was washed away, in others destroyed. Then came an earthquake and his Oh-so-strong house crumbled under its own brittleness. Then came the tsunami and in one fell swoop cleared the shore. Then came the hurricane and the tornado and hit his House's walls at an angle they couldn't withstand, lifted His roof of and pillaged his oh-so-strong House again.

While he was rummaging through the debris and wading through the floodwaters, he saw the rough, slender trunk of the tree - it was still there. Up top, the branches and the leaves were still there. Some were lost, but most were still there. He didn't take any time to think, shrugged and moved on.
And then the tree thought to itself : "What an idiot. Everyone knows that the key to survival is not brute strength, but flexibility."

Read between the lines...

Would anybody be interested in this flip version of 3 Idiots??

Read this article. It's very short; please read it full:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/101240/India/iithyderabad-sacks-gay-professor.html

Analysis:
Their next ad for the now vacant post should read, "Only qualified heterosexuals need apply. All other qualities like competence, integrity, talent, intelligence etc etc negotiable. Candidate subject to live test in front of screening committee. Bring own supporting materials and/or personnel." ;) 

And the next headline : "Left handed prof sacked for trying to promote left-handedness through obscene and unconventional display of left arm usage in all day to day activities, and encouraging open discussions on the same"

Guys, read that article again and try to perceive what's going on behind the outside.

BP Oil ERUPTION case in 20 points

Chat conversation with a Friend (name changed!) where I had to explain in short the BP oil "leak" case. Why the quotes used... because that little vocabulary error is partly responsible for the entire mess.

chalo, let me cut this very very short:

Friend: ya ya

Nikhil: 1. A methane bubble blows up the DeepWater Horizon oil rig incinerating 11 workers.

Friend: :O

Nikhil: 2. The accident leaves the pipe open at the bottom of the ocean floor, 1000s of feet below sea level.
3. BP gives all placatory and "we are in control" statements which are 100% false, later exposed by actual photographs

In defense of the Bloom Box

This one's for my favorite rocket scientist!

My comment on criticism for K R Sridhar's Bloom Box
(read the article here)

The other fuel cells cannot be used. This one can and has been, by actual customers to run their actual buildings. Walmart, Ebay and Google have testified that this thing works, physically demonstrated the equipment which is out there for the whole world to see and verify. We don't need something that's magical - we just need something that works. The "revolution" lies in bringing a lab concept to the home and making it practical and economical - something that these skeptics have been failing at and are now taking digs at the people who have succeeded. Please ask them to furnish their own products before publishing this sort of criticism.

The article linked on top serves as a great example of negative publishing - the publishers themselves knew they didn't have anything concrete so they worded the heading like they wanted to whereas the actual text reveals there's very little but silly complaints equivalent to "Daddy, not fair, I wanted to see magic. This thing is scientific!" ... and in the process completely downplayed the actual potential of this product. Bad publishing, Bad!

For the uninitiated, here's something about the Bloom Box...

Ready-made Vs Customized

It's a wonder how the best ideas come only when you're walking to the market, or defecating. Or in some cases, both.

Ladies, this one's for you. You will not like it, because of the validity of the following proverb:

The one thing that a woman hates more than a man who lies to her,
Is a man who tells her the Truth.

But you are most welcome to prove me wrong. It would benefit humanity in more ways than one ;)
This post is to do with your opinions in choosing a life partner.

Recently a friend was very excited over a match on a wedding portal, wherein she was approached by a CFO of a certain company for a match. FYI, it didn't work out eventually. Why, will be discussed further. That suddenly brought me to a possible fact that we all love to hide : With our purchasing choices, even our expectations have become ready-made. Ladies, we look for success - financial and social - in a potential life partner. He must have this-and-this, and be so-and-so. Naturally, conventional wisdom dictates this for the family's well-being. A match is made - everything's picture perfect, we're all happy.

Fast forward. Something happens. I'm seeing so many people in these picture-perfect weddings having miserable marriages. Love, trust, bonhomie, fidelity - you name it and they lack it. "Where did we go wrong?"


Hmm, well. This is going to take some time.

Centurions fan comic

This is a must-see for every fan of the CENTURIONS !!

OMG, it's so Funnyyyyyy!!!

http://xero0ne.blogspot.com/2010/05/webcomic-tryouts-power-x-treme.html
Hats Off!

Why I hate hanging around with most people

Quoted from Cynical Cyanide by xero0ne.blogstpot.com :

We love criticizing others to hide our own shortcomings.
We contrive faults in them, find excuses to mock them, conceal our hypocrisy as tafri.
We feed on their misery to make ourselves feel better.

If sitting in a group and speaking foul about those not present is what having "fun" in Social circles is all about, I despise You.

 And my comment there:

AGREED!
Another bone of contention : They keep repeating the exact same things again and again!
Understandable that nobody's really listening and they're all just there to look cool, because they laugh at the same crap the next time it's said as well.

AID Gurgaon

Featured website : Movavi

Wow! Free video conversion online -- That too, it does what all the softwares I'm trying have failed to do -- it COMBINED 2 videos into one!

Ovation 2010

Check out the pics on:

RangDe.org - an investment I'll always cherish

>>Update: My post got feattured on RangDe.org's blog! Click here to see!

A year ago, I had invested Rs.2000/- in a passionate 5-minute debit card transaction, with http://www.rangde.org website through which we can make small investments directly to help small entrepreneurs in some far-off places in India where we otherwise could not travel.

Friends and family I later talked with about this, had cast doubts on the trustworthiness and effectiveness of such setups, they poo-poohed my unwise decision and our conversation had ended there...

One year on, I'm proud to announce good news : performance is a better indicator than status and appearance.... while the huge banks of the world are having such a rut from their lending and then sucking money from taxpayers, it looks like micro investment options like RangDe are getting almost 99% of all the money lent out, returned on time.

I will let the screenshots below speak for themselves - and am glad I was able to help out a small time entrepreneur in Andhra Pradesh. I now have nearly all my invested money back and am re-investing part of it with a breakfast vendor in Maharashtra.

Climate Change vs. Armageddon (movie)

I talked recently with a quite rich and very smart shares trader who talked about the Global Warming "conspiracy" in the same way he talks about Shares - purely speculating on everything, and all his points being centered around what this and that company is Doing, rather than talking anything about what's actually happening!

People need to draw the line between speculation and reality, they need to step out of their air conditioned home, office and car when they have to think about this issue, or else it all ends up in "I don't think there's any problem! It's all a bunch of profiteering! In winter we had record cold temperatures!"

I then asked him if his parents had ever experienced a heat wave like the one right now (North India), what duration of the day it used to stay hot earlier, where did the cool summer breeze go (we only have hot wind now), and about the fact that the crops can't last when it's both hotter than usual in summer and colder than usual in winter. No reply to that, and then he returned back to speculative talk about the economics of switching to green, and how since it's about a 1000 bucks costlier, he'd rather not do anything, and there was no talk about what he plans to do When the tipping point is reached.

How do we tackle this zero-sum crap? How can people keep talking about money matters and comfort level when the food supply itself is in peril? I mean, you can have millions in stock options, and an air conditioned car and fabulous house and gadgets and everything, but with no food you're dead just the same! And the first thing that's going down in this climate change scenario is that the crops are going to die off the very day the extreme temperatures cross their max OR min limits, no matter what the "average" year-round temperature is!

And then there's the other party - "It's a natural phenomenon - all Sun related!"
Alright, so for a minute I believe you, it's all a *natural* cycle, so THEN what??

The temperatures are still going over the max and below the min limits. Storms are getting worse and more and more often. Fine, so it's all natural, Not Man-made. Ok, you win.
This question I'd like to target at every American :: YOU made the Armageddon movie. The problem : a meteor is heading for Earth. We're all going to die. So what did the people in the movie do? Did they spend the years in the run-up debating whether this meteor is man-made or natural? Did they mope around like the pussies we see today, arguing about the economics of saving the world - did anyone point out that it's cheaper if they just let it happen and not do anything about it? Did they dismiss the whole thing just because the experts were unable to establish exactly which spot on earth it would hit?

No. They loaded up some rockets with the baddest bombs ever, and blew the mother-****er out of the sky. And they didn't do it 20% or 50% or 80% - they didn't wait for complete accurate data to come in and be presented in a nice manner before they lifted a finger, they didn't wait for the thing to cross the danger zone before deciding to act. They just went ahead and saved the world.
And THAT's how you solve a problem when it threatens all life as you know it.

So how about we turn this climate change problem around as well? If it's a Natural phenomena, are YOU going to sit around and watch your world crumble? Are you going to keep postponing real action until the Economics justify it - meaning until the petroleum, coal and natural gas reserves all run out? Here's a nice quote from a TED talk : "They didn't move out of the Stone Age just because they ran out of stones."

I'm sick of these pussies nit-picking endlessly. Simple questions they can't answer, and then they start off on word quests, all resulting in nothing. I don't CARE who created the problem or about its little details - but the problem IS HERE and it's right in my face. There's a time when you gotta do what you gotta do. Solve it, or get out of my way.

Short poem for a friend leaving for further studies

A new journey awaited,
with breath bated
and dreams aloft in the air

though depart you must,
in this you can trust
as your friends we'll always be there.

Keep the faith in yourself,
leave your doubts upon the shelf,
as you step over a new threshold

Excel you will
so enjoy to your fill
the adventure that will now unfold!

10 Ideas that will change the world

Presentation I used for my 16th Speech : 10 Ideas that will Change the World

Imp info for India broadband users : many sites being blocked for no reason - change your PC's DNS addr to resolve

IMPORTANT info for all Airtel, Data-One (and maybe other) broadband users in India:

THE PROBLEM: Of late, more and more websites are becoming inaccessible - the internet is shrinking!
Just search for some random things on google images, and you will see that many of the results are leading to error, as if the site is down.
There is no real problem with the websites -- it's our ISP's (Internet service providers) that are at fault!

HOW can we know there's a problem with our ISP?
Go to a proxy browsing website like www.proxybrowsing.com, enter the same URL from there and if it works, you'll know you're on to something. The same addresses are also working fine from my cell phone's GPRS connection and mobile internet providers like Reliance. But it seems all fixed line Broadband customers in India are being affected.

Example: http://static.websimages.com/static/motifs/Waveform/yellow/yellow.css (my website was using this and has gone DOWN since last 3 days!)
If the above link returns an error, then that means you too are one of the many internet users in India that are being blocked from selected websites! (originally, it's a small text file)

WHAT TO DO : There is a way to get around the problem in just 5 mins :
Replace your network adapter's DNS servers with OpenDNS server:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
Credit to this site for the addresses. See the walkthrough below for details.

I don't know when our ISP's will wake up to fix this issue - my own website had been inaccessible since night of 7th May 2010. I replaced the DNS addresses, and instantly the problem was fixed. Please spread this simple fix to all your friends who are using Airtel Broadband or other services.


WALKTHROUGH: Follow these simple steps, for those who have Vista / Windows 7 Operating System: (for XP, skip to step 3)

1. Right-click on your connection icon (wireless as in my case, or could be LAN or other in your case)

Choose "Open Network and Sharing Center"

2. In the window that opens, click on "Change Adapter Settings" on the left pane

3. Now the Network Connections window will open up (XP Users may have a different way of directly reaching this).

It will list the various adapters etc you have in your comp, most usual being Local Area Connection and Wireless Network Connection.

4. Choose the one you use for your internet. Right-click and select Properties. The following window will open up:

Double-click, (or choose and click Properties) on "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)"

5. In the next window, in lower half, choose second DNS option ("Use the following DNS addresses")

Note down the exisitng ones in case you may have, and replace them with these OpenDNS addresses:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

6. Press OK, then OK again, and now you're done!
If needed, disconnect your internet (or switch off your laptop's Wireless) and reconnect again to complete the changes.

7. Acid test to check: Browse to this URL: http://static.websimages.com/static/motifs/Waveform/yellow/yellow.css
And you should be able to see some simple text written instead of "taking too long to respond" or other such error.

I don't know when the broadband ISP's will fix their problem, but till then, this is a good work-around. There must be some legal recourse, because by blocking selected websites they are unlawfully restricting Internet freedom and that is illegal in India as of now. (Now I know how the Chinese feel!)

Please forward this to all your friends who are using Broadband internet in India!

Idea for selling Electric cars

My comment posted on http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/nissan-leaf-battery-pack-cheaper-than-competition-375-dollars-kwh.php :

Idea for selling electric cars even at current prices:
1. A = cost of a fuel car of the same level.
2. B = fuel, + other oils, maintenance cost per month calculated depending on the customer's average driving distance.
3. C = Electric bill + maintenance cost per month if we replace the fuel with the electric car for the same distance.
4. D = Cost of electric car

Now, have a finance / EMI scheme wherein the customer pays in installments over a period of M months, such that
D = A + (B-C)*M

So for the customer, there is NO difference between having a fuel or electric car since the installments equals the fuel costs they'd have to bear. But after M months, they'll suddenly see themselves driving a car and not having any fuel expenses - whereas with their purportedly "cheaper" fuel car they'd be shelling out the dough for the whole life of the car.

So equate the fuel costs with installments and reduce the first price - There! We now have an electric car that's cheaper. I'll leave the calculations to you. I guess the value of M is key here, could you please calculate the payback period? Within reasonable limits, we can leave it to the customer to vary the installments they pay per month and so increase / decrease the value of M.

I don't think this is any original idea - for me it's a logical conclusion given that I'm replacing a high-monthly-cost product with a low-monthly-cost product. It's akin to moving from a rented residence to one I've bought. I don't think we even need to bring the environment into the picture when we try to sell this - the economics is attractive in itself.