Sunday Posts

Air India is in trouble. But not in as much trouble as it should be as a commercial aviation company. After all, it is India's national carrier and the government has pledged to save it with taxpayer's money. The Aviation Minister, Mr. Praful Patel, made a statement that the government will step in and bail out the company, provided the company is willing to restructure and become a leaner, profitable operation. I do not know what options were on table for the Indian government, but the broader question is whether the government should intervene and inject tax money to keep things going. Obviously, it is politically convenient and that's exactly why this will be done. But, is it expedient to do so, and we must assess the impact this will have on commercial aviation in India. To start with, bailing out a commercial entity like Air India is anti-competitive. Why give one company the access to public funds, and therefore an unfair advantage, over the other companies in the se...

Yesterday, a number of Romanians decided to take the option of flying back home rather than staying in Northern Ireland after the racist attacks. The Northern Ireland executive offered its support to them if they stayed - and indeed they paid for the flights when they did not - but only two Romanians among the affected decided to stay. The Social Development Minister, Margaret Ritchie felt that this was a sad day for Northern Ireland, and indeed it was - as the public display of xenophobia came precisely at the wrong time. For the political correctness, it will not be last time that a migrant community will feel threatened in Northern Ireland. The sectarian violence has subsided, but the recent recession needed its own demons and the immigrants were the easy ones. Romanians bore the brunt - they were indeed one of the most hated immigrant communities in Northern Ireland [and possibly across the UK] - but it will soon be other communities. Polish, for example, who has a large presence ...

When I picked up my phone this morning, I noticed I missed a call from a colleague of mine in Hyderabad. The call was oddly timed indeed - very early in the morning - and signified a sense of emergency. This was not one of those done by mistake for not being sensitive to time differences: I speak to this colleague almost on a daily basis, and he will know exactly what time is it. So, it must have been indeed an emergency. And, as I set myself to return the call, I had to glance over the day's news - just in case the office is not on fire and the whole computer system did not break down - and instantly knew what it was. Michael Jackson! I knew my colleague was a huge fan - and remained loyal through the years - and his untimely death, which saddened me as well, must have triggered his early morning condolence call. But, to my eye-popping surprise, the excitement was about Indian education sector, and not about Michael Jackson at all [and there was no fire]. Indian education has long...

The news from Iran is getting grim by the moment. The deep division in the Iranian Regime is now in the open. I am optimistic that we are seeing the beginning of the end of the Iranian Regime, and its power will prove to be fictitious like that of other dictatorial regimes of the past. An iconic figure - Neda - has emerged in her death, an young lady shot by the hired assassins of the state, and hopefully the amateur images of her dying moments will stir an otherwise indifferent world into action. The lesson that the world's dictators don't seem to get is that technology has moved forward and the usual methods of gagging - banning the journalists, stopping the newscasts - are no longer good enough. As Iran continues to dominate Twitter and the blogs, and as the street videos shot on mobile phone keep leaking out on the Internet, the evil men of Myanmar will surely call the Iranian Elite to offer an word of advise - we told you to keep Internet out! We have seen this before,...

I was told, by a well-advised friend, that I have a disease. Attention Deficiency Disorder, it is called. I found it very appropriate, and laughed - only to be told that it is indeed a disease and needs medical attention. I found myself in a rather silly position where I mistook a serious statement as a joke [though I much prefer it than doing the other way round] - I did not even know that there is a disease with such a normal sounding name, and was further enlightened that there were many great men and women, including Paris Hilton, whose greatest achievement was to reach the tabloid centrefolds on both sides of the Atlantic, had the privilege of having this disease. I was also told that if someone is already rich and successful, it is indeed delightful to have such a disease [provided one can employ a diligent lawyer without any trace of distraction and keep oneself covered by a permanent pre-nupital agreement and avoid costly divorces], but not so if one's working class, like m...

In this video, tThe ex-Chief Economist of European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, Willem Buiter, discusses how Eastern European countries handled the recession, and seemed to be coming back from the brink. I found this interview on The Economist website and believed it is worth sharing.

Iran shows all the signs of - well, senility. Like an old man who had his best days, it is stuck in the middle of the road, without the strength to move on or the willingness to move back. The key to democratic election is that the opposing parties come together to agree on the basis of the number of people they get to support them. It becomes not a debate who is right, or better, but who has the maximum number. It is an incredibly simple system, indeed a stupid system that is so easy to manipulate. This is really how all the dictators around the world get elected at a regular interval - they obviously always win by a resounding margin - and depending on who is protecting them, gets away. The Iranian regime, by no means, is friendless. It has the support of China, which is the anti-democracy in chief of the world, and of Russia, despite the not-so-friendly history of these two countries in the past. But, this time, it has staged an election too far, not unlike the other inefficient and...

Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana [1863 - 1952] An email made my day. As I opened my mailbox, I saw a mail from Gaurav , someone who I did not meet before. The subject line is Macaulay, our favorite whipping boy, and it reads: Supriyo , your article is fantastic but the issue is are we doing anything to change the tomorrow or we are just cribbing of the past. This is our country we need to change the tomorrow. This is indeed the first time anyone had anything nice to say about the impromptu post I made about the spoof passed on in Macaulay's name. I am indeed grateful, thanks Gaurav , but he makes a very valid point. Does Macaulay matter any more? I gave away my answer pre-emptively in the quote I have put at the beginning of this post - I do think he matters and we need to have this discussion. In my mind, there are three reasons why he ...

I am back from Ireland with a very positive mindset. That's a rarity these days for me, especially after I decided to leave the current employment no matter what happens by the end of August. As some friends and well-wishers reminded me - we are in the middle of one of the worst recessions in a lifetime and walking out of a job isn't the cleverest thing one should do at this time. But then, to state the obvious, time is more valuable than money. To quote Edmund Wilson, there is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income. One can waste a lifetime just being contented, being in a box, recession or no recession. And, so, I must do what I must do, because it's time has come. Why must I move on - I was thinking for a moment last week - when I was sitting with my MD and he was describing the grand vision he had for our International business. He was indeed sincere, speaking from the heart, and was talking about what he wanted to achieve. He is indeed a brilliant m...

I have finished reading The Cult of The Amateur, Andrew Keen's rather vicious and bitter polemic against the New Media, Web 2.0, participatory and democratic culture of the Internet. It was a clear waste of time. I have compounded that waste by attempting to write a short review, just to warn my fellow Linkedin members just how bad it is. I would not want to attempt to write about it yet again - will just quote what I wrote on Linkedin: One of those pointless polemic against the Internet and participative content - Web 2.0 - by an author who seemed to be bitter about everything. He blames internet for the demise of all the good things in life - Newspapers, Music, Hollywood, Encyclopedias, Universities, Bookstores, Music Shops - and for the rise of all the bad things - Intellectual Theft, Pornography, Gambling etc. I must admit that I skimmed through most of it, and thanked myself that I did not waste my money by buying it. In the end, I came to one conclusion - only a Public School...