Sting in the Tail

It's a month or so, for that day to come around again. A day on which I know that you and I will be doing the same thing - Celebrating. You might not put much store in religion, nor in occasions of state (not that I know which nation you belong to now), but there is, of course, that one day in a year which you will be marking with joy, I hope. A few years in the last decade, I have marked that day too, perhaps not with joy, as much as with re-living a few memories.

I remember the one time my hand was on yours. The earth stopped turning, and my mind refused to hunt frantically for some way of prolonging the moment I discovered electricity. Nevertheless, on some nights as lonely as mine often are, I can still feel my fingers trace the lines not of my destiny.

I remember the one time I touched your hand, briefly. I stopped you in the middle of the road, we paused to let the vehicle go past, I paused to capture that touch. We walked across the road, and then, one day, you were gone, across cliched oceans. Should I have held your hand, waited for you to snatch it back? Would you have let it stay? I didn't have the courage for it then; in truth I don’t have it now even. Anonymity makes for the most revealing confessions.

I remember the one time you came to a place I then called home. There isn't, any longer, anything memorable about that day, but your presence. You left, too soon, with someone else, but, most days since, when I went back home, I came to you. I wish I had walked with you that evening, but I was foolish, as youth often is. I am no wiser now, but accumulated foolishness passes quite frequently for wisdom.

I remember the, too few, letters we wrote. My first one began with a fairy tale. I knew, I suppose, that we somehow weren’t real. Some of yours lie still in my suitcase of memories, along with a note. The decade old paper shows signs of age, the ink is fading, but the near child-like sentiments shine clear through.

I remember the one time I saw your tears. I was slightly tipsy that night. If only I was drunk, I would have gotten on the train and travelled with you. As it was, my lips un-stiff upper-ed enough to ask you to call me on Monday. You never did, or if I called you, we spoke of the weather and the trains running late, I imagine.

I have often wondered where you are. Two years after you flew away, I even made it to the city you left for. When Google became a verb, I searched for you, but all I ever found were recipes. Ironic, considering that we were in high spirits once a week, but never did go out for dinner, or lunch, or breakfast. I am even now unable to decide whether those were dates, those evenings, never over until the pink lady stung or it was 8PM (!) - whichever was earlier. They probably were not, but who's to gainsay it?

I wish, I wish, and if wishes were pennies, I can now lay beneath your feet fields of gold.

Music and Big Business Come Together

The most intriguing presence on the Live 8 stages was that of William H Gates. Musicians have always kept big business at arm's length, and when it comes to an event that makes a political statement, that arm extended for miles. However, the 21st century already seems to have made a substantial adjustment to the position protest music had taken against the generalizations of Evil Politicians and Businessmen.

What has changed?

One of the recent examples of collaboration between a corporate and musicians was the text message campaign triggered by Bono's ONE. The technology infrastructure that facilitated the campaign was provided by Sun Microsystems. This set-up was leveraged for the Live 8 text message effort as well, and will power a similar drive for the Final Push, a July 6 concert in Scotland, just before the G8 summit kicks off.

A cursory perusal of the Gates Foundation website reveals that considerable donations have been made by the Bill Gates led Foundation, toward Education, Health, Libraries and Information Management, and the Pacific Northwest Community. The interesting thing is that no mention is made of any ties to the music world. His presence then, at the Live 8 events, is a new beginning.

The generalizations of the mid to late 20th century were of course just that - generalizations. Politics, Business and the Military had their share of people who strove to further noble causes. Gates and Sun Microsystems are simply the most visible examples today of such participation.

A connection I can speculate on is that both Gates, and the men who manage Sun Microsystems, were part of the demographic that protest music in the '60s and '70s influenced most. I am not sure what Gates, McNealy, Schwartz, and the others listened to in their teens, or whether their ideas resonated with those of the protest movements of the time. However, I imagine that just being students at the time could have made them alive to the message.

The other, even more speculative, thought I have is that both Microsoft and Sun are technology companies - a sector seemingly full of people and leaders who rally to social causes. Okay, I have no statistical study to back this statement up, nor does this mean that other sectors aren't alive to social, political and economic imbalances across the globe.

Any thoughts?

[ Technorati Tags : live8 Sun Microsystems Music Gates ]

The Day the World Watched

What a day. England and Australia played out a thrillingly tied final, in a triangular One Day Series which involved Bangladesh in the initial stages. Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport in the longest Wimbledon Ladies' Final. Andy Roddick beat Thomas Johansson in a bruising Wimbledon Men's semi-final. The two Ferraris qualified third and fifth at the French Grand Prix, with a little help from Raikonnen's engine change.

For me, a common thread ran through these contests - the outcome was in doubt until the very end. Either team could have won off the last ball in the One Day final. Williams faced Davenport serving for the match in the second set, and match point in the third, before prevailing. Roddick was seemingly aided by the netcord in his battle of the tiebreaks with Johansson.

In the sport that holds me enthralled, both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello put in faster first sector laps than the eventual driver at pole, Fernando Alonso.

However, it was the Live 8 concert that held centre-stage through nearly twelve hours of the day. Fittingly, the best musical moments, for me, of the Hyde Park event came toward the fag end of the show, when Sting, The Who, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney rang the curtains down on what is probably the most powerful demonstration in the history of the planet. The Philadelphia and Barrie concerts must have carried on past what was 4:30AM Sunday Indian Standard Time, but VH1 who telecast the show in India, concluded with the Hyde Park finale. I am not complaining - I got to watch the four men who have dominated my musical firmament - Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Rick Wright. They came together after more than 2 decades to play for a cause Gilmour described as far more pressing than the disagreements between the band and Waters. They played Breathe, Money, Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb, only a few of the songs that epitomized the Pink Floyd ethos. I only wish they had all day to play.

We had far more to thank Bob Geldof for, just as fans of music : U2, REM, Pet Shop Boys, Dido and Youssou N'Dour, Annie Lennox, Coldplay, Travis, Green Day, Duran Duran, UB40, Bon Jovi, Dave Mathews Band ... the list could go on, and I am talking of just my favourites - those of them I watched perform.

Lasting impressions from Live 8 -

The appearance on stage of Birhan Woldu, known in this world of sound bites as the Face of Famine. Her radiant smile underlined Geldof's assertion that Live Aid and Live 8 and other such efforts do make a difference. Her dignity in the face of weird attempts by Madonna to co-opt her into her set re-iterated her continent's search for justice, not charity.

Nelson Mandela in a 46664 pullover exhorting the G8 not to look the other way.

Will Smith leading an estimated three billion in a different way of marking time - a poignant reminder that a child dies every three seconds due to poverty. The snapping fingers were every bit as telling as a clenched fist once was.

Thank you, VH1.

Thank you, all of you who organized Live 8.

Thank you, the three billion who watched.

The G8 must respond at Gleneagles Hotel. The G8 website has a feedback section. Wouldn't it be nice if every one of the 27 million who signed the Live 8 List would also write in at the G8 site?

[ Technorati Tags : live8 PinkFloyd Music G8 India ]

Sinha's song of Comeuppance

So he goes, to mis-quote Kurt Vonnegut.

Yashwant Sinha, BJP spokesman and former Finance/Foreign Minister, has paid the price for his outspoken opinions about L K Advani's statements in Pakistan. Sinha had stated that Advani was right to resign as BJP Leader, and in fact, suggested the latter resign from the post of the Opposition Leader in Parliament as well. Having had to eat humble pie in the aftermath of the RSS/VHP backlash, Advani seems to have begun re-asserting his authority over the BJP.

Representing the state of Jharkhand in the Upper House of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Sinha had recently spoken acidly on the lack of progress and the prevalence of corruption in the BJP-ruled state.

Further action, including expulsion from the party, might be considered, according to media reports. Yashwant Sinha might be wishing that time were not linear, and that all moments in time were concurrent. That way, like Vonnegut's Tralfamadorians, he can choose to ignore the not-so-good times he is facing.

[ Technorati Tags : India ]

Live 8 gathers head of Rock and Soul Steam

If any event could get bigger and more emphatic than Live 8, as it's roster of concerts and performing artistes stood last week, it could only be Live 8 this week. And it has - James Brown will be at the Edinburgh concert, Moscow and Johannesburg are hosting Live 8 concerts, Pet Shop Boys will be headlining the Moscow edition, the ONE campaign will give 50 bloggers a chance to go backstage, and a reported 85% of the planet could watch the concerts live, on television and the internet.

Now, if only the G8 leaders could respond to the point being made by the performers and audiences with a concerted plan of attack on poverty.

[ Technorati Tags : live8 ]

India : A Nation of Tech Workers and Bookworms

c|net News' Special Report this week focuses on what it calls the Indian Tech Renaissance. I wonder in what sense the term renaissance is being used. If c|net News believes it is a period of revival for the Indian technology sector, I can't recall a time when it has flagged in the last fifteen years or so : it's been growing almost consistently ever since it spurted, as an offshoot of the first attempts at dismantling the License Raj in concert with the Y2K opportunity. If he uses the term to equate our accomplishments to the heights achieved in art and culture after the Middle Ages, I believe the best is yet to come. I also wonder why he asks China to move over, given that we are not in the same playing fields at the moment. China is still playing catch-up in the software services market, while we are taking our first baby steps in the electronics product space.

Nitpicking apart, the article captures the optimism and the possibilities India is awash in. Two areas where we could do much better than we have though, are Entrepreneurship in the technology product arena and Bridging the cliched, yet depressingly real, Digital Divide between our biggest cities and the rest of the country. Rajesh Jain, quoted in the c|net article, blogs on these subjects extensively.

The NOP World Culture Index throws up the interesting finding that Indian consumers spend more time reading than consumers from any other nation surveyed. I usually ignore survey results, and the ensuing generalizations, but seized on this one with glee. The BBC features reactions to the news. R Sriram of Crossword seems to equate studying with reading, and advice from grandparents to that you can get in books. Tarun Tejpal points out that the sampling must have been in urban India.

I hope that the surveyors refused, quite properly, to consider the Metro Supplements of the Times Of India as reading material.

[ Technorati Tags : India ]

Make Poverty History

Coldplay, Deep Purple, Dido, Green Day, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, REM, Tragically Hip, Sting, U2 will be amongst performers at the Live8 Concerts across seven countries on July 2. The concerts, of course, are part of an effort to get the G8 leaders meeting in Scotland to act more forcefully against global poverty. Technorati is aggregating blog content about Live8, while Indymedia intends to provide grassroots coverage of the G8 Summit. The Live8 site also has a petition you can sign asking for action against poverty by the leaders of the G8 nations.

Meanwhile, July 1 has been designated the first White Band Day by the Global Call to Action against Poverty. More information about the Indian White Band campaign, Wada Na Todo, is available here.

Update : Dave Sifry, CEO and founder of Technorati, blogcasts at Supernova 2005 on Technorati's support for Live8.

[ Technorati Tags : India Live8 ]

Why Bush Went to War

Mark Tran writes in The Guardian Blog

One of the more Machiavellian justifications for invading Iraq was the flypaper theory. Invading and occupying Iraq might turn the country into a magnet for anti-US terrorists, the argument went, but it was better to slug it out in a distant and foreign land instead of closer to home.

The post goes on to cite a CIA assessment turning the theory on it's head, saying Iraq might actually prove to be an effective training ground for terrorists, in urban combat.

Given George Bush's frustration with that foreign policy stuff, I doubt we have to look too far beyond his earthy pronouncements to formulate theories about why he went to war.

The Dogs of War Theory
We cannot let terriers and rogue nations hold this nation hostile (sic) or hold our allies hostile (sick).

The Identify Foe or Foe Theory
When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were. It was us vs. them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there.

The Recursive War Theory
The mission must be to fight and win war and therefore to prevent war from happening in the first place.

The For Your Own Safety Theory
Iraq has—have got people there that are willing to kill, and they're hard-nosed killers. And we will work with the Iraqis to secure their future.

It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way.

The Oceans Couldn't Keep Us Apart Theory
We thought we were protected forever from trade policy or terrorist attacks because oceans protected us.

The Hat-Felt Theory
Free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat.

The New Commandment Theory
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

The Peace, Freedom and Justice Theory
The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the—the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice.

The Narcissus Theory
The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.

The Tough Times Last Theory
There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that his wife might have to share some blame :

The Satisfied Housewife Theory
I said to him the other day, "George, if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you're going to have to stay up later." Nine o'clock, Mr. Excitement here is sound asleep, and I'm watching Desperate Housewives— with Lynne Cheney. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife.

Laura Bush, in an address to the White House Correspondents' Association.

Slate hosts a frequently updated page on Bush's pronouncements, and so does Bushisms.com

[ Technorati Tags : Bush Iraq ]

Clothes make the woman

The company I work for has a strict dress code : Do. The Mumbai University has sacrificed brevity in the interests of the elimination of rape in Indian society, and plans to impose a ban on an impressive laundry list of clothing in associated educational institutes.

The Vice Chancellor is not content with the lofty objective of preventing rapes : he is quoted as saying that the ban will also serve by eliminating offensive attire and needless distraction.

Look for dramatic drops in lecturer resignations and spikes in student grades next year at the Mumbai U.

What I, and others, (presumably we did not have a chance to reflect on this under the Vice Chancellor's Peepul Tree in our student days) find incredible is the reasoning attributed to the ban - mini-skirts apparently fuel a juggernaut of rapists who can be thwarted by the simple expedient of replacing said apparel with the salwar kameez. If the mini-skirt was dead, it would be turning in it's grave.

The Shiv Sena, self-appointed bulwark against the moral, religious and political turpitude the Great Hindu Nation is being subjected to, had similar views to express when a policeman raped a minor in an outpost at Marine Drive. There were unanswerable questions in their thoughtful analysis of the rape -

There seems to be a competition among young women to show their undergarments in the name of a ‘below-waist’ fashion. It is no longer feasible for a family to roam on Chowpatty. To see girls dangle a cigarette openly is worrisome. If a man is provoked by such clothes, who can one blame?

Those who argue that there is no connection between women and girls wearing skimpy clothes and rape should keep the social structure in mind. Besides rape, it is the evil eye of men provoked by the culture of skimpy clothes that is harmful. Why encourage these perverse tendencies?

There are several fallacies that drive such thinking. One myth is that the victim somehow provokes rape. Another is that rape is the result of lust, rather than of violent aggression. Googling for rape myths yields pages of results. Someone should tell the Mumbai University, the Shiv Sena, and other authorities who presume on their insights into rapists' motives, to use the Internet once in a while.

[ Technorati Tags : India Mumbai Rape ]

Gen John contradicts VP Dick : Head Line News

Headline News reports that General John Abizaid's testimony to the US Senate Armed Services committee refutes US Vice President Cheney's claim that insurgent activity in Iraq was declining.

During an interview with CNN last month, Cheney said that, from a military standpoint, he felt insurgent activity would decline, adding, "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

I won't, Mr. Vice President, and here are some reasons why :

Nearly 40 people have died in a rash of car bombings in Iraq’s capital in the space of 12 hours., June 23, 2005.

Iraq Body Count

Casualties in Iraq - 2005

[ Technorati Tags : Iraq Cheney ]