Girish's Blog

Mr. Obama has put in place a US$ 1.75 trillion deficit budget to try and kick start the crumbling economy in the US. This includes US$ 787 billion to be handed over to failing banks as dole so that innocent depositors do not lose their shirts while rich bankers and Wall Street types milk the system with unwarranted bonuses in spite of huge losses. Well, well, well – what does this imply – is the US going towards nationalization of banks which accept Government aid. Looks like wanton capitalism is taking a back seat to a bit of socialism in the principal capitalist nation in the world. Reality bites I would call it. Another interesting part of this humungous deficit funding by the US is the dole to Pakistan – a miniscule US$ 5 billion towards a one time bailout for its economy and military. This is over and above the US$ 1.5 billion which the US gives Pakistan annually as dole. The interesting part is the handout is in spite of Government auditors confirming that Pakistan has fudged rec...

You must have guessed by now the meaning of the title…(those readers who do not know Hindi “kaun” means ‘who’). ‘Kaun Guess’ is a play on ‘Congress’ which went overboard yesterday in claiming credit for the movie getting eight Oscars. I think they definitely have a right to take credit…..because without their active connivance the movie would not have been possible…..in sixty two years post independence of ruling the state (except for a brief period of 5 years of Shiv Sena rule), they have actively connived in perpetuating the slums and helping them grow in Mumbai. Mumbai should appropriately be re-named Slumbai! Just imagine if the Congress had actually governed we would never have had slums…..so no movie would have been made…..so no Oscar would have been awarded……so Kaun guess karo Slumdog…. I bet you guessed right!! But I cannot give you a million dollars for the right guess….so sorry. Slums in Mumbai are a huge vote bank….the electoral rolls get updated…..most of the middle class d...

You know elections are round the corner when: daily you see large full page advertisements being put out by the Government showcasing its “achievements” that too using tax payers hard earned money. the Finance Minister announces certain indirect tax concessions just a week after announcing the interim budget – at that point pretending to be a saint and saying tax concessions are inappropriate with elections round the corner....hmmmmmm. the Oscars for Slumdog, suddenly are an achievement of the Congress Party (TOI headlines February 24, 2009) …… more on that in a separate post. the Government announces free houses for two of the six children only – is it because they are from the minority community…..smacks of partisan electioneering. If at all it was necessary, free education should have been given to all the kids…. What guarantee houses won’t be sold by the parents?? The government starts pushing proposals through cabinet to utilize unspent budgets….70 plans get the nod. For the last ...

Last week has been very interesting in relation to the reactions of the international politicians with respect to the Pakistani government-military nexus with the so called “Taliban” in the SWAT valley. You have Hillary Clinton ranting away - “the activity by the extremists in Pakistan poses a direct threat to the government of Pakistan as well as to the security of the United States, Afghanistan and a number of other nations.” Hello!! Where the hell have you been m’am? India has shouted itself hoarse over the activities of Pakistan which has been using the ISI (or the other way around, doesn’t matter) for various terror attacks in India, presumably over Kashmir for the past twenty years and more! But no, its all about geo-strategic interests, all short sighted with blinkered vision, with the so called US interests in mind. The Pakistanis have still not got over the fact that they lost East Pakistan in 1971, because of its own negligent treatment of the region which is now Bangladesh. ...

There is a movement going on, initiated by Philip deSouza, to get in touch with all the students who passed out in 1977. The movement has gathered in frenzy and almost everyone from the batch have jumped on to the bandwagon. A Facebook group has been created where all the people are now connecting, thereby bringing back extremely warm and fond memories of the great time we had at school. The purpose of writing this blog is not to go on and on about the batch, but rather to highlight the fact that the school gave us all not only a great academic education but also instilled in all of us values which, I am sure, - I speak for the entire batch – have stood the test of time. I was just going through the list of students, and what strikes me now, is that there were so few “Maharashtrians” in the entire batch – we had students from all communities, Catholics, Parsis, Muslims, and Hindus – but never once in my entire ten years in school were we ever discriminated on grounds of race, religion,...

Times have really changed from the early days of my childhood. In those days the family doctor used to mean everything. He used to treat the medical as well as mental symptoms – he used to be more of a family friend than a physician. He used to talk about medicines and also participate in family discussions, he used to be more of a friend, philosopher and guide to the family. With the passage of time, the medical profession started becoming more and more specialized and commercial, in the bargain quite a few doctors have forgotten the Hippocratic Oath which they take at the time of passing out as young doctors. In the West, because of the threat of being legally penalized, doctors do not take even a small decision without running the patient through a gamut of tests. In India, earlier a doctor used to physically examine the patient by hand and stethoscope, listen to the symptoms described by the patient and arrive at a pretty accurate clinical decision and start to treat the patient. I...

I have been thinking about the above acronym for quite some time. What comes to mind when you think of the alphabets – ‘P’ and ‘C’ taken together? Well if you are a well read person who follows politics – Mr. P. Chidambaram comes straight to mind – PC the ex-finance minister and current home minister. PC in white lungi and kurta is a sight for sore eyes - he has dazzled the UPA government with the last four budgets – been part of the growing economic hype and was handed over the finance ministry when the curtains have more or less come down on the global economy. A PM in waiting has got the finance ministry again after 24 years – Pranab Mukherjee I meant – and this poor guy had to present a Vote on Account in the election year. He has come out with a damp squib of an interim budget, by-passing the chance to score brownie points - all to the considerable relief of the opposition BJP. Have you ever heard of someone in politics holding a PC – hmmmmmm – holding Mr. Chidambaram? – not on yo...