Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,
N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.

C'est l'Ennui!—l'oeil chargé d'un pleur involontaire,
Il rêve d'échafauds en fumant son houka.
Tu le connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat,
—Hypocrite lecteur,—mon semblable,—mon frère!

Je m'en fous ce qu'elle veux dire,
Je m'en fous qui l'a ecrit
Je ne me rappelle pas la francais
Mais, Je m'en fous tout de meme

Je t'aime,
Je l'aime,
Je aime la excentricité
Je m'en fous d'ennui.

Intellectual masturbation apart, it is tough to think rationally when you have been dealt with irrationally.
It is tough to think irrationally when you are blissfully bored.

Your eyes cannnot see what your mind cannot imagine.

Oracle in Matrix-reloaded.

Report: "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations
Published by: Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress. U.S. Government

Says that:
Over the last four years, China has purchased more weapons than any other nation in the developing world, signing $10.4 billion in deals from 2001 to 2004. Such statistics could be used by those in the United States government who have argued against any decision by the European Union to lift its arms embargo against China.

For that same four-year period, India ranked second, with $7.9 billion in arms purchases, and Egypt was third, with $6.5 billion in deals.

But India surpassed China in total purchases in 2004, agreeing to buy $5.7 billion in arms.

$5.7 billion is the total revenues of the top 10 IT providers which worked their ass off for 10-15 years to get that big.

The world has changed. Warfare has changed. But countries continue to but like idiots.
When was the last time that India used a fighter plane in a war against another country?
When was the last time India used a submarine in a war situation?
When was the last time India used ICBM's?

The power in the world is shifting away from "owning lands" and calling it a nation. It has moved towards people being more bothered about either finding a job or fbuying a Merc.
I am glad they moved on.

As a % of GDP contibution, the public sector had a huge share in the 60's and 70's. Now, its the private (If you are a Kurta-wearing communist read as greedy, blood sucking, anti-socialist, selfish) sector which provides the most jobs. Just becuase we chose these guys to administer 'services' to us, doesnt mean that they have the power to rule and over-rule us.

It is so stupid for a government to spend $5.7 billion on arms when they crib about lack of money for laying roads and primary education? How can you ever choose a gun over a primary school?

Wars for land are things of the past.
Learn and move on.

A few of my recent pics. A hobby revisited. Lets see how long this fad sustains itself.

www.flickr.com/photos/atheistbishop

Collage a bleu (comme elle a commence) et orange (why couldnt they have a different word in French for collage and orange?!!)

Collage a rouge!

I was just reading an article about big an impact United Airlines impending bankruptcy would have on Denver. A biggish city on any parameter. 5,500 employees of Denver contribute millions to the Denver economy.
5,500 citizens and a city seems to be concerned about their jobs and the revenues to the city.

Cut to the chase in Mumbai...

Lets look at some facts:
The BMC (Briham Mumbai Corp, city council managing civic amenities in Mumbai) has a budget of Rs. 6,756 crores ($3.2 billion) for 2004-2005 supporting 18 million inhabitants. Bangalore Mahanagar Palika has a budget of about Rs. 1000 crores (half a billion $) supporting 58 million inhabitants (and may be a million expats).

Mumbai supports some of the richest blokes in India and a lot of the poorest (34% of the 18 million live in slums)

One fine day, it rained a little bit, TV channels show people dancing in the street, frolicking in the rain. The Met Dept tells the government that there is a huge cloud burst on the way. The government plans city-wide rain dance parties.

Then the deluge. 90mm of rain in 2 hours.

Kids who went to school, people working in offices, commuters on trains, buses and cars are stranded where they are.

Sitting far away in Hyderabad, I think... shouldnt the drains just ...drain the water into the sea in an hour or so? Nope, the richest city in India has infrastructure meant for 2 million people.
Of course, not employed in BMC, I ask, Why the fuck? Hmmm... because they kept postponing the new drainage system, apparently since 1990.

Dint the famed Mumbaikars say anything? They got used to wading in knee deep water every monsoon so they thought it was 'natural'.... till the water got neck deep.

Just imagine the plight of a 5 year old school kid who cant get back home for 2 days, where the adults have no clue what to do. I would agree that the government could do little for the 2 hours when it was pouring cats and dogs. But what were they doing for 2 days after the deluge?

Why cant somebody think enough to communicate to people? Why couldnt they use the ubiquitous FM radios in every car and home? Why couldnt they tell them to get to safer areas?

Where were the boats? Where were the choppers? It is understandable the city admin dint have access to these but why dint they ask the army to help out in full force?

It was evident that they never had a disaster management plan in place which should specify in digestible steps to each entity concerned what they should do in case of a disaster. Incessant rains and water logging are not new to Mumbai.

What ensued what nothing less than apathy. 20 people died because of rumours of dam bursts and incoming tsunami. Rumours spread like wild fires but they are not discering as to who gets them, they would reached the authorities as well. But they knew the facts, they dint bother.

The government says that its employees were busy taking care of their families. They are the insiders, they know very well that the government cant and wouldnt do jack shit to take care of his family. Of course they would tend to their families. It is the worst and self implicating excuse that a civic authority can ever provide.

I read an article by Govindaraj Ethitraj, the CNBC dude, who spoke of Mumbai's reaction to the inaction by the government. He warned against callousness. y

The Mumbai spirit lived through serial bomb blasts and communcal violence. I hope the Mumbai spirit refuses to live with lack of organization from the government. I hope that Mumbai works, lives and rebels against this stupidity.

If City of Denver can be concerned about 5,500 people, then BMC should shudder at the thought a 58 million strong exodus.