Computer Gender

A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. 'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.' 'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?' Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups - Male & Female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic
   
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won, of course!

Thank God I'm an atheist

Many a times, when I go to the temple and observe the pomp that goes around, I wish God says something to them - especially to the priests. When priesthood becomes a job or an occupation, it loses all the spiritual elements of facilitating a heavenly experience of God.

So, it was wonderful to read this little story sent by Nambi. Here it goes:

In a small town in Southern India, a person decided to open up his liquor business, which was right opposite to the Temple. The Temple & its congregation started a campaign to block the Bar from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business.

Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the Bar and it was burnt to the ground. The temple folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the Bar owner sued the Temple authorities.


He argued on the grounds that the Temple through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible for the demise of his bar shop, either through direct or indirect actions or means. In its reply to the court, the temple vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons to the bar shop's demise.

As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented: 'I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the papers that, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire temple and its devotees that doesn't.'

How do you like this?

Extreme Statistics

I love reading the commentary in Cricinfo. More than the actual proceedings on the ground, the comments by the many bloggers during the match and the heated discussions are wonderful to read. The sense of humour is also terrific.

One amazing thing is the kind of statistics guys roll out about cricket. Read the one given below by one fan after the last one day match on 21st February.

"This must be the only ODI innings in the history where Sachin has scored a single-digit while the rest of the team got away with double digits and no one scoring triple digits."

Can you believe it? How they think of such things! To answer this, another fan again from India posted this question.

Venu from India has a question to stump statsguru: "How many times did all batsmen in an innings become out by losing their wickets "inside 30 yards circle"."

Let me know if you have other such extreme statistics on cricket.

Creative Children

No matter how far our exams are dumbed down, it seems it's not far enough for today's pupils.

But rather than admit defeat in the face of tricky questions, some decide to take a more creative approach to their answers.

Here are a few samples :















Would you have come up with such brilliant answers, howmuchever wrong they are?

Who is my competitor tomorrow?

Nambi sent this wonderful article written by Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore . He is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a post graduate in management from IIM, Bangalore. It is so brilliant that I thought it better to share it with everyone, instead of sending it by mail to only a few.

"Who sells the largest number of cameras in India ?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones.

Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India ? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).

Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India . That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.

Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question – "who is my competitor?"
Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."

In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India ? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. ( India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no. Remember, if there is one place where Newton 's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India . PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment) . Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.

One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!
"

Building a house

At last, we have launched this project of building a house for ourselves.

Of course, we barely manage to pay the monthly expenses to run the family; so to have money to build a house is out of the question. Parents gave the money and shamelessly I accepted it too!

Foundation was done last year, but the work picked up momentum after September or so. Walls are up now. As usual, it is entirely Durga's burden to get everything organised and she is doing a terrific job of getting things done. I am quite a moron / dumbo as far as such things are concerned. Even while designing the rooms etc., the only thing I could think of was 'where to put the computer?'.

If you ask me, house is a place where my computer can be protected from rain etc. and there will be a place to put the chair and to give the electricity connection for it. There may be other things, but this is the core of it! Given this outlook, it is better I don't suggest ways to build a better house! Vennila too is quite excited.

Will put up the photo of the house once it is done. But, wanted to show off the view just outside the house. Here is how it will look when we open the door (whenever there is a door there).

Don't you think it is gorgeous?

Everything is fine, if you can explain well

In today's society, the most important quality required of a leader is to be able to explain things properly. In 'My Fair Lady', the hero says, "The French don't mind what they do, as long as they can pronounce it properly". Similarly, in today's world, it does not matter what we do, as long as we can explain it properly!

Take our uncle for example.


How nicely explained!

From the spokespersons of our prime ministers and presidents, from our cricket stars to film stars, from our subordinates to superiors in office.. why, every sales person either in a big shopping mall to the street vendors of vegetables... All of them need this quality to explain away the 'unnecessary' questions from the customers, general public and what not.

If you cannot explain, then you need other skills.

We are watching the old 'Yes Minister' television series. When an unexpected (and hence uncomfortable) question is posed to the British Minister, he gives different variations of the 'it is a very good question' only as an answer. The person who asked the question loses patience waiting for the actual answer and moves on to the next one. 'Deftly ducking' is the phrase to describe this skill.

Actually, I think, it will be a good idea if someone writes a book on the "10 most important skills required to stay ahead in a modern adult", I can volunteer to contribute materials.

New Year Wish

As told before, I have taken a principled stand against taking any new year resolutions. My only resolution in the last 2 years has been not to take any resolution.

But, there is a loophole. I can ask for some new year wishes from God! That is allowed. Based on events during the last few weeks, I have sent in my this year's New Year Wish to the almighty up above. It is, "Please help the people whom I look up to, so that I can continue to look up to them and continue to have hope in life and relationships."

Read a funny quote somewhere, "please save me from my friends. I will take care of the enemies myself". Having misunderstanding or even bad fights with people I don't care about is not an issue at all - We end up doing it all the time. Whenever there is chaos or infighting in the right wing party of India, I am quite happy and amused to read all about it. But, one gets disillusioned when your heros and heroines slip up. People who are your ideals, when they don't live up to my expectations, there is depression. Imagine, superman being pick-pocketed - how disappointing and depressing it would be for all of us!

So, I hope, my Lord, you will accept my plea and do the needful in the coming year.

I rest my case.

Christmas spirit

This year, I properly got into the Christmas spirit. Sent christmas greetings to lots of people in India and abroad. From the warm responses that we got back for these greetings, I am motivated to make this a regular affair. Let me see. (Here is the background image which I used to make all those greeting cards)

When you are regularly in correspondence with people in UK, Germany and US, getting the festive mood is only natural. From November, all plans revolve around Christmas. "I won't be available after December 20th till January 4th", "Let us try to complete the tasks before Christmas", "It can be done only after the festival season" and all that sort of thing. And, any mail you send gets an automatically generated response, "I am not in office. Will reply after January 4th. Merry Christmas, by the way". It is a nice feeling.

So, from our side, we also tried to do our little bit. We watched those goody-goody feel-good Christmas films in the computer. 'Miracle on the 34th Street' is the favourite.
Saw a nice old one called "Bishop's wife" also.

What a change! When we were young, the only thing we knew about Christmas was that people hang stars outside and go to church. Something to do with the birthday of Jesus. Heard of someone called "Christmas Grandpa". North Pole, Santa, Gifts, Chimney and all those legends were totally unknown to us as kids.

Western countries seem to go wild with celebrations. And, gifts. Each of those nice movies complain about too much of gift-giving and commercialisation! And, Cary Grant says in Bishop's wife, "We give gifts to everyone except the child which was born on Christmas - the Lord!"

Merry Christmas. And, a very happy New Year to all the millions of readers of my blog!

Ban homeworks - Amartya Sen

Read in the newspapers recently that the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has strongly advised the Government to ban homework for the children in primary schools and to reduce the load of their bags. This is one of the favourite topics for one of my favourite writers, R.K.Narayan as well. When he was made a Member of Parliament, his first (and only?) speech was on the loads being carried by children to school.

During such discussions always I think about my childhood and school days. As I grew up in a more conservative society - that too middle class - where the values of the mainstream society are totally accepted without any questions, my school days were very very conventional. Fortunately, I studied in a Government school in Pattukottai from 8th standard onwards - so not much of home work. But, I had really long hours.


We had one high school and there were thousands of boys studying in that one school. (Girls were kept safely in another school about 2 kms away). There will be at least 60-80 students in each class room - 10th standard itself will have three or four class rooms. There isn't enough place to keep all the students in the school; so, we had Shift system. That is, 9, 10, 11 and 12th standards will have classes from 8.30 to 1.00 and the 6, 7 and 8th standards will have classes in the same rooms from 1.30 pm to 6.00 pm!

From 9th to 12th, I leave home by around 7.45 am - school was about 3 kms away; so have to run to be on time. After school, rush home for lunch. Then, Hindu tuition from 2.30 to 4.30. From 5.00 to 6.00, had typing class. From 6.30 to 8.00, had special tuition for the school subjects. Reach home at 8.30, dinner and sleep.

But, I don't remember having ever complained; nor did my parents. We all thought that I am doing what is required for life. Finally, got good marks; stood first in Thanjavur district and got admission in Engineering college and all that. In other words, quite a good student - successful and all that!

But, if my formative years in school helped in me becoming a better citizen? A better person? Very doubtful. I don't think personal traits like self-confidence, general knowledge, leadership etc. were considered even remotely. It was a chance entry into IRMA that probably changed my life - exposed to lot of different things in the world. Otherwise, I might have been working as a Mechanical Engineer some where and raising children conventionally like I was.

But, today, even my own sister's family is not conventional at all about education. They are exploring all sorts of things for their children; lot of new different learning opportunities are also there. Things have changed a lot in the society and in education field.

Not so sure about banning home work; but I agree with all his arguments about reforming our education system.

Facebook friends are also friends

Of late, there is a widespread complaint against me. That, I am going on and on about Facebook and Twitter, just because I don't use them.

Your Facebook friends are also as good as real friends - or worse! Though my initial reaction was to disagree with this sweeping conclusion, a very persuasive argument was put forward through the cartoon given below. After studying this evidence, from all possible angles, I agreed to that hypothesis. Yes, probably, facebook friends are also, after all, true friends.

Don't you also agree?

World is changing

One of the most wonderful things in life is to reflect on the changes that are happening around. Even now, I remember the days when we used to think we are the 'brand new' generation and are living the most exciting period in the history of mankind. But, now everyone around is calling me 'uncle' and they are surprised to know that I like 'modern' action movies!

So, the world is changing. And, how! It is a big challenge to be part of the new world and be up-to-date of things. Here is a nice cartoon which illustrates this.


But, keeping pace with changes in Technology is quite easy to do, compared to the values, lifestyles, 'in' things and what not. Getting an email account or opening a Facebook account is quite easy. But, to get used to the fact that communication between kids also is predominantly through such short messages?

That is going to be difficult for old folks like me.

Exchange Offers

I am told, Exchange Offers are an integral part of modern marketing strategies. Give your old gas stove and take a new one. Get a replacement for your old television with a brand new model. Washing Machine, Pressure Cooker, Mixie, Computers, Printers... you name it, they have an attractive exchange offer.

Inherent assumption in all these exchange offers is that the new one is better than the old one. Time and again, we have been proved that this assumption is rather spooky. By the time, we understand the newer model and get it work the way we want, it becomes old enough to be eligible for another exchange offer! Of course, there will be small prints and *s, with 'conditions apply' or 'limited period offer' or 'till stock last' or 'pay just additional Rs.10000' or something like that!

But, I am rather interested in some exciting exchange offers in life. First, a joke.

Friend1: I got a brand new Ford IKON car for my wife!
Friend2: Wow!!! That's an unbelievable exchange offer!!!

Is it possible to exchange such 'unrelated' items like cars and wives? Will there be an offer to exchange the old clothes with, say, fresh vegetables? Or, for that matter, old rotten vegetables with fresh clothes?


Or, more philosophically, can we exchange today with some wonderful day we had some years ago with a special person? In other words, can we exchange some current nightmares with sweet dreams - of past or future? But, it seems one intelligent person called Tallulah Bankhead once said, "If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner." For people like him, such exchange offers of a new life does not really mean much.

Some of you may be thinking, I have gone crazy. Whoever will think of exchanging cars and wives! Is it? The entire world leadership is meeting in Copenhagen next week to talk about such an exchange offer only, don't you think?

US and Europe can exchange the smoke spewing from their industries with a few billions of dollars. India and China can exchange our development goals with some promise to cut down pollution. If poverty and pollution can be traded and exchanged, anything can be.

If carbon trading is possible, why not cars and wives? Says me.

Renunciation & Ayyappa Devotees

Every year during the Ayyappa season, I get quite amused. Lot of philosophical questions go through my mind. Especially about renunciation.

Among shopkeepers, small business people, roadside traders and drivers, there is a big demand to go to Sabarimala. This year, the most striking aspect for me was to notice almost all the Ayyappa devotees talking loudly in their mobile phones. So, I was wondering if the renunciation should include usage of mobile phones also.

It is enough to shun just simple addictions like alcohol, smoking and non-vegetarian food. More difficult addictions like mobile phone, television, driving dangerously in roads etc. should also be considered by them as evils, is my humble view. Is it possible? If ever they include working on computers and checking emails is not permitted for Ayyappa devotees, then I am finished. Will never be able to go to Sabarimala.

Some people's business gets a boost during Ayyappa season. As in this roadside shop in Chennai.

But, trade is essentially bargaining and 'selling' things by hook or crook between the buyer and seller. And, it is really funny to see Ayyappa devotees arguing / shouting and somehow trying to stop themselves right at the point of using foul language. When my vegetable shop keeper (now a 'Saami') tried to push one unhealthy tomato along with the good looking ones, his spiritual halo took a knocking in my view!

However, the most prominent feeling I get while seeing the Ayyappa devotees is: what is the impact of all these hundreds of thousands of people landing up in one place? To the environment and climate change and all that sort of thing. If one advice I can give to any devotee, it is this: 'Stay clear from any place which has more than 100 people. With a simple rumour, any crowd of devotees can become an uncontrollable mob. Year after year, we read about stampedes killing hundreds of people in big temples'.

Anyway to each his own. And, to each his own God too.

But, my favourite god, Ganapathi is ahead of all other gods in technology too. While other Gods may be asking their devotees to renounce things, Ganapathi goes ahead and gets a Postpaid mobile connection with lifetime warranty!

Whither Email?

I am one of those affected by this Dekofossamossis!

Normally, one step behind as far as the latest technologies are concerned. When everyone was talking about mobile phones, I was still wondering if I needed telephone at home. But, when internet and emails became absolutely important, I went for a telephone at home.

Similarly, after dilly-dallying on mobile phone for some time, accepted the mobile also. Now, it is one of the inalienable parts of my body, I guess.
As usual, I do not appreciate the current technologies of Twitter and Facebook much. I got an account in Facebook also, but didn't find it exciting. Fell back on email.

In fact, Email is the important way to communicate for me right now. If you add all the words that I send by email to others, it will far outnumber the words spoken, I assume. Except Durga and Vennila, the most preferred mode of communication with everyone else in the world is Email right now.


So, I was shocked when I read recently an article which said Email is on its way out. Only Old people are using emails. All young ones are using only Twitter and Facebook. Who wants to type all those long long words? And, all that sort of rot.

My God, what will I do if people stop checking mails and use only their mobile phones or the e-walls in facebook or orkut to communicate with each other? Whither email?


I continue to believe (hope?) that email will live and withstand these new arrivals. Of course, I also have heartfelt contempt for Twitter and Facebook. I am irritated by all those short messages with wrong spellings and abbreviated words. "C U 2mrw" etc. are blasphemy for me. English is a sweet language and it is a crime not to type the entire word with proper spellings. Says me.

Executive Assistants

I had written about the elected terrorists in Karnataka a week ago, isn't it? That saga is finally over. The Chief Minister, Yeddyurappa saved his chair by conceding to all the demands of the Reddy brothers. Reinstating all the officials, transfering the people required and even dropping his favourite minister Shobha.

Of all these changes, I am quite curious about the Shobha episode. Let us ignore the uncharitable comments doing the rounds. But, she was described as an efficient Minister in his cabinet and he was consulting her on all important issues - asking the officials to run all the files through her once.

To some extent, my personal inclination (even training in IRMA) is to be just next to the top boss in any organisation, provide all support, give your views / suggestions - but leave the decision making to the one on top. No, it is not second-in-command. That will be deputy CM or Vice-Chairman or Joint Commissioner or someone like that. I like being the back room boy - something like the anonymous "Prime Minister's office", "Kitchen Cabinet", "President Office Spokesman" or something like that.

The problem with Shobha was that she was a public figure, on the stage rather than behind the screen and hence, everyone could easily target her. I guess, she is a typical politician waiting to become CM one day. But, I am more keen on understanding bureaucrats who stay behind the corporate kings, political masters and Chief Functionary of various organisations. That role interests me.

I heard that one of my juniors in IRMA is the Executive Assistant to Mukesh Ambani. One of our seniors was the Personal Assistant to Dr.Kurien for long. The boss can get all the inputs from these special assistants, but if required, they can be junked without any fuss. It is a demanding job; should be able to keep your ego on leash; Loyalty to the core is a must. And, of course, often it may be totally a thankless job - except the Boss and some people within the organisation, the general public may not know about you or your contribution.
To some extent, I am doing something like that in Gudaur. Except that I don't have one boss, but about hundred different people. But, I love this role.

Offending Monkeys

Recently read about an atrocious scientific finding in the newspaper.

Humans and monkeys have similar brain networks

Using "resting state" functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) it was found that human and monkey brains have highly similar brain networks preserved across evolution. Patterns of connectivity were examined.

Isn't it a finding offensive to the Monkeys? Just because monkey kingdom does not own any labs or hire any scientists, it does not mean that we humiliate them with such comparisons with humans. Howmuchever high-sounding words like fMRI we use, this argument will fall flat, the next minute you see a monkey and a human, and compare their brain networks!!

OK, probably, they had similar brain networks looooong back; but along the way something got messed up. As is the case with many other networks that man invented, these monkey brain networks also got clogged and took their own direction. Just because humands had started walking straight, it does not mean anything; We invented arms to fight each other in massive scale; Do you think, if our brain networks were the least similar to monkeys, would we have done anything appalling like this?

And, worst, we use our ancestors for all kinds of scientific studies like this to prove that we are like them! No way. Fortunately, monkeys cannot read and write - another sign that their networks are different from (and superior than) ours; so they must be oblivious of this stupid study. Else, they might be wondering what have I done to land up in such humiliation!

It is as good as saying Elephants got their genes from cats, just because their tamil names sound similar.

Who makes how much?

Recently we had a discussion about salaries and how much to increase every year to whom. It is difficult to estimate the contribution each individual makes, since organisation by nature is a large team.

Here is an attempt to prove scientifically that scientists cannot make much money. Don't worry, if you are not a brainy person; we will have the last laugh - as given in the last slide!








Now, after reading this presentation, I feel financially secure!!

Terrorists - Armed and Elected

During the last fifteen days, I had the curse to witness to different groups of terrorists.

News 1

Armed Maoists kidnap the drivers of the Delhi - Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express Train. All the passengers were taken hostage. The demands of the kidnappers included release of their top leadership in jail. After a drama of 5 hours or so, the train was finally let free and the kidnapped drivers were found to be safe.

News 2

Three ministers of the BJP government and about 50 MLAs go off to the neighbouring Andhrapradesh, staying a resort and demand the removal of the Chief Minister. They demand the removal of certain officials (who are alleged to be honest), a woman minister (who is alleged to be quite efficient) and a top Bureucrat of the State. They also want policies that will affect the profitability of their Mining company changed. After a drama of 15 days or so, all these changes are conceded by the Chief Minister, all those officials, bureaucrat and minister are dropped and the policies changed.
Now, tell me, is there any difference between these two sets of terrorists? The first set of terrorists and kidnappers were armed; so the press (local and international), the government and all concerned condemn it.

The second set of terrorists and kidnappers are elected by people; they use blackmail and get away with all their demands conceded. So, the government hails it as 'crisis resolved; new deal worked out' etc.

At least, the first one did not result in any harm to the common public, except for the inconvenience for a few hours. But, the second one made the government go limbo and their top-priority of providing relief to the flood-affected thousands had to be shelved for good 15 days. Isn't this more criminal?

Awful.