VINDICA

This excerpt it taken from a review of Jaswant Singh's new book, A Call To Honour. The review was publised in Asian Age. This is Mr. Singh responding to Madeline Albright's comment that "India and Pakistan should climb out of the hole they have dug themselves into." I must point out that civilisationally, we in India do not dig holes to bury ourselves in, no, not even metaphorically speaking. Therefore this observation exemplifies yet another fundamental lack of comprehension about the Indian stand and about addressing Indian sensitivities.

Sandy started her own company. More info can be found at her website at www.UncoverU.com .

A very detailed story in Newsweek about Mukesh Ambani's plan to expand into Retail and Agriculture. While the rest of the country has been obsessed with IT, this plan aims to make money in a decidedly Old Economy way. It is a tantalizing vision that has the power to spread India's growth to its villages, where most of the country still lives. One astonishing tit-bit: Soon after the (Jamnagar) plant came online in 2000, India not only stopped importing refined oil products, it started exporting enough to more than pay for its crude-oil imports, becoming a net energy exporter for the first time.

This one is from Scot Adams' book, God's Debris. Thanks to Soggy for pointing me to this absolute treasure. Best of all, it is a free ebook. Google it and get your copy. I was no longer surprised to find unlocked doors in the city. Maybe at some subconscious level we don’t believe we need protection from our own species. I am also informed that Scot Adams is famous for creating the Dilbert cartoon strip.

From Wilbur Smith's "Elephant Song" about aid to Africa. Foreign Aid usually means poor people in rich countries helping rich people in poor countries bolster their swiss bank accounts.

A Bangalorean at a party I was at recently mentioned in jest that Tamils cleaned the public toilets in that city. I am a fan of such incendiary remarks myself, using them to stir things up at a party. However, I did not have enough beers in me to launch on a fight below the belt. Perhaps because of this, I responded with a tame "Kannadigas in Madras are like anyone else", and left it at that. Jest aside, it is a curious anomaly of Tamil Nadu that it does not have any strong reaction to the presence of outsiders at all. There are multiple instances where Bangaloreans have lamented to me about the decline of Kannada culture in the city. The rare few would venture into dumping the blame on the Konga Blakie Tamils from the south. One could point out that it takes an especially retarded monkey to heap such abuses on a people. However, I have learnt not to bother. Irony is not the bigot's strong suite. They don't know it when they are thus insulted. Chennai too, ha