VINDICA

It is now 250 years since the Battle of Panipat when the Afghan's under Abdali defeated the Marathas. Both were so weakened by the battle that they were soon supplanted by the Sikhs and British respectively in the areas that they sought to sway. Recent attempts have been made by Hindu activists to claim that the defeat was in fact a "strategic retreat". Abdali entered the battle with several disadvantages. 1. His armaments were inferior, as the Marathas were equipped with the best of the era French cannons, while Abdali's army featured camel mounted light cannons. 2. Maratha power was on the ascendency and their sway over the areas in contention were actually better than Abdali's. Abdali showed great military leadership in neutralizing both these disadvantages. He used his camel mounted artillary as a mobile firepower unit that overwhelmed and captured the Maratha cannons (it was after this that the battle turned). More importantly, he called on the loyalty of f...

An illuminating article by Christopher Hitchens about how both the abdicating King Edward and the new King George were and remained Nazi sympathizers well after the Czech sellout. Hitchens cannot resist needling Churchill too. But Churchill's seems to have been found guilty mostly by association with King Edward, not because of any explicit Nazi sympathies. Here is however a funny line about how Churchill once called himself the lone warrior against the twin evils of Hitler and Gandhi! Hitchens is obviously disgusted with the British Monarchy and end the article by with memorable flourish. Almost the entire moral capital of this rather odd little German dynasty is invested in the post-fabricated myth of its participation in "Britain's finest hour." In fact, had it been up to them, the finest hour would never have taken place. So this is not a detail but a major desecration of the historical record—now apparently gliding unopposed toward a baptism by Oscar.

So it comes down to this: Republicans do not want any tax increases for the rich. Obama does not want tax increases for the middle class. The epiphany they seem to have reached during their negotiations is that their respective stances still leave out the poor. The Obama compromise will raise taxes on the poor and provide tax relief for the so called middle class and rich. Now the only thing that needs to be done is to make sure there is a sizable and growing population of poor to support the rich and the middle classes in the style they are accustomed to. Luckily for this country, both of the political parties are very good at making this a reality.

Hilarious exploits of desperate TV reporters who were trying to make it seem like Floods were going to submerge Delhi any minute. When it did not happen, some of them dejectedly told the camera "There is no hope of floods!"

Parents who have read snow white to their kids 5 million times would love this article. It is about how the original versions of tales like Snow White and Cinderella are actually "R" rated. - Cinderella's sisters cut off parts of their feet to try and get into the tiny glass shoes. - Snow White's evil stepmother is made to attend her wedding, where she is forced to wear shoes made of hot iron and dance to her death! I should remember to gently break the news to you know who once she grows up!

After years of entering whatever happened to be the bargain basement "mass" movie of the year, India has finally entered a really good movie Peepli Live for the Oscars. I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago and was blown away. It is a tragi-comic movie that has a huge impact. Very realistic, fabulous and believable performance by all actors involved. The farce is taken a bit far sometimes (there is a scene where the news reporter is reporting on the character of the protagonist based on what we can see of his poop), but the movie is so good at so many levels that it can carry off even this scene. If you have not watched it, it is highly recommended.

The disaster that is India's preparation for the Commonwealth games keeps escalating in embarassment. After creditably hosting the Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982 under the inspired leadership of a rising Rajiv Gandhi, India might have expected to stage a memorable show with the CWG nearly three decades later. But the script has gone tragi-comically sour. At something like Rs. 30,000 crore of the taxpayers' money, the Games are the most expensive sports event hosted by India. It is certainly an extortionate price to pay in exchange for shame and disgrace. It is not so surprising that the Government is worse at doing things today than it was 30 years ago. India's best governments were its first ones. Things have been on an accelerating downward path since. The saving grace is the goverment doing less and less. But what about areas where the government cannot be replaced? What about the Millitary, the Police, the Regulatory agencies and the Judiciary? Can a country pos...

Mani Shankar Aiyer is unhappy. He thinks India should not be spending so much money on the Commonwealth games when it has so many poor people to take care of. Suresh Kalmadi, the Chairman of the games, considers this unpatriotic (I am sure he was referring to the opposition to the games, not concern for the poor). Instead of being unhappy, Aiyer should focus on the positives. It has been revealed that the games committee bought toilet paper for $80 a roll. The athletes can at least expect a great arse wiping. If you think that $80 is too much for a roll of toilet paper, then you should know that this is just a trick. They are trying to find the supplier who will actually cut corners and supply crappy (no pun intended) paper to make more money on a $80 roll. This supplier will be honored on national TV as the future of Indian business.

My company had a bumper quarter and is giving away an iPad to all employees. I finally understand how this whole stimulus business works. The stimulus money basically makes its way into iPads given away to people who dont want them and who can afford them anyways. This in turn creates jobs (in China) reduces cost to the consumer. The next stimulus package can then buy even more iPads for even less money. We just have to keep iterating on this until we can get infinite iPads for no money, at which point, we are done, since all those iPads can be used as bricks for propping up the housing sector which caused the recession in the first place.

Lately, I have become a fan of P. J. O'Rourke, whose politics I would probably find objectionable, but whose columns I find hilarious and illuminating. I had linked earlier to his article about how newspapers can resurrect sales by writing orbituaries of living people who are as good as dead (like Harry Reid in his column!). He now has a new column about Afghanistan and how he became an expert on the country in 72 hours flat. It contains some great gems like this one: The more voluble mullah explained, “Since the time of Adam until now there are four books from God.” (Muslims, like Jews, divide the Pentateuch from the rest of the Old Testament.) “This is our constitution.” It’s a little long, I suppose—even longer than the proposed EU constitution. But there are worse documents by which to live and govern—the proposed EU constitution for example.

A review of a new book on the two sides of the Churchill. The dark side being the Imperialist Churchill with visceral hatred of colored people in general and Indians in particular "they are a beastly people with a beastly religion". And the bright side being the Leader Churchill who saw the Nazi threat way ahead of his contemporaries. The review also touches on the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, where Churchill refused to do anything claiming that it was the fault of the Indians for "breeding like rabbits". Modern studies by respected economists, including Amartya Sen have shown how the famine was largely the result of British Incompetence. Due in large part to the famine, it can be easily said that Churchill killed far more Indians than he did Nazis. A bust of Churchill was installed in the Oval office by Bush. I am glad Obama chose to return it to England. The British can rightfully cherish Churchill's memory for the good things he did for their country, ...

A great article about wealth and happiness. It goes beyond the cliched "money does not make you happy" and makes a more interesting point. If money is not making you happy, then you are not spending it right! The article argues that it is better to spend on leisure (vacation, sport, hiking) than on material things (couch, handbag, house). It explains the concept of Hedonistic Adaptation, where our brain is hard wired to moderate both the positive and negative emotions associated with a material change in our life. When we buy a new house, we are very happy, but our brain moderates that happiness over time. We need new house to be just as happy. In comparison, a vacation or a similar "memory making" exercise will become embellished and better in our minds than it actually was when we were doing it! It is an interesting idea and one that I feel fits me well.

Everyone, and especially political partisans, has trouble changing their minds when confronted with facts that don't fit their beliefs. In an ideal world, citizens would be able to maintain constant vigilance, monitoring both the information they receive and the way their brains are processing it. But keeping atop the news takes time and effort. And relentless self-questioning, as centuries of philosophers have shown, can be exhausting. Our brains are designed to create cognitive shortcuts — inference, intuition, and so forth — to avoid precisely that sort of discomfort while coping with the rush of information we receive on a daily basis. Without those shortcuts, few things would ever get done. Unfortunately, with them, we’re easily suckered by political falsehoods. Note to self: Question yourself.

So said a colleague at lunch and cleared up his own bafflement at why people follow others who proudly proclaim them dumbness.

I absolutely love disruptive reviews. My favorite is Matt Taibi's review of Thomas Friedman's "World is Flat". The review of the new Sex and the City movie linked here runs close. The fab four go to Abu Dhabi of all places and "stone sexism to death". At sexism's funeral (which takes place in a mysterious, incense-shrouded chamber of international sisterhood), the women of Abu Dhabi remove their black robes and veils to reveal—this is not a joke—the same hideous, disposable, criminally expensive shreds of cloth and feathers that hang from Carrie et al.'s emaciated goblin shoulders. Muslim women: Under those craaaaaaay-zy robes, they're just as vapid and obsessed with physical beauty and meaningless material concerns as us! Feminism! Fuck yeah! If this is what modern womanhood means, then just fucking veil me and sew up all my holes. Good night. *smile*. Good day everyone.

A fantastic (and balanced) essay about Ayn Rand and here books. Unsparing in critizing her where deserved. Like this piece about her brag about "not faking reality in any manner". Rand had periods of heavy use (of amphetamines) in the 1950s and '60s.... As anyone who has had the experience knows, a good way to get a really, really distorted sense of reality is to swallow a couple of Dexedrines. If you want to take them anyway, don't go around bragging that you never "fake reality in any manner." ... but the article also provides a credible and heartfelt explanation of why her novels are popular (and great) ...a heroic vision of a blue-collar worker doing his job... Critics often accuse Rand of portraying a few geniuses as the only people worth valuing. That's not what I took away from her. I saw her celebrating people who did their work well and condemning people who settled for less, in great endeavors or small; celebrating those who took responsibil...

Loranism for the day (About fly fishing): It is easier to kill trout with a baseball bat than it is to fly fish it. One wouldn't think fooling a fish with such a small brain would be so difficult. You have to prepare the bait just so, so it resembles some food available in that particular stream. Then you have to dangle the bait just so, otherwise the damn thing wont bit. And all the Republicans have to do is trot out Sarah Palin and they all vote. I don't get it!

The big banks (JP Morgan, BofA, GS) reported that they made a profit on every single trading day. The chances of this happening in a fair game are astronomically small. Probably smaller than the chance of you getting struck by an astroid as you are reading this post. So if you reading this and are still alive, it means the game is fixed. Prudence would seem to demand not playing the game. What am I missing?

Won in the last game against Topolov in a hard fought match.

God is in the air. Again. After Dawkin's God Delusion and Hitchen's God is not great left scorched earth (but no prisoners) in their wake, comes a more subtle book written by Rebecca Goldstein - 36 Arguments for the existence of God - A work of fiction , where the protagonist, an "atheist with a soul", contemplates the universe that has suddenly made him rich and famous after his public confession of atheism. Arguments about God, and the ripostes thereof, have been an ongoing (and mostly mundane) phenomena for many centuries. Things got a bit more interesting during Enlightenment . Voltaire lies in his deathbed and a worried priest comes up to him and tells him that it is not too late. He can yet renounce satan. "Now is no time to make new enemies." says Voltaire. And dies. Although things had turned interesting, it isn't until the twentieth century, and until both sides had fully heard out the other side, that the arguments became stylized. Th...