Nuclear Deal: Letters to Editors

I was going through one of the "Letters to Editors" in The Hindu. The title "The Nuclear Deal" attracted me. I was very curious to find out what the bigger Indian public is thinking.

I don't want to be rude here, but these were some of the thoughts that came to my mind as they seemed obvious to me.

• People write letters to be with the editor's column irrespective of what they write (Some columns don't make sense how much ever or however you try to interpret them, but that by itself is a separate story) so that they can see their names in the newspaper.
• People who have a good command over the language of English (unlike me) try their luck at things that they know little or don't know.

The Know-It-Alls sure don't do their research properly. They don't know what the deal is about. They don't know what has taken place. They don't know how long it has taken place. They don't know why this is being done.

It has to be noted that the entire negotiations was kept under wraps till the UPA government came into picture. Nuclear stuff being highly sensitive needs to be under the veil of secrecy. If you think you are the sole citizen of the country who cares about the Nation more than anyone other patriot, you are wrong.

Certain matters do not fall under the category of "Right of Information". Certain negotiations have to be conducted without the interference of the general public. When we have a very very less percentage of people's representatives who are politically educated, read "knows-what-they-are-supposed-to-do". Half of the crowd in the Parliament do not know what the hell is being talked about.

Given this situation, it does not make any sense to involve any of the non-strategic parties in the deal.

Everyone, it is a deal, means it is give and take. Can anyone of these people tell what is the give and what is the take? They don't know. I have read Strobe Talbot's book on the negotiations that took place between him and Jaswant Singh. I would suggest everyone to read the book before writing anything about the Nuclear deal.

You shouldn't just act smart by writing something that you don't know about, but should be smart enough too to actually know what you are writing. It still beats me. What were they thinking?

Shots fired: Chicago downtown shooting

Three hours ago, I was running an automated performance test when I started hearing sirens. You hear them all the time. Responding to some domestic violence, some person getting locked in the bathroom or someone had a heart attack, but by the time I realized that it was occurring frequently, I got news that shots were fired in the building directly opposite to where I work and diagonally opposite to where I live.

Not knowing the seriousness, just out of curiosity, as anyone would have, myself and my colleagues decided to go down and it ourselves. Only when we went down did we realize that the situation was much more serious.

Inside the office everything was calm but outside, it was chaos. Sitting at home and watching news in TV doesn't create that impact. I have seen cops killing a person on TV. It doesn't impact you much. May be because they are in electronic form. 10-15 police cars, 5-6 ambulances, 2-3 fire engines. The scene had all the ingredients to churn your stomach.

Story in short:
A gunman enters an office building in 38th floor. Apparently has an argument. Opens fire. Critically injures three people and shooting one women in the foot. SWAT team arrives, shoots down the gunman. One block radius blocked for civilians.

Reporters across the world would be having a field day with this event, but me sitting so close to the actual site of event (sambavam nadandha idam - Technically this happened a few metres away from me.) had affected me somehow in the deepest of my mind. It may be fear of closeness to danger or the thought that someone is fighting for his/her life at this very moment, I would never know. Only time can tell when I replay this event in my head and the impact it had on me.

One thing that has to be appreciated. SWAT team shoots down the "offender" minutes after the shooting. The whole area is secured. Police go floor by floor to check everything is okay. Not the kind you would expect in India. If a person is shot, he is dead. End of story...

Lunar Objectives: Another Star Wars?

NASA makes it a point that it announces something or the other every month. So what's the latest? Setting up a permanent base on the moon by the third decade of this century.

If you go through the "Lunar Objectives" in that page, it is immediately evident that it is highly ambitious. Lot of them sounds like science fiction to me, but yesterday's fiction is today's fact. It is just how fast we overcome the limitations and risks.

The document which is based on Lockheed Martin's list (Copy-pasted), has objectives in the following areas.

• Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Heliophysics
• Earth Observation
• Geology
• Materials Science
• Human Health
• Environmental Characterization
• Environmental Hazard Mitigation
• Operational Environment Monitoring
• Life Support & Habitat
• General Infrastructure
• Operations, Test & Verification
• Power
• Communication
• Position, Navigation & Timing
• Transportation
• Surface Mobility
• Crew Activity Support
• Lunar Resource Utilization
• Historic Preservation
• Development of Lunar Commerce
• Commercial Opportunities
• Global Partnership
• Public Engagement & Inspiration

Some of them are interesting and makes sense as well but some do not, for a simple reason that it is the best case scenario. Let me put it this way. Some of them are so future looking, even our great grand children might feel the same way as we do now. I hear arguments that the recent technological advancements have been tremendous and at this same rate, this is definitely possible, but even today we see Star Wars as a fiction.

I see the immediate requirement is fuel. The natural resources are draining pretty fast. So next nearest place is the Moon. So attack there. Like setting up the ISS, set up an off-planet drilling/mining/excavation/extraction plant taking a few decades to complete. Then use your space vehicles to transport them back to Earth. Voila! Now this sounds like achievable.

Particularly interesting for a lot of countries, nuclear-powered countries, is the million tons of Helium-3 waiting to be exploited. Everyone wants to be self-reliant, independent of the Middle-East for fuel and this is a nice achievable option.

Why is it possible? Because this is one of the few things that have happened, but at a miniscule level. Another perspective: India says that it is interested in contributing. We normally don't waste our time or money unless it is useful. Media reports and even scientists of ISRO have been commenting about the use of Helium 3 and using that to cater to India's future energy needs.

China and Japan have their own Lunar probes for 2007 while India is eyeing for 2008, provided we don't run into some major issues. UK is likely to opt out of the US plans because of its participation in the ESA. Everyone wants a piece of the pie and the race did not begin now, it began a few years back.

Even though the US and Russia have a very big headstart, the actual competition is between the other countries which are almost on the same footing. Now as citizens of this planet, we will have to wait and watch as to which country takes this seriously and tries to get a lead in this global competition. Bear in mind - As time goes by, we will not be the only ones in this race for fuel. Who knows future STAR WARS might be because of this even though "Global Partnership" is an objective.

Dhoom 2: PG13

I was 13 when I went to the movie called Speed starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. I went with my dad to watch the movie and it ends with a kissing scene. I happened to see this movie in Sathyam theatres in Chennai with my sister who was 11 years of age then!

The movie was rated 'R' by MPAA for violence and language and not obscenity. Now lets fast forward by a decade. Dhoom 2 releases, creates a big controversy for a kissing scene. Dhoom 2 vs. Speed - Not even close. A public litigation is filed accusing the actors for "Obscenity" and the scene being "Deragatory to women". Two words - "Grow Up".

First, the kiss does not last for more than a few seconds. Second, please define the word "obscene". Third, the movie is provided the appropriate rating by the Censor board. You don't like it, don't watch it.

I see lots of "Only in India" and this is one such instance. The previous instance was "Da Vinci Code". Even the Pope himself asked Christians to just boycott the movie. In India, they wanted a ban, protesters take violence as their aide and damage theatres. The book carries much more details than the movie. They were happily sleeping at that time and made an issue when the movie released.

Not deviating from the original topic, what does he want? Publicity? He has got that now. The Indian Judicial System has hell a lot of pending cases to clear. Give them a friggin' break. Don't waste their time.

Makes me wonder "What if I sue him for causing mental agony after reading such news?"

Guru: Soul is where the soul is...

Hmmmm... My first blog. So invariably it is about the God of Music, the Mozart of Madras, A.R.Rahman, his recent album Guru.

Rahman, the genius personified, comes up with one another beauty - GURU. Joining hands again with Mani Ratnam, working magic since Roja.

Each track is a class act. The soul of the song comes from the soul that Rahman has put into it. Let me not delve into the review of each song explaining what it is. Instead I will stick to what and which part I like the most, that makes me want to listen once again. No explanation provided cos' I like it :)

Barso Re
The aalap before the first stanza.The start of both the stanzas.

Tere Bina
The sweet voice of Rahman.The way in which the first two lines of the first stanza starts, which goes like "Naaja".Percussion - You don't see Rahman using these type of "Normal" rhythm ;)

Ek Lo Ek Muft
The instrumental before first stanza. Harmony of female "lado lado" before the second stanza followed by the male harmony.

Mayya Mayya
Though the Violin reminds us of "Azhagiya Laila", the way the line Mayya Mayya is sung - Awesome. Rendition of "Ale ah hey ah hey"

Ay Hairathe
Background vocals of Rahman.Voice of Hariharan. Melts through your ears.

Baazi Laga
Honestly, very Non-Rahman-90ish music. So this is one of those "average" songs from Rahman. So not anything special.

Jaage Hain
One Word - Another Bombay Theme. Will love to listen continuously.