Reverse Outsourcing

Outsourcing is not just a one way street…Wired reports on how Bollywood is aggressively recruiting foreigners of all kinds and from all places…as long as they are ghora…and not just for the tourist/potsmoking/kissing/item dance scenes. Read more here.

Problems In IE

Yes, I know this page is somewhat broken in IE. So dont call me up again to tell me about it. I fiddled with the layout and the setup and guess what…..its still broken. Thats it guys…switch to Firefox as soon as you can. It is also a much better browser BTW.

Freaky Economics and Why most soccer players are born in Jan, Feb and March

Ever since reading that cult book called 'Freakonomics' which everyone and his dog seems to know about,I have been an ardent fan of Steven Levitt's peculiar brand of data analysis. (Not just me, as an aside, one of my female friends liked him so much that she said he'd make an ideal husband. When I pointed out that the guy is supposedly ultra frail, short and bespectacled ie massive geek, she said she didnt mind…go figure!)

Aside from being very intelligent, Levitt's writing also throws up the most non-intuitive but true facts you can imagine. Some of you Levittians might know that he also writes a column for the New York Times under the same title. Check out yet another fascinating Levitt hypothesis here, the implications of which could be really useful in the Indian context as well.

‘Saint’ Medha

With all the recent fuss about the Narmada dam and the 'sacrificial' antics of Medha Patkar and her celeb cohorts, the NBA is squarely in the public eye…and quite the darling of it too. It is anti-government, pro-poor and gives every armchair activist and TV channel a cause celebre.

Now that a bit of the dust from all the hype settles down, it may be time for some perspective view of Medha's and the NBA's real achievements- or lack of it. A good article in Outlook, very critical, nuanced and somehow impartial inspite of it. Check it out here.

Yet another first post

If you have reached this page, it is definitely because I have prompted you to (or promised you material reward in return.) Yet another first post, on yet another blogging site…At last count, I had a few on Blogger, one on MSN and another on Yahoo 360. Maybe this time, I ll try and see this through to the bitter end….not just as an experiment on the latest geek fad site…BTW, I am impressed by WordPress.

Here goes the inevitable intro, about the blog itself, rather than about me. I figure if you didnt know me, you wouldnt be here….I have tried to blog about college life, work life and everything in between before. A few thousand words later, realization has finally dawned on me…I am not that good at writing about myself too much (this is not to be taken to mean that i am extremely humble and down-to-earth: rather, the lot of people who do not think i am mad consider me extremely egoistic and self-obsessed…really, poor me??)

Unlike many others, I do not view writing as a cathartic experience, an outlet to let off all those frustrations and pentup rage at the system built up by years of institutionalization and looking down upon. I am not in love(unrequited or otherwise.) I do not wish to judge others under the cloak of invisibility. No Sir, I write when I have nothing else to do. Nothing more, nothing less. I like to write. But not much as I like to talk, read and think(sometimes.) And because of that, i tend to lose focus when trying to write consistently about anything. SO this time around, I am going to write about anything and everything, which passes under my radar.

A lot of what goes up on this page might probably be opinionated drivel. I am the sort of guy who'd pontificate and speculate about anything at the drop of a hat- aka the irritating guy who sits in the corner of the room because no one talks to him. On the other hand, some of the stuff might actually interest you…I presume that I have a suitably ecletic range of interests. My model blog would be something similar to that of Falstaff at 2×3x7.blogspot.

So, wish you like the rants and raves to be encountered here in the coming days (hopefully, and if you ever come here again.) Plus a bit of odd stuff once in a while…have you tried my brand of poetry, you really shouldnt.

WELCOME ONE AND ALL.