Congress ki Jai Ho

Well i have seen popular songs being used by political parties to woo voters in previous elections, but Congress just went a little too far this time with Jai Ho. I don't know what insecurity overcame them, that after claiming all the oscars glory and counting the 8 oscars as part of UPA's acievement, they went on to buy the exclusive rights for the song "Jai Ho".



Congress speaker Abhishek Singhvi termed Slumdog Millionaire "a film of India, for India, by India" and talked about the "conducive atmosphere with emphasis on good governance contributing to an achieving India". And, while all countries and government try to shun the poor tag (except of course while asking for aid) Mr. Singhvi said such laurels had not gone to every other poor country. "Half the world is poor, there are countries poorer than India; but the film is a celebration of creativity," he said. Winners among the poor, yeah!!!

Well here is the promotional ad by Congress, there might have been some other releases but I could only find this..



I have no idea what they wanted to show but in my view it was a history lesson. Except Delhi Metro, and Chandrayaan no other recent achievement was shown. Otherwise there were only some happy people going about their work or attending Congress's functions. Just as a reminder the concept of a metro for Delhi was first formalized in the Delhi Master Plan of 1960, and the legal framework for the metro was laid out in the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act of 1978. Actual work towards building the metro, however, only started in March 5, 1995, when the DMRC was established.

And, the idea of undertaking an Indian scientific mission to Moon was initially mooted in a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1999 that was followed up by discussions in the Astronautical Society of India in 2000, and publicly announced by former Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayeeon on Indian Independence Day, August 15, 2003.. I also happen to remember his speech "Our country is now ready to fly high in the field of science. I am pleased to announce that India will send her own space craft to the moon by 2008. It is being named Chandrayaan I"

Except these i only saw Nehru, Shastri, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. Manmohan Singh also made an appearance but no achievements were highlighted (or could be highlighted) during his appearance of under a second. Talk about a weak prime minister, Rubbish!! It was as if they just managed to sqeeze Mr. Singh in after someone reminded that they forgot to add the current prime minister.

While rummaging through youtube I found these videos

1. A satirical by some "zarahatke"



2. Paresh Rawal's comment on Jai Ho. These comments were later attributed to Mr. Modi as he used the same lines in many other election meetings.



3. And last but not the least BJP's bhay ho..



I hope these politicians stop these petty wars and concentrate more on topics that actually affect us.

BJP's IT vision

Recently BJP released a first of its kind document in India, "BJP’s IT VISION TRANSFORMING BHARAT" which puts forth BJP's vision for India from the IT perspective. It is quite an interesting read, some little known facts, some election stunts, but most of all a document which really promises to make India great. The document forms part of an overall strategy of BJP to target the urban internet aware public. You might have noticed "Advani for PM" Google ads on your favorite sites. I am not here to criticize their campaign, in fact i quite like it. Previously in all elections I felt a little disconnected, living in a hostel far away from any public contact, the elections were alive only as some headlines on timesofindia.com or in the morning newspaper. This time BJP has thrown the elections in my face, I spend practically all my time surfing and browsing. Now, where ever I go I see L.K. Advani campaigning for PM. I am sure a lot of others feel the same.

Now, coming back to the document. The vision puts forth the policies and plans that BJP intends to implement if it comes to power. In this IT is made to relate with every important national issue. Education, Employment, Governance, Healthcare, National Security, Safety, Justice, etc. But some policies are really eye catching. It is written that about one-crore laptops worth Rs. 10,000 would be distributed to students across India. It may seem a political stunt at first but wait, the laptops are "fully loaded" (in BJP's own words). The laptops would have Core2Duo processor, 2GB RAM, 250Gb hard disk space, 2-megapixel built-in camera, etc. This surely looks like they might have gone too far in their dreams but they try to provide a reasonable explanation as well. According to them after the mobile phones began being manufactured in India the prices dropped like anything and now the phones are affordable to all. Similarly, by forcing manufacturers to manufacture the chips and other hardware inside India they plan to make laptops just as affordable.

This also brings in their Hardware policy. They say

In 2007-2008, India’s electronics (IT + industrial & consumer electronics) hardware demand was $36 bn. However, only 50% of that was produced domestically, the rest being imported. Also, what was produced domestically represents a miniscule 2.5% of the $ 1.5 trillion global hardware manufacturing industry. Coming specifically to IT hardware (a component of the overall electronics hardware pie), 70% of the $ 10 bn domestic IT hardware requirement is imported.

What they plan is to create a robust hardware industry. The goal is also kept reasonable, to capture 5% of the world market by 2012.

Next, what they promise is really what India needs, no not the National ID card but a telemedicine service not only for the remote areas but for every Primary Health Care Center in India. Their plan is to connect all these PHC's center under a national network and they also want to maintain health records for each and every citizen. A novel idea in all aspects but it might take a long time to implement.

Of course there are some poll stunts like a smart phone for every BPL family. Now, what will a person who is not sure about his two basic meals do with a smart phone. There is only one answer, sell it. Instead, why not decrease the corruption in Public distribution systems using this IT. This would surely make a lot more difference in their life.

Overall, I would really like to congratulate BJP for introducing a document which has really been thought through and which presents a vision which is really possible.

Pondy 2.0

Pondy Pondy Pondy the charm just never dies. One of the more compelling reasons was the recent visit of my friend Sheru there who discovered a new restaurant there Tio Tentacao. (puducherryfoodways-yes-again) Anyways we are always ready for Pondy. This time though there were only four of us and no vegies. So no compulsions we could eat whatever we wanted.

We reached on the morning of 16th a day after Pongal only to find half the shops closed as they were taking a day off as rest day after keeping their shops open throughout Pongal. Luckily we got two bikes on rent (though the luck vanished on the 2nd day) and set out for Auro. As usual we got a room in RoofTop and we set straight to work...food.

We went to Swadistha first, as it was only 11 in the morning and too soon for lunch. Its a nice Gujarati snacks bar but this time the coffee was just Ok though the samosas were nice. I think the owner was tired or just not interested in some Indian kids. It is a place quite frequented by foreigners.

For the lunch we went to New Pizza Roof just behind the Beach Cafe on the ECR. This place serves nice food but the preparation time is huge. He usually prepares meals from scratch. Anyways it was the only thing that was open that time so we had no choice. We had two pizza Hawaina and Chicken Monaco and chicken and cheese omlettes.

Pizza Hawaiana is described as "pizza baked with tomato sauce , grated cheese , diced pineapple and chicken". Chicken monaco as the name suggests had a lot of chicken both were quite good. There was also one Pizza 4 stagioni which had ham so we didn't order it. We also had flamed prawns by the way and they were quite nice.

On the evening we were back at the Gandhi Beach and boy was it crowded. It was as if all Puducherry was there to celebrate something. Maybe it was a friday evening and after the Pongal holidays people were still in the festive mood. There was rush on every shop on the beach front. Ice cream and coffee shops were jam packed as if it was all free.

For the dinner we tried to find some tibetan restaurant but both the Tibetan Corner and the Lhasa were closed. So, we went into the Tio Tentacao, the sports bar. It is more appropriately the sports restaurant as it doesn't serve any liquor. There is ofcourse a huge screen in the middle running your favorite tv channel, a pool table and a Darts corner. The main attraction is the Shisha which is a water-pipe for smoking just like a hookah. Except that there is only 0.02% nicotine. We tried one called Two Apples, it didn't quite suit us. The next time when we went we tried the Grape one and this one was really good. My friends who smoke told me that this one had a really nice kick. They also serve exceptional food by the way. The chicken and cheese burgers, chicken cordon bleu, watermelon juice and banana lassi were all good. We didn't like the Kiwi juice much though. But the caesar salad was awesome. We also tried mustard chicken and fried okra pepper. First dish is chicken breast with mustard fillings while the second is an appetizer made with lady fingers, cornmeal and buttermilk.

Paradise Pizzeria This place serves really delicious pizzas. They make their own cheese, pizza base, etc. They also have a five feet wide firewood oven, a thing not uncommon in Auro i also saw another just next to Frittes. We had Pizza The Mafia, Pizza India Special and Pizza Napoli. Mafia had pork, India special had chicken 65 and Napoli had some fish. They were all just fantastic. I have only one reservation about this place, it is only open during rush season.

Frittes This is a really cool open air restaurant run by a French family. Most workers are Indian but during rush you might find the owners family working. They make really good crepes, omlettes and coffee. You also get newspapers to read in the morning. The grilled sandwiches were also quite delicious.

Tibetan Corner is a restaurant run by a tibetan family on the same road as New Pizza Roof and Tio Tentacao. You can find Free Tibet posters inside. Anyways it serves classic tibetan food. The momos (tibetan dumplings), shabaglep(not sure of the spelling) both for veg and non veg palletes, are all very tasty and nice. The Tenthuk soup should come with a warning label in the menu. It is sufficient enough to cover one's lunch. It was also served beautifully with a half fried egg (bulls eye) floating on top of the soup bowl.

Shanthi Inn is a restaurant and bar near the two wheeler rent shops in the heart of Pondicherry on the Nehru Street. It serves quite fine food and all the types of liquor you could need.

The food in Auro and Pondy are the major attraction for me and I am ready to make the trip anytime. There is only one problem, the journey from Thanjavur to Pondy is quite long and the roads in pretty bad shape. Guess its the price that we should pay for all that good food :)