Thursday, March 30, 2006

Dikshant has been suffering from a host of illusions lately...the biggest one is that of prof. cpc being centrist! hah! what a joke!

also i find it strange that he was surprised at what papers have to say about capital account convertibility...did he expect anything different??? people who make sense are always up against a tide...

let capital account convertibility be for the time being...i've had an overdose of it already...

a lot of issues have been eatin right into my brain...infact i've been so consumed by them that i no longer notice the split ends in my unweildy hair, my burgeoning waistline and my very snappy attitude ( forgive me...those who have been victimized).

to begin with it has been made evident to me that i'm not such a sensational singer after all(sigh). after all those years of singin along with morrisette, ethridge, joplin, the non-blondes ( whats up is the song for the moment), seger, rem, oasis, hetfield (yes believe it or not), morrissey, morrisson; and hundreds of stage performances enacted in front of the mirror...my glittering hopes have been broken into unrecognizable little pieces *holds back her tears*....
i have also realized that i will never find the time with a course like mine to learn bharatnatyam or any other form of serious dance...

22 is a scary age. all those dreams you thought u had time for suddenly become out of reach. and to top it all they are brutally replaced by the worrisome thoughts of responsibilities you are to be burdened with and the fact that you will soon have to earn your living...

but this is not the end. the abovementioned are just a few dreams that have been striked off a long list on which the remaining 'things to be done' sound slightly less ambitious. i hope that in future i find the time and the means to paint ( like van gogh may i add), pursue photography, do a little bit of theatre (was going to be striked off but then i thought i could make it happen..in a small way perhaps), master a sport, do a lot of trekking, rafting, climbing and camping...

maybe i shall break this inertia and find the time, maybe i shall continue letting go of my little dreams as years go by. i have just realized that the latter is more painful and that should provide the stimulus to stop daydreaming and start living...

Friday, March 24, 2006

Had a pretty interesting discussion in class today... capital account convertibility being the topic.

The professor, affectionately called chandu by many is someone I admire. A relatively centrist outlook, a polite disposition and an everready smile are his hallmark.

Although seemingly unrelated, my inference from this class discussion was regarding the power of information.
Public opinion, fickle as ever, is rarely moulded by what is actually good for them... most tend to behave like sheep, follow the herd.

The integrity of most newspapers is severely compromised.... Times Of India being the worst.
I have never seen such blatant forms of monetary induced promotions anywhere else...


By the insertion of a few biased articles in popular mouthpieces the whole nation can be brought about to support just about anything.


Capital account convertibility, a possible path right down Argentina's alley is being touted by most as the greatest thing since the '91 reforms....
Im not taking the lefties side on this one.... im just trying to say that we are being shown a very biased viewpoint.
I havent read anything showcasing the possible adverse effects of such a move.

The south Asian crisis of the late 90's and the perennial Latin Aerican crisises could be seen as an indirect fallout of the introduction of capital account convertibility.
Why hasnt anyone told us that?


D

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Ive been wondering what to do with my life.....

Should I choose to follow the well treaded path, I can:
a)Get a job.
b)Pursue higher studies.

I enjoy the applied portion of economics, real world applications to theories. The arcane, labelled fascinating by many, rarely excites me.
If grades are an indicator of excellence, then the incompetence I display in the statistical portions is legendary.

Maybe I will try to get a job, that is, if anyone is willing to hire me. If I get bored I will come back into the fold of academics.

I admire shruti for that much... she has set herself a goal... and im pretty sure she is gonna get there. A Phd she wants, and god help any poor soul who gets in her way.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Guess who's back, back again, shruti's back, tell a friend...

Quoting an eminem song isint what I initially had in mind but it fits so beautifully..

The beauty has awoken from her slumber, whether a wayward prince or something to help fish out the poisoned apple... that only the mirror can tell.... tried the dwarfs but they werent too helpful.... think they are on strike these days.
Snow 'shruti' white's leftist outlook has influenced them all, they have their own union, their wages are indexed (tried asking them about the consumer price index applicable to a forest but they werent concerned with such trivialities), and theyve put up posters of Marx all over the woods.
The queen had been killed by George Bush cause the apple was considered a weapon of mass destruction, the nation was in a state of civil war....

Hopefully the prince, also the general secretary of the UN will bring about some sort of peace...

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Dikshant's been doing an excellent job at keeping this blog alive and kicking...which is the cause of much discouragement for this poor little blogger...this post is yet another desperate attempt at making my presence felt.

since the blog is meant to be argumentative in nature i shall try and comment on a few things that have been talked about...

On my favorite teacher:

i guess dikshant feels a little uncomfortable at her passing references to our 'colonized minds' (plassey! - a joke meant for the house), but it is my opinion that all she is doing is shaking us out of our slumber without sounding apologetic about her intense dislike for those who victimized us and are also the cause of the viscous circles we are stuck in...

she probably hits where it hurts most and pseudo coating her words is not exactly her style- its just the bitter medicine we need after living in denial for so long...

On morality:

i shall speak for myself- i feel that although societal norms may determine our notion of what is right or wrong to some extent, it is a subjective analysis which is internal to each person that plays a dominant role. the dynamics of such a process of finding inner approval is completely different from that of conforming to what is acceptable by society and each affects the other in the most profound ways. here i would like to disagree with sidharth when he says that an external stimulus is required to bring about a change in accepted social norms, i believe the stimulus is internal to the system which allows for its constant evolution ( this argument finds its inspiration in the theories of dialectics propounded by Hegel).

On attractiveness:

nothing can really define attractiveness. its a magnetic quality which manifests itself in physical features, attitudes, conduct, thoughts, beliefs etc. i would have certainly not derided dikshant if he felt that physical characteristics play an important role. only that the feature should not only be striking but should be able to inspire somehting depeer than itself. beauty that is external cannot be brushed aside. but there is a certain concreteness about attractiveness that stems from beauty of conduct, of nature , of thoughts and emotion; perhaps because these aspects donot fade away with time and are a truer representation of what a person really is. such attractiveness has the ability to take one into fathomless depths and is thus a more powerful magnet.

On Taxi 9211:

why on earth did u pick that movie??? i know your life is rather idle...but taxi 9211??!

On 'pragmatism' and 'anti-Bush protests':

We are students of a university and not diplomats for heavens' sake! the onus is on us to defend the truth in its essence and keep the fire alive! its not about being pragmatic but being sincere...

i also believe that the rise of the EU may play an important role in undermining the hegemonistic status the US has so far enjoyed and India could be a very strong partner...the nuclear alliance however has turned things around...

On your sense of humour:

Sarcastic or not...your sense of humour is lame! u poor delusional child...

On Dr. Strangelove...

havent seen the movie...catch 22 is a fantastic war satire though! wonder if u'd consider it belonging to the same leauge...

whew! (forgive me for this obscenely longgg one...just got a little carried away...)

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

First of all....HAPPY HOLI!

As many of friends were just beginning to stir from their bhaang induced sleep, I began to watch my newly acquired DVD, 'Dr. Strangelove:How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' .
Made in 1964, it is a satirical look at the Cold War.
The movie is about a General gone cuckoo who orders a nuclear strike on USSR because he fears a conspiracy by the communists to "pollute his precious bodily fluids".
The world ultimately goes up in nuclear armegeddon as the aftermath possibilities painted by a crazy nazi scientist sound very appealing to the generals...
Sounds crazy... well it is.
Its a black and white movie.... but its the shades of grey which really stand out....

Thursday, March 09, 2006

My favourite form of humour has and always will be sarcasm.
My only grouse with it is that its subtle variations are often lost within the confines of the written word.
A verbal duel, with sarcasm at the forefront, often the scene at everyday marital fights is a scene to behold.

The hallmark of a true master is when the true meaning dawns upon everyone except the very person the taunt was aimed at.... that too without the usage of imperfectly distributed information.

A straight face, a tone which never betrays its owner...... stuff legends are made of.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

My exams are over!
Now it's time to start my research paper!
Isint life a big barrel of monkeys!

Have been staring out of the window for a while, cant seem to come up with something insightful to plug in my paper.


Anyway, the latest avenue for protest in jnu has been the Bush visit. Endless protests, dharnas, eyecatching placards, emotional speeches, ive witnessed it all. Although on a one front I wholeheartedly agree with the point the protestors are trying to make im not sure whether hostility towards Bush is a very bright idea. In my scheme of things, pragmatism always come out tops.
All throughout history we see that the man with the bigger gun is always right, no one is ever found alive who tried to prove otherwise.
India had consistently followed a policy of non-alignment till the late 60's, much to the dismay of the US. Post 60's, India veered to Soviet bloc.... some say because of huge secret transfers into Congress party accounts.... some see it as a natural counterbalance to USA's support to Pakistan.

Fast foward to the 90's, the Soviet Union has collapsed, the world has now become unipolar.

USA now has the bigger gun,
Dear Saddam is on the run,
Oil barons are having all the fun,
What about us..!?