Twas a rainy day.. my ankle was shot... my sibling had 'accidently' deleted all my games... left with little to do and the crazy prospect of actually having to study to ward of boredom as being advocated by my parents, I began to read a book relegated to the innermost recesses of my bookshelf.

'The Communist Manifesto".

To be honest I didnt even know I had it, must have bought it in a spate of puerile whim when I joined JNU...

I was very impressed.

All the arguments had a stable intellectual bedrock. No effort was made to obfuscate their motives and the bourgeoisie were clearly potrayed as the enemy. The premises were perfectly apposite to the arguments..

I cant say I agree with them but I have to admit that it is a work to behold.


D

Shruti has gone off to bhopal.... Im up to my neck in excel sheets..... the precious little time saved for introspection along with all that other deep philosophical shit has been lost to football..

'Work' I realised is just a collection of deadlines thrown at you one after the other.... the more you can take the more will be thrown at you... the last one standing after all this gets a promotion.

Now doesnt that sound like fun...

My life is idle no more..... :(

the level of desperation of men in the city of bhopal is apalling...walk out alone and you could be the victim of a fair amount of catcalling, jobless men on their flashy bikes "wanna riding" you, invitations to buy you a cup of coffee and offers to show you around the city...its a woman's nigtmare...!

some might argue that it is the paternal instinct so typical of Indian men to want to take care of what they percieve as the weaker sex. it could be the level of desperation the men in a conservative setup are driven to. i can't help but draw reasons from culturally biased arguments...somehting that my latest read "identity and violence" has forbidden me to do. I'd just like to tell my favorite economist that the generalization has been made on the basis of a substantially large sample size and there isn't any other reason besides the above that occur to me in order to explain such imposing behavior. its just an example of another city perpetuating the Indian male stereotype...

The world cup is playing out beaauuuuttiiiiffuuullllyyyy!

Ive dropped out of an internship to watch it, my compatriots think im crazy...BUT ITS FOOTBALL!!!
Feel bad for the africans, play so well but always loose out....

The french and the english as always have their own little competition going... which team can play more unimaginative football... the torpid french vs the insipid english.

Argentina and Spain have been living up to their reputations(to my delight I might add as spain's one of my favourite teams).

Anyone out there wanna bet?

Huge row being going on about reservations these days... my university's union supports it... but if seen on a pan-India scale i'd say they are a minority.

Anyway, people with a lot more to say and a lot more at stake have said a lot so I'll let this be for a while.

Thought for the day: Should rewards be based on effort or results?

Efficiency theorists would probably put results on a pedestal... nothing succeeds like success.
You tried hard, im proud of you.... but you failed so f**k off...

Is that fair?

Many an accomplishment have been achieved on the basis of dumb luck(Shruts hates that term!!)... you pinned the tail on the donkey so you get the prize...



A level playing field is a myth, if someone has an advantage he/she will use it.

Eventually, someone will draw the line, rewards will be based on an amalgamation of results and effort.

I just hope luck isint ruthlessly stamped out..... my education has been heavily dependant upon it...

Delhi's burning.... and it aint even june yet!!

I remember reading an interesting report a few months ago, it said that the world did not have the requisite resources so as to allow the developing countries to enjoy the consumption levels seen in developed countries.

Well then... whadda we do!?

If this holds out to be true we will all be fighting for a relatively smaller pie.
Thus, to equalise levels either we need to witness substantial efficiency increases or see a decrease in consumption levels in developed countries....

Sounds like a recipe for war...


D

Things ive learnt about italy in general and italians in paticular. I apoligise for my shockingly narrow vision regarding the environmnet around me:

-They love talking! Ask them a question and they'll give you a billion answers.

-Crazy drivers, all of them!! From the bus wallahs to the scooters... all of them drive like there's no tomorrow.... at the speeds theyre going there will be no tomorrow.

-People grow progressively shorter as you move south.

-Their pizzas are a class apart!! A crude description... like roomali rotis with tomatoes and cheese...
P.S. Pizzas are sold according to weight.

-THEY MAKE THE BEST ICE CREAMS IN THE WORLD!!

-Sunglasses are a national obsession, you can see people wearing them at night!!

- They make crappy cars are beeeeaaauuuutttiiffuuul bikes.

- Venice is something like a flooded version of chandni chowk without the requisite number of people we are used to seeing here... closely resembles an urban ghetto... However there's something about it... its beauty gets to you in a subtle sorta way... id have to say it was easily the best this country had to offer.

-The copious amounts of cheese they eat!!! Everything has loads of it!! Its a wonder they dont drop dead of heart attacks.




D

It's been eons since I put up my last post, blame it on our educational system which forces me to study.
Luckily passing in jnu requires relatively rudimentary preparation.

Unlike me, many of my clasmmates dont seem to relish the prospect of three whole months of absolute rest... no exams, no term papers, no classes etc.
Just one of those things I presume, we always want what we cant get.

Although times like these are as close to perfection as possible....my current dilemma would be regarding internships.
Had tried my hand at it in december, the results werent too pleasant!
Inexplicable assignments, a professional status lower than a newt, demanding bosses... the works!

Aint too keen on it this summer....



D

I hate studying.....


D

Spent a large part of today thinking about the next 'big' thing...

Everyone who's anyone has earnt his/her rightful place under the sun by doing or developing something new....

This definitely holds true for the economics.

In my opinion, the current setup of economics will provide us with rapidly decreasing gains with every ensuing generation.... by focusing almost solely on mathematics it is rapidly reaching a level of extreme abstraction.

Thus, a new basis or field of research would be needed to progress any further.

I do have an idea though...

An element of human psychology should be introduced into the curriculum... the mother of all assumptions..."The consumer is rational"... should be relaxed... atleast to a small degree.
The mantra could be appended to..." the consumer is fallible".

This development would divert some of our attention from the 'core' but I do believe some interesting real world applications would come out of this.

I wonder if I'm the first one to think of this.......




D

One of the many grouses I have with our current setup for economics is its inability to impress upon us the fact that the zero sum game doesnt always work in the real world.

Most people see a gain by one lead to a corresponding loss for another....

Mercantilism.. a popular school of thought in the 17th century with variants being the mainstay of current national policies worldwide based its entire foundation on this.

Most dont realise that a gain by one may generate gains for another through secondary linkages. These gains would be further dispersed through tertiary linkages and so on.

Infact, as pointed out by many, a global symmetry is seen regarding economic booms and contractions... growth rates across the board are directly proportional to each other.

Altruism is an investment after all....


D

Its been a month since ive tasted chicken...... i feel deprived...

Chicks I can live without but the absence of chicken......... that just plain hurts!

I do feel sorry for the goats too... its their carcasses which hang on the butcher's window a lot more regularly.

I wonder if killing all the chickens is a morally acceptable solution to PETA, havent seen them try any stunts this time around.

My family... all of them vegetarian are oblivious of my misery..... i need a shoulder to cry upon... or atleast a little portion of succulent chicken tikka....

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...

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

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.

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...

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...)

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....

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.