Platter of Half Baked Ideas

Ghana's victory over US in World Cup yesterday, coupled with the World Cup fever reminded me of Invictus movie. For those who haven't seen it yet, its a must watch - I highly recommend it.  In short, its an inspiring story of how Nelson Mandela, soon after being selected as the President, used Rugby to bring South Africa together as a nation. The movie has some amazing performance by Morgan Freeman (as always) and Matt Damon holds on his own as the South African rugby team captain who must lead his team to victory against pressure odds. I especially loved the poem: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It...

Going through Priya Ramani’s much-talked-about article in the Mint, I was quite a bit confused. [ Link ] Recently I’ve become increasingly convinced that I’m not an Indian. After all, it is possible that someone did a baby switch at Breach Candy Hospital where I was born, or that my parents have carefully hidden the truth about me for 40 years. Quick proof that I’m not Indian? I have no furious loyalties to the Baganapalli or Alphonso. In fact, I can think of at least six fruits that I prefer to the mango. I have never eaten an entire  paan  or a pot of  mishti doi  (though I have tried both) and I don’t spit in public or private (except for that one time I tried a  meetha paan ). I don’t understand that other national obsession, cricket, either. White is not my favourite skin colour. I don’t read Chetan Bhagat or Paulo Coelho. I feel depressed every time I wear a  salwar-kameez . No sir, I will not discuss my private life with a stranger on a trai...

Amazing idea.. don't you think so? Came across this on an advert related site I follow regularly. Goes to show you can help even with 0 budget. Advertising Agency:  ACW Grey , Tel Aviv, Israel Executive Creative Director: Yonatan Stirin Creative Director: Shani Gershi, Amir Ariely Copywriter: Shani Gershi Art Director: Asaf Levi Account Manager: Dani Brande Account Superviser: Shiri Shiffer Account Executive: Galit Ben-Yehuda

Warren Anderson, former head of Union Carbide and a man so hated in India , Gandhi himself would kick him right in the jewels given half a chance. What makes him evil: As CEO of the multibillion dollar chemical manufacturer, he contributed to what is cheerfully referred to as the “worst industrial accident ever”. A plant in Bhopal , India that manufactured concentrated poison (the best kind of poison) suffered a massive breach, releasing 42 tons of gas. Authorities indicate the many, many safety flaws in the plant were known to Anderson and others before the spill. Reports of the dangers were recorded at least two years before the disaster as well as smaller incidents that were swept under the rug. While the sister American plant was kept up to code, the Indian plant was left to adopt a more “try not to inhale the deadly toxins” approach. Half a million people were exposed, tens of thousands of people died and the plant was left abandoned to keep on contamin...

If there has ever been a story of a mass murder perpetrated by a corporation then it  is without doubt Bhopal. This was not a accident. It never had been. The Bhopal incident was the inevitable culmination of a foreign company’s cynical disregard for human life in a third world country. To start off, the Union Carbide plant had decided to go with “untested production processes” for producing and storing some of the hazardous chemicals used in industry. Then when they saw that the demand for their pesticides was lower than expected and that they were hemorrhaging financially, they tried to transfer their plant to another third world country. This particular plant was so unsafe that Brazil or Indonesia would not allow them to bring it to their soil. So now they decided to reduce operational costs by drastically cutting down maintenance personnel. The Union Carbide management, headed by one Warren Anderson, was made aware of 61 hazards (30 of them major) by their own inspectors to...

I hope you all can do this. I am. NASA wants to put your face in space. No, really: Just in time for the last two space shuttle flights, NASA is offering to fly pictures of anyone who uploads a head shot on their  Face in Space  website to the International Space Station. Face in Space follows a long tradition of spacecraft carrying personal touches out of Earth’s gravity well. Since 1997, shuttle missions have carried elementary school students’ signatures as part of an outreach project called  Student Signatures in Space . The  Cassini  spacecraft brought a  disk of signatures  into orbit around Saturn. The  Phoenix Mars Lander  took  DVD to Mars’ north pole . The  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter  took a  microchip to the moon . And the exoplanet-hunting  Kepler telescope  took a DVD full of  names and messages to ET  into orbit. The  Voyager I  spacecraft’s cargo was even more int...

Another interesting post that I came across on Subroto Bagchi's Blog. This might seem like a news article, but highlights a rather important issue. And I wonder whether we can do something to address it. Thoughts, as always, welcome :) Shashikant Shetty’s father came to Bombay from Mangalore in the 1960s. He worked at his sister’s restaurant as a table boy for many years before finding his own feet. From that time on, the man worked harder, managing a restaurant for someone else before finally securing a plot of wasteland to start his own bar and restaurant.  His wife strongly protested the decision because the land was in a place where “wild animals and wild men roamed”. The Mahakali Caves Road where Shetty wanted to start his business was not what it looks like today. But the senior Shetty prevailed. For a man with a wife, two daughters and a son, all living in a one room chawl, it was a testimony to India’s city of entrepreneurship; of hope and resilience. Shashikant in the ...

Some of the risks I'd taken in stock market have started paying off... so feeling a bit like Calvin in this strip :D