Power-ful Gujarat

Trivia time: Which is the only state in India to have surplus power?

You guessed it,- Gujarat.

Gujarat Shining

In Narendra Damodardas Modi's Gujarat right now.

Gujarat is the home state of the father of the nation. The way things are going, it will soon be the state to father the industrialized nation. dubai's debt is USD 80 billion, MOUs from the just concluded vibrant gujarat summit is a pretty USD 450 billion. Just to let you know that Gujarat has the highest percentage of MOU conversions in India (50%).

People here seem well-dressed and seem to actually walk rather than just move, like they do in Kerala. Also, there are real roads and I have been accosted by only one beggar in the last 48 hours. Incidentally, not all shops are gold shops. Also, havent seen many policemen yet, as I havent seen any bar yet. Prohibition will kill a state like Kerala; it has neither killed the Gujarat government nor suffocated it.

This government is agonizingly rich (inspite of no liquor-dollars) and enviably efficient (inspite of being a government). It was none other than Ratan Tata who mentioned that their approval for Nano in Gujarat took even less time for processing than it would take Tata themselves to process approvals. Apparently, the lowest number of criminal lawyers in the country are in Gujarat,- not enough business for them.

What's the difference between Gujarat and Kerala,- if you will? A government can make or break. In Gujarat, it has broken mental barriers and made tangible progress. In Kerala, neither. If India is shining, the sun has to be rising here.

Reading Between the Lines - 35 - We might be broke, but we're nuked!

The Economic Times: Pakistan all set to overtake Britain as world's fifth largest nuke power

The prosperous nation of Pakistan is all set to overtake Britain as the world's fifth largest nuclear power, while simultaneously reasserting its position as the world's largest nuke powered terrorist state. The country, well known to house over a 100 well accounted for nuclear missiles, give or take a couple in the hands of friendly Afghans, and a few with, maybe the Somalis, is very much in control of its arsenal. The closely guarded stockpile in the command of its military, the ISI, the police, parliament, Nawaz Sharif, the Chinese, North Koreans and a privileged-few jehadis, will ensure that no third-world country will mess with Pakistan, other than Pakistanis themselves.

Magnanimous Ponting

Just wanted to note the gallantry of Ponting.

There were Indian students ready for the bludgeoning in the vicinity of this proud Australian, and yet, Ponting chivalrously decided to avoid clubbing them, and let loose his natural emotions on an innocent LCD.

Australians are known to be prophets of self-declared uprightness, whether it refers to banging Indian students or to sledging on the field. Ponting is not known to be an exception, but why vent your anger on the LCD, when there are cricketers on the field or students in the stadium? And besides, they are Australian, and so, everything will be perfectly acceptable.

Extra man doesn't help Bangladesh

In spite of having an extra player, Sreesanth, on their side, Bangladesh still could not manage a victory against India. Sreesanth who currently plays for any country that India is playing against, did his level best to help his Bengali team-mates, but the Indian total was too high for the Bangla brigade to scale.

If this is how we have bowled to the minnows, how will we manage the mighty?

Nuclear and beautiful

We are now in sovereign territory of the former Shah. This is Kish Island. The weather is beautiful, the water is blue, and the corruption is in-your-face. Just like India, but more beautiful.

Thousands of years of history, culture and civilization have led to Kish blossoming into a playground for daylight state-supported corruption. We are just past passport control when we are accosted by an official in plainclothes who eventually turned out to be just a plain hotelier in plainclothes. He kept seizing the passports of all those who were supposedly travelling for visa change, and kept instructing all such passengers to collect their luggage and wait in the hotel bus outside. When he collected ours, and we protested, he confirmed that if the passport officer agreed, he would return. So, we had to protest to the passport officer to 'instruct' this hotelier. The security-officer-hotel nexus is smooth, effective and runs with the efficiency of a steam engine.

The five star that we end up staying in might technically be five independent stars, one for breakfast, one for interior and so on. But then, we shouldn't complain. The whole island is engorged with mainlanders at the moment. The average Iranian in Kish would seem to economically better off than an average Indian, definitely more attractive, and decidedly more indifferent. Most are also seemingly nice. The vegetable vendor next to our hotel would have given Ajay Devgan a run for his money any day (I agree, anyone can given Ajay Toygun a run for his money). The food is incredible, if you are a carnivore. Else, you have the choice of rice and yogurt. Water is vegetarian.

The weather is chilly and cool, and the natural topography can inspire an epic. The elements must surely have something to do with the physical attractiveness of these people. Worth the visit? Definitely, if you are on a visa change.

Also, if you are Iranian.

Rushing back to home-grown violence

Taking a cue from other developed countries in the world, Pakistan has also been airlifting its citizens from restive Cairo to bring them back to its restive home soil.

Pakistanis stranded there are fearful of the violence that has besieged the country, and are anxious to get back to the comfort of home-grown violence. The paranoia of getting looted, mugged or blow-up in Cairo or Alexandria has driven many to the nearest airport to get a chance to return to Karachi or Islamabad to get looted, mugged or blow-up there.

Back home in Pakistan, the establishment has detected a foreign connection to its indigenous problem. I mean, people would really bother to immolate a self-immolating nation, wouldn't they?

Crying Ad Infinitum

Sri Sri Sri has got a way with all things illusory.

Recently in a Satsang, Guruji cracked a joke. People laughed hysterically over the joke. Then he repeated the joke and fewer people laughed. Then he repeated the joke again and again there was lesser laughter. This went on for some more time and each time there was lesser laughter.

Then Guruji said: "If you don't laugh over a joke if it is repeated more than once then why cry over the same grief again and again?"

World Day For the Abolition of Disease - 31st January

Technically, it's the World Day for the Abolition of Meat - but then again, it means the same thing. Interesting quote on this:

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. ~George Orwell