Reflections

I just got back from a two week stay in India distributed between indore, Mandu , its environs and Calcutta/ Siliguri. This is the best time of the year to be in India and that proved to be true this year as well. It was deliciously cold in Indore, Calcutta as well as in North Bengal. The sun was out for most of time so that we had glorious sunny days and crisp cold nights. Life was good as an advertisement says. It made us seriously wonder what we are doing in exile. I most enjoyed revisiting Mandu. I have been there some 22 years ago and it appeared to have not changed a bit. I shall talk about this sometime, but today I want to set down my impressions of India as a visitor. No matter what the newspapers say, the country is progressing. This may be because of government policies, or in spite of them, but the impression one gets is of an energy that we really never saw during our travels across India earlier. Sadly this is more evident in Indore than in West Bengal. Indore gave...

I am a member of a Yahoo group Called the Indian Higher Education Group. I got a very interesting message from the group which I felt should be shared. So here it is with no editing. Higher Education or Hire Education By Navendu Mahodaya" navendu.mahodaya@gmail.com Business Today, a leading business magazine of India Today Group, published an article (Sept. 2, 2012 edition) - “Hiring sleaze! Hiring scandal: How corrupt recruiters are cheating jobseekers, colleges and IT companies.” The article has provided an authentic account of some of the rotten practices. It seems a top IT company recruiter used to charge three quarter of a million rupees to visit a campus and conduct interviews. In addition to that every offer letter was charged at Rs. 50, 000/-. These were the terms to visit Engineering Colleges. Likewise, there would be terms for M.B.A. Institutes. It seems colleges that produce simple graduates could be considered lucky. It is rumored that post graduate manageme...

I cannot help feeling a sneaking feeling of sympathy for Vijay Mallya. The original success story of the Indian liberalization he was the man who disdained to hide behind the hypocrisy that makes the rich hide under a garb of simplicity and an often fake religiosity. He was never ashamed of the fact that he sold booze and made vast profits out of it. He was like the schoolboy who had found an unexpected horde of chocolates which he wanted to show off to the whole world. When he rode high, he had many fans. The entire media sang his praises, his parties were described breathlessly in Page 3, politicians, Bollywood actresses and media persons rushed to his side and sang hallelujahs about him. Now the poor guy is down and “none so poor to do him homage”. The facts of the matter are simple. He was and is a not a great businessman. While he sold liquor, this was not apparent as the big profits that this business generates covered a multitude of mistakes. Now, we are informed that his ac...

Electrical Devices The digital age brought computers and technology into the realm of questionable cancer treatments. Many types of unproven electronic devices are available; all promise to diagnose and treat cancer and other diseases with the use of electromagnetic fields and currents.5 These therapies frequently are described in pseudoscientific language borrowed from scientific biophysical concepts. Bioresonance therapy, for example, is based on the unsupported premise that cancer cells and other diseased tissues emit ‘electromagnetic oscillations’ that vary from those generated by healthy cells. Bioresonance devices are said to cancel out or otherwise replace these negative oscillations with healthy ones, thus supporting the body’s own healing processes.29 One such machine, the BICOM 2000, is said to pick up ‘frequency patterns’ from the patient’s body. According to the manufacturer’s website, the device ‘is equipped with special electronics which . . . transform the modulated f...