JAL Publishing Inc.

2009-04-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

seriously.. why do we need a whole ministry for Civil aviation? and why is rising domestic air fares such a pressing page 1 national issue?

2009-04-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sashi Tharoor came to my neighbourhood in TVPM today; saw him up so close, but could not bring myself to go and talk to him; at least a shake hand... Happy that he could take Malayalam much clearer than he usually did during the beginning of his campaign.

Personally, as I should have told my many friends, I would trust a man who's spent almost all his career in the States and still holds an Indian passport to work on my behalf than some professional politician.

I would never think of voting for the BJP nor for the communists, my only choice always was the Congress. Therefore, I realized today that I knew none of the other candidates contesting at Trivandrum, apart from Tharoor.

I personally don't expect or feel that Tharoor should involve himself in grassroots issues at Trivandrum. Based on his background, everybody predicts that he would be the foreign minister for the next UPA government. I am sure that is the best fit for him. As for grassroots governing, don't we have MLAs, Corporations, Panchayats etc.? Then again, I wish if Tharoor could be like the Tamil Nadu Central ministers who channeled a lot of new programmes and industries to Chennai during the UPA rule. Everybody does so, AK Anthony was the one who initiated the Brahmos assemblies unit in Trivandrum.

My favourite part of Oberon Mall

2009-03-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

No points for guessing which part of Oberon Mall that I like most. Yes, it is Level 4, the food court. But the only food stalls available as of now are Krispy Chicken (a Chic King kinda), BTH vegetarian hotel, a Chinese hotel and Krispy Chicken serves Arabian food also. And none of it is very good. My fondness for the Food Court is not the food, but for the amazingly designed space that it is. Do check out below:

Check out the view of outer Ernakulam from the Food Court below. One more Real estate boom and all this greenery is gone.

2009-03-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

Do Homosexuals get turned on by their own reflection on the mirror>?

2009-03-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Watched Slumdog Millionaire last Sun: It is not the film that we should feel insulted about, it should be about how almost half of our population do not have the opportunity to a decent livelihood; and that if there weren't for people fighting in the name of Allah and Ram, (if not lakhs) tens of thousands of our children would not be orphaned to grow unsupported and vulnerable. A Slumdog's suffering could be understood if he was in Mugabe's Zimbabwe or Hitler's Germany, but in a nuclear age/space age democracy??

Why Islam

2008-05-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

A very well presented video on what Islam is really about. Pray that you watch the whole video, and understand clearly the true message of islam. I get all these weird questions, rather remarks from people, which I just could not properly answer. Mostly because I myself have insufficient knowledge to truly explain what Islam is all about. A good effort by Baba Ali to put up this simple video. Hope it dispels some of the confusion around.

The Ummah Films channel on Youtube is by Baba Ali, who creates videos on Islamic messages, primarily targeted at Muslims. Though 'Why Islam' is a normal video, most of his videos poke fun at unislamic Muslim practices and are humorous in nature.

What I need to give to this person and his videos were that his humorous videos kindled my thirst for Islamic knowledge and inspired me to think and seek further knowledge. Insha Allah, may Allah give him the reward for that and purify his intentions.

My favorite videos in the channel are(in no particular order):

Looking for a Spouse online

Who hijacked Islam?

Muslim characters at Work

Fisibilillah Discount

The Haram Police

Videos that non-Muslims could also learn from and appreciate:

The Art of Complaining

Racism and Pride

Escaping the Holiday party

Looking for a Spouse online

If you have a question yourself, go ahead and submit it to the Ask Baba Ali series at: http://www.askbabaali.com/.

See the entire Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ummahfilms.

A couple of pple have also come together under the Ummah Films banner to make a film, Tommorrow Never Comes
. Not much, but has a pretty good message to it.

Vanita Ratnam is Back!!

2008-04-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

If there is some original idea, that India can boast of, in the reality shows space, it is Vanita Ratnam. Where else do you have a show contesting housewife mothers. Yes, one of the main prerequisites to take part in the contest is that you need to be a mother.

Telecast between 8 to 9 pm on weekdays, the second edition started broadcasting on 31st March 2008. Well, it is a nice opportunity and all that for housewives who otherwise would have only tonight's dinner to think of. There is a whole array of reality shows that are happening in various Malayalam channels. There are a couple of them for Singing and Dance; then there is one for journalism, one for men on cooking and even on e for babies! Yes, u feel so sorry for the babies.

Coming back to Vanita Ratnam, you might wonder how it would have caught my fancy. Well, I am sure that there are thousands, if not lakhs of people like me who are relieved that their mothers arent spending prime time, sobbing away at some stupid serial plot, which has been running for like ten years now. With this craze of reality shows i am happy that there is at least one reality show happening during prime time, which has pretty much weaned mothers away from serials. At least my mother now watches only one serial, which unfortunately shows a little before prime time. And since you cant change channels when mommy is watching the show you at least have something better to watch than see serial villains trying to look really pissed, but even the babies at the reality show for babies wouldnt look more innocent.

Now THAT is a lot of popups!

2008-03-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

AAI Employees' strike: What a loss of purpose!

2008-03-13T11:07:00.001-07:00

An indefinite non-cooperation strike was called off by Airports Authority Employees' Union (AAEU), and affiliate of the CITU today night. The strike was called for to protest the opening of private airports in the country that would lead to the closure of the existing airports.

Over the two days of the strike, however, flight services were largely unaffected. Though over 2000 workers did not report for work at Mumbai airport, flight operations were not affected. None of the other airports reported any disruption in flight operations. Perhaps, it is enough proof that the striking workers served no purpose at first place; and were slacking away with a government salary and position. Neither did they have the skill and the savvy to get employed with the newer private airports, nor are they looking at other options. They are such a counter productive force on our economy, considering the amount of money that is spent on these slackers' salaries.

Well, since the adventure ism has proved a point, theoretically, the Government is at a better footing in the bargaining process. However, all 14 demands of the union has been accepted. Election year.. blah blah... This is what happens in a centrally planned democracy.

Loan Waiver? What the Hell!&*^^$^%$#!

2008-03-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

P. Sainath, strips the UPA Government bare naked to reveal the hidden intentions and futility of the loan waiver in an article in The Hindu today. Some excerpts:

Even the colonial raj went in for loan waivers or ‘karza maafi’ more than once. And those waivers addressed private moneylender debt. (There were no nationalised banks in those days.) That’s something the present waiver does not touch — even though usury accounts for the overwhelming share of farm loans. In Vidharbha, money owed to private lenders would account for between two-thirds and three-fourths of all debt. In short, we haven’t begun to resolve the debt crisis of these and millions of other farmers.

In Vidharbha, the average landholding size is 7.5 acres or 3.03 hectares. Way above the two-hectare cut-off mark for the bank loan waiver. Up to 50 per cent of Vidharbha’s farmers are above this limit. Not because they are big landlords. They tend to have larger holdings as their land is unproductive and unirrigated.

Is the waiver ‘unprecedented’? Each year, nationalised banks write off thousands of crores of rupees as bad debt. Mostly money owed by small numbers of rich businessmen. And theirs is not a ‘one-time waiver.’ It is a write-off that recurs every year

Between 2000-04, banks wrote off over Rs. 44,000 crores.

BlogCamp in God's Own Country

2008-03-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Had the second meeting to discuss the organizing of BlogCamp. Hopefully, we would be able to have it sometime in June. So if you like the idea of blogging by the backwaters, do check the wiki for more details.

The wiki is: http://barcamp.org/blogcampkerala

You can join the Google group to get frequent updates. To join, go to:
http://groups.google.com/group/blogcampkerala

Anand started this meme to help spread the message. And, i am one of those who were tagged. So here goes a list of my pals:

Bala

Shekar

Jaggy

Ganesh APP

Siddharth Govindraj

Alex Thomas

Do love link your pals also, and spread the message.

2008-03-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

How come SIMI, a student organization that somehow attains a radical undertone gets banned while RSS remains free to eliminate whoever it wants and spread whatever it feels even after 83 years of doing what it does?

Sometimes, somethings are a little too obvious....

How fair is a Higher income tax slab for Women?

2008-03-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

A higher income tax was introduced, if i remember right, by Mr. P Chidambaram, two years ago. Wonder what was the logic behind it. After the revision in the current budget, women needn't pay income tax for the first Rs.1,80,000 rupees vis-a-vis Rs. 1,50,000. That is, income tax slabs start at Rs. 1,50,000 for men and at Rs. 1,80,000 for women.

Okay, i understand that it the women that complain all the time. But, the reason for this simply cannot be understood.

a). Does it enhance, by any means, the economic or social standing of Women?
b). Does it give her any competitive edge?
c). Is there any social upliftment objective? If yes, how?

If you look at it generally, families where the wife would be working are almost always double income households. That is, there would be two earning members, namely, the Husband and the Wife. Compare the standing of such a family with only one earning member. That is, a family with only the Husband working.

Over 75% of the middle class households belong to the latter. Compare the total income tax implication of the latter to the former, and it is only too obvious that Households with only Husbands working are at a comparative disadvantage.

I would go on to suggest that Women should have a lower slab and get them to pay higher, because the household is earning a higher lumpsum. Or, maybe have a combined tax slab which would be higher if there is more than one earning member.

Budget '08: Good show by the Finance Minister

2008-02-29T03:11:00.000-08:00

A very good show by the Finance Minister, partially owing to the elections coming up. The budget has pretty much covered all the issues that faced the nation today. With the Global markets getting dirty and the Finance ministry and the RBI looking at further control for the economy from a crash, the stock markets were fearing a lot of bad news.

While the Dividend Distribution Tax remains, the Short Term Capital Gains tax stands revised to 15% from 10%. Hmm.. thats even more pressure on day traders' margins. Hopefully that would reduce the volume of speculation that typically aggravates an upward or downward movement.

Even as the RBI tracked inflation rates were pretty low, common man was increasingly feeling a rise in prices across items. In the end market, somehow the exhuberance of a controlled inflation was not evident as housewives bargained profusely to check monthly home budgets. The increase in income tax slab has clearly provided some relief for the largest middle class of the World. A minimum of Rs. 4000 rupees of rebate would therefore be applicable. Deductions on both the direct and indirect taxes front would cost the Government Rs. 5900 crores. However, he forecasts that the high growth would offset the loss. The slew of measure would ensure that purchasing power remains at the right hands, the consumers. This clearly would help mitigate recessionary pressures in the economy as the Global economy goes on to a slowdown.

The bumper announcement of this year's budget was the debt waiver and one time relief for small and marginal farmers. No impact is seen in the Economy at large since the money is pretty paltry for the Financial system at large. However, it would be a serious dent on the Fiscal side for the government when it gets down to settling the loans with the banks. Am not sure whether agricultural suicides are going to decline, as most farmers depend on moneylenders for credit. This would be a serious dampner for those farmers who are honest with their credit settlements.

My Story Session: Hemu Ramaiah

2007-07-01T05:24:00.000-07:00

Image Courtesy: Chennaionline

TiE Chennai organized a 'My Story' session by Hemu Ramaiah on friday. She narrated her story of how she built Landmark bookstore. A Love for books since childhood got her an assignment at the Danai chain of Hotel bookshops at the Taj Coromandel, as she was a Bachelors student at the Stella Maris College in Chennai. In her nine years with the chain, she set up stores in various other stores in the city.
In the nine years she had pretty much figured out the books market in India, to find a vaccum in the market primarily because importers were not exactly connecting with the end readers, besides the dearth of a general book store in the city. This led her to starting her first store in Nungambakkam. The idea was to have a large multiproduct store with an open display. There would be no hardsell, and visitors could browse books unlimitedly, without any interruption. To Indians, shopping is an entertainment she says. It is a family ocassion mostly, and this led to her decision to have a multi product range to appeal to the entire footfall in the mall. She also spoke of how in 2002, she was excited about the prospect of Koramangala to start a store in the Forum Mall there, way before Koramangala was on the Bangalore city map.
What i respected most about Ms. Ramaiah was the conviction and humility with which she spoke. What was even remarkable was the whole hearted communication she had made during the session. All the audiences' questions and opinions were well recieved by her. Like she says, its when one reads more and more that one realizes that one knows hardly anything in this world. I think it is this heartfelt conviction that she possesses, that made the session remarkable.
I would say that her talk was so unbusinesslike but made a lot of business sense.
From what i could make out from her story, i understand that for her, scaling up was not an ambition, but highly necessary to stay in business. She told how she had to move into trading and importing of books because her existing supplier had started a store of their own and had played foul to put her out of business. This drove her to think of importing books on her own. And to import books directly, she needed volumes, so she had to start supplying to 'competitors'. Now, she is looking at being present at every level of the books business, to cash in on Landmark's existing market position. Again the need for scaling up made her think of an external partner. In 2005, she sold 76% of Landmark to TRENT, while she continued as the CEO of Landmark.

Jaleel Jalaludeen

Why Krd Rys is not an innovative product

2007-06-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

But it is a really good idea!!

Curd rice is a traditional dish in Chennai and no lunch is complete without a final serving of the cool subtly spicy dish. It is so common in Madrasi homes and restaurants that 'Krd Rys' cannot be called an innovative product. But nobody ever thought of packaging and selling it before Hatsun Agro Product Ltd did. I am sure competitors are banging their heads against the wall for not having thought about it before. The USP of this product is the standardized processing and packaging, making it a hygenic product, besides being pretty competitive in terms of price. While Saravana Bhavan charges Rs. 27, the price of Krd Rys is Rs. 16. The price is at around Rs. 20 at other restaurants. I would go for Krd Rys for the quality plus the price.
Am waiting for sambar rys, lime rys, tomtom rys....
Cant help but echo a blogger when he calls krd rys a treat for bachelors(me incl.) living out of hostel messes and restaurants.

Why do Women spend more time buying mobile phones?

2007-06-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Economic Times carried figures for consumers in SEC A, 25-40 age group, by In-Store Consulting on 'Minutes spent per visit at stores in metros'. The piece titled 'Gender Bender' goes like this: " Women no longer dominate just grocery and apparel shopping. Recent shopping data in metros reveal that women spend more time at stores selling mobiles and other telecommunications accessories compared to men. And even for erstwhile male dominated categories books and time wear they are coming pretty close to men on time spent per visit to such stores." The piece goes on to list that men spent an average of 19, 11 and 24 minutes each on books & gifts, telecom and time wear respectively, while for women it is 16, 13 and 19 minutes respectively.

The piece looks real shoddy and crudely feminist. Wonder why a retailer would want customers to spend more time in his facilities; The lesser time that it takes to close the sale, the better. The fact that women spend lesser time on books & gifts and time wear is maybe because of the confidence they have in choosing from the said category of goods. Men not being frequent at purchasing books and gifts, fare lower in terms of experience and product knowhow, and therefore need to spend more time, weighing options. When it comes to mobile phones and accessories, men spend lesser time considering their comfort levels when it comes to electronics and gizmos. Women comparatively less comfortable with gizmos and therefore, spend more time understanding the product before buying them.

Why I cant blame my Air Deccan flight.

2007-06-15T04:34:00.000-07:00

The 6.50 Trivandrum - Chennai Air Deccan Flight was my first experience in a low cost Airline and especially Air Deccan. Having read all the bad press that Air Deccan is known for besides what my friends used to say, i couldnt help but being sceptic about the airline's service standards.
However, right from the boarding pass counter to the arrival launch of Chennai airport, i just couldnt complain. The no frills service offered was to take me from trivandrum to chennai within the stated time. And contrary to the bad press, it did. The flight took off on time and arrived on time. Yes, i had to pay excess baggage for just a kilo. But hey, thats how they ensure margins and they are at no obligation to carry the excess one kilo for free, having agreed upon only 15 kilos of checkin baggage.
The new Airbus A320 was tidy and basic. The seats were normal, not reclinable but okay for the short trip.
In my opinion, it is either that Air Deccan has improved its service but still happens to retain the bad image or that people are toying with the conventional notion that anything thats cheap is substandard.

In my opinion, Air Deccan got its strategy wrong right from the beginning. Domestic air travel was and is an untapped opportunity when they first started operations. There was enough demand in terms of additional seats and connectivity from those who could 'afford to fly but couldnt get enough'. But Air Deccan wanted the 'farmer' to fly. Well, we all know, it sounded emphatic and all that but made for a really bad business proposition. Perhaps Capt. Gopinath should have saved his big talk till they would have gained a reasonable footing in the market. Besides, taking low cost as a USP does not create a strong brand. Besides, if the price of a good or a service goes down, there is a deemed rise in demand. And the firm that is offering to slash prices should be able to service the rise in demand to gain from the price cut or low cost offering. While having a fixed capacity, besides the inability to create additional capacities considering the capital intensive nature of the airline business, Air Deccan lost on that front.

Value added tax : the cause of the current inflationary pressure?

2007-04-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

Almost two years ago, when India was extensively debating the pros and cons of implementing a value added tax system, spiralling prices were one of the concerns that the opposition and the left aired against the proposed system. Many policy makers and academics who favoured VAT chose to argue that the system that is an effective alternative to the cascading effect of the present taxation policies, will lead to a decline in general prices while also saying that prices may increase in the short run, before the system fully falls in place.

Is it the short run price rise that academics had forseen that is leading to a rise in general prices?

Kindly leave your comment on what you think.
This post shall be updated with your responses.

Jaleel Mohammed Jalaludeen

Plight of Bangalore International airport.

2007-03-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon this while searching for Bangalore airport..
this is a page @ karnataka.com that gives the basic details of Bangalore airport. The interesting detail lies in the number of times the site had had to revise the start dates and end dates for the project. The start date have been revised nine times, and the end date four times!!!
Besides the site admins have added a note of caution - "All dates are slippery when wet".
The site also lists a brief chronology of various steps and issues that took place before the project kicked off, a pretty ineresting one that you can check out at http://www.karnataka.com/watch/blr-airport/

Jaleel Mohammed Jalaludeen
http://jusjal.blogspot.com

Geomapping in Google Analytics

2007-02-03T04:01:00.000-08:00

There is certainly more stuff that is really cool in Google Analytics.

But my favourite is the geo mapping of all the visitors. Running over your mouse on the bubbles will pop up names of the places.

Then, for there is the cool colouring of the interface, and the fact that the code is hidden in the actual viewable page.

Have not been into all that optimization and conversion stuff with the tool...

Looking back @ Proto.in

2007-01-25T03:33:00.000-08:00

Laziness seems to be good after all!!!
there is a lot of stuff in blogosphere, that i could use now..

To be frank, i was really impressed with the quality of startups that came to attend the event. certain companies were so high up the curve that i could not reckon why they would need to attend such an event at all, for getting funding that is.

I was actually expecting a lot of cloned Web 2.0 ideas, and was for the same reason not very keen on attending, but nevertheless. A look at the list (via WATblog) of the 45 companies that actually applied for demo, and comparing that with the 27 who had done the demo, i believe that the proto.in team had done a wonderful job in the screening process. Amit Ranjan of Uzanto has uploaded a comprehensive slide containing small notes on the companies that had done the demo. He also has a very good post of his on the ground experience. Gokul seems to have done some serious live blogging, with a comprehensive info and even video of each of the company's presentation. Murali also has uploaded videos. Swaroop has a very well organized(bulleted) post on proto.in. He has blogged essential points of each presentations in a bulleted manner.

Now for my content....
Here is my list and opinions on the various companies @ proto.in.
I have tried to rank it based on the idea and its market potential.
All opinion expressed are my own.

Telecom @ Proto.in

Infrastructure and Development Platforms @ Proto.in

Internet and Web 2.0 @ Proto.in

Consumer Electronics @ Proto.in

Business and Productivity @ Proto.in

Mobile @ Proto.in

Jaleel Mohammed Jalaludeen

Consumer Electronics @ Proto.in

2007-01-25T02:44:00.000-08:00

Not a very great section, but anyway.

Novatium: The Nova netpc is a cheap computing solution. To define it simply, Computing services through a network like a cable network. Makes sense considering that the hardware comes at Rs. 4,500. Not when there is a monthly cost of Rs. 450. One can rather pay up the same Rs. 4,500 as down payment, while the EMI may come out to be around Rs. 500 for a fully functional PC. That is considering that one gets standard branded PCs for around 20,000. Their success in the pilot project may not be an indicator of its ultimate success. However, there is a small flaw in my earlier stated theory. People would want to go for a more costlier and better capacity PC, only if they see any explicit value in it. Meaning that when shelling out say 20k, the consumer expects to derive value worth 20k. As long as consumers feel (which they should be at this time) that they can derive little value out of a fully functional PC, they may find this as a low cost option. But this needs some widespread implementation to actually build up requisite scale to feasibly provide more services through the infrastructure. Please, no ads!!! A model where the end user hardware, that is the netpc, is rented out rather than sold to the user may also be feasible. This is because lower income groups may not see any value in even shelling out the initial Rs. 4500. A relatively smaller denomination can lead to more widespread penetration ( let us try it syndrome).
Smart Pundits: Their product, Smart Headlamps, solves a really sticky problem. However, is the idea big enough to be generate cash flows to build up a start up? How many auto manufacturers would actually incorporate it in their machines, considering that there is very little value addition?

Infrastructure and Development Platforms @ Proto.in

2007-01-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

Pretty interesting ideas in this space, the companies included, Vembu Tech, i-createSoft and Stringbeans Portal Platform. Once again, this list is ranked according the product offering.

Vembu Tech: They demoed their Storegrid backup product. A product that clearly has its advantages over others, they have over 6,500 corporate users besides over 35,000 free users. They have over 130 partners who market their services. The company has crossed its startup stage and has clearly created a niche for itself.
Nabh Info Systems: The String Beans 3.5 Web 2.0 Portal Platform, though should have been a result of a lot of hard work, does not in its current version qualify for much credit.This is because, you have even better platforms, with powerful features that help you create your own website for free. No, i am not talking about Google Pages. sitekreator.com is one of the many services. And, i have come across a couple of similar services, promising similar features, but not sure of how they work, to give a comparison. Nabh Info has a long way to go before it can compete in this space.

i-create Soft: I fail to see the advantage of a Web 2.0 platform over the conventional platforms. Their product Vyasa may make sense as a cost effective solution. It uses natural language processing for querying, making search easy. However, the presentation was not very clear to make an effective judgement on the practical application and its USP.

Telecom @ Proto.in

2007-01-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

All four companies, Unleash Networks, Valuefirst, Sloka Telecom and Drishti Soft had specific products to demo. So, this list is ranked based on the product, the idea and its features.

Sloka Telecom: I have no idea about the technology part of it, but there is this really huge gap they are trying to fill. Maybe not an idea that VCs may look at funding considering that this idea may have a huge gestation period. Apparently Sloka is the only company that demoed a purely innovative product and the only early stage company in the telecom space, other companies seeming to have crossed the startup stage.
The company works on WiMax network base stations, making it more cheaper and more easy to use, to enable widespread implementation of WiMax networks.
ValueFirst Messaging: Going by the financial numbers that Vish had stated, and the product being one of the World's top 4 mobile applications, i really dont see why they would need to demo at Proto.in to actually scout for VC funding. They seem to be pretty well into the curve. The product they demoed and the products that they offer, holds promise in developing countries like India, where it is more feasible to connect to employees on the go or to customers through mobile SMS.

The following Companies have not been ranked, because i do not have a clear idea of the difference it can make:

Drishti Soft: Seems to have cashed in on the Call centre boom in India. The Unicontact suite seemed to be an improvement over their older suite.
Unleash Networks: A next generation network analysis software.

An introduction to Web 2.0: The User Role

2006-11-20T05:06:00.000-08:00

A very objective and theoretical introduction to Web 2.0, by Fransisco...

Jaleel Mohammed Jalaludeen
http://jusjal.blogspot.com
the new face of new media

Earth 2050: An Economic forecast

2006-11-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

1. There will be no poverty. Either our Poverty erradication programs are going to work(chances of which are minimal), or all those under the 'poverty line' are going to starve to death or suicide.
2. We ll miss Vision 2020. Anyway who would care about Vision 2020, maybe like five years from now. Somewhere down the line we may have another public figure(Che Arindham Chaudri perhaps?) bring out a fresher vision that is going trash sooner or later.
3.'Gawd' is not going out of Fashion. A major style makeover is due somewhere in between now and 2050.
4. Dont worry about Oxygen, you ll get it for free. Most people worry about pollution and stuff like that. Yes, obviously you would require an oxygen cylinder to live, but why worry, its yours to take, absolutely free!!(buy two get one free that is).
5. Corruption is not going to decline. No way!! But when all the poor are gone, why bother about welfare? The rich who got richer over and over again over the decades will actually look at corruption as an easy way out of the system and get things done, without the hassles.
6. Wealth v/s Burden. The rich will claim more incentives and rebates, which the Governement will be only too happy to offer, because while the Middle Class are a 'burden' to the Economy and its the Rich who make most of the wealth of the Economy. The rich will fight against the blatant hypocrisies of the earlier policy makers who would snatch hard earned money of the rich to 'waste'on the poor.
7. There will be no retirement. The quest for higher efficiency and growth of the economy, will require more manpower, which the replacement rate is not able to meet, therefore the abolition of retirement limits. However inefficient manpower, who turn out to be a burden to the Economy, shall be disposed off from Earth, at the earliest with due consideration(dont worry about that, by that time you wouldnt want to live).

Google in a Trademark dispute?

2006-11-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, innocently, typing adsense.com, to log on to my google adsense account, i chanced upon the website of this small time consulting firm.. and today, again when i tried adsense.com, the URL had directed me to google.com.
It seems to be a business and marketing consulting firm, and seems to be in serious business, and does not seem like a squatter.
Anyway, the first time itself, the firm had hosted most of the details in another domain, that is, adsense2.com. Maybe because it was rather certain that google would contest the domain. Anyway,then, in adsense.com, it had on the top claimed that it was around since 1995..
Besides, it had the following, very interesting disclaimer,
"If you think you can get rich quick placing other people's ads on your site or blog, please contact Google who has taken and used our business name without permission or compensation."
Maybe it is that they kept getting queries about the Google adsense product.
It should be anyone's guess that the firm's resources may be relatively rather flimsy vis-a-vis Google's huge financial reserves, and obviously could not contest the case by law.
Maybe google has sorted it out, with it being able to get the domain name for itself...
The dispute may turn out to be real murky considering that the consulting firm also uses the name 'Adsense Consulting', and different service categories like, 'AdSense research & evaluation', 'AdSense project management', 'Yellow Pages Marketing and Advertising by AdSense', besides Google Adsense being one of the most strategic programs of Google, supporting Google Adwords, that is the sole revenue generator for Google.

To visit Google Adsense, go to adsense.google.com

To visit Adsense Consulting, go to adsense2.com

The Race

2006-11-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

wheew.. Friday night. No work. it seems like a deep breather in the midst of the race. A pit stop which you can take without worrying about the seconds ticking, or about someone overtaking you. Below, from my terrace i can see those still in the race. life goes on like this for sometime more, before some retire for the day and some(like me) start a day. the traffic all seems to blur in a psychadelic yellow below me, in its rickety journey to nowhere.

My niece struggles to stretch her body long enough, along the parapet to take a look at what i am eyeing. before she starts to whimper, i lift her up to my arms, where her eyes restlessly start following the traffic. for me, its just cars, buses, bicycles, scooters... street vendors, people.... for her it is a new world, a new discovery. she keenly eyes every character, trying to understand the plot, getting the go of things... just curious, dead curious...
she starts to whimper, struggling to be left alone in her quest for the world. shes got enough of traffic...
I give her a "you were the curious little kitten" look. she shrugs off with a " i never asked you to hold me" attitude.
she slowly goes on to pick up her doll, careful to trace each foot on the teracotta tiles so that each foot does not transgress a tile. for me the sight is just child's play. for her it was a new pattern.. a new dimension.. a firm step.. shes already in the race..

A K Antony for Defence Minister?

2006-10-25T02:51:00.000-07:00

still half asleep, fetching the newspaper today morning, i had to take a second awed look, to get to terms with the news. as chief minister of kerala for four years during the last legislature, he passed off as a total coward, that his successor, Ummen Chandy had in vain sought to make up for.
Hmm, maybe with all those scandals running through in the Defence ministry, the Defence minister could really do with a 'Mr. Clean' image..
and yeah, any guesses why he is got through?
oh yeah maybe the Mr. Clean image and maybe his uncanny ability to deliver nehruvian bullshit and gandian crap.

Jaleel Mohammed Jalaludeen
http://jusjal.blogspot.com

So Do we at all need Traffic lights in a Democracy?

2006-10-20T02:14:00.000-07:00

This video sort of challenges directly, an earlier post of mine in a different blog of mine, 'Do you need traffic lights in a Democracy?'. In the blog i had sarcastically argued that in a democracy, where its citizens are assumed to be rational enough to choose its leadership and influence macro policy decisions, there would be no scope for such civil regulation since citizens are assumed to be rational. This video sort of directly challenges my perception..
Lets see...

Allah Knows Best
Jaleel Mohammed Jalaludeen
http://jusjal.blogspot.com

Political Pakistan: Politics on the other side.

2006-03-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

Stumbled on this blog, http://politicalpakistan.blogspot.com/
A good view of politics at the other side.. But it still is amazing how we share a common perspective. And also the concerns of the people, is a lot like what we feel. Perhaps Indians would have written the same way when Indira Gandhi declared emergency..

Look at the letter to Editor published orginally in Daily Times, which he has put up and analysed in his blog,

What India Lacks

Sir: The Indian leaders lack style. That perhaps is the reason why they do not undertake frequent foreign trips. Indian claims of big foreign exchange reserves also appear hollow. For what else could force its leaders to forgo a lavish lifestyle, limousines, private jets and others perks that our leaders enjoy? The hotels where Indian ministers, senior bureaucrats and CEOs of state-owned corporations stay during their foreign trips are not fit for the personal attendants of our VIPs.

India also lacks the unity of command, provided in Pakistan by our uniformed president in supreme national interest. The Indian president does not look like he can even name the designers that provide our suave leaders’ wardrobe. This prevents the Indian president from speaking annually at Davos to attract foreign investment.

India has to do without a prime minister with experience as a senior executive of world’s leading bank or the right to reside in the United States. These advantages ensure that our PM feels at home in America.

India continues to be held hostage to democracy — half-literate peasants decide the fate of the prime minister and the president. It needs to learn from its neighbour. It needs to stop useless expenditure on providing housing and protocol to former prime ministers. Can’t they be forced into exile or imprisoned if not hanged? India made a mistake in shedding the legacy of British Raj. No wonder there is no Defence Housing Authority in any part of India or a training institution like Kakul, where a two-years course makes a man competent to handle just about any job. Instead it wastes its resources on IITs.

Did Vasco Da Gama Discover India?

2006-02-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

We learn in western textbooks, that Vasco Da Gama discovered India.. How insane can that be? As insane as claiming the popular joke of a mallu offering tea, to Niel Amstrong, when he set foot on the moon, to be true. It was not that Vasco Da Gama discovered India, it was that his discovery was the stepping stone of Europe in fact joining the Global scenario. Then,when the East was flourishing with the bounties of Globalization, the West was just catching up. And what did they do with the whole scenario? Messed it all up. If at all Globalization is not working today, it is because of European Imperialism and its effects, like insecurity among nations due to the World Wars.
India, China and Arabia were the front runners in the Classical free trade system that existed then. The Arabs dominated every trade route except Silk Route. India was the dream land then, and was the ultimate destination for exotic luxury goods. Though China joined late, it never lagged behind, nor did it exploit.
Wondered how Arabs took to drinking coffee and tea? where did they get all the tea and coffee come from? Trade, free trade of course. Walking along the streets of Cochin, ever wondered where all the Chinese fishing nets came from? Cultural exchange, free cultural exchange of course.
When Zheng He, the great mariner, of the Ming dynasty went for his voyages, his main port of call was Calicut in India. At the peak of his fleet, he had around 317 ships and over 22000 men. And Vasco Da Gama 'discovered' India with three, that could all fit into one ship of Zheng He's fleet and still have some space left.
Globalization is not a new process. The East practiced and mastered it long before the West.

Found this scribbled on my college Desk

2006-02-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

Found this scribbled in a desk in my college...How true!!! How Considerate of whoever wrote it.

Pyramid of a Capitalist system

2006-02-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

Saw this poster when browsing through wikipedia, in the article, Economic Inequality. This was a campaign poster used by the Industrial Workers of the World, for protesting against the evil effects of capitalism and its ignorance of the marginalised and underprivelaged. Their main aim was to bring up a workers' union, and to gain support for it.
This poster is relevant even today and it is so sad that this is so... What is Capitalism, Globalization and Technology when such systems has not resulted in considerable positive change in Human Welfare?

Are Muslim protests justified?

2006-02-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

It is very unfortunate that we Muslims, inspired and guided by the teachings of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) himself have to degrade ourselves to such illicit forms of protests. People have even called for boycotting EU products. Till now four people have been killed during protests and, the Norwegian and Danish embassies of Damascus was set ablaze by protestors. An Iraninan paper has called for an international cartoon contest as a tit-for-tat attack.
Come on people, why are we doing this? What did the EU or for that matter Denmark do for them to invite such a wrath? Are we being unnecessarily hostile to the West? What is the point in Arab(not Islamic) nations closing down missions? Why is it that this thing came up only when the Norwegian paper published it and not when Jyllands-Posten published it in September 30 last year?
Ok, i as a muslim is offended, but then what did EU do about this? It is the newspapers that needs to be boycotted, not the nations. For Allah's sake lets not take this as a confrontation with the West. Lets look at constructive dialogue, and let us not look for adventurism. And how come French and German papers publish the cartoons?, because of the very controversy we ourselves created. See, how we spoiled our own purpose? Was this how our Prophet would have dealt such a situation?
IslamOnline reports a Tehran Times article that states suggests that this whole situation was a plot to create animosity between Islam and Christianity.
Read the message by JP, to the Muslims of the World here.

My first Photograph that got published

2006-01-31T09:21:00.000-08:00

Took this snap as part of the NIE Photography workshop conducted by The Hindu, that i participated in. Walked the whole of the city for two whole days, using up around 3 rolls of film to discover that all had been overexposed and i was lucky to not use the flash for this one, when it was around 7.pm.
for the newspaper report of the workshop, go to, http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/quest/200305/stories/2003051007090400.htm

My visit to BheemaPalli shores...

2006-01-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

The last time i came to photograph the mosque, i wandered into the beach, as i was desperately looking for some shots for the assignment that i had when i was doing a workshop in photography, conducted by The Hindu-NIE.

I liked the beach because, no others seemed to like it, and it was deserted and calm except for a couple of fishermen. And last Friday evening when i wandered into the beach, come on machi, it was terrific, the experience of a typical fishermen community at dusk...

Was surprised to see an old person training a group of teenagers in Duff-Muttu. It is a sort of group dance, that is danced in rhythm with songs of legendary praises of Allah and his Prophet, Mohammed(Peace be upon him). It was real interesting, to see how local culture, permeats from the old to the young, especially when it is to a group of youngsters, who though coming from lower middle class( i wouldnt say they were in dire poverty or were unclean or marginalised) were at the pulse of global culture. At the pulse of Global culture, thanks to the vast number of cheap pirated DVDs and CDs of Hollywood and Bollywood movies being traded in the streets of Bheema Palli.

Like in any backward( i dont think its just to call them backward, but i didnt have another word, that i could think of) settlement or colony, there were children(however, they seemed well looked after ones and were not unclean), lots of them fooling around. I should say i really got carried away photographing them, at the cost of other scenes in the colony.

Fishermen checking and setting the nets for the next day.

Folks playing dominoes. They dont know the name of the game. Not a surprising find. Some lucky chap of the colony who works in the Gulf might have introduced the game here.

Fishermen setting out to sea, into the sunset...

and more kids....

The Afghan opium Mess

2005-07-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

There was an excellent article by Maia Szalavitz, on Afghanistan's immense Opium harvest, carried by today's Deccan Chronicle. Come on, the international community thought of legal exploitation of Afghani opium only now? Come on, I thought about it long ago, when Afghanistan was in the limelight, and when reports of the country started appearing in CNN and BBC, before the start of the "War on Terror". I always thought that we could help Afghanistan earn Foreign exchange, and contribute to their
development, by helping them legalise their crops and use them for legal purposes. Even when India launched all those cosmetic aid measures, I thought, about India being able to help Afghanistan in that regard, both policy wise and logistically, as India was the largest producer of legal opium and had considerable expertise in the field. But then, I never saw anyone talking about it. Probably out of Fear of losing India's competency. But India could always have sourced Opium from the Afghan
farmers, for further value addition and for legal use. Of course, it had
a lot of political and liscensing tangle, but USA would have been only
too happy to lobby for the case. Whatever, India still has the
opportunity to source Opium from Afghanistan for processing and value
addition and then could export them. Thats what India does to silk,
cotton, diamonds, cashews, coir etc...Why not opium also. India
definitely has the processing capabilities and obviously the market at
hand, it could definitely help Afghanistan and its farmers. Otherwise,
Afghanistan requires a lot of work to do if it has to do things on its
own. It has to get investment for establishing processing facilities,. it
has to establish such facilities, take care of the logistics of sourcing
from farmers and processing and worst of all it has to market the
processed stuff. It just is unthinkable now for Afghanistan, it just does
not have the money and it just does not have the entrepreneurs and most
of all it just does not have the right people or the right structure. So,
it is upto India, as a strategic neighbour and ally to help Afghanistan
out. But then, thinking of the logistics of the whole process, Pakistan
needs a lot of sharing to do. It probably has to tolerate Indian or
Afghan trucks using their roads to establish the link between the
countries. That probably is not a problem with the improved ties with
Pakistan. Indian farmers need not worry, considering the huge forecasted
Global demand for pain medications. If we are not going to act, then it
is wiser of them to destroy the crops and leave the 10 percent of the
Afghan population in the dark and the Afghan government with a lost
opportunity, and of course leave those cancer, AIDS and other patients,
suffer in agony...

2005-05-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

All I could remember was the gloomy, dull dark feelingas the Sun withdrew and the night started creeping in, like a blanket in tow. One by One, golden streaks of dying sunlight modestly withdrew from the corners of my room. It was always the same. The same slow loss of light, the same gloom that modestly, but horribly darkens the heart and fills in it the agony of a day gone by and the night as it approaches. It is always a strange feeling. A feeling that grossly builds up in the darkest corners of the house.

" I seek refuge,
With the Lord of the Dawn,

From the mischief
of created things;

From the mischief
of Darkness as it overspreads;

From the mischief
of those who practise
secret acts;

And from the mischief
of the envious one
as he practices envy.

I must have succumbed to the jet lag. It was probably for a couple of minutes or so. The sun had withdrawn and darkness had spread. But the short doze off had done me much good. There was a long night to go with his mother and father. Umma should be checking on me any minute now, its been quite long since I came up to my room to have a wash and change.She should be ready with a nice dinner set for him.
Wash, I did, and was I shocked to find the golden streaks of sunlight coming back, this time, fresh and tender, with promise. This is no science fiction. I had dozed off for twelve hours.

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It is remarkable how memories tend to blackmail you and try to haunt you, bringing up the same old chill of the nerves, forcing you into reliving what you have left behind yesterday. It just is not fair, that man should be carrying a baggage he tries hard, in vain to leave it behind yesterday. However hard he tries, the harder it gets for him to shrug off the extra baggage. No matter what, it still comes back to you, finding its way through the various nerves and neurons of your brain from the deepest, darkest dungeons of your brain. It just is not like exam mug up. What you do before exams, is rawly mug up from books and reproduce on the answersheets. As soon as you leave the hall, if it was your final exam of the academic year, you would wish that all that you had just fed into your brains for the exams, would leave your brains immediately. As though it was looking for a shelter at first place and you were not generous enough to accommodate such volumes of "knowledge" anymore. But, forget it, you will. You dont mug up memories. You experience them. Some you cherish; some you dont. Some you wish to shelter, to relive whenever you wish, the pleasure of a life gone by; some you dont. Simple....
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was supposed to be the beginning of a novel i had thought up... who cared to finish?