A confused Ms. Ghose?

I was blocked by Sagarika Ghose on Twitter 3 years back, when I dared to (politely) ask her some scathing questions on her interpretation of a news on Modi. And ever since haven't bothered to comment on her views. Of course I have cheered every once and then, when Sudhir Kumar had cheered for #SagarikaForPM. But when I saw this I couldn't resist responding. 

Ms. Ghose also compares Narendra Modi's silence to her questions on Twitter with Arvind Kejriwal's responses to them. This link will provide you the list of questions asked to Arvind Kejriwal and the responses to them (also the response/or the lack of it from Ms. Ghose to Kejriwal's lame responses). 

I am reproducing her questions to Modi here verbatim, and will provide known views of Modi, as responses, for most of these questions. all of which are already available in public domain. All of these views of Modi are easily accessible by a simple google search, but the narcissist in Ms. Ghose wants Narendra Modi to answer her personally.

Ques 1. Modiji, what is your stand on caste quotas?

Well, if Ms. Ghose is interested she can view NaMo's views on Caste based Quotas by having a look at this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bHzEez7Q0I

Further more the same video is also available in Firstpost (a group concern of IBN Network). This clearly shows that either Ms Ghose is not well informed or she is hardly willing to listen.

Ques 3: Modiji will you rollback FSB and MNREGA? If not how will u control spending?

Narendra Modi speaking on FSB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIRLNci0FA

Narendra Modi writing to PM on FSB. http://www.scribd.com/doc/159867712/Narendra-Modi-s-letter-to-the-Prime-Minister

Ques 4: Modiji will you rollback retailFDI since your party opposes it?

As early as in Sept 2012, Modi had posted his view on FDI retail in his blog http://www.narendramodi.in/cm-strongly-opposes-fdi-in-retail/ . I am pretty sure Ms. Ghose wouldn't have bothered to read it, but I've provided the link anyway, so that Ms. Ghose's bhakts can view them.

Ques 5: Modiji, how will you reform the aviation sector?

Modi has always maintained that ""government has no business to do business". So there will be no question of further Govt takeovers.


Ques 7: Modiji, how will you reach out to US biz interests, given your image in US

This is a NO-BRAINER really!! Why should an elected representative of Indian Citizens reach out to US Business? He/She must be more concerned about INDIAN biz interests. Firstly the image of Modi in the US is quite good, its just a section of an influential group with the US Senate who are blocking a more favorable policy towards him. This too will change once he is elected as the PM of India. And if Vibrant Gujarat Summit is anything to go by, its quite clear that Narendra Modi will place the interest of the Country over petty politics and will always decide on whats best for India. Afterall, its "India First*!!

Ques 8:Modiji will you push nuclear power in big way,yr stand on current Nuke Liabilitylaw?

http://www.narendramodi.in/gujarat-empowers-the-power-sector/ This video on his website talks of how Gujarat reformed the power sector. Its logical to believe that he will plan to replicate the same when he becomes the PM. He is neither against/nor for a specific type of energy production. He will try to maximize production in the best ways possible. 

Ques 9:U say secularism is India First, your vision of place of minorities in a democracy?

Another NO-BRAINER!!! When Modi has explicitly said that he considers Secularism is *India First*. Why does Ms. Ghose expect him to have a minority specific policy? His policies are for the entire Nation (which includes all citizens of India)!

Ques 10:Modiji, will u raise taxes to control deficit?If so,which taxes are u planning to raise?

As early as last week, Narendra Modi gave indications that he plans to reform taxes once BJP comes to power. You can read more about this here.

<quote> "The present taxation system is a burden on common man. It leads to bureaucratic control. The need of the hour is to look into it afresh and bring reforms. Our party is already working on it....My party leaders and experts have recently met and considered the issue for over three hours. Some problems may appear in the first sight but we will have a look at it and find new solutions," </quote>

I am aware that I have left out three questions, for which I couldn't find explicit responses that can be attributed as Narendra Modi's views on the topic, but if Ms. Ghose is patient enough, she can read NaMo/BJP's views on other major issues as soon as BJP's vision document for 2014 is released.

PS: If fellow Internet Hindus find a better articulated view of Narendra Modi on the above questions, please do let me know, I will update the blog with them.

A new beginning

When the Sun rises on the first working day of the year 2014, the cycle stands adjacent Guindy railway station will be one bicycle less. The Guindy race course road which connects the railway station to KVS IIT RO will no longer endure the creaky sound of an old bicycle tire. The road which was institutionalized with these sounds for the past 20 years as regular clockwork, will first be surprised with the break in routine and then slowly will await longingly for those sounds. Why so dramatic, you ask? Well, the reason being there are very fond memories associated with that bicycle and its rider. You cannot visualize this cycle without the man, or the man without his cycle!

Why this change in routine, you ask? 31st December 2013 happened to be the last working day of Mr. Ramakrishna Babu. He retired from service from KV Sangathan after many years of dedicated service. This blog isn't about his sincerity and dedication to work, which needless to say was excellent, this is about my personal memories of my dear "Babutha".

I am the proud founder of the word "Babutha",  being first to call him by that name (Babu Chithappa == Babutha), and the name became so popular in our family that even my older cousins/relatives started to address him by the same name. Babutha was kind enough to fit a baby seat on his cycle (especially for me) and he was even thoughtful enough to fix a small baby bell in front of it, to keep me engaged! I don't know how many times have I traveled with him on that cycle of his right from my early childhood, through a kinder garden, and during my Class I in KV CLRI. Words won't be enough to describe those wonderful rides we shared on the bicycle. I've taken numerous bi-cycle rides ever since, but nothing has been as enjoyable as those.

Having moved over to Urapakkam in the early 90s, Babutha had to commute 35KMs to the office every day. He did this by cycling to UPM station and then taking the 8:05 Fast to Guindy Railway Station and then cycling again from the station to his office. He has managed to do this tirelessly for the past 22 years, even when the roads were immersed with "waist-deep" water. He could have very easily taken the easy route and moved over to somewhere closer to Office, or not visit the office on such days. But he has never taken the easier option. The distance to commute was never a reason for him to skip any functions of relatives and friends in the city and elsewhere.

Sample this, a minefield (Sabina Park 2006, India vs West Indies), with a battery of good pace bowlers, you don't know which way the ball will turn or if there will be any bounce at all, Rahul Dravid's immense concentration and struggle to play each ball safely, doing this ball after ball, day after day and never complaining one bit. Now picture Babutha going about his daily duties tirelessly for the past 20 years, never complaining even one bit. I can't find much difference between the two!! As coincidence would have it, both Rahul Dravid and Babutha will share their birthdays on Jan 11th, 2014!!

Congratulations Babutha for having a wonderful career and service, and now when you embark on a new phase of your life, I wish you all the happiness. You truly need a well-deserved rest and you can continue to gain pleasure in finer things of life!!

Pristine Pacific

Pacific, O Pacific, Where art thou?
Are you really as blue as we are told?

Finding you must be high priority,

Even though it might take some an eternity!

Pacific, O Pacific, Where art thou?
Do you really lack memory until now?
Things important to remembered, are easy to forget,
while those that ought to be (forgotten), are difficult to instead.

Pacific, O Pacific, Where art thou?
Is your heart really as large as a sacred cow?
Can you accommodate only Andy and Red,
Or your doors are open for all, as Conrad said.

Pacific, O Pacific, Where art thou?
How does one reach you right now?

Is the journey very hard to plough?
or you make it easy with your pristine glow?

An attempt at poetry

So this one time,
When the day had past its prime,
With no reason or rime,
I had an urge to whine!

Decided to try my hand in poetry
though my skills were rudimentary,
Metaphor wasn’t my cup of tea,
nor was I good either at simile.

Wanted to write about love,
But I couldn’t think beyond the dove,
so switched to writing on pain,
but, there too, I found no gain.

To write something philosophical,
was the next process methodical,
failure now seemed periodical,
situation now turned comical.

Harder and harder did I try ,
Alas, the subject of the poem never did arrive!
To survive and quit with grace,
I poetrified the sequence of events and saved face!

Mars, here we come!

What is it with rocket launches? why do they always give me goose pimples??
 
Well the most obvious answer is because I have always been fascinated by space and rockets (Now you will ask well, who isn't??). Space, Universe, Gravity etc has always been my favourite physics concepts since childhood. Can't remember when, but I think I was fascinated by space travel sometime in Class IV or so watching the launch of some INSAT satellite on DD 1. I was one of those crazy guys to faithfully watch Captain Vyom series on DD as well (the Indianized version of Star-trek). God knows how many times have I hunted for used up Diwali Rockets and tried to resend them up by using un-used gun powder from bijli bombs :-))

The not so common answer is that, I fell in love and continue to love a book called The Rocket Boys / October Sky by Homer Hickam Jr long back. In fact the very word Zincoshine (which happens to be the name of this blog of mine) is flicked from the novel, which was the fuel that Homer Hickam and his fellow Rocket boys used to achieve maximum altitude with their rockets. Not long after I came across Carl Sagan and his book "The Contact", all of these furthered my interest in space exploration. Infact at one point of time, I was even gullible/foolish enough to think that I had it in me to be an Aeronautical Engineer. But this blog isn't another rant of my remarkable failures, or a book review of *not so widely known book*, or my fascinations of space exploration.

This blog is about ISRO and its grand achievement today. ISRO you've made us all proud. You've managed something which is not fathomable to an average Indian living in Chennai, your budget of Mangalyaan (59million USD) makes it approximately Rs 15/KM for space travel (Much cheaper than Call-taxi rates in Chennai!!).

Jokes apart, Mangalyaan launch has really given us Indians some hope in these dark times, and I bet it will bring a billion smiles next year, when the satellite enters Mars orbit (We surely will have an early Diwali)!!

For now please enjoy this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DcSDOkDvyQ&feature=share&t=32m7s

Rajnath v2.0

Some quick thoughts on the denial of second term to Gadkari and the installation of Rajnath v2.0 as the President of BJP

• Rajnath v2.0 might not be a great choice, but he is always a better choice than Nitin Gadkari.
• Now the declaration of NaMo as the prime ministerial candidate becomes all the more plausible.
• BJP supporters on Social media must be congratulated for keeping constant pressure on D4 of the BJP and stopping them from nominating Gadkari for a second term.
• NaMo must take efforts to set things right in Karnataka.

more to follow later.

When wards excel

Believe me, your joy will have no bounds when you watch your ward(s)
excel in fields that you, were never good at! This is exactly what I
felt during this course of this race!

Leads from the start

Extends his lead

Finishes miles before the rest