Thank you, Mr. Bush

The invasion of Iraq has been a very sticky issue for quite a while now. The blatant bravado that the US has exhibited in plodding its military might through the sovereign state of Iraq, the absolute disregard of human rights that has been witnessed by the world due to this colonialistic endeavor, will go down in history. The question is, will it go down in history as a good incident or bad? Of course, some people say that wars can never go down in history as good incidents. However, if you carefully consider the ramifications of the US's (mis)deeds in Iraq, and if you speculate on the reasons of the US's invasion of Iraq, you will realize that this just might be the one 'war' that will go down in history as a good thing for the free world.

Before you come to my house with an AK-47, hear me out. There are many facets to this issue. Let us start with some historical precedents that the then Soviet Union has set. From 1979 to 1989, the Soviet Union tried to gain military control of Afghanistan. The reason for this was that the Soviet Union had vested interests in Afghanistan. Neighboring Iran and Pakistan, Afghanistan was a great country to control for the Soviet Union in order to increase its Communistic influence into western as well as eastern Asia. Moreover, in the 1950's, the Soviet Union had invested much into Afghanistan by way of laying highways and irrigation canals. Due to this, there existed a puppet communist government in Kabul. However, this government was losing popular support due to its communist backing. The 'godless' and centralized communist principles were alien to the Afghan's strict and orthodox Islamic practices. Therefore, in order to maintain a semblance of security and to show its military might, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with its own troops. They failed miserably. In the decade-long war that followed, the Soviets lost many billions of dollars worth airplanes and helicopter gunships as well as countless military personnel. In the end, in 1989, Gorbachev buckling under world pressure, not to mention pressure on the Soviets' economy, decided to pull out of Afghanistan. Therefore, we can see how a superpower, with blatant disregard to norms can invade a country to suit its own needs.

The US was very lucky during the invasion of Iraq. It had, so to speak, a semblance of a legitimate reason to invade. That being, there was a tyrant in power in Iraq; and he was, allegedly, developing Weapons of Mass Destruction which he would ultimately utilize to wipe out the population of Israel and the US. This established the basis of the very raison d'etre of the US's rationale of invading Iraq. Moreover, Saddam Hussein had the misfortune of being the adventurous leader who had invaded Kuwait in 1990. Therefore, when the US asked the UN for permission to invade Iraq, I had thought that the UN would sanction the military action without another thought. I was pleasantly surprised when, in fact, the UN didn't ratify the proposal. On the contrary, countries like Japan and Germany openly opposed this proposal. The only European power that actually supported the US was the UK. Despite showing 'damning' evidence, the US was not able to garner the UN's support to invade Iraq. I suspect that it was never the intention of the US to get UN support. This is because, the only real reason that the US invaded Iraq was to gain hegemony over it.

That Iraq was being ruled by a dictator who was allegedly developing WMDs only worked in the US administration's favor. The threat, nay just the thought, of being attacked by WMDs like biological, chemical or even nuclear weapons instilled a morbid fear of Saddam Hussein in the minds of the US population. The congress, which only represents the population, granted billions of dollars to the administration in order to carry out one of the best thought out and executed coups de grace of the 21st century. The real reason in the US's invasion of Iraq, I think, has been nothing but petroleum. The US is the world's largest consumer of petroleum. The daily consumption of petroleum in the US would be enough to feed the oil requirements of most of north Africa for several months. The total dependence of the US population on petroleum has been fueled in the past by cheap oil from the middle east.

However, the end of cheap oil has already occured. A person would have been laughed at 4 years ago if he/she would have said that the price of petrol in 4 years would be as it is right now. The oil from the middle east no longer flows like water. In another 50 years, this flow will become a small trickle. I believe the Bush administration has acted with great foresight in invading Iraq now so that when the trickle makes petroleum products very hard to come by, the US will have military and political presence in an area of the Earth that has the maximum concentration of it! Now, I don't say that it's not wrong that the US has acted in such a way, but I only say that the US has acted in its own interests. And therefore, I thank you, Mr. Bush, for epitomizing greed. What is a few lakh Iraqi lives in front of US interests?

How to write a blog and comment on it

People,

I was hoping that you would learn it yourself, but I am sorry to say that you guys have let me down. Let me tell you the ABCs of Blogging.

When someone starts a new thread of conversation, you COMMENT on it (with the help of the Comment link), don't START A NEW ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!! unless you have something that terribly different to say...

I hope my high handed and bombastic balbharati of blogging has reached its mark :P

~Meghya

Manisha's Trip to Switzerland

This is manisha's mail to all of us. I had asked her to put it up on the blog, but she doesn't have access to blogger from her place, so I am putting it up here.





Hi All,



Hope you r fine and njoying life .

After long time I felt like sharing with you my dream which turned into reality ... any guesses ????

I m sure you won't .... let me not waste time in keeping you guessing... Yes I had very very gr8 weekend coz had been to moooooooooosssssssssssst beautiful place or it is God's gift to mankind.... Switzerland !!!!

The day I landed in London had planned to visit Swiss bfore going bac home.. luckily my roommates brother is staying in Zurich for some office work and since my roommate is leaving for India next month end we planned to visit this place ..

Had very good experience in planning for this trip and booking flight .. Everyone in office were surprised to hear that we two made all planning and booked tickets and r flying to swiss.

We booked friday evening flight for Zurich from Heathrow .. It was gr8 experience as we left office late and literally were running to reach airport .. I was very much tensed as didn't wanted to miss flight also booking was non changable .. but luck was in our hand we managed to reach ariport just 45mins bfore flight time. As we r here on work permit so no worries abt immigration check and all.... Had wonderful journey from Heathrow to Zurich just 1hr15mins .. njoyd snacks and drinks(ofcourse soft drink ;-) ) and swiss choclates ...

Landed Zurich by 9pm .. reached my roommate's brother's place in 20mins.

Sat plan was to visit Jungfrau this is snow clad mountain and it is called as "Top of Europe" height 11782feet.

We left house at 9am .. gathered all information abt how to reach this place .. you will not believe we had to change 4 trains to reachd this place and it took approx 5hrs to reach this place .. But most amazing thing is even at such a hieght they have trains. Swiss has different types of trains this is also one of the attraction of this place .. We njoyd train journey narrow gauge tracks through dense forest ,view of typical swiss houses , grassland ,cattles .. it was amazing ... lifetime experience.

Finally we reached this place at 3pm . After seeing snow we four went mad and started playing n snow.. entire Hero film was shoted here at this height .. We were so lucky that weather was very pleasant just 9degrees so didn't even had to wear Warm Jackets but still for clicking fotos we wore ;-)

As we reached this place bit late it was not crowded also it's very costly to reach this place as it's very far so many people don't prefer .. but we wanted to see this place as it is at topmost height in Europe.

We went to Ice palace .. they have maintained temp in this palace so that Ice won't melt .. There we saw ice carvings.. Ice Teddybears , Dolphins,Cinderalla,Penguins.. many more .. you will find this in my snaps :-) Have taken lot's of snaps ..

Here there is Bollywood Restaurant where all Indians njoy Indian cuisines even bollywood people .. this is made specially for bollywood ke log !!!

Finally we decided to leave this place and go bac home as it was too late and we didn't wanted to miss last train otherwise there was no option from Jungfrau.

While coming bac also we njoyd train journey saw Interlaken which is famous for it's lake ( one of the biggest lake in Europe)

As it is summer here it bcomes dark only after 10pm so we cud njoy beauty of Swiss .

Reached home at 11.30 .. had food and planned to leave early for next day.. we all were tired after playing in snow but same time had excitement for tomoro ..as we had planned to visit Mt.Titlies which is also a snow clad mountain but it's a famous tourist place as we can njoy skiiing, cable car , Ice flyer , different snow games here ...

Started from home at 7:30 am had to change 2 trains and then cable car till Mt.Titlis .Entire journey got scenic beauty. This place is also famous for shootings .. unfortunately we didn't find any Hindi film shooting ..

Njoyd many snow games like Airboard , snow rides not skiing (as it's not allowed for all you need ur own equipments) and Iceflyer (ropeway). Luckily temperature was 9degrees so didn't have to wear Jackets or any warm clothes .. :-))

Went to Glacier cave where they have light show on music.. inside this cave temperature was -1deg.. so just imagine how it wud have been without winter jackets :-) spent almost entire day evening started for bac home.. wanted to do some shopping but since it was sunday shops here are closed on sundays and on sat half day .. life here is very peaceful. just cannot compare with Mumbai's fast life. But people here even old are very much energetic & enthu , they njoy treking,cycling(here you can get cycles on rent for roaming arnd but we had less time so didn't njoy cycle ride) and many more....

Reached home bit early , had nice homemade food and planned for next day (monday) .Myself & Aparna(my roommate) planned to visit RhineFall (Largest waterfall in Europe) it's height is 23m and width150m . we left home by 7am since it was working day her brother and his frnd didn't join us so we two had to manage reaching that place safely as here very many people don't understand English.. everywhere you will find boards written in German but in two days we managed to read timetable & railway station names ;-) so reaching Rhinefall was not a problem ..since we reached by 8:15 we cud shoot beauty of Rhinefall peacefully as no one was there near Rhinefall ( My frnd Aparna had her camcorder) ..have taken many snaps and clippings of Rhinefall .. it's fantastic...simply amazing view. Did some shopping but more window shopping ;-) Swiss Soveniers Cow bell,swiss watches and swiss choclates you can expect chocs when I reach bac home .. don't worry I have kept them safely so that it won't reach any of my colleages hands ;-) Njoyd Swiss Ice-cream ..Yummmyyyyy !! After 10'o clock Rhine fall was totally crowded with visitors coming from diff countries Japanese were in majority ..

Afternoon came bac to Zurich ... roamed arnd did some shopping (ofcourse choclates nothing else I can afford to buy) .

We had to catch flight at 6:15 so just roamed arnd Zurich .. It's a very peaceful place.. Zurich is biggest city in Swiss but Bern is capital of Swiss as it play important role in politics and business of swiss ..Every place is unique in terms of houses their structure , roads.. Zurich has bus,tram facility but it's only within city . It's a biggest station in Swiss with 52 platforms .Zurich airport is nothing special but still have taken snaps .

Didn't feel like coming bac to London from this peaceful place... Reached Airport did all formalities and finally started for way bac to London .. in 1.15hrs reached london and from there bac home :-) Had great experience .. My fotos will speak more :-)

Tuesday had to come bac to reality that I have got work to finish by this wknd :-(((

That's all abt my swiss tour .. so you can plan for it and ask me if you need any info coz I have gathered all brochures and railway timetable , maps if needed in future ;-)

I hope you njoyd this tour and I didn't bore you much ..

Take care & plan soon for Swiss don't miss it ...It's worth visiting this beautiful place on earth.

Manisha

Shall I Return?

Disclaimer: This article is not a reflection of the writer's views, it is just meant to be an open-ended discussion that promotes further thought on the delicate issue under consideration.

The question in every expatriate's mind. The one thing that is unchanging, despite all the seen and unseen successes and fortunes. The thing that always is in the back of his or her mind. The biggest sadness, despite all the happiness. The query that eats away at him or her despite having all the amenities and appurtenances of an advanced lifestyle.

SHALL I RETURN?

People may think that it's actually, "Should I Return?" But it's not so. It's actually, "Shall I Return?" The subtle difference is what really matters. There are so many things to consider when thinking about this issue.

There are many facets to this dilemma. One can think philosophically or one can think in a worldly way. To think philosophically, one might say that it doesn't matter where you reside, the work you do is going to ultimately going to benefit humankind in one way or the other. However, this line of thinking can be overturned by the simple argument that if it doesn't matter where you reside, then why can't you reside in the country of your birth and then 'help' mankind.

To be practical and 'worldly', to have no emotions when thinking about your future, one might say that one must remain in the country that gives the greatest financial remuneration for one's skills. One might also say that in the foreign country, the expat receives much better salary and consequently he or she is much better off financially. Now, the expat can utilise part of this fortune in order to help his own countrymen. Whether he does this or hoards all the fortune for himself with utter selfishness, is another matter.

The basic modalities aside, there are other considerations that an expat might think about. Once there are children in the family, he might think about going back to his own country, where the primary and secondary education is better and clean of drugs, sex and violence (at least right now, in most places in India, it is), or staying back where his children will be exposed to better opportunities by way of extra-curricular activites.

There are many such other questions that plague the mind of the expat and therefore, it is my contention that the question has no black-and-white answer, but has many gray areas that need to be considered and a solution that is acceptable to all involved parties needs to be taken pragmatically.

Mike is back to Meghneel

If you notice this notice, you will notice that this notice is not worth noticing. However, this notice is just to tell you that you should notice that my name is back to square one (Or is it square zero? I would say square zero since I am a die-hard C programmer!) This just shows that my blog on how and why my name changed and how and why I didn't care about it has fallen on completely deaf ears (or blind eyes?) Well anyway, by popular demand, I have changed it back.

Gondya needs a nice rap on the knuckles. Me bore karto kay re? The 'great' guy who has immortalized the saying "Majhya kade shambhar ahet, tujhya kade kiti ahet?" calls me boring? Oh well, if I am boring, then you are the epitome of ennui. Anyway, gonday, dil pe mat le yaar...

;)

Reverse Brain Drain?

Anna,

Here's my post, so don't feel bad. I also don't have anything to do!

Reverse Brain Drain?

Recently, one of my friends (actually he's one of my friends' friend) went back to India for good. For, he got a good job back in India, which paid handsomely. This got me thinking. This is the ultimate reverse brain drain! This guy came here on full aid, got his education, and went back to India! That means that he used THIS country to help his own! Now that's a starter, my friends, but I think it's a step in the right direction.

How Meghneel came to be known as "Mike"

The reincarnation of Meghneel Gore to Mike Gore (as in Al Gore) is a story that everyone is dying to know (or at least that's what I like to think ;) However, the story is not long or winding as people are led to believe HAHAHA. Far from it, the story is quite small, and therefore, I am filibustering here just to make this blog bigger so that people see in my profile that I have written many many words in this blogger life of mine.

So anyway, here goes the story:
Far far away in a galaxy forgotten by time... okay okay, actually it was the Milky Way galaxy, the planet was earth and the country was the United States of America. A handsome (ya, right) guy walked into a restaurant called "The Coyote" (or something like that, I don't quite remember). Now, this restaurant has a peculiar tradition. Anyone who wants to order food there (I don't know what else you can order in a restaurant), has to go up to the counter, select their dish and tell the cashier. Upon doing this, the cashier charges you the requisite amount of money and asks your name (asks your name, you ask? Why in the world does the cashier require your name?) Well, it's just that when your order is ready, the cashier calls out your name so that you are alerted to the fact that your gastronomical adventures are soon to be fulfilled! :D So anyway, this Meghneel guy went to the cashier, ordered his food and gave his name thus: "My name is Meghneel." The cashier, being from Mexico as he was, didn't know what "Meghneel" is, so he said, "What?" So Meghneel said, "Meghneel." Again the cashier said, "Meg-meal?" So Meghneel said, "No, it's Meghneel - M E G H N E E L." So the cashier said, "How do you say that?" So Meghneel said, "Meghneel." Upon which, the cashier said, "What?" So Meghneel said, "Just call me Mike." Which is the name of every 5th person in the United States, and pretty easy to say. The cashier was happy, Meghneel was happy and everything turned out okay, right? NOOOOOOOOOOO. Anoop, a friend of Meghneel's was standing there and heard this conversation. He took grave exception to the fact that Meghneel didn't ask the cashier to say "Neel" or "Megh" or some other permutation of his name, but jumped the gun and asked the cashier to say "Mike." Therefore, Meghneel's name has been permanently changed into Mike as a sort of a condescension. However, Meghneel is not bothered. He believes in Shakespear and therefore doesn't mind anyone calling him other names, because he knows that a name is just a label, the l-value doesn't change!

How's that for a bird?