Bunch of Thoughts

The first 100 days of NaMo's government has seen India take a fundamentally different approach to its foreign policy than in the last 60 years...changes which may go on to define the geo-politics of the world. For Jawaharlal Nehru, socialism to a large extent defined India's foreign policy. From India's alliance with USSR to leading the non-aligned movement, India bonded with countries which were proud of their socialist form of governance. Nehru blindly adopted a 'copy-paste' approach on governance which he learned from these socialistic alliances. These policies had little to do with what India needed.  Vaypayee's foreign policy was a mix of nationalism and pragmatism. He went ahead with the nuclear tests and later invoked the policy of 'no first use' to blunt any criticism from the west. Vaypayee and to a large extent Jaswant Singh very cunningly used America to ensure that the sanctions imposed on India had little impact on its economy. The ...

Decoding the leadership style of our Prime Minister seems to be the flavour of the week. One does not need to go far or analyse much to decode the leadership style of our PM, any one who has a brief experience with the RSS can easily codify his leadership mantra. Here is are few leadership traits what define NaMo a) Prepare, Plan/Execute - If we have been to any event of the RSS, you will not fail to notice the extra length to which the RSS cadre goes to create the right environment for any event. From parking to sitting arrangements. music to speeches. every tiny detail is well planned for. Post the event, swayamsevaks always ensure that the place is cleaned up. All RSS events start and end on time. This happens without any supervision. It should not be any surprise that NaMo insists on the same standards when it comes to governance - clean offices, timely attendance, meticulous planning followed by flawless execution. Zero defect and Zero effect are the hallmarks of any RSS ev...

I see my self as a liberal Hindu with friends crossing all boundaries of religion and caste. However, over the last few years I have come to notice that every time a Hindu festival comes around , a whole bunch of NGOs, media houses and even some political outfits try to make us feel guilty about celebrating our festivals .. Here are a few instances which I have observed .. 1) Makar Sankranti - Do not fly kites as it may harm birds and child labour is employed to make kites and the manja 2) Holi - Its criminal to waste water 3) Raksha Bandhan - You have to be a MCP to celebrate this. Why should women need protection from men ? 4) Ganesh Chathurthi - This festival causes major pollution to water bodies 5) Maha- Shivratri - Wastage of milk which can be fed to the poor 6) Navratri - So much noise pollution with all the dandya nights 7) Diwali - Why create so much pollution ? and the list can go on ...... I believe Hinduism is one of the most liberal religions of the world wh...

Couple of weeks ago, India witnessed an intense debate on the snooping of certain ministers in the central government. The debate led me to read the book 'No Place to Hide' by Glen Greenwald. The book is about Ed Snowden - the guy who blew the lid off the extensive snooping on the entire world. The most scary part was the mention that every communication by every Indian is being monitored... While the book is a fascinating read - I could not stop till I finished it , the most fascinating part of the book is when Ed Snowden reveals what drove him to take great risks which eventually cost him his freedom. Here are a few quotes from Ed's interview with Glen  "The true measurement of as person's worth isn't what they say they believe in, but what they do in the defence of those beliefs" "If you're not acting on your beliefs, then they probably aren't real" "It is we who infuse life with meaning, through ou...