The world as we see it is full of irregularities. Rich, poor, fat, thin, cool, uncool and I’m someone who finds joy in it. Not because I belong to one class or a sect which is comfy, but the fact that we co-exist despite these differences. We would all take turns to go through being rich, poor, cool and uncool, I haven’t seen anything permanent with anyone. Anyone. Then why do people behave as if they deserve to be getting a pat on the back for helping someone who hasn’t been gifted with what they’ve got ? Its silly. Grow up pls.

Looks like it that Dr. Shashi Tharoor’s efforts, and the hopes of all the people who voted him especially the ‘one lakh’ who helped him win is going to get extrapolated from tomorrow as Dr. Tharoor is a “special” candidate in more than one way, and the fact that he’s not becoming a minister now.

- He is the only candidate (and now MP) who Tweets. (http://www.twitter.com/shashitharoor)

- He is the only politician to have “come down” the ladder from UN Under Secretary post to an “elected” MP status, following his passion.

- He is the only young politician from Kerala who have been (unnecessarily) ridiculed over his attire/slang/mannerisms.

A lot of hopes and prayers are with the man while he sets foot in the Parliament. But his recent exclusion from the cabinet and the numb replies from the official circles on him not becoming a minister has poured water over fire.

To me, this man carries with him quite a bunch of hopes and aspirations, mine and many likes in Kerala. He talks, walks and thinks like a man who can bring in the difference. He is capable of it, even though the sceptics might brand him an inexperienced one.

Just wondering if he would reciprocate what Trivandrum did for him. Not that it was a favour, but there are expectations, huge expectations..would he be able to sieve his way through the mess ? Or would his intellect dim amidst the rush ? Either way, its hard time for him. So here’s wishing him good luck.

Not all CEOs are inspiring. Don’t want to even think about naming them ‘cos if I do, I might just go on editing/updating the article frequently, so let me stick to the inspiring ones, you know the ones with the halo – like Steve, Steve Jobs that is.

Steve despite his recent fumbles, stand out to be the best in the league of inspiring personalities, at least in my perspective.

OK, let me try to describe – He’s a wise, clever, tough, re-invented, self studied, disciplined person who can make things (esp things he makes) look really simple yet powerful and breathtaking. Be it apple or his life.

Now, that might be the Mac fan in me but guess its fair enough.

Here’s a nice piece of article I found recently at Mario Sundar’s blog.

The top and the best quotes from Steve Jobs – of all time.

This is what I call bookmark stuff !

(Pic courtesy – Business Pundit)

Mr. Obama clearly showed the world how to make use of the internet to a politicians benefit. And he did that with panache. He knew that the youth is out there lying “untapped”, and he simply went out and reached out to them through the channels.

BJP, and it’s candidate for PM, Mr. L K Advani, is doing exactly that. Mr. Advani is known for his adaptability to new and fresh ideas and this one, he didn’t miss. Just take a look around and you’ll find him on almost every website you go to.

He’s on Google AdSense, AdWords, Orkut, Facebook, YouTube and he has his own blog.

So this is a new strategy that has grown post Obama induction to India and BJP is the first to embrace it. Advaniji is doing it really well I must say, taking a look at his blog reveals that he’s left no stone unturned.

His blog was launched on Jan 7th as I’m aware, with this first post – where he says,

Welcome, friends, to my blog. My young colleagues who have created this website told me that a political portal without a blog is like a letter without a signature. I quickly accepted this compelling logic.

I am excited by the idea of using the Internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign. As someone who has had the good fortune of participating, either as a campaigner or as a candidate, in every single general election in India since the first one held in 1952, I have seen how the tools of communication have evolved. As far communication is concerned, I am technology-agnostic. My philosophy in this matter is simple: anything that works, deserves to be welcomed. In my own political life spanning six decades, I have enthusiastically embraced every new communication technology – from the early simple Casio digital diary to i-pod and i-phone.

There are “viral strategies” adopted too for the blog like the badge for bloggers which says “Bloggers for Advani”. 

get this button

A clever strategy by BJP, I think they’ve done it well. Well planned and executed. Happy to see it not end up as a half baked cookie.

I won’t be surprised to see Soniya Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and may be even Prakash Karatt to come up with their own social media stunts now.

OBAMA: My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

I thank President Bush for his service to our nation as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.

It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor — who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.

The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its costs.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public’s knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.

But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.

And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We’ll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.

With old friends and former foes, we’ll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.

And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.

And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society’s ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

To those … To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.

And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.

And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.

It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old.

These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.

In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by nine campfires on the shores of an icy river.

The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.

At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you.

And God bless the United States of America.

The Satyams 7000 crore fraud has shocked the nation and the international community.

Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s website which was up until yesterday is gone burst now, and nobody knows what happened. The man, looks like is gone absconding.

Meanwhile, accessing Ramalinga Raju’s website may give you valuable secure server information. Or this is what I found there –

So much for shame and “black marks” for the much hyped Indian IT industry.

"There’s a few things I never got to say," sings Bakhtawar, a student at the University of Edinburgh, at the beginning of the five-minute song, which was played on Pakistani television and posted on YouTube.

Entitled I Would Take the Pain Away, the lyrics continue:

"Your enemies feared your presence

You had beauty you had presence

Everything you did relevant"

I think Mr.Mammooty had to go with the popular misconception that a “blog” has to be on blogspot.com and has to carry a blogspot extension. Sad !

Aamir Khan and Amitabh has both popular blogs in Bollywood and Aamir is on his own domain, while Big B is on Bigadda (but that’s a deal with the Ambanis.)

I would’ve easily guessed Mr.Mammooty to start the blog on his own domain, it’s not difficult to find one these days right ? May be he does not know the problems of starting the blog on blogspot.com.

• Anyone could flag the blog and get it deleted from blogspot.
• You could have a tough time moderating comments
• Zero scalability
• Possible threat of getting deleted from blogger

After all it takes only 250 Rs to register a .com domain.

Anyways, Mr.Mammooty if you are listening, I own Mamoottyblog.com, and there are lot of searches on Google on “Mammootty blog”. If you’d like to have the domain name, I’d be happy to.

Wendy Wright has launched a new project where she is helping everyone who wants to start a radio show themselves.

About Wendy

Wendy is the creator and executive producer of "Wright on the Edge," a nationally syndicated talk radio show. She has a master’s degree in television, radio and film, which she received from the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She has worked for Clear Channel Entertainment Television and SFX Sports Group. She is currently the president of Launch Entertainment, a television and radio production company and consulting firm where she works with authors and other talent in developing personality programming for radio.
Her specific knowledge in the field of radio is second to none with over 7 years of hands on experience. And now she’s sharing her knowledge with you!

Wendy has published an E-Book that will cover all the topics from how to start your radio show to how to run it successfully and market it further. All this from an expert in the domain !

Wendy’s ebook is titled – How To Create, Produce and Broadcast Your Own Radio Show! and is priced at $7.95 !!! That’s awesome ! Get your copy today.

For a moment I thought this is a dialogue from some old malayalam movie. Typical. But from a CM of a state which boasts of literacy and all that..that was completely immoral, insensible and pathetic !

But wait, may be Mr. Achutanandan made a remark that probably went right through my white cells, that I couldn’t understand him. May be he’s talking from a completely different level of understanding, that I couldn’t simply “get” it. You know guys beyond the common mans reach? Let me analyze what he meant.(Or rather try to)

If it was not for Sandeep’s house

– If it had not been a Martyrs house (POSSIBLE)
- If it had been a common mans house. (POSSIBLE)

Not even a dog would’ve visited him.

- No one would’ve visited him. (IMPOSSIBLE)
- No politician would’ve visited him. (POSSIBLE)
- Not even a politician would’ve visited him. (VERY MUCH)

Okay..okay…I get it. He meant –

“Had it been a common man’s  house, not even a single politician would’ve visited them including him”

That is very true. No doubt !

The problem here is with the media and the rest of us. Mr. Achutanandans level of thinking is definitely on a different plane, and what he actually meant is the above. He did not mean to disrespect the family. All he wanted to do was to go there and let the people know that he visited them, and he cared – because it was Sandeep. (Otherwise you know..)

And he wanted to tell India that he stood with the Martyrs, and he salutes them, for what they’ve done. He might have wanted to visit every Martyrs house, but in the current situation, I don’t think he will go to any other house.

But one thing still fascinates me. How civilized Mr. Achutanandan is and his proficiency in the languages. James Bond should learn from him how a sophisticated man should behave. Seriously.

In an interview with an English channel, Mr. CM said (along these lines)-

Sandeeps mother, Sandeeps family told me sandeeps father his mental  is not good (gestures with finger to forehead).

Perfect !