Wit Wisdom and Whoop

In 1947 the British left behind two enduring messy legacies. One was in creating Israel but without creating Palestine fully even if the UN created a map. The solution was so messy, that Jordan and Egypt managed the area which the Palestinians today claim but as having been taken by Israel. Reality is that none of the Arab states wanted either Israel or Palestine. In this existential game Israel took control over the Golan heights, west bank and the Gaza strip. The second was a problematic situation in Kashmir, with the partition of India and Pakistan. The mess we have seen over the decades was significantly India’s own making, actively exploited by Pakistan. Before the reader jumps, read on a bit. Just as the Hamas attacked Israel and plundered, raped, killed people earlier this month, tribals were encouraged by the Pakistan army attacked India for Kashmir. These irregulars were not paid, and so they plundered, raped, looted, killed and owing to this delay, reached the outskirts o...

  Sometimes more than one event sets off a chain of thoughts, and so this is a short commentary on different topics. G20: Undoubtedly this was the highlight of the year. 100+ events were held across 41 cities in India over a year long period, 220+ meetings were held across 60 cities. The sheer breadth and scale of the arrangements which occupied the entire year involved 15 million Indians in some form of activity. Many have griped about making this as a personality cult, waste of money etc. They could not be more wrong because this year long event had a huge benefit which nobody likes to talk about – the MARKETING of India. Every visitor would have had experiences and hopefully the good would have been more in number. But every visitor – as representatives of their countries across various segments – would have noted the arrangements, planning, efficiency, culture, people,  and the scale at which this was held. Many would go back with admiration for Indian capabilities a...

  For a change this is a technical blog but then I use this as a repository for all my writings and so here it is. The flavour of the day in India & even abroad today is  #Hydrogen  & we have seen many projects, investments being announced, while some have gone ahead with actual projects on a pilot basis. Wanted to share some big picture thoughts based on my personal involvement with the industry. Hydrogen for all its benefits is unique in the sense that it has a combination of properties that straddle the very extremes making it a challenge on various fronts. Many organisations are pursuing this opportunity, but the weakness as I observe, is that the majority of the organisations look at it in the conventional sense like many other projects they may have handled so far. This to me is not a good idea & barring for luck & god, the risk of a serious accident is significant in the sector. Unlike other fuels, LPG, CNG and Hydrogen are fuels which are stored ...

Sometime back as most of us recovered from the challenges of facing life with the Covid sword hanging above us, a bunch of my school/pre-university college friends decided to locate the teachers who had taught us in school - upto 10th Standards - and honour them. What started as a small event quickly morphed into something quite big and the event was held in a friend's house. We found that 3 of our teachers were still alive and it was a pleasure meeting them, literally after 47 years for me.  The friends made the event, held in May/June 2022, bigger and bigger in terms of its scope and decided to come up with a Souvenir, even if it was hardly 60 pages. The intent was for each to write about their memories and share. The friend who was involved in this insisted that I contribute (given your writing talents as he described it). I was extremely reluctant, as the piece I write will show why, but I finally mustered enough courage to write. I then dismissed the idea of sharing that as a ...

Who doesn’t have fantasies? They take all forms, shapes, sizes and situations. I have had one for long, and before the reader’s imagination runs wild – it is to do with Cricket. A game one has followed and been involved with since 1971.  Though in current times an excess of the game in format, frequency and information makes me lose track of events. What was once a lazy 5-day long game is now like instant noodles with 20 overs. What was once a battle between nations is now a battle between multinational clubs. But then every generation sees mavericks who are born sometimes far ahead of their times. Who, consequently, end up as blazing stars, but often do not reach the kind of heights of excellence and performance they could otherwise have done. One such blazing star was Salim Durrani, who passed away yesterday. A cricketer par excellence with talents that were sheer genius, but his record and numbers do not show even the slightest glimpse of his greatness. Only those who have wat...

This is NOT about the latest budget presented by Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman or its analysis but a tongue in cheek journey down memory lane. Flashback to almost 50 years and I remember the mood in the house on budget day. It was invariably 28th Feb and the speech would start late evening. There would be deathly silence around the house as father sat in front of the Radio, with a notebook and pen in hand to write down important points and everybody asked not to make any noise lest he miss some important word. There would be a medley of his government car, jeep, truck drivers also waiting outside. Before you wonder why, budgets often announced increases in petrol/diesel prices and then he would gesture - go, go, go - and the drivers would all drive in a frenzy to the authorised fuel pumps with the "stock book" signed by father. All vehicles would be filled up with fuel to the full. Sometimes I would be asked to go and help in this task to check the quantity of fuel filled. The reas...

  Almost 7 years later after the historic decision on Demonetisation was taken the Supreme Court finally ruled by a 4-1 majority that they have no say in the matter. The dissenting judge was of the opinion that it should have been a law passed by parliament rather than the way it was done. Lest I be hauled up for contempt of court, the ONLY comment I make is - next time India decides to wage a war or some such thing maybe we debate that in parliament first or if the cops want to raid a place where terrorists are hiding they need to give advance notice like a tender or something. Fascinated, I have written a few blogs on this subject which are given below as a link. Demonetisation - 11th Sept 2017 Demonetisation - 28th Nov2016 Anyway, that aside, this is NOT about discussing the merits or demerits of the decision, the usefulness or otherwise but some thoughts on the event. https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/currency-in-circulation-rises-by-83-since-demonetisation-in-2016/arti...