It is...therefore

Knowledge is
the quiet blossoming of the night-queen
the dewdrop on a web in a autumn dawn
the slow waltz of a hovering goldfish
the cold stare of a hooded cobra.

Bliss is
the azure of the winter sky
low cooing of the blue rock pigeons
the wind on my face in a crimson sunset
the sprightly sparrow on a flowering bough.

Strength is
the courtship dance of the sarus crane
the little spider suspended mid-air
the shrill cries of the gliding kitethe deafening clap of nearby thunder.

-- Sen's sanity, revisited

Sweet...

Discovered this perfect whammy on a toffee wrapper the other day - Contains Added Flavour (Natural Identical Flavouring Substances) Plain Toffee…
That’s on the Perfetti Alpenliebe wrapper. Beats me…

Another reading on the views of the religious right in the US

Nets kill 800 cetaceans a day'

"Research has suggested that romantic love fades after a few years and becomes companionate love and it seems certain biological factors play a role…”
i’m confused, even more confused, not willing to believe i’m an exception

Flight...

An Algerian man, wanted in connection with a bombing on the Paris Metro in 1995, has lost a legal attempt to block extradition from England to France. 

In legalaise suspected terrorists appear to have more rights than the victims of the terror attacks perpetrated by them.

Banta ever tried this one - Opening an airplane door in flight ?

jhanda unchaa rahey hamara...

Returned last week from a short trip to one of the last “Red” bastions in the world - West Bengal !

It is almost a year since i last visited Cal (oh uh, Kolkata…). The change was very visible, actually hurt the eye. Huge billboards have sprung up all over the city, shining brightly into the night, highlighting beautiful people and wonderful things. Some even powered from their own generator, purring away on the sidewalk. btw, Cal experiences very little powercuts. The Reds have obliterated all industries, consequentially very few power-hogging machinery and plenty of floodlit billboards and malls. Jai Baba Marwariji !

Add a few flyovers and a bumper harvest in real estate development and you have the complete picture of the burgeoning Bengal.

High-rises have sprung up in every other nook and cranny. Including the wasteland that is metamorphing into the Rajarhat township. Acres after acres of paddy fields land-filled with soil from “bheris” (shallow lakes traditionally used to rear fish for the bangali platter) in the eastern edges of the metropolis. Spanking new high-rise clusters dot this desolate landscape. Attempts for a brave new facelift for a Bengal festering and crumbling from inside. The “maantey hawbey” brand of militant trade-unionism and the general apathy to labour for a living, die hard.

“The Party” has, in the meantime, taken up the cause of the down-trodden IT professional. Adjudging the IT industry to be in dire needs of unionization. What of all rampant exploitation – more than 8-hour workdays and no “overtime” payments. And no unions equate to no enhancements to Party funds…

A brave new vision of the proletariat world… Narayana Murthy’s campus gates barricaded by red banners and “maantey hawbey” chanting Java developers !

...when will they ever learn...

Here today, gone tomorrow - Fake drugs undermine cheap malaria control therapy. When will we (if ever) learn ? i’m all for implementing the Principles of Retribution (read here and here) against the manufacturers of fake drugs

The democratic bandwagon - Afghan style. Appears familiar, huh ?!

Interesting reading from Dilip, on how inefficiencies drive up our economy

Negotiating the future of the Net at Tunis

Stunning visuals in the Visions of Science - Photography awards

time and again...

Fascinating photo-journal on cattle raiders from Sudan

Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn are being awarded America's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Intelligent Design Policy - Evolution suffers Kansas setback… Teachers have been ordered to tell pupils that Darwin's theory of evolution is unproven and that the universe is so complex that it may have been created by a higher power… Well guys, just in case you did not know, Brahma said “OM” and it all began !

A little-known battle to save Himalayan plants rages in the North-East