Showing posts with label Our World. Show all posts

Why Are Italian Captains, Like Costa Cruise, Not The Flavour Of The Month?


The New Year so far had not been a lucky one for the Italian sea faring lot, especially the captains of the Italian vessels. First there was the Costa Concordia disaster, resulting in the death of several people which, many believe, could have been avoided by timely action of its captain Francesco Schettino and the Costa Cruise Company. In fact the scandalous behavior of the captain has gone in to the history books with his arrest on charges of his having caused the shipwreck
"owing to ... imprudence, negligence and incompetence" resulting in deaths, having abandoned about 300 people "unable to fend for themselves", and "not having been the last to leave" a shipwreck”
Even before the dust from the biggest disaster of the year so far has settled and the agony and pain from the disaster, with seven people still unaccounted, lingering for several families and their relatives, another Italian vessel, its captain and marines employed for its protection are embroiled in a International row on account of two unarmed fishermen from Kerala, a southern Indian State, who were shot dead on the high seas.
If the circumstances which lead to the Costa Concordia disaster were unbelievably insane, given the safety standard one would take for granted in the 21st century maritime life, the events which lead to the death of the two fishermen and the arrest of the Italian marines by the local police of an Indian state are right out of an exotic thriller.
Apparently the unbelievable incidence of shooting from a bobbing ship, killing precisely two unarmed persons in a bobbing and approaching boat, took place in broad daylight, in Indian waters at the orders of its captain!
The Italians claim that the ship and the pirates they shot at with warning shots away from targets, eventually thwarting the pirates and their boat from approaching the ship, were different from the boat and the fishermen who were killed.
Once again, an Italian Captain is in the centre of a controversy for lack of clarity and straight forward explanation of an in incident which has blown out of all proportions and grown in to a major international and diplomatic row between India and Italy.
So far, Italian ministers who have flown to India were unable to dissolve the issue which has become a maddeningly sensitive enough to upset the results of a local election, vital for the ruling congress party with stakes in the state and central government.
The incidence has also brought up severe lack of clarity as to the onus among the ship owners, the Italian navy and the Italian government regarding culpability of shooting and murdering innocent unarmed foreign nationals from Italian owned vessels in international waters.
To add further to the pain and lack of trust of the people of coastal Kerala , which look at the whole incidence with suspicion, another boat has been sunk in a collision with a ship, which has gone without reporting the incidence, killing two fishermen with three others missing.
When you consider the fate of the latest Costa Cruise vessel Costa Allegra, which went out of power supply and had to be towed from high seas, leaving its passengers with out food and other necessities for three days, it looks like the maritime diversions from life are certainly jinxed, at least for the Italian sea men!
Article first published as Why Are Italian Captains, Like Costa Cruise, Not The Flavour Of The Month? on Technorati.
Friday, March 02, 2012
Posted by Unknown

Is The Death Of The Lokpal Good Riddance To Bad Rubbish In Indian Democracy?


At last everyone can take a sigh of relief; democracy is safe, at least for now. The much debated Lokpal Bill has been literally, in fact actually torn up in the Indian Parliament! The Lokpal Bill was put to sleep at midnight.

Despite all the flak she is taking for her seemingly flip flop attitude to her coalition partnership of the UPA government, Mamta Banerjee, the maverick of Indian politics, must be credited with saving democracy in India this time around.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Posted by Unknown

Another Acid Test For Democracy.


Barely noticed by the world, yesterday was an important day for democracy!
The world’s biggest democracy, which came under the threat of being usurped by populist and anarchists, aided by the frustrations of an urban middle class and hyped by eyeballs hungry media, showed the first signs of its inherent parliamentary strength and democratic will to fight back. After the cool breeze of Arab Spring, the tabling of the Lokpal bill in the Indian parliament turned out to be a respite for democracy shaken by the tremors of a harsh Indian summer!

Saturday, December 24, 2011
Posted by Unknown

Why Is Anna Hazare Fasting While India Is Sinking?


The politics of wrangling and bickering in the US and Europe is frustrating. The consolation is that the politicians don’t have a clue how to tackle the sinking economy and it is difficult to judge who is right. However the politics of obstruction which has led to contraction of growth in India, which till a year back maintained an impressive  rate, despite the banking crisis of 2008, is mind boggling.

“The industrial production saw a staggering decline in October, with a negative growth of 5.1 percent in output mainly owing to huge fall in manufacturing and mining sectors.”


Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Posted by Unknown

Why Is Anna Hazare Fuelling Wal-Mart Politics?



Wal-Mart, which symbolise capitalistic enslavement for the Indians, seems to be dividing India, world’s largest democracy, in the middle even as the Indian government is bravely defending its decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Retail, a reform which opens a market worth billions of dollars the world’s major chains are desperate to enter.

The controversy is based on the perceived pros of the move, strongly supported by the government in need of urgent foreign investment to cover its budget deficit and maintain the growth rate of the country and the cons, put forth by an opportunistic and  motley combine of communists, communal parties and the women chief ministers of three states with over 30% of India’s population, who have no clue of the complexities of the issue or particular reason other than their bloated egos to object the move, claiming the government is only fooling people.

"To give an impression that FDI in retail will solve all problems like inflation, price rise and unemployment... whosoever is saying this is fooling people that FDI will get millions of jobs. It cannot happen."


A PAIR OF GENIUS FROM GOD'S OWN COUNTRY





This blog post is to request you to visit and contribute to a special Facebook Fan page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Secret-Of-Sreeni-Satyan-Screen-Magic/244545765601562?sk=wall

This page is dedicated to a pair of genius, hidden from the world, God chose to bestow with enormous talent and kindness to entertain and lighten the hardship of daily life in God’s Own Country.

I hope it will bring out and introduce to the whole world, the genius of the great and inimitable Malayalam script writer and actor Sreenivasan and the secret of how his unforgettable scripts came alive and live for ever in the hearts of Malayalees through sheer screen magic of Satyan Anthicad, a great Malayalam film director.

Their work is such that there is no reason why it wouldn’t be recognised among the best of best in the world cinema had it been in English language! It is never too late to bring them such recognition and the onus is on none but the mallus themselves who are naturally bestowed with broad hearts.

The work of the pair will be remembered for the wonderfully natural characters it has produced on the screen with whom every malayalee can identify in some way.

This page is a place to share your unforgettable experience of that identity, the moments which made you laugh and cry and feel helpless in the state of affairs in God’s own land!

If the world should know, it has to be in English, even if it means your competence is at par with that of Sreemathi Teacher!


Satyan - Anthicad films with scripts by Sreenivasan

1986 T. P. Balagopalan M.A. Mohanlal, Shobana, Sreenivasan, Kuthiravattom Pappu Sreenivasan

1986 Gandhinagar 2nd Street Mohanlal, Karthika, Sreenivasan, Mammootty, Seema, Janardhanan, Thilakan, KPAC Lalitha Sreenivasan

1986 Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam (Peace for Good Minded) Mohanlal, Karthika, Sreenivasan, M.G. Soman, KPAC Lalitha, Thilakan Sreenivasan

1987 Sreedharante Onnam Thirumurivu(Sreedharan's First Blessed Wound) Mammootty, Sreenivasan, Neena Kurup, Innocent, Suresh Gopi, Sankaradi Sreenivasan

1987 Nadodikkattu (Nomadic Wind) Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Thilakan, Shobhana, Innocent, Mamukkoya, Captain Raju Sreenivasan

1988 Pattanapravesham (Coming to Town) Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Karamana Janardanan Nair, Thilakan, Ambika, Innocent,KPAC Lalitha Sreenivasan

1988 Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu ( The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs) Sreenivasan, Jayaram, Urvashi, Innocent, Karamana Janardanan Nair, KPAC Lalitha,Parvathy Sreenivasan

1989 Varavelpu (Welcoming) Mohanlal, Revathi, Murali, Sreenivasan, Mamukkoya, Innocent, Jagadeesh, Oduvil Unnikrishnan Sreenivasan

1990 Thalayanamanthram (Pillow Talk) Sreenivasan, Jayaram, Urvashi, Parvathy, Innocent, Mamukkoya, KPAC Lalitha,Sukumari Sreenivasan

1991 Sandhesam (Message) Thilakan, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Sreenivasan, Jayaram, Innocent, Mamukkoya, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Siddique Sreenivasan

1993 Samooham (Society) Suhasini, Suresh Gopi, Manoj K Jayan, Sreenivasan, Nedumudi Venu, Mamukkoya,Vineeth Sreenivasan

1993 Golanthara Vartha (Global News) Mammootty, Shobhana, Kanaka, Sreenivasan, Nedumudi Venu, Mamukkoya, Oduvil Unnikrishnan Sreenivasan

1994 Pingami (Successor) Mohanlal, Sukumaran, Kanaka, Jagathi Sreekumar, Innocent, Oduvil Unnikrishnan,Devan Raghunath Paleri
1994 Santhana Gopalam Balachandra Menon, Jagathi Sreekumar, jagadeesh, Thilakan, Kaviyoor Ponnamma

1997 Irattakuttikalude Achan (Father of Twins) Jayaram, Manju Warrier, Murali, Sreenivasan, Kavya Madhavan, Lalu Alex,Mamukkoya Sreenivasan

2001 Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka (Of Jayakaanthan, Narendran's Son) Kunchacko Boban, Samyuktha Varma, Asin, Sreenivasan, Innocent, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Parthiban Sreenivasan

2002 Yathrakarude Sradhakku (Passengers Attention Please) Jayaram, Soundarya, Sreenivasan, Innocent, Mamukkoya, Oduvil Unnikrishnan,Siddique, Nedumudi Venu Sreenivasan

Anna Hazare – An Indian Hitler Or Don Quixote?



If Cervantes, the Spanish author who created Don Quixote four hundred years ago visits India today, he would be amused to see the ruckus being created by Anna Hazare. However, he will be aghast how his character could go out of control and create the current mass hysteria sweeping the Indian continent, unless he digs up why Adolph Hitler could whip up something similar in the pre war Germany.

Like Don Quixote, Anna Hazare has been inspired only in his ripe old age to attain glory and a place in history. Till the recent up surge against “corruption” no one, at least outside India, has heard of him.

It took him seventy four years to see that there is an enemy “corruption” in the Indian society and it is his call to eradicate it and thereby achieve eternal glory as his role model Mahatma Gandhi.

There are a lot of interesting parallels in the saga of Anna Hazare with that of  Don Quixote. One can see Don’s stupid horse "Rocinante" in the bizzaare group of spiritual and materialistic swamis, police officers and business men supporting his shows. India’s nouveau rich techie and urban community is “Sancho Panza”, his equally daft squire, who is promised the utopia of corruption free India. The rural India which constitutes ninety percent of the Indian population is his lady love, “Dulcinea del Toboso”, who he tries to save from a corrupt government but she knows nothing about this.

Most striking comparison though is in their adventures. Like Don, who saw in a wind mill a giant monster he needs to defeat, Anna has identified and is relentlessly attacking the “corrupt” Indian administration as his arch rival he must bring down.

Saturday, August 20, 2011
Posted by Unknown

Who Can Make The Rip Van Winkles of Global Economy Accountable?



Unlike Rip Van Winkle, the legendary character by the American author Washington Irving, who woke up from a twenty year sleep and was shocked to see a changed world, the modern day version, the US credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s, is sending the world economy in to a tail spin. The question is why the whole world has to pay for someone’s inaction?

 
The S & P’s faulty down grade of the US credit rating to +AA status, among other things, is attributed for the current world financial turmoil illustrated by the leading headlines of this week:

Stung by the first-ever downgrade to its top-notch sovereign credit rating, the US has hit back at S & P, saying that the rating agency's flawed analysis has put its own credibility and integrity at risk. 

S & P is not the lone Rip of the Global Economy who creates turmoil by ill conceived and un substantiated adverse remarks on nation’s economies. The Comptroller and Accountant General of India has recently come out with reports claiming losses of USD 39 billion to the government in lost licence revenue, which has been misinterpreted by the Indian masses as government corruption of the same amount, stalling India’s growth.

The question is why these agencies have gone in to long slumber of inaction while things were definitely going astray and why they have to get the figures and facts so wrong when they eventually chose to proclaim their shocking revelations.

The crucial thing is, with the globalisation, the damaging effects are no more limited to countries but the whole world. With these watch dog agencies being allowed to act independently or just constitutional set ups with out any answerability to anyone, time has come to decide if they can be allowed to continue to function in the same way or at least operate under guide lines to contain or limit the damage arising out of sentiment erosion and confidence deficit caused around the world.

It is very consoling to see that stalwarts of Capitalism like Warren Buffet have come forward to defend the US Economy, despite the echoes of pessimism emanating from
Competing economies like China.

What is giving concern though is the appalling lack of comprehension of the situation and the apathy shown by the current bunch of leaders of the developed world, like may of the EU nations who have chosen to enjoy their summer holidays without resolving burning issues in Italy and Spain, which smacks of Nero’s playing of his fiddle while Rome was burning.

The protracted congressional drama over the credit limit, which appeared to be plain partisan electioneering for all thinking people, which precipitated the current action by S & P has demonstrated a similar apathy of the US leadership.
Can we afford to let our leaders to be Rip Van Winkles in their elected positions? I guess the way the world markets will react on Monday will decide.

Article first published as Who Can Make The Rip Van Winkles of Global Economy Accountable? on Technorati.




Sunday, August 07, 2011
Posted by Unknown

Jupiter And Murdoch's Super Empire!


Murdoch's Super Media Empire is being hit by a tsunami!
When I wrote about a few observations associated with the position and recent movements of Jupiter a few weeks back, I had a feeling that I haven’t finished yet! I am sure astrologers around the world are trying to see if the new position of the planet Jupiter, which is not one of the dwarf planets, in the house of Mars somehow explains the abrupt and disastrous fall of Murdoch's empire.

I had listed some events which have shocked the world and have become defining moments in nation’s histories. I had also felt there could be more! What characterized all of them was not merely the profound loss to the establishment these incidents brought about but the speed and abruptness with which they happened, taking the whole world by awe and surprise.

Still I had somehow felt that I wasn’t complete in my reasoning, because, a large part of the world population was left out of the effects, though the life and future of everyone was affected in a defining way due to the colossal nature of the events.

I surely can’t say I am glad to take satisfaction that my curiosity and premonition about planet Jupiter is fulfilling as it affects so many lives with sad and disastrous effects. But the tsunami currently hitting the empire of Rupert Murdoch is definitely closing the gap!

The events, in breathtaking succession, of the last few days in the United Kingdom which has resulted in the arrests and resignation of so many people who till recently enjoyed unprecedented power can only be likened to a political tsunami that has stuck the east cost of the Atlantic and is expected to strike the west cost soon with similar devastating effects.

It is not just the enormous wealth of Murdoch in question, but the humiliating crumbling of the of the media super world he has managed to build in our lifetime, It is not just his fall from the position of a kingmaker but the depth to which he has fallen, borne out by the humiliating apology he had to make to the Dowler family, which actually show the fierceness of the tsunami wiping out the ground under his feet and his political empire.

Can a $22 Billion Godly Treasure Make God’s Own Country A Tourist Spot?





If you believe in God and love him truly, sometimes, you are bestowed with the good fortune of being able to sing his praise, even if it is about his hidden wealth!

As if to atone for the ignorance of its Comptroller and Auditor General and make up for the loss he claimed the country has suffered, India has recently discovered a treasure in one of its ancient temples in the idyllic southern state, fondly called God’s Own Country.

These idiotic claims made by a stupid CAG of India, outside the constitutional limits of his office, has caused unprecedented loss to the Indian market capitalization, pulling India’s growth by several points down and creating a huge deficit in the trust of foreign investors in the Indian economy.

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