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Sysiphus.. All over again !!!

In the beginning there was BJP, the party with a difference....

"Congress is corrupt, we are different", they said. Vote for us and we will give you a government with a difference, because we are a party with a difference, they proclaimed.

Then came Lakshman, the party president, who was found accepting bribe, caught on Camera, forced to resign.

That dented the Party with a difference, for a while.

That was an aberration, they said, we are still a party with a difference.

Then came Yediyurappa, the Karnataka, temple hopping, yagya prone CM, who spent 24 days in Jail for.... believe it or not..... corruption charges.

That was an aberration, they said, we are still the party with the difference.

Then came Anna Hazare and the lokpal movement. The party with a difference, joined hands with Anna Hazare, to fight a political, anti corruption war against Congress. Their leaders went and sat with Anna Hazare, fully knowing that Anna Hazare wanted strong Lok Ayukta as a part of Lokpal.

In the debate in the parliament, they opposed the concept of Lok Ayukta under Lokpal...

After the 'Rajneeti' in Parliament, the BJP won a lot of political traction. The party came to be associated with Anti Corruption movement. Its leaders acquired a new sheen, a new respectability.

At least we have one political party that is against corruption, thought public. We truly have a party with a difference...

Then came UP elections and the Kushwaha controversy. Now 'The party with difference' is back to square one.

Lakshman....

Yediyurappa....

Kushwaha....

Greek mythology tells the story of King Sysiphus, who was punished to eternally push a boulder to the top of a hill, only to see it roll down.

Corruption issue is BJP's 'boulder of Sysiphus'

Lessons for Congress from Lokpal

Hello Congress leaders,

In the last 7 months or so, you seem to have been on back foot on more than one occasion. All your failures are being highlighted recurrently in various forms of media, while some of your great administrative achievements have been relegated to the background.

In the last 6 months you passed some very far reaching laws and bills which will significantly strengthen India in the long run. You passed the money laundering bill,the Judicial accountability bill, the whistle blower bill and the best of the lot, the right to food security bill. Taken individually each of these bills are significant in themselves, but taken together, these are awesome bills that will strengthen India in more ways than one.

Each by itself should have given you significant political benefits...

But, at the end of 2011, what are you remembered for? What are you famous (infamous?) for? What does come to mind when I think of India in 2011?

One, your sequence of missteps in the battle against Anna Hazare and BJP in the issue of corruption. You started off with sitting with Team Anna to discuss the Lokpal bill, thereby giving the 5 person team unnecessary credibility. You made the team Anna look as if they are the representatives of all the 120 million people of this country. You gave them the status of 'torch bearers' of anti corruption movement in this country and since any issue needs supporters and detractors, you ended up being seen as the obstructionists to a strong anti corruption law (and hence, by default, the supporters of corruption). It did not help that some known corrupt people like Lalu Prasad were your supporters. By blowing hot and cold over corruption issue, by going to airport to welcome Baba Ramdev and then using brute force to disperse his 'anshan', by meeting Anna Hazare and team once and them fuming over them all over the news channels, by opposing action against Kalmadi and Raja and then ending up putting them in Jail, you gave up any political advantage that you could have got out of the corruption issue.

You did not even get the credit for putting your own ministers behind bars on the issue of corruption (which by itself is path breaking..).

The second thing that comes to mind as I think of your performance in 2011 is the issue of FDI in retail. I was hoping that once you have announced your intention to pass FDI in retail, and once you had introduced this bill in Parliament, you will not 'Roll Back' the same. But unfortunately, you ended up rolling it back thereby demonstrating lack of capability for political management.

Personally, I don't care (and I am sure talking about the majority of Indians) much for FDI in retail. But by allowing media, the press and the market to hype it up to the status of 'Significant Piece of Reform', and then rolling it back, you ended up being projected as being 'Spineless' to carry forward the reforms which were your brainchild in the first place.

And when Government is perceived to be 'Spineless', the economy suffers due to 'Negative Expectations'.

During the term of NDA, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha was called 'Roll Back Sinha' for his frequent roll backs. You seem to be bent on snatching that mantle from BJP.

And what are the other areas that you are famous for in 2011?

The 30000 Cr., CWG Scam?

The 170000 Cr. 2G scam?

The Adarsh Housing Society Scam?

What happened to you? Have you lost it? Have you lost your Mojo?

In my opinion, your failed to effectively manage public perceptions. Some of it is related to the huge knowledge gap between older members and younger technology. Some of it is related to poor political mismanagement. And some of it is related to the arrogance of some of your Spokespersons who confused the message with the messenger (I am talking about Manish Tiwari (remember his 'Head to toe' comment about Anna Hazare?) and to certain extent, Abhishek Manu Singhvi). You forgot that when you are in Power, nation expects you to be suave, sophisticated and respectful to opposite views....

First of all, learn to use to technology to your advantage. You may not know this, but this is where your greatest failure lie. Whether you like it or not, technology has come to play a key role in Indian politics now. Opposition is already on twitter. Comments by Sushama Swaraj on twitter gets more publicity than her views expressed in any press conference. The whole of team Anna is on Twitter.

Against this, you got your Shashi Taroor, who complains about having to travel 'Cattle Class', when travelling by airplane is still the dream of majority in this country. None of you senior politicians are using new technology. Remember, in the world of new technology, the medium is the message. No one looks at the message. Just being on twitter, and posting some non-controversial comments (Technology is awesome !!!), will make you look sophisticated, cool and in touch with the nextgen.

Learn to use technology to your advantage. Technology will help you differentiate yourselves from the likes of Lalu Yadavs, Rajniti Prasads and the Mulayam Yadavs of this world. And believe me, you need that differentiation...

By helping 'you the person' reach out, technology will also help you separate your personal beliefs from your political compulsions...

And finally, technology will help you reach your target audience much faster. Technology breaks the distance between the content of your message and the time of its delivery. For example, reach out to nextgen thru Youtube, thru facebook. That is where they are, even in their workplace. Imagine the kind of value you can get by presenting your views cogently on Youtube. It is there for any one to listen to at any time of their choice.

Please remember to use humor in youtube videos, by the way. A drab message do not communicate well....

Secondly, you need learn some efficient political management. Take for example the case of Lokpal bill. It was very clear that the Lokpal bill will not pass in RS in the present form. So why bring it at all? Why not wait till you had the majority in the house to pass the bill? Same goes with FDI in retail. In case of RS Debate, BJP played their cards quite smartly. First of all, Arun Jaitley in his initial speech, made BJP look so 'Pro Lokpal'. His speech was filled with references about how BJP has tried again and again to bring in a strong lokpal and how they were being thwarted at every step by Congress's reluctance.

By bringing 187 amendments, BJP was sure that either, you will not put it for voting on 29th, or, if voted, the bill was bound to fail, in both cases making you look like the regressives.

What happened in the end? BJP ended up being the Martyr and you looked like 'Obstructionists' and unprepared. You were the 'bill tearers' and 'people who were afraid of voting'.

What happened to you Congress? You were the past masters of 'Political Management'. What you have forgotten about Political management is probably more that what the other parties know and remember. And still, on the TV screens on the 29th, you looked like losers.

You need to buck up. There are plenty of your supporters who feel let down by your repeated missteps and your inability to project your achievements. Please help them to help you.

Generic vs. Procedural Knowledge

Here is a quote from NY Times
Generic Knowledge: This is about knowing something. For example, you did your MBA and know all about Balance Sheet, CFS, fundamental analysis etc. This is the kind of knowledge that one gets from the classroom.
Procedural Knowledge: Also known as 'Practical Knowledge', this is the knowledge about how to do something, how to get things done. For example, you will come out of MBA with full knowledge of the theoretical aspects of Marketing (Full of General Knowledge in Marketing Management), but until you dirty your hands in the competitive world of product selling, until you go to the field and directly interact with the end customer, you will not know the practical aspects of how to sell something.
Many of us have a lot of theoretical knowledge, but woefully lack practical knowledge.

Blogger Dynamic Views

Blogger Dynamic Views is awesome....

Perils of being an MBA - 3

ICICI Bank has just announced a Teaser rate for home loans.
The interest rate is fixed for the first two years. After that the interest rate will be floating, the rate being linked to the PLR (Prime Lending Rate).
Very emotional ads. "Now get rid of fears of interest rate hikes", "Worry about buying home, we will worry about your interest rates", "Get home, not high interest", "Pay for your home, no need to pay high interest rate to the bank" and so on.
If I were not an MBA, I would be probably impressed with the communication and go and take this home loan offer.
But I am an MBA and hence analytical...
When I analyse this offer, I am thinking in my mind, Who are they trying to fool?
As per experts, the interest rate in India has peaked and is set to come down. Now you are offering me Fixed rate interest? When the interest rate is expected to come down? You take me for a fool?
The only one to win in this scenario is the bank. In a stable / falling interest rate scenario, the bank is offering a Fixed rate for two years. This means that, in case, the interest rate comes down, the bank can get the benefit of high interst rate.
I am curious to see the demand for this offer....

Kids @ 11

My son is growing up. He is now 11 and touching 12.
This is the phase of development in a child where he is developing a sense of right or wrong. Till now, for him, what the parents told were always right and unquestionable. But now, we are reaching a stage where he is developing a sense of right or wrong. He is developing his 'Ethical Personality' as it were...
Some of it seems to be clashing with mine....
For example, the other day, he found a unclaimed Table Tennis Ball in the TT room. Some kids, firiends of his, had left it there and gone. This was a good quality TT Ball, costing about Rs.40 (which is on the high end as far as TT Balls go). There was no one around, he asked me what he should do with the ball.
"Find the owner and give it back to him", I told him
(In retrospect, that was the only smart answer that I gave that day).
"I don't know the owner", he said,
"So keep it in the bag now. We will find the owner and give it to him later", I responded.
He promptly kept it in the bag.
I forgot about it, but he didn't. The thought of having someone's ball in his bag, kept following him thu the day.
After about a few hours, while we were attending the TT coaching, he came and gave me the ball.
"Let us give it to the coach", he told me.
"Why should the coach take it?" I asked.
"Because, he needs many balls to play 'multi ball practice' " He responded.
"He will not take it" I answered.
"So what should I do?" He asked me.
"Keep it with you. Finders - Keepers" I told him (Drat.....)
His tone became critical. "How can you say that? It is not my ball. So how can I keep it. Isn't it like stealing?" He asked me like a wife or something.
What did I do? 'Finders - Keeprs' is a universal law. I was just suggesting him what the world does. Now I am forced to look like stupid.
PS: The ball still lies in his bag after almost a week. We don't use it, though.

Smart Strategies....

Note: This is not a political commentary. I am an independent thinker and provide issue based support to Both Congress and BJP.

This article is an expression of admiration of the strategy of one political pary...

You have to admire the strategists of Congress for their innovativeness.....
Here you have the Onion price rise, a very volatile issue which has brought down two governments in the past, a steep hike at that, and what will you expect to see?
You will expect to see a vigorous press focussing every day on Onion Prices. You would expect to see reporters standing in the major vegetable markets in different parts of the country, interviewing irate house wives on the steep price hike and the impact on their wallets. You would expect to see 'Special Onion Issues' of major news papers, and detailed discussion on the price rise, the demographic impact of the price rise and the expected impact of the price hike on the prospects of Congress.
You would expect to see Opposition parties going hammer and tongs at the government for its inability to control price hike, you would see parliament functioning and having very heated debates on price rise, inflation, the cost of inflation, the economic impact of inflation etc.
You would expect to see interest rates rising, inflation being a major issue which will bring down the matkets adding to the already existing gloomy scenario.
If I am an oppostion leader, I would be licking my lips at this god send opportunity.
This all fine to expect. But what do you see in reality?
The press is focussed on Corruption. You see Arnab Goswami raving and ranting against Kalmadi and Raja almost making the Corruption his personal issue.
You see reporters stationed at the houses of Raja and Kalmadi and a few standing in the Vegetable Markets.
You see BJP focussed on JPC and 2G Spectrum scam. It is holding public rallies explaining the concept of 'Spectrum' to Aam Aadmi. I heard Sushama Swaraj, explaining why 'Spectrum' is important for BJP to stop parliment from functioning for the whole Winter session. Aam Admi was sitting under hot sun listening to Sushamaji explaining the technical aspects of 'Spectrum'.
BJP is desperately trying to explain why it is justifyable to stop Parliament from functioning for the whole Winter Session.
Aam Aadmi is wondering why Corruption is so important now? It has always been there. Corruption has never brought down a government in India in the past. Why assume that it will this time around?
As an Aam Aadmi, I would identify myself with Rise in Onion prices, which impat me directly, than any esoteric concept of corruption in high places.
Mind you, I am not supporting corruption, I am all for putting Raja, Kalmadi and co behind bars for life. But the point is:
Onion price rise is much more important an issue and has a lot more effect in Channelizing the rage of the Aam Aadmi than this esoteric concept of 'Spectrum'.
Cynical that I am, I also think that Congress found this a good opportunity to get the prices of Onion hiked so that the Rich Onion Merchents can make a killing, and a part of that will go to Congress Party fund as donation......
Net result? Thru corruption in CWG and 2G scam and now Onion price rise, some people have become richer at the expense of Aam Aadmi and BJP is roaming around the country side teaching 'Spectrum' to the Aam Aadmi.
All the while, there is no one to focus on the punishing rise in prices of Vegetables across the board.
Congress has strategically made the BJP and opposition to focus on the wrong issue at the wrong time.
It is not for nothing that Congress has been in exostence for more than 125 years. They should have learned a few trick during this journey...

Eskimo Winter

The eskimo chief suddenly died and his harward educated son was forced to become the new chief of eskimos.
Winter was fast approaching. The late chief had a way of looking at the sky and stars and calculating and predicting the severity of winter.
The eskimos approached the new chief and asked him if the oncoming winter is going to be severe. If it is expected to be severe, they have to start piling up wood.
The new chief, not being aware of his father's way of predicting the severity of winter, did not want to take any chances and asked his people to pile up some wood.
15 days passed. Still it did not seem as if the winter was going to be severe. The eskimo people again approached the chief.
"O Chief, we have piled up enough wood for a normal winter. Currently it doesn't look as if the winter is going to be severe. Should we continue piling up wood? Will the winter be severe?"
The chief called up the Met department and asked if the coming winter is going to be severe.
"Looks like the winter will be severe" answered the met department.
The chief asked his people to pile up more wood.
Another 15 days passed. Still there was no signs of a severe winter. The eskimos again came to the chief.
"Chief, will the winter be severe this time? Looking at the current weather, it doesn't look as if the winter will be severe. We have piled up so much wood that we do not even have space to pile more wood. Can you pl. tell us if we should pile up more wood?"
The chief again called the met department.
"Will this winter be severe?" he asked the met department, "It doesn't look as if it will be"
"Definitely. This winter is going to be the severest in a long time" responded the guy at the met deptt.
"How do you know?" the chief asked, 'How are you so sure?"
"The eskimos are piling up wood like crazy. Whenever they do that it portends a severe winter" answered the met rep.

The Optometrist or the Optimist....

I had to get my spectacles mended.
"I should see an Optimist" I told my wife
"To get your specs mended you need to meet an Optometrist" replied my wife.
I cheked up 'Optometrist' in the dictionary.
'Optometrist' appeared after 'Ophthalmologist' and 'Optician' in the dictionary.
"May be I need to see an 'Ophthalmologist' or an 'Optician'?" I was not sure.
"No, you should see an Optometrist", my wife averred.
She was so sure that I called up the number of Optometrist.
"How much time will you take to mend my specs?" I asked the lady who responded.
"Two hours.... may be less...I am an optimist" she responded

Sherlock holmes and watson in a tent

Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson are camping out at night. Both of them have laid a tent and goes to sleep at night.
Sometime around midnight, Holmes wakes up Watson....
"Watson, wake up and look up. What do you see?" asked Holmes.
"I see a bright sky littered with twinkling stars and with moon in the background" replied Watson.
"What does that tell you?" Asked Holmes
Watson pondered this question for a moment. "It reminds me of the beauty of the nature and tells me that god is the ultimate artist. The site of the brilliant sky makes me in awe of the vastness of the universe and makes me realize that in the universal scheme of things, we are just a very minute and miniscule participants. All those stars and the sky and the earth and us are so perfectly balanced that I salute the greatest artist and craftman who is god......" Watson completed an ecstatic and enthused narration...
Holmes was silent.
"Holmes, what does the site of the clear sky and stars tell you?" asked Watson.
"Watson, you fool", replied an exasperated Holmes "someone has stolen our tent"

Perils of Being an MBA - 2.

The biggest problem of being an MBA is that you become too cynical when it comes to advertisements and business news.

Today morning my wife saw this news item in the papers.

"Hindustan Motors to unveil new models of Cars".

The article quoted the CEO as saying that in the next 15-20 months, HM is planning to manufacture three new models of Cars under the 'Ambassador' brand. They are also planning to set up a component manufacturing unit which will Cater to the requirements of other car manufacturers.

"Isn't it great?" my wife exclaimed, "We used to have an Ambassador car when we were growing up. I still miss the rigid, upright unfolding seats in which you have to sit with your hips and back at 90 degree angles and the leg space was so short that you come out of the car with legs bend. Sitting in that car for a long time gave new meanings to the phrase 'Streching the limbs' ".

"And remember 'Contessa'?" I decided to add to the discussion, "that long and flat car that looked like a Chapatti or something. And remember the excitement that was followed after the release of Contessa? Man, people were crowding to buy that car. Man, that car looks so outdated in design and fuel efficiency, when compared to the current set of cars available".

"We should buy an Ambassador when it is released? It says it will be released in about 15 months."

Now my MBA Brain decided to kick in. Hindustan Motors shares are languishing at their bottom. The company has probably a few diehard Bengalis as share holders (and some stupid guys who purchased the share out of pure greed. And finally, the company has some land at Kolkatta and some outdated and obsolete machinery. And with these the company is planning to manufacture cars. And they are hoping that the cars will sell....

Probably some VIP has some shares of HM and he wants to sell it off now, with the market at 20000 and all. This is the time when gullible investors will eat any news and buy the shares which could drive the prices up so that these VIP guys can sell off at some profit (?). All these feel good stories are a way of talking the share price up.

How can HM manufacture cars? They are probably better off constructing a Mall or an apartment complex in the land available.

PS: If HM announces the construction of a Mall, I will buy the HM Share.

Perils of being an MBA - 1

The biggest problem of being an MBA is that you become too cynical when it comes to advertisements and business news.
Take for instance the latest ad of IDBI Bank. There is a cute ad of an elephant and a kid playing together and the tag line informs us that IDBI Bank has removed the account opening fees for Current Accounts and Savings account since the organization values relationship and customer should not pay to build relationship with the bank.
"Isn't it a great gesture?" asks my wife "No fees for opening a Savings account. Can't we open an account?"
"And the ad is very cute" she follows up as an afterthought.
This is where my MBA Brain kicks in.
Big Deal ! I think. A very good way of using emotional ad to lure customers to put in their money. A bank removing account opening fees for CASA (Current Account Savings Account) can only mean that it is finding it difficult to get new customers. That it is advertising now means that probably their loan portfolio is expanding and they do not have enough low cost funds to fund the loan. Normally the low cost funds for a bank are provided by CASA. IDBI Banks ad for CASA can only mean two things. One, their loan portfolio is increasing and two they are funding the same by high cost funds like FDs and stuff. This can only mean that their spread
(NIM - Net Interest Margin) is narrowing and this will sooner or later reflect in the Stock Price.
So (I continue thinking), it is better to sell of the share of IDBI Bank now. It has had a nice little run up and let me make the profit and get out of this share..
In the meantime, my wife has gone to the web and had already downloaded the account opening forms...

On Commonwealth Games...

Suresh Kalmadi and Co probably thought that Commonwealth games is an opportunity to accumulate 'Common Wealth'.....

Looking at the condition of Delhi, with its rains and huge traffic pile up and the metro standstill and finally the farmer's rally, there is no way. in my opinion, that CWG will succeed. Despite all th talk about 'Sab theek ho jayega', I am very sceptical. I think that there is no way CWG can succeed.

Success needs planning and preparation. In case of CWG, both are missing.

May be a failure of the CWG may be good for us Indians. May be we need a collective failure to get into our heads that 'Sab aise theek nahin hota hai'. Everything do not turn out well in the end unless we plan to make it all end well. A collective failure could get us out of our over optimism which borders on naivete...

It is worth remembering that the current generation do not have many memories of collective failures. The only war that we lost was against China and most of us were not born at that time. The only memory that we have is that of a few wars and victories against Pakistan. Perhaps those victories have made us complacent. May be we all need a Societal failure to wake us up and fight.

May be it is good. Since any failure of CWG will be attributed to Corruption, in case CWG fails, I think there will be a collective upsurge against corruption in the country and that will be good.

This is the classic Indian characteristic, find the positive among all the negatives....

Have you ever been in your Zone....

Today while listening to the very melodious song 'Manassilunaroo Ushasandhyayay' in my MP3 player, I was in my zone...

What is a zone? A zone is your personal matrix where you are disassociated from anything that is happening around you. When you are in the zone, you are so focussed on something that you lose track of your surroundings. You are so involved, so focussed and so into what you are doing that for you nothing else exist.

We enter a zone when we do extremely well what we are doing. The work is highly focussed and involved and most of the time intellectual in nature. For instance, if you have studied hard (very , very hard) for an exam that you forgot any aspect of time and place, then you are in the zone. A zone is a dreamlike state in that in both states, you are away from your actual surroundings. Only difference is that in a zone, you are physically doing something while a dream is only that.

Most people enter a zone when they do very well what they are capable of doing. For example, for about two years in his career, Rahul Dravid was in a zone. He could do nothing wrong. He got three triple centuries against Australia helping India win the series at home and in Australia, won the Wisden Cricketer of the year award.. He was awesome when he was in his zone.

Considering that we do our best when we are in a zone, it is very sad that most people never enter their zones in their life time. We are fortunate if we are in the zone at least once or twice in our lifetime. This means that for most of us, our life is filled with doing average work, producing average output and thinking that we are doing great.

Since most of us never enter the zone, we don't know what we are missing.

Having said this, today, while listening to this song, I was in a zone.

I was walking along the main road in Bogota and was listening to music being played in my walkman. Suddenly this song started. For those who have never heard this song, you can listen to it here.

The song is sung by Yesudas and S.Janaki in the original. When I was listening to this song, I was walking along, eyes closed, entire focus being on listening to this song. This song has the quality of touching your soul by its melody.

While I was listening to this song, the time stood still for me. I did not observe anything that was happening around me. I was in a trance like state. For me, for those brief moment, only the melody of the song existed. Nothing else....

When I came out of the trance, I found that I was walking in the middle of the road with cycles swirling all around me. This was very, very weird experience. For a few moments, I was in my personal 'Matrix'.

Try to get into your zone as much as possible. Till you are there, you won't know what you are missing. Till you are in the zone, you won't know what you are capable of achieving....

Problems with Indian Education System

My son goes for Abacus training in a school near our house in Bangalore.
Today I went to drop him for the class. In one of the class rooms in the school, a 'Civics' class for class X students was going on. This was a preparatory class for the first term class X exams which were due next week.
Remember Civics? It teaches you about Constitution of India, the fundamental rights, duties and such stuff. Used to be boring subject back in those days.
The things have not changed. It still remains a boring subject. Today I understood why.
Two of us (a lady and a gentleman (me of course!!) ) were sitting outside listening to a class going on.
(One thing about the class room. It was a very small room stuffed with students. It was overcrowed with students like MG Road on a busy week day)
The teacher drawled on in a monotonous pace.
" There are three lists in Indian Constitution. The central list, the provincial list and the concurrent list. The central list is purely the responsibility of the central government, the provincial list is the responsibility of the state government and the concurrent list is the joint responsibility. Blah, blah, blah...."
(It was very boring class. I could see the students taking in all of this very illuminating information. I could feel them instinctively understanding the differences between the three lists and getting a very clear idea of how the indian constitution works)
I am kidding. Of course Manju was building up courage to ask Smitha out to the movies and Smitha was probably drawing Manju's picture in her note book.
The point is the knowledge was definitely not being transferred in that class room.
I am thinking, "Maa'm, you are losing out on a wonderful opportunity to teach the children the difference between these lists. Why can't you have a role play where one of the students (Smitha) is the central government and (Manju) is the state government and ask them to discuss various scenarios. This way you can demonstrate the tensions between various lists and how our democracy works. For example, Centre can ask the state goverment as to what they are doing to control communal tension in Mangalore and state can say 'it is none of your business. Law and order is a state subject'. Centre can point out that ensuring communal harmony is a subject in the concurrent list. You can demonstrate how the list conflict with each other and at the same time maintains a delicate balance between various arms of the country.
You can also illustrate what happens if the things reach a boil and the authority of the central government to dismiss the state government. You can show the checks and balances in the system. You can ask students to collect news items where the different lists coordinate peacefully and other situations where they clash with each other. You can show different examples of the lists in action....
Maa'm, you could make this topic so interesting....."
Instead you go on as if you did not understand the topic that you are handling and making the students wish they were elsewhere....
Making the subject boring.
The more the things change, the more they remain the same.
Civics is very boring..... Still
(Once the class was over and the teacher came out, the lady sitting near me complimented the teacher on her excellent delivery of the subject.)

Misleading ADs

Have you seen the following ads and how blatantly they mislead and misguide the public?
Complan AD: Winner is the ad for 'Complan'. The ad compares the height of two groups, one of which drinks Complan and the other which drinks the competitor product (Horlicks, I presume). The kids who drink 'Complan' attain a height of 4 feet 6 inches while the kids who drink the other product attain a height of 4 feet 3 inches. The ad goes on to claim that the kids who drink Complan attain 'Double' the height of the kids who drink the competitor product.....
Will someone teach these guys that the 'Double' of 4 feet 3 inches is 8 feet 6 inches and not as suggested. In fact 4 Feet 6 inches (54 inches) is only 5.66% taller than 4 feet 3 inches. This is a far cry from 'Double' (Duguna) height difference that the ad claims. And given the statistical profile in Indian Population, I should presume that 5.66% difference should be statistically insignificant...
But there it is. The AD guys pulling a fast one on unsuspecting public...
Lifebuoy AD:

This AD talks of a building where the number of school going children is about 40% more than the neighbouring building (I may have got the numbers wrong here) and claim that it is because they have been using Lifebuoy for over a period of one year. I think the AD targets Dettol soap users. Use Lifebuoy? My foot. I think that children will dislike Carbolic Soap (which is what Lifebuoy is) more than they dislike milk (if my son is any indication of children worldwide). All the children in a building using Lifebuoy? You must be kidding.

The whole stuff is about 'ZEWS', which is the acronym used in AD Circles for 'Zap 'em with Science (or Statistics in this case)'. You can see ZEWS in action when 'World Dental Health Organization' or '80% of Dentists' prefer a particular brand of Toothpaste, or when a particular brand of Shampoo has 7% Zypolicocotine (or some other chemicals which kills Dandruff and keep scalp clean), or when all those 1000s of ads con you with Scientific or Statistical Terminology.

PS: The recent Vodafone ads are so cute and sweet......And gets the point across more effectively than any of the other snazzy ads do..

Tiger Woods Joke...

On a golf tour in Ireland, Tiger Woods drives his BMW into a filling station in a remote part of the Irish countryside. The attendant obviously knows nothing about golf, greeting the golf star in a typical Irish manner, completely unaware of his identity. "Top of the mornin' to you, sor," says the attendant. Tiger nods a quick 'Hello' and bends forward to pick up the nozzle. As he does so, two tees fall out of his shirt pocket onto the ground. "What are those?" asks the attendant.
"They're called tees," replies Tiger.
"Well, what on the good earth are they for?" asks the attendant.
"They're for resting my balls on when I'm driving," says Tiger.
"Jaysus, sweet Mary and Joseph," the attendant exclaims, "BMW tinks of everything!"

Very inspiring

Ever heard of Susan Boyle? She is the oldest participant in 'Britain's got talent'. All of 47, she delivered this inspiring performance.
The show is the British equivalant of 'American Idol' and much more entertaining, in my opinion.
Also see this combo of Michael Jackson and our own Desi Bangra.
Amazing....