That’s how you hit two targets with one shot says Congress

Today an LTTE Leader made a sensational appearance hinting that DMK might have been indirectly responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s death. But that’s not the crucial. The crucial thing is the timing. If we look back at most of the incidents around DMK and Congress one can easily sense what’s going on.

Before going on let’s have a look at some of the facts. DMK is the third largest party in the UPA coalition behind Congress and Trinamool Congress with a substantial 18 seats. The last two years of the government has seen more scams and allegations of corruption than bills passed, with DMK seen as the centre of it most of it. The media has mostly shown DMK as a corrupted party which has nepotism grounded in it. The DMK lost badly in the recent assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and the by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem that they will gain the lost ground soon and easily. And then the most important fact of them all, two DMK MP’s, one of them being DMK supreme’s daughter is behind bars for one of the largest corruption cases India has seen.

Enough facts now let’s see the ground situation. Congress suffering from bad public image is trying to put all corruption image on the face of DMK and even distancing itself from DMK sometimes. They cannot afford to leave DMK’s hand as if DMK pulls out, the government can collapse. So what they are doing is putting one foot in the door. Sonia Gandhi showing some closeness to J. Jaylalitha and reminding DMK they are just an option. I won’t be surprised if they leave DMK and join hands with AIADMK in the next general elections.

This was the Congress’s situation. Now let’s have a look at DMK’s state of affairs. DMK has hit an all time low. They have a very low public acceptance with them at the moment. So if they decide to pull out leading to a collapse of the government, they won’t be too confident while going for the assembly elections at such a moment. So they are in a situation where they can’t demand anything and can only sit and wait for things to turn better.

So it’s more of an alliance where nobody can do anything but to stay together. But Kanimozhi has been made a scapegoat by Congress to show DMK what they are capable of. Also this has shown how helpless a father can be in the wake of Indian politics.

Social Networking +1

I was going through my twitter Newsfeed when an idea struck me to relieve me of my boredom so I got down writing

Facebook ask me what I'm thinking, Twitter asks what I’m doing, Foursquare asks where I am and Orkut....aaaa. Ok forget Orkut I can’t remember, anyways it’s dead. I decided to create some fictional Social Networking website with some catchy status update asking lines.

1. Food&me.com

Yeah it had to start with food.

What’s hitting that belly?

2. IPLHooked.com

Who is getting the next curse?

3. PoliticiansToTihar.com

Oh this one is one of my favourites.

Who’s coming next?

4. YeahImfat.com

What’s the next excuse to console?

5. GeeksAreGod.com

For some of my geek friends

How many lines of code today?

6. OneSidedLovers.com

Who is the hot chick that just moved to office/college/school/colony blab blab............

7. DepressedExLovers.com

When are the next happy hours and what’s on your mind Devdas?

8. PoliticiansInTihar.com

Yeah one more

How much?

9. RajniRulez.com

Any Joke will do sire.

10. Bored4mOffice.com

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Eureka........Eureka!

Don’t worry, I was not having a bath when I said the above words nor have I discovered anything new. I was in my usual place in the office doing nothing but some reading and mind thrashing. But during the course of my meditation (of course mind thrashing) I came upon the news of LinkedIn IPO and I could feel the fears of some sceptics and laughs of some lunatics. For the past 6 months or so I been hearing a lot of talk of another bubble in the making from the bubble obsessed people, our now beloved friends Americans. To be more precise another dot com bubble.

The recent events like the takeover of Skype by Microsoft and the LinkedIn IPO helped a lot by giving a lot to talk and write. I couldn’t help but feel that the only reason many of the American watch News is to find another bubble or to create one. So obsessed are they with the idea of a bubble that even after having disastrous consequences twice in a decade they still want another one.

It seems like God has definitely blessed America or Americans as to say by once again listening to them. I have been hearing stories of people driving across States with posters on their cars saying “God give us another bubble”. But this definitely is not a dot com bubble, even if it turns out to be a bubble in the end. This time it’s all about social networking. Be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Zygna or Skype. The buzz word is social networking. There are people saying this is not a bubble as all these have sustainable business models generating good revenue year after year. But so were the companies that started the last dot com bubble like Ebay, Amazon and its revenue not profits people.

But this is not where the things go wrong. I read someplace there are three kinds of entrepreneurs. The first are the innovators, the second are the ones who tweak and take it to masses and third are the cheap imitators. The third ones are the one which are most dangerous. It seems that most of the people who run to the markets to invest have either not read or forgotten that “All that glitters is not gold”. The LinkedIn IPO showed how eagerly people wanted an IPO from the social networking breed. With some shares going at double or more the initial price of $45, its valuation went straight away to $8 billion in the trading market from the $2.5 billion it had earlier.

And the Curious Case of Microsoft buying Skype has not helped, but add more fuel to the fire. By no means this looks like a bubble. It when every Tom, Dick and Harry is making social networking sites to make those millions (which I guess is already going on) and the rest of Tom, Dick and Harries think that they can rank in the moolah by investing is when things go wrong. Both things have started, but not risen to alarming propositions. The next year is going to be very interesting to watch whether Facebook or Twitter comes out with IPO and how big of a response come from people (it sure is going to be big). It’s after that, the people who would think that they missed the bus will be interesting to watch. As these will be the gullible ones to burn their hands by investing in the third category of ventures. So let’s wait and watch the movie. From the looks of the initial trailer or teaser or whatever you call, it looks to be an interesting one. I have already bought the popcorns and a nice comfy seat. For the moment GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Wars…..Wars: We Want Wars

Before you even think about judging me, I’m a peace loving person, although not a follower of Gandhi, but still I do shun violence. So you must be thinking why am I supporting Wars?

Well parallel to all the Wars we all know (Mostly involving US) there has been another kind of violence going on, mostly silently, sometimes roaring. It stays hidden for most of the time, never makes for front page headlines or for that matter to Prime time Debates on 24 hour News. But these Wars are something who as much influential as all the other Wars you’ve been thinking about. But one thing about them is after the War is over winner is you the reader.

Ok enough suspense, let me raise the curtain and show the magic (no magic actually that just sounded good). I’m talking about Wars such as Cola Wars 80’s, Browser Wars of the 90’s and more recently Cell Phone OS war.

So let’s start with the Cola Wars. I was fortunate enough to read a case study about Cola Wars in my first year of MBA, but I can swear on Gita, Kuran or Bible that I hardly remember a thing. All I can gather is that the War left has us with beautiful commercials, lovely jingles and a handful of products, the taste of which we are still savouring. Not to mention it also gave us lot of MBA material to study and lots of strategies also and one big case to do with. Although I know the last part won’t make many happy especially my esteemed classmates who are dreadful and weary of reading 20+ pages of a Case. I shall not say more about that, because I know I’m riding on a very thin rope and I’m yet to complete my second year. Nevertheless the Cola Wars gave us a lot of things which till date we remember and so much was its influence that it went to the outer space as well.

The second war and one I’m more close to is Browser Wars. We all love to open up Google Chrome or FireFox or even Internet Explorer (You lazy idiots stop using this crap and download a worthwhile browser) but few of us might be familiar about something called Mosaic. It was the first known web browser, which later gave birth to Netscape Navigator, which later was the reason for development of Internet Explorer, which later….ok that’s enough, go figure it out yourself. It was also one of the reasons of now famous Microsoft’s antitrust litigation. Although the rest didn’t go too sweet for Netscape, but see what has that left us. It gave numerous web browsers, made a couple of Nerds millionaires (as if I give a damn, they didn’t give a dime to me). And it also played a big role in the massive Dot com bubble.

Recently though we saw another such War among Mobile Phones OS, precisely between Android and iOS. And I have to say I love all the cartoons these people make. They also love to take a dig at each other once in a while. And then we do have the Joker also in Steve Balmer who has a habit of giving us reasons to mock him. Saying that this War is nothing in proportion to the earlier ones will be an understatement. But still if you think so, just go and search the amount of lawsuits they have on each other.

As I draw to a close, I would like to point out to another War in making, a war which can have an even bigger impact. It’s the Tablets people. The thing we all want to own and because we can’t (apparently because of money) we say it’s useless and crap and full of shit and blahhh….

As you can see even in these Wars, the biggest participant has been the US. So therefore I urge the US Department of Defence and also President Obama to increase their budget, so that they can speed up more on such Wars and give us something to cheer about.

Find your Singur-An Open letter to Mr. Rahul Gandhi

, cFirst of all congratulations Mr. Gandhi for the victories Congress garnered in the recent assembly elections across different states. A special mention of Mamata Banerjee who has proved that True Grit, Resilience with Patience can help achieve anything, may people take lessons from her struggle and implement them in other places.

Now let’s come back to you. A few days ago you were making headlines for something. Something you did in villages near Greater Noida. You were there supporting the farmers agitation against the state government for the way it acquired land. Well at least that’s what the media was telling me. Now Mr. Gandhi let me familiarize you with one of the cruellest yet most useful word of today. It’s called RESULTS.

You can ask any school going child, or an investor how big is that word’s importance today. So let’s have a look at the results you generated from your so called agitation.

1. Gained a lot of Political mileages and newspaper coverage

2. Checked another point from the To-do list (Going to jail)

Did anything else happen that made significance?

Now those were the results you gave. Let’s have a look at what could also have been achieved. If the land was really acquired illegally or at lower prices, you could have continued your agitation and deliver something like what Mamata did in Singur. You could have done a lot more, that would show up on your report card, telling people that you are serious about things.

Uttar Pradesh is a state which has literally slept through the last two decades of India’s growth. It has always been seen as a drag on the nation, pulling back the growth shown by other states. It has been notoriously famous for its population, having one of the lowest literacy rates in the country. You were the one who termed it as you “Karambhoomi”. Mr. Gandhi it’s not words that matter, it’s the actions, remember.

With UP assembly elections not too far away and then the next General elections in 2014, all eyes will be on you and the results you are capable to produce. Mr. Gandhi “Find your Singur” and make it clear you mean business or we won’t take too long to forget you.

Today you are not only talking to the Aam admi, you are talking to the Common man as well. And common man lives in the age of Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs etc. Common man makes an effort to look beyond the obvious, search and not just believe what he is shown. Mr Gandhi common man is not just educated, he is enlightened also. He can see what India is capable of and where it is lying because of the leaders who are in charge of the ship.

Mr Gandhi, common man puts a price tag on his vote and that vote is not for sale. You will have to earn our votes to get them. You will have to prove, that you are worthy of being considered as a leader, who can lead us in the future. Mr. Gandhi you will have to rise above things like petty politics, easy political mileage and show us some real results. I know it will be a very difficult War, but then Wars are not won in a day. Wars are decided on the fate of small Battles. Battles like Mamata Banerjee fought in Singur, in Nandigram and ultimately won the thirty plus year long War against left. And as caution my dear friend once said; you cannot win every Battle, you’ll have to pick your Battles to win. Pick your Battles today and leave behind petty skirmishes and the big War is coming soon, but its fate is already being built upon. And if you fail to take notice of all these things, that cruel word RESULTS will not be a happy reading for you.