Long Live Cool !!!

Yaanai irunthaalum aayiram pon,
iranthaalum aayiram pon !

- A Thamizh (Tamil) proverb

In economics or finance, the concept of time-value of money is very fundamental in any valuation model. In simple terms, this essentially means that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar tomorrow. The difference is accounted for return desired for deferring current consumption, adjusting for inflation expectations, and for accepting an assorted collection of risks (credit, liquidity, ...). The afore-mentioned quote contradicts time-value of money, as the quote says that An elephant alive is worth 1,000 gold coins, and so does a dead elephant. Even though time is not explicitly mentioned, I presume almost all of us can see the point... And of course, there are other assets whose value increase over time ( in precise terms, over a sub-interval during its life time ). Commodities like oil, gold, rice, etc., real estates are some examples of such assets (asset classes) whose value appreciates over some time-interval. This post is about assets that belong to the second and third category, the one that is always valuable or appreciates over time.

While I was surfing channels on TV, earlier this afternoon, I stumbled upon Steve McQueen's Magnificent Seven, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/ , the Hollywood version of Kurosawa's, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/ . A cult classic in its own right, the film is one of the cool movies of McQueen. He was stylish, macho and he was the original King of Cool, before the arrival of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti westerns. I had come across an interesting article about Steve McQueen and others, about a year back, that I forgot and somehow recollected while watching this movie, that spawned this post. The article lists various deceased artists, who are still in demand for different reasons. The funny part is that these celebrities earn money even after their death !!! And they make a filthy lot of dough !!! The article could be found http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7069981.stm

While I am not exactly a die-hard fan of Elvis/Lennon/Warhol and others, I was happy that an icon like McQueen is not exactly forgotten by this generation. In closer neighborhood, all of us have our own list of style icons from Bollywood/Tamil/Telugu or other film industries. My favorite icons are MGR, Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan. All of them played the role of an angry young man to perfection, had a unique style when it came to dialogue delivery and acting, and most importantly, they were able to connect with masses in a way not many others could. While Big B's is still a super star in Bollywood, his fan base is not as strong as that of Rajini's, a contemporary of Big B. People outside Tamil Nadu and those who are not die-hard fans of Rajini associate him with his recent movies since mid 90s. But the true cool Rajini belongs to 70s and 80s. Movies like Ninaithaley Inikkum, Avargal, Murattu Kaalai, Thillu Mullu, Moondru Mudichu, 16 Vayathinile and many of his classics of 80s readily come to my mind. Certainly Amitabh doesn't capture public's attention the way Rajini does even right now. At one point, Rajini played a significant role in electing the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. While no one knows if Rajini is ever going to jump into politics like other popular actors of South India, he could be formidable opponent to all of the bigwigs of politics, if ever decides to make a foray. It is in this aspect, Rajini outscores Amitabh, taking into account Amitabh's earlier unsuccessful tryst in politics.

But the biggest daddy of all, in my view is M.G. Ramachandran a.k.a M.G.R. For those who don't know M.G.R., he was an icon both in Tamil film industry and Tamil Nadu politics, and he died in late 80s. Even in this age, there are political parties who campaign in the name of M.G.R., and not in the name of the candidates, and end up winning. Now thats what I would call as star power. Value of this star power cannot be estimated in monetary terms, but it is truly a significant number. In my view, M.G.R. is probably more valuable than Elvis !!!

Long live Cool. Long live Kings of Cool...

Talibanisation of Tamil Nadu

This post is a follow up to my most recent post on Pathetic and Submissive Hindus. This post is meant to compare Messrs. Karunanidhi's actions with that of another group of people (???), whom we universally view as evil. I would like to make it clear that I have no personal animosity against Karunanidhi, but I oppose his unwarranted attacks on Hinduism. When I speculate on what could have motivated him to undertake these actions, a few readily come to my mind. Elections and lack of any other issues to project him into spotlight, that he craves, come to my thoughts.

Ever since he got elected in 2006, Karunanidhi has had a relatively quiet and peaceful time at the helm, except for the odd fights between his sons, Stalin and Azhagiri. Now, the political scene in Tamil Nadu looks interesting with the arrival of actor Vijaykanth in this garbage called politics. I think Vijaykanth is a big threat to Karunanidhi ( and to Jayalalitha as well), due to this vast fan base, and his claim as the true successor of the late MGR. Now, thats a killer combination on any given day. For those who don't know much about Tamil Nadu politics, an icon MGR died in 1988, and to this day, parties can win elections merely by invoking his name. Such is his aura, among certains sections of the society. While Jayalalitha will always be a nemesis for Karunanidhi, any actor turned politician invoking MGR is a huge threat, especially if he has a huge fan base. Now, "poor" Karuna, has to do something that strengthen his stronghold among his allies, and bring him into spotlight. He does two things to create controversies. Firstly, he kickstarts/re-starts the Hogenakkal project. He is fully aware that Karnataka doesn't have a government at this moment, and what better strategy can he think of other than raising the age-old Tamil vs. Kannadiga issues like Cauvery or Hogenakkal or anything for that matter. It is very sad that neither side couldn't resolve these issues to this day to the benefit of people on both sides, and it looks like, they will never resolve these issues. Anyway, Karuna rakes up Hogenakkal issue, violence flares up on both sides, media and filmdom take sides, innocent people on both sides are affected and polarized, and Karuna makes a "magnanimous" gesture of putting this project on hold until a government is elected in Karnataka. Now, Karuna projects himself as both a savior of Tamils and a peace-maker. Dude, why do you have to resort to this cheap brand of politics, when you knew beforehand that Karnataka doesn't have a government, and that Hogenakkal project cannot proceed beyond a certain stage, if representatives of Karnataka's interim government raise this issue at the Supreme Court???. And you knew they will !!! After this Hogenakkal issue, he turns to his favorite whipping boys, the Thamizh Hindus and Hinduism, a strategy that worked for him since 1950s. He sure hopes that this will help today.

In our time, a communal group takes a militant form of religous idealogy, identifies what is/are good for the masses, and then unilaterally passes laws enforcing people to follow these laws or be tried for sedition. One can easily associate these with Taliban infested parts of the world, which most of us consider as pure evil. While Taliban follow Saudi brand of Wahhabi islam, and is meant to make the people "more islamic", if that makes any sense, Karuna who is actually anti-hindu, and passes laws and decrees on how hindus should lead their life !!! Strange are the ways democracy works.

Even after 60 years of independence, so much work needs to be done to improve various infrastructure in the country, viz., in education, health-care, social reforms, national security and many more. Isn't it the job of chief minister to undertake one or some of these pressing issues and do his bloody job, instead of denying the existence of Lord Rama or questioning Lord Rama's civil engineering credentials, or attacking Hinduism just because he feels bored ??? To this day, TN treasury show deficit in state budgets. Why can't they do their work and create surplus in treasury, and make it sustainable so that they can use it to the welfare of the people, rather than keep begging World Bank or IMF for loans??? When do they plan to settle loans that we have been borrowing since 1947??? Don't these Tamil leaders have any self-pride??? How long can they deceive the masses ???

Pathetic and Submissive Thamizh Hindus

Nenju porukku thillaiye - Intha
Nilaiketta manithirai ninaithuvittal,
Anji anji saavaar - Ivar
Anjaatha porulillai avaniyille;
Vanjanai peigal enbaar - Intha
Marathil enbaar; Antha kulathil enbaar;
Thunjathu mugathil enbaar - Migath
Thuyarpaduvaar; Enni bhayappaduvaar ...

Excerpts from "Nondich-chindhu" by
Mahakavi Subrahmanya Bharathiar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramanya_Bharathy

Great Thamizh (Tamil as is it incorrectly written, widely) poet and freedom fighter Mahakavi Subrahmanya Bharathiar wrote a beautiful song titled "Nondich-chindu" lamenting the state of Indians during the pre-independence era, a piece of the gem sung with pride. No amount of painstaking translation in English or in any other language can do justice to this beautiful poem. With foretold caveats, I try my best at elucidating the crux of the above paragraph and the larger poem itself for the benefit of non-Thamizh readers. Let the readers be reminded that this poem was written at a time when, superstitions dominated the society and religion, womens' right were unheard of, men were scared of fighting the British by supporting armed struggle as espoused by great men like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal etc., to name a few. In that era of social backwardness, Bharathiyar wrote "Nondich-chindu", exhorting Indians to fight the British, attack superstitions and, overcome fear and self-doubts. Bharathiyar cries that his heart bleeds when he sees the unstable and self-doubting Indian, who succumbs to a painful and slow death. The scared Indian blames on imaginary ghosts and evil men, and lacks the guts to fight the British. And so goes the song, exhorting every Indian to look inside and tap the raw nerve to fight social injustices and the British.

Today I felt, we need an encore of this passionate song, as Indians, in particular Hindus live a pathetic life in a country, where they are supposedly in a majority. This is related to the official decree by Tamil Nadu government led by the Karunanidhi, ordering all temples in Tamil Nadu not to perform any pujas for devotees and celebrate Tamil New Year Day on April 13th, as was the hitherto custom. Temples, which are controlled by the Tamil Nadu government, have no choice but to accept the whims of a anti-hindu chief minister. To this day, I have never celebrated English New Year or other stupid foreign commercialized festivities like Valentine's Day, sticking true to my proud Indian roots and celebrating Tamils, Malayalis, Kannadigas, Andhra, Marathas, Bengalis, Punjabi's and north Indians' New Year Days, all of which fall within a few days of one another, which illustrates the closeness and the beauty of our diverse Indian culture. Let me make this clear. I belong to neither Shiv Sena nor Bajrang Dal. I am just a simple Indian who loves his diverse Indian culture. While I consider Indian christians and muslims as Indians, I hold festivities like Valentine's Day, English New Year Day and likes, with utter contempt for the materialism and commercialism they represent, and as a product of culture forced upon us by this hedonistic world. These views were not a product of any external influence, but a product of my own volition. I don't object anyone who celebrates any of these junk festivities with religious fervor, but I consider it as a waste of time.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, famously proclaimed that "Swaraj is my birthright". But now, I can't go to a temple in TN and seek blessings of The Almighty, as the dreaded Karunanidhi wants us to celebrate Tamil New Year day on the 1st day of the month of Thai (mid Jan.) coinciding with another important Tamil festival, Pongal. As with other Hindu festivals, Tamil New Year Day is based on Hindu astro-almanac calendar. Since Karunanidhi sees this as a product of Hindu-Sanskritic culture, which he detests, the communal Karunanidhi wants to damage the psyche of every proud Hindu. This guy has no balls to question Christian and Islamic festivities, even though neither Christ nor Mohammed had anything to do with India or Indian culture, but derives great pleasure in destroying traditions and Hindu culture that people have been following long before Christianity and Islam came into existence. I see a proud Hindu Bengali, a Hindu Punjabi, a Hindu Maratha, a Hindu Kannadiga, a Hindu Malayali and other proud Hindus, and I see a sorry Thamizh Hindu who has been perennially hurt by anti-hindu policies of DMK, and who has no voice in this so-called Secular and Tolerant country. One can follow the links below,
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080413/jsp/nation/story_9132123.jsp and at

http://newshopper.sulekha.com/newsitem/2008/04/tn-bans-new-year-rites-priests-fume.htm

We, as Indian Hindus, would certainly do well with the rebirth of say, a Subrahmanya Bharathi, a Swami Vivekananda, a Sri Aurobindo, a Chathrapathi Shivaji and many great Indians, to rekindle the sense of pride and admiration for the beauty of Indian culture, and overcome fear and self-doubts, and defend our culture from hostile forces. In a democratic and secular country, we Hindus are forced to dance according to the whims of a anti-hindu leader.

Bharathiyar sang,
Achcham illai, achcham illai, achcham enbathu illaiye,
Uchchi meethu vaanidindhu veezhukinra podhinum,
Achcham illai achcham illai, achcham enbathu illaiye... The above means that even if the sky explodes and falls on my head, I will not be cowed down by fear, I will not be scared, and I will fight. Bharathiyar's exhortations of Indians to fight British imperialism was successful, and we badly need an encore to save us from the cultural imperialism as practiced by Karunanidhi and his despicable coterie of sycophants.

Sadly, we live in a world where anyone who defends Hinduism is considered as a Hindu fundamentalist, and someone like Karunanidhi who loves every opportunity to attack Hinduism is considered as rational and secular!!! Long live Indian democracy and tolerance!!! Long live secularism!!! Vande Maataram.

A Sad Day in Boston and New England :-(

Congratulations to New York Giants for winning Super Bowl !!! Hope to see you next year... As fans in Boston and New England wake up this morning with the shock of their lives, they will stunned by a couple of facts from yesterday's game:

1. How come Brady got whacked so badly throughout the game??? Even though Steve Spagnuola ( a native of Boston suburbs) had lots of blitzes in his sleeve, I am still stunned at the ease with which New York's front four rolled over the famous New England offensive line...
   
2. Bill Belichick (New England's head coach) is widely regarded as a grandmaster of defensive schemes. But even Bill's schemes couldn't really dominate Eli Manning and his offensive linemen !!! For most part of the game, and especially during the clutch drive, they did "just" enough to walk away with the game winning touchdown... that really hurts...

I am so shocked even right now, just as most New England fans would be, and even had difficulty sleeping last night. But I am very very proud and happy of being a New England Patriot fan. What they have achieved this season is still phenomenal under any standards of parity in any sports !!! Its a bit unfortunate that they wouldn't wipe that bloody smirk in the face a few grumpy old men from Miami http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AsAdRjN1_3U_RyGM09I82VFDubYF?slug=ap-superbowl-dolphinscelebrate&prov=ap&type=lgns

I am sure you could google "1972 Miami Dolphins" or "Don Shula" or that arrogant old man "Mercury Morris" to learn more about what I am saying...

But I am happy for 2 people in New York Giant's team.

1. Tom Coughlin - finally got to win Super Bowl as a head coach. He is in his 60s already, so chances are that he may not get many opportunities in this increasingly difficult NFL. Congrats to you Tom and your family.
2. Michael Strahan - finally this fine player wins a trophy of his life... He went through a very difficult time at the start of the season with his divorce from his wife, in which he lost all the money he earned (due to a bizarre pre-nuptial agreement he signed) that he even sold his micro-wave and other things... He overcame doubts and lack of motivation, and finally had his hands on the Vince Lombardi trophy. Congrats to you Michael. I am very happy for you.

Ona lighter note, everyone knows that New York Giant's team has a huge fan base in Manhattan, and New York City. If one good thing thats going to come out of Patriot's super bowl loss, that has to be avoiding recession !!! Yes, some bizarre articles had been floating around the web the last week, correlating success of NFC teams (Giants this year) with the positive effect it has on economy !!! For more details, check out
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22781437

If somehow this turns out to be true, even though it sounds as a ridiculous superstition, I guess most people in this country and beyond will be happy !!!

Advances in Science and Technology !!!

Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, research in technology and science is changing the way we live in this world. Science continues to redefine what is possible and what is impossible in our lives. While this is true in every aspect of life, in this post I am going to be focusing on one specific aspect of our lives which will never be the same in the next few decades. Sex. Science is contributing significantly to enhance (?) our sex lives, and here I am looking at a few technological innovations that might change the way humans think about sex and emotional relationships...

1. Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships by David Levy I first heard about this book on Comedy Central's popular show Stephen Colbert Report, last Thursday. We all know that there exists a bevy of sex toys and gizmo that cater to the needs of many people in various walks of life. I hear that it is actually a flourishing industry with seemingly great potential for future investment and returns !!! Anyways, in this book, author Levy explores many aspects of human relationships: the reasons we fall in love, the reasons we feel a need for emotional attachments, and why these same attachments could extend to love for robots. He even goes further when he claims that humans would eventually end up marrying robots and feel emotionally satisfied. This may not surprise all of us, as we had seen Jude Law playing the role of a Gigolo in Stanley Kubrick's/Steven Spielberg's movie A.I. While I haven't read this book yet, my basis for aforementioned statements rests solely on various reviews about this book and David Levy's interview on Colbert Report. Some reviews about this book could be found http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=hardcover:sale:9780061359750:17.46 (of course you could google it as well), and his interview could be found http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml , and if you scroll down the section where it says new videos and look for interview with David Levy: dated 1/17/08. I hope you can find it, as it is a laugh riot. This interview starts with Colbert expressing his skepticism and contempt at the very thought of humans making love with robots (rather sex-bots, I should say), getting concerned about the role of men in man-woman relationships, and finally getting downright hilarious when he expresses his concern about the sexuality of robots as told by GOD ( for those who don't know Colbert, he is a brilliant comedian who supports Republican party and holds conservative views compatible with the GOP), and is overjoyed when he learns that one day he could get one such robot for 100$ in Best Buy !!! I must say that I was very concerned on how Colbert is going to navigate his show during this writer's strike period, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/arts/television/19writers.html?ref=business , this episode of Colbert report has given me optimism that Colbert can indeed manage the show without his key writers. However, I may have to write another post to express solidarity with striking writers, as I feel their demands are genuine and needs to be addressed.
   
2. Tech and Adult Entertainment industry ( euphemism for porn industry ) While hosting the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Vegas also hosted the Adult Entertainment Expo. This expo was held to showcase (apparently) the advancements in the intersection of technology and adult entertainment. If Steven Soderbergh was to remake his Sex, Lies and Videotape ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098724/ ), he would call it as...yes, you guessed it right, Sex, Lies, HD Dvd and Blue Ray Disks !!! If you were to listen to porn actress Jesse Jane, she says "I like HD, it's more realistic... It's a perfect picture. It's a crazy picture it's real", more reasons for you to dump your idiot-box and get a 56" flat panel HD, if you don't have one yet. Mobile porn is apparently gaining momentum, thanks to smart phones like iPhone, and iPod Touch (what a name !!!). You could read more at http://www.cnbc.com/id/22578009
3. Reality Romps at Big Sister This is definitely the most depressing of the 3 articles I am reporting here on technology and sex. Big Sister is basically reality TV on prostitution, where the protagonists get free experience, and in return have their exploits filmed and posted on the internet. I personally hate all kinds of reality TV shows, such as Big Brother and other crap. And now you got to contend with likes of Big Sister. You can read more at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a6C0QuB5G6Ys&refer=exclusive

Certainly, we are living in Kaliyug. For every great invention and discovery in science and technology that improves the quality of our lives, there seems to be an ugly counterpart that finds a savior among us. At the end, we are entirely responsible for the decadence and destruction of our society. And the truth is, there is not much we can do about it !!!

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

from John Keats' epic poem, Endymion, 1818

Life is full of riveting contrasts. Brightness:darkness, success:failure, happiness:sorrow, boisterous laughter:requiem, and many more... We tend to appreciate the bright side of life only if we experience or did experience the dark side at some point in our lives. Almost all the time, transition(s) from a regime of negative things to more positive things are aided by a stimulus/(stimuli) ( analogous to Newton's 1st law of motion), either exogenous or endogenous, either intentional or unintentional... For instance, to avoid a recession or a downturn in an economy, the Fed has to cut interest rates, to overcome inflationary pressures the Fed has to do the opposite. To overcome pressures from both the factors along with massive credit crunch and a possible risk aversion among investors, the Fed has to pump in $ 100 billion or more to revive ailing financial markets, as we face today http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/news/economy/fed_bernanke/index.htm and
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/01/17/ap4544823.html

Of course, by no means this is exhaustive. But once in a while, certain events occur that are deemed to be called special. My definition of "special" is "rare", odds of which are very close to zero, if not zero, as from probability theory, an event with zero probability is defined as an impossible event, and one that gives unbounded happiness to those who follow it. One such special event that we happened/happen to witness was/is the performance of the brilliant bunch of New England Patriots in 2007. And it didn't require any stimulus from our side. All we had to do is to turn on the telly on Sundays and savor Patriots ripping apart conventional wisdom about American Football. Sundays have never been more enjoyable !!!

Yes, winning the Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ is the big deal and big goal. That is definitely a pathway to immortality to this great team of winners. In the event of New England falling prey to San Diego Chargers or later in Super Bowl, that should not take any credit away from what they have achieved this season, as we might never get to see a team winning 17-0 in this world of salary caps and free agency. I think this is a truly remarkable feat under any standards, a feat that is tough to replicate. This is a testament to the dedication and toughness of the players, and innumerable hours of preparation that went into winning 17 games.

My great thanks to all those associated with the New England Patriots for the unparalleled entertainment they offered this year, right from Bob Kraft, Scott Pioli, the genius Bill Belichick, Tom Brady to the unsung players like Kyle Brady, Heath Evans, Russ Hochstein and all the backroom staff, who have a played a huge role in this successful year. Images that come to my mind readily include those of destroying the Miami Dolphins, outplaying the Washington Redskins, grinding out the Philadelphia Eagles and surviving the physical pounding of the Baltimore Ravens, and will stay in our thoughts for a long time to come. But if I had to name one game and one play that will be impossible to forget, that would the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the "guarantee" by Steelers Safety Anthony Smith, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22173105/
The standout play I am referring to is the "double lateral" play by Tom Brady and Randy Moss, and the eventual touchdown by Jabar Gaffney to burn Anthony Smith. Truly a sight to behold for all purists of all sports.

In this light, it is very interesting to go through what went behind in transforming one of the most under-performing teams in the NFL to the 1st dynasty of this century. This is an article that I had come across a while back that details humble roots of this wonderful organization called New England Patriots. http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2005/0919/122.html

As Bhagavad Gita says that "impermanence is permanent", like all dynasties in the past, this one will not be on top for ever. But lets rejoice the beauty while we have this moment.

Bhutto Legacy and Nawaz Sharif

On my most recent post, I had commented about political feudalism, and had briefly touched upon Benazir Bhutto blood-soaked legacy in Kashmir and Afghanistan. I want be clear that I am neither gloating her death nor sympathizing with her. I am just indifferent due to her controversial past. Definitely she is no martyr in my eyes. All this talk of wiping out Taliban, and creating a moderate Pakistan sounds good when she is not in power. But she never nudged Pakistan along moderate Islam when she was in power twice.

A column in NYTimes dated 1/4/2008, talks about Bhutto's legacy in greater detail. For those who think I am biased, take a look at the link
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/opinion/04dalrymple.html

One would be wise to note that no Pakistani politician had done anything to improve the economic status of Pakistan. It looks as if the state of Pakistan exists just to counter everything that India does. It is as if they have no direction or sense of their own. Nawaz Sharif, another comical Pakistani leader, seems to have improved the art of pimping quite well during his enforced (by Musharraf) exile form Pakistani politics. Few days back, he said he is not averse to working with Bhutto's PPP party in the coming elections. Incidentally, there was no such talk before Bhutto's death. Why would there be one, as Bhutto and Sharif hated each other !!! Now that whichever incompetent guy steps forward in the name of Bhutto is likely to win the elections due to sympathy wave, Sharif has probably realized that he doesn't stand a chance otherwise !!! A clear case of political opportunism...you can read this in the following article
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&?&autono=31908

By now you might think, can people be any more shameless? I am sure you will ask this question many more times as events unfold in Pakistan :-)