Mission Mumbai: India's tryst with triumph

The unbridled euphoria and ecstasy of yesterday's semifinal triumph has not subdued, rather an eclectic mix of alpine hopes and contagious aspirations around the winning spirit has triggered an all-time high adrenalin rush to the collective hysteria of billions of Indians before the final, which I wish, would be substantiated when India will rip apart Sri Lanka's dream and embrace the final victory, again after a long spell of 28 years, and this time at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. A moment that every Indian is earnestly waiting for. And equally important is that the Indian team shouldn't be swept away by the semifinal victory, lest this sky-clasping success finds its way into their mind, the team spirit and strong conviction should be alive and the hunger for success shouldn't be waned in their heart, then nothing can stop India to beat Sri Lanka in the final.

As the sequence of events unfolding around this World Cup, and India's relentless efforts to tame down even the most wild ones is just a reminder of facts that the 2011 World Cup is only written for India. Here is another silver edge for India, the final will be played on home ground, in which most of the players are versed with the nuances of the pitch. Irrespective of Sri Lanka's high performance in this World Cup, India has a better chance of winning for select reasons – first, the team spirit displayed in recent matches reveals an exceptional bonding, which was missing earlier; second, the on-field tactical decisions taken by the the captain Dhoni has paid huge dividends; and third, there's no individualistic megalomaniac tantrums, perhaps, a significant benefactor to the overall winning strategy.

The entire nation is eagerly waiting for that overwhelming moment when our men-in-blue will jump in air with the tenth Cricket World Cup in their hands, a moment that no high-decibel word can explain the height of joy, a moment that no one can forget in their lifetime that India is a power to reckon with.

Clash of Titans

The war pitch is ready. The whole world is poised to take the minute-by-minute pulse of the most exciting match of World Cup 2011 that's set on the hottest pitch of Mohali. Often touted as the mother of all cricket blockbusters, today's semifinal between India and Pakistan will be the decider of this World Cup's real winner. If India wins today, the cricket history will be rewritten, in a sense that whatever conspiracy theories around punters' paradise have been brewed in over past few days, the most predictive proposition however may sound unbelievable, the business behind the winning strategy will be another obfuscating story for cricket fans.

This semifinal will be unique in many ways than one. Hopes billions of sportive cricket lovers are surging ahead with great conviction, may the best team win without any bias to the support, but will that happen? That's the most exciting question which will haunt the cricket lovers till the judgment moment, the split second that will keep the emotions hinged to the core of an uncontrolled chain reaction. And what next? An awe-inspiring stance, a moment for many to bang their head, and for some to jump from their seat and start a dance of macabre. Today is the day all those hyper reactions are set on fire.

If history is repeated, Pakistan will certainly has a large probability for winning, but at this point of time we cant ignore the animal spirit of Indian cricket team, which has already established the fact that winning this semifinal is stored for India on many counts, some are conspicuous and some are hush-hush. Though there are many attributes to the winning strategy of this semifinal, a lot depends on the greed quotient of players. Maybe, it's quite difficult to ascertain the veracity of reports that punters have started their business strategy, but the Pakistan government's declaration of huge reward system such as offering 25 acres of land to each player is equally a counter attack on the dangerous plan of punters.

But nothing will go opaque as far as the performance monitoring is concerned. No player can escape from the hawk-eyed spectators who in all probability can judge what's going underneath. This semifinal is ridden on a bunch of complex uncertainties. What may be the visible constraints for the players on the field, the cricket lovers will not believe that because only one paranoia that has already intoxicated them is winning at any cost, for their own team. May the best team win!

A dangerous cocktail

If a Fox News's report on the clandestine test-firing of a nuclear-capable missile by Pakistan from an undisclosed region, is to be believed, then India shouldn't sit complacent and listen to the lullaby composed by Pakistan. There is something more here, a potentially imminent danger braced up in this part of the world. Pakistan's deliberate distancing from the US and close ties with China for defence partnership is certainly an alarming sign that India shouldn't ignore. Moreover, the tilting of Pakistan towards China is more malignant than that towards the US because for all strategic reasons, the US will support India's interests in international forums. As China is evolving as the most powerful economy in Asia, there are significant threat perceptions for India in the light of geo-strategic locations. China's furthering beyond LAC in all these years is not a good sign either. Moreover, India's moral support to Tibet is considered as an anti-China stance by many Chinese officials. The major fear that China carries stems from the growing Indo-US relations, as both are politically democratic nations and also believe in the similar economic reforms. That said, China perceives a fundamentally potential threat if the neighbor Pakistan hobnobs with either India or the US. And from there evolves the China's strategic game plan, in which Pakistan becomes a natural ally. Though there is no immediate vulnerability from these developments, but India shouldn't bury her head in sand now because the future will anyway be defined from the India's relationship with the US and Pakistan.

Cricket diplomacy

When long diplomatic dialogues don't work, a high-profile invitation does wonders, and this is clearly evident from the sobering gestures shown by Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister of Pakistan, after receiving a special invitation from his Indian counterpart, Dr. Manmohan Singh, for watching the World Cup semifinal match between India and Pakistan, being held at Mohali on Wednesday. So what exactly prompted Mr. Gilani to remit the jail term of Gopal Das, an Indian imprisoned in Pakistan for last 27 years, which was even unthinkable despite coherent diplomatic dialogues between two countries, for releasing this prisoner? What lies behind Pakistan's motive in this friendly gesture towards India, after two longs years of strained relationships post 26/11? Though India was sure about Pakistan's hand in the Mumbai terror attack, and even with repeated requests from the Home Ministry at different points time, Pakistan was quite adamant to support India in deciphering the terror links, the recent move on releasing a prisoner poses some unanswered questions. Will Pakistan extend its genuine support to resolve the impending bilateral issues? Can Pakistan, in all its boiling political heterogeneity, trust India's true efforts in reducing geo-political tensions haunting the region for decades? This is too early to comment on the larger dimension of political outcomes, but the sporting spirit shown by Mr. Gilani is highly commendable. At least cricket, as a popular sport, has proved to be an active conduit for a bilateral peace process.

The Judgment Day: Another Hoax

Come May 21, 2011. The entire world will be transformed into a bundle of mega devastation by the nature's fury and the real apocalypse is here this time, claims 89-year-old Harold Camping, the president of Family Stations, Inc., a California-based religious broadcasting network. Without criticizing his belief in any particular religion, let's be bit critical to all his previous predictions, which in all probability, he predicted, the world could have met the doomsday in 1994. And 17 years after, this world is still living its life like king-size with greater degree of progress, innovation, and overall social and economic development. His radio stations are continuously engaged in spreading the message that this time, the world will certainly meet the doomsday on May 21, with a massive earthquake with rip apart this earth and majority of world population will die within 153 days of “death and horror.” For that matter, he uses his deep understanding of Bible and numerology skill to arrive at this date, which he thinks is absolutely correct.

Well, I have never read Bible and I believe there is any need to read any religious scriptures to understand the complexities of nature. For that one should be scientifically knowledgeable to understand how this universe was created and how various evolutions and natural events have shaped this world over billions of years, what we certainly do enjoy living in with great conviction. Irrespective of all clairvoyance, prediction, and religious references, this world will not finish that way what these pseudo prophecies claim. There is a long way to go. And all these hoaxes become extremely nagging, as we are living in a connected world. A small, trifling piece of misinformation, which has no scientific evidence, often haunts us because every time we come across such tantalizing news, we forget to apply our intellect to see through it, and what eventually creates a complete chaos in the society. Perhaps, this helplessness nature of human being can be attributed to the irrational side of mind.

What Camping is doing in spreading such misinformation is an indication of his naivety in understanding the evolution of this world. Neither he has scientific capability to conclude the veracity of his analysis nor he has that immense rational strength to join the sequence of past events to extrapolate a probable incident, but again that could be entirely misleading too. So a prediction like the next doomsday is another hoax peddled through Internet.

What the hell WikiLeaks is doing?

WikiLeaks has recently garnered a lion share of public attention, all for wrong reasons, by disclosing selectively US diplomatic cables in public domain. This is, though evoked much public emotions, certainly not a responsive journalism that otherwise what Julian Assange believes in and has started pursuading the netizens. Getting access to confidential or secret government documents through a network of moles in various embassies doesn't necessarily a legitimate method of facts gathering or unfolding the larger truth that is bone deep, which often lies beneath the drafts of diplomatic cables. Many government documents published worldwide don't even achieve 50% of veracity in truth litmus. Now is the time for world citizens to understand what exactly Assange along with his WikiLeaks teams (read dubious informers) are doing. Before delving into the complexities of journalistic investigations, let's understand what these diplomatic cables actually are. Like the functioning of any other government establishments, the embassies also report on daily basis to their bosses based out in their native countries. Their primary mission is to keep a tab on the contemporary political developments and possible impact on the larger strategic interest of their nation, by engaging themselves with various senior government officials and political representatives of the country. What these embassy officials do can be compared with some highly placed PR guys, but there is a fundamental difference in their public status, the formers are kept wives and the latter ones are whores who can be with anybody and everybody to provide their service for a price.

So why these cables have made huge furore in world politics and media as well? And why the public including politicians and journalists, especially in India, have blindly fallen in love with the music composed by Assange? There is a serious a flaw in the modus operandi of Assange as far as journalistic rules are concerned. What Assange is doing is much like a postman opening a sealed romantic letter sent to a lover by his beloved and making multiple copies and distributing it to public who in all probability are much interested in peeping into the secret life of people and taking voyeuristic pleasure. That's what fundamentally WikiLeaks is doing and connoting it a serious act of journalism. Absolutely ridiculous. And the saddest part here is that people have started believing in those pieces of information, which are not completely free from errors. As I have said earlier, the information exchange between embassies and their countries' government establishments are a formal way of informing the political and diplomatic pulse, which also involves a great deal of futuristic and inspirational content that would excite the bosses who in all probability think they are the beneficiaries, otherwise the information delivered carries a load of factual incredibility to make this exciting. The WikiLeaks maybe trying to find a place for all its meaningless mission, of course, through dubious means, but that's not going to help resolve the larger issues this world is facing today. People still who believe in the authenticity of information leaked through diplomatic cables, they have a second chance to correct their understanding about the functioning of nations. There is much beyond these cables that governs the working of government establishments. This may be too miniscule a potential segment to impact the relations established among nations. I am sure the politicians, journalists, and public at large who still are wasting their energy on debating these dubious information leaked by WikiLeaks should correct their fundamentals on how secret information is exchanged between two entities.

An introspective period for the Congress

Everything is not hunkydory in the current hot political space of India. The ruling party is literally battered by a series of corruption scandals, many have been unfolded internally and many are peeping out of the holes of WikiLeaks, and the most astounding fact aligned to these trails of corruption is the support of Congress in the UPA alliance in betraying the trusts of a billion plus people and forcing this great nation to a state of despair. The shimmering political instability due to the furore over wide-ranging corruptions, coupled with idiosyncratic disillusioned coalition partners, has tightened the noose around this government. There are many reasons to the evolving political turmoil that has bugged the UPA in general, and the Congress party in specific. If we can remember the history of Congress, as the frequented ruling party at the Centre, it's quite conspicuous that the last three coalition governments led by Congress including the current one have been involved in large-scale corruptions. That said it also doesn't suffice the sanctity or integrity of the Congress as a political party either led by Indira or Rajiv. India has been a silent observer of highhandedness of this party at different points of history including the internal emergency during 1975.

The coalition government, as initiated by the then VP Singh, the crusader of political corruption in India, has lost its true sense. Now it's more dangerous a political option to govern the largest democracy of the world with whims and fancies of regional parties which in every now and then gamble the political decisions in difficult times, whether it's civil nuclear bill or any other bill. The recent government, despite being headed by an honest, intellectual, wise statesman like Dr. Manmohan Singh, has revealed the wildest dark zones of coalition politics. Instead the cognizance of many political offenses happening under his nose, he stands helpless and stoic, for the simple reason that he has to follow his coalition dharma. And the irony is that despite all corruption charges against various UPA coalition partners, he still manages to share a mysterious smile that reveals much of his expression than what he intends to hide from public. That's his eternal magnanimous character to stay cool and keep a blind eye to the political rampage stirred by the coalition partners, and perhaps that's his most preserved strength, which has impressed Sonia Gandhi for last two elections and compelled her to choose him the right candidate as the prime minister. At least, he understands the reality, and has also experienced it many times, that he, being the prime minister of the largest democratic country, is still not an elected representative of people. What could be more exciting than this? But the Congress party will never accrue any long term benefit as Sonia Gandhi aspires a smooth dynastic power transition to Rahul Gandhi in the next election. It seems, as the current political equations are brewing up, Rahul will be the most unfortunate scion of Congress losing a golden chance to rule this nation.

The evidences are clear now. Rahul Gandhi's down-to-earth personality and hardwork haven't even charmed the states across India. Over these years the Congress has lost contacts with the states, and if the regional political upsurges are any denominator of current power matrix, it's quite evident that the next Parliament elections will be disastrous for the Congress. The major states including UP, Bihar, Gujrat, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are either ruled by a regional party or BJP. UP most of the times was ruled by Congress; however, in last two decades, the regional parties took control of the state politics. So, if we seriously analyze the political dynamics of India, the mushrooming regional parties in reality have understood the pains of state citizens, and hence their continued success is an indicative of drastic failure of central parties like Congress and BJP. If anybody in the Congress could seriously understand the importance of state political leadership was none other that Rajiv Gandhi. His unfortunate demise was a turning point in the political aggressiveness of the Congress. And the post-Rajiv Congress party has been absolutely directionless, nonstrategic, and tactless. Both Sonia and Rahul have failed to understand the gravity of reorganization of the party at the state level. Sonia's selection of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister for consecutive terms was a grave mistake, especially in the lights political standpoints. Though Sonia's fear of losing her leadership control over the party could have been imminent given an alternative to Manmohan Singh, but her worst fear has yet to come, when Rahul will be betrayed by Indian voters in the next election. Though I don't vouch for any senior leadership in Congress for the post of Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi could have been the best bet at least for the 2009 elections, despite his naive and immature stint in politics. Moving away from this option was the grandest mistake executed by Sonia Gandhi, maybe due to fear for some unknown reasons, but those were necessarily irrational. In India, and exclusively in political race, the charisma of any dynasty has been highly effective. If Rahul could have been the Prime Minister, he would have immense power not only in drawing policies effective for state levels, but also could have helped reorganizing the state leadership for the Congress party. The so called grassroots development and especially state concerns have been sidelined by the Centre in last two elections. Being just a remote control of power, Sonia Gandhi has under-weighed the serious reasons in political game, which could bring in devastating results in the next Parliament elections. Still she has time for course correction to evade the imminent danger, if at all she wishes to do. Are you listening, Sonia Ji?

Conviction is more powerful than statistical extrapolations

Yesterday, India smashed Australia in the quarterfinal at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera. And that's now an established fact, rather than a million dollar speculation. India made it with exceptional fete. Though I am not a cricket frenzy, as an informed citizen, I just keep a tab on the events happening around and sometimes I speculate conclusion based on the various predictive parameters attributed to past events, this, you may connote, a statistical extrapolation. But remember, this statistical analysis based on the previous hard facts maybe misleading, and the chances are that the prerogative of winning gets blurred when the analysts believe only in hard facts, not on the many symbiotic parameters those have some potential impact on the results. That's what proved excitingly unthinkable when the predictability of winning took a different turn right since the Indian cricket players started believing in their conviction and inner strength, which eventually catapulted them to the winning platform. I was terribly wrong in applying my unchallenged math skills, but in all those objectivity I missed a quite critical subjective side of winning - the people, their spirit and the teamwork - which no scientific methodology can explain now, even in future as well. That said I would like to remind those people who believe purely in the mathematical formulas or scientific methods that, in contrary, prediction is much more subjective that objective analysis of historical data. A great conviction can even make a sea change in the progress of mankind, and what could be more glaring example than India's winning in yesterday's quarterfinal.

Why philanthropy in India is not so successful?

In the last two decades, few new economy companies, including Infosys and Wipro, started investing in social developments; however, the real philanthropy is too premature on Indian soil. The reasons: first, most of the Indian entrepreneurs believe in the dynastic transfer of wealth from one generation to the next, which becomes a stumbling block for dispersing huge amount of wealth for public good or philanthropy, and the other one being the upsurging corrupt practices in almost all NGOs and similar charitable organizations those claim to be the crusaders of all socio-economic evils in our society, compel corporates to take enough precautions for not throwing their hard-earned money to some unreliable group of people, and perhaps, that is the most rational reason as to why many companies in India rather take pain in instituting their own trusts or engage some people in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to manage the philanthropic actions. The growing corruptions in social organizations, including misappropriations of funds and a brutal unaccountability, have prompted many industrialists to continue their philanthropic works either though a trust with management control or by engaging themselves with very selective NGOs.

The genesis of NGOs in India dates back to the 1860s when societies like Prarthana Samaj (1864), Satya Sodhan Samaj (1873), Arya Samaj (1875), and National Council for Women in India (1875) got instituted to fight against the social evils propagated by the then feudal patriarchs. With the growing trends of social revolution, the Societies Registration Acts (SRA) was enacted in 1860. Many Christian missionaries continued their efforts to reduce poverty, social bias, and constructed infrastructures such as roads, community buildings, hospitals, and schools. Mahatma Gandhi also stressed on the growth of these social, non-profit organizations and worked seriously on this area by engaging some industrialists like Birlas to contribute some amount of their profits for social cause. Though international NGOs entered India in 1960s and 1970s, the real surge in Indian NGOs took place in 1980s in areas such as social empowerment, civil liberty, education, health, environment, and livelihood. And the participation of large corporates began in the early 1990s.

In all these years India has more than 1.5 million NGOs with over 19 million people work as volunteers or paid workers. Despite this huge organic growth over the years, Indian NGOs haven't lived up to the expectations of the real beneficiaries of this program – the less-privileged people in our society. The most sordid part of this program is that there is no accountability of funds generated by these organizations. And even the worst part is many NGOs act as pressure groups and work for political parties, business organizations, and foreign agencies to generate actionable opinions for the funding organizations. The growing social development programs as projected by NGOs talk an altogether different story in India, a story replete with betrayals, false claims, sufferings, and corruptions. That's why the philanthropy as a popular social measure hasn't appealed to many entrepreneurs in India to act like their foreign counterparts such as Gates and Buffets. And especially in India, human greed, which of course regenerates systemic corruptions, has been the single most contributing factor to the degeneration of a globally acknowledged program, which otherwise could have been a savior of the socioeconomically backward people.

The evils of popular perceptions

Popular perceptions are a major evil in a progressive society. The recent unfolding of corruptions in all walks of life has betrayed the trusts of people hinged on the actions of most powerful and prominent personalities in public domain. Let's examine the merits of confronting the popular perceptions. Two events, although the similarity of problems is bit different in each case, that have rocked India recently embroil the public faith, which only accentuated by media through popular belief, rather not evolved by the rationality of substantial arguments. The first case is being the rise and rise of Rajat Gupta in corporate world and eventual fall by an allegedly normal human attribute that we often call greed. The second one is the cloud-clasping integrity of Manmohan Singh haunted by the megalomaniac passion for power even through unscrupulous means like horse tradings in the parliament. Although both cases are different to judge, the common parameters that have generated humongous confusion in public mind are the popular perceptions.

Now, analyze the case of Rajat Gupta, a prominent figure in the corporate world. His alleged involvement in the insider tradings, as levied by USSEC, and passing critical information to Rajaratnam has now captured the attentions of middle class Indians across the globe. In India, Rajat Gupta is like a god figure for any aspirant of management education. His success trajectory is so gargantuan that any corporate leader can hardly touch or emulate his management contributions in a lifetime. His relentless efforts in making India proud in global business and political forums are unthinkable. His involvement in establishing global institutions such as ISB, WEF, PHFI, and many others, spells his leadership charisma. During pre-liberalization era, when racial apartheid in American corporate domain was a subject of extensive scrutiny, he could rise from a consultant to the top boss at McKinsey, breaking the popular contemporary trend. But after such an illustrious journey, if he is convicted of a financial crime like passing crucial information for insider trading, it's not only his credibility at great risk but also his popularity as prominent corporate leader has triggered a reverse gear. I wish he should prove him innocent in the court of law, but at the same time it's a cautionary remark for those emotional Indians who still believe that their global corporate idol can't be corrupt or erroneous is not at all rational.

Secondly, the WikiLeaks overwhelming exposure on Indian political sins during a political mandate for passing the nuclear bill reveals the darkest side of democracy. The most concerning factor is that a clean personality like Dr. Manmohan Singh is also entangled into the corruption whirlpool. As Prime Minister, his contributions to the Indian economic development is paramount. His professional journey from a professor in Economics to the Governor of RBI to the Finance Minister, and finally the Prime Minister of India in two consecutive terms, is legendary. No middle class person can dare to traverse on a mission with so much conviction, precision, and perfection that Dr. Singh has done in his life. Especially, his personal integrity as a public servant has been exemplary and indisputable. However, irrespective of all his glories, the recent unfolding of corruptions in his cabinet and essentially the vote-for-cash episode for passing the nuclear bill in his previous term trigger some uncomfortable questions against his integrity and team practices. Moreover, to dissuade the Opposition in the Parliament from the charges, he has exposed his irrational side by claiming that a popular mandate in the Parliament is an enough evidence of his party's innocence. Mr. Prime Minister, perhaps, you have forgotten a fundamental premise on integrity, which is always a subject to proof, and I hope this is the high time for you to prove your innocence. No popular perception has any logical place in a rational progressive society.

Obama's misadventure

The Middle East is literally burning. The upsurging civil war in Libya against the defiant Col. Gaddafi, who has been in the power for over 40 years, has finally caught the attentions of western military coalition including the US, UK, and France, and this time again they give a much convincing reason for military actions – extreme humanitarian crisis – to engage them in a full range airstrikes across the coastal periphery of Tripoli, the capital of Libya. Though the coalition forces claim that their intention is not to bring in large scale human loss, the offensive attacks prove otherwise. There are reports of killings in Tripoli due to airstrikes. The mindless airstrikes even pose a more dangerous situation than an uprising civil war in Libya.

But the key question here is what strategic parameters did incite President Obama to jump into the action when the UK and France were leading the stage with UNSC's call for a NFZ on Libya? Is it a deliberate action to make one's mighty presence felt across the polarizing world when other super powers intervene, or a deeper understanding of the gravity of the situation that has not only inflicted Libya, but also other nations in Arab world? The intention is still unclear.

When the US is passing through a painful recession and still not recouped from the economic crisis, why did then Obama intervene in a Libyan civil war where he would not gain much, given the strategic interests of UK and France? It seems the US is also equally interested in the Libya's oil resources and to position its strategic military base out in the Middle East. Historically, the US has attempted to control the internal crises in the Muslim countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, or the recent incident in Libya, the single most priority other than a presumed world peace has been acquiring the energy resources. But in Libya's case, the US won't get much benefits as it expects due to other coalition forces those have already pinned their hopes, rather it would meaninglessly waste few billions on mindless airstrikes.

There is another angle to huge loss that Obama would procure from this military reaction. Perhaps, the President has forgotten his responsibility as a recipient of Nobel Peace Award, and this honour has a large stake in his intentions and actions that he would plan to execute for international forums. At least, in the recent scenario he has failed miserably to display his custodianship of an award that has primarily bestowed upon the personalities who truly not only believe in global peace, but also take immense measures to ensure that any kind of world conflict however complex can be resolved through continuous dialogues, not through military actions or blanket bans.

Especially, for Obama, it was a great opportunity to disengage him from the banal politics and work towards a better statesmanship in restoring internal peace in Libya and eventually transitioning the state from a highly conflicting civil war to a lasting democratic nation, as he always vouches for democracy in many of his international speeches. Even doing that he could have won the trust of the Libyans and also he could have nurtured his long term strategic dreams.

Learning from Japan's nuclear crisis

The recent devastation in Japan, caused by earthquake and tsunami, raises some pertinent questions about the disaster preparedness of countries across the globe. Though there many susceptible areas which need attention for immediate action for rehabilitation, the major one is the nuclear power plant safety because of its wide range impact on the environment. Being in an energy-hungry world, thanks to the rapid industrialization and urbanization that are catching up emerging economies, most developed and developing countries are opting for clean-energy technology such as nuclear power plants, without even considering the potential risks attached to them.

For records sake, the last 50 years in human progress have witnessed to the huge nuclear disasters that have emerged from critical accidents such as Chernobyl and Tokaimura; by natural calamities such as Fukushima and Three Mile Island; or by human errors such as Canadian Manhattan Project. It's now the time for the pro-nuclear communities to learn the lessons from Japan's nuclear crisis that attracted the huge criticisms from the environmental activists and ecologists across the globe. As most nuclear scientists claim that nuclear power is the most environment-friendly energy source, it's now a serious proposition for them to ensure how they can build a safety mechanism for plants to withstand the world's worst natural calamities, be it a magnitude-10 earthquake or a high-powered tsunami with epicenter as close to the location of the plant, or a man-made disaster like missile attack or dropping a nuclear bomb during war.

Let's look at the helplessness of Japan while fighting relentlessly to avoid the nuclear disaster due to power backup failure in the plant. This triggered a huge radioactive radiation upto 5 on a maximum severity scale of 7. The unscientific methods used there like pouring sea water from the top to cool the reactors display the extreme exigencies that a economically developed country even doesn't mind to follow not only to block the simmering situation, but also to ensure larger environment safety, which might trespass to bordering countries. So here arises a series of questions that Japan had never attempted to address before deploying these nuclear plants. First, the reactors used in Fukushima Daiichi were 40 years old and were Generation II types, which carry more risks than the Generation III and III+ reactors. Second, the power backup diesel generators were housed in an underground building close to the coast, so once a 7-metre tsunami flooded the room, the power generators failed to work. Third, there was no tertiary power supply to the reactors to trigger cooling process. And there are many other serious questions on the designing of the entire structure of the nuclear complex so close to a series of fault lines around Fukushima.

Now this is a strong message for the countries which are opting for large-scale deployment of nuclear plants for power generation. Before moving ahead, they shouldn't ignore the mistakes of Japan's recent nuclear crisis. Maybe, they can then avoid some potentials risks stored in for them along the life cycle of those plants.

Supermoon: Nothing more than an exceptional celestial treat

The Internet, in more ways than one, has been a major culprit in engaging netizens to spread hypes and hooplas around the supermoon event that occurs on March 19. The previous supermoon occurred 18 years before, in 1983, but that time it was a non-issue or a lesser-known propaganda because Internet was not so prevalent then to vent the rumors, as it's doing today. Well, let's look at the merits of the reasoning behind the supermoon. According to astronomy, this supermoon is much like a normal celestial event that occurs once a month, and this time it's another little aberration. In a sense that the perigee this time is little closer to the earth, which would enable us to view this full moon 30% brighter and 14% larger. So, it could have been an awe-inspiring moment for the observers who took time to gaze supermoon as it moved across the celestial trajectory.

Certainly, to witness this celestial event, many people used their old telescopes and enjoyed this enthralling scene in a much better way. As the shoddy predictions of Richard Nolle go, nothing has happened as per his astrological miscalculations. But one thing that swept away the collective human intelligence was the Nolle's false propaganda around this supermoon through Internet. Many newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media organizations even couldn't suppress their temptation for this piece of rumor spun off by Internet, and of course, the source was Nolle's website. Mr Nolle became an overnight hot potato over the Internet communities those who consumed the concoction with great savor, without even bothering to trust this hoax.

Now that the event has already expired and the world is still unaffected by the dire consequences claimed by Nolle, it's a great learning for the netizens that Internet though has been a great driver in the online business, the medium as used by many unscrupulous people to spread vested propaganda still needs some amount of caution to trust a piece of news like this one. So the key is use your intelligence to keep away from these spams.

The spirit of Japan

Almost battered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami, and finally an upsurging nuclear crisis, Japan still shows a brilliant sign of resilience while fighting back the imminent nuclear meltdown in the Daiichi nuclear plants at Sendai. The way Japan is managing the post-tsunami nuclear crisis to save the country and neighborhoods from a Chernobyl like situation is something unprecedented and remarkable. Perhaps, no nation can be so resolute to handle a crisis of this measure at a time when human toll has crossed over ten thousands, some cities entirely wiped out from the land, transportation maimed, and the infrastructures including the utility services have literally paralyzed. This speaks a volume about the spirit of a nation that has frequently faced the fury of nature in the past many centuries, but retrieved from the catastrophe with intrepidity. That truly explains the enterprising nature of a nation, which irrespective of crisis, however large, keeps bouncing back to the track in a heroic fashion. And the way things are shaping up in Japan's post earthquake period, conspicuously ensures that Japan will soon back to normalcy and send a clear message to this world that nothing is too big a danger for the enterprising people. That will be a great lesson for the entire world to emulate.

The nexus is getting deeper and dirtier

The most unfortunate part of a democracy is that the law makers often cross the fence, even without measuring the consequences of their misadventures, partly because they think bending the law of the land is just another stratagem that they can execute in the wink of an eye. The WikiLeaks' US Embassy cable exposing the horse trading by the last UPA government, before passing the Nuclear Bill in the Parliament, now opens a bigger Pandora's box. And this time, our honest prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh's integrity is at the highest stake. Now the debate has entered the public domain, as the Opposition leaders in both the Houses have demanded resignation of prime minister with immediate effect. Though we understand that no political party in this country is free of corruption, the only silver lining with them is that when they move to opposition from ruling, they do some service to this nation by exposing the corrupt practices of the ruling party. And this is an infallible global practice in democracy.

This kind of events are not new to political parties in India, and especially for the Congress party, which has a dubious record of horse trading in the Parliament during different points of ruling this nation. But the sad part here is that an intellectual, honest persona like Dr. Singh has finally transformed to a full-fledged politician who knows how effectively he can dominate this political space. At this juncture, one interesting climax of the film Nayak strikes my mind. In that movie, the chief minister Shivaji Rao concocts a murder plot by inviting the opposition leader and fires a bullet to his shoulder in precisely safe manner and finally throws the gun to the latter and then the securities around perceive it an attack on the chief minister, and eventually kill the opposition leader brutally. And the last evocative statements come from Shivaji Rao to his private secretary: You have finally made me a politician. That's not a fictional plot at all, rather a more deep understanding of the larger issues in the society around us that movie makers often portray in various films.

Well, as the sequence of events are unfolding quickly, the bigger question that does haunt us is how deeper is this political nexus? Is it limited to the territory of India or has a wider snarl dictated by global super powers? As the WikiLeaks' cable stories explain, the epicenter of this precarious shocker is beyond the internal mesh. Now, let's delve deeper into the problem. Why was the US embassy in India so much interested in the vote-for-cash episode and even was virtually monitoring the process minute by minute? Why did a Congress party member confirm to an official in the US embassy that cash was ready for bargaining? Why was our prime minister hurried in passing the nuclear bill in the house during a period when he hadn't the majority to show? And recently, why the same prime minister is again vouching for this dangerous nuclear technology when the other developed countries are nonplussed in the aftermath of Japan's impending worst nuclear crisis? There are many serious questions that raise doubts in the integrity of functioning of this government, and also the integrity of the prime minister, being the head of the government. Maybe, the prime minister is not a direct beneficiary of the vexatious growing corruptions, but he can't even prove him innocent in the court of law for the simple reason that he knew what's happening under his nose and pretended not to smell the rot by keeping him at an arm's length. Many infamous examples have shrouded the political space of this nation, be it CWG scam, 2G scam, CVC selection, or the hush-hush behind the nuclear deal. This shows not only an expository version of our prime minister's loyalty to the Congress party and its high command at large, but also unravels his passion for power and position that every middle class person dreams along the trajectory of his life time. If the prime minister survives this political temblor, he would certainly justify the veracity of the allegations that opposition, media, and the public are charging on him.

India should rethink about the civil nuclear programs

I don't understand as to why our learned prime minister is in a complete denial mode to accept the growing concerns worldwide, about the safety of nuclear power plants, following the catastrophic consequences in Sendai, Japan. It seems that either our prime minister pretends to overlook the criticisms of anti-nuclear communities for engaging himself in a pro-nuclear lobby and throwing assurances that our nuclear plants have already passed through earthquakes and tsunami successfully in 2002 and 2004, and nothing has proved wrong to the safety measures we have in place, or he is under tremendous pressure from the foreign countries, especially from the US and France, to keep the promises or maybe a barter deal he made during Obama's visit to India. Our prime minister and his team are in a hurry to venture into multiple nuclear plants in different regions of our country, and Jaitapur is also one of the sites that has still been lingering over a decade. The alacrity in decisions is an indicative of the fact that something is going on behind the scenes. And the bigger truth will only emerge when a hot political debate with storm the parliament in the next few months.

Though everyone knows that nuclear power generation is the next big step for all nations to control the global climatic change, but one specific aspect of this radical drive is not clear here that why the lobby for global climatic change is often driven by western communities where they deliberately increase the carbon footprints and put disproportionate pressures on the developing countries to bear the brunt of their mistakes. Or it could be far different from the common public knowledge that there lies a sinister design of western business lobby in global political pond to realize their business mandates from the developing countries when the first world market is fast becoming saturate or they face resistance from various environmental activist groups in their homeland. Either way the facts remain that on the backdrop of global climate change lies a more dangerous vested interest of western multinational companies to pop up various pressure groups in different power circles to marginalize the larger truth, and the proposition could be such that a nuclear holocaust which is more imminent in the coming times due to the various natural calamities or human error is less important to the growing climate change that has already engulfed our atmosphere.

But again there are a number of ways to negate the ill effects of global climate change other than leveraging the nuclear power generation programs. The alternative renewable sources of energy such as wind mill, solar plants, tidal power plants, mini to small hydroelectric power generations setups are widely used for long by various nations and most of them are in the first world countries. In stead, the same countries vouch for a technology which is predominantly anti-environment and anti-nature and frequently has proved disastrous to the entire ecosystem of this planet. The last century's history is just a silent reminder of the magnitude of loss borne by mankind due to a number of nuclear disasters that has particularly occurred in those developed countries. And the recent disaster in Japan is no new one.

As most developed countries including US, Germany, France, China, and Japan are seriously thinking about the freezing their current program of expansions in nuclear power plants, it is a sad part for Indian leadership to blindly ignoring not only the lethal consequences of a nuclear crisis, but also the most evocative critiques of western communities. It seems the underlying objectives behind this motion are more hush-hush than it seems otherwise. The citizens of India should be cognizant of the hidden agenda that this government is trying to consummate.

Heading for a disaster?

Why India is so rigid about pursuing its wildest dream to enter into a sizable civil nuclear program at a time when the most developed countries are in state of quandary by noticing the imminent consequences of Japan's worst nuclear disaster in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake followed by a widely destructive tsunami? Why India is in a hurry to clear all new nuclear power plant projects, even without considering the dire consequences that the world super powers have already been haunted, be it Chernobyl, Pripyat, or now the Fukushima? Why the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant, which was in a dark chamber for many years due to safety considerations, has got the environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment while the same ministry did play foul with a large-scale steel plant, which of course doesn't have a comparable risk index vis-a-vis a mega nuclear power plant, in Orissa? There are many uncomfortable questions though which would raise doubts about the intention of this Government at the Centre, for a sustainable development in India.

The party in power in different regimes has shown sheer disregards to humanitarian values and public safety standards whenever it inks large industrial deals with foreign companies. The people of India have already experienced the apathy of government in the Union Carbide case. Even after 27 years of that industrial disaster, which killed thousands of innocent people and crippled many more thousands for generations, the culprits are roving free and the victims are still waiting for the justice. When most politicians and bureaucrats escape the public anger by simply toning it down to the most unfortunate event, the sufferers take the pain for go. And now that this government has again in a hush-hush deal with US and France companies for nuclear power plants, the pressure from international forums, often driven by US, is mounting high, which is clear from the hotfoot of administration.

Many nuclear scientists though opine that India's nuclear plants have the highest safety standards and they have endured the fury of 2004 tsunami and Latur earthquake and nothing has happened, the larger point of the debate is that whatever precautions may be taken to ensure the safety of these plants, if anything goes wrong, the consequences will be disastrous. This is the high time for Indian leadership to reconsider the options available before heading for another Chernobyl like situation.

America's Double Standards

Why US is keen in supporting India pursuing civil nuclear program even after the recent natural and nuclear disasters that have already struck Japan, is certainly not in the interest of India, rather it keeps vested business interests in the deals that are to be inked in next many decades. Given the stern reactions from the various environmental activist groups around Japan's current nuclear disaster, the US now clearly understands that the coming time will be really tough for its nuclear business with India, and if tactical steps are not considered now, though many brokers have started vouching for India's civil nuclear interests, Obama's administration will receive huge criticisms from various business groups in their homeland.

This is a typical US diplomatic build to pursue its global politicking agenda in a very opportunistic manner. America's tainted history in engaging in various geo-political issues across the globe is just a reminder of the fact as how benevolent their intention in driving their point to the world table. Now that Japan's nuclear disaster has caught the attention of world leaders, the US administration thinks that if a sustainable, controlled media hype is not created now, it will be a difficult proposition for US to transfer the unused, warehouse-rested nuclear technologies to India in the coming time.

The earth is not so green

We are living in a dangerous world, primarily because the catastrophic forces of nature have continuously challenged the survival of mankind on this planet since when this intelligent breed of living being evolved, and the most recent incident being the potentially destructive earthquake at a magnitude of 9 in Richter scale and a gigantic tsunami that tumbled Japan to its feet. Perhaps, in the history of Japan, this was the worst natural calamity that posed a classic question to the most technologically advanced nation – irrespective of material achievements however large by mankind, the nature has always the upper hands. The scale of devastation was enormous; over ten thousand people killed (the final figure may be manifold once Japan comes out with its reports) and millions of people fled away from their native places, many infrastructures including residential, transport, and industrial washed washed away, and the most horrific ones were the blasts at nuclear plants that followed hundreds of aftershocks. The economic loss to Japan, according to some agency estimates, ranging $171-183 billion, which can go even higher. The nature has always been unkind to this world. In the pursuit of excellence, human beings have ever been confronted by the evil forces of nature. The tug of war is as primitive as the evolution of living beings on the surface of earth. Many potential calamities we have endured, and many more to come, but the eternal conflict between living beings and natural forces will prevail till that final doomsday, post which neither the natural forces nor the living beings will wage a war against each other.

So, a fundamental question arises here: Are we safe on this planet despite our pro-nature stand, as many environmentalists and eco-activists have been fighting for long to save this planet? I have some serious doubts, which would certainly draw the ire of these activists. Well, to understand the essence of my share of doubts, let's sit on a time-wrap and go back to some 70-75 million years ago during which the last ice age in the eons of evolution of earth that wiped out 90% population of world then, my question is: Were those tribes antagonists of nature or did they do something grievous disservice to the nature? Certainly not. Even science and technology was not a subject of contempt then and people were as barbaric as animals and lived an animal life too. Foods, sex, and shelter were the predominant drivers for living beings. And of course, all those ancient tribes were nature lovers. Then why the nature played an end game. Let's consider another cataclysmic event when the entire dinosaur population annihilated from the surface of planet, what was the culpability of living organisms those suffered that terrible loss?

Remember, the genesis of this universe, as many scientific theories suggest, evolves from a big bang. If we look at the pattern of formation of earth and many other plants as well, they all have been the byproducts of a celestial cataclysmic event. In every creation there lives a complex chart of destructive forces that drives the nature of any planet, whether it's viable for living or not. Now, the crux of the debate is that the human being, who is often touted as the most intelligent creature on this planet, should take a deeper look into these defining moments of history and act intelligent to counter the imminent risks posed by the devastating natural calamities. I am sure, survival of the fittest would sound more rational in all these ironies of human sufferings. If we take enough precautionary measures, we can surely co-exist with the diabolic forces of nature, be it earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, tornado, cyclone, or flood.

Nature's Fury

It's yet another timeless, classic test of God to measure the tenacity of citizens of Japan during extreme tribulations. Even after many human-endeavoured (read war-mongered) devastating wars and natural calamities like shattering earthquakes, and that too in the aftermath of the recent earthquake of 8.9 followed by a gigantic sweep of tsunami, its people stand in poise and complete sangfroid. Unbelievable their courage and power to challenge every odd of life, be it America's revenge by dropping atom bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the frequented volcanic eruptions, tremors, earthquakes, tsunamis, in every disaster they have proved to be the heroes in human evolution, from complete devastation to super colossal economic development, the Japan is altogether a different saga that no nation can dare to live.

When electronic media was not developed and people naturally depended on newspaper stories, the reality of the ground was reaching people at least after 24 hours the incident occurred. Now the situation is completely different. Electronic media and social media have changed the perspectives of 24x7 news service, which is quite evident from the videos available on YouTube in the immediate aftermath of a 8.9 scale earthquake followed by a roaring tsunami hitting Japan today. It was a deja vu of experience transporting your imagination to the locales where thousands of people stranded, engulfed in the rage of nature's worst calamity, but one thing was remarkable – people's composure even during this darkest moment was unprecedented, an attribute that other nationals would take generations to learn.

Bad times come and go, but the people with great determination and courage to resurrect from the loss, however large, only define the future. I wish at the moment the Japanese who are facing misfortune would come out from the smashup and march ahead with indomitable courage and great conviction to send a message to the entire world: “Look, we are invincible at the face of dire calamities, be it natural or man-made, we are the tribe that has shown the valor repeatedly in the history of human adversity.”

Crime Capital

Delhi and NCR has long been infamous for crime against women. From Jessica to Arushi to Radhika, each crime againt women is a reminder of our carnal journey as a society along the path towards the brink of a catastrophe. Despite an affictitious material development, we still live in a stone age. The pigritude of law and order system, laggard judiciary, irresponsible political leadership, and passive civil society together have worsened the situation. After 64 years of independence, India is still heading a feudal mindset. From an alarmingly increasing female foeticide to skyrocketing crimes against women, Delhi, in particular, is losing its shine as a metropolitan. Nowhere in the world the crimes against women is so frequent as happens in Delhi. What makes one more disturbing is that Delhi's CM is a woman and she is in her third terms to the power in sequence and that has only become a symbolic break of glass ceiling, nothing more than that. What's more painful is that after every such crime against women whether it's a murder or rape, our CM has never bothered to spell out a politically correct statement, even though in all her consciousness she doesn't want to do, but she has never ever shirked to blame the victim, her dress code, her employment environment, her bringing up, and finally, she has taken a new stand in blaming the entire civil society in the recent Radhika Tanwar case.

I am extremely sorry, Madam CM, you have shown so much detest to your own gender community that perhaps, if not for any other achievement what you have done for Delhi, especially for your gender-specific statements you must win a Nobel. Madam CM, this is the time to act tough, passing the bucks mentality wont help anymore. Remember civility does not represent weakness, and it's not too far from this point that the civil society will join hands to transform the amputated democratic system into something new, unheard-of, radical governance process that will certainly work, and perhaps there would be no place for political leaders to bully the citizens of this country because the new world order is taking a tectonic shift.

Turnaround Strategy

When I heard that my company has hired some renowned turnaround strategists, and that too first time since its inception some 12 years ago, to do some alchemy to the ailing state of the organization, two kinds of emotion stroked me – first, an uncontrollable excitement because when all good vibes were waning due to circumstantial reflections or a long laggard on topline and bottomline, this gave a glimpse of high hope in a sense that the organization will grow and everyone associated with it would be a part of that success story; second, a usual desperation that was still embedded somewhere in the unseen cocoons of my heart because I knew that irrespective of the suggestions put forward by the strategists, the company might fail to walk the execution path. So, in linear perspectives, I have nothing to counter the first outcome, if everything goes well, the end will definitely be well. Now, lets dissect the second outcome, which is majorly associated with the execution ecosystem and a kind of reformation or complete overhaul.

There are few customary caveats that shouldn't be overlooked in this reform as well. Before delving further into the existing pain areas of the organization, let me cite here a similar turnaround strategy executed by one of the leading media conglomerates based out in Delhi. A decade before this media house was struggling to outpace its closest competitor in Delhi for many years, but it was practically impossible to carve it out on stone. There were many reasons though, the prime one was that the editorial team which in all its snobbishness thought that a paper runs because of the intellectual competency of its editors, nothing can stop a paper to increase its circulation if it has a second-to-none editorial policy that drives excellent news stories, opinions, analysis, and blah blah. Remember how dangerous was this proposition in generalizing a concept in a post liberalization market. It was just suicidal. IT industry was booming, the entire nation was dreaming of big achievements in many fronts, a new generation readers were all set to decide the fate of any media product, which the editorial team was not ready to accept that because they always were busy flexing their intellectual muscle on issues those were nothing to do with young readers. It was disastrous. The MD of the company stepped in and spelled out some clear instructions – either follow the market dynamics or get lost. And the rest was history. Since then this paper brought in a number of novelties that anyone could hardly imagine. A strong market research team tapped the pulse of young readers, their likes, dislikes, and day-in-day out pumped in the market insights to the editorial board and they together transformed a laggard newspaper to the most popular newspaper, if not the most intellectual one.

Now it's our turn. Whether we want to succeed or not solely depends on the acceptance of ground realities. Let's not forget that our success as much depends on us, equally depends on the perception of the outside world for which our business is still running – they are our valued customers. If we don't understand their priorities and expectations or cant make them happy or satisfied for whatever service or product we offer, we don't have a choice either. Remember beyond a self-aggrandized collective consciousness, there is a much larger business ecosystem or market that controls every company's destiny. If that was not the case, then why Google, Apple, and Microsoft irrespective of their elephantine size are engaged in a serious customer-driven strategy. This is the high time to follow the market and walk the talk.

Making India free from corruptions

The current strides in unearthing the corruptions at high places by various agencies remind us at least one important fact that after 64 years of independence, India is still succumbed to the shackles of another invisible tyranny - the public corruptions. From CWG scam to 2G scam and from multi-billion land acquisition scam to Adarshnagar housing scam, India as a country has surpassed every other country in corruption index. Thanks to the eternal nexus between politicians, bureaucrats, and business mongers that has opened many avenues for practicing corruptions in the most innovative way. Although media and other monitoring agencies are doing their bit in uncovering the skeletons, the snail-paced legal proceedings and mind-numbing, argumentative legal luminaries pessundate the sanctity of a fair judicial probe into any corruption that has erupted in contemporary India.

The recent money laundering case against Hasan Ali speaks the blatant truth that mars the investigation process against the accused. Despite the hard evidences established by various government agencies, his connections with politicians and bureaucrats, and furthermore, his affordability to hire a smart legal eagle would prove him innocent in the court. This just one stance. India has been living this saga for many decades. I doubt whether Indian judiciary will wake up one day and devise a process to nail down these corrupt people who siphon off billions of dollars of public money and let the poor citizens of this nation suffer from a permanent denial of justice towards a decent living.

I would dare to suggest certain measures in this context, which of course will work irrespective of the political parties come to the power. First, make judiciary independent of legislative and be answerable to autonomous monitoring and law-enforcing agencies like CAG and CBI and vice versa. This will ensure that CAG and CBI can investigate the corrupt practices of judges and judiciary too can delve into the operations of these autonomous bodies. Second, create an autonomous public committee to monitor the governance of a nation state. The committee should comprise members from all political parties, bureaucracy, judiciary, and eminent intellectuals in various fields such as academics, business, social service, media, and law-enforcing bodies. Third, the most sacrosanct positions like cabinet secretary, CVC, chief justice, and posts of similar stature should be availed to the most efficient, effective, skillful, and honest persons in the respective categories, although seniority will play a major role here, but the attributes articulated before will take equal chance in deciding the candidacy.

I am sure, if a democracy functions in the most transparent manner with due diligence in effective governance, the corruption will be the last word in the minds of those authorities who are sucking a nation like vampires.

Innocence on decline

The social trends are changing fast, and particularly in India, they are even faster. A decade before when the average age for first sexual encounter was hovering around 16-17 years, it has fallen sharply to 12 years now in the new decade of the millennium. Thanks to the omnipresent Internet, mobility, and social networking those in tandem are shaping the collective consciousness of Indian youth brigade and their lifestyle.

In this decade only, India has noticed the daredevil acts of MMS sharing for some bad reasons. Whether it's adventurous experiment with truth by two students of a reputed Delhi school or the recent video sharing by some students of a central university, the modus operandi has been quite similar – taking the sadistic pleasure out of somebody's misfortune and that too on the account of breach of trust. Trust has taken a back seat. If given a chance, no one would mind to trespass into somebody's private zone, prohibited by some disclaimer. Disclaimer is as affictitious as trust itself. In all these scenarios, technology has played a great role in venting the spirit of free expression because we believe in democracy.

Today's kids care a fig to the age-old dogmas carved out by a feudalistic society some centuries ago. Although there is no problem at this point, all dogmas cant be branded as feudalistic, some are even more progressive and forward-looking, even today. Of course, Kama Sutra is one of them. All rules and principles of love making established many centuries ago still work fine with the most modern social lifestyle or mindset. That's bit an exciting part of a feudal carving. We always search for some temptations in all our endeavours.

Everyone is on a move, an exciting and adventurous first flight that no one wants to miss at the susceptible formative years. Experience is not related to how long, rather how effective and exciting. The new measures of innocence is somewhat silent about the urge and indulgence because these two attributes drive the innocence now. For instance, almost all youths of India having internet connection possess a Facebook account. That's not bad even from any puritan perspective, but the larger point here is how this platform is being used to ventilate our passion for experiments.

The coming times would be more vibrant with innovative technologies. The media convergence in true sense wont be problem at all. When you encounter with some obscene acts in some parks or locality, don't forget that all those live acts are webcast or podcast with HD videos in one of the social media. The engagement of innocence with youth has started waning. Their maturing process is triggered by the social trends that include everything society, development, innovation, technology, and not the least the urge for coming to limelight, maybe that too through some bad accounts.

What sells a magazine?

In a time when readers are addicted to social media and other collaborative platforms, it becomes an elephantine task for an editor, in particular, for a print magazine editor, to decide whether to follow journalistic ethics or diktats of publisher. That's perhaps the worst dilemma that most editors face every now and then. But the facts remain that if a product doesn't appeal to the readers, no journalistic ethics would save the entire tribe from the disaster in the offing – no business, no morality grounds. Thus an editor, irrespective of professional compulsion, tries to maintain a fine balance between journalism and business of journalism. And in more ways than one, the latter takes the precedence. Always. Taking sides, choosing popularity over abstract truth, and packaging a better product to wow readers become the priorities for an editor than engaging in a more intellectual muscle flexing show.

For a magazine, if the circulation largely depends on news-stand sell, the cover story becomes the single decisive factor to draw readers' attention. On an average over 50% of instant sells take place on the grounds of an exciting cover story. Many a times, I observe reader's psychology very explicitly while someone drops at a news-stand and hovers around to catch up with a trendy cover, and if that's damn good, the sell is done almost instantly, without even flipping the pages. What really drives a reader so high to go ga-ga over a cover? According to Ray Cave, the editorial director of Time Inc., the popularity of the subject in the target readers' mind drives the sell, irrespective of how frivolous it might look to a learned reader though. For example, a story on the private life of a popular actress weighs more than the story dealing with huge success of a political leader in social development front. Very few intellectual readers though would prefer to choose the latter, the mass selling would only follow the earlier story.

On a conclusive note, it's the conflicting nature of the story that triggers some curiosity in most readers' mind, and that becomes a fascination for the reader to delve into the unknown in detail, which generates an instant sell. Perhaps, that's the reason why many editors put maximum efforts on the cover story to run the business of journalism.

Social media on a joyride

Social media are synonymous with the adrenalin rush of today's youth brigade. How stirring in a cup of tea evolves into a massive twister can be learnt from the network effect of social media. Furthermore, the integration of Web with mobile platform has added more fervour to the social networking pulse. However, it has its pros and cons. The other day when an infamous MMS clip related to adventurous striptease of a colleague, recorded in a co-ed hostel of a reputed Indian university, took rounds over social networking sites and mobile phones, the critiques of technology preferred to pound over the carrier than questioning the tumultuous social trends that have evolved from the freedom of choice. Technology antagonists, in general, never understand the pain and efforts that have gone into the making of an innovative technology because neither they are part of the innovation tribe nor they have the mettle to understand the nuances, for that matter, anyone and everyone can wear the hat of a critique.

Well, though the context of social media is different here, the big picture is how effectively the social media can be used to increase the brand popularity, publicity, marketing, information sharing, and finally building a powerful virtual community that is more informed, intelligent, and ready to take the challenges of real life. A well-infomed virtual community is more powerful than an army of soldiers toiling along the border line of a nation.

For a start-up venture, the effective use of social media can increase awareness about the organization, build favourable perception about products and services, and help increase the customers base without even investing a lot.

Similarly, for social entrepreneurs social networking works as the most powerful tool to build consensus among netizens or social media users for a social cause. This is far more easier than sending thousands of emails and invitation letters to your audiences. Furthermore, it effectuates the objective of the mission in a fast and meaningful way.