Saturday, August 29, 2009

Chandrayaan - India's moon mission

India's much famed moon mission - Chandrayaan 1 is finally said to have been over. I have been searching on the internet and trying to find some concrete benefits that we as a nation have gained from this moon mission.

I have seen comments and posts that mention some specific benefits:

1. The information of indigenous minerals present in the moon. Going forward one might go for colonization of moon to extract the minerals.
2. To stay in competition and respected as a nation which has made advancement in the field of science and technology.
3. Relationship between different countries improves through R&D exchange among different countries.
4. We will be able to understand the start of life through moon. It is believed that all the planets and their satellites (natural ones of course) are created at the same time.
5. Its the cheapest mission to the moon.
6. We might be able to help other countries launch their satellites and hence earn revenue.

There might be more, but this is the gist of most of it. Inspite of it being a grand success, the Apollo mission was also much maligned in the American media.

Why did the politicians agree to the Chandrayaan moon mission then? For the simple reason that it costs just 400 crores which is pocket change for our corrupt politicians. looking at the sum I believe even Laluji can send his buffaloes to the moon. He will of course, but only when it is sponsored by the government.

I am proud of the achievement of ISRO and our Indian scientists - after having graduted through a similar education system I can actually empathise much better with them. But, just as I do not believe that we need to spend such a huge part of our GDP for defence, I do not see the need for the moon mission too.

Chandrayaan - the moon mission is finally over though and so is the pocket change that we lost for conducting it. I liked a comment on one of the blogs though which said that we should not be very proud about sending the cheapest mission on the moon as it just emphasizes how badly paid our scientists are. Food for thought.
Adieu....

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Singh is King

So, the true Sardar is going to rule the country once again. We just hope that he is able to do so for the whole of the next five years. Given the sycophancy that exists in the Congress Party, it seems certain that sooner rather than later, Rahul Gandhi will be promoted to the Raj gaddi.

What sort of a democracy is this, where the default option is the winner, where DMK wins after it promises rice at 1 kg and free color TVs to all. Can we ever expect an Obama in India. I doubt it. Primarily because the Indian political system is a very closed circle. Being a part of this circle is tough and being able to make a difference after being a part of this circle is tougher.

The commentary on TV is saying that the people of India have voted for stability and that they are far more intelligent than what we presume. Its just another example of the intellectual paucity that we face as a nation. The gaurds of our culture, tradition and the so called mouthpiece of the nation - our media is going gung ho because what they wished to happen, did happen. I fail to understand how the Indian junta is responsible for this verdict and how they voted for "Stability".

Personally, I wished well for Gujarat and Modi's comprehensive victory has proved that nothing works as well as development does. All credit to the smart Gujjus who know where their money is. Moving a little further with that, it is really sad albiet a bit expected to see that MNS did have an impact on the votes in Maharashtra. With the kind of tactics that they have resorted to gain votes and attention, it would have had been nicer if the Maharashtrains would have thrown them out too.

Am in Gandhinagar these days and this time too, there have been a lot of changes in my city. It is surprising to note that every time I come here, I see a lot of new things happening and the proactive Gujarat government seems to be working really well nowadays. Mr. Modi rocks. And Gujarat seems like heaven compared to Mumbai and Pune now. Hope this continues.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

India : A failed democracy

The elections are here again and the same old tamasha is set to begin. But after looking at the US presidential race and watching the rise of Obama, there is that desire in our hearts, as Indians to see something like that happen in this country too.

Everywhere around is the cacophony of noises, urging us to go and vote. The youth must vote they say. Aamir Khan is going to come all the way from US to vote. He isn't the youth though. :-) In a democracy like ours, how effective do you think, our votes can be? How much impact will the young, educated and understanding youth's vote will have on who is going to win the election? The Sardar who let down all Sardars, or the one who likes to equate himself with India's Sardar, or the messiah of the poor, who it seems will reserve everything for the poor only, or the one who is himself paralysed but wants to work the whole country.

We know they are a bunch of fools, nay a bunch of conniving cheats, who let alone be the prime minister, aren't even worth letting inside our houses. Yet they exhort us to vote. For whom???
Why??? To aid and abet more terrorism in this country? To aid an abet more corruption, more politics, more reservations for the undeserving???

Please don't vote.

The truth is that we are a failed democracy, a country that has a democratic system that spurns meritocracy and exalts all kinds of reservations, a country with a system that will not ever let a true, honest, upright, willing, young man rule itself. We are a nation of the satan and he is the one who rules.

Don't vote for the satan.
Please don't vote.