Paramendra Bhagat's Blog
Monday, February 28, 2005
Google News has made it so very easy for me to keep track of developments in Bihar and Nepal. It would have been very hard to do it otherwise. With Gnews, I can feel I have looked at many different sources.
Google Scholar is a similar boon. Couple that with the fact that, all you have to do is walk into a university library, and not only do you get free, fast internet access, but also access to all these journals that the university might be paying for online access. And, all the books you can borrow. And wow. All that minus the structure that comes with enrolling formally with a university. It is this more than anything else that has the US as my base of operations, as opposed to slow internet access in, say, Nepal.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Looks like Laloo really is in trouble. The media got the predictions close this time, it seems.
Seats won: BJP Camp 91, RJD 76, LJP 29, Cong 11, Others 36. The UPA still could form the government, but Paswan says he will not touch Laloo. The permutations and combinations in the hung assembly could prove as interesting as the elections themselves were.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
They keep writing Laloo off, and he springs back each time. It is said, the write-off is because the Indian media is pre-Laoo, whereas Bihari politics is post-Laloo, castewise speaking. So the upper caste media that caricatures him the rest of the time, writes him off during election time. This time, they said, he really was set to lose.
But the latest numbers show him in the lead. RJD 57, BJP 47, LJP 30, Cong 5, and Others 33. Those are leads, and not victories, by the way. Votes are being counted.
Is a non-Cong, non-BJP polarization possible at the national level? Not anytime soon perhaps. I mean, the two Yadavs don't see eye to eye, Laloo and Mulayam.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Bill Clinton wanted Hillary Rodham to marry him, but she would not. He kept asking, and she kept saying no, not yet. And finally Bill figured out. Hillary is someone who likes to take care of people. So he pulled a feel-sorry-for-Bill stunt. He bought a cheap, ugly house and said, "Marry me or I will not know what to do with this house," and it worked.
Now Bill has another dilemma. He wants Hillary to run for President. And she won't. De ja vu all over again. So Bill gives a speech after Dean wins the DNC seat and some lefties clamor Bill's 90s centrism revised. He sounds defensive, another feel-sorry-for-Bill stunt. I mean, the guy has nothing to fear. He gave progressivism new life in the 90s. He is as progressive as they come.
But it worked. Hillary made he first foray into presidential politics. She did an event with Kerry. They are going to pass some major legislation. Election Day would be a federal holiday. And all ex-felons would be allowed to vote. That is close to 4 million, larger than Bush's margin of victory in 2004.
You can always trust Bill Clinton to pull stunts.
Heck, Hillary could be Kerry's running mate in 2008. You know, get a massive reelection in 2006, like Kennedy did in 1956, and become running mate in 2008, like Kennedy two years later. And there you go.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Wow, the Radio Free Nepal blog has made it on the front page of Blogger.
I went online and googled "pizza upper sandusky OH" and ordered pizza at the local Domino's that got delivered to my truck. Now that is high tech.
Only a few weeks back, I park my truck on the shoulder, I think it was Columbia, IN, junction of US 30 and IN 9. I walk over, order and eat my pizza. When I come back 40 minutes later, there are two police cars in front of the truck, one behind, the blue lights blaring. That was a ticket for $136 and change, the most expensive pizza I ever had.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Every interview of Amitabh I read, he ends up saying something astonishing. The movie Black has just come out and I have been reading about it so much. My loss that I am not in a position to view it like I pursued and viewed Aviator.
But his wife Jaya thinks this is the best work he ever did. Shahrukh, the reigning successor to Bachchan, supposedly.
"The response has been so overwhelming I can't even begin
to express my joy. When Shah Rukh wrote and told me he just wanted to hold me
and cry, I felt like weeping in joy."
"I'm just
one of the components in Sanjay's astonishing vision... I'm finished as an
actor... unless Sanjay signs me again," sighs Amitabh.
Such a human being as this. He is so pure.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Laloo's newest joke: ‘‘In Patna yesterday, Hema Malini told the media that she was a fan of Laloo Prasad Yadav. When the media asked me for my comment, I said I am her air conditioner.’’
I have been following Laloo and Gyanendra. Laloo is by far the more interesting character. King G has no sense of humor. The guy does not know the joy of working within an electoral framework, the pressures, the pulls and pushes, ups and downs, forces at work. Looks like Laloo has a tough election going on in Bihar, and King G is hellbent on giving Nepal a tough time.
When someone makes a racist comment, I want the earth to stop spinning around its axis for a few seconds, so all of us can ponder for a moment, and then I want the earth to spin, and the centrifugal force to shoot that person into the belly of the solar system. That is what I want. That is how I feel.
I have been reading the Bill Gates interview with Peter Jennings and I bumped into this line: "So actually getting out to India, to Africa, that's critical to me to
make sure my foundations is doing effective work and you know renews my
commitment to take all the wealth I have and make sure it goes back to
causes like world health." Wow. Really makes you want to respect this guy. He is talking about giving away all his wealth. Shows the guy is really into the spirit of free enterprise and creativity. There is not another rich guy like this one, and not another who is giving away so much in such a knowing fashion, as in, the guy does his homework.
I have also been reading the Sam Walton book, and wow, is this guy amazing or what. I would call it the Geetanjali of retailing. Walton just so happens to be the most successful businessperson in the history of the world. No, it is not Gates!
The individual, free enterprise, creativity.
Monday, February 07, 2005
A laptop for less than $100. Wow.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
A major political earthquake in Nepal a few days back.
Howard Dean likely to get the DNC job. A needed consolation prize for the guy. He will breathe some life into the party, I think, boost Deaniacs like Obama at the national level.
