More Dirty Politics

This past week witnessed more dirty politics in India. BJP MP's flashing bundles of rupees accusing UPA of 'buying' them to vote for or abstain the Nuke deal issue. Its sad to see to the state of affairs. What makes me even more sad is the reasons to oppose. CPM seems to be opposing just coz US is involved, BJP says we cannot have any more Pokhrans.

Both reasons seem dumb. The deal text seems to be much favorable than the past attempts, infact, if the same deal would have been put forth during BJP's time, ABV would have signed in no time. For them to oppose now is total hypocritical. Alas, Advani's hopes of PM hood seems to be waning.

All in all, this issue brought the petty thinking habits of politicians. Be it Congress, BJP, CPM or other smaller parties like TDP and TRS, they just don't have an ounce of thinking that address problems at a National Level. Shibu Soren asking for Coal ministry, TRS asking for Telangana or others asking for local favors for their vote shows that these schmucks could stoop to bloody any level.

I wish there is a new generation of politicians on the horizon who can work to create atmosphere where the country can flourish without having to appease under the tables.

Bundle of Joy is Here

Nana, papa, dad is my new title..

Prapthi was born on the 18th and she is beautiful little gal. I am taking on sleepless nights but to cradle her is pretty pretty cool..

Neither here nor there!!

It seems that for several people like me who lived in US for 8 or more years experience the 'ghar ka na ghat ka' feeling. I came in here in my early twenties, spent my best productive years in the US. In all those productive years, nostalgia, random party talks and 1 (one) month visits kept folks like me linked to where ever we all came from.

The experience that I have gained here in US has been tremendous. On the flip side, there have been many missed opportunities due to the impractical immigration laws. There are too many problems to list here but the top few are

• Professional Freedom -- To work where you want and what you want
• H4 Nightmare -- Spouses of H1 can't work
• Biased Processing -- Indians and Chinese are left high and dry

While I seem to wait with the hope that there would be a better 'next year' and law-makers will wake up to solve some of the obvious problems, the 'next year' seems more like a writing on the wall. The frustration that you cannot work on a business that you love, work on a technology you love is just immense. Oddly, for the country, this may very well be killing the innovation that might leapfrog the next 'Google' or 'Sun'.

To tackle this, if I look back towards India, it seems a bit daunting. I have lost my network, have to start from scratch and as strange that may seem, the work culture seems a bit foreign. With that in mind, I have just started to rebuild, establish ties, dig links and look for opportunities.

Someday soon, I am hoping to say, I am going home.

Indian Nuclear Deal -- Politics at its worst

I happened to watch today's debate in NDTV with the left parties represented by Basu, Congress represented by Dr.Singhvi, SP represented by Siddiqui and BJP represented by Rudy. It was moderated by Vikram who unfortunately was often left to witness in disdain the cacophony and mockery of some of the basic tenets of debating.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/videopod/default.aspx?id=33476

As much as an emotional issue it could be, except for Dr. Singhvi, all others demonstrated no courtesy towards fellow speakers.

That aside, it is absolutely sad to see an opportunity wasted for Indian Politics when for once, all political parties had a chance to showcase to the world that they stand in unison, rise above all the bickering, and embrace a deal that will propel India's Energy Future. The worst example today was demonstrated by a one Mr. Vinod Kumar from TRS when a simple question was asked by Vikram, whether he would rise above the local politics (aka Telangana issue) to support the national interest. Had that question met with an answer such as "I don't know my party's position yet (or) we don't for XYZ reason", I would have been not so irked. Mr. VK answers it with the following words. "If Telangana issue is addressed, we would be willing to vote for the UPA government".

For a Member of Parliament to be such short-sighted should be enough basis for disqualification and kicked to the bloody bottom of the society. These petty narrow-minded politicians are unfortunately what makes the country weak. When an issue that concerns the entire nation is on the table, hijacking the mandate is not only unpatriotic but also criminal.