Noam Chomsky & Ayn Rand

I chanced upon the book “Hegemony and Survival- America´s quest for global domination” and reading it. Quite a typical Chomsky book. The intellect is as evident as the vitroil. Noam Chomsky´s “America” used to be  like elite fashion. But now with so many authors coming up with books critical of  G.W.Bush and the US after the Iraq episode, he seems common place.  It is easy to forget that he has been in this business (of critising since before the Vietnam war. But his writing is anything but common place. He is the most sited author as per the analysis of MIT where he works. He is in the top of many of possible author lists like most quoted author to The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America by David Horowitz.  Well comparing him to Ayn Rand, they have many things in common:- popularity. Ayn Rand is also in all possible novel lists with Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead and We The living joining most list in one position or another. What the authors do share also is their East Euopean heritage. But both are intellectually so powerful and so good in what they think and what they do. Idealogically their poles apart with Chomsky heavily turing to the left while Ms.Rand is darling and idol of all conservatives(including our Wizard of Oz, Alan Greenspan). No idea whether they ever met. Did they say about each other?  What would have been their words? No idea. 

Sivakami´s Vow & Tamil Literature

I found this http://sivagamiyin-sabadham.blogspot.com/ blogspot by chance. Looks like Pavithra Srinivasan has been translating this magnificent book called sivagamiyin sabadham which means Sivagmi ´s Vow.This book was written by the famous Tamil author R.Krishnamurthi  pen named Kalki was written in 1944 and arguably one of the best historical novels written. But it is not just the exceptional one, there were great epics written before and great novels written after. Of those the best historical ones are by Sandiliyan. I feel iftheywere translated they would rival and could probably beat most of the top historical novels ever written like (Collen McClough´s Novels of the Roman Punic Wars and later). Also there alot of epics in Tamil from the very ages ago (Silapathikaram,Manimekalai).  Tamil Literary history does not just contian these fictions, but a lot of other books also. The Tholkappiyam waswritten in 900BC but it is still taught in Tamil grammar classes for school students of age 15 or 16.  

But all Tamil Literary Treasures  have stayed within the Tamil group. Nobody outside this group know about any of these great works.  Contrast this with the Bengalis,they had Tagore who wrote in great Bengali and in English also and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee and a small handful ones. They are well known outside the Benagli group. The Chinese also have their share of epics and anybody who goes into the Chinese culture immediately are aware of their epics likes Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West and  Dream of the Red Chamber (all wonderful epics…if you get a hand on them just don´t let them go unread if you are a book lover). 

Why have the Tamils not been able to “sell” this literary history to the world? Some may argue that Malaysia Singapore are places where Tamil sells a lot. But even here it is to Tamils only.  Maybe one of the good Tamil movie makers should try to make a good movie based on oneof these Tamil stories in various languages and sell it across the world. Get it to win a Oscar or even a nomination. And at this time we have a lot of the works translated and put up on stall, it would generate of interest on the Tamil literature. 

Durga Puja & J.K.Rowling

For Bengalis Durga Puja is more than what Christmas is to Westerners. Christmas is kind of quiet celebration, private. Probably Weinnachtmarkts of Germany are probably the closed it comes to a public celebration. Durga Puja on the other hand is like a Brazilian Carnival (minus the exotic or erotic part of it)  and  Christmas together. Every nook and corner where someone could worship and a temporary structure  is erected during these festive days only to be destriyed few days later. Normally these structures are erected based on donations from the local community. In order to attract more people , these structures are made in different shapes and styles  and with different themes. People who come to see these are then treated like a community. Unlike in US where there is always a sponsor with some interest like advertisement for such things, here it is purely a communal affair. (Interesting Bengal is one of the few places where communists have been in poer for more than 30 to 40 years and everytime winning in a democratic election). Earlier days the themes for these structures were from Indian epcs and mythology and as topics and thems became stale, politics ,sports , movies and anything eyecatchy have become themes for this structures. Superman, Spiderman, Titanic, Indian Cricket (both negative and positive issues) have all been a part of it. Somebody this year chose to go with Harry Potter. Hogwarts School. Ordinarily people would just have a look at it and say a look “Harry Potter”. But then suddenly J.K.Rowling and Warner Bros decided to sue these organisers for 25,000 pounds. Not a small money for Indians..It is 2 million Ruppees for them. I can understand if such stance is taken over commercial ventures or events. But this was such an innocent setup. Nothing to do with money. It is like Bram Stoker demanding money from every Halloween kid wearing a dracula costume. Or a kid drawing a spiderman face to show of his skills will have to pay Marvel comics. I fail to understand how both Ms.Rowling and Warner Bros could be so insenstive. The money Harry POtter has made for both of them is far reaching and this is hardly a drop in the ocean. Are they trying to get into the news papers by  making an issue out of it? Is Ms.Rowlings statement that Dumbledore is gay  also done with the same target? This issue could have been handled in more senstive way. But instead by doing this way,  I guess Ms.Rowling has lost one of her devout set of fans, the Bengalis (most Bengalis are proud of their passion for reading and undoubtfully many would have been fans of Harry Potter before this episode)  and me too. I could not help thinking about the law suit on her after the first book was released accusing her of plagiarism. 

Bastiat Prize for Journalism 2007 for India Uncut

Look who gets into the league of gentlemen satirists Amit Verma of India Uncut http://www.indiauncut.com/  . By winning the Bastiat Prize for Journalism 2007 Amit joins the likes of Undercover Economist ,Tim Harford( who won it for 2006). For the official announcement here is the link  http://www.policynetwork.net/main/press_release.php?pr_id=112.  Amit`s blog which focus on free market views with short and sweet statements to get his view points across is a delightful read particularly for Indians. Congrats Amit !!

Work-Life Balance

For me, work is life and life is work and I am not alone here. For most Asians it is true. Koreans, Indians, Chinese and Japanese have all this same attitude. Atleast Japanese take some time out to go on holidays. So putting in long hours at work is not just an option. It is a must. In an environment where competiveness isvery high and where a strong heirarchysystem prevails, one hasto put up a show of long hours. Normally the hours put in extra do not bring benefit to self or the organisation. But it is a lovely bragging point. The women are very proud to say that their husbands come back home at midnight. Vice versa is of course not applicable.

 Well, Frank Bauer, Hermann Groß, Gwen Oliver, Georg Sieglen and Mark Smith  have written a well reasearched piece on “Time use and work–life balance in Germany and the UK” on the website http://www.agf.org.uk/pubs/publications.htm. It makes an interesting reading on how subtle difference show up between these two countries in the Work-Life Balance. For those who want a summary http://www.agf.org.uk/pubs/pdfs/ES1453.pdf and for those who would like to go into details the link is http://www.agf.org.uk/pubs/pdfs/ES1453.pdf. I wish somebody could do the comparison with an Asian country like Korea or Japan and an European country (which have more or less same standards of living).

Mr.Stephen S. Roach, Where are You?

Anybody who has been reading the Morgan Stanley ´s Global Economic Forum website http://www.morganstanley.com/views/gef/index.html must be finding it now like a reluctant student´s assignment. Gone are the days when there used to be lively debates between the perennial bear Mr.Stephen Roach and Mr. Dick Berner. I used to wait for the next post to read what these both have to say about the economics. But since Mr.Roach left to take his position as the chairman of Morgan Stanley´s Asia operation I missing what used to be my daily dose of “economics” thriller. I guess the same is for many ”hobby economist” who just like reading such ideas and information to brag about in a party or at the coffee machine in the morning. One thing I can say this forum also trained me to look out for more and more information about what is going around me in the economic sense.

 Mr.Berner is still in the forum. But he doesn´t write too often. Even when he writes the foil of  Mr.Roach is missing. Clearly there is a difference on the type of posts that I see there. Ok maybethe banks are not makingthe kind of profits they were making few months back. So they cannot provide the kind of free ”lectures and articles ” for folks like me.  On the other hand I should be grateful for immense satisfaction and joy of reading such excellent posts from such remarkable people at no cost. Thanks Mr.Roach,Thanks Morgan Stanley…

Indian Caste System – Wake Up Call?

It is understandable that Indian Market is in limelight now. The market has been going up as if it is on a rocket. Will it stay in orbit  or will crash back we will have to wait and see. But as long as there is a lot of cheap money in the market it will not come down.

But what is not understandable is that Indian caste system is suddenly making a lot of appearances. Economist had this to say http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9909319   in their October 04th issues. The link may require a subscription. But in short it focus on the pressure from the Indian government to force big multinationals to also make efforts in bringing forward those who are classified as lower castes. In response to this article, Paul Attewell, Professor of sociology from the City University of New York and Katherine Newman Professor of sociology from Princeton have came up with this statement “The odds of a dalit being invited for an interview were about two-thirds of the odds of a high-caste applicant with the same qualifications. The odds of a Muslim applicant being invited to an interview were even worse: only one-third as often as the high-caste Hindu counterpart. ” http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9983028 . Now Economist and Political Weekly has an article on the same. http://www.epw.org.in/epw/user/userindexHome.jsp. Paul Attewell is again the author one of the authros. I guess they have really some “gun powder” for the Indian politicians. I hope they bring forth some solutions on how to solve this and is also acceptable to the politicians too.

Templars & The Kingdom of Heaven

I just saw the video “Kingdom of Heaven” by Ridley Scott with Orlando Bloom. Looks like an unsuccessful attempt to come closer to “Gladiator”. Also Orlando Bloom seems not so close to Russel Crowe. Though Orlando is a very good actor and I expect him to do a lot better, I guess I would have enoyed the movie more with some actor with the calibre of Russel Crowe. Looks wise Orlando just did not fit in. But he acted well without overdoing anything and just as calm as the character he was playing. Something struck me in this movie. They showed all Christians in bad light except for King Baldwin nad Orlando himself. Even Tiberus (Jeremy Irons) quits at the crucial moment. While on the other hand all Muslims are shown in very good light.  Not that they were not. In fact Saladdin was considered a very fair monarch of his times. The story lines were close to the actual facts atleast as much in known. Of course you should excuse some of the dramatics introduced to support the story line. For example, King Baldwin´s sister Sibylla was not unfaithful as the story line goes. Her husband was also true to Christian cause.  One should remember that crusade wars and the Kingdom of Jerusalem were not so well documented as the Roman history is.  

One thing about the movie was the depiction of the Templars. Here they are shown as arrogant soldiers, ransacking travellers. But then since Phillip of France had them prosecuted to get rid of his debts, the Templars have been always very controversial. I got onto them through the book “Foucalt´s Pendulum” of Umberto Eco. Could discuss about this book in another blog. But  now just enough to say a typical U.Eco book with science, history, fantasy all woven together with the right mix.   

Alexander The Great´s- Art of Strategy

I finished reading the book Alexander The Great´s Art of Strategy. Few years ago (probably 2004) BBC had a program called Total War. A game played by a team consisting of 4 members. They played a battle scenario with computer simulation based on the PC game called Total War. 2 members were made the leaders and the other 2 would execute the orders. Their opponents were simulated based on a combination of actual events and some variations to counter the strategy of the team. There was also 2 military historians who would analyse the team from the back ground and then also after the game was over. They also informed them later on what really happened. There were many interesting episodes. One of them was of Alexander and the Battle of Guagmela. The team was consisting of 4 guys who were very experienced in playing war games and they managed to play the part of the Greeks close to what happened in reality and though Alexander was ”killed” in their version they won. It was then I realised how great Alexander was. These guys were playing the game on big computer monitors with full view of the battle field. They could move back and forth see well beyond what a human general could see. Yet Alexander who was also leading the attack from the front had a total overview of the battle and was able to effectivel control a whole battle of against 300,000 men and win it his way. Watching this series, I got interested in battle strategies and strategist. Alxeander was best among them. Each war was executed to perfection. I started reading articles and books on Alexander. Of these, I enjoyed the triology of Valerio Massimo Manfredi as it was written more like a fiction but stayed close to actual facts regarding the wars and now this book by Parth Bose. What makes this book very different from the others Partha Bose has concentrated on the strategy of Alexander and then related it to the modern managements techniques and startegies. I would say he is very successful in this. He uses examples from the real business world to emphasis his points. I would expect that this book would be in one of the best seller list or well known. But I never heard about and would not picked it if I was not really interested in Alexander. But I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in reading business books too. Or anbody interested in reading about history.

Radiohead-Pay what you deserve strategy

I tried many times to get to the site http://www.inrainbows.com/ to download the new album “In Rainbows” from Radiohead. I had a figure of  9€ in mind as the worth for the album (roughly the same cost of one of their earlier ones. Logic is that even if they start higher in a year I expect the price to stabilise to this figure.  Though I normally listen to the music I want to buy before I buy them, I make exceptions to some bands. Radiohead is one of them. Arcade Fire, The Killers, Foo Fighters, Cold Play, Keane are some of them. So if I could get the music at this price it does not make a difference to me. But the biggest difference is to Radiohead itself. Probably they will make more money than they would if I had bought in a shop. I am assuming that they will be many paying less than the price at a shop and some nothing at all.   There will be some expense also. one thing is that they do n´t have to do any marketing for their new albums. The announcement itself must have beaten all possible marketing startegies. Nearly all newspapers, news website have commented on this. Some of my friends who never knew the name of Radiohead were asking about the band. But would a new comer or a lesser known band get the same effect?  Somebody else to repeat the same stunt would be impossible. Nobody could do like what Artic Monkeys did.

But still it would be good if this concept catches on. I am looking forward to it. Some of my friends say that these musicians are anyway well paid and most of them misuse  the wealth earned in drugs and…. But then you also find some who really work towards quality music and does not mind the consequences. Example when Coldplay redid their X&Y album because they did not feel it was up to the mark. Just to encourage such professionalism, I would buy In Rainbows for the price I would have paid anyway in a supermarket.