Think you know about India....try this quiz

Try this economist.com quiz...and let me know what is your score...I got 7....

Atlast got my new Passport....phew..

Atlast after 5 weeks of wait, I got my new Indian passport. The wait was very harrowing and made worse by no one responding to emails or phone calls. I was going to personally visit the embassy (4 hour drive one way) to sort out any issues but my luck improved and someone at last (a nice lady) picked up the phone.
She told me that the Chicago consulate has a lot of backlog and hence processing was taking more than 5 weeks. Also due to this they were not responding to phone /email inquiries. I got a confirmation from her that my application was being worked upon and as promised by her I received the passport.

My Advise for those who are trying to renew
1. Try to visit the embassy personally and get the passport the next day.
2. If sending by mail, have patience. Also try calling these numbers. 312-595-0413 or 0411.
Click here for the website.

Good luck...

Gabbar and Thakur

Guys check this out...........bahuut creative hain sala.

Setu Samundaram...why so much noise...

The other day I had a big argument with Rashmy (my wife) on sethu samundaram. For god's sake they are just dredging the water way, so that bigger ships can cross the Gulf of Mannar and India can save money ,fuel and time etc which is being wasted by either traveling around Srilanka or by unloading in Colombo and then loading to smaller ships for passage to India. This project can be compared to the Panama Canal for south India. The economic benefit coming from this project would benefit Tamil Nadu and so Tamilians should be in the forefront of this project. Tamilians are generally for progress, but this is not the case here.

Local and national politicians with nothing better to do have raised many objections (objections which will mysteriously disappear when they will be in the ruling coalition) and are stirring up local opposition saying that this was a bridge built by Ram, others are saying this was built by Adam. I don't think Sri Ram would be very worried if the dredging happens, for the project will help his subjects in south India. Same for Adam, why would the first man hinder progress of his sons and daughters?

Lets change this attitude of NIMB( Not in my backyard) else no progress will happen in India. As India is a very old civilization, everything is sacred and removing dirt (in this case) or building (power plants, factories etc) will not happen as the cost becomes prohibitive due to this kind of artificial strife.

Nehru was correct when he said, "Religion has not only broken our backs but stifled and almost killed all originality of thought or mind".

Every thing is a metaphor.....

So said one of the greatest foreign correspondents ever....Ryszard Kapuscinski. I had recently read his article in New Yorker and I was blown over. I never knew any one who can write like this...Aaah..what an essay. so sublime and moving...Click here to read the essay.

Turns out, Ryszard not only was a good writer but a daredevil. While covering the Biafran war in Nigeria, Ryszard heard of a road that was blocked by burning roadblocks and from which "no white man can come back alive." Not only did he test the rumor but he went and took photographs of the rebels. Below is an extract from his book ( ) on this incident.

"The boss of the operation stuffed my money into his pocket and shouted at me, blasted me with his beery breath: 'Power! UPGA must get power! We want power! UPGA is power!'. His face was flooding sweat, the veins on his forehead were bulging and his eyes were shot with blood and madness. He was happy and he began to laugh in joy. They all started laughing. That laughter saved me.

"They ordered me to drive on."

During the course of his travels , he went to India, Latin America and Africa. And he wrote countless(about 10-15) books about those adventures. He was born in Poland in 1932 and from late 1950s started his journalistic career.

Read more about Ryszard's life in wikipedia.