So I disappear without an explanation and the only hints that I continue to exist are two words of wisdom that I unload on fellow Cartelians,
([1], [2]) both discussing the question of human sanity. I know that this is sufficient reason for people to get worried, but fear not. I am very much here, and rejoice! for I shall be back to blogging soon. The fog of illogic and insanity that the Indian blogosphere seems to be falling into shall soon dispell and clear thinking shall reign again. And yes, all the questions shall be answered.

Sorry for the delay. No, the promise was not an April fool’s joke. I just got busy with a lot of stuff, one of them being my flight back to India.

So on to the first question, by froginthewell, who asked way back:

Would you say there should be a legislation that will punish this judge? If so of what kind? Or is this to be viewed as okay in the interest of free speech? Thanks.

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Arzan pointed me to this post on the newly launched Mumbai Metblogs, talking of the plight of some Akbarallys employees who one day found that they did not have jobs any more, because the branch shut shop.

This is a fairly common story. I have some personal experience of that. In 1993, I went home from my hostel for the weekend, to find that my mother no longer had a job as her company had shut down. It was entirely expected – the company had been in trouble for years before that, but it was still a shock when it happened.

The labour laws did not help. The unions could not help, the courts would not help. I’ve explained why here. Labour laws and the courts matter only if you care to keep your company running.

My mom got a new job some eight months later. She’s still working there, but hopefully not for long. The company has sold out its land and a shopping mall will come up in its place…

This is an open thread. Is there anything you’d like me to make a post on? Have you ever pondered on a problem and thought “I wonder what that pompous, arrogant and condescending Cartelian Ravi would say about this?” Ask it here. If there is any topic from my previous posts where you’ve thought that I did not address, maybe evaded, a point, ask it here. I will answer some of the questions that in posts.

I will prefer those posts that make me think. For example, I really wanted to answer this comment:

Would you say there should be a legislation that will punish this judge? If so of what kind? Or is this to be viewed as okay in the interest of free speech? Thanks.

This was on my post on burning the American flag. The link in question related to an Indian judge making derogatory remarks about women lawyers. I don’t know if it was asked as a sarcastic question, but it is still an interesting one and I would like to answer it. Likewise which question would you like answered?

I am currently reading “The confusion” by Neal Stephenson, and I found in it a particularly perceptive passage

“These distinctions that you draw ‘tween noble and common, what is proper and what is not, seem as arbitrary and senseless to me, as the castes and customs of the Hindoos would to you,” Eliza returned.

“It is in their very irrationality, their arbitrariness, that they are refined,” d’Avaux corrected her. “If the customs of the nobility made sense, anyone could figure them out, and become noble. But because they are incoherent and meaningless, not to mention ever-changing, the only way to know them is to be inculcated with them, to absorb them through the skin. This makes them a coin that is almost impossible to counterfeit.”

Gaurav has outed Michael as being a CIA agent. Of course, I knew this all along, but I couldn’t figure out which department he was in, till I met him on Saturday. The answer came to me suddenly, just when a heated discussion on cricket was going on. “Psychological warfare!” I whispered to Michael and the look of alarm on his face told me all that I needed to know. Chetan (sitting between me and Michael) also heard it, of course, and he interpreted it to mean that cricket was psychological warfare. But Michael understood, and I understood that he understood, and he understood that I understood that he understood.

Of course, now we were both on our guard.

Which would it be? The Indian buffet at Aditi or the cake which he’d so thoughtfully brought for me?

Of course, it wasn’t death I was afraid of. CIA doesn’t do assassinations anymore. While it is not quite banned, the procedure to get the required approvals is too cumbersome. Their current modus operandi is to release the Agent Nanobot into your bloodstream and it affects your brain, leading to subtle changes. You might lose crucial bits of your memory. You might even suddenly start using American spelling, lose your sense of humor or alternately, go into transportations of delight for no good reason. The old-fashioned precautions against imbibing Agent Nano – making sure that everyone else had the same stuff – is useless. This nanobots are triggered only when they receive a signal from their master. I and Michael could imbibe the same stuff and only I would feel the effects, because he could transmit the trigger only to my bots.

I noticed that he went ahead of me to get his lunch. I quickly followed and watched his every step. He did nothing. My food was untainted as far as I could guess. A surreptitious scan revealed no Agent Nanobot. Then I cut a cake and scanned that too before I ate it. No Nanobot, but Michael was smiling his supercilious smile. “Agents are dangerous, but analysts are worse.” was his mysterious statement.

“So you are an analyst. Big deal!” I snorted. “Yeah, you are right in more ways than you can imagine.” was his reply.

To be continued…

I left this as a comment on Shivam’s post on the blog HTOHL. I just thought I’d repeat it here. You need to read that post to get the context.
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Now we have two witnesses who will swear to the indisputable fact that I am not pompous or arrogant! In fact, I am the nicest person you’ve (n)ever met, as was proved beyond all reasonable doubt in the DC bloggers’ meet on 11th March 2006 on my 0x1Fth birthday.

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I just remembered that I am in line to host the next blog mela. Here’s the announcement. Leave your nominations as comments to this post. Here are the rules:

1. Nominate the post, not the whole blog.
2. You can nominate your post too, if you wish.
3. The post should be about India, or should be by an Indian, by whatever definition you choose
4. Personal posts can be nominated, but may not be accepted unless I like them very much. Other type of posts will be accepted unless there is strong reason not to.
5. The post should be dated between 3th and 9th March 2006, both days inclusive, in your time zone. The mela will be up on 10th March.

In 1998, New York and New Jersey fought a lawsuit over a point so bizarre that I doubt you’ll find anything like it even in a story from Hindu mythology.

New York city is located at a somewhat strange place, practically surrounded by other states. I dug into history and learnt that this came about because James, the then Duke of York (after whom the city and state were named) gave the west bank of the Hudson to a couple of his friends to colonise, while keeping the east bank for himself to set up a city. Naturally, this meant that when the city became too big, the most logical place to spill over was New Jersey. In a more intelligently designed world, Jersey city would be part of New York city. But they are in different states in this crazy world.
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Dilip D’Souza started collecting all those things that offended various sentiments of various religions some time back. Worthwhile exercise, for which I have no productive contribution to make, unfortunately. But I do have a bad joke to make about the first case. It seems that some Sikhs got offended because Mandira Bedi affectionately named her dog “Sardar Ruginder Singh Bedi”.

My only question is, did any dog get offended when the Sardars named their kids Bunty, Monty, Tommy etc.?

(Yes, joke has been rehashed… But its been some time and it is worth repeating. )

I’m in the US on a business visa. Under the terms of the visa, I cannot do any actual work here. I can hold meetings, train people and get trained, etc. but I can’t do any actual work. I am pretty sure that FBI agents (or whoever is in charge of these things) visit my blog every day (Hi!), and are at this very moment wondering why on earth I have not posted for so many days. “What could he be doing? Is he by some chance working?” So this post is just to assure them that though I’ve been absurdly busy in meetings and stuff, I’ve not actually been working.

Now, I also have a B2 visa, (B1 and B2 are normally given together) which allows me to roam around as a tourist. Unfortunately the snow and cold have ensured that I haven’t done much touristing. But I do hope to travel to DC on 11th March to meet other bloggers. I am particularly looking forward to meeting Michael, Chetan and Greatbong. Of course, I’ve made clear my inability to participate in any coup attempt on the American government, as I am pretty sure that doing so would violate the terms of my visa. In fact, when I was landing at Newark, they gave me a card which asked “Do you plan to enter the United States to carry out a violent insurgency against the government?” I answered “No”, signed it and gave it to the INS official. So I guess if I now try to overthrow the American government, I will be commiting perjury, which, to the best of my knowledge, is illegal in the United States.