Marriage is a sacred bond

Adultery is a sin.

It destroys family, because family is rooted to and grows from trust.

If the marriage stops delivering emotionally or physically then its time to end the marriage, but to fuck someone else with excuses is pure simple CHEATING.

Fidelity or divorce are the only two honest options. Anything else is covering for one’s deceiving nature.

Marriage is a sacred bond based on fidelity. Human values like fidelity and honesty do not get outdated. It’s a choice to remain married or not, but bringing another person into a marriage is cheating. Fling isn’t anything more than fucking is maybe an American point of view where flings aren’t acceptable behavior and not really considered sexy or brilliant.

If the marriage is unfullfilling one can exit it, but to keep the marriage for material gains while having a lover is using the spouse. Most people marry and remain married - at least in the US - to remain faithful, and cheating creates the same social revulsion whether its Bill Clinton or a common man.

Life is about hard choices, not sneaking around choices

I’m not basing my ethics on soap opera, but real life people - educated, well to do - in the US who marry only when they decide it’s time to settle into a monogamous, committed relationship. And once that choice is made then there is no room for flings because marrying implies end to flings, beginning of permanence.

Since 1986 I’ve been part of the very affluent, very progressive social set in California and Washington and in all those years I’ve not met any who condone cheating or known anyone personally who has cheated on their spouse. Similarly my wife is from an elite part of South Bombay society yet she holds marriage as being sacred in which there’s no room for a 3rd party - and when that happens marriage should end because without honesty, trust there’s no marriage.

I come from a family that has for long worked for women’s emancipation and equality, so this is not about suppressing women. It’s about keeping marriage unsullied by adultery - like it should be unsullied by violence or abuse. Its a beautiful thing needing to be kept beautiful, so an amicable split or an honest walk out are the strong, honest choices. A cheating husband is a bad husband and a dishonest man, and in 21 years in the US I’ve never personally known a man or a woman who has a lover while being married, so I am using that as a socio-moral standard. (Can’t say the same about India where most uncles and aunties at the Gymkhana were doing one another)

Swingers exist - but aren’t the norm. Flings happen, but they break homes, because they violate trust.

Its hard being honest, but its important being honest. Because in the end the most a man can give his wife is total, absolute trust that she knows will be steadfast even when during their lows. And that is what makes marriage sacred - total faith and trust, always.

God, Love, Truth, all require courage and strength, and all are essential (steps) to becoming a human being living up to best human potential. I wish to become a man that my parents, my wife and my staff can be proud of, so fluid morality is not my option.

And being as imperfect I am I’ve set certain thresholds I will not cross - stealing, cheating, violence are a few of them.

I don’t want to be preachy, I don’t want to be puritanical I just want at my age to be a man my wife trusts implicitly, therefore the stand. I’ve been through the party circle in US and Europe and throughout a long history of trysts craved for someone I would belong to totally. I don’t need freedom to wander, I need the freedom that comes with bondage of love. Marriage is the hardest work - but nothing spectacular is easy.

Maybe because the US has seen the break of family for so long that now we cherish family, though I can’t understand the Indian Page 3 glamor associated with married people having affairs - there’s nothing cool about having a fling outside marriage. Julia Roberts doesn’t, nor does Angelina Jolie and neither does the pre-school teacher cheat on her husband, and Nicholas Cage, Mitt Romney and the software consultant are all faithful to the woman whose ring they wear.

Because I love passionately I can’t imagine a loveless marriage? Because marriage isn’t and shouldn’t be a convenience - this is where love makes us transcend the ordinary - where judgments collapse, acceptance rules and family begins.

I can’t describe how I cherish home and family - a 100 women can’t, couldn’t give me what my wife does - dignity, solidity, and the road map to being a better man.

A solid marriage is the basis of a solid society - ask children from broken homes.

What does it take to be happy

Loads of things, but it also takes being satisfied with what one has.

Today was a happy day for me.

Last night was -7, and by this morning the snow had piled deep around, and high on top of my car. There was no way to get out. I had to cancel my meetings, and was stuck in the house.

Its a temporary house. On the water with fantastic views of the bay and the mountains. And today it was also a house with no food, except for some almonds, raisins, Diet Coke and orange juice. The cheese that was there was mouldy, and the microwave would not work, so there was no scope of a quick cup of Earl Gray.

Since I was in Seattle over the weekend, and went straight to Vancouver from there I didn't have the time to go grocery shopping, so it was what it was.

The day went by fast, and beautifully. I ate drank what was there plus drank of the view and total silence broken by the sound of the waves and the rustle of the wind. Felt God like a tight hug, and found that I could be happy even when stranded in the snow, hungry.

Now if this were a routine it would be drudgery, but being stranded in life is only a part of life, so during those days being happy makes life enjoyable - because this day and bad days shall pass too - but how they're handled will have a lot to do with who I am and how I handle life. Ultimately it comes to making lemonade or crying over life's lemons.

My Love .......

The drive up North was pretty, with the hills covered with a neat blanket of snow. But I wasn't moved. I noticed, can't help noticing, but that was it. Nothing like a song welling up inside me.

Then, reaching home found the bay the color of molten sunlight with ducks peacefully bobbing about on the rippled mirror waters and Mt. Baker presiding over this very beautiful evening. I saw that, and unlike other days did not write a mental ode to the magnificence of Nature and God - because I could not - write odes or sing songs - because I can't seem to care.

I don't - care that is, right now, at least.

Because I miss my darlin'. Without her its just scenery without soul. Maybe because she is my soul.

I've done my work, concentrated where I had to but the part that attaches me to myself seems to be missing, so - in mechanized, functional, logical ways - I've been functioning, but the essence of being alive, being me is missing, because I'm madly missing my baby.

Not that its not crazy mad with her here, but that's clawing, tearing, happy, teary, exciting crazy, this going crazy is slowly withering in being isolated from myself. And it's only 30 hours since she left - 30 hours of time tearing gashes into me.

My voodoo, my talisman, my quest and my answers, my heaven and my devil, my woman and my friend, I love her

My Wife My Valentine

"I kissed her and saw that her eyes were shut. I kissed both her shut eyes. I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into......"

All I know is I don't want to get out of what I've gotten into. The sacred, sanctified ritual of being married, with the blessings of God and family, is the most beautiful place I've ever been in.

After countless years of being lost in a forest of faces each sapping me of myself I find myself tied to the freedom of permanence, solidity as permanent as Earth's revolutions of the Sun.

I now understand why societies and cultures treat marriage as a special sacrament. It brings the best out of two people and it cements traditions while creating new traditions. It is the bedrock of continuity.

Her Pooja Room, her things, her kitchen, her tossing around restlessly as I desperately try to sleep, her comments, her way of doing her things make my world uniquely my own - she imprinted over my world like a tattoo covering the whole body. And in a world of 6 or so billion she and I are an island, a continent, a family, a home.

No one cooks like her. No one is as mad as her, my child woman. Her common sense, and her innocence co-exist with a deep spiritual faith which doesn't stand in the way of her choice of ridiculously expensive handbags. She makes me laugh, and sad and lifts me up and takes me to depths of hell.

She makes me a man. Strong, committed, able to handle a woman without running away, because she's not just a woman. She's a woman who has agreed to be my wife. Me - the most imperfect of men, going through times that squeeze life out of living. That she stands with me teaches me commitment. She doesn't take without giving personifying grace.

In her I am free at last. Free to be the man I was born to be. So there's no place I wish to be or need to be, except with her.

100 or more years ago Emily Bronte wrote what I would feel 100 plus years later, and I waited a life time to say and feel this about someone:

"..... but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same .. "

" .... my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath — a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff — he's always, always in my mind — not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself — but as my own being ... "

It's been worth the wait.

Who died?

cold outside, frigid inside,
corpse breathes, man dies,
blogging goes on

on death bed he says
sorry for things I did wrong
hoping at his last at last
this is his last sorry
but there's always another
reason to crawl alive in death

he lied, he died
he cared, who cared
blogging went on

Can Indian Economy sustain 9% growth

Comment on: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Finance/Indias_economy_strong_enough_to_weather_global_crisis_PM/rssarticleshow/2731427.cms

Dr. Manmohan's Singh's assurance that Indian economy can continue to grow at 9% (his status as an architect of modern Indian economy is unimpeachable) unaffected by the inevitable slow down of US economy doesn't seem realistic as the only other economy that has maintained that growth is China and that growth is based on that country's status as a major exporter to global markets, holding a net trade surplus with its trading partners.

India doesn't have the global market share that China does so it is vulnerable to (the drop in) BPO earnings, and its foreign exchange earnings are propelling infrastructure growth and consumer spending, so to ignore that is to live in a make believe world.

If the US economy slows down, and the dollar falls to the Rs. 32 range, Indian economy will slow down.

For Indian Women's Sake

This is serious, really is.

There's no excuse, no reason to treat women as shabbily as women are treated in India - like there's no reason to rape or drive drunk over sleeping people.

We'd like to start a petition drive of sorts online demanding that tougher laws are enacted which will punish offenses against women, speedily. The key is to hit legislators, repeatedly - not beat them up - with demands that they push for laws that punish molesters and rapists and make eve teasing a zero tolerance offense.

Some of you write like magic, many of you know many people. Would you consider joining us to create a petition forum that will scare or motivate Indian lawmakers?

If a million voices demanded respect for women in unison it will create a change. Will you join us to be that harbinger of change, and make this social platform into a platform for social change?

Being Married

"I kissed her and saw that her eyes were shut. I kissed both her shut eyes. I thought she was probably a little crazy. It was all right if she was. I did not care what I was getting into......"

All I know is I don't what to get out of what I've gotten into. The sacred, sanctified ritual of being married, with the blessings of God and family, is the most beautiful place I've ever been in.

After countless years of being lost in a forest of faces each sapping me of myself I find myself tied to the freedom of permanence, solidity as permanent as Earth's revolutions of the Sun.

I now understand why societies and cultures treat marriage as a special sacrament. It brings the best out of two people and it cements traditions while creating new traditions. It is the bedrock of continuity.

Her Pooja Room, her things, her kitchen, her tossing around restlessly as I desperately try to sleep, her comments, her way of doing her things make my world uniquely my own - she imprinted over my world like a tattoo covering the whole body. And in a world of 6 or so billion she and I are an island, a continent, a family, a home.

No one cooks like her. No one is as mad as her, my child woman. Her common sense, and her innocence co-exist with a deep spiritual faith which doesn't stand in the way of her choice of ridiculously expensive handbags. She makes me laugh, and sad and lifts me up and takes me to depths of hell.

She makes me a man. Strong, committed, able to handle a woman without running away, because she's not just a woman. She's a woman who has agreed to be my wife. Me - the most imperfect of men, going through times that squeeze life out of living. That she stands with me teaches me commitment. She doesn't take without giving personifying grace.

In her I am free at last. Free to be the man I was born to be. So there's no place I wish to be or need to be, except with her.

Chinese Dragon Roars At Indian Elephant

This blog is a comment on http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/03c92950-c390-11dc-b083-0000779fd2ac.html
______________________________________________________

On the 3rd I’d written something similar called Apples & Garlic and Italian Terracotta.

The writing on the wall is clear for those who know how to read. And it says that China cannot be contained unless China is matched with Chinese determination that quashes doubt and doubters, and Chinese manufacturing and training infrastructures that can produce huge quantities of anything, and Chinese quality that now is pretty much a world standard for mass produced affordable consumer goods or reliable industrial components and products.

iPod is produced in China, so China is able to fabricate and manufacture excellence - given that in this case it is building on amazing excellence in product design. But it also means it can be trusted to produce very fine items.

USA, Japan and Germany haven’t been able to contain China, and one by one their core industries like clothing, footwear, industrial products, household goods have been wiped out. India will not fare any differently unless it gears up to compete with China on Chinese terms and turf of massive complexes producing good quality, on time.

The dream of selling services and technology to China has broken many hearts and dreams. Chinese trade surplus with the US - and now India - proves that China has a lot more of what the world needs than what the world can sell to it because the Chinese may not even fully know what they want or can have. In the interim the world is as dependent on China as a junkie on heroin. Always needing the pusher because what the pusher has it can’t do without.

Most of the Western world has shut its plants unable to compete with Chinese prices. As industrial jobs are lost, or as jobs are sent abroad demand for cheaper goods increases since many have to reinvent themselves in middle age ending up with lower paying jobs - every laid off machinist hasn’t become a programmer that is for sure, perpetuating the dependence on Chinese goods.

The only way to beat or compete with China is to do better than what China does, or lose your industries. Or do something that China doesn’t know how to do, or wants to do, yet - design products and technology. So Cisco, Apple and other thought and innovation leaders can propel American economy because of their intellectual and marketing strengths.

India needs to be very careful - or Hosiery’s in Ludhiana, Laboratory products factories in Ambala, Garment makers in Trichur, Bed sheet and towel manufacturers in Gujarat, Plastics extruders in MP, and host and most of other low technology companies will vanish. Gone will be electrical cable, plumbing and pipe fitting, transformer and relay, rubber chappal and shoe, luggage, furniture, bicycle, battery and consumer electronic manufacturers. The owners of those companies might emerge okay as they will shift manufacturing to China and retain distribution control of the Indian market. However the Indian factory worker, the raw material suppliers, the small entrepreneurs and the general industrial and manufacturing procceses will be bloodied.

India cannot take that chance, and instead of basking in the glow of massive foreign reserves which will shrink quickly if the US dollar falls to Rs. 30-32 range, needs a plan to become the manufacture for the world markets as its own domestic demand might drop with the drop of BPO earnings. So Reliance, Tata and other biggies should look at the Chinese model and create companies that will sustain Indian economy and be profitable by creating and fulfilling global demand for daily life products.

And that India doesn’t have an Apple or HP or Dell makes it’s economy more vunerable than the USA because the USA has a global market for its design technology companies. India doesn’t have design and technology companies with worldwide markets.

And TILL IT EMERGES AS A GLOBAL BRAND LEADER it has to create sustainable, scalable global suppliers of high demand items. It needs a trade surplus in its favor to invest in reserach and technology. Or what it earns from the US it will spend on China netting nothing.

China is the world’s biggest maker of socks and panties and bras. India knows how to make all that. Now it needs to make all that as fast, as good, and at the same price as China. And to do that India will have to stop patting itself on the back and get into a serious fight for not only global domination but also survival. At this time India is not a global leader of any industry, so it needs to stop pretending and get serious about success - maybe starting with using Times of India as toilet paper since that (paper) skewers perspective and reality.

The dance of elephant and dragon is not the right dance for India. India needs to be a dragon slayer or an aggressive animal, faster than the dragon, so a Cheetah perhaps?

Sex

Its that thing adults do and non adults wish to grow up for and the old ones wish they could.

Bang bang what's the big deal you ask?

Answer is the whole universe is the result of a Big Bang.

So no sex no universe, no you, no me, no consciousness of God or Devil.

So in unison say, "God give me the stamina and the interest to be a top of the line sex machine. A Ferrari of f*c*i*g if you would please" (India lovers could replace Ferrari with TataJag).

If you wanna to bang do a big bang (sung to the tune of "if you wanna ride, ride a white horse").

It's pretty cool to be an animal which makes you a hot man proving that banishing the primal, the animal might make a top Gandhian but not a roaring engine that makes you (and her) cross eyed with ecstasy as she (and you) find that doggie is a finer state of being than missionary.

Woof ........

And what's money for? Buying things, that's what for. So put some dynamite in your pelvis. Break that bed. Go through the drywall. Bring down the curtains. Dent the hood of your car - ass imprint on the nice car says a lot about a guy! Then go replace all those to do it all over again". Build a reputation with a bang so to speak.

Think of yourself as a mix of a sumo wrestler and a marathon runner - okay your wish if you wish to be a defensive 5 day test player, but I think slam, bang, action, fury, is what makes sport a major adrenalin rush, and if you think sex is not adrenalin I am sorry for you.

If you aren't hurting like you've been on a 15 mile hike, you haven't done it right, so before anything else go do it NOW. And then again, so you faint into a deep sleep. A mountain to climb, an ocean to part, a demon to slay, a tiger to play, a fire to walk on, a fantastic parantah to eat - on subject of eating please substitute your favorite dish here. It's that magic which happens when you unleash creativity and in throes of passion say, "Baa" At that time you've become a tiger and a goat and a man, all thanks to sex, and also thanks to me, otherwise you might not have paid notice to when you say Baa and if you do say Maa please do not pay notice to that as that might indicate an issue.

and by God I am telling you those who do versus who don't is the difference between kerosene and 94 octane - both can produce energy but one fires a little stinky stove the other makes an 8 cylinder go Vrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooom

Indian Me

100% Punjabi Indian.

If I didn't like the food so much I mightn't have been so Punjabi but despite being away for half my life I'm still into saag (mustard greens) brimming over with butter and makki di roti (corn tortillas), and gajrela (carrots cooked slowly in milk till milk dries) - that's a hard to top dessert.

Mah di daal (black urad dal simmered with cream for hours) cholle kulche, samose, paranthe (especially alloo, gobi and mooli, of course besan with dried methi and green chillies). So most of those delectable palate pleasing, stomach destroying things I can find hither and thither, now more hither, thanks to Nidhi and Mama. But what I can't find is the non vegetarian Punjabi manna like kharode (trotters cooked in fiery sauce available only in the winter), tikke, fried fish, and chicken curry - now only if someone opened an Amritsari restaurant in the US!

And if it wasn't for the music I wouldn't have been so Punjabi either, but ever since I can remember remembering a dhol beat is the beat that I respond to. Bhangra and high energy, big bass is my music - therefore the affinity to Rock. Dirges, Ghazals, pensive ditties aren't for me. I need music that rocks me and that the bed rocks with.

Growing up in Punjab when Sant Fateh Singh led processions of spear and sword wielding Sikhs demanding Punjabi Sooba (linguistics based demand), we Punjabi Hindus somehow managed to remain unafraid of and un-alienated from the Sikhs, in fact felt closer kinship with them compared with non Punjabi Hindus, so it breaks my heart when I hear of Khalistan because my India isn't India until it includes my Punjab.

Monkey, Bastard and Cricket

Monkey?
Bastard??

Who cares?
I don't.

All I want is that the Indian Cricket team win more often so that fans have more than memories of rare wins - like 1971 Windies and 1983 World Cup.

India worships its Cricketers. They're paid hugely in money and respect.
So their performance cannot be blamed on India's emerging nation status.
They, the Cricketers, are to be solidly blamed and chastised for turning in inept, inconsistent performances, because with what they have going for them they have to perform like champions, always.

That Sri Lanka and Pakistan have a superior track record does prove that wealth doesn't create champion level plays.

The complacent, self congratulatory tendencies to bask in old glories stand in the way of winning performance. Indian team needs to remember that yesterday is gone, and today is always a fresh start.

There's no pat on the back again and again for the past, that is stupid coddling and sycophancy - and if India stopped doing that perhaps it's players will play more to win, because they don't lose much when they lose a match so what's their incentive to win?

Performance is the ultimate evidence of personality. So to win Indian Team has to build a winning personality and a killer instinct - caliber, confidence, courage, agility, stamina, more doing less whining, type of things.

Best of luck for the rest of the series. Win it BIG, India - put anger into great play, not sulking.

Apples & Garlic and Italian Terracotta

There was this town called Gilroy in California that one could smell miles away. It smelled of Garlic. It was something like the garlic growing capital of West Coast if not America.

Gilroy is definitely still there, or was till like super recently. Now you or I or anyone who happens to be around Gilroy probably just might get a whiff of garlic if someone is cooking madly with garlic in any/ many of those houses built on the land where garlic was grown - and the garlic that one can smell probably came from China.

It's hard to find American garlic in Seattle or Vancouver - and that's not kidding

Washington state was a major producer of apples. Now apple producers are in disarray because of Chinese Apples. Chinese growers took Washington samplings and are now growing quite nice "Washington" apples.

Italy was quite severely buggered too. Their famous - 1000 year old tradition - of Impruneta terracotta has been replaced with Chinese made (flower) pots and other things baked at 1100 plus degrees of a clay that was supposedly only in Italy and now "experts" have a hard time telling Chinese bastards from Italian originals.

By the way many moortis (statues/ idols) of Hindu Gods sold here are made in China. Though in some cases the features are Mongol, especially the eyes. Shock to see a slanted eye Shiva!

Global economy in US (and EU) = white collar jobs gone to India, stuff we wear, eat, sleep on, play with (including sex toys) made and/or grown in China (before an economist or a wannabe one gets berserk with this facile judgment I admit I'm not one but definitely see and have been seeing this for years so believe in that =)

Its only a matter of time before Indian bazaars are filled with Chinese mangoes, saag and bhindy and urad daal. They will follow Chinese fans and toys.

Hope they taste good. There's still time to stop a wipe out. Buy local, buy quality not price .

House for rent - the one that's not renting

Mine.

That is house for rent.

I mean the house that I don't live in is for rent. Fully furnished.

It's a very nice house. Northwest Contemporary, Post & Beam style, with huge windows in a great part of town.

But I can't rent it. That is cannot find a tenant. With the housing slump the rental market's taking a beating too.

So I can't sell the house because the market is slow and getting a home loan isn't what it used to be (snap, and it was done) and can't rent it because no one (at least not my neighborhood) is renting $4,000 homes.

It's a bitch - this situation, and I am wondering if I could install a home based business in the house to generate some cash.

Any Ayurvedic or Naturopaths looking to set up a practice in Seattle?

These economic shifts in the US economy are getting too repetitive. There's always some speculative bubble bubbling to burst. And like this time too the well to do are fine the little guys are hurting, so when you look at NASDAQ or Wall Street do not assume that all's well in the great American suburbia - it ain't.

This Christmas on Christmas eve and the day before the stores were quite empty. And the general mood was melancholy, except for the Sports Stars and the Technology millionaires - they seem to do fine almost always.

It's this pressure to somehow get ahead, make more have more, so everyone got burned who came as the last man (at the end of the sort of pyramid) over paying for eToys. The preferred guys in front of the stock issue line got out okay selling very expensive stock soon to become junk to the average guy with stars in his eyes.

The same average guy hocked his house because it was so easy to borrow against the house - more than the house was worth. So guys making the loans made loads and loads of money. Then reality check happened and the average Joe found he had borrowed more than he should've or more than he could have - and now sits on a house with a loan of 500k when the value is 400k or something like that. And the guys who made the money kept their money. Merrill Lynch or Citi or others banks posting billions in losses aren't asking that commissions they paid be refunded - which they should.

So someone made money and now I can't rent my house - I need someway out!

On the subject of moneyed people Mukesh Ambani is quite obnoxious! $600m house is outrageous. He has money, granted, but there's a regular, flourishing slum, right outside the gates and against the walls of the old Ambani building in South Bombay. I've seen, and smelled it - last May - so it is there, and those who do not believe go see.

Social responsibility should be the flip side of extreme wealth - like Bill Gates and Tatas.

Messers Gates and Tata will you please rent my house?

And Messers Bankers will you reduce interest rates on credit cards (of course by freezing spending limits) so Americans can pay off credit card debts or you'd rather have them go bankrupt as that might mean write off instead of lowered income?

Happy New Year, Bye Bye Benazir

So its 2008.

Hope it's a very happy one for ya'll - even those who're not reading this.

Benazir's assassination made me really angry with Muslim militants, and I have a big, huge problem with those who oppose freedom of expression, modern education and equal rights for women, so I wish that all those suicidal, murderous types kill themselves at the same time so what's left of Muslims is the peaceful, progressive types who can balance their religion with modern world and emancipation. It'll be very lovely if they (killers) all kill themselves brutally without hurting anyone innocent so the prayer is that they kill themselves in the thick midst of their own kind. If that is not possible then if there were a way to identify murderers publicly so that if the public were not inclined to kill them before the public got killed by them at least the public will know the enemy by name and face.

Benazir you did democracy, women and Islam proud. Rest in peace.

On to the other favorite subject - Indian Press. Thanks to that institution truth gets obscured and obscure stuff becomes news. But it does have its benefits for a few - Ms. Shetty now has an honorary doctorate. And that feels so foolish since for so many years so many of us have slogged through racial discrimination and slurs, and overcome them by the sheer dint of hard work and perseverance. Where was TOI and its ilk and where is it today when in UK someone is called a Paki Bastard or someone is told "go back to your own country"? I know, I know it will be said with this raised awareness of Shilpa Shetty people will be afraid to hurl slurs at Indians. Bullshit. Slurs are hurled at South Indians in the North, and its a matter of education and then persons' merit which helps them get to a point where no slur sticks - Vinod Khosla is an example, as are countless Doctors, Professors, Professionals, and even me. So we have to be excellent not babied to be respected.

Enough of that as I wish to be a press baron myself - yeah, with you all as my board - at least 4 Sulekha friends I have and the other 2890 to follow as shareholders!

Seriously don't you think there should be another paper based on excellence in journalism - research, analysis, unbiased and unafraid reporting, and free of political affiliations, and not into pampering minorities and always painting anyone Hindu as a lout?

Why can't one be fun, open minded, into sports, fashion, travel, fine dining, good living and still be a devout Hindu? Why is a devout Hindu always held suspect of being an ignorant, fanatical, genocidal being? When Shahrukh Khan says his religion is the best he is applauded. When I say that I am condemned?

I don't - repeat DON'T - want to destroy mosques. I just don't want temples destroyed. What's wrong with that? I don't want to attack a Muslim's house, I also don't want trains and the Indian Parliament bombed. What's wrong with wanting to defend India? My issue is with those who preach hatred, what's wrong with hating hate mongers? It'd be nice to evolve to a point of not caring but then that's also shunning responsibility.

My Hindutva is my mukut (crown), my kavach (shield), my identity since the blood flowing in my veins and my DNA is Hindu from at least a 400 years. Same with Nidhi. It is also my place to be in times happy and sad, as that's my solace and celebration. It should only alarm those who wish to tread on me for my faith because I am not using it as arms, only spiritual armour.

Being a Hindu shouldn't be a cross to bear and a stance to defend. In Amsterdam and in London there are churches from 1600's which are now bars and clubs. Because many people are not into Christianity any more. If Hindus wish to follow that route that's their individual call and we can at some time in History talk of an ancient religion that once flourished from the time of Mohenjodaro till 2008 and then petered out because it was viewed as being un-hip at a time when Islam was flourishing, so Hindus packed and left. However I shan't be packing and leaving because my wife would leave me were I to leave Hinduism, besides despite years away the way Krishna and Hanuman resonate within me nothing does, and I find the Geeta to be a fantastic management guide - relevant in day to day tough situations, especially in negotiating and /or communicating.

On to the subject of the declining dollar. Rumor has it it will fall to Rs. 32! This per my CPA who has an offshore practice to process US tax returns in India. Declining dollar has hurt his business as he is now more expensive than he was, therefore less competitive. At 32 bucks he'll be even less desirably priced. So will that hurt Shining India? Before rushing into Indian economy is indestructible let's soberly look at Japan and also India's foreign reserves and plan a plan if those foreign reserves decline. And no EU isn't the US so can't offset US related losses totally - that's why I think and defer to your opinion.

Welcome was very funny, and I stick totally to that opinion. Nana Patekar stole the show, especially in that one scene when he swings around a pole with a love lorn look in his eyes. I'd say it's a must see.

Once again a Very Happy New Year to you and yours and hope this one will see yours. ours, my dreams become working and profitable realities.