Are they joking or just plain daft........

As Indian students in Australia cower and their parents in India, pray for their safety, the chief of police at Melbourne, says that Indian's are attacked, as they are perceived, as soft targets, for being passive......Is the officer joking or is he just plain daft?
Is he suggesting that Indian student's in Australia, disengage from their studies and indulge in activities that would get dumb, racial bullies off their backs?
While the Australian's would like us to be live otherwise, their balance sheet in terms of treatment of people who are culturally different from themselves is appalling and disgraceful.
Their treatment of the ship Tampa, its Captain Arne Rinnan, and Afghan refugees is an example.
Indian students travelling to Australia, for further studies, must very carefully examine their options, in going down under.
The Govt. of India, must issue a travel advisory, warning its citizens travelling to Australia, and must make it clear to the Govt. of Australia that continuing attacks on Indian's will attract suitable consequences.
As for Capt.Rinnan & his ship the Tampa, its a real interesting story & should appear on this blog over the next few days.
The latest is that, India on Friday summoned Australian High Commissioner John McCarthy to the External Affairs Ministry to lodge an official concern about the recent spate of racial attacks on Indian students studying in Australia and that such attacks must cease fortwith.
We shall see..............

Zoroastrianism!

A few days ago, while, in class, I talked about our country's great diversity, an aspect of which is India's religious diversity. I also mentioned that, India has a small but significant population of Parsee's or Zoroastrians, who migrated to India, centuries ago from what is today Iran, in order to preserve their religious identity in face of a spreading wave of Islam.

I was rather surprised to see that many of the students in class that day, had no idea about this community.

So what is Zoroastrianism?

Zoroastrianism is the one of the oldest religions in the world. It began between 1,400 and 1,000 B.C. in Persia when Prince Spitama left his royal duties and searched for enlightenment. It is said that after fifteen long years, he had a dazzling vision. A divine being called Ahura Mazda gave him the name Zarathustra. Ahura Mazda also gave him a revolutionary teaching about one god that would change the ancient world. Fire became the symbol for Ahura Mazda because of its brilliance and energy. 2 Zarathustra began preaching his new religion, but things didn't go smoothly at first because life was hard for the people of Persia. They lived in a rocky, rugged place. Their tribes had to wander over the dry Iranian plain to herd their animals. It was practically impossible to grow their crops. The one thing they enjoyed was worshipping their many gods and offering animal sacrifices. Sometimes, they used plants to become intoxicated while they offered their sacrifices. Zarathustra challenged them to turn their attention to Ahura Mazda, the one god. He preached against animal sacrifice and the use of drugs. The struggling people told him to get lost. They didn't like his fiery message! 3 The fiery prophet's big break came when he converted King Vishtaspa, ruler of present-day Iran. The king accepted Zarathustra's ideas about one god, which were revolutionary for that time. No one knows exactly what made King Vishtaspa like Zarathustra's ideas, but one story says that Zarathustra healed the king's favorite horse! In any case, the king and his court were converted. According to legends, three angels came to the court to celebrate. 4 After Vishtaspa's conversion, Zarathustra traveled around Persia to spread his message. In between preaching and traveling, the prophet married (several times) and had many children. His youngest daughter married Vishtaspa's Prime Minister, Jamaspa. After the prophet's death at the hand of a priest of the old religion, Jamaspa took Zarathustra's place.

There is hardly a discipline or human endeavour in which the Parsis have not demonstrated excellence. The armed forces, industry, science, medicine, sports, politics, philanthrophy, you name it, and a Parsi contribution will be conspicuous.
The first elected Indian member of the British Parliament in 1892 was Dr. Dadabhoy Naoroji - a Parsi. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta was elected, on several occasions, President of the Indian National Congress, the Bombay Corporation and Bombay Presidency Association. The revolutionary Madam Bhikhaiji Cama was the first Indian (and Parsi) to unfurl the Indian National flag in Germany (1907).
The Wadias were master-builders, while the Tatas gave India not just its first steel industry, but also hydro-electricity. Most of these families who generated wealth through industrial development put back the wealth in trust for the welfare of the people. The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, for example, gave India its first Institute of Science in Bangalore, the first cancer hospital in Bombay, the first institute of social sciences, the first institute of fundamental research and a National Centre for the Performing Arts.
The British Government granted Baronetcy and knighthood on three Parsis - Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, Sir Dinshaw M. Petit and Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, an honour which has no parallel in Indian history. Dr. K.N. Bahadurjee was the first Indian to pass the M.D. examination in London and worked tirelessly during the plague in Bombay, laying down his life at the age of 38. Dr. Rustom Jal Vakil has been referred to, in international journals, as "the father of Indian cardiology".
India's first and only Field Marshal has been Sam Maneckshaw. Admiral Jal Cursetji has also been Chief of Naval Staff, while Air-Marshal Minoo Engineer was the most highly decorated air-marshal in Indian air-force history.
India's first Atomic Research Centre is named after Dr. Homi Bhabha - a brilliant Parsi scientist, while Zubin Mehta is a household name all over the world as far as Western classical music is concerned.

Sri Lanka! A second innings.

A few years ago I spent a couple on months at Colombo,with my wife. My ship was under repair at the Colombo Shipyard and it allowed us to explore Sri Lanka to a fair extent. The hospitality was magnificent and on occasions left us embarrassed.
We made a few friends along the way. Jayalath and his wife Shyamali, were in touch with us for many years and have since moved to Canada.
One historical site, of great antiquity, that left a lasting impression on me was the fort at Sigiriya, built on a steep hill.
While in Sri Lanka, the subject of the LTTE came up on occasion and views were rigid and polarized. As a neutral observer, I always felt sad that a wonderful community and peace loving people, had brought the dogs of war, on to themselves. I felt more sad that India was looked upon by many in Sri Lanka as the chief architect of the LTTE.
With the LTTE vanquished, let us hope that the Sri Lankans, pick up the pieces, integrate the Tamils and get on with life.
Sri Lanka is too good a country to be wasted on terror. They have been willed a second innings and I hope they bat better for themselves, both the Sinhalese & Tamils. Thankfully the majority Sinhala community seems to have learnt their lesson and there is a spirit of reconciliation. Only time will tell, but if this is true and the peace lasts, Prabhakaran would have done his duty for his fellow Tamils.
The following is a short piece on Prabhakaran, that appeared in Time magazine a few days ago.

The rest of the world might never understand the violence Velupillai Prabhakaran stood for, but its imprint on Sri Lanka is wide and deep. For 26 years, the elusive leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had waged war with the government to win an independent homeland, or eelam, for the island's Tamil minority. The struggle claimed more than 70,000 lives--including, on May 18, Prabhakaran's. The government says he was killed, along with 17 of his trusted lieutenants, while fleeing an army ambush.
Prabhakaran, 54, was born to a middle-class family on the Jaffna Peninsula. Incensed by discrimination against Tamils and radicalized by a militant grade-school teacher, Prabhakaran founded the LTTE in 1976, a year after a group he headed claimed responsibility for killing Jaffna's mayor. By 1983 the guerrilla movement--which pioneered suicide bombings and the recruitment of child soldiers--escalated the fighting into a civil war.
At the height of his power earlier this decade, Prabhakaran led a de facto government that controlled vast swaths of territory and boasted its own systems of taxes, roads and courts. As the army closed in, he allegedly used thousands of Tamil civilians as human shields. By the final days, just 250 LTTE members remained. They died too, along with the dream of eelam.

The Pirate & the Common Man!

Piracy on the high seas is on the rise & I receive questions about this scourge fairly frequently from land lubbers.

However, how does piracy affect a normal citizen of the world?

Piracy threat increases insurance premium


Small and mid-sized shipping companies in the country are facing rough weather.

In addition to the setback in business following the recession, a spurt in piracy in the Gulf of Aden has become another major cause for concern in the shipping sector.The Gulf of Aden is considered to be the busiest sea route connecting the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

In view of the rising incidents of pirate attacks along this route, shipping firms will have to pay higher premiums for cover along this route.Capt Ajay Puri, Founder & Director, Skyrise Shipping, a mid-sized shipping company in New Delhi, says, “Repeated incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Aden in the last eight months have led to hijacking of several ships and delayed consignments. The big, small and mid-sized players in the shipping sector are facing the heat due to the recent turn of events. The decision to hike premium rates by insurance companies will come as a major blow to the shipping firms already reeling under an acute liquidity crisis.”With the menace of piracy persisting for over a year now, most insurance companies have increased their premium rates by over ten times. As per the revised rates, a shipping company will have to pay an extra premium of $10,000 to $20,000 per trip through the Gulf of Aden to cover the risk of hijacking.Manish Kothari, Director, Kothari Insurance Consultancy, opines, “In most cases, it has been found that the pirates in the region demand a ransom of nearly $2 million for larger ships. Even after intense negotiations, captive ships are rarely freed at a price less than $10,000. Naturally, it is not possible for small and mid-sized shipping companies to pay such huge amounts. Furthermore, they hesitate to report piracy attacks due to the fear of having to pay higher insurance premiums in the future.”Meanwhile, shipping companies are counting on leading maritime nations to take stronger measures to curb piracy on high seas.

However, while the most powerful nations of the world have a military presence in the area, pirates seem to hijack ships at will.

So, now if you have to pay the extra rupee for your wheat or petrol, you know whom to blame it on!

Buffet Etiquettes

Over the just concluded Sunday, I was invited to dine at a dinner engagement, by a distant relative, whose daughter was marrying one of the many software engineers, who seem to populate Bangalore.

This short piece is neither about software engineers or even Bangalore, but more about the dinner which was a buffet.

The menu was various and interesting, but the place resembled a mela. I'm sure you get what I mean.

Behaviour at public spaces is a reflection of our culture & I could not resist placing this piece, on my blog.

Buffets are a cost-effective and quick way to serve meals to large numbers and hence, extremely popular at corporate events and in restaurants. While buffets may seem like a free-for-all, the rules of etiquette still apply.
Queues at a buffet can be annoying, as everyone wants to serve themselves first but do politely wait your turn instead of sneaking up to the counter. Wait for the food to be replenished instead of scraping the dishes. Eating while waiting your turn or serving is avoidable behavior. Buffets serve larger numbers and are not to be compared with the experience associated with fine-dining in a sit-down meal. While standing in the queue, stop complaining about the food or caterer or the long wait as it is impolite to the host. Instead use this time to network or chat with the others waiting with you.
Use the serving spoon or tongs to serve yourself and not your fingers. Resist the urge to pop that papad directly into your mouth, no matter how tempting it looks. One serving spoon per dish is provided and should be replaced on the holder or back in the dish. Avoid accidents and spillages by bringing your plate close to the serving dish. When deciding what to eat, don't sniff the food, instead take a small amount and return if you like it. For hygiene and safety purposes, avoid leaning over the dishes while serving yourself.
Avoid sampling all dishes and over-loading your plate. Instead, exercise choice and serve limited portions of select dishes, such that the food is neatly arranged on your plate and presents an appetizing picture.

Buffet Courtesies: Buffets are self-serve meals but the buffet counter staff needs to be thanked if they serve you. The clearance staff have an extremely tough job and need to be thanked when taking away the used plate from you.

Sinking Captains!

The other day, during, an interview , a youngster, on completion of his interview, picked me out of the panel and asked me, 'Why does a Captain sink with his ship'? There was much amusement while I tried to search for an adequate reply.

Good question. I told him that it was a Naval tradition and sent him on his way.

Captains who have gone down with their ships range from Captain. EJ.Smith of the Titanic to Captain Mulla of the Indian destroyer Khukri. Both were known to be wonderful Captains but were unlucky to lose their crafts on the high seas.

A more complete explanation would be as follows.......

1.Customs and Traditions:
There are unwritten customs and traditions in the Navy which are followed by mariners since centuries. Some of them are hoisting Church Pennant, Dress ing the Ship, measurements by Fathom, giving Gun Salutes, Manning the Rails to give three cheers to honour the distinguished guests, Wardrobe Room. Captain preferring to sink with the ship is also one form of customs and traditions followed in the Navy. You may recollect on such occasions, that a pilot of the aircraft most of the times ejects, as there is no such custom and tradition to be followed.
2.Perform or Perish attitude:
The captain being the hard task master, when fails to perform ie when he is not able to protect the ship and ships crew prefers to perish, i.e. he prefers to sink with the ship.
3.Moral responsibility:
Whatsoever may be the reason for the ship to sink, the captain doesn’t blame anyone till his last breath, but ensures that the ships crew is saved or rescued. He owes the moral responsibility for the mishap and prefers to sink with the ship. Such an act of owing moral responsibility is rarely seen in corporate bosses or head of an organisation.
4.Setting an example:
The captain being the No1 in the ship, has to be an example to others. He is the captain as long as the ship floats, but when the ship sinks he is no more a captain. Hence when the ship sinks he prefers to sink with the ship.
5.Mark of respect:
When the ship sinks, the captain sinks with the ship as an act of mark of respect to the ship he commanded.
6.Can’t live without his Lady Love:
The captain can not live without his Ladylove i.e. when his ship sinks. Ship is generally feminine. You may see my earlier post on this subject.
7.My ship and My command attitude:
The captain of a ship, functionally acts as a dictator. Because of this attitude, he feels he is right to sink with the ship when his command collapses.
8.An act of Sacrifice:
The captain feels guilty when the ship sinks and prefers to sink with the ship.
9.To be seen as a Hero or Martyr:
By sinking with the ship, the captain will always be seen as a hero or martyr. If he prefers to survive, he loses his name and fame and will have a miserable life.
10.Fear of prosecution:
If the captain prefers to survive, instead of sinking with the ship, definitely there will be Court-martial/prosecutions leading to disciplinary actions. In most of the cases the judgements will not be in his favour.
However, in spite of all the reasons listed above, Human Touch justify this act of captain sinking with the ship.

What would you say mate?