You've got to find what you love

This is the text of the Commencement address at Stanford University delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple , on June 12, 2005 addressing the graduates on some intimate details of what's it that makes Steve Jobs keep going..

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?" .........read on here for the full transcript, or if you don't have time you could watch video here

Wonderful and inspirational !

BTW it was interesting to note that Steve Jobs was an alumni (or a drop out !) of Reed College, Portland closer to where I live.

Guilt-free video games

As we progress into digital age at sonic speeds, it's so challenging to raise a child without the influence of mind numbing stuff on some of the popular video games. Zombies, monsters, guns, gory violence...you know what I am talking about ! A recent report says that 57% of 2- to 12-year-olds play video games, and this trend is only going up.. 

Now that holidays are approaching, many parents are on their eternal quest to find those cool toys or games that kids could play and yet never have to feel guilt ?  Thanks to some incredible sites, there are some cool games (some even free) that don't have gore and antisocial mindlessness, but can help you and kids move toward the creative, and civilized world.   

Food Force

You can feel downright virtuous having your kids play this sophisticated game associated with the United Nations World Food Programme. Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is to deliver food to an imaginary island in crisis in the Indian Ocean. All the fun elements of a nonvirtuous game are there, from flying helicopters to guiding a convoy of trucks. Excellent graphics and an excellently disguised education in what this UN agency does on a daily basis to thwart hunger around the world.

The bottom line: Play the humanitarian in this sophisticated simulation.

Darfur Is Dying   

OK, the title's a little glum. But this cutting-edge combination of gaming, activism, and education ultimately does something positive. Through high-quality graphics and a genuinely haunting mission, this video game depicts the plight of the 2.5 million refugees who have been forced out of Sudan. Players guide characters from a Darfurian refugee camp in their desperate — and truly terrifying — efforts to survive. Meanwhile, militia groups attempt to capture you. Not for the young or faint of heart; get caught by the militia and you're given a brief lesson involving the abuse, rape, and kidnapping faced by children there daily. After playing, you can click on "Take Action" to read more about the crisis, write a letter to the U.S. government, make a donation, and more.

The bottom line: Play the humanitarian in this sophisticated simulation.

Ars Regendi

Give your child his or her first taste of world power with this browser-based political and economic simulation game. Players control their own simulated state, making decisions on behalf of their populations. Think of it as a Sim City for international relations: Make the wrong financial or diplomatic choices, and your people — and power — won't last long.

The bottom line: Sim City for international relations.

Trauma Center, wii and nintendo-DS

or teens desperate for gore, this Japanese simulation game lets them wield their own blade — not to mention forceps, syringe, bandages, and antibiotic gel. The task at hand is saving people, not hurting them. The gamer is an OR surgeon, charged with battling disease and sewing up injuries. Yes, there will be blood. But it's not the gratuitous kind. Actually, it's the kind that might lead your kid to med school one day.

The bottom line: Immerse yourself in the grit of medicine.

A Force More Powerful

This inexpensive game for your PC doesn't just leave out the violence — it teaches you to overcome it. Born out of the 1999 film by the same name, this strategy game was designed to educate players about nonviolent resistance. In one scenario, the player struggles to achieve voting rights for women in a fundamentalist society. In another, he or she attempts to convince a dictator to hold elections. A decidedly activist bent runs through this elaborate and intelligent creation, and users might well come away muttering about Tiananmen Square or South Africa. But it'll be the peaceful kind of muttering, and that's rare in the video game universe.

The bottom line: What's more powerful than peace?

Giraffe Above

The virtuous virtual world isn't all poverty and strife — younger gamers can spend their time in the gentler realm of animated giraffes. Specifically, the player is an "apple-crazy giraffe on a mission to gobble all the apples in Africa." Move your long, long neck through the maze in search of fruit, and be careful not to back yourself into a corner. You'd have to dig pretty deep to find any reason to feel guilty about letting your 6-year-old play this one.

The bottom line: A gentle puzzle game for younger kids.

Dance Dance Revolution , Wii

You know how it works by now, either because you've seen it in an arcade or at someone's house — a song plays and you dance as instructed by a series of fast-paced visual cues. The more in-step you are, the better you do. You'd be hard-pressed to say DDR is good for the planet in the way a Darfur simulation is, but there's something undeniably righteous about shaking your tail feather to KC and the Sunshine Band. We're not the only ones who think so. It's now featured in a number of school systems — you can't help breaking a sweat — and an official sport in Norway.

The bottom line: You'll literally break a sweat with DDR (my D's love this !!)

Source & Kudos : www.greatschools.net

I am sure there are more..feel free to add in comments

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

Dollar reached 15-month low, while Dow and Gold sets 52 wk high.. headlines are screaming today !

Why are the markets up ? why is the dollar down ? have things suddenly changed from a year before when all hell seemed to break loose ? is there a new emerging world order ? paradigm shift ? or return of the same old habits ? another bubble ?? ..

The headlines and economic times we live through, make this famous Kipling's poem written almost a century ago, still seem so fresh and so amazingly relevant to today's context more than ever before ..

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

-Rudyard Kipling

Short note : Kipling wrote this in 1919, by which time he had lost his dearly loved son in World War 1, and a precious daughter some years earlier. He was a drained man and England, with which he identified intensely, was a drained nation as well. The reference to "Gods of Copybook Headings" comes from the copy books, that were commonly used in schools in the past (guess no longer !) to practice better handwriting by writing over and over same things by copying from a heading at the top of each page. Most of these headings are famous proverbs, quotes, sayings..very similar to the wisdom presented in this poem.

Related links :

The demise of the dollar - the Oct'09 article in UK's Independent that caused the stir !

The diminishing dollar - similar title, but the Economist says it’s unlikely to turn into a dangerous collapse

US Dollar’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated ... Denial or acceptance

Online Literature

Migration - the birds vs. humans

While researching for my earlier post on migration trends, I found an interesting correlation of how our own human migration patterns seem closely relate to another fascinating natural migration phenomenon by another species on this planet, the birds. (side note : love that hitchcock's movie)

I know you won't believe me unless I put in some convincing facts... so I dug up little dirt on web, and here's where you can see a strong correlation between them, the birds vs. us, the humans.

Why migrate ?

• Mating & Breeding, for birds the main reason is that the climate of breeding area for new chicks is important amen..same for us humans too.


• Greener pastures and abundance of food .. ofcourse, abundance of jobs, greenbacks $$$

Who migrates ?

• Recent research suggests that long-distance passerine migrant birds are of South American and African, rather than northern hemisphere, evolutionary origins. They are effectively southern species coming north to breed rather than northern species going south to winter.


• Recent research on human immigration suggests that long-distance immigrants are of South American and Asian descent, rather than from Northern/Western hemisphere, evolutionary origins. They are effectively Eastern and Southern species coming to West and north.

Timing to migrate ?

• In the period before migration, many birds display higher activity, well as physiological changes such as increased fat deposition - we do observe high activity of individuals before they decide to migrate, not sure of fat deposition ..hmm !


• In species where there is polygamy and with considerable sexual dimorphism, there is a tendency for males to return earlier to the breeding sites than their females. This is termed as protandry. - definitely males seem to land before their females

What threatens the migration ?

• Human activities have threatened many migratory bird species. - ditto here ! greedy corporation's deeds and reckless immigration policies come to haunt many immigrants


• The concentration of birds during migration can put species at risk. Told you ! not to flock to Bay area ! and ofcourse the longlines for visa and green cards !


• Hunting along the migratory route can also take a heavy toll. The populations of Siberian Cranes that wintered in India declined due to hunting along the route, particularly in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Ofcourse, those Talibans ... 9/11, Afghan and Iraq wars did take a toll on immigration !


• Habitat destruction by land use changes and large scale climatic changes is however the biggest threat - same for us, 401k destruction and large scale economic changes !


• Availability of food - sure, availability of jobs

Migration conditioning ?

• It has been possible to teach a migration route to a flock of birds, for example in re-introduction schemes. After a trial with Canada Geese, microlight aircraft were used in the US to teach safe migration routes to reintroduced Whooping Cranes.



• Human - hell, yes, large scale training efforts by certain corporations to build cheap skills can induce forced migration. Good examples are IT training centers setup in India led to mass migration of IT consultants to US

Side effects

• The migration of birds also aids the movement of other species including those of ectoparasites such as ticks and lice (avian flu !), which in turn may carry micro-organisms including those of concern to human health. On the same lines in case of humans, Body shoppers, Criminals and drug traffickers



• Vagrancy - Migrating birds can lose their way and land outside their normal ranges. These can be due to flying past their destinations as in the "spring overshoot" in which birds returning to their breeding areas overshoot and end up farther north than intended. Hello, Canada ! did you know immigrants accounted for 38% of population in Vancouver (wonder what the % of overshoots !).

So, it does seem perfectly natural and in human's DNA to alter our migratory routes to find better breeding grounds and greener pastures.. so while at it, of course keep a watch out for those ever changing (hunting, I mean, immigration) laws. Happy migration ! and remember next time you see a flock of birds flutter by... that could be telling you some thing about where you should go next !!!

Facts source : wapedia

Considering Expatriation out of US ? Beware ..

All immigrants to US are familiar with the agony and uncertainty one's family goes through the long drawn process of naturalization to becoming a LPR (Legal Permanent Resident) and finally to become a Citizen. (click on the image to the right)

Of course, finally when one does become a US citizen - it does seem like you reached goal and things finally settle down.

However, in the back of minds, every such first generation immigrant keeps an eye open to the "Plan B & C" of going back to the home country or else where some day once again to start this all over.

And, it never seemed that it could cause any problems in US to expatriate whenever you wanted. But not so easy any more ..Uncle Sam has put certain new checks to this process of 'expatriation' as well.. so exiting a maze is as difficult as entering it.

On June 17, 2008 a new 'exit tax' law was silently signed into force by former president George Bush, which makes expatriating from US a rather expensive step. The newly passed expatriation legislation imposes a "mark to market" tax on all worldwide assets owned by the "covered expatriate" on the day before expatriation occurs. Under this tax regime, all property is deemed sold on the day before expatriation and total net gains in excess of $600,000 are includable in income and taxed.

So who is considered an expatriate ?

By definition, "covered expatriates" can be either U.S. citizens or green card holders who decide to expatriate and who either had an average annual net income for the five years prior to expatriation greater than $139,000, which will be adjusted for inflation, or a net worth of a least $2 million on the actual date of expatriation.

Green card holders are also considered "covered expatriates" if they have had permanent resident status for at least eight of the 15 years prior to the expatriation, including the year of expatriation.

Related Links :

• Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates to Become Law ; PWC Link ;
• The flight option in the "fight or flight" decision ;
• Immigration_reverse_brain_drain

Get rid of that mouse and keyboard, finally !

Check this out .. future of Human - Technology interaction

Outcome of research work being done at MIT Media Lab led by Pranav Mistry, a Ph.D student, and one of the winners of this year's prestigious "Young Innovators Under 35 award".

Called SixthSense project, it aims to seamlessly integrate digital information with our everyday physical world, and get rid of the clunky interfaces like mouse, keyboad, screens that exist today.
Here's the Trivia bit : Remember seeing this concept some where else before ? ( hint).

This idea of making a gesture-controlled interface is similar to what was in the Spielberg's famous 2002 movie .

So next time your kid wants to watch a sci-fi flick don't stop .... as you never know, that might inspire the next coolest invention. Till then I will keep clicking on this keyboard..

Related Links
Sixth Sense Project MIT Media Lab 2009's Young Innovator award Winners India Today

Hood to Coast

Another milestone in my running career : Last weekend Aug28-29th, ran "Hood to coast 2009", the mother of all relay races. 197 miles of pure joy or pain however you want to put it. I had the privilege to run on behalf of my adidas corporate group as part of team of 12 runners.


We had a decent finish #20 out of 120 corporate teams with a race time of 25 hrs:39 min:11sec, and I did set my personal best record covering a distance of 14.74 miles. I ran my legs at 8PM (7+mile), 3AM (4mi), next day 11AM (4mi) all with nothing but 2 hrs of sleep during the 28 hrs we were moving from one point to another in van stuffed with six team members.

When we started at Timberline lodge, on top of the Mt.Hood , the oregon's tallest peak, it was a wonderful weather and beautiful scenary. My first race leg was 7.2 miles of knee breaking downhill descent from 1600 ft on Mt.Hood highway 26, then followed by next leg at 3AM on Hwy 30 to St.Helens. That was the creepy portion of run, you couldn't see more than few feet ahead in pitch black darkness. All I can hear are my own foot steps hitting the road, deafening silence, faraway other runner's head lamps.. and your mind start to play games with you. What those piercing eyes looking at you from forest could be ? wolves, coyotes, bears, or blood sucking vampires? what ever it was, ran like hell ! Then we managed to catch two hrs of sleep before we hit the road again for the final run in up hills leading to Astoria. In the end when we were done with all legs, stepped into the freezing ocean waters at Seaside to soak those tired legs, it was heaven !! Ofcourse the beach party and some real food at adidas tent.. worth it all.

It was painful - but hey, no gain without pain right !! I am able to check off one items on my list of "100 things to do before I die". For more about this legendary race, view this video. A total of 49 states and 36 countries are represented this year on Hood to Coast teams.

Apart from self-discovery, this run has been a mainly a part of my “Run for India” campaign to raise funds for my favorite charity, and hope that every step I take ultimately makes a difference to someone’s life in the world elsewhere. 

Economic crisis, and a crisis for economics

Thought provoking article in Telegraph UK, on how the field of economics seems to be in the middle of a crisis of its own.

Excerpts from this : "Following its failure to fix the current mess, economics has tumbled into a full-blown existential crisis...

...late last year, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chief and high priest of capitalism, was forced to admit in a Congressional hearing that he had "found a flaw" in the foundations of his economic understanding...

...The problem, said the experts, was a "failure of the collective imagination of many bright people" (by which they presumably meant themselves)...

...Despite this ineptitude, it is going much too far to conclude that economists are good for nothing. The primary purpose of what its practitioners call "the dismal science" has never been to predict the future. But somehow, this was the idea some in the trade propounded, and the rest of us were taken in....

...But in a strange way, the by-product of this financial collapse has been to free economics of this burden. In the corridors of the Bank of England and Treasury, there is a distinct whiff of excitement. For the first time in decades, economists have been able to throw away their textbooks and go back to first principles; to exhume once-sacrilegious figures such as John Maynard Keynes or Friedrich Hayek. It is unsettling, no doubt, but this is a fertile moment, an opportunity from which may be born a better model of how to run an economy. "

That's a century old ecomomist's debate on the Keynesian thought of govt intervention in markets vs. capitalism's free market theory (Hey.. I wrote a paper on this in my business school ! and do think it was fun reading and writing about the different theories) . But theories are what they are, and reality doesn't fit any one particular theory - though you can draw parallels and conclusions of the best fit model for a given time.

The root cause of what happened and still happening can be attributed to the slippery slope we are on with respect to :
> Greed & Conspicuous consumption,
> Lowering moral values & Integrity
> Missing accountability and lack of common sense
> Finally, the lack of courage to standup and do what we think is intuitively right for "collective we", rather than following the diluted dose of truth that will satisfy "selfish me".

These are traits not influenced by economists or economic theories, but are side-effects of the perilious path we have chosen as collective humanity while in aggressive pursuit of self-interests.

This crisis shows the nature's power of self-correction in an effort to bring things back to equilibrium.. may be here I am migrating from economics into realm of thermodynamics or even better philosophy, so time to say Adios..

My Run for India

Finished my first half-marathon on July 4th of this year at Sauvie Island, Oregon.

Rajeev Motwani : Alcohol claims life of a Silicon Valley Pandit

Rajeev Motwani, renowned Stanford University professor and computer scientist, passed away at his home in what appears to be a tragic accident related to overdose of alcohol. Motwani is famous for mentoring and advising Sergey Brin and Larry Page as they built what would be come Google Inc.

Not only was Motwani an early investor in Google and PayPal Inc., he also served as a special advisor to Sequoia Capital and informally for many other start-ups and venture firms.

Check Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin's own words about Rajeev

Here's a Clue: Mr. Kumar, With a Gun, in India

We all know “Q&A,” the novel that became the basis for the smash-hit film “Slumdog Millionaire,” used questions from a television quiz show to prompt flashbacks about its main character’s life story. It's Author, Vikas Swarup has now published his second novel, “Six Suspects" a Bollywood version of the board game Clue with a strain of screwball comedy thrown in. Looks like it's already a blockbuster and being signed in for a film deal with BBC.

Here is the NYtimes book review.. sounds interesting, and worth reading - esp it appears like Agatha Chrisite's Bollywood version.. yummm !.

Related links
NY Times Excerpt
Vikas Swarup's website

Capitalism Beyond the Crisis -

Interesting takeaways quoted from this recent Amartya Sen's book review:

(begin quote) "Indeed, early advocates of the use of markets, including (Adam) Smith, did not take the pure market mechanism to be a freestanding performer of excellence, nor did they take the profit motive to be all that is needed.

....The insufficient regulation of financial activities has implications not only for illegitimate practices, but also for a tendency toward overspeculation that, as Adam Smith argued, tends to grip many human beings in their breathless search for profits. Smith called the promoters of excessive risk in search of profits "prodigals and projectors"—which is quite a good description of issuers of subprime mortgages over the past few years.

....As it happens, these problems were already identified in the eighteenth century by Smith, even though they have been neglected by those who have been in authority in recent years, especially in the United States, and who have been busy citing Adam Smith in support of the unfettered market. " (end quote)

Along with this justification that Adam Smith would encourage government intervention, Sen presents prespectives from other economists like Keynes and Pigou, about how the present crisis donot call for a true Keynesian style "new capitalismm" but do demand a new understanding of older ideas and perspectives - esp importance of non market initiatives and the non profit values that came from them, and need for government involvement in basic healthcare.

Is China recession proof?

A panel of leading Chinese economists explains how the world’s fastest-growing economy keeps expanding despite the global downturn. In this interview, conducted by McKinsey’s Janamitra Devan in March 2009 in Beijing, four distinguished members of the McKinsey Council on China Business Economists explore these questions.


What's next in innovation

Management guru C.K. Prahalad examines the technique of tapping individual consumers to help develop products and create appealing experiences, using the example of Build-a-Bear. Video contribution from McKinsey Quarterly

Then and Now - Portion sizes ??

One of the interesting things that change while a country goes through development path is the changes in "food habits, consumption patterns". Some of the good things that happen during developing stages is that

• abundance, easy availability and ease in sourcing of stuff that otherwise not earlier feasible (If it is grown somewhere in the world, I am sure it is available for consumption in US somewhere !)


• extended life through improved preservation, packaging and distribution through grocery chains linked across country


• switch from commodity base to variety focused (for eg ordering Coffee in old days was just that -coffee, you never asked for other options - now you go to starbucks the menu listing is quite a mouth ful !)


• easier processing / bulk manufacturing through automation (even mother's milk is available in packets)

So all of these have made our life easier such that we get the food that we like best, closer to home, in best possible condition and comfort, ofcourse at best possible prices.

Now let's look at the negative side & impact of these changes- particularly focusing on one topic "Portion sizes of food items". Most of you have watched the movie Supersize me (If not, you should !)

I did notice this too like most immigrants, the size of what is considered small in US is equivalent to probably a medium or large elsewhere in world. So the common complaint heard from an American visiting other countries is that portions are generally small, where as those visiting US are in awe of the supersizes when they order for example a large soda or pizza.

So on one hand we should be happy that we get a better value for money in quantity terms(physical measures like lb or gram per $ spent), but what about the qualitative impact the bigger portion has on

• long term health of population exposed ?
• amount of food wastage ?
• impact on food shortages ? or resulting rise in prices ?
• ofcourse the impact of overconsumption on earth's resources ?

Unquestionably bad right!! but what do we do about it ? or more importantly as relevant to this blog is how are developing countries dealing with this trap of increased size portions while adopting to the new food habits such as prepared meals, packaged meals, fast foods, refrigerated items etc ? or what should they be doing differently and pro-actively learning from lessons

So here is where I spent sometime exploring the world w/respect to Portion sizes, for example "what size should a pizza slice be ?", or "how much coffee should be there in one cup ?", or "how do we avoid food wastage ?" etc . Also the measures being adopted (good and bad if any) in different parts of the world to control this epidemic.

Facts to know :

> Excellent quiz from National Institute of Health (NIH) to gain an awareness of how portions of food have grown in US in over last few decades.

> Portion sizes offered by fastfood chains are often two to five times larger than when first
introduced.

Hershey's chocolate bar 0.6 oz in 1908 ; 1.6 - 8.0 oz in 2002
Burger King Hamburger sandwich 3.9 oz in 1954 ; 4.4-12.6 oz in 2002
McDonald's soda 7 fl oz in 1955 ; 12-42 fl oz in 2002
Coca Cola bottle 6.5 fl oz in 1916 ; 8-34 fl oz in 2002

> Portion sizes of these items offered in the United States exceed those available in Europe. Largest orders of French fries and soda at McDonald’s in the United States contain about 100 calories more than the largest sizes offered in Sweden, for example.

> Fast-food portions in Europe ofcourse also are also larger today than they were in 1998. Today’s largest soda at Burger King in the UK is 10 oz larger than in 1998.

> Americans spend nearly half of their food budget on foods prepared outside of the home and consume about one-third of daily calories from outside sources, much of it from fast food.

> Rather than reducing portion sizes, the top fast-food chains are engaged in sleight of name, so don't be fooled by the so-called voluntaty efforts. McDonald’s and Wendy’s have dropped descriptors such as Supersize, Biggie, and Great Biggie and replaced them with Medium or Large

> Discussion about fast food and its negative impact

Sources : Journal of Public Health Policy (2007) 28, 238–248. The Contribution of Expanding Portion Sizes to the US Obesity Epidemic

Efforts being done in India:

FSSAI - established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Food quality regulator to rate Delhi eateries ahead of 2010 Games

Lessons to-be learned & measures to be adopted :

Policy approaches are urgently needed in developing countries to establish, educate and enforce portion size controls & reduce energy intake from fast foods learning from the experiences of developed countries.

Governments, health care regulatory agencies, industry, political parties, NGOs, citizens in general from developing nations like India to immediately look for ways to avoid this problem in first place, and aggressively initiate proactive measures.

Derived from my own research and assessment, here is a sample list of such measures that are needed for places like India :

• A single front-of-pack labelling scheme for all packaged foods & publishing mandatory nutritional information on menus for food eaten out of home
• smaller portion size restrictions & increased taxation for energy-dense and high salt foods & saturated fat and sugar levels in particularly beverages
• guidelines for marketing food to children in schools, cafeterias
• increasing public awareness and consumption of healthier and balanced foods and media-based communication of key healthy eating messages to explain and act on the relationship between portion sizes, calorie intake, and weight gain.

Ofcourse to implement these, there is no need to reinvent, here are some examples of already work done globally which can be tailored to local needs:

• CDC Brochure and Dietary recommendations for Americans in US on portion control
• In 2001, the Surgeon General announced a "Call to Action" for obesity prevention which stressed the importance of portion control.
• The New York City Health Department recently approved regulations to require fast-food chains to post the calorie counts of foods directly on menu boards
• Taxation : A Healthy Tax - taxing drinks/foods oversized or loaded with sugar or salt is the right step toward fighting this epidemic.
• Efforts in UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) directing all stakeholders including businesses, trade associations and non-governmental organisations to take action.

As you are aware this is by no means is end of this topic, but rather a beginning - feel free to add your comments, raise local awareness among politicians, join a non-profit group, initiate your own actions to help out.

Striking similarities ?? or do we never learn ??

WSJ posted an article this week titled "Recession Turns Malls Into Ghost Towns ". Quoting from this ...

"With their maze of walkways and fast-food courts, malls have long been an iconic, if sometimes unsightly, presence in the American retail landscape. A few were made famous by their sheer size, others for the range of shopping and social diversions they provided.

But the long recession is helping to empty out the promenades.

Some analysts estimate that the number of so-called "dead malls" -- centers debilitated by anemic sales and high vacancy rates -- will swell to more than 100 by the end of this year...

Now my blog always tries to compare and contrast the developed countries vs the developing countries, and hope they don't commit the same blunders in the name of progress and development. So let's go to the otherside of the world, to India where the headlines scream ..

India :

• 328 new malls by 2010: retail report - LiveMint.com ;
• Are luxury brands, malls future of Indian economy? - Economic times, India
• India's Mania for Malls - Time

Related Posts & Links

"how US got malled" - look back at the American Mall's rise to prominence and recent woes from 1950's to present day.

Malls R US documentary trailer



Groceteria - a history of the American supermarket, from both an architectural and a business perspective.

India's shopping as it still exists in most parts of India until the recent mall mania took over ...





A glimpse of current Malls already open in India's cities

India's Elections

Now that the elections are over in India, where the ruling Congress party came back with a thumping majority much contrary to the predictions of political pundits. So here's an interesting article in Indian express revealing statistic about the wealth of the recently elected members of parliament (MPs). Infact all MPs elected from my home state of Andhra topped the list with a combined wealth of 600 crore rupees (6 Billion rupees).

Now is that a statistic that one should be proud that India is getting rich and the rich bloc are getting into politics finally or to be ashamed that democracy is being hijacked by the rich while increasing even further gap by the rich and poor (nearly 15 per cent of the people living in abject poverty for eg in Andhra Pradesh). Ofcourse we also need to be reminded that declared wealth of politicians is only tip of the iceberg, the true wealth could be beyond our imagination.

No wonder when I spoke to my Dad in India on his opinion of the recent elections, he said one word "despicable". Ofcourse all is not gloom and doom.. there's a brighter side to these elections and change is occuring of course at a snail's pace.

This again from own home state of Andhra, where JP, the former buearucrat leader of the newly formed Loksatta (People's power) Party won against cash-rich traditional political parties and all odds, on ideal beliefs of rooting out corruption, and getting back to grass roots movement that once Gandhi led, through what JP calls "a second independence movement". It's one seat only that the party won, but it's a beginning.. and am sure we will only see it grow in to a formidable opponent in the years to come.

Gurgaon, what grows outside Delhi

What do we want to see emerge from this greatest crisis of capitalism in 70 years?

Excerpts from a recent article published in Guardian, UK by Timothy Garton Ash ...

"What do we want to see emerge from the greatest crisis of capitalism for 70 years? If I had to answer in a single phrase, I would say: new models for a sustainable social market economy. This requires us to change as well as our states.

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has observed that today's big private banks are global in life but national in death. When it comes to the bailout, it's the national government most directly concerned that takes the lead. And that means us, national taxpayers, picking up the bill.

Yet all this talk of states and systems is only half the story. It was the conduct of individual human beings that led us into this mess, and it is the behaviour of individuals as well as the structuring of systems that has to change.

Bottom line :

"More than 30 years ago, Daniel Bell explored in his Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism the paradox that the dynamism of capitalism depends on individuals living by somewhat different values in their personal lives as producer and as consumer.

Extending Max Weber's famous argument about the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, he suggested that the production side depends on people harking to values such as hard work, punctuality, discipline and a readiness to accept deferred gratification.

The demand side, by contrast, depends on them being self-indulgent, expansive, pleasure-seeking and given to living in the now. Add to this the new constraint that the planet will not sustain more than 6 billion people enjoying constantly rising living standards achieved by the methods of production and consumption so far used. Complicate matters further by the moral argument that the world's rich have no right to deny the world's poor a materially better life, which would still be a fraction of the affluence we ourselves enjoy.

What you end up with is not just a systemic conundrum but also a personal challenge to every one of us. The challenge is to find a new balance in our double-lives as producers and consumers, at the same time consciously contributing to a larger set of new international balances between economy and environment, oversaving east and overspending west, rich north and poor south. That, too, is what I mean by a sustainable social market economy."

3.5M Kids Under 5 On Verge Of Going Hungry

Normally this headline would have been generally associated with a thrid-world country in Asia, Africa.. no big deal right, not exactly.. it is quite shocking to find that this is recent statistic for US.

The not-for-profit advocacy group Feeding America based its findings on 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department. The study, released Thursday, May 7, 2009 is the first to look at these numbers for children under the age of 5, according to the group.

The study also shows that in 11 states, more than 20 percent of children under 5 are at risk of going hungry. Louisiana has the highest rate, with just under a quarter of children at risk, followed by North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arkansas.

According to the Agriculture Department, 11 percent of households lacked enough food for an active, healthy life, before the economy worsened late last year.

The U.S. study coincides with a U.N. statement claiming, the number of hungry people in the world could soon hit a record 1 billion, despite a recent drop in food prices.

Deglobalization

Regulators in Britain have started asking U.S. banks selling bonds there to provide hundreds of pages of proof that the mighty U.S. government, which is backing the bonds, could actually repay them.

Tens of thousands of burned investors around the world complaining loudly that they were sold toxic bonds that were supposed to be safe. In street demonstrations from Hong Kong to Hamburg, protesters are demanding that their governments do something to get their money back.

Now there's a growing fear among economists, policymakers, and business groups that in the name of protecting their citizens from global financial institutions, governments could slow the flow of capital between countries—at a time when the world economy is already contracting. "We're looking at a period of, at best, a pause of globalization, and more likely a period of 'de-globalization,' "

In India, a Grass-Roots Shift

"Are you fed up with the same old faces in Indian elections? The same old choices between thugs or thieves?" Mona Shah, an eye surgeon-turned-politician, raised her bullhorn as she weaved and ducked among the slippery nooks and narrow alleys of a slum in this mega-city.

Model Minority - Myth or Reality ?

Interesting article in USA Today on how the changing admissions rules in California Univerisities causing angst among Asian-Americans that it will effect them negatively. Briefly the CA Univeristies were relaxing the rules around the SAT subject courses which were mandatory before, and to primarily encourage participation from other minorities such as African and Hispanic Americans.

This was second in recent times that I have seen and wondering about the myth vs reality of this controversial topic on "whether the elite US universities are some what Biased in their admissions policy against Asian Americans" ? So it was interesting to read public comments on web from general community on this topic.

Comment 1. "is this a left wing looney liberal policiy to punish those who are the smartest and work the hardest ?"

Comment 2. "Neither gender, race, or ethnic background should come into play when it comes to being accepted by a college. Take all this information off of the college applications and accept applicants based on their SAT score, High School GPA, and extra curriculum activities. This way no one party can complain about being discriminated against."

Comment 3. "There is an unhealthy cloud hanging over the asian population if education is the only avenue you should be concerned about while growing up and/or going to college. There is a thing called "living" that one needs to experience along the way of education. I think from my observation, alot of asian kids here in southern california don't get that cause they are being driven face first into their school work by their 1st generation parents! What do you think?"

Comment 4. "It's a myth that all Asians work hard because it's in our culture, but it's because the people who could afford to immigrate to America from Asia and India are already successful, so it's more likely that their kids would be successful. It's called the 'Myth of the Model Minority'. It is a self-selecting group of high achievers who emigrate from one place and come to America as a higher socio-economic group than the average of where they came from. There may be some special cases where the barrier to immigration here is different, but in general the self-selection trends to the higher strata individuals/families."

Comment 5. "Asian parents can give their children a more European name, which will help their kids in other aspects of their lives too."

Comment 6."So you study hard, do your homework, do plenty of community service and graduate at the top of your class BUT because of your ethnicity, you get denied a college education. When did common sense die?"

Comment 7."Hey! If we're lowering the standards on education to increase diversity, does this mean that major corporations (eg Microsoft, Cisco, Pfizer, etc) will lower their standards too? Is Lower education standard=more jobs being outsourced? Are we saying that Bill Gates is an idiot when he made the comment, "We need to strengthen our education system compared to other countries?"

It does feel like the much-acclaimed Oscar winning 2005 movie "Crash" (which by the way I loved watching !), and shows clash of cultures and races as we struggle with skewed prejudices associated.

Ofcourse while researching this, I did find interesting concept "Model Minority", which is most commonly used to label one ethnic minority achieving higher than another ethnic minority.

In the United States, the term has usually been associated with East Asian Americans and Indian Americans. Intend to explore this further... here are some related links if you are interested to follow along.


Link1 Link2 Link3 MIT Princeton Invesigration

Finally, these topics are as controversial as the subject of 'racism' and 'reservations a.k.a affirmative action' itself, and would love to hear your opinion too. Please feel free to send or post your comments... Adios

National Debt hits another record $11 Trillion

I had earlier posted on my blog just as recently as in October 08 about the astonishing rate at which the national debt of US touched 10 Trillion and they had to bring a new digital counter to fit all those digits. Now just in six months.. here's the next one !

Now what does that mean ?
> Over $36,000 in debt for every man, woman and child in US.
> It took the U.S. government 191 years – from 1791 until 1982 – to run up its first trillion dollars in debt.
> By the time George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2001, the National Debt stood at $5.7-trillion. He ran up more debt faster than nearly all of his predecessors combined: just under $4.9-trillion. Also if you want teach your teen kids struggling with algebra on what a real-life example of "exponential" is, this could be your classic one !

> It's projected by Obama adminstration that by the end of September 2012, the Debt will have soared to $16.2-trillion – which amounts to nearly 100% of the projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that year.

Wonder what's the big deal ? Debt to whom ? should we be worried ? or who should worry ? Ofcourse, it is.. check it out here for some Debt 101 class ! .

Only interesting are some of the signs if you chose to observe :

> 3/13/2008 "Worried Debtors & Reassurances on Creditworthiness" : China, proably the single largest buyer of U.S. debt in recent times, now starting to get concerned about the safety of the estimated $1 trillion his country has invested in U.S. government debt! Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday "We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S., so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. Frankly speaking, I do have some worries," he said in response to a question. NYTimes Obama Reassures Countries on U.S. Debt

> Two days later, 3/16/08 : Bloomberg reports "Foreign Demand for Long-Term U.S. Assets Weakens". Quote from the article “There was a stampede by foreign investors to exit their U.S. dollar investments,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “Everyone wants to bring their money home. It’s not about return on capital. It’s whether you can get your capital back.”

The decline in foreign holdings was the steepest since August 2007. Foreign investors sold a net 43 billion dollars in long-term US securities in January as the flow of capital turned negative, US Treasury data showed Monday.

Analysts say a loss of confidence in US Treasury securities could cause a dramatic drop in the dollar and force Washington to pay higher interest rates.

Cost of Economy rescue: Adding up the dollars

Any idea how much all the US government bailouts so far cost ?

700 billion ? 1.6 Billion ? 1.4 Trillion ? ..

it's a whopping 3.6 trillion sofar already spent out of an allocated sum of $9.1 trillion..

let's put that as number $ 9100,000,000,000 ....

Unbelievable ? check out how and where it all went here

Old behaviours to New

The current news everywhere highlights that how far the pendulum is swinging in opposite direction, that too in such a short span... whether it's related to Global economies, US ecoonomy, Climate patterns - all seems record breaking !! the levels of losses in billions, worst conditions, gloomy forecasts !.

But all is not bad.. there is a new face to the economy in 2009 as people seem to come back to their senses and grasp the new reality and kick some good old habits goodbye ! Check few below..

> American spending has fallen further in the past six months than it has since 1974. For much of this decade, many Americans lived beyond the means of their regular income, tapping cheap credit and the rising value of their homes for extra cash. For a time, the savings rate fell almost to zero... But now in the final quarter of 2008, the savings rate reached its highest level since 2002. In December 2008, Americans saved 3.6 percent of their income.

> Major lossess & job cuts announced in last couple of weeks

Bloody Monday: 74,000 layoffs announced in one day - Caterpillar, Pfizer, Sprint, HomeDepot, GM, Texas Instruments...

US auto sales plunge to 27 yr lows

Bank Failures Will Cost FDIC $40 Billion

Panasonic set to cut 15,000 jobs - The world's largest maker of plasma TVs
BHP Billiton posts 56.5 pct fall in 6-month profit
Macy's Announces 7,000 Job Cuts
Major layoffs at Microsoft -
Orange County, California employers cut 41,400 jobs in 2008, tied with 1991 for the worst local job loss, the state Employment Development Department Friday.

Unemployment sweeps nation - Where does your state rank? Check it out here

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years

Interesting article from WSJ on how the current economic strategy seems to follow right out of Ayn Rand's classic 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged". If you are not familiar ... Rand, who had come to America from Soviet Russia with striking insights into totalitarianism and the destructiveness of socialism, was already a celebrity. The left, naturally, hated her. But as recently as 1991, a survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found that readers rated "Atlas" as the second-most influential book in their lives, behind only the Bible.

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story in Novel is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146363567166677.html

As the author of this article says... Ultimately, "Atlas Shrugged" is a celebration of the entrepreneur, the risk taker and the cultivator of wealth through human intellect. Critics dismissed the novel as simple-minded, and even some of Rand's political admirers complained that she lacked compassion. Yet one pertinent warning resounds throughout the book: When profits and wealth and creativity are denigrated in society, they start to disappear -- leaving everyone the poorer.

One memorable moment in "Atlas" occurs near the very end, when the economy has been rendered comatose by all the great economic minds in Washington. Finally, and out of desperation, the politicians come to the heroic businessman John Galt (who has resisted their assault on capitalism) and beg him to help them get the economy back on track. The discussion sounds much like what would happen today:

Galt: "You want me to be Economic Dictator?"

Mr. Thompson: "Yes!"

"And you'll obey any order I give?"

"Implicitly!"

"Then start by abolishing all income taxes."

"Oh no!" screamed Mr. Thompson, leaping to his feet. "We couldn't do that . . . How would we pay government employees?"

"Fire your government employees."

"Oh, no!"

Abolishing the income tax. Now that really would be a genuine economic stimulus. But Mr. Obama and the Democrats in Washington want to do the opposite: to raise the income tax "for purposes of fairness" as Barack Obama puts it.

David Kelley, the president of the Atlas Society, which is dedicated to promoting Rand's ideas, explains that "the older the book gets, the more timely its message." He tells me that there are plans to make "Atlas Shrugged" into a major motion picture -- it is the only classic novel of recent decades that was never made into a movie.

"We don't need to make a movie out of the book," Mr. Kelley jokes. "We are living it right now."