Judicial competence

Going by the number of judgements of lower courts being reversed by the higher courts, one wonders whether we do have competent persons manning the judiciary. It was once reported that the judge of a Gujarat court had issued arrest warrants against the President and the Chief Justice of India; and the Supreme court with the utmost haste quashed it. Chief Justice Balakrishnan changed his own verdict on "Dharna" when he moved from Kerala to the Supreme court. Today the media has reported that the Gujarat HC has stayed metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang's report observing that it was beyond his jurisdiction. In most cases, the change in stand reflects the non-application of mind by the previous judge.
Are we to understand that Indian judges are no different from the masses and that they have taken to this profession merely to make a livelihood?

The new "Quit India" movement

What kind of a country is this where almost 95 % of the population is not fit to live in India? Isn't it strange that only about five to ten percent of the Indian population lives in oases of prosperity, while the balance struggles to eke out a meaningless existence?

We have IIMs producing managers for the rest of the world.
We have IITs churning out engineers for the export market.
We have hospitals to promote medical tourism, since an average Indian cannot afford medical facilities in this country.
We have palaces on wheels for the foreign tourists; and dirty and unkempt trains for the locals.

Indian English

In his column in "second serve" Farrukh Dhondy betrays a lack of full familiarity with the Englishes of Indians. He writes, "Plenty water has 'flowed' under the fridge". For a true representation of Indians' English he should have used the word 'flown' instead of 'flowed'. I hope he will make a note of this.

The demand for easier exams by IT staffers, as reported in Mumbai Mirror of 21st Aug. '09 is, in my opinion, quite legitimate and fair.
Most of the knowledge the present examination system expects of these staffers is totally useless, irrelevant and immaterial.
All that they need to know is how to calculate the percentage cut on refund claims, to execute their jobs efficiently and profitably.

S M Krishna's gesture

I was quite amused to read that Mr.S.M.Krishna, external affairs minister, cut short his foreign visit and dashed back to India to attend the funeral of YSR Reddy. An external affairs minister interested in internal affairs! Even when he was the Governor of Maharashtra he was more interested in the internal affairs of Karnataka. Why not just make him the minister for internal affairs if he has to be humoured? And will the government of India make him pay from his personal account the cost of the recent up and down trip he made to attend YSR's funeral?

Volte face

During my younger days, whenever someone committed a mistake, it would be described as an act of "oversight". Today, the economic debacle in America is being attributed to the "lack of oversight".
Rather queer, ain't it?

Relatives

Strange as it may sound, I get to meet my relatives generally only on two occasions. One, when somebody from the family is getting married; the other, when someone from the family has passed away. Both strangely signify the end of something.

Is this the only relationship one has with one's relatives?