If you are a one to enjoy literary magazines, check out Spark. An online magazine and a good one as well. I enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

If I don’t write anything about our dear Nits, I risk being cursed by his devotees. So, I better.

Are people really that gullible to believe in Nits? Couple of years ago, I was very surprised at how people with good standing in the society were spreading ‘his’ message at a gathering here in London. Poor guys, they willingly believed in someone and once the image they had of him was shattered, they couldn’t stand it. Few weeks down the line, this issue will get watered down and the same people will be behind another ‘anandha’.

Saw the below comment in Facebook, that was very interesting.

Nithyananda clean bowled even after winning ‘Ranji’ trophy. Evident beyond doubt through third umpire’s camera. However authorities refused to play clips in slow motion as requested by enthusiasts of the game.

BBC’s strategy review announcement yesterday raised quite a few eyebrows here. As part of the review, Beeb has come forward to close down few radio channels including 6Music and Asia Network, in addition to reducing number of sections in BBC website. As the debate goes on at various forums about Beeb’s decision to cut down certain areas and focus on its core business, there are lots of questions on whether or not our licencing fee is properly utilised. Expectedly, there are calls to cut down the management layer and pay scales rather than services.

Talking about TV Licence, my take is that it should be totally done away with. I don’t have any gripe about the quality of the programmes in the channels that are funded by the licencing fee. Also, it is joy watching the channels without being interrupted by commercial adverts. But, at around £140 a year it is an exorbidant fee to pay for that small pleasure. The concept of TV Licence was introduced long ago, when BBC was the only broadcaster in the country and sustaining the costs with the help of commercials was perhaps not a feasible idea. I am sure we have come a long way since then. Now, what is stopping the powers that be in scrapping the licencing fee? As we are just limping out of recession, wouldn’t this give a bit of relief to numerous households? Although it is not something that can be done easily, as it requires an amendment to a legislation, it is not an undoable thing.

While I was pleased that many people (in many different forums) had similar views w.r.t. TV licencing, opposition to this idea could also be found in good measure. As far as I could understand, people who want the licencing to stay argue that watching TV without adverts is sort of a bliss and £11.x a month is well worth it. May be, they have a point. But, the amusing part is that, most of such people point their fingers at US and say ‘If we do away with the TV licencing, it would be like USA and we wouldn’t be able to stand it.. blah blah’. I have never been to the other side of Atlantic. Is there something terribly wrong with the TV channels there?

Just finished reading Ragothaman’s ‘Rajiv Kolai Vazhakku’ (Rajiv Assasination Case) book. In all, it took me just over couple of hours to finish. A riveting read indeed. No wonder this book became a super hit in the recent book fair.

It was very interesting to read the first person account of the Chief Investigating Officer of the Rajiv Gandhi assasination case. I was fifteen when Rajiv was assasinated. So, thankfully I don’t have to rely on books or hearsay while recalling the events associated with the assasination - public outcry against LTTE, CBI’s reward announcements for capturing Sivarasan / Subha, frustration when the duo were allowed to commit suicide at Konanakunte after being encircled for hours. Ragothaman’s book brings back those memories apart from providing lot of background information. The author laments the lax attitude of various agencies (Police, Intelligence etc) before and after the assasination and also pins the blame on the powers that be for putting up several hurdles during the investigation. Ragothaman has made some specific charges against the SIT Chief D.R. Karthikeyan for choosing not to embarass any of the Tamil leaders including Karunanidhi, Vaiko, Maragatham Chandrasekhar etc.

Although this is the book authored by a cop (alright, a CBI investigator), it feels very odd when the book inadervently gives a soft natured image to the policemen. Of course, no cop will admit to human rights excesses that has become the norm in such investigations and also dealing with that aspect of the investigation is not the aim of this book, but just that it gives a weird feeling when one thinks about it. May be, it reflects Ragothaman’s personality.

Having read few books of Pa. Raghavan, I could see his hand in editing this book. I would be really, really surprised if I were to know that he was not involved in shaping up this book.

One of the reasons for the success of this book - apart from the sensational nature of the case - is that, the author not only explains how they went about the case from a clean slate, but also shares his frustration at being controlled by remote powers with so many hidden agendas. This is something that most people who followed the Rajiv case could identify with. In all, a great book to read.

I don’t get this at all. Read this news item. How does being naked send any msg related to free and equal society? Crazy. If they want to run around naked and pose for photographs, that is fine. But what has it got to do with the free and equal society and crap like that?

This is akin to some lunatics cycling around for world peace. I never got what such guys hoped to achieve. One can’t even hope to bring peace between two villages, let alone the entire world - by cycling all over the place. Wish someone pulled them up and asked to get on with life.

I hope that this will be my last post / tweet on my recent India trip.

When the flight was about to takeoff from Mumbai, one could spot quite a few Pakistani flags fluttering in the slums nearby. Nothing legally wrong in flying the flag of another country. Just that Pakistan is not one another country and happening as it does in Mumbai, it was very disturbing. Not sure if I am being crazy about a perfectly normal thing.

During my trip to India last week, I got an opportunity to visit Chettinad Hospitals in Kelambakkam, Chennai to donate a unit of blood. The said hospital is set in a sprawling campus with well laid out lawns and what not. One need not be an Einstein to realise that the place is much beyond the reach of common people.

The patient who required the blood was a 12-year old girl, who had a serious heart ailment and required to be operated on the same day. The father of the girl is a construction worker and it was very apparent that he could not afford the costs that would be demanded by the hospital. While talking with him, I was worried if he knew about the cost factor in that hospital and was thinking how best to ask if he need any help apart from the blood donation. It was then, he told me that he was referred to this hospital by a neighbourhood doctor who told him about the ‘CM Kalaignar’s Health Insurance Scheme‘ for life saving treatments. Although he had to spend money on tests and medicinces, bulk of the costs will be absorbed under the scheme.

Unlike the free tellys to everyone, this is one freebie scheme that is worth it.