This is about internet.org a.k.a Free Basics from Facebook

In May this year, Mark Zuckerburg announced taking an altruistic turn and pledged Facebook’s resources in providing internet access to some parts of our planet, the aim was to provide free basic internet access on a platform that was christened internet.org. This month that got re-christened as Free Basics for Facebook. There was a truly desi spin given to this measure which was identified with #ConnectIndia, the motive remained the same.

A lot of charitable work has been done by Tech Entrepreneurs from North America. Ground breaking research in combating AIDS, eradicating polio and with that goal in mind for leprosy. Contraception, infant care and nutritional supplements were all led at some point by or are continuing to be led by foundations funded by big corporates, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is just one such example. With that background a lot of people welcomed Facebook wanting to provide basic internet service to regions that haven’t been exposed to it so far.

Imagine a village, where a basic phone that has an internet browser is available but with no infrastructure to let the phone access the billions of web sites that constitute what’s essentially known as the INTERNET. Imagine a service provider, who embarks on provisioning GPRS, EDGE or 3G or LTE connections, and get these phones on the information superhighway. Imagine the poor farmer being able to access weather patterns or current prices for his crop, to be able to carry out financial transactions without having to visit the nearby town’s bank.

Imagine the farmer’s child, accessing the finest of lectures on trigonometry or fine arts or literature or ideas for that school project. Imagine the lady of the household being able to access all the video and music and be able to chat with her distant cousin in a foreign land or another village without wasting money on phone calls that go dead in the monsoons. The intent in provisioning free basic internet access can never be faulted. So where is the problem?

The problem is in how Facebook wants to solve this conundrum. Facebook wants to tie up with internet service providers in the region and get them to allow access exclusively to http://internet.org. On this platform Facebook has curated a set of websites and made available as part of it’s free basic internet service. No points for guessing that Facebook is the only social media platform available, not Google+ or Ello. The platform is also not going to support HTTPS URLs which means no encryption of data between the user and the destination on the internet. To cite just one problem with this, if you were to access your bank account on a HTTP connection a sniffer can access your username and password bloody easily.

Facebook therefore wants to direct these new users to a tiny set of websites that constitute the internet. In the name of providing free basic internet all Facebook is doing is finding newer users in the developing world, and since they can’t afford the costs associated with internet connectivity, provides them with seemingly free access but restricts them to a platform it has built (internet.org) and thereby increase it’s own customer base and therefore deny them access to those billions of websites that would otherwise be available on the internet. Now if anyone thinks, “Isn’t this how the missionaries landed in Africa with the Bible?” it won’t be misrepresentative.

Why would they do that? The answer is fairly simple. Google, Facebook and Twitter are the significant platforms in the world in terms of number of users on them as well as number of active users. I’ve completely disregarded data from Chinese social networking sites since they operate in isolation compared to the rest of the world. Google and Facebook have almost the same number of active users (around 1.4 billion). Google’s revenue last year was $66 billion while Facebook’s was a little short of $12.5 billion. For approximately the same amount of users Google rakes in more than 5 times in revenue.

There is going to be significant pressure on Facebook’s stock in maximizing its potential to earn more dollars per user. Facebook’s organic growth has reached a plateau. It acquired WhatsApp for a gargantuan valuation to add to its user base and it probably made sense too. It hasn’t come up with a clear roadmap in integrating the platforms though it has tried to innovate with making calls possible between WhatsApp users. How else can Facebook grow?

That’s where the air brushed altruism comes into picture and that’s in getting more people onto their platform but since they have their own challenges Facebook sets out to solve one such challenge, by giving them internet access but restricting it to internet.org. After a few years you’ll be surprised when someone who grew up with Free Basics from Facebook says “We have Facebook” when what they actually should be saying is “We have Internet”.

The state of inter-city, inter-state road transport in India

Yet another bus has met with an accident near Haveri on it’s way from Bangalore to Mumbai, lots of human lives lost, this happened yesterday. Recently we heard about the tragic death of close to 50 passengers heading back to their home towns for Diwali on the ill fated luxury bus that went from Bangalore to Hyderabad. Sometime back a bus fell off a bridge into a gorge killing a lot of passengers travelling in it, this bus was bound to Shirdi, most passengers would have been pilgrims. This writer has been a first hand witness to a gory accident near Chithode on NH 47 on 4th Nov 2011 involving a truck carrying airline fuel and a luxury bus full of passengers from Bangalore headed to Coimbatore. The bus caught fire after colliding with the tanker and in the ensuing chaos a lot of lives were lost.

The blame usually is first placed on these new hi-tech buses: Volvo, Mercedes Benz, Corona, which are well equipped to deal with emergencies better than Ashok Leyland, Eicher or TATA buses. These hi-tech buses have superior suspension, use fire retardant materials for their construction and have excellent automated mechanisms to manoeuvre the vehicle and bring it to a sudden stop if needed. Drivers are the number one reasons for accidents and it’s not like any driver would want to crash his bus wantonly. Most drivers are contracted or paid per trip and they stand to gain if they keep driving without taking a rest. That results in fatigue and therefore misjudgement which leads to a fatal accident. But there is a larger lacuna that is being exploited to the hilt by greedy bus operators and that is of supply and demand.

Road transport between states used to be exclusive domains of the state governments with the state run transport corporations plying buses connecting cities, usually as reciprocals almost exclusively. All this changed drastically in the late nineties when private bus operators began plying buses exploiting loopholes in the Motor Vehicles Act which allowed them to run buses on hire or for tours which was used as a shroud to run regular inter-city or inter-state services. This sector has grown into a fierce monster that had made millionaires out of bus operators, earned lots of taxes and bribes for the state’s apparatus, helps the well heeled reach their destinations quickly and comfortably and yet is a scary ecosystem that the state has no jurisdiction over anymore.

In the late 90’s, this writer solely depended on SETC (erstwhile Thiruvalluvar) buses to commute between Madras (Chennai today) and Coimbatore. There were two other buses operated by Cheran Transport Corporation (known as TNSTC – Cbe now) between these two cities. The total seats available on a Friday or Sunday back then was less than 250. Compare that to the 1900 seats across the 50 buses that ply between the two cities today, you can imagine the scale at which buses are run and the economy that flourishes as a result. Entry taxes at check posts, bakeries, hotels / canteens, petrol bunks, toll gates, drivers, cleaners, automobile workshops are examples of some areas where money flows in a licit manner. But there is a  large chunk of revenue that is made illicitly primarily by the State apparatus: Transport department, Commercial Taxes department, Police etc.

The bulk of our country still commutes long distances by train. One can only imagine the level of bribes that must be exchanging hands in the Railway Ministry to ensure there is always a supply demand deficit in the Railways  to ensure the crowd that doesn’t make it onto trains gets to use the services offered by the private road transportation industry. Their pricing is based on whim. How else can one fathom the cost of tickets going up by a factor of 2 or 3 when it’s a long holiday weekend? Are these buses licensed to transport cargo, which they load to the brim most of the days in every space the bus has and on it’s roof? Is it completely legal in selling tickets in the name of “conducted tour” but what they are essentially doing is infringe into the domain of state transport? How does one explain the silence of the state government, every single state in the country is united in this cause, and the state transport employee’s trade unions in this domain? A lot of questions remain unanswered, will the State wake up and listen?

The politics about Durga Shakti Nagpal and Civil servants

The suspension of a 2010 cadre civil servant in Uttar Pradesh has been latched onto by the media and is playing on TV day in and day out with bits and pieces of new information coming out. My understanding of this story has been through the media and I’m attempting a bit of reading between the lines. Let’s assume that the civil servant didn’t do any wrong and has applied sound judgement in the case she’s accused of malpractice.

Did the ruling government suspend the civil servant only because a minority community is party to the structure in question?

Is the opposition party at the centre crying the loudest for the same reason?

The Great Indian Bureaucracy has had stalwarts in it’s service. Year after year one hears of stories of simple individuals exhibiting great heights of integrity and ethics despite being in government service where the power they wield is substantial and the opportunities for making money under the table looms large.

The District Collect of Madurai who stood up to the mafia that controlled the town and reached out to the marginalized, who spends his time today as the Managing Director of Co-optex is a good example of a decent civil servant.

There are have been instances of personnel who took their job seriously and would never bow down to power like this Police officer who towed the Prime Minister’s car, who rose to the heights of service in the force but despite which couldn’t take charge as Police Commissioner of the national capital. A grudge she probably still nurses inside !

We’ve also seen examples of civil servants who made it their life’s ambition to cleanse our polity of corruption and take up the aam-aadhmi’s cause like a crusade but who’ve then been massive disappointments by cozying up to the executive and taken up prestigious or plum postings after retirement, literally peddling the agenda of the government of the day.

That brings me to JM Lyngdoh, who retired as the Chief Election Commissioner of India and was lauded for the conduct of elections in two key Indian states in the early part of this century. A rare breed of civil servant who stood up to what he thought was morally and ethically right and hasn’t sucked up to the executive after retiring, like he vociferously declared in this interview to the BBC 10 years ago.

It’s another matter that the Chief Minister of one of the two states that went to polls in that period kept referring to him as “James Michael Lyngdoh” every time he spoke to the media sort of alluding to his religion and therefore making him seem like an enemy of the majority. There was no way JM Lyngdoh could be an Indian in his books that he even asked if the man came from Italy. However, India at that time was fortunate to have AB Vajpayee at it’s helm who chided his party’s own Chief Minister for all the mischief, ABV’s disappearance from the political scene is sorely missed today.

P.S: Politicians look at Civil Servants as “slaves”, literally, people who can be ordered around and dropped at one’s whim. An example for this can be seen in this TV debate. Make no mistake, this contempt for the bureaucracy exists in all political parties and not just the one seen in this video.

 

 

TEDx Chennai

TEDx Chennai has been cancelled, Kiruba Shankar has stepped down from being the brand ambassador for India. Here is Kiruba’s explanation around the whole controversy.

Barfi!

Ranbir Kapoor has been an actor who has consistently surprised audiences with his acting skills. Rocket Singh to Rockstar, Ranbir Kapoor has steadily bettered his performance, I’m skipping Saawariya since it’s a movie I haven’t seen in the cinemas.

Barfi is a refreshing attempt in popular hindi cinema, the plot would have been a fusion of O Henry and Charlie Chaplin with the lead actor borrowing heavily from the latter. His mannerisms and almost every light scene is a tribute to Chaplin. The production design is excellent, once gets a feel of Calcutta of the late 70’s. The hills are always a joy to see on screen, I presume to shoot too, so nothing great about Darjeeling and the toy train but all the night scenes are lit, framed and exposed wonderfully.

This is a fairy tale, an Indian one at that and while it plays it regales you through it. The opening is a cheeky song that asks you to behave in the cinema hall rather humourously and the movie begins. Anurag Basu comes from the Bhatt family of movie making. Gangster, Murder and Kites which apparently didn’t get any wind beneath it’s wings to take off. It’s surprising that he was able to cobble together such a warm movie. Being diagnosed with cancer and recovering from it probably made Anurag reflect on life.

There is one scene which exhibits how neatly the story is made to unfold. Barfi (deaf and mute) after being paid a donation by the girls father after being mistaken for someone asking for alms sees the girl and her fiancee, walks out of the house, there’s rain and thunder, no background music and his cycle chain comes away not giving him the luxury of speeding away from the moment of abject rejection, confronts the girl, angry and in squeaks and then lets it all go and asks her to smile and goes away.

Pritam’s music isn’t catchy, I guess they meant to keep it that way. The motif of showing musicians on screen making the transition between scenes is replicated in Barfi too, the background music is not just accordion, guitar and violin but piano heavy too. The whole movie is one grand con on the mind. Never during the movie did the laughs stop and once it got over one realizes it’s a sad little story, one that highlights the mistakes people make in the battle between head and heart.

Sim-sat, CNN-IBN & LIVE programming

Last night CNN-IBN issued this apology for relaying clips of Sri Sri Ravishankar in a live debate but where the guru’s interview was pre-recorded yet displayed as LIVE. It’s rare when the media admits to an error and one ought to laud this channel for being honest about it. But is that all? Was there a deliberate attempt at bluffing and the apology came quickly after being caught at it?

CNN-IBN’s apology says “We carried a pre-recorded interview of the Art Of Living Founder and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar without explicitly mentioning that the interview had been recorded a couple of hours earlier in the day. Since the interview appeared during a live debate format, it sent out the wrong message to viewers. There was absolutely no malafide intention on our part, no disrespect was intended to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the error is deeply regretted.”

In today’s age where every viewer doesn’t rely entirely on TV to spell out the day’s news I think the producer of this show was stupid in thinking he can get away with making Sagarika Ghose, the anchor, pose questions to the guru and make it look like he was replying LIVE. Its also a little far fetched to believe that Sagarika Ghose, a seasoned journalist herself, bought the argument and acted to bluff the audience.

CNN-IBN isn’t the only channel guilty of sim-sat, every channel does it. But none yet have embarrassed themselves as much as this channel last night.

The Anna Hazare Project – saga continues …

Another revolution came upon our country, the last time I missed most of it, this time I didnt. This one was flagged off on the 16th of August 2011 and ended on the 28th of August 2011 at 10 AM IST. This time Kisan Baburao Hazare went on an indefinite fast (re-labelled his fast unto death to avoid future court cases perhaps!) with the following demands:

1. Table the Jan LokPal bill in Parliament in the monsoon session itself
2. Bring the Prime Minister and the Judiciary under it’s ambit
3. Also bring the conduct of MPs inside the Parliament under it’s purview
4. Get the bill passed by 30th August 2011
5. Clear Anna Hazare’s name from corruption charges levelled against him or file an FIR

On 27th August the Parliament in an unprecedented show of solidarity, government and opposition came together, debated and accepted the following demands:

1. On publishing a Citizen’s charter in all govt departments
2. On bringing the lower bureaucracy under the purview of the LokPal
3. To establish LokAyukta’s in all states

The moot question that then comes in our heads is if the fast was worth the time and effort of the nation and most importantly risking the life of a 74 year old man? From taking maximalistic stances in the initial interactions with representatives from the government what happened that Baburaoji’s team settled for far too less in the end?

The media stood on the fence, like the BJP, in the buildup to the fast. From being on the fence to become voices for the movement the media did a complete volte face. Logic lost to chest thumping and populist sloganeering. Nobody dared asked questions to the contrary. Everything that the IAC members did was absolute truth if one had to believe the news channels. A simple and rather straight forward allegation that the IAC has accepted donation from the Ford Foundation became blasphemous in the sense that the media was attributed it to be an attempt to call the IAC member a foreign agent.

This despite the fact that none of the news channels found it safe to catapult their star anchors into the thick of the RamLila action, nor were their female anchors able to get into the crowd to get reactions. Nobody dared report that a big chunk of the crowd was under the influence of alcohol and rampant loss of purses and cellphones went unreported. Delhi police noticed the highest number of traffic violations by Anna crusaders on bikes. The policemen who were subjected to taunts and then physical roughing up raised a squeak, nobody wanted to pursue the cause of the forces. The media literally took over the roll of PR agency for Baburaoji’s fast and his team.

Arvind Kejriwal made fiery speeches, he’s the modern day Mark Anthony. Kiran Bedi made a joke of herself out of frustrations I’d suppose. Retd Justice Santhosh Hegde appears to have lost his patience with the negotiators that he started asking the fast to be called off towards the end. Swami Agnivesh appears to have been the trojan horse playing both sides in a way, he too gave up on the fast a couple of days before it ended. Arindham Chaudhri’s speech during the fast was puke inducing, sample this: "We live 60-70 yrs because we kill 200 million people before 40 yrs".

Vijay, an actor from South Indian blockbusters who hasn’t seen a hit in some time, showed up on stage and mouthed inane lines, one such was thus: "This movement has triggered soliditary (sic) nationwide". I guess he meant “solidarity”, his English teachers in Loyola would be cringing in their seats. It’s one thing to mouth half baked lines in the movies to cheering front benchers and another to attempt the same in front of a live audience. Om Puri took the award for the most useless line by mouthing: "Keep the liquor bottle in the pocket, put the 200 bucks in the pocket, take the blanket home and vote to whoever you want to.”

I’m sure someone in the government’s side would have exclaimed “yes !!!!” when Vilasrao Deshmukh went up on stage to give Baburao Hazare the charter written by the government and parliament agreeing to three of his pussy footed demands. The symbolism of the moment was chuckle inducing. Here was an erstwhile Chief Minister who had to give up his seat due to corruption allegations was on stage with the high priest of the fight against corruption acting as a courier between him and the Government.

Anyone when he/she has power will use it to further his/her own agenda. Let’s say one wants to learn yoga and joins the classes of a particular guru and guess what? At some point the guru or his ilk will try to use the following to further their own social or political agendas. The best example on display was how an organization that proclaims it’s basic purpose “is to inspire, to stoke, and to nurture this innate search in every being, helping them realize the ultimate potential within” brought volunteers on the streets (In Coimbatore) supporting the anti-corruption movement.

Right from knee jerk status messages on Facebook to a utopian dream of wiping out poverty by bringing back the black money stashes in tax havens, most if not all of the outrageous claims made by the cheer leading crowd on the internet went unchallenged. The media channels single minded myopic pursuit of the fast meant that a lot of issues with serious national / regional importance was lost in the cacophony of the reality show that was unfolding.

Kanimozhi’s counsel dragged the PM into the 2G scam asking the court to list him as a witness since it was alleged he knew about license allotments. Monsoonal rains and floods rendered hundreds homeless in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Tamil New Year was shifted back to 14th April by Jayalalithaa who also announced the 1000+ crore new assembly building will be converted into a government hospital on the lines of AIIMS. Vaiko attempted to rouse linguistic passion by says Tamilnadu would secede from the Union of India if the Rajiv killers were hanged. BS Yedyurrappa moved an application for bail in the Karnataka High Court. West Bengal was rechristened Poschim Bangla by Mamtadi. I guess this week all of this events should re-occur and replayed.

The Delhi Police exhibited extreme restraint to avoid any bad publicity and have come up with their head held high. From being blamed for short sighted Govt reactions and taking Baburaoji to Tihar to guarding the fast venue for 14 days without any untoward incident, they’ve come a long way. Kisan Baburao Hazare can live without food for much longer I suspect, but he and his ilk will wither if there are no cameras pointed at them, no questions posed to them. Their energy and strength is not the people as they proudly proclaim but the media and for good reason perhaps.

Everyone has a right to support a cause, to speak against a cause. Everyone needs to have a point of view, search for and gather facts. We all should stop being herded, by politicians, by anyone else. Practice what we preach and we’d have made a world of a difference to our town, city, state and country. This land is ours, let’s make it a better place for ourselves and the future. Jai hind !

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the article are the result of the utmost disgust this author felt when the nation was almost held to a ransom by a group purporting to be voices of the citizens. The author assumes no legal responsibility from anyone using it's content in part or in full and will not assume any liabilities for any consequences arising out of it's usage. This article is written in good faith to present a fairly balanced point of view to an issue which is of importance to the country today. This article has also tried to be fair and objective in putting forth the facts of the matter and scrupulously refrains from alluding motives to any particular social, political or religions group. The author does not intend to violate any law and would be glad to comply with existing regulations if any part of this article is offending or appears hateful.

Nursery school syndrome (The Anna Hazare Project)

“Miss, Ralph spit on me Miss” squeaked Sam, a 4 year old in the UKG class of Civil Society Mat & H S School. “Ralph, I’m going to come and give you a rap on your knuckles” thundered Miss Beula, the class teacher of UKG and darling of the kinder garden school children. Ralph replied “I’m sorry Miss, I coughed and spit came out”. “He’s lying Miss, he’s lying Miss” squeaked Sam again.

That was a snap shot of kids carrying tales against each other in nursery school. Here’s an example of another who refuses to grow up, who can call anybody anything but can’t take it when it comes back. Whose pack has the authority to sermonize from the highest moral high ground but who gives them the right to use your and my name and say they represent “us” or “the people” ?

Election verdict – Friday the 13th (May 2011)

I posted The Anna Hazare Project on the 6th of May, Fiona felt it was probably 3 weeks late and she was right. The fact remained that I did write the article 3 weeks ago on a train journey from Bangalore to Coimbatore but didn’t get to publish it, procrastination rules. The results of the elections from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal & Assam couldn’t have come at any other time. These results reinstated the fact about the power a voter has in electing or throwing out his government, a power the civil society aspires it had but can never have.

This time the voting percentage was higher across states with some most backward areas polling as high as 85%, the place was Jhargram, in West Bengal, till now reported in the media for it’s Maoist presence. Can South Mumbai or South Delhi bring in this kind of a voter turnout? They usually report voting percentages in the 40’s. For the elite going to vote is a massive photo op which they usually won’t miss. And for actors if there’s a movie release right before or after polling day then it’s good PR too. For the actual masses it’s genuine power the democracy bestows upon them to vote for or against someone who is responsible for sanitation, healthcare, subsidized grains, drinking water etc in his constituency.

For all the high voltage action that was played out by the Anna camp in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi by sporting caps which read “Mera neta chor hai”, borrowing cleverly from that supremely successful Amitabh Bachchan starrer Deewar, the results of the elections serve as a genuine reminder to the “civil society” on the power a democracy vests in the hands of the common man. Candle light vigils be damned. Heck, someone like Shri Anupam Kher, who is supremely talented as an actor, will go to the extent of suggesting we throw the constitution out of the window, what does he have to say about the election results?

Psephologists don’t used the phrase “exit polls” anymore, possibly to not infuriate the Supreme Court or the Election Commission. Instead the circus to predict the verdict had been labelled “post poll projections”. Every news channel and newspaper ended with an egg on it’s face with the failure to predict the mood of the Tamil Nadu voter. Nobody projected the fact that Selvi J Jayalalithaa will return to power with a resounding verdict in her favour. Nobody dared to write the DMK’s epitaph.

One chap accurately predicted this outcome. His name is Cho Ramaswamy, Editor of Thuglak. He came on a few channels after the polls closed and said the AIADMK was coming back to power with a big majority. But a bald old man with an ash smeared forehead speaking English that sounds Dravidian and not Stephaninan is hardly material to be taken seriously by the media brethren housed in their glass castles in New Delhi and Bombay (Mumbai).

Around 10 AM on verdict day, Mr Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-chief of Times NOW went one step further and announced the arrival of the Communists back to power, “LDF is winning Kerala” he thundered drawing a parallel to the “loss in West Bengal after 34 years in power”. Dr Prannoy Roy of NDTV wasn’t up to such stuff, he kept saying “Kerala is going down to the very end” to know who will come back to power. Dr Roy’s experience covering elections helping him with such measured judgements while Mr Goswami’s haste to “break it first on your channel” got him to resort to hyperbole.

Compare this to Monideepa Banerjee reporting live from West Bengal in the morning declaring that the Trinamool was sweeping elections, an indicator of a seasoned reporter’s reflection of the popular sentiment on the ground. We need more reporters like her in the media, people who are ready to work hard and get to the bottom of the news. Unfortunately we are seeing an increasing number of scribes relaying their news majorly from twitter, handouts and PR machinery’s machinations.

Finally I can’t but cheer a big hurrah to the voter in Tamil Nadu. This chap was supposed to be greedy, who could be bought with Mahatma Gandhi (not values of the father of the nation but the reference is to the 500 rupee note from where he smiles). Voters who can be influenced with biriyani packets, hooch and liquor. The national media did organize debates before the elections. It was either oversimplification of the characteristics of the voter in such demeaning terms, voters who can be bought with TV sets and free rice or making it look like the 2G scam was all that mattered. The voter has delivered his answer, and that’s in the form of a Bronx salute to everyone who wrote him off, to everyone who belittled his intelligence and insulted his dignity.

The voter is the victor, he has many pressing problems around him which the media isn’t ready to puts it’s ears to the ground and find out. His vote for change is to possibly find answers, will the government fulfil all those? Only time can tell.

The Anna Hazare Project

I just woke up from a revolution. I thought my country was on the cusp of a massive uprising. I was worried about the outcome, thankfully I’ve been spared of seeing bloodshed or a coup d'état. For a closet crusader like me this was the perfect opportunity to stand up and proclaim my support to the cause. It’d have been so hip and so today to have proclaimed something like “My heart bleeds for this frail old man who has taken it up all upon himself to rid this nation free from the curse of corruption, for me and my brethren”. Oh how patriotic it’d have been, I’d have become in one sweep the star amongst my Facebook, Orkut friend list and could have added at least a hundred followers on Twitter. The fact is I didn’t see all this coming, I, like many people I know simply didn’t “rise up” to the occasion.

I overdid it, there was no revolution. I had to look beyond the media reports that said “thousands” at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and realized it was almost “a thousand” there and the remaining that added up to the sum to make it “thousands” were almost all journalists and their respective OB (outdoor broadcasting) vans, drivers, technicians, cameramen, orderlies and basically a tom, dick or a harry related to the media-news circus that our country is subjected to every night at prime time. It’s another matter that this cartel put their heads (empty anyway) together and decided that 24 hrs was prime time.

So we had editor-in-chief’s of news channels mouth lines like a telugu or tamil potboiler’s climax scene, looking into the camera and appearing to be addressing each one of us personally, trying to get us all to wake up to reality and take action. Unfortunately, for them, this wasn’t a movie and they didn’t command such star power to pull off an MGR or an NTR on us. It’s so damn easy to sit in the air conditioned confines of a news studio with the crème de la crème of “civil society” (a new term that’s taking air time as if “uncivil” it was yesterday) sit around a round table debating with vociferous and vigorous voices on how they’ve had enough and how it was time to tackle the bull by it’s horn. The irony was palpable, they needed a senile old man to go on a fast for a bill none of them would have read to understand what was in it that would suddenly appear to be the ten commandments to root out corruption, the one big ill that is the reason for every other sickness that plagues this vast country called India.

Every 10 minutes were intercut with scene from “ground zero” (ergs Jantar Mantar), where protestors gleefully appeared before camera for their 10 seconds of fame in national consciousness. One could have mouthed inane and obnoxious stuff like “this is India’s Tehrir square”, “we’ll rid this country of it’s disease”, “there are thousands here and we are all with Anna” and still get away with it because the media is too busy catching up with the rapid developments, getting more and more members of the “civil society” on telecons, videocons (not the brand), mycons, yourcons, basically conning all of us that there was this revolution underway which was spreading across the nation like a tsunami. Every city that had a 3 digit STD code in the country had “civil society” representatives standing like they would for a middle school choir song and singing “Hum hongey kaamyaab” or “we shall overcome” based on which school they went to and reaffirm their cause to the great Anna with candles in their hand. Candle light vigils are the new fad.

Does wearing a white cap and going on fasts makes one a Gandhi? That’s a question that’ll need a separate blog altogether.

In the end (I refuse to assume it’s a beginning) the “civil society” got the government to do something that’s been unprecedented. It relented to their demands. I have just one point to add here about independent bodies in India that are also successful, the best example being the election commission. The success comes from the fact that all the parties involved need the election commission to get their mandate to get to power and hence have actively contributed to and adhered by it’s strictures which is where the commissions’ success comes from. That needn’t be the case with all other statutory bodies that are constituted in the country. I’m not a fan of politicians or politics, I do vote when there is an election and I try not to pay bribes as much as possible simply because beyond the urge to not aid corruption is the urge to fish for trouble and be a pain in the neck to someone in power for a moment, even if it’s brief.

I’m disgusted by the fact that “civil society” can be led by folks whose merit is just that their supreme Ayyatollah Shri Anna Hazare vetted their names. There is no doubts that the top cop was a sterling character during her stint in the IPS. Or the RTI activist who has fished many a govt file and gotten people into trouble, rightly so. But I don’t understand what’s that virtue in them that’s gotten them into a position where they’ll frame law jointly with elected representatives (I and you voted for). How can a non elected body, outside the frame of the Indian constitution assume upon itself the task to terrorize the government with a fast and get it to bend and crawl and heed to every one of it’s demands?

I’d like to pose questions to every one on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else who joined the cause without breaking a sweat and made it so fashionable (peer pressure!): It’s so damn easy to pay a bribe and escape a traffic offence or pay a TTE for a berth on a night train or the brake inspector in the RTO for an LLR or license or in the municipal office for a building plan or registrar office to underwrite sale values and pay less on stamp or any scenario where you have to deal with people in power. When will we stop being closet crusaders and refuse to pay a bribe at the cost of having to go through all the damn trouble it bestows upon us or delays that would also put our loved one’s in hardship?

Finally, this post is titled THE ANNA HAZARE PROJECT and if you’ve read thus far you’d have seen that this is so less about the man and so much more about the brouhaha around him primarily in our news media and the motley crowd of supporters he’s managed to attract. Precisely how the media kept “Breaking News” to all of you and me when the fast was on till the man assiduously broke it in full media glare. This isn’t the end of it, wait till you hear it all from the man’s own mouth and I’m sure you’ll end up wondering if this chap was a impatient nationalist, a pseudo socialist, a right wing crusader or a fading star in search of his last big limelight.

Disclaimer: All views expressed here with are my own and are not here to stoke distrust, disgust or any feeling of hatred towards any person irrespective of caste, creed, culture or religion. Despite this if there is a word or line or paragraph or the full post that offended you please let me know and I’ll be more than glad to edit / modify / delete offensive sections simply because I don’t have the money nor the resources to fight cases in the courts unlike members of the “civil society”. I guess I’m waiting for the amendment where my part of the world will go civil from uncivil.

Shri Ravishankar Prasad's contempt for the bureaucracy

Last night on "The Buck stops here" on NDTV, yes I do watch the show even after the Radia tapes, on a debate if the UPA was on the backfoot with not giving in to the Opposition's demand for a JPC into the 2G spectrum sale issue Shri Ravishankar Prasad made a number of points about Polayil Joseph Thomas (current CVC PJ Thomas) but the one that stood out was that Mr Thomas didn't work as a Director or Secretary in New Delhi and hence on that account wasn't competent enough to hold the high office of CVC headquartered in New Delhi. 

This observation brought about a rather unsavoury side of our politicians (and I suppose bureaucrats too) who seem to think as New Delhi to be the center of the Indian populace around which our lives revolve. How is working in New Delhi a medal of honour on a bureaucrats uniform? How does it become a measure of excellence and merit? Dr Babu Paul asked these very questions back to Shri Ravishankar Prasad who seemed to have taken it personally and exhibited disgust at having to answer a question raised by a bureaucrat. I've read about instances where IAS / IPS officers are treated with contempt by some illiterate politicians but Shri Prasad, an eminent lawyer in the Supreme Court, an ex Minister in the Union of India !!!

A savvy modern politician exhibiting such contempt was unbecoming of a person with such experience in the public domain with such an illustrious political life. Shri Ravishankar Prasad in a fleeting moment of rage showed his real colour, probably a belief deep inside that the bureaucrats were essentially servants of the political class. In those vulnerable moments he probably also forgot that only the cream of our educated graduates manage to clear the Civil Services exams in the first place. Salutations to Dr Babu Paul for the dignified and measured response, people like him bring dignity and respect to the profession. 

Note: This author holds no brief for the current CVC Shri PJ Thomas, this author doesn't have any proof to believe he's guilty or innocent, this author doesn't have an opinion on that front either. Eventually the outcome of PIL in the Supreme Court will make it clear if Shri Thomas was tainted or caught in the middle of a raging political battle. Dr Babu Paul writing about his first step into the IAS be a nice article to read if you'd be interested to know more about him. 

Mediagate, phone taps, leaks, corporate wars in India and Arnab Goswami

The Niira Radia tapes bring to light the extent of lobbying, molly coddling, news planting, opinion inseminating and persuasion corporate house indulge in in India. In the US all this is supposedly legal however in India it's still a new trend. Everyone knows it's there but no one talks about it. Govt policy is influenced by powerful PR personnel who can call almost anyone in the journalistic who's who or bureaucracy in the country. This post isn't going to start sermonizing about the ramifications this can have on our country or if the allocation of a natural resource can be decided by the judge of a High Court. This post isn't also going to be about how all this could be part of a grand corporate war between two brothers. We aren't going to delve about Barkha Dutt or #BarkhaGate as it has come to be known on Twitter nor the episode where Editors posted questions which went gloriously unanswered on NDTV. 

This is about "The Newshour" on Times NOW and Arnab Goswami. Arnab Goswami was an excellent news anchor in NDTV a long time ago, he still is a reasonably good moderator of television debates. I used to watch a 10 PM news show on NDTV half a decade ago (almost) and that was hosted by Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami and it was a brilliant format. Tonight on "The Newshour" on Times NOW, which hehad editorial control over,  Armab rightly proclaimed that there are no tapes that involve him and I applaud him for his incorruptibility. But on the same note I hope he's heard the tape where Navika Kumar sounded like a pet poodle when a call came to her phone from the head honcho of a PR agency. This conversation clearly indicates the rapport the two characters shared and if what Arnab has written in the internal memo to his staff is true then Navika Kumar better find another job.

The following is supposedly the internal memo Arnab wrote to Times NOW's staff:

Colleagues, 

There has been news about two senior journalists from other media groups being involved in collaborating with corporate lobbyists and corporate groups on the 2G scam issue. This is a low point in the news business. It’s downright shameful. I am writing to reiterate some of the core values of the group and the channel. We believe in fierce editorial independence and complete personal honesty. Our standards have to remain impeccably high. In your interactions at any level, remember that you are ambassadors of India’s number one news channel. In an earlier edit meeting, I have said that even a pass into a stadium that’s accepted free amounts to being compromised, and today I am writing to reassert that. No gifts, no favours, no lobbying, no free dining and wining, no cash, no kind, no pass, no trip, no holiday, no promise, no passes, no special treatment, no tall or short claims, no disrespect to the organization that you represent and the group that we are all a part of, no loose talk, no flexibility on values, will be accepted. If I hear of any, we will come down hard, and no exceptions will be made... 

—Arnab’

Make no mistake, Arnab can hold his head high unlike most other journalist seen hobnobbing with someone representing corporate interests, illustrious ones, people one held in high esteem. But still Arnab, will you have to make an exception in the case of Navika? 

The Kerala IPL saga – A technician’s take on the the hoopla

All news channels today are running the Tharoor involvement in Kerala’s IPL story in the ‘breaking news’ mode with everyone giving little substance but more air time over what’s actually nothing. In an attempt to see if Dr Shashi Tharoor or his office would in anyway be connected to the IPL team I discovered some startling facts, all based on information available on the internet. At the outset I’d like to state that this writer couldn’t care less about Sunanda Pushkar and her association with Dr Shashi Tharoor. This writer’s objective is just to present some facts about the new Kerala IPL team related to the real estate they own on the internet and in the process show how Dr Tharoor’s office might be linked to the team much closer than what Dr Tharoor would like everyone to believe.

The way Rendezvous sports won the IPL bid and the fact that there was only one Malayali name was in the owner’s list and he had 1% share in the team was a little hard to believe. It was a little baffling that businessmen with absolutely no connection to the state would like to put up an IPL cricket team spending atrocious amounts of money. The parallels between Dr Tharoor’s political debut and Rendezvous debut in IPL is too obvious. A virtually unknown in Kerala politics, Dr Tharoor was given a ticket to the Lok Sabha seat of Thiruvananthapuram. This despite the fact that he wasn’t from Thiruvananthapuram but from Palakkad in Kerala. He won and subsequently went on to become the Minister of State for External Affairs. The way Rendezvous bid and won the IPL franchisee for Kochi was very similar to Dr Tharoor’s Lok Sabha victory.

Every one has a Twitter account these days, it’s such a huge hit in India. So the Kerala IPL team has it’s own Twitter account too. The screenshot below shows their page and their website (the standard.in) which I take it is their official website. I’m not willing to be fooled by the news displayed on “The Kerala Standard” website, it’s a nice way to keep getting in traffic from search engines. While checking who registered the domain for the Kerala IPL team, where it is hosted I hit upon some information which need to be clarified by our Minister for External Affairs. His office is for sure involved in more than just being good friends for a bunch of people who want stand up for the Malayali pride in fielding an IPL team. Here’s the registrant information of this website, the registrant’s name might be familiar to the one’s on Twitter already. Read it along with the registrant information of Dr Tharoor’s official website.

Domain ID:D3883893-AFIN Domain Name:THESTANDARD.IN Created On:17-Nov-2009 13:23:02 UTC Last Updated On:21-Feb-2010 13:14:07 UTC Expiration Date:17-Nov-2011 13:23:02 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com Inc. (R101-AFIN) Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED Registrant ID:CR29734645 Registrant Name:Jacob Puthenparambil Registrant Organization: Registrant Street1:Puthenparambil Registrant Street2:Pulincunnu PO Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Alleppy Registrant State/Province:Kerala Registrant Postal Code:688504 Registrant Country:IN Registrant Phone:+91.4712703745 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX: Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:  jacob@tharoor.in Name Server:NS1.SLICEHOST.NET Name Server:NS2.SLICEHOST.NET Name Server:NS3.SLICEHOST.NET

Domain ID:D3443246-AFIN Domain Name:THAROOR.IN Created On:26-Mar-2009 07:13:16 UTC Last Updated On:04-Mar-2010 17:44:22 UTC Expiration Date:26-Mar-2011 07:13:16 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com Inc. (R101-AFIN) Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED Registrant ID:CR7566948 Registrant Name:Shashi Tharoor Registrant Organization:Office of Dr. Shashi Tharoor, MP Registrant Street1:TC 24/2074 3, Panavila Jn., Thycaud PO Registrant Street2: Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Thiruvananthapuram Registrant State/Province:Kerala Registrant Postal Code:695 014 Registrant Country:IN Registrant Phone:+91.4712324555 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX:+91.4712324666 Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:praveen@tharoor.in Name Server:NS1.SLICEHOST.NET Name Server:NS2.SLICEHOST.NET Name Server:NS3.SLICEHOST.NET

Looking at the WHOIS information for thestandard.in and tharoor.in one can safely conclude that Dr Tharoor’s office or one of his staff members has registered the website for the Kerala IPL team. The email ID listed is jacob@tharoor.in which is probably the official email address of Dr Shashi Tharoor’s OSD, Shri Jacob Joseph. This information is available on the contact page on Dr Tharoor’s website. Did the Minister’s office register the domain for the Kerala IPL team? If Yes then why unless they have a stake in it? If No then why is the official email ID of the Minister’s OSD listen on the domain’s contact information?

Jacob Joseph
Officer on Special Duty
Telephone: 23014118
Email: jacob@tharoor.in

Source: http://tharoor.in/contact/

Additionally I also have considerable proof to believe that both these websites are hosted out of the same datacenter in the US, I did a trace of the IP address and see them pointing to the same location owned by RACKSPACE. The underlined lines below shows that both websites though they resolve to different IP addresses are hosted out of the same datacenter and the IP space is owned by RACKSPACE, one person manages the hosting space rented here in all probability. Do the Minister’s office or personal staff host the Kerala IPL team’s website? If Yes then why is the minister denying close association with the IPL team? If No then how come the Minister’s official website and the Kerala IPL website are hosted out of the same facility? Coincidence? A might one I’d say !

tharoor.in (174.143.27.168)

13   355 ms   416 ms   294 ms  RACKSPACE-M.edge2.Dallas3.Level3.net [4.59.36.50]

14   287 ms   285 ms   283 ms  vlan907.core7.dfw1.rackspace.net [98.129.84.181]

15   284 ms   286 ms   289 ms  aggr511a-1-core7.dfw1.rackspace.net [98.129.84.149]

16   285 ms   282 ms   291 ms  174-143-27-168.static.cloud-ips.com [174.143.27.168]

thestandard.in (204.232.202.72)

15   268 ms   267 ms   271 ms  main1.above.net [209.133.126.42]

16   268 ms   277 ms   275 ms  vlan907.core7.dfw1.rackspace.net [98.129.84.181]

17   302 ms   289 ms   281 ms  98.129.84.217

18   272 ms   273 ms   294 ms  204-232-202-72.static.cloud-ips.com [204.232.202.72]

Shri Jacob Joseph who also is associated with mobmag.in and tenders4u.com is an active twitter user and Dr Tharoor even once attributed him to the reason for getting onto Twitter. Why should the Minister deny his close association with the Kerala IPL team and attribute it to just mentoring when his personal staff seem to be closely involved in their presence on the internet? Surely the interests aren’t philanthropic.

The URL posted today by Dr Tharoor’s OSD is in bad taste. Why rake up Mr Lalit Modi’s past when that’s already been part of a court dispute in the BCCI election case? When you knew he was indicted why did you even seek his favour for an IPL team? This particular gentleman has always gone on overdrive on Twitter when Dr Tharoor landed into a controversy, should a Union Minister of India’s personal staff start giving out sound bites? Are the personal staff of the Minister exempt from helping hold the integrity and respect of the high office the Minister holds and get into a slander match with a sporting honcho who thinks he can turn any sport into a money spinner?

I’m sure every information on the WHOIS pages of these domain will be changed overnight, but the fact that they were on them till today is a testimony to the the shallow thought that went into owning these online resources. It’s not a crime to own a stake in a cricket team in a format that’s exciting and gets good ad revenues for broadcasters. Someone should take a long hard look and say “let’s stop insulting the intelligence of our audience and come clean out of this.” It’s not a big deal, but would mean a lot to folks such as this writer who have loved Dr Shashi Tharoor’s books and have seen every interview he has given about a dozen times on the internet and looked up to him as a man who made his country proud all through his career.

Toyota’s goof up in the US

I’m not sure if we can brand Toyota’s protracted inaction and denying the existence of the problem with so many cars in the US as arrogance, they were caught completely unawares and the recent departure of a top executive from the west coast added to the organization’s woes. A chance to regain customer loyalty appears to have gone down the drain for Toyota now.

TATA Motors wasn’t a manufacturer with a spotless reputation for manufacturing passenger cars. When I selected the TATA Indigo amongst many other choices that were available in 2005 I heard tons of criticism from various quarters. TATA were reeling in negative publicity given all the problems with the Indica which customers were so pissed off at. For the money that one had to pay for the Indigo one was getting a far spacious and decent car than what was on offer from other manufacturers for the same price.

The ownership experience wasn’t without problems. The first was a problem with the fuel injection mechanism which was detected in the first year of owning the car. What was promised to be a 3 day work went for over a month, because the defective parts were replaced under warranty and took it’s own time to be dispatched from the factory. I was frustrated, I vented out to the head of works in Coimbatore and there after to the regional head of customer service in Bangalore.

I was pleasantly surprised when I was given an alternative car to use while mine was being repaired. To top it off the costs for the repairs were close to Rs.40,000/- and I didn’t spend a penny out of my pocket, warranty covered them all. I wasn’t charged labour charges for all the delays caused for this repair. I was happy at the service levels provided by the authorized service center, however I still would like them to attend to many small things that need attention when a car goes for service.

The second was an accident after midnight on a highway in April 2008 caused severe damage to left side all the way from the front fender to the rear boot. One look at the car would send shivers down one’s spine, the damage looked menacing. However nothing happened to the three people who were travelling in the car, not even a scratch. That was a sterling testimony to the way the car’s structure was built. To imagine what’d have been the case if this was one of the Maruti’s was shuddering.

If you are evaluating a new car don’t miss checking out the TATA Indigo Manza.

India is on Twitter?

We are living in a chaotic period in the modern India. Telangana, Naxals, Inflation, Kashmir, Terrorism, Liberalization … buzzwords that are heard everyday on TV, in the papers, on the internet and at bus stops in our country. Last year particularly was the coming of age of Twitter in our country. We saw a whole gamut of famous people get onto to Twitter and started using it mostly to promote their own personal agendas.

Shashi Tharoor, by far the most followed and eloquent amongst the newest twitterers from India keeps hitting media headlines for a casual remark he makes to his friend or commenting about aspects of foreign policy. The media which erstwhile played the role in bringing the message from the establishment, film starts and other avenues was finding it hard to cope with the fact that all these people now were directly talking to their target audience. Given this new channel established the media then had to report what was going on in Twitter which most often was a tad stale for the one’s that follow all these celebs on Twitter in the first place.

You have prominent personalities from the electronic media like Rajdeep Sardesai, Vikram Chandra, Sagarika Ghosh, Prabhu Chawla, Barkha Dutt …. on Twitter. You have reporters from these channels on Twitter. You have Vir Sanghvi, N Ram, Pritish Nandy and a whole gamut of professionals from the print media on Twitter. The film industry is there on twitter. All these folks promote their own articles, shows, movies on the medium. The folks from the media sometimes encourage debate, my favorite is Vir Sanghvi who never seems to have a problem calling a spade what it is. Go on, tweet to your hearts content and if you get a reply from one of these celebs do make a big deal about it.

Last week I was standing in a long line at a railway booking counter. The counters open at 8 AM and if you are one of those hapless one’s hoping to get a Tatkal ticket on a weekend train you better get to the booking counter by 8:15 AM or you don’t stand a chance in hell to get a confirmed reservation. Being the 17th person in the line I was slightly worried. As the crowd moved with only 10 more left an officer in Army uniform turned around:

Officer: Tatkal ticket?

Me: Yes sir, Saturday’s train, just 17 tickets remaining.

Officer: Aagay jao, mera tho utna jaldi nahi hai. (Go ahead, mine isn’t as urgent)

Me: Bahut shukriya sirji. (Thank you sir)

Don’t we need more people like this officer to make this world a better place?

The 2010 Ferrari F1 Challenger - Unveiled

The 2010 Ferrari F1 Challenger is ready to be unveiled. Here are some pics.

    

Santander assumes the role of principal sponsor considering the amount of coverage they’ve been given on the car, hope Alonso lives up to the Spanish bank’s expectations. It’s intriguing however for Santander to try to cash in on Lewis’ popularity in the UK, the new building blocks ad being an example.

Vigilante citizens or pseudo-moral hooligans?

Kerala as a society has always projected itself to be progressive, forward looking and intelligent. There is a high level of literacy across the state and this is simply not just based on if a person can write his/her own name, most people can read the daily newspaper. This state also has amongst the largest circulated newspapers in India. There are also the largest number of news channels in Malayalam, I’m just sharing a perception and not basing this on any fact.

Rajmohan Unnithan, one of the new leaders emerging in the Congress, was hounded, heckled and paraded in front of the media and subsequently taken to the police station in Manjeri and for what? Rajmohan was surrounded in the house he was with a friend/colleague/acquaintance of his by members of the PDP (People’s Democratic Party) and DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India). This group of vigilantes took it upon themselves to then hurl abuses at the duo, brand the woman a prostitute, tease them, harass them, rip their clothes (marginally, heck does that make it any less a crime?) and force the Police to book a case against them.

Paul Zachariah, noted social activity, commentator, columnist and write in Malayalam, wrote in the New Indian Express that Rajmohan took a short break as he was passing through Manjeri in Malappuram district. I’m not going to get into the morals of this episode, what outrages me is the fact that sort of vigilantism has been glorified by the media in Kerala and people alike. Manjeri for one is a well known red bastion, a strong hold of the communists and hence the DYFI showing up on Rajmohan’s doorstep is hardly surprising nor is the presence of their new found friend, the PDP.

Why would a shrewd politician like Rajmohan walk into a trap, if that’s version of this episode is true? This politician is a known Left baiter and has spoken acerbically about many such episodes in the past. He’s also played the villain role in a couple of movies. Once close to K Karunakaran he fell out with him after they split and was one of the harshest critic of Karunakaran’s son Muraleedharan who is currently trying his best to return to the Congress(I) after a failed stint trying to setup a third front in Kerala.

At the end of this apparently Rajmohan insisted that a medical test be conducted and no instance of sexual contact between the two could be proved. The media took it upon itself to telecast this sort of harassment ‘live’ as if it were of such national importance. Paul Z makes an interesting observation, he says the society in Kerala as such is starved for sex and hence this craving for sensationalism. Anyone who has been to “God’s own country” can vouch for the fact that except the big cities Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, life’s not easy at all for the women who have to travel by bus or train to their workplace and back.

What has the law enforcement agencies got to do by arresting and booking cases against two adults just because they were under the same roof? (Immoral trafficking!!!! Bullshit) Who gives these vigilantes the power to go about being the law and justice system all rolled into one? What if these two people were sleeping around? Who should be bothered by it? What happened to the progressiveness that marked the leftist ideals of yore?

Happy New Year 2010

Wow, it's been a while since any of us posted here. Live caught up with us and spoilt quite a few ideas. But here we are again ..

:::::::: HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 ::::::::: Hope this year brings to you all the prosperity, happiness and love that you need.

Hopefully I'll be more regular on here this year than the last couple of years. Strike that. I will be more regular. Ciao.

Oscar nominations - 2008

The following is the complete list of nominations announed for the 81st Academy Awards:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

- Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films) 

- Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) 

- Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features) 

- Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) 

- Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight) 

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

- Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features) 

- Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) 

- Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax) 

- Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.) 

- Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) 

Performance by an actress in a leading role

- Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics) 

- Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal) 

- Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics) 

- Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax) 

- Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) 

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

- Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax) 

- Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company) 

- Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax) 

- Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) 

- Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight) 

Best animated feature film of the year

- “Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard 

- “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne 

- “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton 

Achievement in art direction

- “Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis 

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo 

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando 

- “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway 

- “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt 

Achievement in cinematography

- “Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern 

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda 

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister 

- “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle 

Achievement in costume design

- “Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin 

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West 

- “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor 

- “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker 

- “Revolutionary Road”  (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky 

Achievement in directing

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher 

- “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard 

- “Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant 

- “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle 

Best documentary feature

- “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath 

- “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser 

- “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy 

- “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn 

- “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal 

Best documentary short subject

- “The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki 

- “The Final Inch” A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant 

- “Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan 

- “The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde 

Achievement in film editing

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall 

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith 

- “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley 

- “Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens 

Best foreign language film of the year

- “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany 

- “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France 

- “Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan 

- “Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria 

- “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel 

Achievement in makeup

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom 

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan 

- “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat 

- “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard 

- “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman 

- “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

- “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel 

- “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar 

- “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam                   

Best motion picture of the year

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers 

- “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers 

- “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers 

- “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer 

Best animated short film

- “La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato 

- “Lavatory - Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit 

- “Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand 

- “Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland 

- “This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes 

Best live action short film

- “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi 

- “Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont 

- “New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie 

- “The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh 

- “Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank 

Achievement in sound editing

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King 

- “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers 

- “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood 

- “Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman 

Achievement in sound mixing

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten 

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty 

- “WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt 

- “Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt 

Achievement in visual effects

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron 

- “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin 

- “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan 

Adapted screenplay

- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord 

- “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley 

- “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan 

- “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare 

- “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy 

Original screenplay

- “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt 

- “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh 

- “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh 

- “Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black 

- “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter