Oman vs Kuwait

Have been keeping my eyes open on my arrival in Muscat. There are quite a few differences between Kuwait and Oman.

In Kuwait, there are hardly any vehicles with manual transmission (except some 18 pick ups). In Oman, a substantial number of the medium sized sedans come with a manual transmission.

Kuwait is littered with high end cars and SUV's. Oman looks a poorer cousin, with more mid sized sedans than large expensive cars on the road.

Omani's actually stop their car to let a pedestrian cross the road, something unseen when a Kuwaiti is driving.

There are many many bookshops in Muscat, unlike Kuwait, which pleases me no end.

2 Temples - One Shiva temple and One Krishna temple, as against none in Kuwait. Also, one can see the common sight of hindus sporting kumkum, vibhoothi and sandalwood paste on their forehead.

The bakalas that dot the landscape of Kuwait is conspicuous by their absence in Oman. One is dependent on mini super markets and hyper markets for groceries.

The Country is littered with Educational Institutions/ training centres and health clinics, unlike Kuwait.

Alternate medicine like Ayurveda and Homeopathy is allowed in Oman, whereas it is banned in Kuwait.

Hardly any skyscrapers dot the skyline in Oman. The town has a flat architecture dotted by arid mountains.

Oman is less hot, more humid and not at all dusty, unlike Kuwait.

Random thoughts on reaching Muscat after a decade in Kuwait

At last, a total change of life! Quite welcome, after a decade in Kuwait.

Landed yesterday in Muscat, to begin a fresh chapter.

The mountainous Muscat with its flat constructions, looks more like India than India itself. Quite unlike Kuwait, with tall skyscrapers and glass buildings.

In the process of finding a house, and settling down.

Blogging will be sporadic in the coming days. Bear with me.

Anyway, nothing much is happening anywhere. India looks more like an umpteenth episode of a never ending soap opera - food inflation still above 16%, general inflation hovering around 10%, government clueless, and people getting on with their life. Even the Ayodhya judgement isnt anything to write about.

Gave up my teaching career on 27th. Though there is a tinge of regret, it is time to move on. Nice to know at least some of the students will miss me. Small groups of students took me out to some informal dinners, which is quite appreciated. It is best to stop when people ask WHY, than WHY NOT.

Where is the redemption?

The UPA government has fully abdicated its responsibility. There is an absolute lack of leadership and accountability. The Prime Minister, widely believed to be honest personally, is heading the most corrupt Government India has seen (and India has really seen some corrupt governments in its 63 years history). He has no control over his various ministries and worse still do not have the moral or even legal authority to rule the country.

The minister, Raja, who presided over one of the worst cases of corruption - the 2G Auction-continues in the telecom ministry, even after syphoning off and ensuring the country loses Rs 1000 crores.

The CWG has become a national shame. Any PM worth his salt would have sacked Suresh Kalmadi immediately and pulled up that idiot Lalit Bhanot (of the Indian hygeine standards infame), sent the army to take over the CWG sites to bring a sense of efficiency. Instead, Kalmadi continues, Sheila Dixit continues and so do their cronies, though they have squandered nearly Rs 70,000 crores. India has become a laughing stock in the global arena. Nothing during the past two decades have shamed India as much as the CWG preparations (lack of).

Inflation is out of control. Food is not available in the streets, but the granaries are overflowing. Grains are rotting. But, hey, MMS wont release the grains despite a SC verdict. We are poised to have record food grain production this year, but the poor are starving and Government wont lift a finger.

The Government has totally mismanaged the Maoist insurgency and has no control over nearly 1/3rd of the country. Kashmir is burning and Government is totally apathetic.

Never has Indians felt so helpless as they are today. Nothing seems to make the Government work - not ethics, not Supreme Court, not street protests, not bandhs, not parliament- nothing.

Where is the redemption?

Print and Spend

The Congress Government's policy had always been to Tax and Spend, leading to Financial indiscipline and stunted growth.

But UPA 2 has chosen a more dangerous strategy, that will have long term consequence for the Country. During P.Chidambaram's tenure as Finance Minister, during UPA 1, the UPA Government has taxed anything and everything. As a wag once remarked "The only thing that PC has not taxed is f**king".

With hardly any new avenue open for additional taxation, the Government has shifted its policy to one of "PRINT AND SPEND". It has been printing money indiscriminately, leading to the hyper inflation that is prevalent in the Country today. Even the 'Economist' Prime Minister is pleading helplessness by saying that he is not a magician to tell when the inflation will come down, meaning it won't. Not when the irresponsible Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who enjoy considerable authority without a shred of responsibility, indulge in welfare economics of the worst kind that benefits none (with the exception of the corrupt), and especially the poor whom it is supposed to benefit.

Maybe Manmohan Singh is taking a leaf out of his Master's strategy to counter recession. The USA has been printing dollars indiscriminately (see pic above) to shore up a sagging economy. And disaster looms for dollar.

How to segment the Marriage Market!!

Opening the Mathrubhumi Newspaper, I was intrigued by the advertisements in the Matrimonial Column. In olden days, there were only two general categories - Brides wanted and Grooms Wanted.

Now, they have taken Market Segmentation, Targeting to a new level. There were numerous subsections, each targeting at specific segments like, Girls who have Mars (Chovva) in the 7/8th house, Nair Girls, Ezhava Girls, OBC marriages, Vellala grooms, Sudha Jathakam only, Vaaniyar brides, above 45 grooms,  etc etc............. The list was endless, and each section has a separate contact telephone number. Looks like Marriage brokers are MBA Marketing graduates these days, who have segmented, and then further segmented the market.

Amazing!

In the name of God, Go!

Never has been Oliver Cramwell's words of 1653 more relevant than today;

"Dr.Manmohan Singh, you have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

Disaster in Waiting

The Prime Minister, who staked his prestige on the nuclear agreement with USA and then on getting the nuclear liability bill passed in the parliament, has shown an unsurprising lack of leadership when it comes to tackling the Kashmir issue, or the Maoist insurgency, or in controlling the inflation or in any of internal issues that cries for a clear cut policy initiative.

And the Kashmir issue is getting out of hand. And, the person to blame for this is not the PM, but Rahul Gandhi. Media has not surprisingly downplayed his culpability in this sordid saga.

To know how, one has to go back to the last J&K election. Congress and the National Congress had gone into the election projecting the seasoned elder Abdullah, Omar's father, Farooq Abdullah as the Chief Minister. Despite his high profile life style, Farooq Abdullah, is a seasoned politician, who has handled the State before. He was all ready to take the Oath, when Rahul Gandhi stepped in and pressurised a very reluctant Farooq to make his son, the highly inexperience Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister. At that time, everyone (read psychophants in the Congress party and their chamcha media) hailed it as a great intervention by the PM in waiting to give a youthful face to governance. Wise men murmered then that this would be a disaster, for Omar has never lived in Kashmir, had very limited administrative experience, was not respected by people and was just not ready to handle a complicated state like Kashmir, which is always volatile. He did not have the stature to govern the State, that has both national and international relevance.

And now that Omar has proved to be a disaster (the current crisis can be directly attributed to poor governance by Omar), and everyone crying for Farooq Abdullah to take over (not that he is great but he is certainly wiser), Rahul and his cronies are blocking the move, as it would tantamount to accepting that Prince Charming's (Prince Disaster?) judgement was wrong. And hey! how can someone from the dynasty be wrong? So Kashmir continues to burn, while Rahul and Omar fiddles (read parties with the high and mighty).

Dread to think what will happen to India, if such a disaster becomes India's PM!

Let us change his description from PM in Waiting to Disaster in Waiting!