Sonia Outsmarted the Media?

"Pratibha Patil is the UPA nominee for President". The moment journalists first heard this, what do you think their first reaction was? Shock? Suprise? NO. It was fear. They were petrified by the reaction they would get from their editors. How could they not find out after having all those sources in the Government about this lady? How did this happen?

So, to defend themselves they come out with the story that how she was a last minute nominee and this is like a fairy tale come true for her. Now, thats not completely true. If I have observed Sonia properly since 1998, she has never acted instinctively after the "272" fiasco. This seems to be a well thought out plan. Whether by Sonia or someone else, it was well thought out and implemented superbly. There were murmurs in the Congress that this could be the right time for a lady President. The proof of this is an article published by rediff on 6th of June, 2007.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/06prez.htm

The media now crying foul over the selection procedure is actually licking it's own wounds. The fact is that they didn't see this coming. They are fearful of losing credibility in the eyes of the Indian junta, especially after the UP exit poll debacle. It's time that the Indian media conceded the fact that Sonia caught it unawares this time with her Presidential nominee.

It seems she got better of the media this time!

The Great Fall

The U.S. dollar has not only fallen against the Indian Rupee but against many major foreign currencies like Euro, Yen and Canadian Dollar. Infact the Canadian Dollar has moved up so swiftly in the past 3 months that it is now close to being equivalent to the U.S. Dollar. Till December 1 Canadian Dollar fetched 0.866998 U.S Dollar, now it is close to 0.94, soon it is forecasted to cross the value of U.S. Dollar. And by soon, I mean before the end of this year. If this were to happen it would be a first of sorts.

Now, lets look at why U.S Dollar will fall further.
U.S. GDP growth was dismal 0.6% (annualized) for the first quarter of 2007. Part of it was due to inventory drawdown, hwich is expected to correct itself in the next quarter. However there is a slump in the U.S. housing market. It is believed that after the results of this quarter the "Fed" will lower interest rates. If this does happen(which is likely), this will cause further devaluation.
From India's perspective, if inflation goes up again, like it had in the last quarter, we will have to hike up interest rates to control it. This will further appreciate the value of the Indian rupee v/s the U.S. Dollar.

Now what does this mean for us in Canada? Well, exporters closing shop. Canadian tourists can enjoy cheaper holidays in U.S. and yes a stronger Canadian Dollar might create more self confident Canadians visa vis the Americans.

Shiv Sena - A party fighting the future

Have you ever seen a political party which drives away voters from it?
If no, then meet the Shiv Sena. The party from Aamchi Mumbai. Shiv Sena is famous for it's violent protests,rioting and all that can be called unlawful. Yet, at many points of time it was the most favoured party of Mumbaikars. However, they have been going down in popularity and this trend may continue if they don't put on their thinking caps. But again, the Sena and logic don't go hand in hand.
It is hilarious to see Sena politics sitting far away from Mumbai. They seem to oppose anything and everything which is related to being young in Indian society today or any futuristic trend. They oppose Valentine's Day, something that almost every college going kid celebrates or atleast would like to. They oppose outsiders coming into Mumbai by thrashing up Bhiharis. Maybe they don't understand that looking at current trend, Mumbai will have far more North Indians than any other community, especially in the blue collared jobs. And you know whats worse for them, these are the people who actually go out and vote. And now they oppose orkut. For god sake, almost every young Mumbaikar or for that matter young Indian is using orkut today.
Sadly the sufferer in all this drama is the young Indian. Even if he or she wanted to go out and vote against the present UPA government for it's idiotic reservation policies, what choice would he/she be left with? The BJP and Sena? One is interested in vandalising art galleries and movie theatre while the other wants to ban arguably the most popular Internet site today in India! Yes, I am not kidding. Orkut's popularity seems to have invaded Matoshree too! According to today's Times Of India, three Thackrey grandsons are members of orkut.

Well, my advise to the Sena and the Sainiks is to stop fighting the future, no one in history has ever succeeded in defeating time. Accept change and if you can't lead the world towards the path you want it to take. But alas, whom am I advising, logic and Sena never go hand in hand.