Down the nostalgia lane...

I sometimes wonder whether I'd have had more friends if I had studied in in a single school right from Kindergarten till high school rather than the six schools in various cities that I studied in. I had to change my schools after every couple of years as my father who worked in a bank was transferred frequently. I studied for only a single year in 4 schools.

I guess that the short time that I spent in the schools did not create strong bonds of friendship with my classmates. For the past few days I have been surfing through the alumni communities on Orkut. I was satisfied to find a community started by my classmates during my one year sojourn at Pune during which I was in the 8th standard.

Whereas I can vaguely recall the names of my friends during that year I am not sure whether they will remember me at all !

Obama in China

US president Obama's recent visit to China raises more questions than answers. His assigning of greater role to China in facilitating peace in south Asia is tantamount to offering the judge's job to the accused.

It is well known fact that China harbours malice towards India and has done every possible thing to harm India's interests. Be it gifting 50 kg of highly enriched uranium to Pakistan or unnecessarily claiming Arunachal Pradesh or setting up " string of pearls " in the Indian Ocean or taking building projects in PoK or clandestinely arming the Maoists or trying to thwart the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal ; China has always been wary of India.

It is sad that the new Nobel peace laureate has preferred to kowtow before the dragon while turning a blind eye towards China's role in proliferating nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan. Also, this champion of human rights has chosen to subtly hinted towards freedom of expression rather than sending strong signal over the carnage in Tibet.

All in all, Obama rhetoric appears to be hollow words rather than and displaying any audacity in action. On the other hand, George W. Bush was all messed and unruly in this rhetoric but his beans were in right place. Bush knew what was needed to be done and made no noise while ensuring that was done. A few of his decisions like the invasion of Iraq were based on flimsy ground cannot be defended. But he made no bones while ensuring the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal was ratified by the congress before he vacated the president's office.

His and Condoleeza Rice's contribution to taking the Indo-US relations to a higher lever cannot ever be forgotten.

About taking oath in Hindi

The news headline of today is the beating up of Abu Azmi when he was trying to take the oath as Member of Legislative Assembly. While it must be admitted that the MNS MLAs did the right thing in objecting to the oath-taking in Hindi , I must say that they overdid it. It appears that it will cost them 4 years of suspension. This will mean serious injustice to the voters who voted for them. Their leaders has promised active opposition. But any suspension will mean the voters will be deprived of their right of opposing the government through their representatives.