Moving to WordPress

Sorry for the pain I'm causing you, but I'm moving to the WordPress free hosting service. The URL of my blog is http://wiredal.wordpress.com .

I will be updating the Feedburner feed to point to that address (at least I'll try), but you can also subscribe using the WordPress feed for my blog.

See you on the new blog.

PS: The archives will be here for now.

Shades of saffron

Excerpts from an article by S R Ramanujan about the "secular media" from The Hoot:

No one can hold brief for Modi for what happened in 2002. But does it mean that he and his state can be condemned for ever? If we extend this logic, the late Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao should have been hounded out of politics after 1984 massacre. Indira Gandhi should not have been allowed to be in public life for the atrocities she committed against the people of this country during the Emergency suspending all their fundamental rights.

The people of the state are happy with him and this was reflected in the recently held Panchayat polls. The results of the poll were an endorsement of his clean administration as well. MJ Akbar is the last person to become a Modi acolyte. Even he had the honesty to admit that Modi was one of the ablest chief ministers in the country.

Read Narendra Modi, Pravasi Divas, and Secularism

The Water Front

The water refers to the water in Tank Bund in Hyderabad. The 'front', because through the restaurant you have a view of the lake.

At night, when I went, you can see the Gautama Buddha statue in the distance and the lake waters are almost black and shiny. You can also see the road on the other side of the lake or maybe it was my imagination.

The restaurant has a waiting area where two people can sit comfortably. Three, if you like cozy threesomes. I don't, unless the other two are models.

We went on a Thursday night and the place was crowded, so we had to wait for a table. It would be a good idea to reserve a table. There are waiting areas inside, where you can order starters and drinks, and there are stools at the bar as well. No single women sitting at the bar. Sigh.

The lighting is subdued in the restaurant, so only certain areas are "highlighted", the aquarium's one of them. The bartenders work against the aquarium backdrop. The aquarium's big and looks like it's wall mounted. Also, the fish seemed to be swimming to only one side. Maybe there was a fish model there.

The other highlighted area is directly above the aquarium, where a keyboard player and a violinist (plugged in) were playing a mixture of tunes, both Hindi and English. They're pleasant to listen to and unobtrusive, so it enhances the eating experience. Also, they nailed the song we requested.

The chairs are comfortable, but the tables could be a bit bigger. The restaurant has a special Thai menu, Indian food, and Chinese food as well. The service is good, if maybe a bit overenthusiastic.

The soup (spicy sweet corn chicken) was excellent, not the standard taste that you get at all Chinese restaurants. The chicken satay was good too, but it was cold when I ate it, probably from the AC blowing on my plate.

The highlight was a Thai chicken dish, fiery hot something (can't remember the Thai name), which was as advertised. When they say hot, they mean hot. We also had a mutton dish and a prawn dish, both were good. Overall, a good eating experience.

They do have a cover charge of Rs. 350, which you can "renew" against food and drinks. The prices are on the higher side, especially for a restaurant in Hyderabad, but the portions are ample and it's a nice experience.

Did I mention that the view is breathtaking?

The Water Front is on Necklace Road in Hyderabad. Sorry, I don't do directions.

Firing at IISc Bangalore

CNN-IBN and NDTV reported that someone fired shots outside the Tata Auditorium in IISc in Bangalore. The details are not clear and we'll probably know more by tomorrow morning.

There are also reports that one person, a professor, was killed and five or six others injured. People were apparently coming out after attending a conference on Operations Research. It's still unclear who was behind the attack.

This is a sad day for Bangalore.

Indian students and pressure

An interesting article from The Telegraph, against the backdrop of the recent arrest of an Indian student for allegedly stabbing his teacher.

Nikhil Dhar may or may not have stalked and stabbed his University of Massachusetts teacher, associate professor Mary Elizabeth Hooker, over his falling grades. But if the charges against the 22-year-old Calcutta boy are true, he wouldn’t be the first Indian student in America to have had a breakdown.

Read Grade heat can singe . While this article talks about Indian students in the US, students in India too face a lot of pressure.

The bizarre incident

An interesting column from a lawyer in Mumbai about a recent case that made the news in India. Here's a snippet:

In a sworn affidavit, she had alleged that it was a false case, and that her mother, who was estranged from her father, had instigated her to file this false complaint.

The media was quick in indicting the mother. Overnight, she had been transformed from a helpless victim of domestic abuse to a manipulator, the culprit of the entire piece. The concern that was highlighted was that the law does not prescribe a stringent punishment for such a woman. One paper carried a headline, "Wife may get away lightly."

Rather curiously, while the indictment of the mother was quick and scathing, there was hardly any introspection as to where and how this affidavit was made, and what were the circumstances that led to the filing of it at such a late stage, and why such an affidavit could not be procured at the stage of the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court. Why did the girl have a sudden change of heart?

Read Rape and retraction .

Stinging the operation?

An interesting article on sting operations by Barkha Dutt (of NDTV fame):

At the heart of the matter is the entrapment debate. Should journalists be laying out the honey trap? Should we be practitioners of cheque-book journalism, where we set out into the world armed with bundles of cash and know our destination before the journey has even begun; where reporting is no longer a process of discovery, but a wedge of cheese dangling in a rat-trap?

Read the full article: Sting a song of six-pence