How does this qualify as news?

I have been scavenging the news quite a bit for any hint of Galaxy S2 or Iphone 5 release date. CNNs' Headline "Report: Next iPhone to be unveiled October 4." caught my attention and I immediately clicked on the link to find out that the information is from a Wall Street Journal Blog and neither the blog writer nor CNN can confirm this information. I could not believe news could be so "unambiguous". My thoughts now echo with all those who think that the quality of news has degenerated considerably. I got two important new pieces of information from that article
1) Iphone to be released on Oct 4th is yet another speculation.
2) CNN's news is a load of trash.

Looking at the half full glass, in future I will save quite a bit of my valuable time by not clicking on any CNN's links.

Link to the news piece: http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/21/tech/mobile/apple-iphone-rumor/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

Mission to soothe my soul - Changed to DOA

Off late, I have this irrepressible urge to write but almost always hard pressed on topics, rather no topic interests me long enough to dwell on it for more than a few minutes. On a typical day I ponder over numerous thoughts which can be best summarized as eclectic. One of them is researching about MBA program in US. There are lots of why, what and how questions, however one eventual unavoidable task is taking the GMAT. As I was getting familiar with the format, sections, nuances etc. I came across the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) Section, which consists of two parts: Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. Quick digression here: life is as usual a rigorous monotony and I need to induce some color, flavor, spice. With some inspiration from Julie/Julia project (its a movie, yes thats me I draw my motivation from the most unconventional sources), I decided to write about a topic a day or averaging 5 topics a week from the GMAT's AWA Section. I am hoping this will appease the urge to write-topic starved, wanting to induce flavor into a vapid life, GMAT preparing MBA aspirant's soul.

Those of you who might stumble across this page, please keep checking for updates and I earnestly request you to grade the essays and leave comments, feedback etc.

Grade Scale

It's Alright

Can do better

Total waste of my time

Criminal Offense

The following entry is after an hour of browsing the AWA topics.

I guess I committed too soon. I glanced at the topics in the AWA section they seem to be heavy and serious and if I venture into this project of essay a work day, there are sure signs of loosing the little left joy. I am back to my old a feeling of sinking into abysmal doom after a false surge of hope. On the brighter side, I have a practical understanding of Dead on Arrival.

My take on Telangana

Is breaking up the nation into smaller states the right thing? Smaller states definitely are easier to manage and have better accountablity. Comparing to a company for e.g., Intel will be in a chaos working as a one whole big group so there are teams, groups, divisions etc. But how small is small? Can each individual form his or her own team? Then, where to draw the line? Depends entirely on what can be managed better and accouted for easily. Smaller states are not such a bad idea as long as it makes sense.

However, in the case of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana movement has been on for four decades now. In fact when Coastal and Rayalaseema regions of the present AP were carved out of Madras Presidency (a fast unto death by Potti Sriramulu) in 1953, Telangana was not a part of it. States Reorganization Commission (SRC) report was against the merging of Telangana into the newly formed Andhra State. Central government went against the SRC report and merged Telangana into Andhra State and formed Andhra Pradesh in 1956, based on some gentlemen agreements. Ofcourse none of them have been met till date, so a disgruntled Telangana population has been brewing for the past few decades which did not want to be part of the AP in the first place. Telangana had been always been under developed as it was largely under the Nizam rule, while the people from Andhra were better educated because of the British influence.

When you take some unrest, annoyance, imbalance and give it to the Indian politicians you can trust them to blow it out of proportion. In the past 50 years no CM has taken any proactive interest in the Telangana region's development. If AP had an uniform development over the entire region and if the concerns/issues in the Telangana region had been addressed in a timely manner, probably it would have remained whole today. Minus Hyderabad, Telangana region remains under developed, arid, poor compared to the rich and affluent coastal Andhra. The worst fears of exploitation and oppression expressed by Telagana during the formation of Andhra Pradesh have been confirmed. Its hardly surprising that the people of Telangana have lost faith in the united Andhra Pradesh. In light of the ugly turn the Telangana movement has taken, real problems should not be ignored. The problems in Telangana are real, undeniable and indisputable.

However, all evidence for the lack of development in Telangana points to incompetence by the governing body and in part but not exclusively due to the integration with AP. KCR is cashing on the people's sentiment and his only agenda in the pro-Telanga is his own benefit. Trusting the state with someone like KCR is just moving the problem into different hands. The status quo of Telangana people will not change with the new statehood. Telangana development (either divided or integrated) is now tied entirely to the leaders governing it and it's very hard to see KCR working towards its betterment. Under leadership of KCR, if Telangana does benefit by breaking away from AP then its just accidental stroke of good fortune and the down side is that undeserved people get credited and undesired movements patronized. As always, thanks to our leaders, Telangana problem has burgeoned into a loose-loose solution. It now stands between the neglect of the past and uncertainity of the future with ofcourse unnecessary damage and destruction to lives and property at present.

References:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+in0075)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telangana

Reminiscing my BA visits...

I have been to the BA so frequently lately that sometimes I feel I live there and commute to work in Folsom. Everytime when I turn on the ignition Friday evening preparing for the long drive from Folsom to BA, I break into a train of thoughts and end up resenting the upcoming get together. Well, isnt this get together that's making me drive tonight. I would have liked to enjoy my Friday evenings with delivery service from one of my favorite restaurants (9 out 10 cases its pizza) and the latest edition of TIME magazine. How very annoying to give it up for this commute? Btw, no pun intended here, it requires immense external force to get myself out of inertia, I follow Newton's first law to the tee. But all my frustration lasts only till I reach Boneso Circle and my emotions/sentiments change faster than traffic lights. It goes from remorse (earlier cursing), to happiness (warm welcomes), to anticipation (for the upcoming events) to yearning (for the next event).
Recent visits are lot to do about Vuchi/Neel as they have decided to move to India for good.
Its hard enough to accept the fact that I will not be seeing them as often, and the two of them are taking evil pleasure to make the change is extremely miserable. A couple of weeks ago Vuchi hosted a farewell party in his boss's vacation home, as most of the party's hosted by the vuchi's this was yet another MASTI UNLIMITED. On paper its the regular music, games, booze, in experience it was exhilarating, its hard to surmarize in words, in short I had one of my best times ever. Its extra special to me because I crossed another party milestone: my first tequila shot. I am not sure if I got a little tipsy or it was the general party ambience but it felt like I will/could never be unhappy again. For hard core harry potter fans, it was as if the place was swarming with "anti-dementers".
I was back again last weekend, it was our turn to tell the marupuru's what a wonderful time we had with them. We hosted a surprise party, ended with songs like Mustafa Mustafa and Veedukole, I cant remember anyone being explicitly moist eyed. But it will be a while before Vuchi can entertain a party effortlessly (sorry vuchi thats the first thing that came to my mind) and Neel will be missed terribly during the cozy girls chat....
Then I went to Uttara's place, we wanted to give a Uma a surprise welcome back party. In terms of the surprise we have could have better, but the event was exceptionally hilarious. We performed extremely loud, rich in emotion musical which would have put all Chopras and Bharjatyas to shame. As always I left with a heavy heart to Folsom, it was all over... not so soon.. Friday is not too far away, I will be back (I meant to say "I will go back", still in the BA in thought) to see Vuchi/Neel and if possible Raji off in the airport. Ahhh.. I need to do a lot of catching up with Uma now that she's back. Then there's the shopping with Uttara and Uma. Very soon I will be annoyed, grunting and groaning.. and this time it is aThursday evening.

Magic without Wand Waving and Incantation

For an ardent fan, this blog comes really late. It is about Harry Potter - the magic JK Rowling, the greatest sorceress ever, has conjured into books. This magic she wove has hood winked millions of people into reading. In this visually enthralling era of tv, internet and video games, she dragged people back to books, imprisoned them in the bicolor pages and unleashed their imagination into surreal creativity.
I thought I could write incessantly about Jk Rowling and Harry Potter, surprisingly I am not able to think of anything else. With all the adulation for her writing, its disappointing that I could not pen more than a couple of sentences. After lot of brain racking I concluded that it is the ambition to write something which the myriad of press hasnt reported already is gating further thoughts/words. I dont want to rave all over again about how a single mother struggling to pay bills started writing about a wizard and created an unprecedented phenonmenon - a spell binding magic without wand waving and incantation.
So I will change gears here and write about why this magic works for me. I think its the tangible characters who are all varying shades of grey which make them human and real. My most favorite characters are Hermione and Snape (I cannot make up my mind whom I like better). From a readers point Hermione is most endearing as it reminds me a lot about my younger self. I might not have been an insufferable know it all but the perception of myself as one was/is always a source of pride than embarrassment. I definitely was a stickler for rules, a bit bossy and I walked around (probably still do) with a faint trace of vanity and "I know better attitude" both of which were a consequence of acquiring knowledge through reading books (now online also) much like Hermione. From the author's point I don't think I have ever read a character as beautifully developed as Snape. Over the entire series my emotions towards the character went from hatred and disgust to deep respect and adulation.
It would be incomplete if I dont mention the humor, I found all kinds, blatant, witty, tongue in cheek - makes me laugh out loud everytime I read. Ofcourse, its not without its share of faults, but in light of the enchanted ride of great reading they all fade away. To all those who have written off these books as juvenile, I would say just one thing - you are being ignorant and this time your ignorance is costing you bliss.