goggly

A friend of mine, from walchand yahoo group site posted this interesting article written by an Indian Economist. I found it very amusing yet apt and releavant in many situations. Japanese save a lot. They do not spend much. Also Japan exports far more than it imports. Has an annual trade surplus of over 100 billions. Yet Japanese economy is considered weak, even collapsing. Americans spend, save little. Also US imports is more than it exports. It has an annual trade deficit of over$400 billion. Yet, the American economy is considered strong and trusted to get stronger. But where from do Americans get money to spend? They borrow from Japan, China and even India.Virtually others save for the US to spend. Global savings are mostly invested in US, in dollars. India itself keeps its foreign currency assets of over$50 billions in US securities. China has sunk over$160 billion in US securities. Japan's stakes in US securities is in trillions. Result : The US has taken over $5 trillion ...

Around the same w eek, when President A P J Abdul Kalam was inaugurating a two-day conference of senior officials and heads of anti corruption wings , I was witnessing traffic policemen collecting his ‘hafta’ (share of bribe!) at the traffic signal opposite President Kalam’s official residence. This traffic signal stands at cross roads of Vijay Path (a road the leads from Presidents’ palace to India Gate) and road that lead to Parliament. This is no ordinary traffic signal or pole but a singular small light that it put on the top on the dome of the permanent stand kept in the middle of this large intersection. This funny, obscure signal light is known only to regular delhites but those who are visitors to Delhi become a victim of the traffic violation. On weekday, visitor is protected by cars ahead that stop seeing the signal but on weekend or holiday, the place is barren- visitors come to see the grandeur of President Palace, Vijay Path and India Gate. Traffic Policeman sets his bait ...

Today is Pu La's birth anniversary. I accidently happened to notice it while surfing the site पु. ल. देशपांडे a site dedicated to Pu La Deshpande. I reproduce below one his speech 'sujan ho' taken from मराठी साहित्य that reflects his philosophy towards life in succinct manner. 'सुजनहो' या त्यांच्या भाषणांच्या संग्रहातून घेतलेला हा एक उतारा --भारतीय संस्कृती म्हणा किंवा माणसाची संस्कृती म्हणा, दोन गोष्टींवर अधिष्ठित आहे, असं मला वाटतं. एक म्हणजे आठवड्याचा बाजार आणि एक वर्षाचा उत्सव. आठवड्याचा बाजार हा तुमच्या शरीराच्या ज्या गरजा आहेत, त्या पुरवण्यासाठी असतो; आणि वर्षाचा उत्सव तुमच्या मनाच्या ज्या गरजा आहेत, त्या पुरवण्यासाठी असतो. एक फार सुंदर चिनी म्हण आहे. त्यांनी म्हटलेलं आहे की, 'तुम्हांला दोन पैसे मिळाले, तर एका पैशाचे धान्य आणा, आणि एक पैशाचं फूल आणा. एक पैशाचं धान्य तुम्हांला जगवेल आणि फूल तुम्हांला कशासाठी जगायचं हे कारण सांगेल.' संगीत तुम्हांला, का जगायचं याचं कारण सांगतं. तुम्हांला जगायचं आहे कशासाठी? मला मोगूबाई ऐकायच्या आहेत, मला भीमसेन ऐकायचे आ...

Seeing Brabourn stadium in Champions trophy brought memories of my early days of seeing live cricket matches. My first experience was Mumbai v/s Baroda. Mumbai team had Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Ajit Pai, Saeed Hathia. On that day, Baroda opted to bat and Vijay Bhosle scored a century. My second match was West Zone v/s South Zone Duleep trophy final. West Zone started with Niranjan Shah, Madhu Gupte followed by Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Vijay Bhosle, Ashok Mankad, Ajit Pai. South had Jayantilal, Govindraj, Krishnamurthi etc. Ajit Wadekar would get the rousing welcome he would enter to bat one down. In later years, Sunil Gavaskar, Sandip Patil and Sachin Tendulkar got similar applause. I remember a catch of the bowling of Govindraj. Second slip fielder dived and scooped the ball up, first slip fielder lifted it up and the ball was caught by the wicketkeeper. Kulkarni brothers – Vijay and Sunil, our second floor neighbour in Govt colony – both ardent cricket fans and players took...

In my first visit to Cape Town, I was tied down to the downtown with a distant view of Table Mountain. Naturally, when I saw expansive terrain of Johannesburg – I was little generous in elevating this city over Cape Town – much to the chagrin of South Africans. This time, I stayed at the Somerset west - the country side of the Cape Town – and toured along the vineyards at Stellenbosch, had dinner in African settings at Moyo. I was quick to realize my earlier folly. First Impression is definitely not the lasting impression; Cape Town can match any other spectacular place on Mediterranean. No wonder Europeans who arrived decided to stay put!!! I was being driven along Stellenbosch Wine Routes, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Western Cape. It has more than 200 wine and grape producers and considered as the second oldest town in South Africa with most winery façade as Cape Dutch buildings. All around Stellenbosch lies in a fertile green valley surrounded by vineyards...

India had just completed their innings against Australia in the Champions trophy. I watched it in my hotel resort ‘Straightway Head’ at Somerset west in Cape Town. It was lunch time and I decided to have a bite in an open area outside the restaurant facing lush green gardens of the resort. The next table family party was getting over and I was all by myself reading about Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Garden route while basking in the sun on a cool day. As I finished my Mushroom soup and started with vegetable sandwiches, unexpected companion arrived. Beautiful iridescent blue-green coloured highly elongated plumage – tail – captivated me as he squezzed between wrough iron chairs. I had never seen peacock so close but I wasn’t sure if I should shoo him away or safeguard myself by pulling up my legs to prevent him coming clsoer. He solved my fear – he was more shy and more scared than I was. He went behind my chair in an open space and started looking for titbits of food that my pred...