Shantha Kumar's Blog

Let us first get into our heads, that there is something called as right and wrong. I do not think there will be much of an argument on that! Second, in a family of two, comprising of a man and his wife, there are thousands (at least, hundreds) of things that the man considers right is considered wrong by the wife. Yes or no? I am sure you will nod in acceptance here too! Third, when it comes to the extended family, comprising of your children, siblings, parents, in-laws and the rest of this circle of people, tell me how many rights and wrongs exist between all of us. Don't you think that there are thousands and laks of points that you consider right is considered wrong by others. Check the society! This huge mass of people in a city and then in a state of India and India as a country and as a part of this entire world, full of human beings devoured by their own thoughts and perceptions. Thoughts that are not accepted by one another is quite common. Leaders like Ga...

India is sweeping the South Asia athletic meet in 2016. More medals won by India than all other teams put together! Are you not proud? What is the point India is trying to make to the world of South Asia? That India has become a sports power house? We need to reconsider the situation. India is a large country. Compared to Sri Lanka or Maldives or even Pakistan, it is like an adult playing in kids tournaments. I think, India should try to enter more than one team. May be, India - North and India - South. May be, even four teams. India - North, South, East and West. This should happen in World cup Cricket too! For instance, if the UK can nominate England, Ireland and Scotland as separate teams, with hardly populations as big as our Mumbai or New Delhi, why should not India have four teams for World Cup Cricket? Leave aside patriotism humbug. Look at what it would mean to the sport as a whole. At least in the case of South Asia Games, Common Wealth Games, World Cup Cricket ...

More than once today, I have heard 'powerful' people remark that there is no problem in evacuating wind power or solar power or for that matter any power in Tamil Nadu. I was present at the Confederation of Indian Industry - TN Renewable Energy Conference 2016. In the inaugural session, the Minister for Power in Tamil Nadu remarked that the problem in power evacuation of wind has nothing to do with grid or transmission systems. He asserted, it is a problem connected with infirm nature of wind. 'Make it firm, Gentlemen'. 'Use your minds. Do some research. Find some way to make it firm'. If only the solution is so easy! Later after the inaugural session, we had more techie talk. We had the Director Operations of none other than the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation declaring vehemently, that there is no short fall of evacuation capacity. 'We can evacuate all of your wind power; all of your solar power. We have the capacity. We have augmented it'...

Edit Blog I was referring to how history is really a sequence of social changes and wars are really driven by such social changes. Not just wars, kings are made and un-made by those actions of the society.  India had a major social change wrought by the influx of Hindu thought overruling the thoughts of Jains and Buddhists who ruled the roost then. This thought introduced into the country, some good things and some bad things. Two important concepts stand out for critical review. One, the thought of Karma. Two, the thought on Education. They said and accepted that Karma decides how you are born and how you lived in this world. As per Hindu doctrine brought in by the then priest class, four different varnas existed and the birth into the varna was because of your earlier karma. Any reference to something which can never be proved is so easy to hold. So what happened was, any disease was thought of as a karma. If you had leprosy it was because of your karma. If yo...

British East India Company did not have anything to sell in India except Opium that they obtained on the way to India. After more than six hundred years, after the Roman sea-trade withered, Europeans were again trading with India over the sea. Romans found the sea route long time back. But then, we cannot discount the huge service East India Company did to this world. They created the first real MNC. And what an MNC it was! They acquired wealth within a matter of fifty years! From 1600 to 1650, the company grew by more than 10000 times in asset worth and value! The East India Company was not only the richest company in the world by 1650 but also it was richer than Britain! And when the British Government decided to dissolve the company in 1857-8, after the first war of Indian Independence, Britain grew richer to an unbelievable extent. Nobody talks of why the company that was so successful, created Singapore and Hongkong for the world, should be dissolved in one stroke by the...