Rumi Nations

So what's making the news around the middle of August 2013? Here's a random summary. The staggering corruption being committed by the Gandhi family in general and Robert Vadra in particular is back in the news as Mr. Khemka's official response to the Haryana government has turned up in the media. Here's a news round-up of all articles related to Robert Vadra . Clearly, officers like Mr. Khemka deserve much appreciation from the Government for his extraordinary career of exceptional uprightness. What about a National Award such as a Padma Sri or Padma Bhusan? Clearly, if cricketers and other worthies can be so awarded, it'd not be out of place to confer honest officers with such awards.

It's interesting to look at the Coursera communities around the world. Here are the   Top 10 cities on the list . They are: 1) Stanford, 2) New York, 3) London, 4) Bangalore, 5) San Francisco, 6) Moscow, 7) Athens, 8) Toronto, 9) Washington, DC, 10) Mumbai. What to make of this list? No wonder four American cities are in the list. Multi-cultural London is there. A bit odd to see Moscow there but not Beijing or Shanghai or Hong Kong. Good to see Bangalore (or is it Bangaluru?) and Mumbai (and not Bombay!) on the list. Athens is probably the biggest 'surprise' presence here. The next are: 11) to 15): Kyyiv, Chicago, Vanderbilt, Barcelona, Sao Paulo; 16) to 20): Hong Kong, Delhi, Singapore, Los Angeles, Boston, and Madrid. The next 11 are: St. Petersburg, Seattle, Melbourne, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Sydney, Paris, Philadelphia, Beijing, and Bogota.

I witnessed a typical marriage procession in Delhi yesterday evening ... got caught in one as I was going somewhere. It's something to behold of course. The absurdity is clearly off the charts. What a silly superficial show it is! The noise and lights and above all riding a horse ... perhaps pretending that you're a king returning after conquering a new kingdom in battle. Why does this absurdity persist? Why do educated people let themselves be put through such absurd, silly rituals? Why don't people have the common sense to admit that this is something stupendously silly and that it's time to stop doing this? Why can't the young generation simply put their foot down and say 'to hell with it.' Why does not anybody have the imagination to recognize this as a symbol of extraordinary stupidity? Clearly, this is evidence that Indians in huge numbers lack the quality of imagination. Perhaps Indians' obsession with the game of cricket is further substantiation...