A "Political President"

Pratibha Patil, has claimed that she shall not be a rubber stamp president, but a "Political President". What she does not understand is, that there is a very small difference between the two. While a rubber stamp president does nothing more than affix his signature under a legislation, the "political president" is hampered by his beliefs and his party, since he or she is political she has to belong to a party. Therefore he or she is bound to follow some ideals which may not be ideal for the country. In Patil's case the NDA's manifesto, which is really dependent upon maintaining a majority.

Another one goes

Yesterday my friend Rohit became the first of us to leave India. Over the period of the next 2 weeks, we shall all be going different ways. Some lucky to have old friends' company on the journey ahead. Others not so lucky. We understand only now what it is to actually "be on your own". We have heard this phrase so many times. During our school farewell, followed by the day we left junior college, it only seems to really apply now. Let's see what the future holds in store. Let us hope for the best.

Indian or not?

In todays issue of Times of India, there is an article about 'Indian' brains manning the next NASA mission to Mars. I don't understand why we are so hell-bent on calling these people Indians. They are in the US, working for the US companies, and will aim to settle there get a green card, make sure their children are born in the US so that they get citizenship at birth. And we are the ones who are proud of them. Why??? The article also says that Sunita Williams is from India. I fail to see how, seeing as she was born in Euclid, Ohio. Her parents are from India. But we insist on congratulating ourselves for producing people who go abroad and we call them the Indian diaspora.
The emphasis is on the word Indian. Are they really Indian??

Harry Potter

Well, I feel Rowling has done really well with this book. After reading this, it feels like the last 2 were written only so as to build a platform for this one. Once one reads the last in this series, one realizes how much trouble she took to plan the entire story, because it is either that or she made it up as she wrote, which seems highly unlikely. Each and every character has a purpose, a significant role in themselves. Some people don't like this book, though I don't understand why. People are of the opinion that too much killing, so much so that it stops seeming tragic. Well in a war deaths are not unlikely. The tragedy is in the fact that so many people are dying making it seem almost mundane. It would be stupid to expect only the bad guys dying.
The most refreshing part of this book is that Harry makes his own decisions and uses his own head for a change. Luck plays a smaller part than in the other books. This is for hardcore Potter fans who really want to see some action instead of chance happenings in Potters favor, The detail of the planning done by both sides, and the ultimate confrontation between the Dark Lord and Harry are amazing.
The disappointment in the book is the last chapter, which though written with a purpose to give the note of finality, just acts as a dampener on the events prior to it. Ignore it and it won't do much harm. But read it anyway.

And then there is the movie of the fifth book. Although it lives up to the book in most aspects( ignoring the editing given that it is a huge book), the last part is not fun, the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort is not half as spectacular as one expects. Other than that, the duels between Death Eaters and Aurors are awesome and not to be missed.

European Grand Prix 2007- Nurburgring

The race was a very exciting one, as most rain races are. This one was made even more so by the fact that the rain came not as a downpour but in the form of 2 showers in the first few and last few laps. The present breed of drivers look completely out of sorts on a wet track. With all of their traction control and other high tech systems they cannot manage to control the car in the wet, unlike the drivers of yesteryear. Massa put in superb lap times in the middle stint of the racee to pull out a 7 second lead on Alonso. But in the final stint, after the last fuel stop, the Ferrari seemed to loose its edge. Also with no Kimi to pressure Alonso, the double world champion made short work of the 7 second lead. And to make it all the more tougher for Massa it started raining. The tyre stop reduced the lead further. But when he came out I felt he was not able to handle his car at all, Alonso had a wing adjustment made which gave superior grip and handling. But the Regenmeister Schumacher would never have needed intermediates for the shower, which left a thin layer of wetness on the track which had begun to dry soon. He probably would have slid his car around and drifted all the way to the finish. Massa however allowed Alonso to overtake him and pull out a 7 second lead in 3 laps.
The only thing Ferrari can take from this is that Hamilton's lucky streak is ending


Alonso overtakes Massa