What Makes Indian Women So Vulnerable ?

Rancorous uproar for justice after every brutal crime  including and especially crime against women may represent popular sentiment but somewhere down the line they also reveal a hypocritical outlook. The demand for more stringent laws and strict enforcement being raised by people from across the spectrum; from the Parliament to the small town tea-stalls, is in essence retributive reflecting a mindset not much different from the mindset of the offenders. The shock, outrage and anger are genuine but it is not very clear if it arises entirely out of the wrong done to a young student or the fact that these offenders have glimpse of the monsters lurking within us. After all   these people must have been very much part of our society less than a week back. They might have taken part in anti-corruption movement and even joined the chorus denouncing rising rate of crime against women! One cannot really say.

Posted By Danish 2:30 AM

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Book Review: The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian

The WSJ has called him the John Grisham of Banking. Having completed reading Ravi Subramanian's latest thriller, The Bankster, I can understand why. The author's in-depth knowledge of not only banking practices but also contemporary corporate culture,especially the dark side of it- opportunism, exploitation, nepotism and even criminality, makes the narration captivating. However, it is not just banking, in the backdrop of Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2) lies an intricate plot involving illegal money laundering,covert security services operatives, anti-nuclear activists and unscrupulous bankers and politicians. After the mysterious death of three of GB2 employees, ex-banker and journalist Karan Panjabi resolves to get to the bottom of it. A global conspiracy awaits.   

Posted By Danish 11:23 PM

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Justice In Gotham : The Dark Knight Allegory

Batman is all over the digital media as Christopher Nolan's third installment- The Dark Knight Rises is set to be released in a few days. I found it quite interesting that the viral campaign started in April 2012, included a warrant and a wanted poster of Batman. It was an interesting way of engaging the audience, since The Dark Knight ended in an anti-climax (debatable)- Batman running from law. These posters let the fan pick up the bread crumbs and be ready with refreshed memory when it is finally released. They also served another purpose- reminding us that  this series can also been seen as an allegory* of an egalitarian or liberal, democratic city-state in the process of defining the concept of justice and the role of ethics,morality and philosophy in it.

Posted By Danish 6:58 AM

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Cyber Warfare 2.0 : Operation Myrtus

Never mind the jargon  (or hyperbole if you would prefer) in the title, cyber warfare has indeed been taken to the next level in last  two years. The latest cyber-attack on Iran through the malware "Flame" (dubbed Stuxnet 2.0) wasn't surprising enough, it was expected. In a post I had made on October 2010, regarding the advent of cyber-weapon in most probability, Stuxnet being a precursor to a range of cyber weapons. After all Stuxnet had proved that a  cleverly crafted code snippet  can do what perhaps air-strikes may not be able to. This malware was successful in taking over control the computers in one of Iran's nuclear research facility,destroying centrifuges and pushing Iran's nuclear programme some years back. Given the huge return on investment, , 0 casualty  and stealthiness it provided, cyber weapons if properly executed, it is only natural that other nation-states follow the same.

Posted By Danish 5:46 PM

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World Worships Mediocrity

 Leaning Tower of Pisa 

Famous for its structural

defect. 

Recently I set my Facebook profile favorite quote to "World worships mediocrity", I am not sure who first said,who it can attributed to,if any one does please let me know. Now if the statement sounds snobbish,read again! The word is mediocrity not mediocre, its about attitude not people. And the quote is intended to be part of a self-prescribed therapy.  The malaise I diagnosed myself with is the inability to complete tasks, any task.

Its an attitudional problem  I have been grappling with all my adult life. It is not just procrastination and laziness but also the fact that I am not satisfied with the outcome. Am I a perfectionist ? This thought never occurred to me before,but more importantly I have never been referred to as such. But then I have never achieved any success,radical enough and/or little cranky to be considered that.

Posted By Danish 2:16 AM

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