Old Promises

14 January 2008,

On anonymity

I have decided to keep this blog anonymous, and have sought support from all unknown quarters to justify this decision. Watching Barkha Dutt rail against anonymous blogers spreading vicious rumours on her Sunday circus did get my attention. And so did the Guardian Review main article; a review of the book “Anonymity” by John Mullan. Interestingly the review mentions that writers like Lewis Carol, Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott published anonymously; so why can’t we? Some other advantages may also come by; revealing closely guarded secrets would be easier. Of course, it is not impossible to track down a person in today’s wired world, but who would want to spend time and effort in trying to nail down a poor blogger? Hoping it stays that way!

Recalling China

Everyday I hear a new horror story emanating from products made in China. The decibel level is not too loud in India, but the developed nations have just about had it. Apart from toys containing lead paint, dangerous products include toothpaste containing a carcinogen ( Ethylene Glycol- the coolant in your car; which degenerate mind would put coolant in a toothpaste?) and artificial knees ( containing too much Iron). I wonder what else is happening in the Indian market with its notoriously lackadaisical regulations. Hey, tell you what: for starters let us stop buying anything made in China. Hope this does not put a spanner in the PM’s trip.

Desperately seeking Green

With green being the colour of the year, it is with interest I read about General Motors buying a stake in a start up - Coskata. Apparently, Coskata has discovered a process to make Ethanol out of waste by Gasification and bacterial action. Well, good for them; but what made this interesting was a) a car maker is now trying to make fuel. It is like GM and ExxonMobil joining hands. One can just see the birth of an ultimate Big Brother company and b) Vinod Khosla, the ubiquitous rich Indian American which every NRI hopes to become, has invested in this. Now what is a silicon valley die-hard doing in a dirty, sleeves rolled up company? I smell something- dal me kuch kala hai. Or hara hai?


Images

I had heard that the British Library had put up images online form their archives, and on exploring the site it was a delight to see decent quality images ( photos, paintings and maps) available online. I searched for images from India and 21 pages spewed out. On casual browsing I was impressed by these.