Post-Royal-Wedding commentaries ... in graphics ... and videos

Who did the Queen look like?

An anti-monarchy statement:

My favorite Queen?  Really? You have to ask?



Or, how about the Dancing Queen?

Going where no man has gone before: An Indian academic in Kazakhstan

No, I am not heading to Kazakhstan.  (editor: I bet your colleagues will be happy to pay for a one-way ticket out. Awshutupalready!)

There I was reading The Economist on a slow Saturday morning, and I come across an ad for faculty positions in the business school in Almaty, Kazakhstan.  I am intrigued.  I keep reading and find that the contact name is "Kishan Rana, PhD" ... An Indian name!  And that he is the "Dean of the Bang College of Business."

"Bang College" sounds so much like one of those diploma mills in India, until you note the compensation stated in the ad: "after-tax salaries up to $115,000"

The naturally curious person that I have always been, well, a quick Google search led me to more info about Rana, who is there after his years in Canada; he notes:

I was commissioned in the Indian Navy as a lieutenant after completing my bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with honors.  I was in the top three of the graduating class. After my initial training of about 14 months, I was put in the warship-building program.  I was in uniform, not a civilian, and was in charge of building warships for several years.  I also served on warships at sea and participated in all kinds of exercises, including a war during the 1970s.

Kind of ironic, isn't it--a navy man now in a landlocked country, and even the Caspian Sea is far, far, away from Almaty!  Amazing how far and wide people of Indian origin are scattered around the world.

I suppose this Kazakh ad caught my attention because only a couple of days ago I read this piece in the New Yorker, (subscription required) about the country building a brand new capital city in Astana.  It is crazy that the country is spending so much of its resources into this. 

Astana has been the capital of Kazakhstan only since 1997, three years after the country’s leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, told a stunned parliament that a prosperous, independent country like Kazakhstan ought to have its capital “in the center” of the country, rather than on the border. Almaty, the old capital, was pleasantly situated in the foothills of the Tian Shan Mountain range, and was famous for its apple orchards. And Astana? It was six hundred miles to the north—that is to say, toward Russia—and bitterly cold.

And, hey, not any ordinary buildings in this brand new capital city. But, expensive structures like this--"The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center at night":

And this--"The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation":

The article wonderfully and easily paints a picture of a cold place in the middle of nowhere.  It will not be a surprise, however, if this isolated place by the Steppe has an Indian tandoori eating place run by some guy from Kerala :)

But, to some extent, one need not be surprised with the Indian/Central Asian connection at all.  The map below, which I pulled up from my post about the Uighurs, makes the connections a simple case of geography. Well, not that simple!

Maybe it is a misnomer: not Indians as much as the wanderers, eh!

A night at the opera: toon and real

I guess I am not unusual in admitting that my introduction to Western classical music and operas were through cartoon characters.  It was only later that I got to hear/watch the real thing.  "The Barber of Seville" is one of those ...

First up, Woody Woodpecker



An even more impressive performance by Bugs Bunny:



Those fearless fighting foes, Tom and Jerry:



And a real opera performance:



Yes, of course I borrowed the title from Groucho Marx's crazy movie :)

The worrisome headlines of the day

All from Al-Jazeera:

Libyan fighters stray across Tunisian border: me worry?
Syria target hit by Israel was 'nuclear site': confirmation of that 2007 mystery
Death toll mounts on Syria's 'day of rage': 62 dead on Friday alone
Morocco steps up security after cafe blast: 14 dead in a cafe blast
Thai-Cambodia ceasefire breaks down: day eight of border fighting

and, the most worrisome of all ...

UK's Prince William weds Kate Middleton: ...

ok, it is just me annoyed at all the brouhaha over the public excitement over a prince marrying.  A global celebration of royal fornication to produce heirs, preferably male, in order to continue with the screwed-up monarchy.

The college tuition crisis

If you prefer a video, instead of reading text (no, it is not me in the video!) ... this is why we are now "re-branding" ourselves :(
Listen to them talk using all the words I have used in this blog for years now--words in the context of higher education: ponzi, bubble, taxpayers, athletics, .... I can only hope for the ponzi scheme to crash soon ...

Branding. University. Business. Ponzi.

In the thirty years since we completed high school, a classmate/friend, "V," has become a big guy (in more ways than one, right "V"? :)) in advertising, with his own firm, and a branding consultant.  For the fun of it, "V" even decided to "brand" our class of '81.  Yes, for free :)

Branding is a standard operating procedure in the world of commerce where it is important to establish a certain identity in the marketplace.  All the more when the competition is now global. The idea then spilled over to politics, which too seems like is all about money.  (editor: you think?!)  Candidates go to a great deal of length to develop a brand of who they are and what they stand for.  Well, what they stand for other than to screw the rest of us.

The logic is simple: where there is money, there is a need for branding.

Along that logic, as we realize that higher education has transformed (or transmogrification, which was a Calvin fave) to nothing but yet another commercial activity to make money--for whom, I know not--well, of course universities need to hire branding consultants and brand themselves.  "It is elementary, my dear Watson."

The university, where I apparently am doing my bit to help earn the university money, has issued a press release to this effect--no, not about making money, which will be a welcome full disclosure, but about branding:

On May 3 at 1 p.m. at the Werner University Center Plaza, Western Oregon University (WOU) will release the new athletic and academic logo marks for the university, designed by Rickabaugh Graphics.

Yes, of course.  If we didn't do all these, students and taxpayers might not be able to figure out where their monies are being wasted!

Developing an identity and brand is crucial because it tells the world how you see yourself now and in the future. 

Really? Don't we already have that?  Uh, hello, as a public higher education institution governed by a board appointed by the governor, we have a clear mission, don''t we? (This blank webpage is a statement by itself on the mission of the university!)  We are not like a BP, which has an identity, PR, and branding problem. Heck, Exxon shows that even if there are problems, the money just keeps rolling  in ...



Need any reminder on what Evita did to the country and its people?

Music videos of the day: Hemant Kumar

Even as a kid, I was drawn more to old movie songs in Hindi and Tamil--from the 1950s and 1960s--even as I enjoyed the contemporary ones. Well, contemporary as in 1970s and the early 1980s.  My familiarity with Indian movie songs pretty much end with the 1980s.

As I scanned through the ever-increasing options in YouTube, I came across the following two by Hemant Kumar.  He was a singer and a composer as well. A unique voice, that stirs images of a rural India more than the urban one, even though he was used in both the settings.  (SD Burman's voice is absolutely rustic.  His "Wahan kaun hai tera" is a gem)

Anyway, here is Hemant Kumar singing "Jaane woh kaise" in Pyaasa, which is recognized as one of the best movies ever--not merely Indian, but in a global listing. 



That is from 1957!
The one below is, according to the notes with the video, from a movie for which he was a composer, and a producer.



The female lead in this movie, Waheeda Rahman, was born in Tamil Nadu.  Even though I titled this post with "Hemant Kumar" it will be a shame if I don't include the video of Waheeda Rahman playing the dancer in "The Guide" for which Burman sang the intro song referenced earlier.  In the following video, it is one hell of a competition for "spectacular": Rahman and the choreography, the music, and the voice ... Incidentally, it is cool that Rahman, a Muslim, plays the role of Rosie, while dancing classically--she was a trained classical dancer. 



Does it matter that I don't understand a damn thing in the lyrics?  Nope! Never, ever ... :)

Photo of the day: sea-bound turtle hatchlings

Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings being encouraged to paddle to their habitat ... Story here

(Wasteful) Spending to get a college degree!

If only we were all aware of the cost of higher education and engaged in those discussions, as much as we are painfully in sync with gas prices!

Every once in a while, I point out to students that in the academic quarter system, it costs about $110 every week, per term, for each of the four-credit classes that I teach.  A majority is paid for by students through tuition and fees.  Taxpayers chip in which a significant amount as well. 

Such an expensive investment is guided by a belief that college education is about employment and economic productivity.  But, this is not entirely true.  In fact, this linkage of higher education to economic performance is relatively new in human history. 

Education, for the longest time, was not about credentialing for the trades.  As one looks back to the days of “gurukula” in India, or Plato’s “academy” it becomes clear that education was simply about knowing.  Preparations for the trades and professions happened elsewhere.

Thus, higher education wasn’t an “industry” either.  Galileo pursued research on the cosmos because of his undying, and heretical, curiosity, and not because he treated that as a convenient opportunity to charge students fees that they could not afford. 

But, especially since the post-World War years, there has been a transformation that has resulted in a twisted understanding that higher education is some sort of a credentialing service for young adults interested in joining the 21^st century equivalents of trade guilds. 

The irony is that it does not require an undergraduate degree to complete the tasks in every service sector job either.  Yet, we have managed to convince ourselves that a college diploma is a must-have for mere survival, let alone prosperity.  Most students I talk to feel that they have no choice but to get a college diploma, if they want to get any job anymore.  And this is a horrible Hobson's choice they face.

After spending $110 week after week for classes like mine, students graduate, typically, with about $20,000 in debt only to realize the realities of employment.  Despite all my full disclosures in the classroom, they are shocked to find out that there isn’t really any job waiting for them, and that the diploma is not necessarily the guaranteed route across the (un)employment gates.  Further, trade guilds, often, add, and require, their own training and certification. 

At the end of the day, the only beneficiaries are colleges and universities that are, naturally, recording enrollment increases.  Even in my classes in the summer!  This enrollment growth then triggers the need for additional facilities, which necessitates a demand for more money from students and taxpayers.

Such a higher educational system cannot go on forever.  As Herbert Stein famously remarked, "if something cannot go on forever, it will stop."  I suspect that it will come to a crashing halt when students, and their families, and taxpayers begin to see the numbers flashing by really fast on their meters.  Maybe students and taxpayers will then demand a refund of the money they spent on my classes, eh!

Incredible India. Not the ad. But, for the reality there!

Many times I have blogged, talked with friends, and remarked to students, that I have given up on understanding India. 

It is a place of immense complexity, which is way too intense for my abilities.  So, I simply take it the way it comes. No questions asked. If it agrees with me, well, I make sure it shows. When it rubs me the wrong way, which happens a lot, most of the times I prefer to be quiet. 

The latest installment?  Courtesy of a student, who emailed me the link to the video that I have embedded here.  And, the interesting twist?  It is from ESPN; go figure!

Cartoons of the day: GOP presidential hopefuls

Unfortunately, for those of us who enjoy watching the political theatre, one clown has already withdrawn

Which then begs the question, "one billion dollars, for what?

Somewhere over the rainbow ... what a way to get to work :)

As a kid in India, and later even as an adult, there were always two things that stopped me if I ever spotted them: elephants and rainbows.  I would watch the sashaying pachyderm for as long as it was within my view on the street.  There is something majestically wonderful about elephants.

Rainbows were rarer than elephant sightings.  If anybody said about a rainbow outside, I always rushed out to admire them. To appreciate them. Even after the physics teacher, Vasudevan, had presented us with the explanation of white light and Newton's experiment with the prism.  The scientific technical details made it all the more impressive.

After moving to Oregon, in the rainy early fall, and throughout the spring days, I have now probably seen more rainbows than I have in my entire life before-Oregon.  Yet, every time, I am impressed even more than ever.  And, then those rare double-rainbows when two parallel arcs of colors magically appear across the big sky ...oh, those are times I think I have died and gone to the heaven that the religious people talk about.

And, so, there I was earlier this morning driving to work, and off on the western sky I had a rainbow accompanying me for a good chunk of the time.  Sometimes it faded out, and sometimes it was bright.  Not a full rainbow, because there were no clouds to provide a background for the zenith.  And then for a few miles when I had to drive west, I was facing the rainbow, which by then had become an uninterrupted arc, with a light drizzle falling on the windshield.  I thought to myself, "they pay me to admire this?"

Maybe the ultimate would be to watch an elephant walk against the backdrop of a rainbow, while the tune of "elephant walk" also plays :)

Rapists go free in Pakistan: the awful treatment of Mukhtran Bibi

One of those times when I feel the urge to yell at the world a big Fuck You.

It is a crazy world in which we live, where we are often spectators to all kinds of terrible injustices.  And Pakistan's court setting free the rapists who gang-raped Mukhtar Mai is one of those for which we owe her big time.  A sorry ain't enough :(

Lest we forget the reason why she had to approach the court in the first place--it goes back to the year 2002.  In condemning this "disappointing verdict," The Hindu notes in its editorial:

Since the day in 2002 when she decided to seek punishment for the men who had gang-raped her, Mukhtaran Mai has been a symbol of Pakistani women's struggle against a feudal and patriarchal society in which brutal crimes against women are condoned in the name of honour and custom. In Mukhtaran's case, a panchayat in her village abetted the rape as “punishment” for her 12-year-old brother's alleged illicit relations with a girl of a higher caste. It was expected that, after the treatment meted out to her, Mukhtaran, in keeping with tradition, would conveniently commit suicide, and no liability would fall on any man. But this extraordinarily brave woman, unlettered at the time of the monstrous crime, decided to defy societal taboos to take her attackers to court.

Yes, she was expected to commit suicide after having been gang-raped :(

The reality is also that Mukhtaran's case is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Most atrocious abuses, of women and children in particular, don't get aired.  Which is all the more the reason that Mukhtaran herself waged this legal battle--to ensure that it will set a precedent, in addition to punishment for the rapists.  Now the supreme court has set a precedent all right, but not the one that Mukhtaran sought to establish.  These innocent become "victims of law and apathy"

And this takes us to Meerwala Jatoi, a village in Muzaffargarh district in southern Punjab, where the influential men of the Mastoi tribe, Mai’s tormentors, rule the roost. They are otherwise small fry on the political landscape of southern Punjab, which is home to landlords with large holdings and all the trappings of a mediaeval feudal system in action. It is no secret that the abuse of landless, working men and women, and their children, is rampant here; some landowners even have their own private prisons.
Here, village councils, or panchayats comprising mostly uneducated men whose minds are steeped deep in the dark recesses of tribal, feudal rules and laws of their own making, run a parallel justice system aimed at further victimising the already marginalised in the land, especially those who dare to defy unjust social norms.
Amidst all this operate the rural police whose unwritten rules of duty stipulate that they assist the local landlords in their jurisdiction to maintain peace and order in their respective fiefdoms. This in turn makes the task of policing a cakewalk. They see no evil, they hear of none committed or alleged, and are hand in glove with the influential clans. For the underprivileged, it is literally a dog-eat-dog world.
This cruel social system continues to prevail because of a certain mindset that too is rampant, not only in rural areas but across the board. That’s why an entire neighbourhood can be roused to punish an alleged blasphemer, but there is little social outrage seen when girl children are ‘sold’ in marriages to older men; when women are traded off in forced marriages to settle tribal feuds; and yet others are killed, even buried or burnt alive in the name of so-called honour.

Not only does Mukhtaran Mai have to deal with this awful verdict, she now has to worry about the increased threat to her life:

'I'm disappointed. Why was I made to wait for five years if this decision was to be given?' said a sobbing Mai in a telephone interview from her village in the eastern province of Punjab shortly after the court announced the decision.'The accused can kill me and my family when they return home,' she added.
'I have lost faith in the courts, and now I am leaving my case to the court of God. I am sure God will punish those who molested me.'

Terrible!

So, is this a good time to rethink American foreign aid? You bet it is!

For the correct reasons, and not the wrong ones.

We don't want to reduce foreign aid because of the isolationist and Tea-Party nutcases.  Nor because of any stupid idea that this and cuts to NPR will somehow wipe away the trillions of debt.

It is time we re-configured the foreign aid because almost always we have been spending money on the wrong people.  I really like the points Ken Adelman makes:

Four of the largest U.S. foreign-aid recipients today -- Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, and Afghanistan -- all take contrary positions on issues of critical importance to the White House. South Vietnam once got gobs -- gobs upon gobs -- of U.S. foreign aid. That didn't help much. Likewise with Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Zaire (now the "Democratic" Republic of the Congo), and other "friendly" (read: graciously willing to take U.S. money) countries.
The conclusion seems clear: The relationship between "the United States' ability to positively influence events abroad," as Nye puts it, and the amount of U.S. foreign aid a country receives is unclear at best. For decades now, the United States has been the No. 1 foreign-aid donor -- it has given the most money to poor countries -- so it can't move up any on that scale. But this hasn't translated in making America the most popular or most influential country around the world. Quite the contrary.
Even the all-time No. 1 recipient of U.S. aid, Israel, rebuffs Washington constantly, on momentous issues of peace. Moreover, Israeli polls show the lowest approval for the U.S. president of nearly anywhere in the world.

Most of what Adelman writes is not new, of course.  His is a response to this piece by Joseph Nye.  Adelman has lots of examples, of which I liked this the best:

Let's recall: The State Department agreed to the Mubarak government's request for its approval before any U.S. democracy programs for Egypt got launched. To put it simply, the soft-power agency consented that anti-dictator programs appropriated by the U.S. Congress first get approved by that dictator.

Awful how we were all cuddly with dictators and showered them with gifts.  That certainly didn't buy us popularity with the people, did it?  Adelman concludes:

I've come to believe that liberals focus primarily on intentions, while conservatives focus more on results. No doubt the soft-power goals of the State Department and USAID on diplomacy, foreign aid, exchange programs, and the like seem wonderful. They're peaceful, caring, intercultural, and so on. They signal the right intentions.
The hard-power association with Pentagon budgets, weapons, and soldiers seems quite contrary. They signal the wrong intentions. But looking at the actual results of soft power versus hard power may yield results that make today's fashionable thinking seem soft, if not altogether squishy.

Nope, I don't want to increase spending on the hard-power--we have way too much already, and one only needs the graphic on the right to be reminded that both in absolute and relative terms we are over-emphasizing the defense budget.  And, if we go by outcomes, well, being stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan for this long tells us that in these days of asymmetric warfare the inexpensive IEDs seem to give our gazillion dollar hard power one hell of a competition, do they not?

What we really need to cut is the size of the defense budget.  But, unfortunately, there are not enough people with the cojones to go after that one.  In fact, it seems like there is always an overwhelming majority that is ready to increase the defense allocation.