Autumn Pictures

Since everyone is putting pictures of fall so I also join them. Here are the pictures of colorful autumn in Hameenlinna ..







The lonely street beside the lake ....


The apples on the tree ....


Foggy morning.....

Response to IAEA...post

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I am writing this post in order to develop more on the IAEA resolution post after I received the comments for it.
First of all I do appreciate the comments and the divergent views expressed on them. Two things which can be deduced from the comments are

i. India alienated Iran by going against it
ii. Indian action was in response to US pressure.

To the first point where Iran has not taken India’s stand favourably is pretty much on expected lines. Iran had to publicly issue that statement, or it would have been taken as Iran acceptance of the resolution. Iran and India are on two different sides or Pakistan has come closer to Iran than India after supporting Iran is juvenile analysis in my opinion. It is too premature to say that this one thing is going to spoil the whole relationship which is there since last two to three decades. Iran has not been referred to Security Council, if not for Indian demarche it would have been immediately referred to Security Council. Now there is an option for further deliberations on this issue and avoid referral to Security Council.

Now 'AngelzFear' said that India could have abstained from voting and kept Iran in good humour, this I would call as analysing in limited scope. India is aiming to get itself a far more powerful stature in world affair as it is now, India is a nuclear power and it has to prove this with its actions. India could not have shied away from this whole issue by abstaining from vote; India had to show that it is a mature nation to take in its stride controversial issues and also to own up the contingent responsibility of a nuclear power. China and Russia could abstain because they don’t need to prove themselves as nuclear power. Nor Iran was too naïve not to understand this abstinence, it would not be sames as support from India which Iran wished. Give some time to understand what deals have been snapped, let us not be incidental in our views.

India was pioneer of NAM and we all know that it has not helped India in any way; we have to shrug off our legacy to create a new world order. India could no longer abstain from world's happening on the pretext of non alignment. You have to get into the system to change the system; mere lip service is not going to help. The resolution would have gone against Iran anyway and what would have followed ? The immediate referral to Security Council could have led to military action against Iran which clearly has been avoided for now and I am sure India will now not let things go that way, or else it would have been too easy.

Why do we think that it was US policy to refer Iran to Security Council, the resolution was moved by EU-3 countries as well. Why do we need to weigh India’s foreign policy in USA’s scales? 'Intelligent Design' says that for the past 15 years (time period of our economic progress) India has been taking caution in its foreign policy. The answer is both yes and no, I won’t say this as cautious steps but as calculated steps. In today’s world order to create a stature of yourself you need to be both economically and militarily capable. Every action has to pass through the impact analysis on both economic and military front. There is no shame in admitting own interest first in any policy, even if this is for economic reasons. Do you think the bargaining power that China today has over USA is due to military strength or due to economic strength?

How can it be said that India has been cowed by USA? Did we sign the CTBT treaty on US pressure? Did we support invasion on Iraq? Are there any Indian troops in Iraq? Please don’t think that India can have stature only by opposing USA every time, we have to think of practicality and ground reality. Let us not be misguided by rhetorics. Immediate referral of Iran to Security Council was very much what USA wanted, it would have become too easy for it then to come up with some report linking Iran with Al Qaeda and then attack it. India has not played into USA’s game plan if this is what people think.

Here I would totally agree with Veera that India is playing a delicate balancing game here and I have always maintained that don’t see this as something between Tehran and Washington, it has much larger ramifications and much larger design for India.

Thanks once again, I would appreciate further views on this.

IAEA resolution against Iran

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After I moved to Finland from India, I have stopped writing about internal political issues of India but this particular issue is related to foreign policy.

We all are aware of the IAEA resolution at Vienna that went against Iran which was drafted by EU-3 countries, France Germany and Britain. Iran is disappointed with it and also singled out India for not supporting it. This issue had become contentious few days back after USA started putting pressure on India, threatening to go back on the nuclear co-operation treaty signed between India and USA just two months back.

There are two angles to look at this whole episode, first was the stand taken by India anti-Iran? Secondly did India buckle under US pressure?

My opinion for the first angle is that we all know that not every time there is voting for any resolution in IAEA, it is usually a consensual decision as was the resolution just before this one, asking Iran to suspend conversion facility at Isfahan. So what if there was no vote this time as well, or even if India had not voted against Iran, the majority of the 35 countries voted against Iran. The original resolution was to refer Iran immediately to Security Council but India did manage to maneuver diplomatically to change the resolution to (1) there would be no immediate reference to Security Council (2) to go for further negotiations, consultations, to work out a solution which is meaningful and acceptable to all which includes Iran. So in my opinion it was better that India voted against Iran but got the resolution changed, now there could be further question that why India didn’t abstain, the answer is that India could not have abstained after making the EU-3 to agree to the changed resolution, how can you abstain from your own piloted resolution. If India would have abstained or voted for Iran, then the resolution to immediately refer Iran to Security Council would have been adopted.

To second point that India buckled under US pressure is not correct, India’s foreign policy is independent and this does not mean that it has to oppose US every time to prove this. India has always maintained the stand that every country has right to peaceful use of Nuclear energy, and for this reason we have not signed the NPT or the CTBT. Had India been always towing the US line then we would have signed all these treaties.

Now since Iran is so much disappointed with India, in the same vein could not India ask Iran about its joining hands with Egypt to add in the UN 60th anniversary document asking NPT to be made mandatory for all countries, wasn’t this against India ?

For India this whole thing was not choice between Tehran and Washington, it has much larger ramifications.

Blessed ..

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. . . . Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. . . . Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [Matt. 5:3-10]

Flu

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It is the Flu season in Finland and I am also down with it. Of all the common illness Flu is the most irritating one and it is almost inevitable during the season.

I thought it will go down by itself in three days but the dry cough irritated and troubled me a lot. Moreover I don’t know in Finnish system which drugs are OTCs so I had to go Mehilainen to see the doctor. It was an easy diagnosis for the doctor but he did go through all the rigors of examination.

I have noticed two things whenever you visit a doctor in Finland, first thing is that they will definitely ask that are you feeling bad due to change in season (subtle hint that are you feeling depressed) and the second thing they will ask “ Do you need letter for getting days off from work ?”. I guess both of these are quite specific to Finland and doctors are so kind to understand the needs of the people. I think in Finland you get as many days off from work as much the doctor wants for your sickness and depression is the most common illness in Finland. My answer was polite ‘no’ for both, I don’t wish to remain in my room all alone and rather get sicker. Going to work gives me an opportunity to see outside and talk to colleagues and may be have few light moments.

With the onset of autumn, the whole surrounding has become so colorful, I have taken few pictures and will try to post them. Incidentally today is the autumnal Equinox as well.

Las Ketchup song

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I don’t know why but since morning the Las Ketchup song has been on my mind. I don’t have a copy of that song anymore so I had to wait till evening when I came home from office and got the video from Internet.

Last time I had seen it was one year back on the computer of Veera aka ‘The Jungle Boy’, I asked him today for a copy of that video and he said that he has misplaced it.

I know it was number one on the charts two year back and everyone knows the detail of it, the song is by three sisters Lola, Lucia and Pilar Munoz, who are the daughters of Tomate, a renowned traditional flamenco guitarist from Cordoba, Spain. I guess the reason for the song to become popular is not only the catchy tune and lyrics but also the dance by the three.

The song's chorus takes its lyrics from the 1979 old school rap classic "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. The Ketchup Song tells the story of Diego, a young fashion-conscious gypsy with Rastafarian leanings who loves dancing and hip-hop and sings his own Andalusian rap: "Asereje' ja de je de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva/Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi/Asereje' ja de je' de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva/Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi/Asereje'..."

The English translation of chorus is “I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie
to the hip hip hop, a you dont stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat”

Along with old-school hip-hop, "The Ketchup Song" also combines Spanish rumba, Latin pop and Jamaican reggae. If someone wants to see the video and if you have Real player you can see it here.

Life

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We all are at some point in our life, now the question is how many of us thought we would be what we are today? Looking back couple of years or even one year did we all think we would be having life like this, I mean all the facets, our personal life, professional life, the friends we have or friends we don’t have?

I would never believe my life if I go back a year from now, let alone couple of years. What I wanted to do for a living and what I am doing is completely different. I don’t remember what exactly I wanted to do when I was child but I know what I thought I would be doing when I was in my undergrad.

In fact any aspect of my life was not what I thought it would be couple of years back, but I guess this is life. Your plans don’t materialize as they should or they were impractical or unrealistic or the stark reality of this world put so many limitations on you or you put trust on something/someone you should not. I mean there can be thousands of reasons for anyone’s plan to go awry , the strange thing is that we all get so used to the grind that we hardly think is this what I dreamt, is this what I wanted to achieve or is this what I want to die afterwards ?

All these things are coming in my mind cause today I was thinking what different I am doing, there are 6 billions people on this planet, each of them takes birth, then studies, does something for a living, might or might not start a family and then dies. I don’t have any answer, don’t know where this life is leading onto, but one thing I can be sure, it won’t be as I plan it to be.

Winter is here

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Looks like winter is in mood of competing with autumn. Today was an unusual cold day for September. The morning after getting up from bed I went to kitchen and after putting the saucepan on hot plate looked as usual on the thermometer fixed on the window and it was showing 1 C! I could not believe myself, thought I am still in sleep so I logged on the met department’s website and it was 1.1 C there as well!

What a drastic change for me, last Friday I was in India with temperatures around 37 C and this Friday it is 1 C, too much too soon …

Cause

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I like this line from " The Catcher in the Rye "

' The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.'

Past four weeks

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I am sorry for being late for this post; first day it was due to jet lag and then I was feeling quite disorganized to write anything. But I am happy to be back in Finland after the stressful four weeks. I could easily sum it up as one of the toughest crisis of my life till now.

I had to go to India suddenly as my sister was sick and mom was alone there. First day when I heard she was sick we all thought it was seasonal fever but her condition got a little worse and she had to be admitted and that’s when I decided to go home. The difficult thing was to get flight connections, I had the tickets with me but they were open, by the time I took the decision to go home it was already 4 pm and Air France office in Finland was closed, seeing no other way I contacted the corporate office of Air France in Paris and somehow they managed to block seat for me in the next flight. Then started the race against time to manage all the connections, taking early morning flight from Helsinki (which required me to take 3 am bus from Hameenlinna), running at Paris airport to reach terminal 2A from 2D (25 minutes was the transfer time I had). I faced problem at each and every point of my journey but I managed to reach Mumbai in 15hours and then it took 36 hours to reach my home (one flight and one overnight journey in train).

I went home after 18 months and that too at such a time, dad also came home but he also fell sick. Now things are fine and everyone is normal and recovering. The last whole month I kept on traveling and endless visits to doctors, hospitals, diagnostic labs etc. I was in home only for two days and all other days I slept mostly on train, flights, in airport dorms, in taxis, in hotels or in hospital benches. All these were compounded by incidents like late arrival of trains, delayed/cancelled flights, lost baggage and heavy rainfall just at the perfect moment.

The best thing in all this was the help that I received from my friends, they all helped me in whatever way they could, made the arrangements, stood in queues with me and even stayed with me in hospitals. I am indeed grateful to them and glad to have friends like them. I was literally in all the cities of India in the last one month, Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and I had friends everywhere waiting on me at the airport. It gives me shivers to imagine what I would have done without them.

This crisis time also helped me identify real friends and fake sympathizers? Before this in my life I had got only treachery, cheating, dishonesty, betrayal and humiliation in return to the trust and good I did for people. In fact I had started to lose all hope and trust on anyone but now I know that it balances out. If someone betrays you then there are others to help you through. I know there are many people in this world who would love to see me crestfallen, surrounded in crisis, sinking in my personal and professional life and it was just the perfect moment for them to enjoy my predicament. But I have no complains, I will never change and God will always send people to help me.

This has also left me thinking that should I be working so far from home? A little bit of thinking for me after this project ends and I take up next one.

It has become a long and incoherent post but that’s what I am going through right now.

I am alive

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Yeah I am alive, lot of you may be thinking where I vanished? I will write in detail later but right now I am in India. I had to come back home due to some sad and unforeseen circumstances but I am leaving today for Finland, my itinerary is like this

09th September Calcutta - New Delhi - 1700 -1905
New Delhi - Paris CDG 0035 – 0610
10th September Paris CDG – Helsinki 1050 -1450

today evening I take the train to reach Calcutta.