Month: May 2009

Playboy;Virgin;Civil Servant; Erotica and the Adventurous British.

No, I have not gone bonkers! The title for this post is just the sequence of news items that came to my attention and which I thought rather convenient, as coincidences go. There are two news items which I shall shortly link you to but, both also showed that the British are indeed getting to be quite adventurous!

Let us go to Playboy first.
playboyimages

No, Conrad, I am not getting funny ideas in my old age. This magazine played its part in my growing up process, as I am sure it did in many of my readers’ lives too. Then, came the time, when I just lost interest in it, like I am sure most others did too. It is however a magazine that advocated a life style that has its adherents even now.

There is this startling news item that Hugh Hefner is considering selling Playboy magazine so that he can get out of the financial mess that he is in and yet continue to live his life the way he has done for the past so many decades.

The next item to get my interest up was the fact that the likely buyer is Sir Richard Branson, of Virgin fame!

The next news item that caught my attention was about an ex civil servant. Most of you know that I am allergic to civil servants and that is why I read this item anyway! It however turned out that this wonderful lady is a closet entrepreneur who wants to sell, hold your breath, Erotica to women! In other words, a female Hugh Hefner in the making! Please do read the article to its conclusion, where it talks about Metrosexuals like Beckham!

Now for the rest of the title for this blog. Is it a coincidence that both Sir Richard and Ms Singh are British? Okay, in the latter case, by perhaps by adoption, though New Zealand is in many ways very similar to Britain. The fact remains that Ms. Singh is planning to target British ladies! And, this is what I find so fascinating, in all this, coincidences, there is a Mr. Singh, who is an Indian!

Grannymar, what do you think is going on?

Gail’s Opinions

Gail, in her comments on my blog ‘Rummuser Dot Com’ said, “If only that my husband, boyfriend, or whatever he is, would look like that statue, then I would stop staring at it every time I come to your blog.”

I am now reading a fascinating book “The Moral Animal, Why We Are The Way We Are: The New Science Of Evolutionary Psychology.” by Robert Wright. For those interested in evolution, I recommend this book to get an interesting point of view of one’s place in modern society, its institutions, particularly marriage, divorce, etc.

This post however, is not about the book, but about its cover. The cover’s design is by Evan Gaffney and includes this picture.
the-moral-animal

I wonder what Gail will comment about this! Any suggestions? I shall reserve posting Gail’s comments, if she does comment, till other suggestions have come in.

Our ‘Not-Eunuch’ Bureaucrats

This is a guest post from my friend Sandeep, who is currently in Canada but is expected to return to Pune shortly and cook a meal for me that he claims will be the best that I ever ate. He really knows how to please me.

This is a thoughtful piece of writing. He had just sent me an email about the article that he refers to at the end of the post, but I persuaded him to allow me to post this as a guest post. Bureaucrats everywhere are the same and I am sure that Sandeep’s rants will get a lot of sympathetic nods from my readers. Do please read on.

Twenty years ago, Rajiv Gandhi, India’s late Prime Minister, lamented that only 15% of every rupee spent on governmental developmental works and poverty alleviation reached the poor. The remaining 85% was swallowed by corrupt middlemen and government bureaucrats. He also said if all of the the massive governmental outlays on poverty alleviation actually reached the poor, India would cease to be a poor country.

India’s bureaucracy is also its curse. Unlike politicians (who are often and rightly maligned), our bureaucrats cannot be voted out of power. They are never held accountable for their action – or lack of it. Many of them (though not all) are corrupt, incompetent and just plain callous.

The new government is promising to try and push through the reform of India’s bureaucracy. The bureaucracy is powerful and it will be hard to push these reforms through. But reform in this area will make India a much more equitable and prosperous country.

As any student of ancient history will tell you, the ancient Persian and Roman empires were brought down in large part, by their bureaucracies, which were run by all-powerful court eunuchs. Our bureaucrats are not eunuchs, but they are just as corrupt, arrogant and incompetent as their ancient counterparts.

Will attempts at bureaucratic reform in India succeed? We hope so. The future of one-fifth of humanity depends on it.

Read this Wall Street Journal article to learn more.

Another inspiring Story.

This is an incredible story of one lady’s indomitable spirit, overcoming an uncaring and indifferent bureaucracy.

Looney, you will love this.

I have nothing to add to what this wonderful article in the Mail Online has to offer.

I am also sending for the book.

She Made Me Cry, She Did.

Susan Boyle, that is who made me cry with her amazing rendering of this song.  Just watch her.

Daylight
See the dew on the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses whither away
Like the sunflower
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day . . .

Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

Every streetlamp
Seems to beat a fatalistic warning
Someone mutters
And the streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning

Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I musn’t give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin

Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning

Touch me
It’s so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You’ll understand what happiness is

Look
A new day has begun