AAPL and GOOG

In the next few weeks, I will be attending two important events in my line of work - Apple developer conference and Google developer event. Both are exciting in its own ways.


I have had hands of variety of smartphones during my stint at mobile software companies and needless to say, for a 1.0 product, Apple has done better than anyone else. Having had one for a while, jail broken and hacked to do some cool tricks, what surprised me most was the remarkable stability of the platform, thanks to the unix underpinnings of the iPhone OS. Google, on the other hand could turn out to be the first heavily subsidised smartphone, a phone built solely around Internet content. I will have more to write after the events, but for now, I am simply excited.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is an incredibly powerful movie and a moving portrayal of war, friendship and sacrifice.
The movie based on Khalid Hosseini's best seller book is not short of its own problems, but at the core of it, it accomplishes one thing; taking the viewers through a magnificent tour of an unknown land, the lives turned upside down by meaningless wars, and the spirit of humanity that shines through it all. Yet this complex exploration bewilders you, the man who was ready to give up his life to defend an unknown woman lives the biggest lie in his life; such is the nature of the characters in this movie, the betrayal and guilt go hand in hand, the pride and selflessness intersect, and the heartless war and militancy provide a disturbing but powerful backdrop to this saga.

When you see the daily report of war, one can't help wonder, how many more lives are being changed forever, the unknown faces and unknown families, some live to tell the story, but most perish and are forgotten forever.

A much needed victory

I am ecstatic. With all the mud-slinging, contraversies after contraversies, Obama emerges as the winner tonight - as i write this, Indiana is too close to call, but N. Carolina has given a strong boost to Obama's delegate lead. The time has come for Clinton to tone down the attacks and start thinking about the interests of the country and the Democratic party. This also speaks volumes about the way Obama has run his campaign - the record turn out of voters and the excitement around this election is nothing other than the creation of Obama. In the last few weeks and months, when the pictures of him wearing a turben circulated, when Jeremia Wright's provocatory sermons surfaced, and other zillion times, my heart felt that the voters would fall for these gimmicks of political charade. We are yet to see what is going to happen in November, But, to my pleasant surprise, today's victory is promising...

Plain Audacity

Now, after the Pennsylvania primaries, Hillary says she is ready to be the 'commander in chief' - it is all good except that there is one problem - somebody forgot to tell her that she is not the leading candidate. She said indirectly a while ago that she would consider Obama as the vice presidential candidate. How about some humility when you know that your opponent has a handsome lead over you? Truly, this election has brought about the worst in the Clinton family.

The sum of five years

Iraqi civilians killed - 100000 to 1000000
American soldiers killed - 3992
American soldiers wounded - 29390
Iraqis displaced - 5 million
Cost - $500 Billion
WMDs found - 0

Woot? We are not done yet?

Just when we were getting ready to roll the sleeves up and direct the campaign against McCain, Senator Clinton is back in the game. We are not done with the primaries yet and knowing Clinton she is going to use her newfound opportunity wickedly well.

And who knew a skit from SNL would have such profound impact on a national election?

Islamophobia

The controversy around the very 'presidential' picture of Obama wearing a turban brings out the rampant Islamophobia in this country. Even right after 9/11, the sensible people did disassociate the faith of islam from Al-Qaeda. Bush himself spoke at one point that Al-Qaeda is the distortion of a peaceful religion. In the 6 years followed 9/11 quite a few things have changed. The violence unleashed by the insurgents in response to the American occupation in Iraq has become highly vicious and the line that once was considered solid - the demarcation where the faith ends and extremism begins - is slowing fading in the minds of people. Even the people who are apparently liberal and firm believers of secularism are suffering from the same problem. While all the presidential candidates are trying to prove how christian they are, they are also finding ways to distance themselves from any aspects of Islam. Couple of days ago, NYTimes reported that Obama had spoken about the suffering of Palestinians somewhere and he was trying to backtrack on that. 1.7% of the jewish voters, albeit small in number, represents a large democratic base, while ~1% of muslims have no voice. I am not particularly critical of Obama for distancing himself from Islam, as doing otherwise would definitely put an end to his candidacy. But the state of the affairs is simply appalling.

By the way, the Naomi Klein has an excellent article on this subject and it reflects my thoughts exactly.

The last of the debates

The American politics has always been very civil - no shooting down of opponents and throwing chairs like you see in the other countries. Even the close elections like 2000, candidates concede to preserve the unity - some times civility is too boring. This election has brought out solid entertainment for the apathetic as well as politically savvy folks - this is as good as it gets. Is it a surprise that Oscars had far fewer viewership this year? I think there is only a finite TV time for the hardworking American and if you got to choose, I can see why Oscars would be the last in the priority list.

At times, failure brings about the worst in people - the recent tactics employed by Hillary are clearly desperate measures to salvage a troubled candidacy. But do you want to really go down as a sour loser? Tonight's debate clearly positioned Obama as the presidential candidate - he deflected every attack directed against him with grace. Yes, he is already presidential. I can't wait to see him crushing McCain.

One small step...

The people of Pakistan has overwhelmingly voted against the rule of Musharraf. I know this is a sympathy wave in the wake of Bhutto's killing and we are yet to see what the feeble coalition of the warring factions is all about. Nawas Sherrif and Zardari are known to be corrupt, a trait commonly associated with the politicians of south asia. Yet, I find this refreshing, now atleast, there is a chance that the democratic institutions that Musharraf continuously undermined could be rebuilt, may be another generation of politicians would rise up - ok, never mind. I may have been brain washed by the message of hope, you know :)

An intelligent analysis of Obama vs Hillary

Happy Valentines Day!

The aimless lovers held hands together and walked under the starry night. The lonely folks moaned their past love; And some drank lamenting how wrong Rumi was to write " lovers don't meet somewhere, they are in each other all along". When the day ended, the torn gift wraps lay around, they all sang in unison to the legends of pop - "Love isn't easy ...".

For the stolen generations

In a historic event, Australian government apologized publicly for the treatment of Aborigines of "the stolen generations".

We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Rudd said in Parliament, reading from the motion.

It is only symbolic, but nevertheless an important step toward reconciling the race relations. American presidents have never been able to apologize for slavery in the united states - 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, this still hangs over our collective conscience.

Fear of the unknown

I have been watching the controversy around the head scarves in Turkey with curiosity. I have thought long and hard about it - Erdogan's party would like to introduce more religion into politics, so my support for lifting the hijab ban has nothing to do with his party's goals. However, I do believe in liberal democracies and freedom of expression. I also believe that in a free society, people are free to wear whatever they want within reasonable limits. In that sense, I support lifting the ban on head scarves.

I, somewhat, understand the position of the liberals and the secular elite in Turkey; they do not want to turn the clock back on a century of secularism, a tradition that was firmly put in place by Kemal Ataturk. But I think their fears are misplaced, on the contrary, I feel the resentments that could be fed by a perceived religious oppression might generate further extremism than a few educated people wearing hijabs in the campuses.

Obama Phenomenon

Obama wins Maine too. Woohoo...

The waves of change are sweeping across America - the shakeup in the Clinton camp confirms that Hillary's worst fears are coming true.

Obama forges ahead!

The primaries in the three states are the clear indication that Obama's campaign is only gaining strength. Oh. California, if only you had faith in the message of hope, if only you had shown a little bit more courage, Obama would have been on the way to winning the nomination.

On a side note, I was disturbed by the news article in the first page of NY Times, that talked about Obama's drug use during his teen years. There was absolutely no new information, but a caption that will turn heads, right on the day of the crucial primaries. We know that you have endorsed Hillary, but, please, let's reserve this blatant mud-slinging for another time.

The case for Obama

Often times friends and colleagues ask me - why do I want Obama to win so badly. I think to myself, how can I not want Obama to win? For me, the choice is clear.

1. Clinton is far more guarded than Obama - She comes across as a tactical politican who have learned how to survive in politics. On the contrary, Obama is more comfortable taking seemingly unpopular positions.

2. Clinton's experience comes from the republican dominated era of past 20 years or so. The times, when democrats were not comfortable challenging the republican majority - every word was run under the popularity lense before ever spoken out - the legacy of popular positions over-riding the inner convictions. Obama belongs to the more liberal wing of democratic politics - it is not an accident that he was endorsed by Ted Kennedy.

3. Obama stands on his own feet while Hillary's power and experience come from being in the shadow of Bill Clinton.

At the end, I am only hoping that the bitter struggle for presidency does not split the party and the opportunity of a landslide win in 2008.

Obama or Hillary

As I write this, Hillary is leading the super tuesday primary. I am still hoping the race isn't settled and Obama will emerge as the winner. I, truly, for once, believed that the victory belonged to Obama. Looking at these two candidates, it was clear for me, what kind of a leader America deserved - but I have been completely wrong in assuming that the other people would think the same way. For me, the two candidates presented a stark contrast and I thought Obama's life and presidency would serve as an inspiration for the generations to come. The message of hope, the possibility of a new era, an african american president in the white house - all that resonated with me a great deal, it felt like we were turning a new page in history. But, with the final results yet to come, I am truly disappointed. My fingers are still crossed...

This is what CNN reports as of now -

Hillary Clinton

Pledged: 496

Superdelegates: 193

Total: 689

Barack Obama

Pledged: 476

Superdelegates: 106

Total: 582

Kenya

The news from Kenya is heart-breaking. The tribal instincts concealed forcibly behind the thick curtain of democracy - that has been the state of many third world countries. They vote, they exercise their electoral rights, but deep in their heart, several centuries of tribal lineage define their true loyalty. May be, the survival instinct is to blame for the intense hatred toward the rival tribes. Once in a while, a politician opens these old wounds, and the brutality becomes unstoppable. We have seen this over and over again in third world countries.

During my travel in Kenya in 2001, I hated Nairobi. A city with no character, poverty given rise to high rate of crimes, a facade of modernity displayed by skyscrapers, shopping malls. Yet, in the rural Kenya, I witnessed a more humble country, poor but proud people moving on with their lives, Naiwasha, Nakuru, Samburu, in between the runs between the national parks, I must have passed through the same streets where people are rioting now.

Kennedy family's endorsement for Obama is huge, despite the tenacity with which Hillary had tried to persuade the Kennedy family to endorse her or atleast stay neutral. But, the
hope and inspiration that Obama alludes greately in his speaches is finally beginning to make a difference - It is not the naivette of a junior senator, but the view of a visionary that is turning heads at this point. It is exactly that hope, or what he calls the 'audacity of hope' that attracts me to his candidacy.

The South Carolina primary takes the game back to Obama. His whopping lead over Hillary signals the momentum he has been accumulating over the last few weeks. This is exciting times --