Is Google India biased?

Well, this happened by chance. I was searching Google for information on Pakistan; typed 'Pakistan is...' in the search engine bar and the following suggestions were shown just below the search field:

Then, I decided to do the same thing with the keywords 'India is...' and the results were just too funny not to share:

So, is the search engine giant biased or is it really the fact that the sharp contrast between the two countries who started together have grown over the years so much?

Time to wake up, Raj

When you are born in a family that holds considerable political clout, it becomes difficult for you to carry their legacy forward. And you try really hard to be up to the mark.

Raj Thackeray is facing a similar situation. The nephew of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray wants to establish himself as a independent, firebrand leader and a true son of the Maharashtrian soil. That is why he quit his uncle’s party and formed his own radical Hindu outfit, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). And the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly election is his first real test.

So, a desperate Raj is doing all he can to pass the test with distinction. And he is going to any extent to stir the emotions of the people of Maharashtra. Be it the Bihari migration issue, or use of the term Bombay in Karan Johar’s latest flick, Raj is not ready to leave the battleground without putting up a decent fight. He has hijacked the Marathi manoos issue.

But what Raj is not realising is that such exasperated moves are not going to help him win the game. A Mumbaikar doesn’t care if he is called a Bambaiya or a Mumbaiite. Even for a Maharashtrian, a dialogue from a film is not going to change anything. What they need are real changes.

For a city battered by the deadly 26/11 attacks, what matters is that its borders are secure; for people who lost crores in the recent financial onslaught, they need stability; farmers of the Vidarbha region who lost their lives due to poor crop and scanty rainfall, need a continued source of livelihood and a secure future.

Instead of talking about these issues, Raj Thackeray is crying hoarse about non-issues. His not talking in English during an interview, or beating up a group of North Indians in Mumbai, are not going to help him in his political journey. Raj must remember – politics is not about naam ke wastey, it’s about kaam ke wastey!

...and the tweets go on

Elections or no elections, our politicians always make it a point to grab the eyeballs. And more often than not, it’s for the wrong reasons.

When Congress leader the Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor tweeted, it snowballed into a major controversy. In a rather off-the-cuff remark, Mr Tharoor wrote on Twitter that he is happy to travel ‘cattle class’ in solidarity with the 'holy cows’.

His remarks came in reply to a journalist’s question about the Congress’ ongoing austerity drive. But the party, which is literally worshipping its ‘go austere’ campaign these days, took these remarks in bad taste and called them insensitive. The party also distanced itself from his remarks.

An avid tweeter, Congress’ remarks came as a stern warning for the UN-returned politic, who later apologised to the public saying his tweet was ‘just a humorous comment and nothing else’.

After the incident, one would have thought that Mr Tharoor would take a while to come to terms with the setback and would be cautious in his future tweets. But no. After a few days, he tweeted again – and this time about Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

In his latest tweet, which came on Gandhi Jayanti, Mr Tharoor wrote that there is no need for a holiday on this day as for Gandhiji preached ‘work is worship’. This, too, was given thumbs down by the Congres who dubbed the comment as ‘his personal views’.

What I don’t understand is why make a fuss about such things when our politicians have much better things to do? What happened to someone’s freedom of speech? Why is politics taking over a man’s words? What Mr Tharoor said might have hurt some sentiments, but everyone has a right to express his or her opinion. Wonder Mr Tharoor answer this question in his next tweet.

Summer of '09

I got my first real heat stroke

On a bike out in the sunshine

Fell down and got a bleeding nose

It was the summer of '09

Me and my folks got worried

Got at doc's who gave a li'l shot

Told me to better not hurry

And lie down for quite a while

'Oh!' I said and looked outside

The summer seems to last forever

And if I had a choice

Ya, I'd never wanna be there

Those were the worst days of my life

I knew it's no use complainin'

When you got a shot to prove

Spent my evenin's down on a bedding

And that's when I cursed YOU (God)!

Standin in pyjamas and shorts

Told the God it's now or never

Oh you either kill the man

or give him li'l time to wander

Those were the worst days of my life

Metro in East Delhi: A boon for commuters

Summer has been pretty hard for the people in North India, especially Delhi. Temperatures have been touching new highs almost every day. And to further aggravate the problems, there are power cuts and water shortage. The people of Delhi are really facing tough time and everyone prefers to stay at home to avoid the scorching heat.

But call it my youthful bravado or a penchant to check out the latest development in the city, I decided to take a ride on the Metro, boarding it from the newly-opened Metro station at Yamuna Bank in East Delhi. Metro coming the East Delhi was be a boon for its residents who have to fight a war daily just to make it in time at their respective destinations. Commuting has been a huge problem here with almost every mode of transport running packed and traffic moving at a snail’s pace during peak hours.

So I was pretty happy that finally, Metro has made its way to the eastern part of the capital. And reading about the station and the infrastructure the DMRC has put in here, the journalist inside pushed me to take a ride.

The brand new Yamuna Bank Metro station that has come up across the grand old river has been positioned strategically, no doubt. Away from the main road the entry to the station makes a person feel at ease. Though somewhat long, the road is well maintained with auto rickshaws ready to serve you so that you don’t have to face the heat.

But as soon as you enter the station a wall of chaos hits you. Despite the tall promises by the government that the premises has a very large parking area and can accommodate up to 400 cars, there is virtually no space. Plus the staff present there is not ready to co-operate. All they have to say is the place gets occupied very fast, especially by the office-goers who park their vehicles for the whole day. Agreed that the Metro was a much-needed transport mode for East Delhi, the crowd has clearly surpassed the expectations of the planners.

Talking about the station, the construction is up to the mark. And going by the speed with which the DMRC is completing its projects – this station has been made operational five months before the scheduled time -- it needs to be appreciated.

With the opening of the Yamuna Bank station will ease the pressure on the existing lines of the Metro as commuters from East Delhi can come directly to the Yamuna Bank rather than interchange at Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk.

The new stretch is likely to reduce the load off roads at the Nizamuddin and ITO bridges, which are major bottleneck points in terms of traffic, especially during the peak hours.