Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Reading this autobiographical, tell-all book by John Perkins seemed surreal.
I am not someone who is very naive about manipulations; I would at least be able to discern between genuine attempts of foreign support, with those of attempts towards hegemonic domination, better than a lot many of us who are blinded and fooled by the corporate media.

But, this detailed reporting from an insider sends shivers down my spine.

A "superpower", pushing beyond the realms of being anything but ethical in order to dominate countries under its vindicative goverment, run by selfish, greed mongers in the background is hard to believe. The USA with its ancient Manifest Destiny and other crap, now has accomplished an indomitable position, where it has the say about anything and everything about every country.

While even countries like India (ironically the largest democracy in the world) is far from being soveriegn, as revealed in the recent WikiLeaks cables, where a cabinet reshuffle in Indian Ministers portfolio was instigated by the lobbyisits of US. When such is the case with the largest democracy, other countries in the middle east, African continent and Latin America, except for a 'few nations' are all entangled in this web unleashed by the aspirations of one country in its distopian dreams of a global empire with a "free" world market, based on exploitation of the majority for the benefits of a small minority, increasing the disparity ruthlessly at a global scale, including amongst its own people.

Instiutions such as the IMF, World Bank and even the UN have evolved to become primary tools used by this superpower and its allies to arm twist countries retaliating against the submissive nature of their hegemony.

This book gives a scintillating account of all the dirty tricks, evil ploys and inhumane nature of functioning of the system as it is today.

Defying the system when it is this hostile is the most natural response anyone who recognizes this hostility would end up doing. But, the efficacy of this system has been its subtle and orchestrated perpetration which keeps all of this hostility hidden from us.

That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
Something on the lines of what Morpheus says to Neo in The Matrix, is the current state of the world.

Nonetheless, this ain't no movie - People are dying, countries are getting impoverished and future is getting bleaker. We are all part of this megaplan of hegemony and exploitation,both by getting exploited and exploiting at various levels.

Defy and change!
We need to change it to a different world: A world as we dream of it, as John perkins puts it in the book.
Now what is the dream of the world we wish to live in is upto each individual to choose upon.

Less personal,More social

A personal observation about the contents I'm discoursing on my personal blog: It certainly is getting unbalanced. Unbalanced in terms of the contexts of the content being discoursed.

My initial posts, if some of you have read/ been reading, would make it obvious that those were primarily venting out of personal experiences, with a narrow scope in the content. Those posts, if read now seem trivial, nonetheless seem special and cute to me. They imbibe some of the best moments of my life: Rendering those moments immortal.

Off late, the content of the discussions in my posts are seldom pertaining to anything intimately personal at all, and seem to be digressing into wider realms of understanding everything around me, keeping myself as the observer. This again is a phase, which I attribute to the growth I have had. An evolution into mindsets which are capable of comprehending some crucial aspects which shape our lives and mould the society. This again is important and  I am glad to be able to doubt, understand and critique these subtle, yet powerful forces honing us.

This stop and look back post was instigated by the observation that my audience is getting diversified, and some of you have been part of this journey seeing me metamorphose into someone that you think that you know.

Be it personal or social, ideas will forever remain immortal.

Life and works of Acharya PC Ray

Talk by Prof.S Chatterjee

Science can afford to wait but Swaraj cannot ...

P C Ray

The prolonged Indian Freedom struggle, and its chronicling in retrospect seem to focus only on the efforts by a select few national heroes. Whereas the freedom struggle itself was brought to its momentum by hundreds of intellectuals and revolutionaries, thousands of toilers and millions of the masses. Reminiscing the contributions by many other great minds are certainly needed to expand the understanding of our History, legacy of our struggle, to further interpret the current state of affairs.

Prafulla Chandra Ray, the entrepreneur and scientist behind the Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, who was dearly called as Acharya Ray played an important role. Acquainting with his life and works, certainly help us to understand the Indian freedom struggle better from other necessary dimensions.

On the 15^th of August, 2011 a talk about the Life and Works of PC Ray by Prof. Chatterjee was organized at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc,Bangalore. This informative talk, followed by a detailed discussion session certainly threw light upon the life of the great confluence of an academician, entrepreneur, scientist, historian, nationalist, pacifist and patriot that Acharya PC Ray was.

Prof.Chatterjee traversed through the life, ideals, work and accomplishments of Acharya Ray in an exhilarating talk which span for about an hour. Prof.Chatterjee communicated all the dimensions of this multi-faceted being in the most convincing manner. The correlation that was brought between science, scientists and their social responsibilities were elucidated in a comprehensive and riveting manner.

PC Ray apart from being the entrepreneur behind the Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, was one of the important scientific visionaries of pre-independent India. Under his guidance, his students would go on to expand the realms of scientific contribution in India. His students were of the likes of Meghnad Saha, Atul Chandra Ghosh, and others who made significant contributions to develop science and technology in India.

Acharya PC Ray was contemporary to Rabindranath Tagore, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Subhash Chandra Bose, MK Gandhi and other influential personalities during the Independence movement. PC Ray had his own crucial contributions to the Freedom struggle. Apart from propagating science and grooming technology, PC Ray was known to have sheltered numerous revolutionaries and provided them with support for their work.

Prof. Chatterjee in his talk brought out the contradiction between today's statesmen and the so called 'intelligentsia', with that of the statesmen and intellectuals of the era of PC Ray, using PC Ray's notions about self-reliance and sovereignty as examples.

The audience resonated to this contradiction, when excerpts from Acharya PC Ray and another modern statesman were quoted for comparison.

PC Ray in his Essay “India before and after the mutiny” written in 1885, makes a profound analysis of the British rule in India:

"England unfortunately now refuses to recognize the hard and irresistible logic of facts and does her best to smother the nascent aspirations of a rising nationality. The selfish, and therefore, harsh and cruel exigencies of an alien rule have imposed various disqualifications and disabilities upon the children of the soil.... The lamentable condition of India at present is due to England’s culpable neglect of, and gross apathy to, the affairs of that Empire. England has failed, grievously failed in the discharge of her sacred duties to India... Tomorrow you will be the arbiters of the destinies of 250 millions of human beings, your fellow subjects. We fervently hope your advent to power will be a death knell to the existing un –English regime... I was a believer in those days in the doctrine of mendicancy and with child like simplicity held that if the wrongs and the grievances under which our country groaned could be brought home to the British people, they could be remedied. The disillusionment was not long in coming...

The great mutiny had entirely unhinged the financial equilibrium. In 1857 the public debt had stood at 60,000,000 pounds. In 1863 it rose to the incredible sum of nearly 110,000,000 pounds. Thus the indirect expenditure incurred for mutiny amounts to almost 45,000,000 pounds. And it is notorious that England did not contribute a farthing to India as financial help.... India is a famished nation rather than of Rajas and Nababs....A government which can squander 10,000,000 pounds on palatial barracks, but cannot spare a farthing for laboratories should forfeit the title of a civilized government....The Indian government is essentially a tax squeezing machinery and not a government for the people...."

And here's an excerpt from one modern Indian statesman, who has the following perception of the same relationship, and was quoted by Prof.Chatterjee towards the end of his talk:

Today, with the balance and perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an Indian Prime Minister to assert that India's experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences. Our notions of the rule of law, of a Constitutional government, of a free press, of a professional civil service, of modern universities and research laboratories have all been fashioned in the crucible where an age old civilization met the dominant Empire of the day. These are all elements which we still value and cherish. Our judiciary, our legal system, our bureaucracy and our police are all great institutions, derived from British-Indian administration and they have served the country well. Of all the legacies of the Raj, none is more important than the English language and the modern school system. That is, if you leave out cricket!

Like in the audience at the talk by Prof. Chatterjee, it is hard to guess that the above mentioned statesman is the Dr.Manmohan Singh, exhibiting what could be termed an anti-nationalist stand.

This instigated a good round of discussion amongst the panel members. Arguments whatever arose, ultimately ended up rebuking the statements that were made by Dr.Manmohan Singh in his convocation speech at Oxford University in 2005.

Also detailed questions about Acharya PC Ray's principles happened to be discussed, during which again the multifaceted maverick that PC Ray was was much discussed and reminisced further.

One important aspect of the talk itself was the manner in which it was presented by Prof.Chatterjee. The audience present can be categorized conveniently as the intellectual elite and mostly apolitical. Prof. Chatterjee, nonetheless was able to communicate all the aspects of the life of Acharya PC Ray in a subtle but impacting manner, which certainly got the audience thinking in relation to the current scenarios. And that was the objective of the talk, which was well accomplished.

Slides of the talk by Prof.Chatterjee: http://bit.ly/rrek5w

The God Delusion

How lucky we are to be alive, given that the vast majority of people who could potentially be thrown up by the combinatorial lottery of DNA will in fact never be born. However brief our time in the sun, if we waste a second of it, or complain that it is dull or barren or (like a child) boring, couldn't this be seen as a callous insult to those unborn trillions who will never even be offered life in the first place?

Think about it. On one planet, and possibly only one planet in the entire universe, molecules that would normally make nothing
more complicated than a chunk of rock, gather themselves together into chunks of rock-sized matter of such staggering complexity that they are capable of running, jumping, swimming, flying, seeing, hearing, capturing and eating other such animated chunks of complexity; capable in some cases of thinking and feeling, and falling in love with yet other chunks of complex matter!

-Excerpts from the book "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins

I have already attributed Richard Dawkins to have facilitated my transition to become the ardent and absolute atheist that I am now, in previous posts. And like in his documentaries, he is cleverer and super accurate with his arguments in The God Delusion.Impeccably convincing!

Turning towards the book itself, it is a quick and joyous read in the literary sense. But, this book symbolizes an apprehension of serious scale and it ain't just the literature one needs to ponder about. What actually dawned upon me while reading the book was the intent of the book itself. Pushing science and rationality amidst the infinite bandwidth white noise of religion, Gods, and the related blah blah!

Religion is ubiquitous, and it certainly is perilous, whatever small subjective positives one might have experienced. This ancient dogma has to be stigmatized for, eradicating it would take a long long struggle against many maniacs.

Nevertheless, increasing the consciousness of people pertaining to the futilities encapsulated in religion as a whole will slowly evolve to eliminate this weird but natural seeming, artificial digression of us humans.

While Science is what has given us answers, drawing us out from the shrouded clouds of ignorance, into light and still leading, Religion is that strong regressive force holding back majority of the Homo sapiens , bound to the shackles of faith, blind faith and dumb blind faith!

The God Delusion is a must read for everyone: Of course it will be offensive to the strong theists. But, for anyone who's just swaying away from the absolutism attached to religion, it will certainly help and enable them start drifting farther away from religion and closer to rationality - All for the good.

I might personally want to see religion eliminated from the face of the earth; But, it is even more complexly interleaved than even Dawkins himself projects.

Let's hope there's light, sometime soon, if not spontaneously!

I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.
Albert Einstein

Totem revolutions

The exaggerated rumours during the Egyptian revolution, that the revolution itself was a ramification of the existence of social networks like Facebook and Twitter is preposterous, and indicates the myopic understanding of such analysts.
While Facebook and Twitter did influence the rate of information dissemination and to some extent online mobilization, the idea that if for no Facebook and Twitter the Egyptian revolution and the Tahrir Square struggle would not have occurred is simply ridiculous.

The reason I am delving upon this example is to show the contorted reasoning people end up believing in. The idea that a revolution/ a change/ metamorphosis could be instigated and perpetuated via social networks or some other online token actions has been imbibed into the minds of people by the media, and a majority of the gullible have certainly endorsed this idea.

The Facebook Campaigns like Save Tigers, Support Anna Hazare, Stop Corruption, and others are to be treated as awareness increasing campaigns, using a new means of reaching out to people:Online Networks.
Unfortunately, posting up these campaigns on one's page and clicking the 'LIKE' button seems to be the end of this campaign to a lot many.

While nothing can replace the basic ground work in terms of understanding the problems, mobilizing people beyond the online networks (for, there is at least three quarters of the country out of this reach), contemplating pragmatic solutions and persuading the authorities to implement them, or in compelling cases (like in Egypt, and middle east) involving in struggles will what reap benefits. And certainly not just the Likes, reposts and shares of links and tweets.

The tendency of individuals to have executed their duties of being a citizen by performing these token actions online is highly increasing. People, I guess are considering this to be an extrapolation of online payment of taxes. Performing your duties online!
And such tendencies is what I am terming as "Totem Revolutions".

The token-like actions, the symbols which rise to become powerful totems in the current context are futile. Manifestation of the the cliche: "Means mistaken to be the ends". The acts of sharing web links, retweeting, forwarding mails, display picture badges, giving out one-ring calls (!?) and other product marketing-like strategies are most efficient in attracting the less concerned crowds, for the ones who really bother wouldn't require any of these wake up calls. These tokens, growing into totems should not be given anymore reverence than treating them for their worth,i.e, they are the newer means of mobilizing and awareness increasing methods at our disposal.  I again reiterate, these are no ends by themselves!

"Symbols are given power by the people. Alone a symbol is meaningless but with enough people blowing up a building (symbol) can change the world."
V for Vendetta

And a converse of this is also true. People who only cling on to a symbol forget the reality and are busy obsessing the totems! This, off late, has become the ubiquitous behavior of the 'concerned citizens'.

Online protests like the Anonymous groups, and the DDoS attacks in support of WikiLeaks had some tangible results, for, they didn't only mobilize online, they were conducting their struggle online, for they were fighting a peril being perpetuated online!
The arenas were different.

Further, using centralized and Government monitored networks like Facebook, Twitter would cripple any such movements. WikiLeaks versus VISA/Paypal/Amazon incident is a manifestation of this apprehension.

Here's the link of the manual circulated during the Tahrir Square protests, urging people not to use Facebook/Twitter!
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/01/egyptian-activists-action-plan-translated/70388/

Cumulative observations on these lines, through months has made me sit down and write this post. The increasing tendencies of the online activists, to trigger campaigns online is perfect. But, the aspect of clarifying that the means aren't the end have not been profoundly proclaimed by many of them.

And please, no more of Totem Revolutions.

Understanding the Information Economy: ITEC Seminar

ITEC has been around for sometime now and has been taking up some important tasks pertaining to the 'elusive' IT industry. Attempts at increasing the awareness about the pitfalls in the industry using instances to be concerned about, like fraudulent IT companies, work pressure and related issues have already been basis of their work.

In the recent campaign ITEC had organized a seminar on understanding the "Information Economy". It certainly was an eye-opener to all the 50 participants. Suresh Kodoor and Vasantharaj were the speakers, highly apt for lecturing on the lines of "Information Economy", moderated by Prof S Chatterjee.

The seminar was arranged at the new Jaaga, on an overcast Sunday afternoon.

The gist of the talk, as I have understood would be as follows:

The transition from a manufacturing and product based economy, which primarily produces tangible products,  to now an economy extensively 'speculative' in their own jargon has turned out to be more on the lines of selling out information as products, driven by finance capital. This new era  (which is at least a few decades old) has brought in a paradigm shift in the businesses of the world.
To understand the contradiction between the two ways, look at the growth rates: The information economy mammoths show 20% + growth on a normal basis, while the veterans of the manufacturing industry still are steady with their 8-10 % growth.

To understand the differences that have been ushered in by the Information economy a brief comparative study in the way these two business models are run was explained by both the speakers. The common contention putforth was the lack of innovation in India, even in terms of self-reliance of software products to cater to our domestic needs. Secondly, the lag in investing in hardware manufacturing for telecom, defense and other critical sectors needs was discussed. The need to resuscitate the dying PSU's was mentioned as well.

On Sunday, when day the seminar was held is when the news of the S&P downgrading of the US creditability from AAA to AA+ had occured and we were only speculating what else could go wrong. It seems as if most of the talk that proceeded on that day was as if prophesizing the subsequent hours which were to put the financial world at unrest. Once the markets reopened on Monday the symptoms of the second dip recession have surfaced visibly and lot of suppression tactics are being implemented, as I am speaking of it. There's turmoil and apprehension filling in the air.

And this time, in case a second wave of global recession would hit, India wouldn't be as immune as it was in 2008! The 'outsourcing' menace as naturally seen by the people of the US and other European countries has taken its toll and now stands at the threshold of a breakpoint. Unemployment, public benefits cut down , inflation, taxation and dipping stock market are gelling up to become a dangerous threat to the global stability.

The ITEC seminar did certainly help us to comprehend both sides of the stories, while the speakers convicned us of what could be the solution as well: Self Reliance!

Secluded in the cities

Over a casual chat, a friend discussed an observation to me, which was rather very interesting, and worth pondering further, beyond the discussion.

According to him,in the daily urban chaos, the aspect of socializing (in the real terms), which is the essence of all humanity is being lost, and that we are getting narrowed down to really small, shrinking diaspora, which consists of very few people.

And after thinking some more on these lines, I tend to agree with his observation. It ain't even individualism that is being practiced. These conditions which are getting so ubiquitous around us, I might want to term them as a kind of forced urban seclusion, and that has come to be the widely agreed standard. Each is left with little, or no time to bother about anything apart from very personal matters.

Socializing (only) on online networks has deteriorated the already bad situation. While it can never be a replacement to interpersonal rapport, these networks have played the subtle but hostile roles of alienating the social beings within us.

Coming back to the point of forced urban seclusion, it is a convergence of the hectic and reckless lives that the city drives one to lead, with no care whatsoever to the conditions around. It is a pathetic state to be in, for, it breeds cynicism about the (world minus us), and an expanding void within.

There is little that the 'bhag bhag' lifestyle has ultimately showered us with on the bright side. While there's a lot more it has forced upon us to crib about.

All said and done, if one wants to break free, there's all the control given, but then aren't most of us either way, comfortably, or uncomfortably numb about it ?

Last official day at my first professional job :)

A new experience it was, altogether today. It will stay with me forever.
Bidding adieu to my first job at MRO-TEK turned out to be harder than I had imagined it to be; I hadn't imagined it to be hard at all. Nonetheless, the day took me aback, and it turned out to be an emotional and deeply touching farewell.

In my farewell mail, I called my job at MRO-TEK, which happens to be my first job  to be equivalent to The First Love, and rightly so for, I already seem to have forgotten the few negativities and have started relishing upon all the positives encountered by me.

The affection my colleagues had shown through my tenure by itself was overhwelming, and today it was taken to new heights. Sweet chunks of advice, geneorus words of praise, lots of aspirations and a deep sense of nostalgia, all of it surfaced one after another, making the rendezvous heavier with every passing moment.

I haven't discussed my job, or the nature of my work at MRO-TEK on my blog, and now that I am done with it, I still wouldn't want to talk of it, for, as I see it now the love and affection I have earned amongst my peers speak louder than everything. And so be it!

Mine was a short tenure at MRO-TEK, just a few days less than an year and nine months. It has been quick, exciting and vibrant! The industrial exposure will enable me set the right path to my goals. While all the maturity I have assimilated, pondering for these many months in a different framework has certainly made me a better and sophisticated human being.

The quality of discussions with certain resonating colleagues, day in and day out will be missed deeply by me. So will also the lovely campus, with an earthly serenity attached to it be missed.


This current phase, when I am just drifting away from a bondage into newer realms renders me exhilirated, while soaked in nostalgia. And I am relishing it.

In the end, what I take back from my first job is a new me, who has matured enough to work in aligning myself closer to the utopian me.


Riding on the experience of yesterday, backed by all the courage of today, I am excited about facing the challenges posed by tomorrow!

Making my moves, like i wanted to!

Taking decisions in life, now, when I am at the verge of an important decision feels like playing a tricky game of chess!

I have thought deeply, evaluated the consequences, guaged the prospects and hoped for the optimum, and it feels precisely like an important move you've done on the board of chess; when you know the pawns will have a radical change, while you are desperately hoping the ramifications to turn out to be good!

It is easier said than done, to steer the happenings of one's life to fall in congruence, or at least near the mental envisage of what his/her life should become. But, once a while, a few important decisions put us right into the pilot seat and present us an opportunity to change the course of our lives.
And, to brave up and take those small risks to move closer to our purpose of life is as good can one's life can get.

Now, I am embarking upon a certain path, which will lead me closer to the essence of me. It might not be something grand or exciting to an outsider, but I am swelling with enthusiasm and euphoria, while I still feel a small tinge of apprehension :)

More than the future prospects, the current contentment I derive out of the control I have exhibited and the confluence of all the right things which have fallen into place make me feel wondrous and simply happy.

Banking on this hope and confidence, I am on MY WAY!

How far can one go riding on rationality?

Encountering rationales is getting tougher by the day in today's technology driven world. As paradoxical it might seem, irrationality is getting ubiquitous in the 21st Century. In a world run on the principles of scientific inquisition and technological accomplishments, a counter wave of revived illogic and neo-superstitions are spreading quickly amongst the individuals.

Incorporating the paradigm of logic and reasoning in one's life is not an easy task, agreed. It requires lot of courage and strong conviction to defy the orthodoxity and conventionality that is piously preached by the society.
But it certainly is the only way forward!

In an attempt to categorize the minds I've known based on the rationality exhibited by them, here's a four grade demarcation :P

The ones who don't take off: Have known and continue to know many more who belong to this clan. A strong force acting within these people repels all the logic and makes them imperveous to reasoning.
Traits: Relucatance, apart from the natural obstinate ignorance

The ones who break down en route: These are the slender and fragile ones, who make an attempt but certain adverse situations put them back to square one, or to the level mentioned above.
Traits: Timid and voluntarily cornered

The ones who apply with exceptions: A new creed I am discovering amongst my own regular diaspora. These semi rationales apply rationality with exceptions, and many a times at their convenience. I don't know how they do it, but they successfully detach from their plane of thought and contradict themselves, ending up irrational.
Traits: Opportunistic and of course undone.

The ones who perpetuate forever: These are the ones who wouldn't contradict the subjective realities in variation with the objective conditions. Consistent with their logic, and adamant on their perception.
Improvising a cliche here: Rationality isn't a destination, it is a journey!
And to hang on to this journey, it is nothing less than an incessant struggle; Struggle with one's beliefs and prejudices, and an everlasting process of clearing the smog unravelled by the rest of the three clans.
Traits: Strong conviction and pragmatists

It takes continuous effort and consistent show of mental strength to endorse a lifelong paradigm of rationality. Lethargy, reluctance, hesitancy, selectivity and cowardice are the hurdles to cross if you want to embark upon this enlightnening and gratifying journey.

செந்தமிழ்நாடு மதுரை - Madurai !

Numerous ancient temples, variety of deliciously tasty food, detailed political gyaan at every corner of the road, meter-less auto-rickshaws, the more familiar heat of Tamil Nadu, and a lot more is what I have experienced in my first visit to this ancient city of India - Madurai, also known the Temple Town, with an exquisite legacy and heritage of its own.

Madurai, is also dubbed to be the Capital of southern Tamil Nadu, in colloquial terms. And with its experience of being the capital of the immensely successful monarchies like the Pandyas, Madurai can less be ignored.

My two days in Madurai has been the ideal hangout for a gypsy that I tend to be. Needless to mention that I enjoyed it tremendously for, it was my first trip to Madurai.

The memories I carry from here for this time, are of mixed nature; Some vivacious, while some are subtle, perfectly depicting the nature of the city that Madurai is.

Mind blowing temples, which form an important aspect of discovering ancient India are housed in Madurai. The official logo of Tamil Nadu - The Gopuram, has elaborate presence all across the city.

The world famous Meenakshi Amman Temple, for all its grandeur and legacy was one place I was certain of not missing. And I did spend an elaborate five hours scanning through the layered alleys of this marvel. The awe inspiring architecture of the temple, the symmetry and the scale are the traits which have given it the status it enjoys today.  More importantly the devotion and emotion associated with the temple and its deities, which bring in the thronging crowds aren't to be missed either :) The only complaint I have is the newly done stark paintings performed throughout the temple. Although in some places it increases the aesthetics of the architecture, I certainly would have loved to see it as it was done by the masters then. I call them the masters, for accomplishing a masterpiece of this sorts then, with the little resources they had is mind boggling, and I believe it would be undo-able today, even with all the resources and technology.
We have simply lost the passion our ancestors possessed!

Apart from the Meenakshi Amman temple, there are a host of other temples and places to visit, but I couldn't go on, given the time and energy constraints.

Second and most importantly, the food everywhere in the city has been sublime. Ethnic south Indian cuisine, with all the creativity and the entire spectrum of non-vegetarianism in it has been a treat for a foodie that I am. I have tried numerous new eatables this time around in Madurai.
Here's a list of new on my food list:
"Parutthipaal" made out of cotton seeds extract.
"Jigarthanda", a Madurai special natural cool drink
"Pathaneer" with the sap of tender palm fruit as the main ingredient. This again is a natural coolant, much needed to beat the heat!

 

On the non-vegetarian side of the food, I had "Muyal Biriyaani", that is authentic Tamil biryaani with rabbit meat in it :)
Also, mutton omelette (finely chopped goat meat, with beaten eggs), likewise sea-food omelette, boneless crab omelette and chicken omelette! Then the addendum to the "muttai dosa" list was "chicken/mutton/all-meat/seafood/prawns dosas", which are instigating my salivary glands as I am writing this down! All of this in one classic place - Amma Mess.

Then the roadside idlis with chicken kolumbu, and the ever enticing "muttai kotthu parota": An adventurous preparation yielding yet another mouth watering delicacy.

In all, Madurai food was Sublimely delicious, and vibrantly various!

The warmth of people in Madurai is very visible and that comes natural with their living ambiance, which is still based on the human values. Drawing in the cynicism I have developed towards the the IT/Corporate/LPG-sick city that Bangalore is coming to be, I was so glad to see a place where people on the lower middle and lower sections of the economic spectrum have chances of survival unlike in other metros! It isn't about the prices being nominal alone, even the lifestyle of people matches their living circumstances, and the people are contended and more importantly proud of what they are, again unlike the hypocrisy full, West emulating trends in other cities.
 

Overall, Madurai stands out as one of the best places in India, more for its culture retention and pride of its local (not in the derogatory sense) authenticity.

There will be complaints about everything we observe, but in this log I have subdued one or two negative aspects which I observed for, the rest of it is all so awesome!

The droppings of capitalism!

Capitalist modes of running a society and its criticism is a highly elaborate exercise, and to take up that task I am still inadequately equipped. I shall save it for the future, to make it more convincing.

In this post, I want to focus on certain profound ramifications rendered by the crowning jewel of capitalism - Neoliberalism. 
 
As David Harvey in his book A Brief History of Neoliberalism points, "Neoliberalism has, in short, become hegemonic as a mode of discourse. It has pervasive effects on ways of thought to the point where it has become incorporated into the common-sense way many of us interpret, live in, and understand the world."

And I want to concentrate on the way many of us perceive, interpret and understand the world, well in an increasingly contorted way. To hint at what I am talking about, allow me to present a couple of contemporary ethic statements as heard by me!

"You know you are poisoning the customer, better give him a slow death than a sudden one, so that you get out safe... "

"When you're faced with a vicious snake and a close competitor, kill the competitor first!"
Theories like,
Profit making by legal, although unjust means is perfectly sane.
Professional life comes first, and personal life is secondary.
Rivalry amongst peers taking newer heights of animosity.
Exploitation legitimized in the name of profit making.
And many more observations, which are getting ubiquitous and are successfully draining out the core values of us humans. It is evolving into a system where cynicism and skepticism are increasing instead of trust and belief amongst people.

Even this aspect of declinging trust is not of concern, as much as the silly sancitity assigned to these anomalies. These digressions away from the human values, inclined, contrarily towards the market values have found way into the ethics of the society. And that makes the future bleaker!

A price tag and a profit margin on anything and everything, including emotions and basic necessities is the fundamental basis of Neoliberalism. And we, the mere droppings of this system are more than willing to endorse and live by these false standards. If not a systemic revamp, at least pursuit of consciousness at a personal level against the perils of a system,which is polarized away from our natural good is imperative.

The booming spiritual bloom!

"Inner Engineering", "Spiritual Software", "Cosmic architecture", and many more paradoxical terms have seen a sudden boom in the last decade. This is the new set of jargon presenting itself when the need has arrived. 

The blend of spirituality and technology seems to be the USP of the recent resurgence of the spiritual heads from India, whom I categorize as the "Corporate Gurus". This entire saga of Spirituality and India is a deep rooted gimmick, which has flourished through centuries and still growing, better than ever.

Ancient Indian philosophy, when traversed through without the prejudices we might have inculcated in today's world, is nothing but contradictory to the current preachings of today's spiritualists. In Debiprasad Chattopadhayaya's book "Indian Atheism" he elucidates the fictitious nature of the contemporary spiritualism. He argues and very well validates the absence of the concept of God in most of the ancient Indian Philosophy, which on the other hand is the underlying basis for the contemporary spiritualism.

Another important aspect which comes under the scanner is the plethora of lost minds who are seeking solace from this trend. If narrowed down, the ones seeking 'spiritualism' today mostly are workers deprived of their rights!

An employee who works for 14 hours a day, with no time to spend with his/her family, with no sense of satisfaction and with almost zero interaction with the society in its real terms are the ones who are driven to such extremities.

If one extremity is falling prey for depressants like carcinogen, alcohol and other hallucinogens, the other 'respite' to this new class of social destitutes is seeking spiritualism in order to fill in the voids left by their exploitation.

Capitalizing on this new class of desperadoes is the new thriving 'industry' of spiritualism. Most of these Corporate Gurus bamboozle the vulnerables into their traps, with nothing but sweetened non-sense and a heavy 'donation'.

While Indian philosophy has homed the greatest of the philosphers like the Buddha, Kabir,Shirdi Sai Baba, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekanada, and certainly some contemporary ones also who haven't shot to 'fame'. The discerning factor between these philosophers and today's swindlers is their motive.

While the genuine gurus were preachers for the sake of betterment in the society, the contemporary Gurus are lavish charlatans who have made the most out of the vulnerabilities in the society. While the ancient philosophers were reformers, who fought against social practices which made the lives of the people miserable, today, the Corporate Gurus are the parasites feeding on the exploitation rendered by the system, and who have zero consciousness of the problem in its entirety. They are mere pseudo embalmers, pretending to salvage the depressed.

It ain't just pretension, the Gurus of the day are frauds of the highest order.
Take a look at some of the programs and ideas propagated by these self proclaimed teachers and leaders!

Walk without Feet, Fly without Wings and Think without Mind!

Art of breathing, to teach you the Art of Living!

As we have physical science to create external well-being there is a whole inner dimension of science to create inner well being. I call it Inner Engineering!

With so much debauchery surrounding the entire scene of spiritualism today, the crowd thronging at them mainly is the learned urban middle class. Isn't it a shame that an educated section of the society can endorse and let such attempts to thrive!

Discerning the materialist in me

Am I a materialist?

Yes and No.

Yes: In the context of non-idealism; in my manners of understanding everything around me. This tinge of materialism in me is what has enabled me to grow an outlook endorsing rationality and self verification, and am usually not driven by the momentum of the legacy of beliefs. 'Doubt everything', as one great philosopher put it is the underlying perceptive principle, out of which the materialism in me emanates.
Looking for the logic behind events, reasoning for occurrences, with an incessant urge to question is how life should be lived. It gives immense gratification, which is otherwise impossible to be rendered by the other ubiquitous means for 'pursuance of truth' like spiritualism, religion or superstition!

No: If being asked in the context of being 'materialistic', i.e.,belonging to the creed manifesting greed, in the purest sense of commodity seeking behaviour. This category of consumers are technically not materialists, but only materialistic in nature.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Materialism

I recurrently am encountered with questions about my aims in life.
And even before I start to formulate my ideas, the questioner starts off, "A plot of land","A posh flat", "A gizmo car", "A heavy account balance", and blah blah. If these are not blah blah to you, you are one such prospective questioner I would despise if you go on to presume something on those lines. Contradictory to the conventional trend as it may appear, I treat commodities as mere commodities, and not goals of my life.

It doesn't mean that I do not want to lead a comfortable (economic stress free) life. I would not give any more reverence to the commodities beyond that. My objectives in life, if I were to even think of them are more on the lines of expanding my own abilities, bettering my skills and in this course to throw some positive influence on others.

Inside WikiLeaks, and inside Inside WikiLeaks!

 I am a self proclaimed admirer of Julian Assange [J] and more so of WikiLeaks[WL]. Let this trait of mine not induce an idea that this post of mine is in favor of J or WL, in manners more than what they deserve.

Daniel Schmitt [D], actually the pseudonym of Daniel Domscheit-Berg is the author of the supposedly tell all book about WikiLeaks in his recent hurriedly written, crib-log Inside WikiLeaks.

I took up reading this one for, this is the first account of any details from within the secretive whistle-blowers platform WikiLeaks. But, as ridiculous a book could get, Inside WikiLeaks is majorly the yanking of D about J's personal habits, dressing sense, his perception of women, arrogance, egotism and everything that should have been confined to one's personal observations about a fellow comrade in their struggle against secrecy, and for transparency.

Non conformity with the book

WL has always propagated that "Transparency is only for Governments and big corporations, and not necessarily for individuals". I think D had got this idea distorted and goes on yanking about J's personality, and reporting nuances of J's behavior like kids would do in kindergarten.

J eats with his hands, and wipes off on his pants.
J taps the keyboard hard, creating disturbing noise.
J wore the same white shirt for both the days of the conference.
J eats faster and leaves me little to eat.
J gets more importance, and not the team, or myself.
J wears my jacket, and goes to sleep.
J pounces on my cat.
J is not bothered about selling the T-shirts, he's busy philosophizing.
J is paranoid!
And lots of commentary on J's sexuality, to the extent that D brands J a sexist.

D, for all the credibility he has as being an important person who was working for WL, hailng from the Chaos Computer Club, and to come out with a kindergarten complaint book of this sort is silly firstly, and also puts the work he had contributed to WL in bad light. I can very well anticipate the quality of work he would have been contributing to WL with a mindset such as this.

The claims of him being sidelined, and that J was getting more attention is again a point not worth debating. WL is the ingenious and courageous brainchild of J, and if he gets credit better than his counterparts, there's nothing wrong in it, unless you have peers who are trivially bothered about it. This is a normal issue in any team, and I can testify with first hand experience, like many of you would as well.

The most importantly ignored aspect about J, or WL in the book has been the security threats they have been undergoing. D pretends as if they were functioning in a safe and secure IT firm, just writing code. Even if some of the threat claims made by Assange have been exaggerated, instances where WL whistleblowers were killed, or Amazon, Paypal, VISA withdrew their services reveal to great extents the opposition WL was/is being conditioned to. And because J had to front end WL in times of most turbulence, even his safety and well being is at evident risk.
The circumstantial allegations of the sexual misconduct by two women, to get J grounded is more than a normal reaction to what could have been J's actions.

Conformity with the book

Although the book is filled with nonsensical commentary on J, the details about how WL functioned initially, or at least to the point of narration where D is still not jealous of J is quite a read.
A single decade old server hosting WL for the first whole stint, and portraying it differently to the external world, or about the impact their leaks had is enjoyable.

The criticism on the disorientation of WL from its core principles of neutrality, because J wanted to go head on with the US, if true is a point I too would be worried about. As far as D has written in this book, J's anarchist tendencies have driven him to a war with the US. But, I cannot deny the fact that, when you take World politics and are trying to make it transparent, the US of course would emerge from under everyone's carpets. And to expose the world, is in reality exposing the US, for, the US is so intrinsically involved with the rest of the world!

Holding back of leaks, or if any bias has happened to them as D alleges, that again is a matter of immense concern. Although, apart from the commentary which influence the opinions of the audience, the material by itself will be authentic, or the concerned authorities would certainly pull WL into intended espionage.

About alleged mishandling of the donations to WL, which is the core motive which has driven D to write this book according to me, must sometime come under scrutiny, or better if J would publish the transactions to shut the critics.

The internal structure, and inherent secrecy of WL as an organization is understandable for, they're in a tough game, playing big opponents and functioning with transparency is something a small team like theirs cannot afford to.

About Open Leaks [OL], I am certainly looking forward to it taking off. For, if OL can be better than WL, by not influencing the nature of leaks, or precedence, or of the recipients of the leaks, it will certainly be better. Transparency on their platform theoretically sounds very promising, and if accomplished it can certainly become the baton holder of whistle-blowers after WL.

D says,
"There's enough injustice in the world to occupy more than one (whistleblowing) platform.", and let us hope both together can make the world a better place.

All said and done, WikiLeaks made the world aware of the importance of whistleblowing to a greater extent than ever before in the History, encouraging a lot of dissidents to take up the cause. Julian Assange, irrespective of his gray shades personally, has been the spokesperson for transparency of Governments globally and will remain an icon ( maybe not of Pop icon nature, as claimed by Daniel), but more important than that – A role model to today's technologists to take up issues of social concern, without secluding themselves from the realities around...

Self deception in the process of gross deception...

It's quite amazing as to how we can make ourselves believe, almost in a manner of self-deception, by repeatedly emphasising on something fictitious to be factual, either about our own persona or of our perceptions.

Being absolutely honest about oneself is impractical, and more so not pragmatic. There is a trade-off between the quality of the character we possess and would aspire to possess as depicted to the external world. And many a times, these aspirations transcend to become traits, because even we start to believe that these fictions are facts, just like we would have wanted the rest of the world to perceive.

There are principles, and then there are beliefs. While principles are the schools of thoughts endorsed by the mind and there is a tinge of stubbornness attached to it. Beliefs are more on the aspirational lines.

The realities as portrayed by us to the ones other than us, slowly creep into our being and after a certain threshold level of belief, these 'beliefs' become one with our set of principles, mostly attributable to one's depleting ability to discern between the facts and fiction. We convince ourselves while in the process of convincing others, that some of fictitious beliefs are facts as well.

Just like the creator getting lost in his/her own creations, our mind creates a panorama of beliefs to either influence others, or sometimes just to move on with the proceedings.
After having succeeded in making others believe in these created projections of ours, ironically even we end up believing in these projections.
Self deception in the process of gross deception is what all of this seems like.

Asymmetric geniuses!

Thanks to one of my fellow rationales for discussing this observation with me,  which I have only tried to substantiate in this post.

It indeed is a very good observation that many of the 'geniuses' are in fact asymmetric. Asymmetric as in, either they aren't the best at their 'social etiquette', or  the best of the home-makers!
But, does that mean they are unworthy of their ingenuity?

What most of us, who want to be the "Jack of all, Master of none" accomplish in the end is tagging ourselves onto the humongous and over-crowded cloud of mediocrity.

In order to focus and excel in all domains, the resources allocated to us when we are the conscious part of the Universe are in deficit. As a result, we can channelize our efforts to few domains, and can succeed in fewer.

So, becoming the "Master of all" isn't feasible, in reality.

When such is the case, geniuses from any field have tried to make a trade off between their work and social/personal lives. The likes of Newton, Tolstoy, Marx, Shakespeare, Einstein, Feynman and many other minds who have put us at awe with their groundbreaking work have had 'problems' in their social or personal lives, gauging them with the rest of the mediocrity. Criticism and attacks on these minds for not being upto the society's mark in their etiquette has testimonials throughout the course of civilisation, which is absurd.

Weird, really??

Recently, Julian Assange the founder and Chief Editor of WikiLeaks, a genius and maverick of sorts, has had to face a lot of mud-slinging. This coming from, as expected, the rest of the mediocrity.
My point has always been, why bother about the individual's personal/social life unless it affects you directly! Whether he/she likes cats or not, if they wear the same shirt for more than a day, or if they keep changing their girl friends?
It should be of no concern for, the work from them is what influences us. Unless they try to influence their supposed wierdness onto us, we should be least bothered, or distracted about their lives.

In the case of WikiLeaks, this has been an extensive smear campaign against Julian Assange , who has been the Spokesperson and the front-end to the entire movement of WikiLekas. By distracting the audience from the essentials, the media certainly has done its job of trying to reduce the credibility of WikiLeaks amongst the gullibles,  of course. But, where has all the grey matter of people vanished? Most people actually seem to be concerned more about Assange's wierd hairdo than the ideals he has brought to life with his work.

Asymmetric nature of minds at work should be recognised as a necessity for them to concentrate their efforts on the work they do, rather than expecting them to be the clichéd, stereotype social animals.

To be, or not be?

When an intimate episode of life is hinting at its formal end, how do you respond to it?
Do you rejoice in a reminiscing mode, or regret in a remorseful one?

The conflict has been if I should bid adieu in a delightful manner for, I can forever be nostalgic and hence indebted to those memories. Or, do I go cribbing about it?

But then, I directly arrive at the logic and /me missing it now, makes no sense at all, as I knew it was coming, and coming this way.

Life to me as yet, has been a beautiful compilation of lovely chapters, with each one embodying special protagonists other than me. Everyone of these other protagonists have changed me, and all for the good, or that's how I see it.

Like I have always said - It doesn't take me long to get off my obsessions.
I had done it before, numeorus times, and will be doing it again.
This particulaar trait in me sometimes makes me believe I am the most strong headed person I have known!

The question 'To be or not be a remorseful cartoon' surfaces up, only to find the obstinate answer ever ready.
Thanks for the memories...

PS: As a rare coincidence, I happened to listen to this great track by Fall Out Boys in the morning, and these lines have been lingering in my head. So apt!

It's always cloudy, except for,
When you look into the past.

One night and one more time
Thanks for the memories
Thanks for the memories...

Fast Forwarding India: Anna and Baba way!

If I were one of the high TRP media channel ( almost all the hundreds are in fact of high TRP!), who feeds junk to people, at this moment I would be gleaming at my own fortune! Drama, action, emotion, music, and even some Indian acrobatics ( yoga) in impeccably packaged episodes running to full houses for quite sometime now.

By the way, if there's anyone apart from me, who's also finding it difficult to relate to the time period we actually are living in, given the course of events unfolding, here's a reminder: It certainly is the 21st Century, after the age of Communications, well into the age of Information and Technology.  And in this time frame, we are witnessing some of the greatest regressive approaches to revive India, by Fast Forwarding her: : Anna and Baba way,

Corruption is not something new to India, or to any society for that matter. The sudden surge, a giant leap forward in the scale of corruption is what has come to the notice of the civil society off late. Thanks to some loyal Govt. officials like the Lokayukta and a specific Gandhian to have had it echoed throughout the country, which otherwise is comfortably dormant, highly middle classed society.

Looking back, before a couple of months during the Anna phenomenon, almost all of the tax paying, middle class citizens were poised together with Anna Hazare to put a full stop to corruption in India by tweeting, facebooking, reading the bill draft, participating in meetups and discussing out of desperation the pros and cons of an inherently flawed approach towards tackling corruption.
This entire fuss about eradicating corruption and the antidote in the form of another parallel bureaucratic system called the "Jan Lokpal", which has been under way is, if at all implemented going to be a superficial medication for a deep rooted problem in a severely wounded system.

The entire polity and economics of the system must be resuscitated and revived to see any hope of betterment.

Without delving into this repetitive argument on my blog, let us look at the situation at hand.
A Yoga Guru, who is left out of the Drafting Panel of the LokPal committee for obvious reasons, decides to redo the exercise of emancipating the country within a couple of months after the hysterical Anna Hazare movement. He is doing it again because.... I'm not really sure! Maybe the Lokpal committee didn't want to incorporate his ingenious demands to curb corruption. Demands like capital punishment for the corrupt, demonetizing Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/ currency notes, and the Prime Minister being directly  elected by the people, which apart from being unviable are simply ridiculous.

With other demands like undoing Indian black money in foreign banks, Ramdev had hit the chord of double standards: While he has declared his own assets which reach upto Rs. 1000 crores and Islands as property (with suspicion on the sources) he seeks an anti-corruption campaign!

Like the Congress is now branding Ramdev as a thug, he is at the first place unfit to call for a campaign for a cause of this nature. I might even tend to pardon him, but not the gullibles who went behind him, including the UPA Govt. Imagine the spite of the Government,when it sends four of its ministers to negotiate with a thuggish Baba who threatens to go on a fast along with his followers.

Now, when the police in a surprise action has shaken up the India Fast Forward program by the Baba, in an agreeably undemocratic manner, they have made an unnecessary Hero out of a thug. I can only hope not for all the drama that is going to unfold in the bleaky days to come.

And the BJP with their saffron connection with Ramdev and his act, would be more than happy to lift off from the "Ramlila Maidan atrocity" directly to power. They have already started comparing the incident to JalianWala Bagh massacre of 1919 and PM and Sonia Gandhi to General Dyer!

Where has all the sense in this country vanished!

I only can hope that there aren't anymore Fast dramas,and people concentrate on the real issues which are giving rise to these high levels of corruption and injustices.

Corruption and Price rise: Campaign by Samudaaya

After two weeks of Jaathas across Karnataka, both the Samudaaya teams converged in Bangalore on the 28th of May, 2011 for the culmination of the event.

“What we want to do is: Sensitize creative people to use their creativity as a means of expression to take up issues of social importance and reach out to the masses”, says Surendra, General Secretary of Samudaaya, the cultural troupe in Karnataka that has been on a state wide touring called Jaatha. In this Jaatha, Samudaaya is reaching out to the rural masses, increasing the awareness about corruption, price rise and their causes.

Samsa Open Theatre is where the final Jaatha happened in Bangalore. This Jaatha  was presided over by some of the eminent anti-corruption activists and progressive thinkers in Karnataka.
Justice Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta of Karnataka, who is currently at the end of his term is one of the recent officials who has striven hard, given the restrictions and limitations imposed on him to make impact on the corruption scene in Karnataka. If not systemic changes, he has been an instigator for the ever dormant middle class to at least shake off the frost and voice some opinions against corruption.

In his speech during the Bangalore Jaatha, a witty point made by him about the Prime Minister does hold good. Justice Santosh Hegde compared the self proclaimed helplessness of the Prime Minister with that of the elders who witnessed in silence the act of harassing Draupadi in the mythological Mahabharata. Justice Santosh Hegde also picked on the famous statement by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the “Zero tolerance for corruption”, which according to Mr.Hegde should be interpreted as the “Tolerance towards the number of zeroes being appended to the figures of the scams”. He urged the citizens to dispel corrupt politicians, without endorsing them over and over again with all their glorified flaws. He appreciated the efforts taken up by Samudaaya, of educating the masses, which according to him is the most important step in the fight corruption.

K Maralusiddapaa, former chairman of the Karnataka Nataka Academy went ballistic against the Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization phenomenon in the past two decades. He equated this process to be a morphed means of nothing but exploitation. Exploitation of developing and the third world countries by the developed ones, and in turn internal exploitation of the weaker sections by the powerful people. He also raised doubts about the Anna Hazare movement, and he warned the supporters to be cautious of the other organizations which are clinging on to Anna Hazare, apprehending it would become another JP Movement. KMS again appreciated the efforts by Samudaaya at the grass root level amongst the rural population and the urban youth.

T N Sitaram, famous small screen director, took on the aspect of increasing disparity and the lifestlye of the capitalist barons, calling them unethical and inhumane. In order to convey the point that elections are won only when the candidates are rich and powerful, he went on to say that even Mohandas Gandhi would not have got a seat in any of the major parties in Karnataka, and likewise at the centre.

Professor GK Govindarao, expressed his anguish against the “common man”, who is complacent and doesn't bother to question the system beyond superficial discussions at home. He also expressed his deep dissent against the media for their charlatanry in the way they make and feed news to people. His rest of the talk comprised of blatantly spilling out facts agaisnt the BJP governance in Gujarat and Karnataka.

In all, the speakers were in unison in their ideals agaisnt Corruption and price-rise, with each one of them urging the common man to dive into the cleansing process.

As an addendum to the Samudaaya campaign, a recent development in the campaign against corruption : Wikileaks was proposed by Senthil, from the Free Software Movement-Karnataka, wherein he touched upon the need for publishers such as Wikileaks, by using instances of RTI activists and whistleblower deaths in India.He urged the gathered supporters to also endorse this latest means to fight against injustice.

The final speech was impeccably presented by Mr.Hudugi, who is the Secretary of Samudaaya. He briefed about the Jaathas. Mr.Hudugi arrived upon the proactive nature and strong conviction of individual citizens to fight against injustices which ultimately lead to consequences such as corruption and price-rise.

While all these talks were in progress, interleaved with the talks were a few excellently written and sublimely rendered protest songs which were sung throughout the Jaathas. Finally, the Maalur Samudaaya team put up a play, an adapted version of the famous “Vikram and Bethal” fiction story to match the agenda of the Corruption and Price-Rise.

The message this Jaatha has left behind is that we need to shake off the frost and get into action against injustices. No more should we bear atrocities such as corruption and price-rise. A movement from the grass root level should compel systemic changes for the good of the society.

More on Samudaaya and the Jaatha : http://samudaaya.wordpress.com/