We raped our mother This is the text of my response to Mr. Prakash Bajaj's open letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh titled "Our netas have raped every part of India". The letter is available elsewhere as well but for convenience's sake I have given this link: http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/our-netas-have-raped-every-part-of-mother-india/#comments where you can read the original. The bold part is wherever his messages appear; the italicized parts are my thoughts on that. I am a typical mouse from Bombay. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse... Read Blog »

It struck me the other day when I was leafing through a business magazine. Nobody talks about Gwalior, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur or Indore. No one I knew talked about going to Patna/Lucknow/Jaipur/Indore etc for education or employment opportunities. No one I knew even distantly talked of heading there to seek their fortune. In fact even the north Indians I know talk mostly of Pune, Bangalore Hyderabad and even Chennai. Nobody talks about north Indian cities any more, barring New Delhi. That's one city in a region of 10 states. What struck me then was this: the India... Read Blog »

7.) Making Mumbai a UT will mean that the city's taxes will be pumped back into it rather than going to the rest of Maharashtra There are two problems with this idea. Firstly, it assumes that most of the taxes that Mumbai pays go back to Maharashtra. Secondly, it assumes that if Mumbai becomes a UT, most of those taxes will go back to it. Both those assumptions have to proven with data and so far I haven't seen any proof of it so far. In the absence of proof such an argument has to be dismissed. 8.)... Read Blog »

Mumbai a Union Territory? Some thoughts-I.... In recent times there has been much discussion, both formal and informal, about the "decline" of Mumbai. Arguably, due to the rise of cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad Mumbai no longer matters as much as it used to. A common complaint is that the city will soon lose its status of being India's "first-city". The ever-increasing slums, illegal encroachments, vanishing green cover, rising crime, enmasse influx are just some of the many problems that visibly dog Mumbai. Making Mumbai a UT will supposedly solve these problems-hence the never-ending demands to give Mumbai that... Read Blog »