Tuesday, January 19, 2010

An article on Jyoti Basu, which has now been removed

The following article by Kanchan Gupta appeared on Business Standard, but has now disappeared from the site. Not sure if it`s done out of respect of his death or scared of Bhadralok`s Gherao-s.

Kanchan Gupta: Relooking West Bengal
Jyoti Basu led the state from darkness to despair, literally and metaphorically
Kanchan Gupta / January 16, 2010, 0:41 IST

Had it been Jyoti Banerjee lying unattended in a filthy general ward of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and not Jyoti Basu in the state-of-the-art ICCU of AMRI Hospital, among the swankiest and most expensive super-speciality healthcare facilities in West Bengal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have bothered to arrange for a video-conference for top doctors at AIIMS to compare notes with those attending to the former chief minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Banerjee, like most of us, spent his working life paying taxes to the government. Jyoti Basu spent the better part of his life living off tax-payers’ money — the conscience of the veteran Marxist was never pricked by the fact that he appropriated for himself a lifestyle shunned by his comrades and denied to the people of a state whose fate he presided over for a quarter century. Kalachand Roy laid what we know today as Odisha to waste in the 16th century; Jyoti Basu was the 20th century’s Kala Pahad who led West Bengal from despair to darkness, literally and metaphorically.

Uncharitable as it may sound, but there really is no reason to nurse fond memories of Jyoti Basu. In fact, there are no fond memories to recall of those days when hopelessness permeated the present, and the future appeared bleak. Entire generations of educated middle-class Bengalis were forced to seek refuge in other states or migrate to America as Jyoti Basu worked overtime to first destroy West Bengal’s economy, chase out Bengali talent and then hand over a disinherited state to Burrabazar traders and wholesale merchants who overnight became “industrialists” — with a passion for asset-stripping and investing their “profits” elsewhere. A State that was earlier referred to as “Sheffield of the East” was rendered by Jyoti Basu into a vast stretch of wasteland. The Oxford English Dictionary would have been poorer by a word had he not made “gherao” into an officially-sanctioned instrument of coercion; “load-shedding” would have never entered into our popular lexicon had he not made it a part of daily life in West Bengal though he ensured Hindustan Park, where he stayed, was spared power cuts. It would have been churlish to grudge him the good life had he not exerted to deny it to others, except, of course, his son Chandan Basu who was last in the news for allegations of cheating on taxes that should have been paid on his imported fancy car.

Let it be said, and said bluntly, that Jyoti Basu’s record in office, first as deputy chief minister in two successive United Front Governments beginning 1967 (for all practical purposes he was the de facto chief minister with a hapless Ajoy Mukherjee reduced to indulging in Gandhigiri to make his presence felt) and later as chief minister for nearly 25 years at the head of the Left Front government which has been in power for 32 years now — the “longest elected communist government” as party commissars untiringly point out to the naïve and the novitiate — is a terrible tale of calculated destruction of West Bengal in the name of ideology. It’s easy to criticise the CPI(M) for politicising the police force and converting it into a goons brigade, but it was Jyoti Basu who initiated the process. It was he who instructed them, as deputy chief minister during the disastrous UF regime, to play the role of foot soldiers of the CPI(M), first by not acting against party cadre on the rampage, and then by playing an unabashedly partisan role in industrial and agrarian disputes.

The fulsome praise that is heaped on Jyoti Basu today — he is variously described by party loyalists and those enamoured of bhadralok Marxists as a “humane administrator” and “far-sighted leader” — is entirely misleading if not undeserving. Within the first seven months of the United Front coming to power, 43,947 workers were laid off and thousands more rendered jobless as factories were shut down following gheraos and strikes instigated and endorsed by him. The flight of capital in those initial days of emergent Marxist power amounted to Rs 2,500 million. In 1967, there were 438 industrial disputes involving 165,000 workers and resulting in the loss of five million man hours. By 1969, there were 710 industrial disputes involving 645,000 workers and a loss of 8.5 million man hours. That was a taste of things to come in the following decades. By the time Jyoti Basu demitted office, West Bengal had nothing to boast of except closed mills and shuttered factories; every institution and agency of the state had been subverted under his tutelage; and, the civil administration had been converted into an extension counter of the CPI(M) with babus happy to be used as doormats.

After every outrage, every criminal misdeed committed by Marxist goons or the police while he was chief minister, Jyoti Basu would crudely respond with a brusque “Emon to hoyei thaakey” (or, as Donald Rumsfeld would famously say, “Stuff happens!”). He did not brook any criticism of the Marich Jhapi massacre by his police in 1979 when refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan were shot dead in cold blood. Till date, nobody knows for sure how many died in that slaughter for Jyoti Basu never allowed an independent inquiry. Neither did the man whose heart bled so profusely for the lost souls of Nandigram hesitate to justify the butchery of April 30, 1982 when 16 monks and a nun of the Ananda Marg order were set ablaze in south Kolkata by a mob of Marxist thugs. The man who led that murderous lot was known for his proximity to Jyoti Basu, a fact that the CPI(M) would now hasten to deny. Nor did Jyoti Basu wince when the police shot dead 13 Congress activists a short distance from Writers’ Building on July 21, 1993; he later justified the police action, saying it was necessary to enforce the writ of the state. Yet, he wouldn’t allow the police to act every time Muslims ran riot, most infamously after Mohammedan Sporting Club lost a football match.

Did Jyoti Basu, who never smiled in public lest he was accused of displaying human emotions, ever spare a thought for those who suffered terribly during his rule? Was he sensitive to the plight of those who were robbed of their lives, limbs and dignity by the lumpen proletariat which kept him in power? Did his heart cry out when women health workers were gang-raped and then two of them murdered by his party cadre on May 17, 1990 at Bantala on the eastern margins of Kolkata? Or when office-bearers of the Kolkata Police Association, set up under his patronage, raped Nehar Banu, a poor pavement dweller, at Phulbagan police station in 1992? “Emon to hoyei thaakey,” the revered Marxist would say, and then go on to slyly insinuate that the victims deserved what they got.

As a Bengali, I grieve for the wasted decades but for which West Bengal, with its huge pool of talent, could have led India from the front. I feel nothing for Jyoti Basu.


(This is taken from Google's cache of http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/kanchan-gupta-relooking-west-bengal/382787/. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 17 Jan 2010 18:44:43 GMT. )

"Ibn e Batuta" making some sense...

Ishqiyaa lyrics goes like this:

Ibn-e-batuta ta ta
Bagal mein joota ta ta
Ibn-e-batuta ta ta
Bagal mein joota ta ta
Pehne to karta hai churrr
Udh udh aave aa aa, daana chugey aa aa
Udh udh aave aa aa, daana chugey aa aa
Udh jaave chidiya phurrr


It's a catchy song, no doubt. But the first question comes in mind, is what the hell does Ibn-e-batuta means. And most of us are right, when we think it doesn`t mean anything. It`s actually the name of a famous Muslim scholar and traveller whose full name was - hold your breath - Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta.

Now, that`s more complicated than the song itself. So keep crooning ta..ta. Filhaal, Tata

Friday, January 15, 2010

MindQuiz-3 answers

http://www.mindquiz.co.nr/start.htm Comment here or mail me for explanation of the answers.

S1: S2

S2: If RAW is war, then Google is

Elgoog

S3: 2, 3, 5, 7

11

S4: this level is hacked. Use whatgoesupmustcomedown to move to next valid level.

S6: Michel Jackson is Black or White?

black

S7: If this level is ur anus, what's the next level?

Neptune

S8: If Gold goes to silver, Then Silver Goes to

copper

S9: if this level is nine, what should be the next level????

Ten

S10: 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 ____

21

LEVEL 1: Which country is hidden in this para:

England. But if you are not getting it right, even this page is hacked. Move to fire.htm

LEVEL 3: product of all the numbers that lie between ‘-900.789’ and ‘987.023’.

zero

LEVEL 4: Put a mathematical sign between 5 and 6 so that the number produced is greater than five but less than six.

decimal

LEVEL 5: Use logic to move to next level.

logic

LEVEL 6: What is common b/w "Banana" and "Grapes".

a

LEVEL 7: A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed. What is it?

Suicide

LEVEL 8: Google windows with files selected

7

LEVEL 9: There’s a hidden chamber in this library. Find it out from below. -Neo Shit 6753124

histone

LEVEL 10: Find next 10 numbers in series. 314159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209

7494459230

LEVEL 11: What famous expression is this? 100S549 A3100F 4E621T00 28Y2167

safetyinnumbers

LEVEL 12: What hidden in these letters? h r o o b d

robinhood

LEVEL 13: In a shop, a burger can be purchased in quantities: 6, 9 and 20 only. Looking at this, we can say one can purchase exactly 15 pieces by buying a 6 and a 9, but can’t buy exactly 10 burgers. What is the maximum number of burgers that a customer cannot purchase?

43 (first good question)

LEVEL 14: geometrical equations

Octadecagon

LEVEL 15: Which is the special 5 letter English world, from which if we remove 80% letters, it still sounds same?

Queue

LEVEL 16: Blank Screen. (2nd gud question. V tuff)

T3j2lst

LEVEL 17: next two numbers in the series: 0, 8, 11, 69

8896

LEVEL 18: 10-8 sec information technology infant

shakeitbaby

LEVEL 19: Guess the next two letters in the series below:G T N T L I T....?

sb (Nice question)

LEVEL 20: 1. Ambulance 2. Fire 3. Spark 4. Hospital 5. Water

32514 (stupid Q for level 20)

LEVEL 21: 1st February, 2nd March, 4th May, 8th July

16thNovember (another simple Q)

LEVEL 22: So, you have reached till here! That's really good. You are half genius. But sorry, you can't go further! You aren't Einstein! So, thanks for playing. Please send your feedback to mind.quiz.2008@gmail.com

Mentrox (simple but sweet)

LEVEL 23: 00111

Jamesbond (interesting one)

LEVEL 24: One fine morning, I was printing a page, but my stupid printer printed like this! I could not understand it!!! Please help me!!!

5c1ence (the picture might not appear on the page; but if you are really a genius (like me ;-) ) you’ll solve it from the hints.

LEVEL 25: The sum of the current ages of Billy and Robert is 52 years. At present, Billy is twice as old as Robert was when Billy was half as old as Robert will be when Robert is three times as old as Billy was when Billy was three times as old as Robert. Determine the current ages of Billy and Robert. {Remove decimal places, if any.}

325195 (Great question. Took the maximum time to solve this one.)

LEVEL 26: There is a six sided die, having random positive integers on each side (not necessarily 1 to 6). Integers do not repeat. Now, someone rolls the die! After rolling, it is placed against a wall, so that side facing the wall, and bottom side are not visible, rest all sides are visible. In this way, the die is rolled 3 times, and the person who rolls the die calls out 2 values for each roll. Out of these 2 values, first one is the sum of the front and the top numbers, and second is sum of all four visible numbers. Here are results of 3 successive rolls, Roll #1 = 18, 28 Roll #2 = 7, 18 Roll #3 = 6, 22 Predict the numbers on the die and write them in increasing order to form a number. Use it to move to next level.

2457811 (another gud Q)

LEVEL 27: Digest this......"B dj blrtquctek tm cmjjulbcdte tm abj," rdbk Jq. Fdsseqr, taqmwbls abr nblseq dt je rbkewdyr, "tadt ae wbhh cmje bltm d adlkrmje oqmoeqty. Nuqtaeq, tadt bt br tae kerbqe mn tae oqerelt omrrerrmq mn tadt oqmoeqty, tadt ae ie bjjekbdtehy qejmvek nqmj abr oqerelt roaeqe mn hbne dlk nqmj tabr ohdce, dlk ie iqmusat uo dr d selthejdl - bl d wmqk, dr d ymuls nehhmw mn sqedt exoectdtbmlr."

greatexpectations

LEVEL 28: Decode the following secret message.Q6Q9Q7 A1Q4Q3 A1 A5Q3Z6Q8Q7A2

Youareagenius (Another simple but sweet question)

LEVEL 29: What are the next 3 letters in this sequence? Clue: numbers S S E N T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T ?

FFF

LEVEL 30: Guess the next term in this awkward series 0840 0916 0952 1028 ___________

1104 (wasn’t that awkward)

LEVEL 31: In 2005, govt. organized a family survey. There was a surveyor, who went to a home for the survey. He rang the door bell, and a lady opened the door. The surveyor asked her how many family members were there in the family. She replied that they had 5 members, mother, father and three sisters. The surveyor then asked her about the age of the sisters. The lady replied that product of the ages of the three was 36. That was however not enough for the surveyor. He asked for more information. After a long request, lady said that the sum of house numbers of her house, and the next house is equal to sum of ages of the sisters. The surveyor was still not convinced. The lady however didn't agree to give any more information. Surveyor sadly went away. Few days later, he heard a conversation and came to know that one of the sisters was the eldest one. As soon as he heard that, he shouted, "Eureka!!!! I got it, I got it!!!!!" Can you guess the ages of the three sisters??

5125 (Simple q, BUT THE TRICK MADE IT A GUD ONE)

LEVEL 32: If EELS + MARK + BEST + WARY = EASY What does HELP + BARK + WARD + LEAD equal?

Hard (easiest question after S1)

LEVEL 33: In England, there is a magic temple with 365 doors. Each door has a lock which alternately opens and closes with the press of a single button on its gate. The priest, for some weird fancy, starts his morning rounds on 1st January 2003 and presses all the buttons opening all the doors. On the next day, he presses the buttons on all doors which are multiples of two, closing them. Day three and he did that to multiples of three, then four, and so on and so forth, till the end of the year when he presses the button on door 365. Question: find the first 5 numbers of doors that remain open on 1st January 2004? (Combine all numbers without any spaces.)

1491625

LEVEL 34: Here is a list of 44 words, each of which corresponds to a symbol given above. Identify which word corresponds to which symbol. When you do, the words arranged have a fallacy in them. Understand it to find the 45th symbol and move to next level. ALEPH-NULL, AMPHIBRACH, ARIES, C-CLEF, COLORADO, DELEATUR, DIESIS, EARTHED, ERROR, ESCAPEMENT, EXPLOSIVES, EXPONENTIALISATION, EXTERNAL-MEMORY, EYE-SPLICE, FOUR, GHOSTS, HICKCOCK-HAND, HUNDREDWEIGHT, IDEA, INCH, INFLORESCENCE, KANIZA, KITE, NECKER, NEON, NEPTUNE, NIPPER, NO-ENTRY, NOT, OBLANCEOLATE, OUROBOROS, PAWNS, RIME, RUNE, SCHWA, SIKHISM, SKODA, SMILEY, SOLIDUS, TANGRAM, TAU-CROSS, WAVELENGTH, WEDNESDAY, YEMEN.

e4 (best question in this mindquiz. However lifted from my favt mindsport quiz.)

LEVEL 35: What are the next two numbers in the series: 202, 1222, 32, 42, 5262, 7, 28

293031

LEVEL 36: Try finding a number, such that if we move the last digit (last means last!!) of it to the first digit, it gets doubled.

105263157894736842

Only the above works, though other possible answers are: 263157894736842105, 052631518947368421, 315789473684210526, 368421052631578947, 157894736842105263

LEVEL 37: Recently on Mars a binary code contest took place. The contest consisted of a binary code transmission where the spaces between the letters were missing and there was no punctuation. Each letter of the alphabet was translated into its binary equivalent based on its position in the alphabet, a=1, b=10, c=11, d=100, e=101, f=110, g=111, h=1000, i=1001, j=1010, k=1011, l=1100, m=1101, n=1110, o=1111, p=10000, q=10001, r=10010, s=10011, t=10100, u=10101, v=10110, w=10111, x=11000, y=11001, z=11010. What is the answer to the question being asked?

10111100011010010011001111111110
101100001100101011001110100101111111

Whatisoneplustwo (nice question)

LEVEL 38: tudy the following three combinations and completing the last one. 1. URURURURURURUR 2. UUUUUUURRRRRRR3. UUURRRRRRRUUUU

UURRUURRUU _ _ _ _

RRUR (what is this question doing at level 38? Should have been in S levels)

LEVEL 39: According to Mukul, which has been the longest year till date?

GalacticYear (frustrating at first, but feels good once you solve it urself)

LEVEL 40: Find next term in the series: NGC 6822, NGC 185, PGC 460, NGC 147, Leo A _________

IC1613 (worst question in the game)

LEVEL 41: chessboard with check-mate for black

Doublecheck (though it’s a double check, but I don’t think this exact configuration is possible in chess.)

LEVEL 42: A magic house has 14 members, including Daddy and a door. The door has a certain number of locks, and there are certain numbers of keys! (This is magic house, you should believe anything! So much so that even a door may have thousands or lacs of locks, and same with keys!) For the sake of security, there is an arrangement such that No two locks can be opened by same key, and all locks need to be opened in order to open the door. Using this information, find out the minimum number of locks and keys you need to distribute among the family members, such that any six or lesser members of the family are not able to open the door, but any combination of seven members is able to do it. Combine the two numbers, to form a single number and use it to move on.....

300324024

LEVEL 43: MIRRORS HINT: A Ray of light has the secret

Plot (V. Nice question)

LEVEL 44: L DP ZKDW L DP

Rbk

Congratulations!!!! You've done it!

You have completed Mind Quiz. Cool, Wow, Amazing!!!

You have proved that you are a genius!!!

Sorry, but you got no prize from us. But, hey! you are here. What can be bigger prize than that???