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Showing posts from January, 2009

Obama! Obama!

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What strikes me most about President Obama is his inherent honesty. At the inauguration ceremony yesterday (Jan 20), the parts of his address I liked were the parts where he said it as it is. “Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices..." "..the time has come to set aside childish things. " "We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people." “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” "...this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous." "..and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath." Even the little fumble (with the words) during the oath

What's in a name? Ask Satyam.

The TOI headline read "Satyam: A Rs 7000 Cr Lie". The Economic Times headline read "Satyam A Big Lie". An NDTV.com graphic said "Satyam's Ugly Truth". The broadcasting media has come up with even sharper, sucker-punch headlines to describe the Satyam fiasco over the last two days. Last night, I heard a Times Now anchor, very irately, referring to Raju as "a straight-faced liar". I get the feeling copy editors all over are having a heyday thanks to the irony in the name - Satyam, meaning truth. Just think. Had the name been something less poignant, the public flogging of the company might have hurt a wee bit less. I mean, how copy-creative does one get with a name like Wipro or TCS or even Infosys. (I wish to state here that I implicate absolutely nothing by taking these names. They are purely for example purpose. Hope no offence is taken.) Actually, my heart goes out to Satyam's employees. Dragged into the mire for no fault of theirs save