The Bored Engineer

India being a socialist democracy committed to equitable growth of our citizens has always had a set of strong welfare policies aim at various problems namely poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality rates etc. These policies have often been a target of a section of society that is wary of the amount we spend on subsidies and the welfare programs; and when these schemes fails to meet the desired objectives they are quick to point out at their failure and how this is an ill use of our tax rupees. We often forget that it is imperative for us as a nation to ensure that the fruits of development are shared equally by all sections of the society if we are to progress into becoming a developed nation. You can’t underpay your domestic help, the homely maid and then complain about her children’s contributions to the malnutrition statistic. India’s educated elite have failed this nation (and the blame squarely goes on our political leadership especially the Grand Indian Political party

A couple of years back, Facebook launched a new feature titled “See First” which basically meant that if you interact with certain people more than others on Facebook, these ‘preferred’ people would get a precedence. Couple this with the change in Facebook’s algorithms wherein this change was internalized making your ‘interactive’ contacts appear first, the entire social media experience was polarized. I have about 350 friends but after these features were implemented my interaction was limited with a selected group of 5-7 people basically turning Facebook into a Stalking Machine. Moving on from Facebook, this feature was rapidly embraced by other platforms as well including many news outlets and apps which show you the tailor made news feed, specially customized for you. The drawbacks of this system were soon realized as people found – just as in the case of Facebook – that this had led to shrinking of their online reach and they were now getting a lot of stories related to a same

A common theme that binds the growth story of all the nations that are on a developmental path is the cropping up of imperialism. The 20 th century poses the greatest and the most horrifying evidence of the premise but it’s not a singular example and all modern developed nations have a history of imperialism in some form or the other. Every century has its villains and victims, the actors change but the plot doesn’t deviate much. While the 20 th century showcased its brutality in the form of major world wars and some other wars, the 21 st century does not seem to a have a very promising start either. The wars may not have played themselves out yet but that does not mean the lack of underlying tensions. Resources are strained and the economies wishing to expand are fighting off till the last piece is up for grabs. In such a scenario, what does the upcoming world order hold for the retiring powers like America and Russia as well as the emergent ones like India and China? Wil

The dazzle of their beautiful lives bewildered him. He spent countless hours looking at their picture perfect life. He watched all of them equally but somehow she overshadowed all the others. He would be engrossed in peeping into someone else’s lives when suddenly she would make her presence felt and he would leave all his active pursuits to follow her. Looking at that face of hers, with the perfect smile of hers. She had a load of friends, roaming around with them and discussing all the fun they had. Sometimes he wondered if she did really have all that fun or if it was all a charade designed to make him miserable. Then what if she’s as lonely and miserable as I am. Why does she keep boasting her friends all the time, she could break the world of glass she had created for her to live in a house of bricks with him. Thoughts troubled him and he thought about it a lot. It was not all that bad. Sometimes he understood that he was trapped in a cycle of unending misery that he had inf

One of the most dreadful things in life is a mirror. Mirror is a constant reminder of who you are and what you are not. The witches in the fancy fables have hated them for the mirrors always extolled the virtues of beauties, of the Snow Whites and the Cinderellas, so to satisfy their own ego they would try and destroy these Princesses for mirror is that one true factor that cannot be destroyed nor can it be silenced. I too faced a similar predicament today when I had a look into a mirror of my own and for the better or worse I acted the same way as the witches do. Well, it all started this morning when I rushed out of the house on the daily chores that marked the start of my day. It was a major struggle to move out of the warm confines of my home into the chilly gushes of winter breeze that marked this vast expanse of the weekly vegetable market that had sprung up on the boulevard occupying the roads like vehicles were supposed to fly over them. But, as with everything quintes

Disappointment and disillusionment are the virtues of the pessimists who love to bask in them to reaffirm their sadistic outlook of life. So when I as a self-proclaimed Optimistic–General of World Optimism Council tell you that the book “ Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove ” by Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri was a major disappointment for me, you know I’m not just saying it for the sake of saying it, I have been tormented by something painful that must have hurt my soul. Enough of the theatrics, I picked up the book because of two primary reasons:       It promised to give an insider’s view of the backchannel settlement of the Kashmir agreed upon by India and Pakistan around 2006-07.    The drama that unfurled in India when Mr. Kasuri was here to promote his book and his subsequent appeal that his book was not a Pakistani propaganda, rather an attempt to bridge the gap in the Indian and Pakistani narratives about our shared history. The books starts with Mr. Kasuri delving into his