Change Management:Marx and Muslims

Oh my my ... thats a guaranteed mirchi in bj`s unmentionables.

Re: # 237

ylh,

............ i know you probably have very solid scholarly reasons for doubting gandhi`s authenticity, but my reasons are a lot more simple minded : just look at him - would any ``real`` person go to all that trouble to look the way he did ?......puleeeease ! ....... it just doesn`t make any sense ......... using the same principle you can classify ozie osborne and keith richards as prophets and great leaders and what nots ............actually, i take that back ...... keith richards is probably a real prophet because when the world ends, there will be two creatures still standing - keith richards and cockroaches !

BJkumar,

Oh poor baby- such anguish... Still trying to defend the indefensible?

Is what Towns (yes I know because he is black... like the sikhs and untouchables ... he has no right to opine on Gandhi) has written a lie? Gandhi was a racist misogynist bigot and that much is clear from Gandhi`s own writings... not Khalistani propaganda.

You see ... no matter how you spin it... history will be history and facts will come out no matter how much you suppress it. After all this is what happened when India suddenly discovered the truth about Jinnah ... and the lies that were taught to them in school... last year. The world is now awake... witchdoctors like Gandhi are falling and a new confident and more honest world is coming into its own. Meanwhile all you can do is regurgitate your complexes in badly worded, long and rather boring prose which don`t make sense or contribute to the facts.

#233 Burpinder

Dear Burpinder,

Looks like mian Tahmed is already holding the towel for you. However, if that does not suffice to wipe those tears, please consider the following.

I agree that you should not have been lumped with those folks! I have a feeling that Mr. Masadi put in your name intead of mine due to an oversight - because after all, we have very similar names and very similar backgrounds, not to mention identical nationalities.

But the point is - consider HIS side of the story. He is clearly hurt, he is probably bleeding in heart and deeply anguished and that particular interact is an expression of a deeply hurt individual of a badly maligned people - so humiliated so recently - again and again! And like Yasser and Hamidm2 here, unable to do anything about it - because how does one counter the truth!

Feel his hurt!

Feel his pain, Burps!

In reality, he LOVES you! Think of that particular interact more as a love letter.

Jiivan-path Par Jiivan Saathii, Saath Chale Ho Munh Na Moro
Dard-o-Gam Ke Doraahe Par, Mujhako Tarapataa Yuu.N Na Chhoro
Ye Nagamaa Mere Gam Kaa Bayaan Hai
Ye Aansuu Mere Dil Kii Zubaan Hain

zeemax #231 Be brave, my friend!! and, more important, be scheming!!

If the missus does not like being told not to spend, then dont tell her that. Instead find a sneaky way to end her over-spending. Like cancelling all credit cards. And then putting on your jogging shoes, so if she comes after you with a stick, you can run away. You can run faster than she can, I assume.

burpinder #233 You must understand that Masadi`s Mind is one of absolute brilliance. A microscopic sample (as you indicate) is enough for him to come up with stereotypes. :-)

masadi #138

``The Bharats, Sanjays, Anils, Burpinders and Rams on this site are so atrocious in their posts that if I were to use stereotypes based on how they have been acting here, to judge all Indians, it would emerge as a nation of dimwit unintelligent retards and morons.``

So what it takes is the extreme provocation of a bunch of anonymous interactors on an insignificant website to generate that stereotype? Gee you must be really open-minded. And here I was thinking you were born hating all us Injuns. My apologies.

#225 Hamidm2

Dear Hamidm2,

Thank you for explaining your positions and their rationale so well. Since I consider it a duty to help my fellow Pakistanis - especially those like you who appear so helpless in such matters - what with all those mute dots (well, I DO sympathize with dots because of certain unknown reasons), I decided to draft a suitable cover letter which you can use for your campaign contribution to Congressman Towns. I took the liberty of upping the amount to $2,000 dollars instead of the measly $200 which of course would be considered a great insult to the dignity of a man of your proportions - not to mention that of Pakistan!

Also, other Pakistani Super Patriots (PaSPs, as I fondly call them) should feel free to use the same draft - after replacing your name (shown in red) with their own!

Go for it, dear Hamidm2 and dear Pakistanis - get that cash machine cranking! Keep sending those greenbacks to the Congressman!

Keep it going - till the Hudson flows all green!

Green dreams are made of these…
Who am I to disagree...!!

---

May 28, 2006


The Honorable Congressman Edolphus Towns
The 10the District of New York
1110 Pennsylvania Avenue, Store 5
Brooklyn, NY 11207
(USA)


Dear Congressman Towns:

My name is Hamidm2.

I am not your constituent and I have only a foggy idea of where you are located, but I claim ferociously that I am an American and therefore I believe that all people were created equal.

So I hold no prejudices - except against that one sixth of humanity which calls itself Hindus.

And another one sixth of the world which is Muslim but lives in wretched conditions. I think it is all their own fault!

I think they all stink - because my bottle of wine tastes SO good! Why couldn’t THEY be slurping it?!!

I also don’t like charlatans (except Jinnah), prophets (except THE prophet (and not to mention prophet Jinnah)) and pretentious half-naked fakirs (especially if they have brown skin (but no, I am not referring to you and I strenuously deny that anyone in my family has ever been poor (or brown) or is ever to be identified with as such - and no, that is not an ``exclusive`` mindset! (And I truly admire your ``Kojak`` looks!)))

Any way, I am enclosing my check for $2,000 for your election funds or to use as you see fit. I believe that restoring injured Pakistani dignity humiliated so severely under the boots of most of the countries of the world, but especially injured irreparably because of the relentless assault by this guy bjkumar is critically important and you will work ceaselessly toward the noble cause of remedying that hurricane-like disaster! In my infinite wisdom, I absolutely refuse to believe that politicians and lawyers in general, and you and Yasser in particular are charlatans! If you can slip in our copy of write-up on Jinnah into the Congressional Records, I might consider upping future campaign donations even more! I have my staff working around the clock to draft a copy to highlight Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinnah (what do you mean Jinnah who? You know Jinnah - look at this Rs.5,000 bill! No, not the beauty holding it!) to that effect and I will get it to you at the earliest opportunity - as soon as our subcontractor to whom we out-sourced this task provides us the deliverable - I can not commit to a time frame because delivery service from Dadar Bombay is a little unpredictable.

No need to thank me for this little bit of contribution. (I would have liked to offer more but I do not wish for you to get into any troubles because of the contribution amount - so my family members and friends will be sending their allocations separately.) It is only a little token of my gratitude and is no big deal (and I can charge it to business - like I do most of my time interacting on the chowk site! Strictly by the books, of course - and no, my bookkeeper is not a cook!)

Sincerely, your non-constituent,
Hamidm2
(just call me H₂ for short!)

PS:

To make life simpler for other super patriotic Pakistani Americans, I am setting up an open-ended line of credit (no interest of course, as per our guiding principles) which these TRUE Americans can access to make similar (or higher) contributions to those campaign funds of yours - therefore, please be prepared (with extra book-keepers on hand) to handle the sudden rush of incoming campaign contributions!

---

#228 by tahmed32

tahmed32 ... re your first point re Mrs. Zeemax, I learnt long ago that the best way to maintain marital harmony is to let the missus spend as much as she wants and in any manner that she wants. Fiscal discipline doesn`t work on the better-half.

Your next point re maxing out credit cards and rolling them over, you know these card companies have amazing tactics to prevent consumers from paying the full balance every month. In the missus case, for example, the card companies of Mrs. Zeemax bulldozed her into `fixing` the repayment of the single large amounts spent by her into small repayments spread over several months at a lower rate, and more `redeemable points`. What she didn`t know was that this decreased her free spending limit and couldn`t even prepay if she wanted to free up that limit. So ... more cards and more credit.

...as long as rawalpindi shopkeepers demand cash, shoppers are going to need to carry cash around....

Of-course they`ll demand cash and shoppers will cary it around. Saves on taxes for both doesn`t it?

Utha kar phaink do gali mein..
nai tehzeeb kei andey hain gandey.

hamidm #225 you spent more than 50 bucks on da vinci code. i was there yesterday, and spent only 28 bucks for the same movie. way i did it was convince all concerned that movies are a way for movie theaters to sell buttered popcorn, coke and other items from the garbage can at outrageous prices - so we all went in after having eaten some fresh, healthy stuff at home. the teacher did indeed have the right idea. but that albino reminded me of someone from chowk.....

hp: on that map, that is of course historically correct - areas constituting Pakistan were the easternmost province of the Achaemenid empire under Darius. The date (3,200 BC) seems wrong though, since Darius reigned around 500 BC (give or take a century). 3,200 BC we had the indus valley civilization going strong - and to the best of my recollection this was the only game in town (i.e. on the planet) other than the chinese and the babylonian civilizations.

But I agree with hamidm - pakistan has its own unique identity, and is the inheritor of historically a very significant part of the world, and not just the south asia region: with two large and unique civilizations - the gandhara and the indus valley, as well as very significant impact on the subcontinent in a variety of fields in the periods in-between and outside these civilizations.

zeemax #226 Thanks for the education on national economics. But first, a comment on home economics: you wrote For example, Mrs. Zeemax has two credit cards, and when they`re full she uses mine . Like Captain Renault in ``Casablanca`` I am shocked!! to learn that Mrs. Zeemax actually maxes out on her credit cards!! And this under the very nose of you - the economist. I will not stand for such fiscal irresponsibility, sir!!

Here is what you should do: Tell the missus about the astronomical interest rates on unpaid credit card debt. Then put a freeze on her spending, and use the savings to bring this credit card debt down to zero. Then, just to get her used to fiscal responsibility, have her use plain cash - including these new Rs. 5,000 notes with our beloved Founder of the Nation`s picture on it. Only after several months of this remedial training should you permit credit cards to be used in your house, sir.

As for Ms. Shamshad`s motivations and her level of sincerity - whatever these may be, and I will not speculate, the fact remains that as long as rawalpindi shopkeepers demand cash, shoppers are going to need to carry cash around. And as such, the Rs. 5,000 note will have served a useful purpose. You cant just wave away this clear and obvious practical benefit while drawing conclusions by speculating on evil motivations on the part of pakistani economic managers.

#220 by arjun_m on May 28, 2006 12:06pm PT

Arjuna there are Pakistani code coolies as well, one of them is my ‘garain’ his dad and mine worked in steel mill together he’s not done bad for a son of a mill worker only in the UK
Ajaz Ahmed is the founder of Freeserve, the UK’s largest ISP, now owned by Wanadoo. His eureka moment came when he bought a PC at PC World in Leeds and nobody in the store could tell him how to get onto the Internet. After much persuasion by him, Dixons launched Freeserve in September 1998 and became the UK’s largest ISP in just three short months. It floated just nine months later at a market cap of £1.5bn and entered the FT 100 soon after, in March 2000 it had a market cap of £9bn.
Ajaz was one of the three founding executives to launch the business, seeing it through flotation and the £1.6bn sale to Wanadoo. Ajaz held the position of Business Development Director until April 2001 when he left the company to pursue a variety of business interests. He now sits a number of boards and is CEO of Callserve, Europe’s Largest VoIP Company.
http://www.e-consultancy.com/newsfeatures/newsletter/1736/interview-with-ajaz-ahmed-callserve.html#17095

#158 by tahmed32

I`m sure the concern for Mrs. tahmed32`s bulging handbag in Pindi was not the primary reason for a 5,000 note. Also, when Mrs. tahmed32 gets done shopping, it is now easier for the store to evade sales tax/income tax through dual receipt books.

Besides, there has been a very successful introduction of ATM culture in Pakistan with interconnect switches so any ATM can be used for any bank when needed. So why a 5000 note to carry around?

Then there are the credit cards. Despite other criticisms regarding wastage of credit resources etc in consumer spending, these have indeed helped in reducing the undocumented cash economy a great deal. For example, Mrs. Zeemax has two credit cards, and when they`re full she uses mine ... one even has my picture on it but the shops don`t care ... because they always get paid. Maybe it`ll take a bit more time for Pindi to catch on.

The real reason is the insincerity of the economic managers of this country in their desire to increase seigniorage revenues. This is easily explained through the illustration that if the printing cost of a Rs 1,000 note is Rs. 5, the seigniorage is 9% p.a. (the current riskless rate) x 995. The printing cost of Rs. 5,000 would be the same so the seigniorage is 9% p.a. x 4,995. The more money floating around carrying no return in people`s handbags and wallets, the more revenue for the central bank. So let`s wait for a Rs. 50,000 note. When it gets to Rs. 5 million notes, they`ll just drop a few zeroes like the Turkish Lira. It`s easy revenue by doing nothing.

The other reason is that if Shamshad could help it, she would even have her picture on the back of the note, if not the front.

Re: # 223

bj,

look, nothing personal but i don`t like charlatans, prophets and pretentious half-naked faqirs ....... just to show that i am fair minded guy, i will also send a couple of hundred bucks to anyone who exposes muhammad and jesus as frauds ........ why, just yesterday, i spent more than fifty bucks for four tickets to the da vinci code, a large popcorn and four small drinks ........... but it was worth it - the ``teacher``, like congressman towns, has the right idea .............

And by the way, H2,

You ARE a gas!