At last the government has woken up to the threat of swine flu and announced yesterday that travellers from certain countries like Mexico, USA, UK and others will be checked for illness. I think that the disease has been here since the end of March and India was probably the first country it travelled to from Mexico. For about a month I have been seeing at least five cases of fever everyday. Our clinic is small so this means that physicians with larger practices must be seeing at least 10 cases a day. So what is strange about fever? Firstly this is not the season for viral fever. Secondly patients have high fever upto 105 F with slight dry cough and headache. Not one has a cold with runny nose as one would expect in normal flu. Most children also have vomiting and a few have tummy ache. This hill town has a thriving industry of conversion and christians from all parts of the world come here for the thrill of converting children from poor Hindu families. We have people from the US, UK, Australia, Brazil and many other countries combining the pleasures of tourism with reserving a spot in paradise by redeeming as many Hindu heathens as they can. I suspect that one of them also brought a present of the swine flu virus for us. With everyone busy with the election circus who has the time to deal with unimportant pubic health issues? I suppose I might as well enjoy my increased income while I can.

They are at it again. Just when Sri Lankan forces are about to eradicate the LTTE from the face of the earth the western countries have started crying for them to stop for the sake of the civilians. For 25 long years the so called Tigers have been killing civilians, extorting money from poor Tamils, abducting children and forcing them to fight and using poor civilians as shields to hide behind. All this while the western countries did nothing except belatedly declaring the LTTE a terrorist organisation. Had they actively helped the Sri Lankan government by providing anti terrorist training to their armed forces and cut of all funding from abroad they could have saved thousands of lives. Now that the Tigers are reduced to 6 sq. miles of beach they offered a ceasefire which is false and an insult to all the dead people.Clearly the cowards want to save their filthy hides. The Sri Lankan government has rightly rejected this ridiculous 'offer' instantly. Western countries have a habit of preventing resolution of conflict in the developing world. Every time that India was within distance of a decisive victory over Pakistan they cried stop and the Congress immediately obliged. Thus the Pakis have acquired nuclear weapons and continue to send jihadis into India. After the Mumbai massacre last year the US immediately asked India not to retaliate because any war would occupy Paki forces and allow the Taleban to kill NATO forces in Afghanistan. What they were saying was that western lives were more precious than Indian ones and our craven Congress government accepted it supinely as it has done for 60 years. At least the Sri Lankans are made of sterner stuff. Bravo.

Never ceases to amaze me when I see third world politicians celebrating after an election victory. Jacob Zuma, the next President of South Africa was singing, dancing and jumping after getting a twothirds majority in the next parliament. I would have expected him to be sober, even a little apprehensive, about the problems his government is going to face. Black townships have unemployment >25%, HIV is rampant, XDR TB is spreading and crime is beyond control. People have voted for him in such huge numbers, inspite of his less than respectable past, because they expect him to solve their problems. They want jobs, roads, water, housing, schools and crime control and they want everything now. These are all long term capital intensive projects and people will be impatient. With the world entering deep recession where is he going to find the money? Thus one would have expected him to be quiet and introspective but instead I saw champagne corks popping like one would see after a Formula One race. Clearly Zuma feels he is entitled to the presidency because he was in prison during apartheid. If Mandela and Mbeki can get it why can't he? Well, Steve Biko is probably more entitled but then he sacrificed his life so Zuma can jump like a kangaroo. In India children of politicians are brought up to regard assembly and parliament membership as their birthright. You see a fellow who has never held any employment, never done any social or humanitarian work or achieved any academic excellence standing for elections with chamchas at his feet. Surely being mom's 'sonubaba' is not a terrific recommendation for a MP? In our corrupt footlicking country having a momma is the ultimate qualification. Madame Guillotine could not give long term results but she sure cleared out some deadwood. I welcome her.

The hot topic all over the world is Ms Susan Boyle, a not so pretty 47 year old church volunteer from Scotland. When she appeared on stage at a talent show people sniggered at her appearance but when she sang she became an instant star. A clip featuring her on YouTube has received millions of hits from all over the world. Naturally there is also a lot of tut-tutting on how people judge others on appearance instead of their merit. Scientists explain that stereotyping is essential for survival and the ability to form instant judgement enables us to avoid situations or persons who could pose a threat. Others talk about an instant rush of serotonin at the beauty of Ms Boyle's voice. I think that it is much simpler than that. Human beings have a natural attraction towards beauty. It is partly cultural in that we find beauty in people who look like our parents but it is also genetic because there is no such attraction towards science. Little children are automatically attracted towards music and bright colours. There is no child that does not listen to a story about dragons with absolute attention which appeals to the child's imagination. Every year Nobel prizes are declared for five categories. Whereas the one who gets in literature becomes an instant star and very rich there is no such reward for the ones in physics, chemistry and medicine. Millions of tourists spend billions of dollars to see the Sistine Chapel or the Louvre but how many are bothered about Einstein, Newton or Curie. A plastic surgeon who romeves moles and injects botox in the butt will always earn more than a heart surgeon who saves lives. Whether animals have a sense of beauty and imagination I do not know. Perhaps this is what makes us human. Unfortunately if something does not match upto our standards of beauty we tend to dismiss or destroy it. Maybe that is what leads to racism.

In her testimony to the Congress, Hilary Clinton opined that Taleban is an existential threat to Pakistan, a nuclear armed state. At long last the Americans are becoming foggily aware of how dangerous a country Pakistan truly is but they have still not grasped the truth, which is that Pakistan is an existential threat to itself. This was a state born out of hatred and has been surviving on that bile for 60 years. Since its conception its leaders and people have fixed their eyes on India and every activity has been designed to compete with and try to destroy my country. For sixty years the US in its stupidity, born of its cold war hatred of the USSR, supplied the Pakis with money and weapons choosing to view our nonalignment as an aggressive posture. It financed the ISI which in turn financed the mujahiddin against the Russians and subsequently formed the Taleban to drive out their old friends in Afghanistan. Alas once the demons are let out of their cesspool they will naturally refuse to go back. So now the US faces the possiblity of the Taleban taking over nuclear weapons and greater losses in Afghanistan. Interestingly North Korea has adopted a far more aggressive stance and has captured two US journalists probably from inside China. Iran has speeded up its centrifuges and sentenced a US/Iranian journalist to seven years in prison. Suicide bombings have suddenly restarted in Iraq and Somali pirates are attacking American ships. It is possible that along with the economic crisis, President Obama's friendliness is being perceived as weakness born out of necessity. Will Obama's outstretched hand gradually turn into a clenched fist. Interesting.

The conference against racism sponsored by the UN in Geneva ended in disaster when Iranian President, Ahmadinejad described Israel as a racist country. Instead he should have started with a history of Israel. Palestine was under British control and Balfour was British. He should have quoted Shylock's humiliation in the Merchant of Venice. He should have talked about jews collecting gold to ransom Richard I so that John could not become king of Britain. He should have pointed out that Israel was formed by jews fleeing persecution by christains in Europe. He should have described the pogroms in eastern Europe and the activities of the Vichy regime in France. He should have described the holocaust and the gas chambers at length instead of denying them. Then he should have asked if it would not have made poetic justice to establish a Jewish state in a part of defeated Germany instead of faraway Palestine? Were the christians hoping that the Arabs would wipe out the jews or did they want to protect their noses from the stench of jews? Instead he allowed the sanctimonious hypocrites to walk out on him and win the argument. Shows that fanatics are brain dead.

The war in Sri Lanka is nearing its end and the Tigers will be finally wiped out. No doubt the Sri Lankan government will celebrate but now should be the time to seriously help the Tamil community. Winning one war will only abate the problem for the time being if the Tamil people feel they are victimised and neglected by the majority. This will be the golden moment when in the full flush of victory over the murderous Tigers that the Sinhala leaders should show their generosity and friendship for the Tamils. For a start they must decouple religion from the state and send Buddhist monks back into their monasteries. The battered and humiliated Tamils should be helped to return to their homes and financial help given to help them rebuild their homes and lives. Instititutions such as police and judiciary should be fair and sympathetic. That is not to say that Tigers should be dealt with lightly. Any Tiger caught must be tried and put away for long periods. Prabhakaran deserves to be hanged. It will be interesting to see how brave he is when confronted by the hangman's noose. Stupid Indian politicians should keep their mouths shut and not show solidarity towards cowardly terrorists who were responsible for the deaths of thousands of their own people because they would not allow them to escape and used them as human shields. I would advise Indian politicians to concentrate on protecting Indians from crime, naxals, Paki and Bangladeshi terrorists not to mention the cannibal Chinese. So many innocent deaths, all because of third rate politicians.

Watching or reading news everyday I feel that 'democracy' is the most frequently used word today. Thus Thailand's Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva claimed to be a saviour of democracy when he declared a state of emergency and sent in troops to shoot at the Red Shirts. He forgot to mention that Thaksin Shinawatra was the elected prime minister until he was deposed in a coup supported by the King. His party was declared illegal but won again under a new name. This prompted a long protest by the Yellow Shirts, financed by the elites and supported by the army. Two prime ministers were removed by the Constitutional Court and Mr. Vejjajiva was appointed. This prompted a protest by supporters of Thaksin, the Red Shirts which he has just crushed. Mao would have been proud. Hamas are killing Fatah supporters in Gaza in the name of democracy. Former Secretary General of the UN brokered a deal in Kenya which allowed Mwai Kibaki to remain President and reduced Raila Odinga to Prime Minister. After all Kibaki seemed to have more ballots even though they were stuffed by his supporters. India is in the throes of a general elections which is totally pointless because for the last five years we have had a Prime Minister who was not elected. Criminals, doddering old men, ugly sons of previous members and assorted dishonourable, self serving liars are the choice before the people. Yet the winners will claim democratic legitimacy to loot the country. 'Democracy' has become the tool of the scoundrel and the thief. How do we clean out the garbage?

People in Kandhamal in Orissa voted yesterday. This is where antichristian riots took place last year after a hindu leader was killed. A storm of abuse was unleashed on hindus who were compared to Al Qaeda and various other filthy groups of pathological killers. Christian priests joined in the abuse. Television pictures showed dirt poor people living in hovels but this same area boasted 200 hundred churches all made of bricks and concrete. Clearly these were not constructed with contributions from the locals. Of course everyone forgot to mention that there are 45000 christian schools in India and that there are 55 christian holidays per year compared to, maybe, 5 or 6 for hindus. In this hill town that I live in there are christian charitable schools which bring children from Assam and Ladakh for 'education'. I am not aware of any child going on to become a doctor, engineer or chartered accountant from any of these schools. Every child becomes a student of 'theology' which means they are used to convert more people. There are many 'reverends' who live in large houses, drive luxury cars and travel abroad frequently and yet are not employed in any salaried job. Hinduism has been around for over 6000 years and has been subject to ferocious assaults by muslims and christians for centuries. Hindus do not convert so we did not seek this confrontation. These people have come here from thousands of miles away to wipe us out only because we are hindus. The stupid excuse always given is that lower castes are badly treated. They surely are but muslims in Kashmir used to be pandits. So clearly this is something else. It is the most insidious and vile form of ethnic cleansing going on for centuries. Unfortunately our freeloading, pseudosecular, Congress inspired Hindu hating press just helps in this vile process.

The Indian elections have started today. Lot of self congratulating on the vibrant democracy in this diverse country. However the population is not so diverse when we analyse what these elections mean. For the political gangs it is ecstasy for winners especially if they can get ministerial posts which will enrich them and the parties for years to come. For the rich it will mean a new bunch of criminals to bribe so that a 'setting' can be achieved for the next few years and then business can go on smoothly. If the same criminal returns as minister then the kleptocrats are happy because all these years of being an abject chamcha will pay off. If there is a change in the minister then all the old kleptocrats will be posted out to dirty villages and trusted chamchas will be brought in to help in the loot. For the dalits there will be more reserved seats in prime educational institutions and government jobs even for millionaires. For the naked, illiterate aam aadmi it is time to party as saris, pouches of local hooch and even cash is distributed for votes. They will be promised free electricity and Rs. 2 per kilo rice at taxpayers' expense and will feel happy not realising that they will remain beggars for ever. For nonpoor-nonrich, nondalit, nonchamcha, educated middle class like me it is a hugely expensive irrelevance. Already the most heavily taxed person in the world my taxes will go up. New laws will restrict my freedom even further. if I am harassed or beaten or even killed there will be no justice. I am and shall remain a third class or maybe even a fourth class citizen in my own country.

A few years ago a businessman in Delhi wanted to arrange marriage of his son with the daughter of a richer fellow but the girl's father would not consent because he did not consider the boy's family rich enough. Then we heard that income tax officers had raided this man's house looking for black money. Following the raid the man's standing went up so high that the girl's father immediately agreed to the marriage. The rumour was that the man had paid income tax officials to raid his house. In India today you are judged by the amount of money and power you have and morals are considered for losers and wimps. Mr. Rahul Gandhi is being built up as a future prime minister of India. I would like to see his complete curriculum vitae including education, jobs held and specialisation. But to be a successful politician and earn the respect of the business class he has to show how many billions he has made from presents given to him by his supporters. He has to show how many guns he carries and how many FIRs are filed against him for murder, armed robbery, assault and rape. Just being a nice fellow is not going to earn him the respect he needs to succeed as a politician in India. Also he would not have the requisite experience to deal with all the criminals that will be elected to parliament. Good thing is that he is young and has lots of time to build up his reputation.

For a long time I have been writing that politicians in India want the people to remain poor and dependant on handouts. That way they can maintain power over the people and recruit chamchas who will obey any order including killing anyone who dares to criticise. That is why inspite of so called socialism education was left in the private sector available only to those who could afford to pay the fees. No politician will openly admit to this policy but from time to time they expose their conspiracy in the guise of helping the poor. In the past Bengal and Bihar enforced education in local language saying that learning english was a colonial hangover and should be discouraged. This resulted in these states falling behind economically and both are virtually basket cases today. The Samajwadi Party in its manifesto for the coming elections promises to do away with english and computers because machines take jobs away from people. The IT sector has put India on the world map. However, it is completely independent being in private hands and has grown independent of the government. Far from taking jobs away it has employed millions and created wealth. From the beginning IT companies looked abroad to grow and earn and thus inspired other sectors to become globally competitive. The politicians hate this because they cannot loot these companies like they can with public sector companies and such independence worries them. So stop english and computers and you have an uneducated, naked, hungry people completely at your mercy.

Campaigning for the elections is in full swing. Each gang has come out with a list of promises for the good of the aam aadmi. I would wish for the following: Anyone above the age of 65 years will be banned. Term limit of two terms will be strictly enforced. Children and spouses of elected members will not be allowed to stand for elections for 20 years after the sitting member leaves. Police will be freed from political control and reformed to help the people and not function as a criminal organisation in uniform as at present. District attorney system will prevent false cases being filed. All cases must finish within two years and no side will be allowed more than two extensions. Any side unable to present its case more than twice loses automatically. Punishment for all elected politicians and government employees will be four times that of ordinary people. Any politician disrupting parliament or assembly or behaving like a hooligan loses his seat. Elected members will have to work for a minimum period failing which they will not be paid. Except

The more I see the more I find that human beings are exactly like bacteria. Just like bacteria invade the body we have invaded Gaia or mother earth. Just as we try to fight off infection with antibodies earth has been trying to get rid of us with viruses and bacteria. In the olden times it was plague, small pox, cholera. Today it is HIV, XDR TB, malaria. Just as bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics we invent vaccines against our infections and just as bacteria exchange immunity genes among different species so we supply vaccines and antibiotics to each other. Just as bacteria breed regardless of the health of the host so do we. Since humans live only 70 odd years bacteria live around 20 minutes and multiply fast but mother earth is 4 billion years old so we can take longer. Just as bacteria cause fever in the human host so we are causing fever in our mother in the form of global warming. If we fail to get rid of infection we die and this is likely to happen to mother earth if she fails to get rid of us. Once the host is dead the infecting bacteria also die in the fire that consumes the body so we will all die if earth succumbs. The only way bacteria survive is by invading a fresh human before the first one is dead. Maybe we humans will also survive by infecting another planet before earth dies. Unless there is another life form ready to sterilise us.

Following the G20 resolution to name and shame countries which faclitate tax dodging four more countries including Philipines and Malaysia have announced that they will open their books. About a couple of years age German police offered to pass on a list of Indians holding secret accounts in Lichstenstein. When asked after the shoe throwing incident Mr. Chidambaram, then Finance and now Home minister, said that the government is working on it. It was Mr. Chidambaram who stopped the stock market regulator, SEBI, from passing a rule that would force foreign finance companies to reveal the identities of people who are investing in our share market through what is known as Participatory Notes or PNs. It would be fun if a public interest litigation is filed in the Supreme Court forcing the government to ask for and publish the identities of all Indians with secret foreign accounts. There will be such a panic as never seen before. With all foreign banks closed to them these people would be forced to repatriate all their money but will not wish to face tricky questions. One method will be to bring the money in by the hawala route and invest in the property market where only half the cost is paid by cheque and the rest by cash or black money. The black money part could be increased to 1/3 or even 3/4. The other way would be to invest in our stock market through PNs. Since Indians are thought to hold upto $ 1 trillion in foreign banks could we see Sensex above 100,000 and a hut in Jhumritalaia costing over $ 1 million? After all India is still paradise for money laundering.

The Home Minister, Chidambaram, is in good company. Along with George Bush and Wen Jiao Bao he had a shoe thrown at him although one may debate whether a pair of sneakers can really be classified as shoes. Twenty five years have passed since the massacre of sikhs following the death of Indira Gandhi but we do not have one single conviction for those killings, most of them in daylight. Last week Tytler was freed by the courts and before that it was Bhagat. Women who had been campagning for justice for years suddenly changed their testimony in court when previously they had claimed to be eyewitnesses to their husbands' murders. What threats or inducements made these women change their tune we will never know but as usual the justice system in India is shown to be useless. The courts function in cases of industrial dispute or in high value tax cases but is completely useless in protecting the ordinary citizen against crimes by the state and criminal politicians. The justice system including the police, detective agencies and courts are extensions of the state to coerce, intimidate or liquidate anyone opposing the whims of the current government. The freeloading press is the most to blame. Most of the popular newspapers suppport Congress. There are regular attacks on Modi for 2000 killed in Gujarat but not a single mention of the 5000 killed in 1984. If the press, who should be vigilant protectors of civil rights, becomes the hounds of one gang constantly snarling in the wrong direction Indian the people are being constantly misled and do not know what to think. Like lobotomised sheep we will queue up to vote in a new combination of the same scoundrels in May because of a steady drip of lies.

Saw the Doha Debates programme on the BBC, the motion was ' Should the US get tough on Israel.' There seems to be an increasingly prevalent idea, promoted mainly by european countries including Britain, that if sufficient pressure is applied on Israel for it to negotiate a ' two state ' solution then there will be peace in the middle east which will deprive Al Qaeda and Iran of the oxygen of propaganda and bring about an end to terrorism. It is hard to believe that leading politicians and diplomats can be so willfully blind. The two state solution has not brought peace to India. For over 60 years the sole purpose of the Pakistani state has been to preach death against India. India helped Bangladesh when the Pakis were killing and raping but today most terrorist attacks involve elements of Hu Ji. Saudi Arabia is a staunch ally of the US and the house of Saud survives because of US support but it does not stop them financing madrassas in Pakistan which recruit fighters to kill US forces in Afghanistan. The truth is that an independent Palistine will be an existential threat to Israel because its government will be a member of the UN and will be able to buy arms legitimately. Israel will be permanently at war against an enemy which will use its sovereignty to bring in foreign fighters and deadlier weapons. Truth is that to the jihadis Hindus are kafirs and Christians and Jews are infidels and they will not rest until all are dead. They live to kill and will find a reason. Maybe the europeans want the jihadis to achieve what the Nazis failed to do. After all were the Jews not responsible for the crucifiction of Jesus?

The G20 circus is over and much to my surprise it has given tangible results. Perhaps it was because of the popularity of Obama that awed the other leaders into a deal or maybe the man can actually walk on water as his supporters will have us believe. There was Gordon Brown, one of the prime architects of the crisis, listing the various steps to stimulate world growth and create jobs. Using both palms like book ends he gave a press conference as if he is some latter day saviour. $ 250 billion for the IMF's Special Drawing Rights, another $ 250 billion for trade finance and various other bits and bobs amounting to $ 1.1 trillion in total. Perhaps I am a cynic or maybe I have lived too long but I cannot get rid of this gnawing doubt. When the stimulus package begins to work and the global economy begins to improve it will instantly put upwards pressure on commodity prices. Russsia and OPEC countries are suffering so badly that they will refuse to increase output to keep the growth momentum going. What about the increasingly volatile climatic conditions? Severe drought and floods in Australia. Drought in parts of USA. Severe drought in Argentina killing cattle so ranchers changing to soya farming. These are already happening so everything could fall apart if countries used IMF help just to buy food. With so much money being thrown around will they be able to control currency exchange rates? Remember how Gearge Soros made a billion dollars in one week when the pound fell against the German mark. I do not think anyone has a clue. Great fun.

Why is it necessary to pay bankers such humungous salaries and bonuses? It is not as if they are really producing anything. They are taking money from depositors and lending it out to businesses and individuals in the form of loans and mortgages. The modalities of business are written down and every time they try to be too clever to increase profits they are brought down. This is not the first time banks have failed because of unchecked greed in an attempt to increase profits to maximise bonuses. Remember Barings which was brought down by Nick Leason's unsupervised trades on the futures market? His bosses did nothing to stop him because they did not understand what he was doing but let him carry on because he was increasing their bonuses. Barings disappeared and Leason served jail time but no lessons were learnt. Instead of toughening regulations they were relaxed. The same happened in a Japanese bank but again nothing. I can imagine some justification in giving bonuses to executives of companies that produce goods such as steel or cars but there is no justification in paying exorbitant amount to bankers who make money by sleight of hand. It is rubbish to say that you have to attract clever people. Professors are extremely clever but earn peanuts and there will always be many applicants for cushy bank jobs. So golden pension for Rick Waggoner maybe but certainly not for Fred Goodwin. Is anyone listening?

The G20 circus is in town. Gordon Brown revelling and protestors protesting. The aims are laudable. Stimulate respective economies with large amounts of cash, target the poor people who will spend money quickly and so stimulate the economy, spend on infrastructure, use this opportunity to fund green projects to improve the environment and reject all forms of protectionism. Sadly all this is just gas and will not work and we will be here again in a few years. The reason is that, as usual, truth has been left out. Perhaps the most important topic should have been how to stop the growth of poor population in the world. The sad fact is that the poor everywhere are breeding without restraint with politicians choosing to avoid talking about it in case they are accused of being antipoor. More people means cutting down forests for agriculture. More fossil fuel for cooking, travelling and energy thus increasing CO2 production. More houses cut down agricultural land for food production leading migration from villages to cities and from poor to rich countries. Couple of days back hundreds drowned of the coast of Libya. Thai police put Burmese immigrants in a boat and pushed it out to sea. The US is building a fence along its border with Mexico. Rio mayor is constructing a wall to stop extension of slums up the hillside. How long before the rich countries use gunboats to stop migrants from poor countries. How long before the rich barricade themselves in walled cities protected with cannons to keep out the hungry hordes? Help the poor, sure, but it should not be seen as a present for breeding. The more the children the more the aid. So encouraging. Perhaps the G20 should have a lecture on our sister planet Venus.