Election fever in Goa...

It's election time out here in Goa and thanks to the Election Commission we don't have the whole area plastered with flags and posters symbolising the various political parties and independents in the fray. At least this way we'll have less garbage to clear out once the elections are done and over with. Just wish the Election Commission had done something about the campaigning vehicles going about in the middle of the afternoon proclaiming the goodness of their ever so honest candidate standing for election. All this when there is a power outage to complete pre-monsoon repairs to the power lines!

It was quite interesting to see the declarations made by various political candidates in the election fray as these were printed in the local dailies. Criminal charges against them were declared like immovable assets,... pending for ages. Educational qualifiactions? Barring a few who had completed their graduation in courses like BCom, some of them were 10th pass, not forgetting to mention a 7th pass. (proud to have cleared that much huh?)


Damn I wish we still had the good old system of voting... paper ballot. Plain and simple. You don't like any of the candidates? Invalid vote. No problemo! Now it's electronic voting... and there ain't a possibility of invalid votes... damn! what I'd give for an option of 'none of the above'. Why not? If I feel none of them are worthy... voila!

Pfizer India CFO exit... something fishy?

Came across this article in the Economic Times today... about unscrupulous activities forming the base for Pfizer India CFO's (Chief Financial Officer, for the uninitiated) exit from India.
In the article, Dr. Peter Rost has quoted a former Pfizer India employee, Ashok S. Idnani, an ex-deputy manager at Pfizer’s finance division in Mumbai who alleged that Pfizer sold its Hyderabad manufacturing plant in 2004 at a price much lower than the market price, bribed government officials in violation of the MNC’s world-wide policies, and hired a detective agency to spy on unfriendly shareholders. His post also accuses some unnamed Pfizer India officials of being involved in money laundering. Pfizer, of course, denies the allegations.
Makes for quite interesting reading considering that Pfizer India has dismissed the allegations as baseless, and it's top brass in the US seems to be taking these allegations quite seriously.
Then again, the foreign media has claimed that the CFO's departure is just "Pfizer’s desire for a CFO with Wall Street experience" and another analyst claims Pfizer may now want a CFO who is less of a traditional accountant and more of a deal-maker.
Well... let's see what comes out of this all...

Lost, Tipsy, Dreamy, Comprehensive???

Songs i'm currently listening to:
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
Aerosmith - Cryin'
Avril Lavigne - Fall To Pieces

Met this gal on Orkut. Quite the travel-goer that she is... gets a couple of days of leave and off she goes! Chat online once in a while. Spoke over the phone yesterday. Noticed a distinct accent with which she spoke but she dismissed it as her way of talking. Cool.
For the first time in my life i've had someone describe to me how i've sounded to them, in a very elaborate manner. Mostly people just say i'm funny or that I make them laugh or that I listen well. She? well read on...
" Lost, kind-of-tipsy, dreamy (sounds good), and-still-comprehensive, helping to find hidden talents ".
Intriguing.
Been a while since I've seen it rain out here. I missed the rains here last year as I was on the ship during that period. This year... saw the rains for the first time a couple of days ago. It felt ... soft. Smelt ... wet. Looked ... green (Not the rain... the environment!).
Aerosmith is coming to Bangalore and I can't go though I ever so want to. Well, it's not that I can't go. More like I can't make the time to make that trip, what with exams coming up next month. Damn!
Well, got the finals of the jive taking place tomorrow at Dance Illusions. Couldn't join the classes but damn well gonna make it for the final performance.
And above all, once the first step of the exams next month get over... got 2 very important things to pick up on... been losing my touch on writing poetry... haven't written in a long long time. And then there's the brushing up on Spanish. Picked up a couple of books in mumbai. Time I put those books to good use.

Incredible pics...

After a long long time I actually went blog surfing and came across quite an interesting site... Taurean Trampling

Trust me... this post called Take Care... Watch Your Step
is one heck of a post! Stunner when you look at the pics. I say!