Close “non-political” friends who know me have been wondering whats keeping me busy since the last few weeks..I guess it is time to lift the lid! For the past many days, I have been working hard with some FTI colleagues and fellow activists on a concept called, “Sone Ki Chidiya”! 
What is ““Sone Ki Chidiya”?
It is a fledgling idea to reform Indian politics, the governance and systems we have. It may eventually evolve into a political reform movement but at the very least it will serve as an anchor to many ideas that …

Continued from Part I: Who is B Shantanu?
To be very honest, the “next steps” were the hardest part.
We all know how easy it is to theorise and preach…but when it comes to practising what we preach, we tend to get nervous, anxious, unsure…and end up worrying too much.
I passed through these stages…Every day for the last few weeks, I thought about this…How does one actually make it work?
There were some obvious challenges…The big one was the question of survival…
What do I mean by that? Here I would like to reproduce …

*** CAUTION: LONG POST ***
My name is Shantanu Bhagwat. Some of you who are reading this know me…Most of you do not.
I am was* a partner in a venture capital firm in London. I have spent more than seven years at this firm…working with some very smart people, investing in a few fascinating ideas and meeting some truly talented people …
Prior to Amadeus, I worked briefly at another great firm…Monitor Co. Some of you may know of Monitor as Michael Porter’s firm. Others may have heard of Monitor’s blue-chip connections.
And …

Dear Friends: Thanks to your unstinted support and encouragement, what started as a simple newsletter almost six years ago has turned into a repository of 1200+ articles and 16000+ comments on subjects ranging from “An Indian Identity” to “Women in Hinduism and India”
In the process, some of the user-friendliness may have been lost. This brief primer is meant to help you make the most of my personal “knowledge management system”!
There are now 1200+ posts on this blog. You can rely on serendipity to find something interesting…or use the “Search” boxes …

This is a dark story* in many ways befitting tonight’s ”Amavasya” (eve before the new moon).  It comes from Bengaluru which – one believed - had managed to raise itself from the mire of corruption, crime and dirty politics that pervades Bharat.  Unfortunately this story could have come from any big city in India…
But as hopeless as the situation looks to be, we cannot let this dampen our spirits.  As Anil Chawla wrote in a comment on this blog:  “…We have to keep the lamp of faith and hope alive….May we be filled with …

I received this email yesterday and could not stop before reading it right through to the end…It is a long read…quite a long read, in fact.  And it is seriously thought-provoking.  Below, excerpts from a speech delivered by Sh. Gurumurthy at IIT Chennai in 2003 which – although five years old – still retains its and relevance and punch.  This is a *must read*.
*** Excerpts from “The Intellectual Scene in Post-Independence India“ by Sh Gurumurthy ***
A critical review of strengths and weaknesses
… Defeat and anger go together. Abuse and defeat go together. So, it is in this …

A few hours ago, ISRO put “Chandrayaan-I”  into transfer orbit around the earth, heralding its “Mission to Moon”.
This is a proud moment for the team at ISRO working tirelessly for the last several months, sometimes right through the night.
It is also a proud moment for India’s indigenous space research programme and more broadly, India’s indigenous R&D efforts - the seeds of which were planted barely a few decades ago.
But questions are being asked…and doubts are being raised.
“Was this the best use of the country’s limited resources?”, “What will this mission really achieve?”, “Will it have any impact on …

Many of you must have, read about the controversial move by the Maharashtra state government to amend the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) Sec. 125  with a view to legalising “live-in relationships”. I spent a few hours today gathering links in favour of and against the debate.
The arguments that have been made “for” this move are:
It will protect the interests and rights of the so-called ‘mistress’ or ‘other woman’. We may not admit it but we all know that these women are the worst sufferers in the current system in spite of giving up years …

As I chanced upon this news-item yesterday, “Five cops…suspended…nexus between cops and the drug mafia“, I was reminded of this article from earlier this week: Vulnerable India faces a new threat by Ramtanu Maitra in which he wrote, “…India is becoming increasingly unstable…(and) the latest source of instability is the growing inflow of drugs and the establishment of drug-trafficking networks inside India…”
Sh. Maitra cited the latest report (March ’08) of the International Narcotics Control Board which mentioned (that): “…the use of courier services for drug trafficking is on the rise …

Some of you would remember NDTV’s “Big Fight” from a few weeks back where the topic was “Younger politicians - time to take over“.
I had taken some notes while watching the programme and what struck me was that none of the participants (mainly leaders from mainstream political parties) identified what I felt were the *real* reasons why you dont see more “young politicians”…
While I was discussing this with a friend last week, he suggested taking a straw poll on my blog to find out why youngsters (or anyone else for that …