Snuggle up with the girl Australian Idol fans are already in love with. Even though she lost the competition, Lisa Mitchell is one of the cutest little things to come from down under since Men at Work.

Here’s a single from her 2008 debut.

Enjoy  ”Neapolitan Dreams”.

It’s been a while since my last post: I was busy with school, different venture competition applications, and a (tiny) bit of travel.

Tomorrow I am going to Skoll:EMERGE and I am thinking about a divide between Business Plan Competitions and Social Enterprise Competitions. Do we really need it? What IF there is an idea that is very viable commercially and also creates a significant social change?

I think that current divide presents a problem for the best projects: when a venture creates both profit and social and/or environmental impact. This hypothetical successful business model could be altered to create even more profits or even more impact, but it will loose a part of its hybrid characteristics.

So, I am thinking about a trade-off between profit and impact. In any organization we could think that there is a trade-off between a profit and an impact: anything from a bagel shop to a homeless shelter to an multinational corporation to a global NGO could have either profit or impact or some combination of both.

What a for-profit will choose:

On the graph to the left, each curve represents  a posible sets of combination of profit and impact for four different hypothetical organizations. If we look at the graph, clearly, traditional business plans will just focus on maximizing profit, so in cases of both black line, green and red line they’ll prefer a point that has zero impact. But in case of yellow dotted line, they will actually be better off with some impact–this will increase the profit.

What a social enterprise will choose:

The idea behind social enterprise (as I see it) is that profit has a place in impact-oriented organizations. Profit solves the problem of scallability and increases the efficiency. With this in mind, a green line social enterprise will choose a combination that is furthest to the right–it will have a highest sum of profit and impact. But about red line organization? It seem to be inefficient as a hybrid organization, yet I don’t know why or if such cases even exist. And a yellow line organization will pick the same point on the curve as the for-profit–this will offer a highest combination of profit and impact. A black line organization can theoretically pick any point on the line, depending on its short-term and long-term goals: whether it puts more emphasis on sustainability or on current impact.

A few questions arise:

1) For-profit and SE seem to merge in yellow–is that a problem? Wouldn’t SE funders push to a higher impact, even though it decreases efficiency?

2) How to distinguish a for-profit from SE in black organization? Is there any cut-off profit/impact ratio (like 60/40) for SE?

3) What to do with red case: is it better to have either strict for-profit or a strict non-profit?

4) Finally, could other organizations organization be redesigned to become more like yellow organization?

My interest is not academical: I have an idea for an organization that is both profitable and will create an impact. So I am thinking how should I frame and design this organization to better serve its goals and to get initial funding.

I’m just thinking and playing here, so if you could forward me some research or provide me some ideas/feedback/criticism, it would great!

It’s SATURDAY NIGHT! and Here’s Little Boots with a Freddie Mercury cover. A remix of a Freddie Mercury cover. A Buffetlibre vs Sidechains Mash Up mix. If this doesn’t make you move, it must not be Saturday.

And for completeness, here’s the original:

Somebody to love – Leighton MR.

“Honestly I’m so in love with Leighton Meester I could throw up. She could put out an album that was just her reading dumb children books like “Where the Wild Things Are” or “Blueberries for Sal” over and over again and not only would I buy it I’d probably give it three thumbs up*” – Too Much Happyness

Well, lets go with that. Sexy little ditty, perfect for a weekend warm up

DNAIndia is redistributing the PTI bit that “Germs Really are Good for Us.” Am not shitting you when it says that a study has revealed that staying too clean can harm the body’s ability to heal itself. Meanwhile, there is this AFP news item by Phil Hazlewood titled, “In Modern India, 600-Million Lack Toilets” came into my purview (hat tip: Asian Correspondent), which essentially says that a majority of Indians (numbers twice the population of USA) lack toilets thereby public defecation and open urination is a way of life both out of necessity and unbridled freedoms. True. This pathetic excuse of a nation is filthy and dirty beyond reason. Can you see a connection? I do. India is full of germs but then, it is good. If you still cannot join the dots, I pity thee but ever the opportunists, the politicians who are responsible for the crap (literally speaking) have not only put 2 and 2 together but are also now taking credit for spreading germs and making ‘aam aadmi’ healthier as per this…

Back to the study (must have been publicly funded paying for several academic gits for quite a few years) published in Nature magazine, the hypothesis developed IMHO is just old wine in a new bottle. One has to just look at much of the 3rd world to see that exposure to germs, bacteria, viruses and just about any snotty nosed cellular organisms are good in the long run to improve disease resistance and overall individual health. Consider poster woman for poverty and corruption, India for example. As people get poorer, their health seems to become more robust. I have never seen a poor guy who is bald to mention something that I suffer from. They just happen to die young and quick (with liver problems in the case of men and malnutrition and neglect in the case of women but let us not get into that). I have not heard any of the maids and drivers ever having a heart attack or inflicted with diabetes or down with cancer or taking sick leaves. Makes you wonder if there is a correlation but that should not be an excuse (as it is made out to be) for shabby living. As the little birdie, in this case, Jairam Ramesh says, “India cities are the dirtiest cities of the world. If there is a Nobel prize for dirt and filth, India will win it, no doubt”, maybe, uncleanliness might still have its benefits and bring pride to a country which after all beat its chest on poverty porn, er, “Slumdog Millionaire”. Onto the second article, here are some statistics and eye watering consolidations…

In slum areas, where more than half of Mumbai lives, an average 81 people share a single toilet. In some places it rises to an eye-watering 273 according to local municipal authority figures. Unsurprisingly, it is still common to see people squatting by roads and railway tracks or along the coast, openly defecating in where some of the world’s richest people live. The UN estimates 55% Indians or 600-million shameless undignified brownies still defecate outside, more than 60 years after the scrupulously clean independence leader Mahatma Gandhi first talked of the responsible disposal of human waste. India has to improve sanitation, to control the spread of diseases like diarrhoea, which UNICEF says kills 1,000 Indian children aged under five every day. Extrapolating it to the the entire 3rd world, the numbers are staggering and beyond belief. Lots of humans still live like animals.

Public toilet provision faces the same problem affecting housing, water and other basic services: supply cannot keep up with demand as India’s population explodes. A UN Human Development Report 2009, published earlier this month, points out that even where public toilets exist, most have no running water, drainage or electricity, making them unhygienic and unusable. Embarrassment means women and girls often wait all day until it is dark to go to the toilet, increasing their chances of infections and exposing them to violence or even snake bites as they seek out remote places. Poor sanitation and the illnesses it causes cost the Indian economy 12-billion rupees (255-million USD) a year, according to health ministry and according to the tourism industry, irrevocably tarnishes the image although some argues that does add charm and allure to India spun as open-air toilets.

Every year over a third of a million Indian kids below five die, all because of a lack of adequate disposal of human waste which is one of the most toxic in developing countries. Sanitation is a public good. The availability of public goods – just like private goods – depends on the supply as well as the demand. It can be argued that the demand for sanitation is low. People are content to just go along with the lack of sanitation. And then there is the problem of supply. Public funds are allocated based on what those who control the public purse consider to be high priority. Providing public toilets is not a priority. If the population valued a clean environment, they would have had it – both through private actions and through their voting for those who spend public money on public sanitation. The public does not demand it and the politicians don’t care to provide it. Perhaps they deserve to be living like this if at all a case has to be made for their existence, nay, mere survival.

Speaking of septic tanks and poops, some nut over at Acorn argues that “Fixing Drains will Help Counter Terrorism”. Finally, I dont know what makes Isaac Asimov an authority on human dignity, democracy and population growth when he was obsessed with replacing humans with robots but all the same, in conversation wth Bill Moyers (captured in “World of Ideas”, 1989), he says that over-crowding is not conducive to human dignity using a bathroom metaphor. The same way democracy cannot survive over-population, human dignity cannot survive it and convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. The more people, less the individuals.

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As I’m sure we’re all aware now, I’m in the midst of a massive DnB phase right now and the usual record company to take my money is Hospital Records. Well they have just released this gem featuring artists from, yes you guessed it, Russia. It’s one of those albums that makes you realize there is a lot more to this music than just variations on the amen break.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I know this isn’t a typical M2B2 post, but I absolutely can’t get this song out of my head. When a friend recommended Mumford & Sons, we replied that folk wasn’t really our thing. Then they sent us this video. Just a beautiful piece that doesn’t sound like anything you’re going to hear on top 40 radio in America, ever. Maybe not music to bop to, but music to have a coffee with, and belt out in the shower when no ones listening.

Without further ado, here’s Mumford and Sons debut video “Winter Winds”

Tomorrow marks the release of a new “album” by Lady Gaga. There’s no other way to say it, this girl is the new Kanye(Like, circa 2006 Kanye). Every song on this album is Bop worthy, and here is what amounts to the title track, “Monster”. It doesn’t get much better than this. Sometimes I like Mondays.

Enjoy:

One good thing that came out of the night- finally photo documentation of the dancing MikeV.

more photos from the night, now to be found here

AMRUT TULYA CHAHA

Tea Town Pune Special

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Pune is a Tea Town.

Yes, when I was a small boy, Pune [or Poona as it was known then] was a “TEA TOWN”.

During those days, in Pune, everyone drank tea, except some quirky upaas type aunts who always insisted on sweet milky jaiphal spiced coffee and were “fasting” most of the time on yummy delicacies like Sabudana Khichadi and Wade, Rajgire, waryache tandul, healthy fruits, nourishing milk, calorie-rich pure ghee sweets and similar lip-smacking upasasache padartha. [By the way DALDA, quite popular in those days, made from hydrogenated oils was mysteriously “permitted” for upaas as it was considered “ghee”].

At home tea was made in typical Puneri manner as described in HOW TO MAKE A CUP OF TEA

Outside your home, there were chiefly two types of tea for the laidback discerning gourmet Punekar to relish – AMRUT TULYA CHAHA at the ubiquitous Amruttulya Tea Shops at every nook and corner of Pune, and the peerless IRANI CHAI served by the numerous Irani Restaurants all over Pune city and camp like Café Naaz, Lucky, Good Luck, Volga etc. Indeed Amrut tulya Chaha and Irani Chai are an important aspect of the culinary heritage of Pune.

Irani Chai is the most rejuvenating beverage I have ever had. They keep the steaming rich tea brew and hot milk in separate containers and mix it in just the right proportion to get the terrific inimitable gulabi Irani Chai.

Drench in a fresh soft bun-maska, place it on your tongue, and close your eyes – aren’t you in seventh heaven? Even a cup of piping hot Irani Tea by itself is sheer bliss. 

Of my favourite Irani Restaurants, Naaz, Lucky have disappeared, and only Good Luck remains.

Amrut Tulya Chaha tea shops are fast vanishing too like the one nearest to where I lived on Tilak Road in Sadashiv Peth in the 1960’s next to Ashok Bakery [also disappeared]. Further down the road past SP College towards Maharashtra Mandal there still exist the legendary Ambika and New Ambika Amruttulyas [a friend of mine used to say that the morning tea was superb in one and the evening tea in the other].

It’s really sad. The culture of Pune is fast changing. The youngsters don’t drink tea anymore – it’s infra dig, isn’t it?

The young and the restless prefer Coffee. No, not the peaberry-plantation filter coffee served by the Udipi Restaurants which we used to love, but the expensive stylish international coffees served at posh Baristas, CCDs, and high-falutin coffee shops proliferating rapidly all over Pune.

Just imagine, the other day I couldn’t get a cup of tea in a multiplex, but there were plenty of varieties of coffee all around.

Hey, it seems I am rambling away and have gone off on a tangent, so let me not digress from our main topic – The Art of making Amrut Tulya Tea.

Amrut means Nectar, and Tulya means Comparable, so “Amrut Tulya” means “Comparable to Nectar” and indeed, true to its name, Amrut-Tulya Tea is comparable to nectar –  sweet, ambrosial, like the elixir of life!

I loved watching Amrut Tulya Chaha being prepared. Amrut Tulya Tea is not brewed in the traditional Tea service style. It is “cooked” in front of you in a brass vessel which becomes “tastier” with time.

I love the “special” chaha. Milk and water are boiled together, with plenty of sugar, masala [comprising crushed cardamom, ginger], and tea leaves, stirring continuously to make sure it doesn’t overflow.

Come, my dear Tea Lover, let me tell you how to make Amrut Tulya Chaha – The Art of Tea – Pune Style. 

Assemble the following Ingredients for Two cups of Amrut Tulya Tea “Special Chaha”

Assam CTC Tea or, if you live in Pune, get the famous CTC+OP “Family Mixture” Tea Powder from your favourite “Tea Depot” in the heart of Pune City.

[By the way, the acronyms are: CTC – Crush, Tear, Curl; OP – Orange Pekoe; BOP – Broken Orange Pekoe].

Full Cream Buffalo Milk [I like Chitale or Sane dairy]

Fresh Water

Sugar

Fresh Ginger Crushed [Better still you can crush the juicy fresh ginger with the chimta directly in the water-milk concoction to let the ginger juices flow out and blend in smoothly]

Cardamom – peel, crush and powder the pods

Before you start, dear reader, here is a note of caution: Please remember that Amrut Tulya Tea is not your traditional Masala Chai so please don’t add any Tea Masalas or spices like clove, cinnamon, black peppercorns or herbs like gavati chaha (lemon grass), tulsi leaves etc. and neither is it the “khada chamach” or “cutting” Chai so please don’t boil away to glory – remember, you must achieve Amrut Tulya Chaha of just the right consistency!  

Now let us start “cooking” amrut tulya tea – we will make two cups, one for you and one for me.

In a brass vessel [or stainless steel, if you can’t get a brass vessel] mix one cup of water and one cup of milk.

Add four teaspoons of sugar.

Put on the stove on medium heat.

Squeeze in a bit of fresh crushed ginger and add a pinch of cardamom powder and the freshly crushed peel.

Lightly and lovingly stir the concoction, let it warm, and bring to a boil.

Smartly add two teaspoons of tea powder and keep stirring gently to ensure the boiling concoction does not spill over.

Keep boiling till the tea attains beautiful bright golden-orange colour – the moment you see a reddish tinge, give the heavenly brew a loving last stir, twirl the vessel, and sieve the Amrut Tulya Tea Special Chaha directly into the cups.

You can drink it from the cup, or better still the saucer sucking and pulling in the yummy liquid with your lips and let it deliciously emulsify on your tongue for that heavenly elevating feeling.

Sip the delicious tea slowly and mindfully, roll it on your tongue, let it mingle in your palate, close your eyes, absorb, discern the flavour, the rich taste, relish every sip lovingly.

Amrut Tulya Chaha is truly lip-smacking tasty and soul-refreshing – blissful ambrosia, an experience of nectar – you can take my word for it.

Now you know why they call this refreshingly delicious and nourishing tea Amrut Tulya “comparable to Nectar” Chaha.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

Appetite for a Stroll

http://www.indiaplaza.in/finalpage.aspx?storename=books&sku=9788190690096&ct=2

http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9mr2o

http://books.sulekha.com/book/appetite-for-a-stroll/default.htm

vikramkarve@sify.com

From Swedish Rockers Mando Diao, I give you Sheepdog, from their 2002 album Bring ‘Em in. An oldie but a goody, and it’s been stuck in my head all day getting ready for Locksley tonight.

Enjoy.

Lets slow it down a bit, but keep the beats going with Friendly Fire’s “Paris(Aeroplane Remix)”

Wikipedia defines Friendly Fires as “english dance punk”. I’ll go with that.

Enjoy!

Another Thursday and what better way to get the weekend started than with a little local power pop

Enjoy.

Hello Friends here we come up with the Latest News round up from Indian Economy and various industrial Sectors of the country.

NEWS ROUND UP

Economy

·India’s industrial output rose at a faster-than-expected 9.1 percent in September from a year earlier. Manufacturing production rose 9.3 percent in September from a year earlier.

· The green shoots visible in the economy failed to enhance government revenue with indirect tax collections — comprising customs, excise and service tax — falling almost 22 per cent to Rs 1,26,903 crore in the April- October period this year.

It stood at Rs 1,61,954 crore in the corresponding seven months of 2008-09. The overall decline was led by a 32 per cent fall in customs revenue.

Oil & Gas

·Reliance Industries Ltd. found oil in a block in the western state of Gujarat and is assessing the commercial viability of the discovery, which may help increase domestic fuel supplies.

Five wells were drilled in the 635 square kilometer area located in the Cambay basin, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Ahmedabad

·Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has decided to merge its energy trading joint venture with steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal with their exploration tie-up.

Metals

·Tata Steel has approved an exchange offer for an existing $875 million of securities into foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), in a move to reduce costs and ease repayment.  The move gives an option to extend the repayment schedule by two years.

·Hindalco Industries plans to raise about Rs 2,900 crore in the next three to four weeks.
In July, it had announced plans to raise Rs 2,400 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP).

The issue could not take place due to the volatility in the stock markets.

Capital Goods

· Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) has secured a contract worth Rs 1,635 crore to build a coal-fired plant for Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Co. Ltd.

The project will be executed on turnkey basis and L&T’s scope includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of balance of Plant Package (BoP) systems.

·L&T one of the failed suitors for scam-hit Satyam Computer, sold 2.32 per cent stake in the IT company (now Mahindra Satyam) for over Rs 306 crore, exactly a month after the lock-in perid on sale of its holding ended.

Refineries

· MRPL is planning to invest Rs 6,000-8,000 crore starting from early 2011.

The company is looking at raising around Rs 5,000 crore to support its expansion plan, for setting up a polypropylene plant and installing a single buoy mooring (SBM) at the Mangalore port.

FMCG

· Emami is diversifying into the cement business and will invest Rs 1,750 crore to set up production units in the next three years.

As part of the new plan, group company Emami Cement will set up a fully integrated cement plant in Chhattisgarh with an installed capacity to produce 3.1 million tonnes.

Finance

· Power Finance Corporation has decided to lend Rs 50,000 crore, over two third of its total asset base, to fund various proposed power projects in the country.

Note : For More Latest Industry, Stock Market and Economy News and Updates, please click here

[edit - 20091119] While I initially did this in jest, it never escaped my purview that “running water” is still a dream chased by over 90% of the worlds population. There is just not enough water (the future wars will be fought over water and all that) and plumbing and there are just too many people. Why, just today, Thomas L Freidman in his latest piece, “Americans Living in Fools Paradise” quips -

people in the developing world are very happy being poor – just give them a little running water and electricity and they’ll be fine, no worries at all for us

Just gives more weight to the pondering, ain’t it? I guess we just have to live with the knowledge that those of us (believe me, it was a fight to get it working in my house) who have running water are the chosen lucky buggers and could do with a little more modesty in complaining about our pampered and mundane lives. If you are statistics/story inclined, you might want to go see some numbers and realities on Red Button Design (disclaimer: co-founder of this company, James Brown, was a club-mate of mine at University of Glasgow) making acclaimed Reverse Osmosis Sanitation Systems (ROSS) based water purifiers aimed at BoP of the third world.

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Here at LSE, I am taking a fascinating pilot course about the business innovation for the Base of the Pyramid. It is organized by LSE’s Department of Management and Innovation and Co-Creation Lab and is taught by Professor Harry Barkema. This year the course is “pilot,” which means it’s a test-drive that will hopefully result into adding the course to formal curriculum of the School.

As the syllabus reads, in this course

we will share, review, apply and co-create new insights and frameworks (to understand), and methodologies and tools (to design, implement, innovate and improve) business models at the BOP that work. It is part of a much larger, coherent set of activities at the LSE to co-create, share, review, and apply knowledge and capabilities and to provide systemic measurements of impact, together with our partners across the world in academia, companies, social entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments. The ultimate aim is to (help to) innovate/improve, implement, and scale economically sustainable models that have a significant measurable impact on serving needs at the BOP. Where “sustainable” means systemic funding from customer payments, donors, governments and/ or companies, with an eye to maximizing payments from customers, if possible and desirable, to make it economically sustainable.

It doesn’t just sound great, it is great! At the last meeting we have discussed different business models that are already employed in ventures at the BOP. This week we will look at the ways to engage the users, local community and others in the process of co-creation of business models.

We have a great reading list and (even though I already have piles of work for LSE) I am going to share some of my ideas and reflections on the pages of this blog.

For those who have read Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, don’t get too enthusiastic or skeptical: what we are doing in this course is actually looking at what is the BOP, what can work there, and how can business can create value for the communities at the BOP. Fortune-making is not really the part of the course.

Aitzaz Ahsan, Babar Awan, Moonis Elahi, Ch. Shujaat, Ch. Pervaiz Elahi, Latif Khosa, Malik Qayuum, Sharifuddin Pirzada, Waseem Sajjad, Salman Siddique

Recently Bank of Punjab (BoP) scam that I talked about in ‘Aitzaz Exposed – Part II‘ has been back in the news as the Supreme Court has been actively perusing it. But what I found most curious is the fact that although it was a Rs 13 billion scam, ALL (but one) news stories have been referring to as only a Rs 9 Billion scam.

So I got to wondering exactly where did the Rs 4 Billion go?

Rumors I heard was that Rs 3 Billion had gone to Zardari himself as he had promised to ‘take care’ of the matter — of course he took the money and ran — but that left Rs 1 Billion still accounted for. My personal theory is that that Rs 1 Billion was pocketed by the attorneys representing Chaudhry Afzal & Co, the main accused. And what a group it is with names like Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada Haramzada, Wasim Sajjad Kutta, two former Prosecutors Generals of NAB Irfan Qadir, Naveed Rasool Mirza and Fake “Dr” Babar Awan Haywan joined the legal team to defend Haris Steel. Of course the addition of Aitzaz’s name to this list was the subject of that post of mine but two names I neglected to add were that of just-removed-for-corruption former AG Latif Khosa and former removed-for-corruption judge and former AG Malik Qayuum. Well I should have known better that they too would not miss their share in this looting.

Well now my theory has been confirmed. Yes, indeed the lawyers have made a killing:
Just how many lawyers were ‘friends’ of Dogar Court? Top legal guns accused of bilking Harris Steel

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
By Umar Cheema

ISLAMABAD: Former attorney general Latif Khosa is facing an allegation of having received a bribe for securing a friendly judgment from the former Dogar supreme court. Well, it transpires that he may soon have some august company as three other high profile lawyers, including an influential member of the ruling dispensation, have also been accused of a somewhat similar action by a business tycoon.

Sheikh Munir, a director of Haris Steel Industries, implicated in the Punjab Bank scandal, has submitted a dossier to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), exposing the names of the three legal gurus who allegedly robbed him blind, promising him a bailout through ‘friendly judges’ in the Abdul Hameed Dogar Supreme Court.

Although he invested heavily on more than three lawyers, those allegedly lined up with pledges to pursue his petition through the agency of friendly judges include a sitting minister, the legal guru of all dictators, Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, and former attorney general Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum.

“Pirzada assured us that he would win the case in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) due to his relations with Justice Sardar Aslam (the then Chief Justice of the IHC). The litigant paid a whopping Rs 40 million for the case and seeking a favourable decision. This chunk of money is apart from the dues claimed for various other applications filed,” Sheikh Munir’s statement said. But as the case was transferred to the Supreme Court, “Pirzada left us”.
[My Note: And this is where Aitzaz came in and offered his stupid argument -- see under 'AITZAZ JUMPS IN WITH HIS PIG BROTHERS' at the 'Aitzaz Exposed -Part II' link on top or read The News story by Mohammed Noorani]

Haris Steel Industries paid to the sitting minister (who is not being named because he has not yet given his side of the story to The News) equivalent to the sum handed to Pirzada, i.e. Rs 40 million. The reason for betting on this minister was his claim that “all the judges in the Supreme Court are known to me and, therefore, I can get a favourable decision.”

UPDATE Nov 25: Today we are certain the “minister” is none other than Babar Awan.

The fee paid to Malik Qayyum has not been mentioned by Munir because he does not “know the exact figure as this amount was paid by his brother Irfan Ali. But the director Haris Steel Industries said in his statement that Qayyum also echoed the line of the minister that he was known to the Supreme Court judges and could get the verdict he wished.

But the minister and Qayyum allegedly disappeared after accepting their ‘fees’, Munir said in his statement. “When the minister took his oath he left us. Malik Qayyum left us due to retirement of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.”

Talking to The News, Justice Qayyum denied having served as a counsel of the Harris Steel Industries, let alone receiving any fee and making any promises to get a favourable judgment. When approached Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada denied receiving such a big amount. About the allegation of jacking up his fees claiming his relations with judges, Pirzada said he never said so. “I don’t care for winning or losing. You know I have 50-year practice. I have never talked to any client about anything.”

When contacted by The News, the minister declined to comment till he had first read the document allegedly implicating him in the case. As the portion relating to his conduct was read out to him, he again refused to comment unless he had first personally read the contents of the letter sent to the NAB.

Other lawyers who were hired by Haris Steel were Waseem Sajjad and Irfan Qadir, who were reportedly paid Rs20 million each. Munir’s statement however does not carry any allegation of wrong doing against this duo.

Although this story leaves out most of the names (those missing are Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Wasim Sajjad, Irfan Qadir, Naveed Rasool Mirza, Babar Awan, and Aitzaz Ahsan), it does provide us with additional names of Malik Qayuum and Latif Khosa and that of the CJ of Islamabad High Court, Justice Sardar Aslam (who I am sure got his share as well; remember the case was moved to IHC for this very purpose). The story also confirms the accused owners of Haris Steel Mills were stiffed by the lawyers — a pattern we see repeated in the case against AG Latif Khosa — and gives credence to my belief that Zardari in fact did the same, once the justices were restored and the case moved to Supreme Court.

The story also does not mention some other — I’d say main — beneficiaries of this whole scam, namely Chaudhrys of Gujrat (who set this whole thing up from the beginning and their involvement has recently been in the news as well with Law Minister Punjab stating in Punjab Assembly that Moonis Elahi alone pocketed Rs 5.5 Billion), current Federal Secretary Finance Salman Siddique (then Chief Secretary of Punjab and “Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BoP and the irregularities taken place could not have been committed without his abetment”)

Some unrelated links about Aitzaz to give you a better idea of him:
Former naval chief indicted in $3.369m kickbacks case
(Aitzaz ‘defends’ the most corrupt Admiral Mansurul Haq with the ‘brilliant’ argument that his client was not guilty of receiving kickbacks but at the same time offering to pay back those very same ill-gotten monies in exchage for freedom. Hmmm….Kind of reminds me of NRO-Plus of late — Makes me think: Was Aitzaz the author of that as well? BTW: This case is making headlines again and will be the subject of my next post)

Criminal breach of trust
(From 1995: See how Aitzaz used to spend public money when in power:

1) Advance preparation for PM’s visit: Expenses incurred by Cambridge Chaudhry Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, former law minister Senator Groovy Haider, Adviser Baaji Nahid and their retinue, plus hullagulla wallahs necessary to organise cheer-leaders, to buy off the MQM anti- squads, plus large amounts paid to US lobbyists and PR consultants = US$ 5 million

(2) PM’s special ‘plane, plus backup’ plane cost, expenses plus loss of earning = US$ 2 million.

(3) Other travelling expenses in Pakistan and in the US; hotel
expenses at the Waldorf Astoria, New York (why not PIA’s Roosevelt?), Willard, Washington, and Los Angeles hotels, limousine hire charges; stayover/stayback expenses for PM and family (The Dorchester, London) friends, hangers-on (reportedly 150/180 went in dribs and drabs) = for approx. 10 days, say US$ 1 million.

(4) Advertisements in the Press: 16-page supplement/ads in Washington Post at US$ 63,228 per page, in New York Times at US$ 67,110 per page, Los Angeles Times at US$ 61,340 per page, 8 pages of ads in Time Magazine plus ‘charges’ for portraying our Prime Minister on the cover of the Time (Asian edition only), and advertisements in other US publications = say, US$ 2,250,000

(5) Fashion/cultural show in Washington and Los Angeles, masterminded by the wife of Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Sheikh = US$ 0.5 million.

Say, total debit = US$ 10.75 million x Rs. 31.75 = Rs. 34 crores. Columnist Khalid Hasan from Washington estimated a total of US$ 10.5 million and the editor of Nawa-i-Waqt from Lahore Rs. 35 crores. We three and the people of Pakistan would be very happy were the government to be able to prove us wrong.)

Aitzaz terms rejoinder false
(Another ‘brilliant’ example of defense offered by Aitzaz; Aitzaz claims “Mir Munawwar Ali, is not Zardari’s brother-in-law (Mir Munawwar Ali
Talpur) but some one else.”)

Poisonous sting of Aitzaz Ahsan
(An article by ‘International Professor that talks about the many stings of Aitzaz’s leading up to and including the first Long March. I certainly don’t agree with the author that PML-N was also stung — they certainly were a part of this tag team to sabotage the Lawyers’ Movement)

Aitzaz to receive award in US
(Aitzaz rewarded for being a loyal servant)

Role of Aitzaz Ahsan “?”
(So I am not the only one questioning his role)

Oh, and let’s not forget Aitzaz is the same man, who sold the lists of Sikh militants to India when he was interior minister, and he also got LPG licenses from Benazir as a reward to cover up for her corruption cases (and I thought he claimed he was defending BB for free….).

These days Aitzaz is of course trying to save Zardari’s butt:
NRO beneficiaries already liable to arrest: Aitzaz
BUT
NRO not a threat to govt: Aitzaz
No court can summon President of Pakistan: Aitzaz

17 November 2009.

Tuesday . Time 8.30 PM

I’ll have to be honest with you.   The first time that I heard Lee on record (I believe that it was an Art Blakey record), I didn’t really dig him.   I thought that he overblew and when I saw a video of him I found his fingering technique to be out of alignment with what I had been taught, so I thought that it was wrong.  Then I bought Night of the Cookers…that changed everything.  I then started to embrace his unique, physically aggressive style of playing.  Up to that point I realized that I was comparing everything that Lee played to everything that I had heard of Freddie Hubbard.  When I got that record, I really started to appreciate the differences in their playing.  That’s when I started to cop as many Lee recordings as a leader and a sideman as I can.  He’s another one of those players whose tone can’t truly be contained on a record.  He was what I would’ve called a child prodigy.  Just check out his work on Blue Train.  He was sooo young on that one.  I really love his playing on Drums Around the Corner (Art Blakey), Night Dreamer (Wayne Shorter), Standards (Lee Morgan), Live at the Lighthouse (Lee Morgan), Expoobident (Lee Morgan),  too many to name…

As I mentioned before, I am participating in a management training course through my work called Business of People (BOP) in which we are learning about the ways of resistance and change and how unless we recognize these factors in the moment they become stumbling blocks. Resistance is recognized not only in our subordinates and coworkers, but just as importantly in ourselves. (My area of focus is working on Responding – which means to repond to what people actually say and not what I think I heard or what I want to say).

For me, one of the best parts of this process is being able to talk with the other members of my management team and have what we like to call BOP conversations. Its greats being able to call, chat, or email them and just ask “Can we have a bop conversation?” and they immediately will listen, respond, and support me as I am attempt to work on issue. Which happened this morning . . .

One of my staff made a comment to me and I did not respond in a way that I felt was appropriate. That is not to say that I said or did anything bad – but that I did not provide her with the support and acknowledgement that I should have. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me and I immediately called my manager and asked to BOP. She listened and supported me and helped me to realize that it wasn’t the actual conversation that was the issue, it was the topic itself and how I have this hold on it that I am not willing to let go of. She also reminded me that I have the ability to go back to this staff person and say, I’ve thought more about our conversation this morning and I would like have it again because I truly was not in the moment earlier. Which I am planning on doing.

What made this conversation with my manager even more important to me was that she pointed out that because I recognized this issue so quickly was actually a good thing because it reaffirmed that the BOP process is becoming ingrained in me and that I am growing in my own personal awareness. It was tough because I could feel the emotions in me when I recognized myself holding back, but afterwards, I felt such relief. But I am grateful I am on this journey.

Almost every month we hear of a summit or a meeting of states, but the actual progress towards resolution of issues and problems has been less effective and focused. There is just the resounding feeling that these are becoming more rhetorical and hollow than real and productive. The worst part is that inequality (gap between rich and poor) is showing a marked correlation with the number of meetings whose impetus for more summits has been on the increase. Reminds me of a quote that there is never enough time and summits to do all the nothing in the world. And then there are several jokes on meetings such as it is a phenomenon where a bunch of people get together and decide that the best thing to do is to convene yet another meeting. Or something on those lines. I did some research (read, browse the web) and came up with a quick self-explanatory chart…

(*) Inequality is defined as the income gap between the top and bottom 10 per cent of wage earners. The data is via World of Work Report 2008 – Global Income Inequality Gap is Vast and Growing. The numbers of course have been normalized to somehow limit axes overflow

Hindsight is always 20/20 but this is hardly unexpected of course because if the leaders (and I use this term very loosely) of the world are jetting off to exotic locations for meetings, their countries are left to the dogs, which while better on one hand, is proving a detriment to general populace. It seems to me that this is a contagious disease. With politicians being in the Top-10 percent of wage earners, the sheer number of summits and thereby the taxpayers money they claim/guzzle to attend this nonsensical meetings is maybe, contributing to the inequality. Just me.

cworks sriks6711, summits meetings, G8 G20 ASEAN SAARC, vast inequality, more problems, no solutions, hollow actions, calvin hobbes, never enough time, to do nothing, summit inequality correlation, income gap, rich poor, normalized numbers, hindsight 20/20, exotic locations, growing poverty, expense claims, taxpayers money, international labour organization, world of work report 2008