Religion- A set of rituals and practices that if followed will take us close to the Eternal or a set of stupid practices followed by people who do not have faith in themselves. Your view could be any one of those aforementioned ones depending on whether u believe in the existence of a Super Power or not.

Where did it come from? Why was it conceived? A search would throw up tons of Information that might require a lifetime for us to go through them. I will put it simply as a set of practices which are "Symbolic". The reason why I say them to be symbolic is that looked as it is in a superficial way most of them do not make any sense. In fact i would go ahead and say that man was made to follow religion to make sure that he "Denounced" religion. Paradoxical, it might sound, but that is the purpose.

One who truly understands religion ends up getting detached from all the rituals that religion calls for.

So Why about religion now? Recent happenings in parts of India, have again highlighted the fact that Learned or Academically qualified we might be, we still are Uneducated when it comes to religion. Money paid ( God knows why) and Lives Taken all in the name of religion again highlight our "IGNORANCE".

Money paid in Huge quantities for Conversions and to sponsor Violence clearly shows that academic qualification or Economic Status are not indicators of Maturity.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry at these happenings. I even feel that we are better off banning all the religions and closing down all the Churches, Mosques and Temples till we mature and truly understand the meaning of Religion. By meaning i don't mean the Text Book Meaning but the Intended meaning. Now will it Happen? "Hope" is the name of the game.

Surprise, Surprise!!! The Country which symbolized "Free Markets" and embraced "Capitalism" as a way of life is now doing the unthinkable. Yeah, they are going the socialist way...

The woes brought about the problem of excess liquidity and greed has now forced the American Govt to take over many of the Financial Major companies. For record, they now own around 80% of AIG, have bought in all the problematic assets of Bear n Stearns, and they own the biggest mortgage firms of America Freddie n Fannie, and they have recently pumped in 247 Billion USD to bail these firms out the liquidity crunch.

Yeah u r reading it right, Add to this the fact thy ey have fixed floor prices for the stocks of Financial companies, prohbited Traders from shorting the stocks of some 699 financial companies!!! this country is now truly turning socialist.



The solution to the problems caused by the issue of Excess Liquidity seems to be Inject more liquidity into the system. US govt has spoken of a 700 Billion Dollar rescue plan and one strongly feels that even this wont be of any help unless the Fund Managers are not going to be monitored and questioned for taking decisions without evaluating the risks or taking decisions for personal gains fully knowing the risks involved.

So where does US go from here? By the looks of it,it seems that we have not seen the end of this problem, for the problem seems to be so deep rooted. US needs to save, go through a period of real consolidation where u are not going to have great results reported by companies, less sales and stuff but there seems to be no other permanent way out. Start Saving Uncle Sam.

P.S:The only silver lining for US in this whole episode is the fact that there is still no country which can substitute the US as the Consumption Giant, now that means all the other countries are trying desperately to keep the US afloat so that their own interests are protected. Constituting 40% of the Global GDP the US is still the Engine of the World Economy, notwithstanding the fact that its Debts are humongous to say the least.

Is Fedex's latest stop and it looks like Stations 14, 15  and 16 are not far off.  Goodness Me! What a player? Never before had Men's Tennis had someone so creative and so stylish.. There might be debates on whether he is the greatest ever or not, But i don't see any debate on who is the most creative and the most stylish player around. Fed wins Hands Down.

Sometime back I expressed my opinion on WTO talks that were held recently, Here we have a Professor in Trade reinforcing my views. These kind of things act as a fillip and makes me feel that i m at least thinking on the right track

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Manoj_Pant/WTO_talks_Should_countries_trade/articleshow/msid-3339127,curpg-2.cms