"May you be tough as a rock"

The title is a quote from the Rig Veda which happens to be the motto of an ambitious political party whose candidate Ilanthirumaran, an iit alumna, is all set to take on DMK supremo, chief ministerial candidate & the grandfather of corruption- Karunanidhi.
The party has fielded seven candidates across the state in its maiden venture in the forthcoming assembly polls which happens to be the most complicated and closely faught polls the state has ever witnessed, with more tax payers money being pumped into the election campaign than ever before, a battalion of celebreties endorsing various political parties. All trying hard to break away from the bi-partisan politics that has been controlling the southern state for over 3-4 decades now.
Look out for the Axe & Drum(LP's Symbol) on the EVM!!

Where is the media??

"ISB grad gets one crore salary" screams a news headline. Personally I have no doubt that the guy is probably a CEO in the making. But what suprises me is the amount of coverage Business Schools have been getting in recent times. In the last couple of years it looks like the B-Schools have resorted to advertising to increase student input.

Businesss Standard, Financial Times & Rediff seem to be covering news on Indian B-Schools almost like paid advertisements. On any given day there is news about an IIM or an ISB or even an ICFAI. Prestegious B-Schools like Wharton, Kellogg & Tufts dont brag about the multi million dollar pays awarded to some of their graduates.

A bomb blast in the holy city of Varanasi, what happened to the coverage? An Indian Scientist killed at India's leading research center, where is the media?

Interesting points of view via this article on IBN & the comments that followed:

A Suicidal Divide

Skyrocketing is no longer enough to describe the salaries of top 'B' school graduates. But I'd leave it to that till oxford comes up with a better replacement of the word.

I was anything but surprised when five ISB graduates got a package of a crore plus. Something like the upward graph of the sensex doesn't have a similar effect on my eyebrow.

I in no way question the ability and merit of these fairly young corporates and entrepreneurs. But what I do question is how is it that a largely agro-based economy will benefit from this? What probably affects our economy more is not the closing of the Bombay Stock Exchange for a week but a poor monsoon and a failed crop!

While these 20 something's were celebrating their mammoth salaries, a 32-year-old farmer in the onion belt of Maharashtra committed suicide because he could not pay back a loan of 40,000 rupees.

While these MBA's prepare to chalk out investment plans and analyze risk factors for big banking firms, can no one offer a suitable solution to the suicidal risk involved in the meager loans these farmers take?

These helpless farmers living on the edge continue to harvest hunger!

It's this growing divide... the crack that threatens to snap the very backbone of the Indian economy.

An interesting comment follows:

I fail to see the relevance. I ask all these havent u guys ever spent on luxuries - iPODs, PDAs, fancy mobile phones? Why not use that money to pay off some of their debt or contribute to some charitable cause. Or have u not spent money in some expensive restaurant? Very easy to preach.. Pls understand that there will always be some people who will have freakish fortune good or bad. What issue we have in our country is diferent.. I am happy that these guys are successful and since these B school guys have made us incur any social costs.. Good wishes to them