Today's links

Fareed Zakaria writes an insightful essay in Newsweek on "How to restore America's place in the World". Perhaps it wouldn't be possible in the classic sense now. Anyways, it depends upon your frame of reference too from which you're measuring this supposed *place* From viewpoint of India, Soviet Union was a closer ally during the cold war days, but after the liberalization in 1990's, India has been moving towards the capitalistic philosophy and therefore, the mood in India has turned from anti-US to a trade and economy partner.

Elsewhere, This beautiful essay on salaried class summarizes the plight of honest, hard working people of India who regularly pay taxes and therefore, suffer the most.

I, the salaried citizen pay the taxes expected out of me. In fact, they are deducted at source. The Income Tax, which is the single largest direct tax to the kitty. About 35 million of the population (via) thats about 3.4 percent (some say it is just 2 percent) of this country of a billion pay income tax. The rest, well, they dont pay any income tax. I subsidise them. Dont they earn money? Oh yes, they do, but they are not taxed.

I, the salaried citizen also in most cases, pay most of the service tax, the value added tax and the central excise too; directly or indirectly it all hits me. In some cases, I pay it in full since my grocer passes it on in entirety to me or in some cases, I pay more than it since the pharmaceutical shop charges all taxes and "extra" local taxes that I have to pay - or else he wont give my medicines.

Finally, a story which we all would have lived sometime in younger years of our school days involving a fear, an excitement and a desire to talk to a cute girl/boy of opposite sex and yet never been able to do so. Read it, I guess, most of us would relate to it.