Congress sticks out its neck on the Nuclear deal

As most of the readers are aware, India and the U.S. are in advanced talks to complete signing an agreement that will benefit both countries. It is the Nuclear deal that I am talking about. While the Indian government, in particular the Congress, feels that the agreement will do a lot to enable India to make use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, the Left parties of India, in particular, the C.P.I. (M), feel that the agreement is a virtual sell-out to the U.S. and will destroy the independent nature of India's stand vis-a-vis the U.S.' foreign policy (w.r.t. Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, etc.)

Now, the Congress party has garnered the support of many of its supporters in the United Party Alliance circle (the U.P.A.) - such as the Samajwadi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (the SP, the NCP and the BSP respectively). Even with this support, however, the Congress government cannot maintain majority in the Lok Sabha, and if the C.P.I. (M) withdraw the external support it had been providing the U.P.A., the central government will fall.

The next step in the signing process is India's presentation of safe-guards to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, www.iaea.org) in August. Let us see how this drama unfolds. It remains to be seen when the government falls ... as it will, as I see it.

Irregularity

For the past two months, I have, for one reason or the other, become very irregular when it comes to going to the gym for the daily work-out. Several reasons (or should I say, rationalising) come to mind, and if I sit and dissect each one, almost all will hold no water. Let me list them first, so that you, the reader, will know what I am talking about:

1. My professional work has increased, making it impossible for me to find the 90-120 minutes needed to do this activity.
2. My first five months at the gym have produced no weight loss; in fact, I have put on four kg!
3. A general feeling of laissez-faire
4. Too many "other" commitments - first, Inas' college admission, then, Hannah's school related running around, and so on and so forth.

I am of the opinion here that I am definitely creating excuses here. Well, a few days here and there may be really busy and my not going to the gym in such cases may be genuine, but I think I am now using that as a blanket excuse to not go. I despise myself for doing this ... this game of trying to deceive myself and not going to where it is absolutely necessary for a person of my age, physique and medical problems to go.

I sincerely hope to break out of this stupid habit and to resume my march towards physical fitness. I joined a web-site called "Spark-people" specifically for this purpose. It is a wonderful site for all those who are fitness conscious. From exercise, to healthy eating, to healthy life-style, to blogging, chatting, public forums, health articles and the ability to set targets and goals etc., it has nearly everything a person would need to achieve his/her goals.

I have been perusing the site regularly for the past few months, but as I noted above, it doesn't seem to motivate me. I am looking for inspiration and advice.

Funny anecdotes

Used to issue cheques (checks for Americans) on several occasions every month, I am rather unconsciously "Pavlovised" to see if my signature is at the bottom of these cheques or not; whenever I see a signature missing, I will instantly sign the cheque and feel a sense of having "completed" the task of writing a proper cheque.

What happened today, not once, but twice, is something along these lines; I had to forward a cheque of my mom and my wife to two different parties; in both cases, the cheques were not signed. What I did next can only be summed up in two words: horrific and stupid.

I signed both the cheques with a flourish, when I am not even a joint account holder in both my mom's and wife's accounts! In the instant after I had finished signing and placed the pen back on my table, I realised what I had done: I had signed on cheques which had nothing to do with me!

I had to go back to my mom (and will do the same with my wife in the night when I reach home) and get a fresh cheque from her ...

So much about being a person with creativity and superior intelligence (most IQ tests place me between 120-130, which means I am definitely above average ... that being 80-110)!