Hindustan Times
Model agency
There are many fashion models that our country has produced some of whom even made it into the international scene quite successfully. However, when it comes to modeling agencies, India still lacks when it comes to a proper set up.
There is no structured modeling agency yet in this country. All agencies are run by individuals who have no idea of how an agency should work. No bookers, no scouts no nothing.
They go around picking random guys and girls (latest trend for the last few years being Ukrainian girls) and then try and push them with advertising agencies and fashion week organizers.
One of the interesting this seen here is that the individual behind the agency is seen shepherding these girls in the evening at parties and then later some of these girls are seen wining and dining with the ones with flashy cars and a fat wallet.
And some get into the fashion week runways as well.
While there is no doubt that these Ukrainian or other ‘imported’ girls are fit when it comes to their body as compared to most Indian girls, is this how an agency should be run?
By going into parties to market these women every other day? Well not at all.
A proper agency will have a structure with scouts and bookers and individuals who handle different accounts. Girls are chosen carefully and looked after well. None of these happen here with any of the agencies.
More often than not I get to hear complaints from these models of the ordeals they have to go through with these agencies.
They are signed up and then given no work and put in shabby accommodations that the agency get on rent. I was told that these agencies even make money out of these accommodations by charging these models much more than the actual rent paid every month.
India needs proper modeling agencies with proper structure and guidelines. Those who bring in girls as models who double up as something else when the sun goes down in the evening should no longer be called modeling agencies or fashion models.
Surely they will have titles much more appropriate for their running of the agencies!
(3 votes, average: 2.33 out of 5)
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US “precision attack” on Osama Bin Laden has brought all these in focus. Info seized during the raid has provided a treasure trove of intelligence info to USA . US has connected all the dots between military/ISI/terror networks. 
Anonymous Reply:
September 26th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
manohar-
I do not think US has a clue on the pakistani nukes – If so, the whole thing would have been over if they knew where it is…I wish and pray US can denuke them so we can also pursue attacks of their terror training camps deep insid etheir territorry without fearing a nuke trigger by their crazy terrorist army.
US will take Haquani brothers if they knew the location.. But it may not just be the brothers; I believe they have a deep bench there; plus they may have strong supporters in the army an ISI.
I believe the public opinion i USA will support a Abotsbad hit on as many as possible including taking out a few generals
[Reply]
Anonymous Reply:
September 26th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Gopi
It is not so simple. Even the USA cannot just walk in and get hold of the assets. Apparently, the world is a less barbaric place today. International sensibilities have to be taken into account.
When the time comes, it will surely act. With all its sophisticated surveillance systems (satellites and on the ground) in place, it must be surely in the know of things at all times.
[Reply]
Anonymous Reply:
September 26th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
manohar-
I do not think usa is waiting on any niceties..If it could, it would have, rather than waiting for permision etc.. You know it took 10 years to nail Osama with all the satellites and sophisticated technology… The reason they have not gone deep inside is due to the fear of nukes; rogue elements using against amerikans, Indians etc (including dirty bomb)..the would have pulverized them by now..
the land of the pure is now the land of the toxic…
Anonymous Reply:
September 26th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Osama and nuclear assets are two different things. The latter are fewer in number and not so difficult to track. It is easier for person to get lost among the millions.
When it matters, it will not wait for anybody’s permission. IMO, they do not feel the time has come as yet.
engrich Reply:
September 28th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
correct
azhar Hussain Reply:
October 3rd, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Another defeated Western General carps about the graveyard of empires
By EditorialTimes of Kabul
Saturday, Oct 1, 2011
In better day Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen reviews Pakistani troops. Image via Wikipedia
It didn’t begin with the Haqqanis, or the attack on Kabul. It didn’t even begin with Operation Geronimo–it actually began when President Obama made the blunder of not visiting Pakistan and then going to Delhi. Trying to hide the failure of his administration to sign the Nuclear 123 deal he tried to appease the Indians by saying that he supported Delhi’s bid for the UNSC. He couldn’t had said anything worse.The entire Pakistani nation was furious. The National Assembly was mad. The media was upset. There were demonstrations all over Pakistan–of course the US media missed it all. All of this was recorded on Rupee News. No American president had come across to biased, not Bush, not Nixon, not Johnson, not Kenney and not Reagan. They all tried to be even handed. Here was a president, with a middle name of Husein, who enjoyed tremendous popularity in Pakistan. Obama could have chased it on the equity he had with the Pakistanis. He however lost it all–because of his silly remarks, the loud mouth of his generals, the loose talk of his Secretary of State, and the exponential increase of drone bombings.
Why is that the American generals are so far off the mark when they begin to deal with the Pakistanis. The reason is that a mafia in Washington controls the access of information that reaches American policy makers. It is America’s fault too. They bank on the likes of Ahmed Rashid, the USAmbassador to Pakistan, Mr Haqqani, and Mr. Najam Sethi – plus a cabal of so called left wingers on the net—these guys are responsible for the failure of US policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
US Pakistani relations have been deteriorating because of the heightened sense of frustration felt by the US Army in Afghanistan. Neither the surge, nor the increase in drone activity has helped increase the US footprint in Afghanistan. The Europeans have lost all appetite for the decade long quagmire in the Hindu Kush. The retiring American generals are leaving with a legacy of defeat. Unable to defeat the Afghan National Resistance (Talibs, Jamat e Islamai, Hizul Islmai, Haqqanis, Hikmatyar etc) — they needed a escape goat. They attempted to humiliate General Kayani and General Pasha–hoping that their resignations would allow them to deal with a more compliant COAS. They had tried that with Musharraf and had hoped that Kayani would do their bidding. It didn’t happen. Kayani walked half a mile with them–but would go no further. Like Ayub, Zia, and Musharraf, the US once again learned that the Pakistani Army will go only so far with them. When it comes to national interests, they go their own way. Ayub Khan threw them out of Badabare, Bhutto defied them and built the bomb, Zia fooled them and accelerated the Pakistani Nuclear program, and Musharraf hodd-winked them by doubling Pakistani nuclear bombs.
In the aftermath of the Abbotabad raid, General Kayani went to meet his corp commanders. He got an earful. This site also called for his resignation. Still reeling from what he had heard from the nation, he went to the army bases to listen to the “jawans’ (soldiers). The visceral response he got from the rank and file, probably surprised him also. It was the consensus of the army that they did not want American Aid and did not want the US to interfere in Pakistan’s internal affairs. The Chief or Army Staff then visited, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China. All branches of the government were brought on board and a strategy was created. There was a flurry of activity between Riyad, Beijing, Istanbul, Astana, and Moscow. Russia announced the formation of the Dushambe 4 (Tajiskistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Russia).
General Kayani then got on the horn and pretty much turned down US military aid to Pakistan. He couched it in diplomatic language by saying that aid to the military should be transferred to the civilians. He then turned around sent all the US trainers home. His fellow general Pasha began hunting down the US operatives and began to hound them out. They Pakistanis knew what the reaction from the US would be. They knew that the American intelligence agencies as well as the defeated US Generals would be furious.
The Americans were left with no choice–they halted the 800 million in aid to the Pakistani military. They were banking on the advice given to them by Mr. Njam Sethi and gang. That line went as follows–”the generals are greedy, and the moment the aid is stopped, they will fold like a tent–begging Washington like poodles”. The US Generals took the advice of folks writing for dawn.com and dailytimes.com.pk and began to believe the “advice’ which was purchased with US Dollars.
Turns out, that that the Americans were wrong. The advice that they received was bogus and the US is now reeling from the consequences of inflamed Pakistanis, and the exponential growth of Anti-Americanism in Pakistan.
Of course the Bharati lobby in Congress is ecstatic, just like they are ever time they see an opportunity to hurt Pakistan. Hillary Clinton in one of her moments of sanity said that “The Pressler Amendment was one of the biggest blunders of American foreign policy”.
General Petraeus (now the head of the CIA is known for his favorite anedtoe when he says, every Pakistan soldier knows what the Pressler Amendment is, and no US soldier has a clue what it is. Ted Poe a Respublican Representative was was spewing fire and brimsote the other day “Turns out they are disloyal, deceptive and a danger to the United States,” fumed Republican Representative Ted Poe last week. “We pay them to hate us. Now we pay them to bomb us. Let’s not pay them at all.” Pakistanis are praying for the day with the US Aid would be halted. The aid has strings and it has created more problems for Pakistan.
For many in Pakistan, Washington has been nothing short of perfidious since joining a strategic alliance with Pakistan 10 years ago– selectively bringing India into Afghanistan, installing an Anti-Pakistan government in Kabul, while allowing or supporting anti-Pakistan terrorists like the TTP.
John Chalmers in an analysis written for Reuters tries to explain why Pakistna is acting the way it is “The answer is that Pakistan wants to guarantee for itself a stake in Afghanistan’s political future.
•It knows that, as U.S. forces gradually withdraw from Afghanistan, ethnic groups will be competing for ascendancy there and other regional powers – from India to China and Iran – will be jostling for a foot in the door.
•Islamabad’s support for the Taliban movement in the 1990s gives it an outsized influence among Afghanistan’s Pashtuns, who make up about 42 percent of the total population and who maintain close ties with their Pakistani fellow tribesmen.
•In particular, Pakistan’s powerful military is determined there should be no vacuum in Afghanistan that could be filled by its arch-foe, India.
Chalmers says “Relations between Pakistan and the United States have been stormy ever since, culminating in a tirade by the outgoing U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, last week. Mullen described the Haqqani network, the most feared faction among Taliban militants in Afghanistan, as a “veritable arm” of the ISI and accused Islamabad of providing support for the group’s September 13 attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul.”
He accurately describes the mood in Pakistan “The reaction in Islamabad has been one of stunned outrage”. Washington has not gone public with evidence to back its accusation, and Pakistani officials say that contacts with the Haqqani group do not amount to actual support”.
Chalmer’s uses the sane advice of the most popular Pakistani leader today “However, Imran Khan, a Pakistani cricketer-turned-populist-politician, said this week that it was too much to expect that old friends could have become enemies overnight.
He told Reuters that, instead of demanding that Pakistan attack the Haqqanis in the mountainous border region of North Waziristan, the United States should use Islamabad’s leverage with the group to bring the Afghan Taliban into negotiations. ‘Haqqani could be your ticket to getting them on the negotiating table, which at the moment they are refusing,” Khan said. “So I think that is a much saner policy than to ask Pakistan to try to take them on’.”
Chalmers correctly describes the regional game–about which we have written multiple time here on Rupee News.
•The big risk for the United States in berating Islamabad is that it will exacerbate anti-American sentiment, which already runs deep in Pakistan, and perhaps embolden it further.
•C. Raja Mohan, senior fellow at New Delhi’s Center for Policy Research, said Pakistan was probably gambling that the United States’ economic crisis and upcoming presidential elections would distract Washington.
•“The real game is unfolding on the ground with the Americans. The Pakistan army is betting that the United States does not have too many choices and more broadly that the U.S. is on the decline, he said.
•It is also becoming clear that as Pakistan’s relations with Washington deteriorate, it can fall back into the arms of its “all-weather friend,” China, the energy-hungry giant that is the biggest investor in Afghanistan’s nascent resources sector.
Chalmer’s is right about the regional angle which has been part of our prescient forecasting for the past several years. LIke Rupee News, most Pakistanis see Central Asia as the future of Pakistan ‘Pakistani officials heaped praise on Beijing this week as a Chinese minister visited Islamabad. Among them was army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, arguably the country’s most powerful man, who spoke of China’s “unwavering support.’
Chalmer’s is also right about Islamaba’s burgeoning relations with Iran:
•“In addition, Pakistan has extended a cordial hand to Iran, which also shares a border with Afghanistan. Teheran has been mostly opposed to the Taliban, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims while Iran is predominantly Shi’ite. But Iran’s anti-Americanism is more deep-seated.
•“My reading is the Iranians want to see the Americans go,” said Raja Mohan, the Indian analyst. “They have a problem with the Taliban, but any American retreat will suit them. Iran in the short term is looking at the Americans being humiliated.”
Chalmer’s like most Indian analysts is under the impression that the Pakistani Army goes against the grain of what Pakistanis think. It cannot. The Army gets its strength from the folks that man it–if they army took up stances that are unpopular with the people, the Army could not sustain those stances. Even Mushaarraf understood that, and by attempting to fire the Chief Justice–he lost the support of the people and had to resign. For most Bharatis the Pakistani army is the culprit and their favorite whipping boy. Even though many corrupt practices have crept into the cadre, the fact remains that the army is a professional fighting force, and is the front line organization in the defense of Pakistan. Today, more so than ever, almost all political parties (from the leftis ANP, to the rightist JI) all stand behind it.
In this game of chicken, America, by suspending aid to the Pakistani Army has now lost all leverage on the Generals. Pakistan is not dependent on US arms anymore. America does not provide Islamabad the latest arms, and Pakistan can get plenty of 2nd tier arms from China or build them itself.
The battle of Mawand was “one of the most serious defeats ever sustained in the Britisn Army in India.” It was a product of what used to be called “The Great Game,” the squabble with Russia in which all forms of political skullduggery were employed to maintain influence over the Afghans and the troublesome tribes of the North-west frontier of India.
The Great Game is on, a defeated army is withdrawing from the graveyard of empires. Its defeated generals are desperate and their frustration can be heard in the howling in the news media and the halls of Congress. Mullen will not win any Congressional Medals of Honor. He will melt away ignominiously into the woodwork–he will write a book, become rich and no one will ever hear of him again. After all, does anyone remember the name of the general who was defeated in Vietnam?
The people of Afghanistan and Pakistan remember the name of the man who defeated the British Army at Maiwand. Millions of Afghans and Pakistanis are named Ayub Khan. President Ayub Khan was also named after the famous Ayub Khan who defeated the mighty British Army–and the Khan sent one surviving soldier back to the Khyber pass riding a donkey.