Babbling Brooks

I read Nandan Nilekani's Imagining India and I think this is his debut as an author. The variety of subjects that he handles on the world's fastest growing nation and the largest democracy, as the evolution of "ideas" is indeed an unique approach. To me as I read through it, I was amazed by the kind of perspective he has taken while approaching each topic. Considering Nilekani as a current generation Indian entrepreneur, it's mind blowing that he has looked at things from pre-colonial rule era and until recent times. First time ever, I understood what "demographic dividend" means. I've always looked at China as an adorable Asian nation whose growth path and future are unencumbered. Be it its hard working and conservative population, be its technology adoption, be it the unbiased and bold stand towards taking tough measures like population control, be it the kind of ports and roads they have built and so on and so forth..China has always been a countr

It is little know and often forgotten practice / requirement that in Ontario(Canada) temporary foreign workers or the people who have temporary resident status with a valid work permit have to personally visit Toronto District School Board(TDSB) http://www.tdsb.on.ca/ office and get an approval letter for our kids to avail/continue education in TDSB schools. The documents you need to carry: Passport of Father, Mother and the student[orignials] Workpermit, Visitor records for Father, Mother and the student[originals] Proof of residence for the Father and Mother[it needs to be a bill, bank statement for the current or the last month, they don';t accept driver's license but they accept letter from employer, recently issued] Couple of years back the schools used to insist on this letter and they ask the students to get his from the TDSB office; now a days some schools are taking the parent's work permit copy by themselves and say that that is good enough and a letter from TD

There is a new Service Canada office at Steels and Warden which is very accessible to people living in this area ie.Steels and Warden, Woodbine, Victoria, Pharmacy. The office is called " Markham Scheduled Outreach Site" 3636 Steeles Ave. E. , Suite 223 Markham, Ontario http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/cgi-bin/hr-display.cgi?rc=3557s4&ln=eng Driving direction: This is in a mall which is towards the west from Warden and Steels and it is at east of Victoria or Pharmacy. This mall is at the east of IBM campus at Steels. As soon as you enter the mall climb up/ take the elevator to the first floor, the tough part is there will not be any clear name plates or sign boards to point you to this office. But you will soon locate this office which is just in front of the main staircase in the first floor. The office is open every Wednesdays and Fridays and working hours are 9 am to 3 pm in these two days of the week. Though people say we can go with an appointment, till today it is jus