Ig nobel or Nobel for Obama?

Many awards have a 'spoof' in parallel or just before. I feel that it puts things in a perspective that awards per se dont matter and stupidity of the non-existent 'halo's around the award recipients . It is not surprising that just before Nobel prize announcments started, we had Ig Nobel awards for stupid science. Actually I was curious about Ig Nobel for Veterinary medicine given to two who made the

discovery that giving cows names such as Daisy increases their milk yield.

Well, I was told that my parents named my elder sister as Bhooma to have a male child and I was born :o

Nobel for literature and peace are expected to be controversial because it is based on 'perceptions' or 'importance' of the people of some region. It is tough to expect Literature award to be given to one who writes in Tulu or Sindhi. Nobel Peace Prize is related to 'statesmanship' or 'work's which affect/effect a large (atleast numerically) audience and recipients maybe remembered by people of that region for centuries if not more, even without the prize. Immediate example that comes to my mind (rather any Indian) would be Mother Teresa. Names like Mikhail Gorbachev or Desmond Tutu seem to reaffirm the same. I got my first jolt when I read that Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, along with Le Duc Tho. In current scenario, it is like giving Nobel Peace Prize to Mahinda Rajapaksa :o Helping in post war rehabilitation is like applying medicine after giving umpteen lashes with a whip. Yes, Nobel Peace Prize can only be given to a pacifist, rather people who THINK, START AND END with compromise and not really a 'rebel' like say Che Guevara or Prabhakaran.

I was tickled to the bone when I read 'Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize'. Two lines into the news -

Many observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.

I am not sure if I am 'shocked' but with a 'history', I am not sure why others are shocked. As George Bush's final or 2nd term as US president was coming to an end, I had the feeling that Europe especially wanted to avoid 'Republican' president in US. As much as Obama 'created history' as the 'first black' to reside in White House, it is childish, if not impossible to expect the same in an European country. I dont know why Obama went to Copenhagen to press the case for Chicago as Olympics venue. With 'Chicago rejected', I dont know if 'Nobel Peace Prize' was the compensation :o The international politics behind Obama’s Nobel Peace prize is weird, to put it mildly. There is some talk in India against Obama being given Nobel Peace Prize, when some wanted to know the reasons for Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate. I never thought Gandhi was 'good enough' for a Nobel Peace Prize, being a pacifist within a county or state can be no reason - so I felt till some years back. With a precedence like Kissinger or Obama, I cant be blamed for asking - why the heck was Gandhi not given Nobel Peace Prize? :o