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Showing posts from 2010

What will I drink ?

As responsible parents, with the load of information available on what is good for health and what is not, we tend to provide wholesome food and beverages to our children. This results in good habits in children but also creates piquant situation at times. Both our daughters do not drink coffee and tea as we have always fed them hot milk in the morning and evening. The younger one , once in a way ,drinks small quantities of tea but the elder one has never tried out both coffee and tea. Both are in school and the elder one will go to college in 2012-2013 academic session. The elder one has a serious issue now. She says that when she goes with her friends to places like Cafe Coffee Day or Barista while in college, what would she drink ? This reminds me of what she used to do as a kid. We had ingrained in her that she had to drink milk at 4 pm in the evening without fail. She went on a two day trip with her uncle and family. They had gone by road from Delhi to a hill station which was a s

Dams, storage and economics

Economists have not been able to predict the economic whammy which hit the South eastern Tiger economies in 1998. Reviews by World Bank and leading private analysts painted a very rosy picture a week before these economies tanked. The currencies of Thailand, Indonesia , south Korea and Indonesia dived to half their values overnight. How could this have happened with all the tools and prescience economics and analysts are supposed to have ? A similar thing happened again in USA and developed world in 2008. The housing sub prime crisis exploded. Now everybody says that this was waiting to happen but nobody cautioned for preventive action until the bubble burst. A few economists warned of the impending disaster waiting to happen due to poor quality housing loans being given to all and sundry with little or no income. But they were very few and theirs was a cry in wilderness. The vast majority were going gaga over the blooming economy brought on by the housing boom. When the borrowers defa

Dabangg

I am not a great fan of Hindi movies. Since we have chosen to settle down in Delhi and kids are keen on Hindi movies, I have been a few movies with them in the last three years. I had been with them for the first show on the day of release of "tare Zameen Par". Recently, I had a colleague of mine visiting for a meeting and the meeting was postponed for a day. For want of anything better to do, we roamed around for some time and decided to visit a theatre which is a landmark in grandeur. But the film on show was "Dabangg". My colleague, an ex IAS officer nearing golden age was keen to see the theatre and we went to watch the movie. Salman Khan had us in splits of laughter from the word go. It was a hilarious movie where Salman Khan's deliberate non acting acting stood out. He has been cast in Rajnikanth mould and I should say Salman outshone Rajni style in "Dabangg". Every action of Salman is exaggerated. When his mother dies, he cries as though half th

The poor and poverty in India

There was an interesting ( and depressing at the same time ) news yesterday, Our Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is going to meet industry leaders and promoters to persuade them to lead less ostentatious and sedate lifestyles. Such a request would fly against the desire of captains of industry to pit themselves against business captains abroad , especially those in USA and Europe , who lead a lavish lifestyle.What use is an open unbridled economy ( where government does not interfere and step in only to write off all loans and extend sops when things become dicey as during economic slow down ) unless the fruits of labour can not enjoyed and displayed by the business leaders and captains of the industry ? This is not the interesting aspect of this news item. Finance Minister has stated that with 37.2 % of Indian population living below poverty line, the captains of the industry have to be sensitive to the masses and the travails of our nation. The poverty line debate has been a slippe

FIFA World Cup 2010

The world Cup fever is over. A new name is embellished on the cup- that of Spain, the perennial under achiever. Spain has some of the best clubs- Real Madrid and Barcelona count among the best clubs in the world with an array of international stars in their ranks. Most of the South American stars tend to play in Spain and some in Italy - could be due to skill in Spanish language. With such a rich tradition in football, it is surprising that Spain has taken such a long time to win the World Cup. This is the first time Spain entered the semi finals in World Cup and it has gone all the way to win the coveted trophy. Spain played the game in a fluid and non confrontationist style. The first yellow card on a Spanish player was in the quarter final match against Paraguay. The semifinals against Germany was a blemishless game with no yellow cards against either team. The final was a scrappy affair with The Netherlands playing a rough game earning eight yellow cards and a red cards. Spain m

Dominance of language ?

Internet is a wonder tool which has revolutionised the landscape on sharing information storage, transfer and communication in the last decade and a half. A lot of other things have changed as well and some of them for good- like payment of telephone bills, electricity bills, booking of air and train tickets and bank transactions which can be done at a touch of a button. Standing in a queue for long after travelling from one's place of work or residence was a energy sapping and time consuming exercise especially if one is trying to book tickets for holiday season or during holiday season. Everybody who matter has an email address and this has resulted in the near death of snail mail amongst contacts in major cities and big towns who have everyday access to internet. It has been long time since people have written letters as it is internet, mobile verbal telephony or sms is the medium of communication these days. Internet revolution has made English the prime language around the wor

What holds the attention of public - speculation or the event ?

World Cup Football championship is going on in South Africa. Football is the most popular game in the world and has the highest viewership and along with Olympics is the sport with the highest viewership in the world. Football is a simple game in terms of rules of the game and has following all over the world unlike other games like basketball, volley ball and cricket which are of interest to some cluster of countries or the other. Liek Olympics, the build up for World Cup football event in South Africa commenced a month before the event in Indian newspapers. There were write ups about each of the 32 teams participating and there were several articles about how South African administrators were working hard to make it a perfect event. The first set of 48 league matches are over and 16 teams are now battling it out in the knock out stage. From this stage each match has to produce a result and the winning teams advance to quarter finals followed by semi final and final.At each stage the

Golden Jubilee

19th June. It is my birthday today and it is Golden Jubilee birthday too. I am passing through one of the worst phases in my career. It has been tough and unnerving days in the office for a couple of months now. The wee hours when the golden jubilee day dawned saw me going sleepless and attending to an explosive situation involving our staff at a leading government hospital with a large police force surrounding them. Eminently avoidable start for a birthday. Naturally I could not sleep after getting home around 2 am. Golden jubilee is a landmark when some people look back upon the milestones passedd on the way. Not much luck on this score for me. Looking back, I can not see anything but a vast expanse of nothingness with a tinge of colour on shapeless objects here and there. I can see some colours and object with shapes before after the halfway mark towards the starting line. What could those objects be ? I raked my brain. Yes, I can remember them now. The good academic achievement wh

On the eve of Golden jubilee

The first jitter I got on the eve of my golden jubilee was that the expiry of driving licence. Indian driving licence is issued with validity till 50th birthday or for twenty years which ever comes earlier. Since I took driving licence in late thirties, mine was valid till the official 50th birthday ( which precedes my actual date of birth by 19 days ). I said "jitters" with a specific reason. The driving licence I held was issued in Chennai. There is no way I can get it renewed in Chennai as I am not travelling to Chennai in the near future.The more important reason is that I can not produce any proof of residency there. This is the problem of being on jobs which keeps one moving from one city to another without a permanent address. I decided to apply for renewal of driving licence at Jaipur itself as I have some "influence" in government circles here. I am staying in a rented accommodation but without a lease agreement. My landlord is abroad and there is no way I

Ironies of life

I have been looking out for opportunities on job front. The present assignment has been like a heavy weight boxing championship series and the current bout is fizzling out this month. I have an option to take part in the next bout as head of another state. I am getting tired of this boxing bout and would seek to engage myself in some other sport. In this pursuit , I have been widening my contact base. One such attempt was joining Linkedin group of IIMA Alumni few days ago. My request for membership was accepted and the first news digest I received from this group was that HP was firing 3000 people ! I shook my head in disbelief. Though HP has nothing to do with my profession, it was an ironic message considering the main motivation for joining this group. Rajasthan has been reeling under severe heat wave conditions last month. Several black bucks had died due to water scarcity in Jaisalmer and Jodhpur districts. There has been water scarcity all over Rajasthan this summer as last rainy

It sounds humourous

I have an easy way of talking even with total strangers. There have been several occassions when the participants in such ocnversation were women. This has happened in several fora like wedding reception, birthday parties and social get togethers. On some occassions, my better half felt insecure and even asked me whether I would leave for somebody else. My response to this query reassured and comforted her. I told her that I was not foolish to commit a grave mistake twice in my life knowingly.Of course, this is my Golden jubilee year and the progressively her insecurity has diminished what with bulging waste line and rapidly receding hairline further reducing my attractiveness. I read somewhere that Al Gore and "Tipper" Gore are parting ways after 40 years of marital bliss. It sounds so foolish and idiotic to go for a divorce when the couple are in 60s age group. As years roll by, I notice that the greatest enemy is loneliness and boredom. This increases as one heads past fi

Chokhi Dhani

Chokhi Dhani has been touted as a must see location in Jaipur and I agree after the visit there this Monday. It is best enjoyed with family and friends. It is a typical village setting with everything except farming thrown in. It is very colourful as Rajasthan is.The variety starts from the check in counter. All the employees are in traditional gear. So are the various performers in the premises. There are low buildings with thatched roof, tiled roof and mud roof. There are several stages for performers spread across the campus. We watched three sets of traditional Rajasthani dancers performing to the tunes of traditional music. Every now and then, the visitors can join the dancers for a few minutes. There are magicians and a puppet show to keep one and all amused. One can ride a camel. There are camel, horse and bullock carts adding to the variety.Elephant ride catches the fancy of the young and the old. Jaipur is a dusty place and the path taken by various animals and carts have been

Mixed feelings - Chittorgarh Udaipur Mangalore

It is pretty hot all over Rajasthan with all major cities and towns like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh recording temperatures above 45 deg C for more than a week now. But holidays are holidays for children and we took off for a whistle stop tour of Jaipur-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Jaipur trip in 38 hours covering a distance of 1000 km literally scorching the highways. Chittorgarh fort is the largest in Asia. We spent three hours in the midday braving sweltering weather. The fort which was built around 600 AD and renovated around 1400 AD is a sight to behold in terms of size and grandeur. The history of Mewar region lies buried in this fort. The fort was built by King Bapa Rawal fourteen centuries ago. This was the fort where Bhaktha Meera sang her bhajans praising Lord Krishna. This was the fort where the famed Rani Padmini lived and set herself in flames rather than give herself up to the enemy who laid siege to the fort expecting her to surrender. There are sever

Tiger economies but puppet democracies ?- case of Thailand

Singapore, Malaysia , Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan have been hogging the lime light for the scorching economic growth they have been witnessing since early 90s. Being from Orient, they earned the sobriquet "Tiger economies". We were all told to emulate their policies to set our economy in the path of growth and prosperity. The economies of these countries were doing so well that leading Indian companies started exports to those countries denominating them in their on currencies like Baht of Thailand and Won of South Korea. Such was their clout that they could demand deals in their currencies and the exporting companies from India and neighbouring countries obliged. Then came George Soros and his alleged act which saw a run on the currencies of these "tiger economies" which even the experts in IMF, world Bank and the leading lights of all international banks and institutions like Goldman Sach, Lehman Brothers etc could not predict. The economies melted

Local transport

There are a large number of buses and mini buses plying in Jaipur. The private mode of mass travel within the city and suburbs is mini buses. The government operates the normal buses for city and suburbs. Recently government has introduced low floor rear engine buses with glass doors in some of the city routes. The long distance buses also have a private government mix with the proportion of private buses being higher in long distance overnight travel routes. The local buses operate from various terminlas across the city while the long distance buses operate from Sindhi Camp bus stand. The roads around Sindhi Camp bus stand are the starting points for private operators. The government buses are never cleaned and washed. They are smeared with dirt and covered with dust and has several layers of it. Even the new low floor buses have become dusty. One gains an impression that punishment would be meted out if anybody drives around a clean government bus. I am sure one would find several em

Jaipur- The Pink City

The walled city or The Pink City is the original Jaipur which has expanded in recent times with seat of power of the government housed in the sprawling complex which used to be barracks and offices of the body guards of Jaipur Maharaja. The garage of the Maharaja which is situated in the centre of the Central Park ( which is a huge public facility with a outer walk way 4 km long with a Jaipur Polo Club and Jaipur Golf Club within its sprawling precints ) has been transformed into a luxury heritage hotel- Lakshmi Vilas. Walking around Pink city is an experience in itself. Though I can not claim to know all the gates, I have travelled through the major ones- Ajmer Gate, New Gate, Sanganer gate, Chandpole, Ratan Pole...The two major road junctions are Badi Choupad and Chotti Choupad. The need to maintain tradition and uniformity has ensured that all the names of the shops in the Pink City are displayed in a standard fashion- block letters in Hindi of the same fond and size on a white bac

Staying abroad / Being abroad

A lot of youngsters go to USA ( mostly ), UK, Australia and other developed countries for higher studies and stay back in pursuit of their life time ambitions. More often than not, we keep hearing how the freedom , encouragement and professional atmosphere ( the meanings of professional atmosphere, professional organisation and professionalism have not been clear to me. The only thing I have understood so far is that if a male says he is professional, it surely means that he does not sport a moustache ! ) have made them champions contributing their might to development of society in terms of application of their knowledge and such contributions helping them to earn handsomely as well. They bemoan that if they had remained in India they would have achieved nothing because of lack of encouragement and professionalism. I have come across and heard gushing accounts about how quickly things move abroad and how decisions are taken at snap of fingers. The unquestionable freedom to operate on

Some odd titles

Jaipur is full of Hanuman temples. The stand alone Hanuman temples are a feature of North India.The first time I came across a large stand alone Hanuman temple was on my trip to Mumbai way back in 1983. The Hanuman temples at Jaipur have different names - Dhakshina Mukhi Hanuman, Paschima Mukhi Hanuman, Sidheswar Hanuman.... The various names seem to have been derived from whom Hanuman had collaborated with different points of time. At Chitrakoot , one of the revered spots for pilgrims is on a hill top called Hanumandhara where locals believe that Sita once served lunch to Hanuman. The most astounding name of Hanuman temple is Petrol pumpwala Veer Hanuman. I came across this temple out of curiosity when I found a lot of devout looking people in appropriate dresses milling around a petrol bunk. I also noticed a lot of vendors selling sweets which were generally offered to dieties in temples here. The small Hanuman mandir is within the petrol bunk adjoining the Cafe coffee day shop and b

Time to move on

I do not keep track of star footballers in the club championships taking place across Europe. I am ardent follower of World Cup football and what sticks to my mind are the stars of the World Cup. I am aware that as professionals, the leading footballers reserve their best for the clubs and do not fare as well for their countries at the World Cup. It is also possible that unlike club teams where the players are together for years, the national teams assemble only a month before the World Cup and there is little time to build up team cohesion and camaraderie. Ego also stands in the way- I remember World Cup 1994 which Brazil won with Romario and Bebeto as forwards and star performers. There was tremendous rivalry and animosity between them and they never used to talk to each other ! Some of the best games I have savoured were those played by the Brazilian team which won the 2002 World Cup in Japan. The way Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho played in the final was unforgetable. Ronaldinho w

British Elections

British elections are not being followed in India closely. What dominates the news on international front is the news emanating out of USA and the violence against Indians in Australia. The Oz news vanishes when ever there is a lull in the violence while the American news flows in torrent day in and day out. The British elections had a new innovation this time around. It was three rounds of televised debate in the American style. The outcome of the debate was that Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats leader, earned good points and there was a Cleggmania around Britain pushing the Liberal Democrats a few points ahead in the opinion poll. But there was no change in the overall outcome of the election - a hung parliament. David Cameroon, leader of Conservatives, lost a bit of sheen on account of his average performance at the televised debate. Gordon Brown, as expected, bumbled along in the debate. But the results of the election showed that performance of Nick Clegg on televised debate had

Spreading risk across political spectrum - the IPL way

Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel are old hands in politics and know the ways of getting out of trouble. They can take care of their interest in one way or the other as far as their "cricketing" interests are concerned. There is Rajiv Shukla Congress MP who is now acting like a saint. He has been through the thick and thin with BCCI for years now and it sounds funny when he says that he does not know anything. He will also survive as he is a veteran. There is Arun Jaitley, the President of Delhi Cricket Association. With his stature and reach, it looks odd that he is keeping quiet. I get a feeling that he is also covered and has some interest. There would be many more in various State cricket associations who have benefited by their "interest " in cricket. The others like Shashank Manohar and Lalit Modi are also keen to have politicians around as there is safety in numbers and the spread of politicians across various parties with "interest" in cricket also ens

ISO 9000/9001/9002

Product liability is an issue which causes extensive litigation from customers leading to financial damages to companies in USA. To tackle this matter at the right earnest, companies started product traceability systems. The net result is the ISO 9000 system which was introduced somewhere in 1970/80s period and has been refined over a period of time. The basic purpose of ISO 9000 system was product traceability and from there it has grown into other areas of activities of organisation. Of course, continuous improvement and exceeding customer delight are the avowed goals of quality systems as things stand. There was a frenzy for ISO 9000 systems in 1990s as it became clear that American companies would not engage any organisation which does not have ISO 9000 certification. If one looks at how organisations work, all that is required is systematic records and flow chart for all activities and at a basic level this is all what ISO 9000 quality systems do. The rest of what one comes across

Not VOLVO- others who goofed it

While Volvo stayed focussed on their intent of making a mark in Indian market, a number of big international names bruised themselves with clumsy moves and underestimating Indian customers. The company which tops my list of goofers is FIAT for the simple reason that they had a tie up with Premier Automobiles for a long time and would have had hands on experience unlike others like Ford and Daewoo who hit the ground as freshers with inputs from know it all "consultants" armed with their field study feedback.First lemon from FIAT in nineties was 118NE.It was launched around the time Zen was launched by Maruti.Zen was a rocker of a model to hit Indian roads with its jelly bean design and 118NE was a expressionless metal box with wheels compared to Zen. 118NE was a brother of Ambassador in terms of construction and looks and pretty dodgy as far as electricals was concerned.It died a miserable death which was warranted. Then came the next lemon from FIAT in the form of UNO. UNO is

VOLVO

Volvo - this is a brand name of a slew of products from eponymous company of Sweden. Buses, trucks, construction equipment, earth mover equipment, super safe cars ( this division was sold to Ford Motor Car company four years ago )which are used by several embassies to ferry around their ambassadors. Most of the safety features in cars are pioneered by Volvo over twentieth century- three point seat belt, airbags, reinforcement fenders, anti locking brakes etc.Volvo and Benz are the leading players in buses and trucks worldwide. Volvo products loaded with features are costly but efficient. The per km per tonne efficiency is the highest for Volvo trucks compared to other Indian alternatives like Tata Motors, Eicher and Ashok Leyland. Volvo trucks take two days for a trip from Mumbai to Delhi compared to three days taken by other trucks. It has been a long haul for Volvo since they set shop near Bangalore in 1999. Their aim to sell 1000 trucks and buses in due course sounded ambitious. But

The number 108

108 is an important number for various religions. As a kid, my grandma used to ask me to wash my legs and sit before the deities with a lamp lit to provide light for the deities- we did not electric connection at our village home those days. She used to insists that I should chant Namassivaaya 108 times. In my anxiety to keep count, sometimes I used to finish by saying one hundred and six. one hundred and seven and one hundred and eight instead of chanting Namassivaaya and keeping the count on my fingers ! I used to be scolded roundly by my grandma when ever she observed such aberration. Like our elders who have rudraaksha malas with 108 beads, devout Muslim brethren in Middle East use rosettes with 108 beads to keep count of the pious verses they chant. I have found several people praying mentally while moving rosette bead by bead between the thumb and index fingers. Palitana in Gujarat is the most important religious place for Swetahmbhar jains and there is a series of temples spread

Obesity amongst youth

Obesity among youngsters is of concern in urban India. Kids do not go out and play the way they used to do a generation ago. It is indoor activities including computer games and video consoles for time pass these days. Added to it, junk food and aerated beverages also contribute their might to obesity. An American non profit organisation "Mission: Readiness" which has several retired generals and admirals as members has brought out a report in this aspect. The finding of the report is called " Too fat to fight ". They have reported that a major reason for medical rejection by army at selection stage is that candidates are too fat and there is a dramatic increase in obesity in the 17 to 24 year old age group in USA. Though the recruitment targets are being met by the army now, there is a fear that the increasing trend in obesity amongst youngsters would reduce the army intake in times to come thereby resulting in a national security threat. As things stand 25 % of th

Tweeter and IPL

Shashi Tharoor has been courting controversy ever since he gave up pin striped suits with matching silk ties and slipped into political attire of bandhgala. He has been tweeting away merrily and referred to economy class in aviation industry as "cattle class". If he had such contempt for economy class, he should not have ventured into politics and should have stayed put in some multilateral agency or an international organisation where he could have used his contacts across the globe to the hilt. Though he is a modern man in terms of mastery over "technology", he tended to be immature. Decision making in Cabinet means collective responsibility for the decisions taken and there is no point in tweeting after agreeing to austerity measures. He and his boss SM Krishna did create a furore by staying in five star hotels for considerable length of time after being sworn into the cabinet and the excuse they gave was that their official quarters were not ready. There was a p

Kids' schooling and poet in me

The schooling these days makes parents to do things which they have never done before. I have not written any slogans or any poem on any topic during my school days. Now there are so may focus days like "Mother's day","Earth day" etc where students are asked to prepare slogans and poems. The slogans and poem I managed to compose this Sunday afternoon for "Earth day" celebrations of my younger kid are appended. Last week I worked on inventions, inventors and their brief profile. Though it is tough, it is never too late to learn things. Slogan writing and composing poems calls for some effort. Slogans Our parents are unique to each one of us but Earth is the Mother of entire humanity ***** Plastics Plastics go away Never come back any other day Mother Earth wants to be green and happy Plastics Platics go away ***** Poem MOTHER EARTH If it does not rain on time, we blame you If it rains more we blame you. If it is very hot , we blame you. If it is too col

Morning walks in hot summer

Summer has set in at the right earnest. The maximum temperature has touched 44 D Celsius. It is warm and humid in the night and even ceiling fan running at full speed does not give any respite. Most of the grass and plants which are not watered regularly have turned blackish brown in colour. There is a bright spot in the midst of the hot weather - early morning walk. Civil Lines cools down in the night and the ambience is pleasant in the morning until sun's rays break out on the horizon. I have walked beyond Civil Lines but the temperature goes up the moment I pass beyond Civil Lines and enter normal areas of crowded buildings and shops. The only reason for the pleasant early morning ambience is the green cover. There are plenty of trees lining the road and the government bungalows have huge well watered gardens and large trees. There are several flowering plants in bloom on the footpath standing more than shoulder high. There are pletny of birds nesting on the tall trees with exce

Insurgency

Naxal insurgency has been in the headlines since the unrest in Lalgarh region in Paschim Medinipore district of West Bengal. Naxal uprising in West Bengal where Communist government has been in power for more than three decades at a stretch shows the lack of development and disconnect with the masses in that region. The writ of the state administration does not run beyond the district headquarters. It shows the casual and callous attitude of the state government to those masses living in far away places dependant on forest produce and other mercies of nature. They simply do not matter in electoral politics where only large head counts matter. Though there will be a sense of fear amongst some of the people in Lalgarh abour naxals, such movements can not sustain without local ground level support. Since this has happened over a period of time, it definitely shows neglect by state government. At this stage naxal uprising in Chattisgarh is being treated as a law and order problem. Now ther

Celebrities and silly season

It had to happen some day or the other. Globalisation brings in not only economic interdependency but a host of other things as well.Some of these things are alien to our milieu and it would take some time to get used to it. Of course, these have been confined to urban masses as things stand. The obsession with celebrities is one such import. I have read somewhere that seats were sold for Pd Stg 1000 each to fans and public ( of course dinner was served ) for Victoria Beckam- David Beckam marriage reception. There is nothing wrong in making hay while sun shines and selling seats at the marriage reception is one such opportunity. There is an obsession with celebrities ( read film stars and good looking sports persons - on this count, PT Usha would have never made the grade ) with TV channels giving minute by minute coverage and newspapers also spending reams of paper. Suddenly such celebrities have become opinion leaders on anything and everything under the sun. Amir Khan has become &qu

Builders of the nation and Right To Education

The labour force involved in construction sites are a peripatetic lot. Whenever the ground is dug for large construction, rows of huts come up near the site for accommodating the labour. Some of them are families where the children play around the vicinity of the project whiling away time. The project could take a couple of years or two. Once the construction is over, they move with their meagre belongings to the next site wherever it is. The families spent years together moving around like gypsies as long they have the physical capacity to undertake such work. Any illness in the family could be a big set back. Jaipur Municipal Corporation is relaying the roads in some areas. I stay in Civil Lines where Raj Bhawan, CM's official residence and those of ministers are located. The labour force involved in the work spread their mattresses and spend the nights on the road. The work must be tiring as they do not stir when large number of morning walkers pass them chattering. Cars and aut

Insatiable hunger for technology

I have not found much use for technology- I use my mobile phone only for calls, setting alarm and texting messages. No music , no downloads from website. My kids feel that I am a stone age man. As for internet, once again it is mails and a bit of news watch on sports and current events. I do some searches whenever kids have some project work or the other. I am a member on Facebook but as days go by, I am not amused by Facebook. It seems to be more a show place for those feelin glost rather than a general communication tool. Facebook is me, me and me all the way in the form of photos and news items members read. It seems to be substituting face to face interaction. Having roots in USA, one can understand the driving force behind Facebook- loneliness and strict social norms of privacy making people look for some outlet or other for expressing themselves. There are newer and newer models of mobile in the market everyday with mind boggling ( and superfluous ) features. What such features h

Law takes its own course....

There has been allegation that Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler were involved in inciting mobs to lynch to death Sikhs during the delhi riots in 1984 which followed in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination. There have been several FIRs filed against them but either due to lethargy or collusion, both have managed to avoid legal action. Sajjan Kumar has again been accused in a bunch of FIRs filed on the rioting incidents and the High Court ordered his arrest. He played truant and Police also told the court that he could not be traced.After harsh words from High Court, Sajjan Kumar surfaced and was promptly arrested. Now the legal proceedings would commence on these set of FIRs. I wonder how people would remember and narrate the events which unfolded on those fateful days 26 years ago. The defence would then try to prick holes in the statements of witnesses which should be easy picking as it would be impossible to remember lucidly the timing and details of the events. I can remembe

Chinese medicine, rhinos and tigers

Acupuncture, the medical therapy from China, has gained popularity around the world for its simplicity and efficacy in providing relief for some recurrent maladies like joint pains and muscular pains. The therapy concentrates on motor and nervous system for amelioration. There several dental doctors in Kolkata and Chennai of Chinese origin who have a good reputation for their professional skills. I am not too sure whether all these doctors trace their roots to China as we have a tendency to associate people with mongoloid features to China while mongoloid features span across Philippines, Koreas, Japan, Thailand and some other South East nations as well. The animal which we would readily associate with China the way we associate kangaroo and koala bears with Australia and kiwi with New Zealand is panda. This cute looking animal is the mascot of World Wildlife Fund and was presented to Jawaharlal Nehru when he visited China in his capacity of Prime Minister of India. I am told Chinese h

Railway station

I took the Shatabdi Express from Delhi to Jaipur early in the morning last Monday.It has been a long time since I travelled intercity by early morning train. Railway station sin large metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc represent microcosm of India. The wealthy passengers in transit stream into the station for early morning trains from lodges and hotels in the city. Some of the not so well off manage to stay in guest houses and railway retiring rooms. The vast majority tend to spend the night in the open areas at the entrance to the station as railway authorities do not allow public to sleep on platforms through the night. There were several men and boys who did not have any luggage and were fast asleep on the floor. Some had managed to lay their hands on old newspapers which had been spread on the floor like bedsheets but most were sleeping on the bare floor. There were some who seemed to labourers again with no personal belongings. There were some with a small bag as their only po

Police

We tend to become less objective at times on weighty issues especially on our jobs. On several occasions, we do not stand up to our bosses in order to be on the right side of things. This is true in most spheres of life. So it is difficult to point fingers at others for keeping quiet or looking the other way when serious issues crop up in their career. But nevertheless I am going to do that. A news item couple of days back caught my eye. Anju Gupta IPS 1990 batch has made a long statement about the events she saw in close quarters as the Personal Security Officer of L K Advani on the fateful day at Ayodhaya on December 6, 1992 when the Babri Masjid was demolished in a "spontaneous outburst of fury" by the large mob which had gathered at the site. One of the people giving company to the leaders of BJP and its associate organisations out of his political conviction was the retired Director General of Police. There were several IAS and IPS officers around the vicinity of Babri M