Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The chicken was shot and there was no egg. The cooks are thinking what is the next thing to cook.

Related post :
Chicken and Egg Problem

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Today morning in the cab I closed my eyes and I was thinking abt a lot of things not in any particular order.

Off late, I have been really busy and I want to do something which I like with passion and that refreshing feeling of freedom.

When a thing which needs to be done becomes a responsibility with people having the right to expect something abt it, it becomes a work/routine


1
Times are strange and recession is staring at us like a vulture waiting a prey to die. Things can change anytime. But we need to take everything in stride. Thats what corporate professionalism is all about. Flash a smile when you have a red hot iron rod poked into your @$$. He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being human.

2
Meanwhile I am trying to follow the elections keenly this time and really making an effort to vote wisely. Varun Gandhi is a mystery as a leader, but I like his guts.

3
I saw from my cab seat a girl sitting in the back of a scooter reading a text book, probably studying last minute for the exam. By her appearance I could make out she was from a village and going to a government school. But I saw what she was studying. She was studying some kind of Integral and Double Integral stuff. I was really happy.As we go on in our lives leading the lives of concrete bricks on huge walls, I was thinking on some ideas on what I can do to actually contribute to the society. I closed my eyes and I envisioned myself wearing a Khadi kurta and riding on a cycle in some distant village far from Bangalore advocating the effects of accessibility to a literate/semi-literate population and what can be the advantage if children in the remotest corners of India can have access to the latest IEEE or MIT's course....I believe we could have a better India. Seriously I should do this one day. Also decentralization of metros can be possible.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

25kg rice or wheat/month to every family below poverty line at Rs 3/kg

Now the UPA joins the bandwagon and on a national scale that too..

In 1982 the then CM of Tamilnadu Mr. MGR universalized (for TN that is) the now famous "Mid day meal" scheme, to pull children (esp from the lower income class) to the schools, which was/is/and will be a brilliant idea. The mid-day meal scheme is now being implement nationally and also followed by other countries to eradicate illiteracy, child malnourishment etc

However, this version of freebie lunch was thoroughly misunderstood by other politicians, including Mr.MGRs parallel in AP Mr. NTR who implemented the Rs 2/Kg rice scheme for BPL families. And the rest as they say is history. Many states and political parties have launched different versions of the same over the years now, most of it being electoral promises.

If your stomach (including your family's) could be taken care by 25*3 = 75 rs + another say 125 = Rs 200/month, your target would be earn just that, which is approximately a day's agricultural labour. Supplement this with free TV and other freebies, the result is a disaster. What it has done is, it has reduced the incentive for people to work and earn for a livelihood, aspire and grow to acheive a better quality of life.

Shortage of labour is a big problem in rural areas today. Many of the framers are hence now shifting from manual labour to argricultural machines, which requires huge investment, without actually doing the required work. This is also slowly but surely erasing a large employment sector for the lower income class in India.

The freebee schemes instead of providing benefits for the poorer section is pushing them towards the abyss of poverty. The government is no where helping the poor to improve the quality of life by giving free food. Instead of generating employment it is exactly doing the opposite.

It is said that "Ragi kottre ondu dinaddu hasivu hogotte, Ragi beliyodu helkottre ondu varshaddu hasivu hogotte". Well that certainly is falling on deaf ears now.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Parlimentary elections

There is no event in India which could be as exciting as the parlimentary elections. (atleast for me). Though I have managed to vote only once, I have always followed the elections ardently. This time I will miss the media coverage. My updates are restricited to rediff ( a daily article by one senisble correspondant on different issues .. highly recommened), daily udpates on constituencies (K'taka) in TOI, general elections news on ET (this is really good compared to TOI and other newspapers) and some long stories on Outlook.

My vote (a virtual one and which does not count) is for the UPA. I find the UPA as a much better and competentent team than the NDA. Personally, I detest Advani and blame him for most of the communal tensions this country has faced since the 1990s.

The third front looks like a congregation of regional political heavy weights, who also head the most corrupted list in their respective regions - Maya, Jaya, Devegowda, Naidu, Pawar- all of whom I do not like for various reasons, though I have to admit I am in awe of Majawati and Jayalalitha who could compete and succeed in this brutal arena, albeit in the wrong way.

Though the CPI/CPM played a good part in controlling Chidambaram and Manmohan singh not to get swayed by the ultra-capitalist motives and helped Indian banks to get out unscathed (almost) from the financial crisis and also helped preserve our forex reserves, I could not understand how they can make the "nuclear deal" to be their primary agenda. Isnt literacy, poverty, employment, growth, malnutrition etc bothering them? This time the CPI/CPM will face a big challenge on their home turf (Bengal and Kerala) and certainly need more support from the Thrid front.

All said and done, UPA seems to be the winner among the losers or as they say in Kannada "haalu oorinalli ulidavane gowda".. and my vote goes for Mr. Singh. I just hope they do not make Rahul Gandhi the PM after the elections.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Quite some time

It has been quite some time since I found my way back in the blog.
Several reasons :- Been getting up really very early for go quite a few days. Finally a big phew.

Apart from that, all the members of adda are happily married now. Teju's marriage happened a week ago and it was a nice time. GD and Richie were missed.

Apart from that there have been no good updates or no new stories to tell, except the fact that I am picking up on my Hindi speaking without putting an effort. Well, I cannot speak Hindi with people who know that I can't speak Hindi. But with new people who speak to me in Hindi, I can speak back in Hindi and the conversation can go on.

But of course when the going gets tough, a few sanskrit words come to the Hindi and it sounds odd. Example sometimes you use the word "katin" instead of the urdu word "mushkil". It sounds like you have seen too much of Mahabharatha in your childhood and cannot get over it.