Showing posts with label Opinions and Views. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Opinions and Views. Show all posts

The R-word

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 by Mural! in Labels: , , ,
5

I’ve been waiting the whole day to write this. Now that the International Women’s Day is done and over with, I have got something to say, heck I do!
Let me just put across that I am neither any male chauvanist pig or any other animal for that matter, nor a misogynist. I have just got some doubts which I consider valid, and the way I see is to justify just plainly troubles me to no end......






Reservations - Holy/Unholy?
In the beginning of time there was Vishnu, it is believed in the Hindu philosphy that the entire universe was created from a single “Anda” that came out of his navel. So everything in this universe, and so in our world, still extending, so in our country should be and is Holy! no?
(I wouldn’t dare to disagree to this if i were you)
But what about..........??!!
Khamosh! No buts! no butts!
Okay maybe it is Holy, but is it good for us, the mango people?
Well it all began with 15% and 7.5% reservations in government aided educational institutions and jobs in government/public sector for SC’s and ST’s for a period of 5 years after which it was to be reviewed. Now nearly 60 years later there are still reservations for SC’s and ST’s and army people, people with disabilities, and also for backward castes and wait for it other backward castes and then god created women.
So, didn’t they review it?
Ofcourse “they” did. They did review it and extended it for another 5 years, and then again and again. Did you know that the clause for reservation in India was meant to stay for only 10 years after which it was to be slowly rolled back.
What happened then?
Well we keep on hearing that Indians are very good at math. Unfortunately this was one time, when we bungled up big time. We didn’t seem to get gist of the 10 part in 10 years, and our understanding was exactly opposite to what was said and they kept on increasing the reservations.
Really!
Yes, really! Rajasthan has recently proposed a 68% reservation!
Is it bad?
This is difficult to say, the basic necessity for reservation is to uplift the sections of the society that have been oppressed for centuries together in the Indian society.
So that means it is good, infact brilliant!
In theory probably yes though I wouldn’t exactly say that. Large disparities still remain in India.
Maybe more reservations and for a longer duration can take care of this......
That will be naive to put it as simply as that. Wouldn't that lead to a fragmented country? This was one of the main contentions which led to the partition of India, separate political constituencies for muslims and hindus.
In reality India is a country laden with corruption (rank 64 as per worldaudit.org). Up from 88 two years, Yippee!
So wassup doc? whaddaya gotta say?
A couple of titbits:
1. The Marathas are agitated since they aren’t being given the Backward castes status.
2. After a National headline catching agitation on the roads leading to New Delhi, the Gujjars got the recognition of “speacial backward caste” and a 5% reservation.

Oh!!Hmmmmmm.......
Don’t you see a disturbing pattern emerging? Forget about the election sops that parties regularly dole in terms of providing to specific communities. Isn’t this dividing the country?
But what you are saying is already heard many times, why did you bring up the Women’s Reservation Bill?
It is disturbing to see that the whole media and the political fraternity is behind this bill providing voracious support to it.
I had been going through different news articles on the run up to this bill, some of the things that I read were very disturbing.
An enlightened journo from ToI stated that India stands somewhere around 130 in 144 countries ranked according to female representation in the parliament. Is this the reason, why the women’s bill is being introduced? To get a better rank in some of the surveyer’s next rankings?
Mulayam and Laloo were alleging that this was a conspiracy against the dalits, muslims and backward castes from entering the parliament and assemblies. It’ been 60 years, aren’t anybody yet thinking about rolling back reservations atleast in some sectors, ofcourse slowly. 
Really is reservation for women in the parliament and assemblies going to suddenly empower women who were being oppressed (yes, they are being oppressed)? Remember Rabri Devi, when Laloo got embroiled in cattle fodder scams, she was the dummy through which he ran his empire. Maybe I might not be entirely correct, but think about the stakes that are present with a seat in the parliament or for that matter, an assembly.......These are the domains where the politicos run their fiefdoms and ensure that they win again and again. Just because a women’s reservation bill is enforced, will they be put off? I personally think not, rather on the contrary they will field their wives, daughters, sisters and  again run their little kingdoms, as the bill specifies the reservation in a constituency is on a rolling basis, the ladies will literally be the seat warmers for the grand lords to return back.
Reservation is a very important tool in an administrator’s hand to wipe disparities across his land and to let equality prevail. But it is a double edged sword and when such a situation arises when it is considered blasphemous to even think about decreasing reservations, there is something wrong with the democracy. I am not opposing reservation, I understand the sad state of affairs in our country, but wouldn’t it have been better if the powers that are could be a little more imaginative and try to cover these glaring loopholes and ensure that it propers fulfills its utility and then weed it out when the time is right........


(All said and done, if they are still itching to increase reservations, why not provide reservations to women in IIT's? This is one cause I will support :). We can also help in the admissions process then by sifting through the pictures of the applicants, oh! didn't I tell you? Full facial photographs are a must! Now, there I am not a misogynist!)
I would love to see this post as a discussion, I am more interested in knowing your views and opinions on this topic. 


Training and Placement

Posted: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by Mural! in Labels: , ,
4

The climate in Kharagpur is cooling down, winter is coming here my friend. But there are smolders inside our campus, the Campus placement scenario is heating up in IIT Kharagpur these days. Many companies have started their pre-placement talks (PPTs) and quite a few have already started doling out pre-placement offers (PPOs).

The skies which are already getting rather congested with all the airlines, sick airlines, soon-to-be-launched airlines and Twitter users are getting murkier and this should be of concern. The new lot, leaving aside the chirping freaks from twitter, are getting a bit unruly, don't get me wrong, by this new lot I mean the different students who received their offers who are getting used to float around on their "cloud 9"s.

The others who haven't yet been lucky are all still looking towards the sky 24/7 to know where each of their limits are. Hope that there is some small wobbly-dibbly little cloud with my name on it!

Everything else is fine.

Not exactly though, the other day I came across something funny. I noticed the latest notice that was put up in our TnP notice board. Here is a screenshot of the placement notice board, don't you think somethings funny?


Yes it is indeed, your eyes aren't mistaken, go ahead, they even seem to have a few pretty "exciting job profiles" on offer.


What were they offering? Below is a copy of their letter:

Ours is an institution that truly believes in "think local, act local" and our actions since the time we have been conceived have been in this direction to achieve our various goals, which you might have already been fairly well educated through the media, ofcourse. We have always held West Bengal in a special place in our heart as well as our minds. Likewise, we always maintained a peaceful presence as the local government could neither oppose us nor support us. Quite a quandary they found themselves in. We also have a wonderful network that can extend into Nepal and China through this state. We underline the importance of this state to stress about the importance that we have given to your highly reputable institute. In line with this reasoning of ours and the recent unfurling of events, where we could have a whole town within our grasp for a few days, and then the rajdhani and other many specialized activities that we could undertake with such success, we would like to offer three different positions to your students:

The Preacher - We know that you guys suck in all forms of writing, but we saw some of your inter-hall dramatics competitions, atleast the students can print-distribute and enact street plays and eke out a living out of that. Also the availability of considerable expertise has been observed in social-networking sites, anyone can do well with a little bit of online chatter, ask Obama.

The Bollywood-Tollywood Liaison  - Chemical and Mechanical Engineers wanted. Need to work out how the movie directors could blow up vehicles with such apparent ease. We could do with a little bit more understanding.

The Agricultural Engineer - finding out new ways to grow weed.

The Thinkers - Students from CS and ECE are particularly desired. Job profile includes sitting in corners and thinking without any distractions about what to think for all the time which we are going make available for this post. This is important as all the thinking required by the organization will be done by this set of erudite individuals who will be given unrestricted mind-space to think about anything they want as long as they just keep thinking. Procrastinators from other departments might also want to apply. We would like to receive a portfolio of pictures in your different thinking moods and postures beforehand. Enough weed will be supplied during the written test and personal thinking-view for these individuals.

Birdmen - Preferably Aeronautical Engineers. Daedalus made it possible and Icarus tried it centuries ago, we want to do it now. We are not so naive, we believe that history tends to repeat itself, so we would rather try flying with wax wings in much lower altitudes. We do not need any material science graduates, as we have already got hordes of A1-quality wax from the forest that we control(whom are we kidding, we do control a major chunk of India, though no one seems to accept it!). 

We have one of the best corporate cultures around and depending upon the potential of an individual, they can quickly rise through the ranks of the technical team to even host attacks on any body under the sun. Our cause provides cover for any and every opposition that can be mustered. More on that later.

This is a piece of fiction. This is not intended to hurt anyone's feelings. Take it with a pinch of salt or sugar or sugar substitute. Whichever one you prefer best.

Whimsical Cows (Holy Cow!!!)

Posted: Sunday, September 20, 2009 by Mural! in Labels: ,
5

The Holy Cows have been made "Front Page Popular" by our MoS - External Affairs, Mr. Shashi Tharoor via his tweeting on twitter.
This made me think.....I do feel like one!

India had been a poor country for the better part of the past two centuries. Atleast. I would not like to comment on the reasons, nor am I inviting any, for this just plainly is beyond the scope of my blog. You see, I am a simple guy, I can do well without any controversies.

Well, India had indeed been a really, REALLY poor country for the better part of two centuries. Many Indian families had been very much entirely dependant upon agriculture and/or textiles, artisan(-ry??), there was no IPL and cricket endorsements back then (DON'T BELIEVE LAGAAN!). But agriculture had been the silver-lining amongst them all. It offered very high returns and a good name in the immediate society. Though, being in the sub-continent, one does understand the importance of the monsoons and the high dependence of agriculture on  rainfall for irrigation and the high risk involved.

Most of these families and also many of the other families which were not directly related with agriculture had reared cows (or sometimes even buffaloes). These holy creatures not only provided a free pass to heaven irrespective of how sinned one might be, also provided lots and lots of milk and other cute little cows/oxen which had high commercial value apart from obvious agricultural value. These animals were so important that even in the times of drought and extreme scarcity, the "Holy Cow" used to have the highest position in the family, even if that meant the family members might die due to starvation, it did not deter them from plumping up their sacred bovines. It had to be fed the most, green grass, then dry grass, then that special nutritive water (thoudu in telugu, google it for names in your language) in a cyclical fashion that bordered on insanity.

Now I hope you are getting to understand my feelings, if not, carry on......

I came home after a prolonged absence. Right from the time I put foot inside the house I am being treated with dinner, breakfast, brunch (yes brunch!), then lunch, afternoon snacks, evening snacks, dinner, midnight nibblers, again, breakfast.......

I shared my feelings with my parents about this supposedly disgraceful treatment. Isn't labelling someone a "holy cow" wrong? that's what I understood from the media reports! My progenitors just laughed off my confused feelings and explained -- "Beta, we haven't been able to feed (yes they said feed!) you for the whole year, so this is our way of making up!"

So much for parental love!!!

Its a Mad World!!!

Posted: Thursday, September 3, 2009 by Mural! in Labels:
7

Had some doubts and views (not so brilliant, but hey, cut me some slack) during my Human Development class today.......






1. Why are all the countries striving to increase the life-expectancy of their populations?
Isn't there supposed to be a population explosion?


2. Who said that the world is biased towards men?
I see that the female life expectancy beats its counterpart's for any given age of a person! Isn't death considered the most intriguing awe-inspiring nerve-wracking and fear inducing of all the events in life?


3. That India is considered as a flawed Democracy!
Amazing after being fed day-after-day by the media reports that the Indian Democracy is the greatest in the world, whereas the world doesn't yet consider it to be a proper democracy at all!


4. Why are "they" calculating the Democracy Index for a country like North Korea (ans = 0.86)?
Someone's gone bonkers! Seriously, aren't we supposed to conserve our resources and do the "Saving the Planet" act?


5. Was the Happy Planet Index invented by the cubans to get back at Americans? Why are the Indians always so happy that they got democracy even though china got development-crazy?
Cuba is ranked 7, China is ranked 20, India is ranked 35 while USA is ranked 114. Obviously the Chinese are even scoring on the happiness front. Where the hell are you, Karma!




PS: I've happened to meet two Cubans during this summer, unfortunately the above mentioned statistic, though official might not be a correct metric.
I've also happened to be an Indian who has met quite a few friendly Chinese people who are very nice and happy, I've got only one thing to say.


We've got Kamasutra, In your FACE!!!

Its a Mad World!!!

Posted: by Mural! in Labels:
7


Had some doubts and views (not so brilliant, but hey, cut me some slack) during my Human Development class today.......



1. Why are all the countries striving to increase the life-expectancy of their populations?
Isn't there supposed to be a population explosion?

2. Who said that the world is biased towards men?
I see that the female life expectancy beats its counterpart's for any given age of a person! Isn't death considered the most intriguing awe-inspiring nerve-wracking and fear inducing of all the events in life?

3. That India is considered as a flawed Democracy!
Amazing after being fed day-after-day by the media reports that the Indian Democracy is the greatest in the world, whereas the world doesn't yet consider it to be a proper democracy at all!

4. Why are "they" calculating the Democracy Index for a country like North Korea (ans = 0.86)?
Someone's gone bonkers! Seriously, aren't we supposed to conserve our resources and do the "Saving the Planet" act?

5. Was the Happy Planet Index invented by the cubans to get back at Americans? Why are the Indians always so happy that they got democracy even though china got development-crazy?
Cuba is ranked 7, China is ranked 20, India is ranked 35 while USA is ranked 114. Obviously the Chinese are even scoring on the happiness front. Where the hell are you, Karma!


PS: I've happened to meet two Cubans during this summer, unfortunately the above mentioned statistic, though official might not be a correct metric.
I've also happened to be an Indian who has met quite a few friendly Chinese people who are very nice and happy, I've got only one thing to say.


We've got Kamasutra, In your FACE!!!

Think Global, Act Local

Posted: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 by Mural! in Labels: , ,
0

I came across this piece of reading in a Community Friendly Movement website.

Commercial supply chain dynamics do not by themselves address the challenges of third world employment and quality of life issues. However, it is apparent that global trade, essentially in the worldwide industries can either exploit for unilateral gain, or collaborate to "share gain" for overall development of work force.
Corporate Social Responsibility has become a major issue these days for the many major MNCs, who have been establishing in-house fund-managers and PR managers to mange their Brand Image both in the developing countries where they have their back-ends of their supply chains and also at the destination countries for their goods/services. . . . But then, such an arrangement which is dictated by the market forces cannot always be totally reliable. This is where the Government and the Community can get involved. Since last year a new debate had been cause for lots of firewood being burnt over various intellectuals meeting and discussing about the extent of involvement that the government should be undertaking in both the developmental activities as well as maintaing the economy from falling of a cliff. How much should a Government interfere, and at which segments of its peoples life can it interfere?? . I found this in a recent Swaminomics article, "Cash transfers better than drought relief works"
I became a journalist in 1965, when two successive droughts killed thousands and forced India to beg for US food aid. India's share of global food aid was so large then that a best-selling book claimed that India was unviable and should be left to starve, conserving food aid for viable countries.
A lot has changed since then, we're still being affected by droughts and as has been discussed in the above-mentioned article, the major difference since then till now is that, India has far less percentage of people who are starving. This is because of schemes like NREGS which provided the people in the drought affected regions some much needed purchasing power, this in-turn decreased the sufferings from mass-starvation, though probably not mass-hunger. Maharashtra was the first state to adopt this strategy and succeed. Government involvement in relief works has always proved very controversial, with the Prime Minister himself stating on one occasion that for every rupee that the government spends for the poor, they get the benefits of only 10 paise, the rest being eaten up by the mind-boggling numbered layers of middlemen. Even various Non-Governmental Organizations suffer from these middlemen, probably to different extents. This has been a major reason for the success of the NREGS(National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) where apart from implementing various developmental programmes at the rural level, the purchasing power of the poeple is being increased and the choice is being left to the beneficiaries to utilize their earnings. The benefits can already be felt with various companies setting up shop in the semi-urban and rural areas and taking this segment of the population seriously as one of their major customer segments. Now this is Inclusive Development. The drought that is occuring this year might setback the pace of all these processes, but how the rural customer can overcome this time can determine how fast a domestic market can be nurtured and developed in India.

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**

Breathe In, Breathe Out......

Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by Mural! in Labels: , , , , , ,
6

Video can be a very powerful tool to convey thoughts and ideas. Especially now-a-days with the information explosion, and the huge amounts of advertisements, catchy captions that are being put forward by one and all. A small video can help a long way in garnering the support from the segments of the populace who are traditionally supportive of your cause.

Here is a small video made by the Salvation Army.



This had been released in the "This Ad costs Nothing Campaign". They hit the bulls-eye with such a simple yet powerful way of waking both the sympathizers and the Not-for-profit Organization from their trance. Many NPOs had been sleep-walking where they had been spending insanely high amounts of money to advertise the Good work they are doing, in order to gain public support. YOU DON'T NEED LOTSA MONEY TO GARNER MORE SUPPORT.
For the general public, their view can be seen as a call for voluntary support which need not be financial.


I also wanted to share this video made by Greenpeace International. Another very simple, very small yet powerful video. Especially for this year, which can turn out to be a watershed for our future policymakers regarding Environmental Policy making.


Boasts more than 7 million views. Translated into more than 10 different languages. This 20-minute video has a dedicated website which provides the users with many resources, the interactive video being one among them. This video may not have been simple to make, nor that short, nor too cheap. But it is an educational video, which stresses on educating the viewer through a very novel and original animation and a narrator who takes over the issues regarding the over-consumptive attitudes that are beginning to plague a lot may people all over the world.

So, here, after a very, very boring day, I have come up with three distinct, yet similar, but thoroughly novel videos that can help any organization to gain insights into making a good video in order to convey their message in this ocean of multimedia information.

Adios!

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**

Breathe In, Breathe Out......

Posted: by Mural! in Labels: , , , , , ,
6

Video can be a very powerful tool to convey thoughts and ideas. Especially now-a-days with the information explosion, and the huge amounts of advertisements, catchy captions that are being put forward by one and all. A small video can help a long way in garnering the support from the segments of the populace who are traditionally supportive of your cause.

Here is a small video made by the Salvation Army.



This had been released in the "This Ad costs Nothing Campaign". They hit the bulls-eye with such a simple yet powerful way of waking both the sympathizers and the Not-for-profit Organization from their trance. Many NPOs had been sleep-walking where they had been spending insanely high amounts of money to advertise the Good work they are doing, in order to gain public support. YOU DON'T NEED LOTSA MONEY TO GARNER MORE SUPPORT.
For the general public, their view can be seen as a call for voluntary support which need not be financial.


I also wanted to share this video made by Greenpeace International. Another very simple, very small yet powerful video. Especially for this year, which can turn out to be a watershed for our future policymakers regarding Environmental Policy making.


Boasts more than 7 million views. Translated into more than 10 different languages. This 20-minute video has a dedicated website which provides the users with many resources, the interactive video being one among them. This video may not have been simple to make, nor that short, nor too cheap. But it is an educational video, which stresses on educating the viewer through a very novel and original animation and a narrator who takes over the issues regarding the over-consumptive attitudes that are beginning to plague a lot may people all over the world.

So, here, after a very, very boring day, I have come up with three distinct, yet similar, but thoroughly novel videos that can help any organization to gain insights into making a good video in order to convey their message in this ocean of multimedia information.

Adios!

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**

Nano Indians?

Posted: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 by Mural! in Labels: , , ,
0

Fevicol Bus Advertisement
"Fevicol Bus Advertisement"

What will the next generation of the upwardly mobile upper-lower classes and the middle classes be called? The Nano Indians?

I might be outrightly naive, I might be poking my eye with my own finger, but still I am going to safely stand by my prediction. The way this Tata's Nano story of birth is turning out to be resilient in the face of the various internal and external strife that it encountered, I am impressed, hopeful that this is going to be a new chapter in the country's way ahead.

The economic crisis, the oscillating global prices and even Mayawati have failed to deter its path towards salvation!

Well now into the serious matter of Tata Nano and the serious environmental implications that this might be holding for India in particular and the world, also in particular! Don't get me wrong I believe myself to be passionate about the environmental issues, but somehow I just cannot get myself to make Nano the burning effigy for all the internal rage that I might be building due to the global warming.

See the numbers.......gosh, I couldn't get my hands on any of the numbers!

Well leave the numbers, one thing that you will accept is going to increase the vehicle population drastically and so increase the greenhouse gases and thus further fuel global warming until the planet melts off.

But we are in India, let us start fine-tuning this doomsday prediction to make it insync with the reality that is India!

1. The lack of proper roads, and the already congested roads (thanks to all the auto bhai's and rickshaw pullers ou there, and then there are the private bus, semi-bus, big truck plyers). Enter Nano, 100 Nanos, 1000 Nanos, 1 million Nanos..........now, don't you see that something smells wrong here, people will get over the new car syndrome when they take the car out for every small chore! Something's gotta give, either the roads or the Tata guys, who need to make adjustments so that the Nano can start flying and stop depending on these clogged arteries which identify themselves as roads. So the number of car users cannot keep on sweeling indefinitely, there will come a time when owning a is neither a luxury, nor a necessity, but is a headache!

2. Yes, now that we put in some reality-check as to the swelling numbers, now with the increased car numbers. This will start putting pressure on the government and the people. On the government to set up a more reliable, stable and comfortable public transport infrastructure. On the people to first start egging the government to establish this infrastructure (it might even become a big electoral issue in the coming years.....the need for infrastructure development) and then to use the public transport and seeing the car as a means for only occasional family trips or likewise!

3. But when we are making all these assumptions, we just cannot forget about the alternative fuels for whose RnD, billions of dollars, rupees, yen, pesos, euros etcetera are being poured into. We might just get that dream car for an environmentalist or not. At the very least, we might hope for cars with much improved mileage.

But for now look at the accidents that can be avoided because of the Nano. Look at the hope it feels into the lives of the people offering them safer means to travel instead of those 4-seater-2-wheeler vehicles which are plying on the road. We need someting like the Nano, if not the Nano, and for now thats all we have got!

Epilogue: Like a friend of mine likes quoting all the time, Change is constant and we all have to change, we have to change in what we expect from the government, we just can't throttle innovation at every step but rather keep on fighting all the ill-effects that are threatening to choke our society, the country and the world!

Just pray for a stronger government which can stand tall on the promises that it makes to the people! A dialogue from Swades comes to my mind, where the farmer Haridas says to Mohan:"Sapne mat dikhaiye Mohan babu"

Well though my signing off statement is just going to be:"In a democracy, the Government can only be as good as its people!".


Let us all strive for a better country!
"Sapne Mat Dikhaiye Mohanbabu!"

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**

Nano Indians?

Posted: by Mural! in Labels: , , ,
0

Fevicol Bus Advertisement
"Fevicol Bus Advertisement"

What will the next generation of the upwardly mobile upper-lower classes and the middle classes be called? The Nano Indians?

I might be outrightly naive, I might be poking my eye with my own finger, but still I am going to safely stand by my prediction. The way this Tata's Nano story of birth is turning out to be resilient in the face of the various internal and external strife that it encountered, I am impressed, hopeful that this is going to be a new chapter in the country's way ahead.

The economic crisis, the oscillating global prices and even Mayawati have failed to deter its path towards salvation!

Well now into the serious matter of Tata Nano and the serious environmental implications that this might be holding for India in particular and the world, also in particular! Don't get me wrong I believe myself to be passionate about the environmental issues, but somehow I just cannot get myself to make Nano the burning effigy for all the internal rage that I might be building due to the global warming.

See the numbers.......gosh, I couldn't get my hands on any of the numbers!

Well leave the numbers, one thing that you will accept is going to increase the vehicle population drastically and so increase the greenhouse gases and thus further fuel global warming until the planet melts off.

But we are in India, let us start fine-tuning this doomsday prediction to make it insync with the reality that is India!

1. The lack of proper roads, and the already congested roads (thanks to all the auto bhai's and rickshaw pullers ou there, and then there are the private bus, semi-bus, big truck plyers). Enter Nano, 100 Nanos, 1000 Nanos, 1 million Nanos..........now, don't you see that something smells wrong here, people will get over the new car syndrome when they take the car out for every small chore! Something's gotta give, either the roads or the Tata guys, who need to make adjustments so that the Nano can start flying and stop depending on these clogged arteries which identify themselves as roads. So the number of car users cannot keep on sweeling indefinitely, there will come a time when owning a is neither a luxury, nor a necessity, but is a headache!

2. Yes, now that we put in some reality-check as to the swelling numbers, now with the increased car numbers. This will start putting pressure on the government and the people. On the government to set up a more reliable, stable and comfortable public transport infrastructure. On the people to first start egging the government to establish this infrastructure (it might even become a big electoral issue in the coming years.....the need for infrastructure development) and then to use the public transport and seeing the car as a means for only occasional family trips or likewise!

3. But when we are making all these assumptions, we just cannot forget about the alternative fuels for whose RnD, billions of dollars, rupees, yen, pesos, euros etcetera are being poured into. We might just get that dream car for an environmentalist or not. At the very least, we might hope for cars with much improved mileage.

But for now look at the accidents that can be avoided because of the Nano. Look at the hope it feels into the lives of the people offering them safer means to travel instead of those 4-seater-2-wheeler vehicles which are plying on the road. We need someting like the Nano, if not the Nano, and for now thats all we have got!

Epilogue: Like a friend of mine likes quoting all the time, Change is constant and we all have to change, we have to change in what we expect from the government, we just can't throttle innovation at every step but rather keep on fighting all the ill-effects that are threatening to choke our society, the country and the world!

Just pray for a stronger government which can stand tall on the promises that it makes to the people! A dialogue from Swades comes to my mind, where the farmer Haridas says to Mohan:"Sapne mat dikhaiye Mohan babu"

Well though my signing off statement is just going to be:"In a democracy, the Government can only be as good as its people!".


Let us all strive for a better country!
"Sapne Mat Dikhaiye Mohanbabu!"

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**

This Feels Like a Dream....

Posted: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by Mural! in Labels: , , ,
2

I am just into my second post and it feels like I am already hitting my writer's block! Or has this become a cliche to put it by every aspiring writer who has got nothing to convey but is excited to do so......!

Why am I excited??

Cadbury has started a new This feels like a dream campaign. Cadbury Dairymilk has officially become Fairtrade certified. It has already started working with various NGO's and trusts in Ghana and also built 365 well inthe communities there. Trying to make a statement i guess.

And to top it, the Teej Bazar at Hauz Khas is about to begin in less than 24 hours! For those who still have no idea about Teej Bazar, it is being organized by Tatsat, AADI and Ujala members. AADI is an NGO working with people with disabilities around New Delhi. There will be a SHRINGAAR (which is a henna and bangles event) and also a Painting Exhibition, "Monsoon Mystique" by Sanjay Biswal. Even if you cannot make it tomorrow that is the 23rd, not to worry, this even is on for two days. If you are in facebook, here is the link to the event and this is the link to the group Tatsat. We also have a fan page here.

Isn't it ironic that the country whose most famous icon had sung praises to the virtue of cottage industries is poised to leap into the stratosphere to find a place among the Titans. Isn't it even more ironic that like the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, our country has two Indias. One India Shining....the India that is poised at the precipice of history, to grab the pen of fate to make its own history and share it with the rest of the world, and, the other India which is still coming to terms in living with this stark adversity in the rural areas, in some corners of the country where there isn't even electricity. Some of the parts have been unfortunately dealt by the hand of fate to be in the"epicenter" of terrorism as Mr. Chidambaram puts it. If not terrorism, there is naxalism or separatism or other kinds of desi-isms like (babudom, corruption and bribery) which have eaten into the dreams and aspirations of these people. I was going through an article from Times Of India where the person says to the journalist in question that he (read journalist) does not understand the life there (the village). How farther shall we go before we can unite again? This disparity exists even in the more developed regions of the country!

With such a scenario developing, it might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise that the USofA sneeze has made the whole world to catch Swine Flu. The economic crisis which is decreasing the exports and foreign demand has forced the government to look into its largely untapped rural segment of the population which has also been dubbed as the Sleeping Tiger in an era of epithets where our erstwhile economy was compared to the Elephant compared to the chinese economy which was dubbed as the Dragon!.

So the world should be beware of the Tiger which is atop an Elephant! Hopefully the new Indian economy which rises by the time the crisis has been deemed over to make the new and real India to be poised not just to share a table with the titans but also to be one of them!

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**

This Feels Like a Dream....

Posted: by Mural! in Labels: , , ,
2

I am just into my second post and it feels like I am already hitting my writer's block! Or has this become a cliche to put it by every aspiring writer who has got nothing to convey but is excited to do so......!

Why am I excited??

Cadbury has started a new This feels like a dream campaign. Cadbury Dairymilk has officially become Fairtrade certified. It has already started working with various NGO's and trusts in Ghana and also built 365 well inthe communities there. Trying to make a statement i guess.

And to top it, the Teej Bazar at Hauz Khas is about to begin in less than 24 hours! For those who still have no idea about Teej Bazar, it is being organized by Tatsat, AADI and Ujala members. AADI is an NGO working with people with disabilities around New Delhi. There will be a SHRINGAAR (which is a henna and bangles event) and also a Painting Exhibition, "Monsoon Mystique" by Sanjay Biswal. Even if you cannot make it tomorrow that is the 23rd, not to worry, this even is on for two days. If you are in facebook, here is the link to the event and this is the link to the group Tatsat. We also have a fan page here.

Isn't it ironic that the country whose most famous icon had sung praises to the virtue of cottage industries is poised to leap into the stratosphere to find a place among the Titans. Isn't it even more ironic that like the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, our country has two Indias. One India Shining....the India that is poised at the precipice of history, to grab the pen of fate to make its own history and share it with the rest of the world, and, the other India which is still coming to terms in living with this stark adversity in the rural areas, in some corners of the country where there isn't even electricity. Some of the parts have been unfortunately dealt by the hand of fate to be in the"epicenter" of terrorism as Mr. Chidambaram puts it. If not terrorism, there is naxalism or separatism or other kinds of desi-isms like (babudom, corruption and bribery) which have eaten into the dreams and aspirations of these people. I was going through an article from Times Of India where the person says to the journalist in question that he (read journalist) does not understand the life there (the village). How farther shall we go before we can unite again? This disparity exists even in the more developed regions of the country!

With such a scenario developing, it might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise that the USofA sneeze has made the whole world to catch Swine Flu. The economic crisis which is decreasing the exports and foreign demand has forced the government to look into its largely untapped rural segment of the population which has also been dubbed as the Sleeping Tiger in an era of epithets where our erstwhile economy was compared to the Elephant compared to the chinese economy which was dubbed as the Dragon!.

So the world should be beware of the Tiger which is atop an Elephant! Hopefully the new Indian economy which rises by the time the crisis has been deemed over to make the new and real India to be poised not just to share a table with the titans but also to be one of them!

IMPORTANT **This post has been written by me for the Weblog, "Tatsat - People, Planet and Profits" in my capacity as a contributor to that weblog. This is just a reproduction. If you liked this post, then please visit http://tatsat297.wordpress.com/ and go through the whole blog.**