My CITY OF JOY:

This city , to which I belong is a paradox to the hilt .A city of contrasts and contradictions .I need'nt say since it is very obvious that it has its fair share of conflicts too .It has this unbelieveable capacity to assault all your senses- the mass of people , the poverty , the noise , the traffic , the nauseating car horns , the obnoxious fumes of smoke , the feeling of rot and decay , the cooking on the streets, remnants of paan marks on walls, the overpowering smells that choke your lungs , the banners and slogans , the chain of typewriters on the streets, the cow on road , the dilapidated public transport system - But then it has the capacity to surprise you with wonderful moments of culture , humanity , humour and unanticipated spirit.

This latter part of Calcutta is what i treasure and its this that keeps me going .My love and respect for this global village seems to increase each day that i wake up .

I could not have belonged to any other city as well as i belong to my city of birth-My city of Joy.

WISDOM TOOTH-MANDIBULAR 3RD MOLAR & The theory of Evolution:

The month of January'09 was a troublesome month in terms of health issues , with most part of it keeping me reeling in pain due to something or the other -eye infection,arm injury and the worst of them -The " Wisdom Tooth ".I came to know about this only after some days when someone casually told me it could be your " wisdom tooth " .Till then i had thought it was some common ulcer which would be gone in a day or 2 .Now this wisdom tooth on my upper set of teeth is located at a position where it cant be located easily ( with no teeth posterior to it ) .They say it comes when you have acquired some kind of wisdom & the person is considered to have a better judgement than that of a child.I did acquire a lot of it in '08 or rather '08 forced me to know about a lot of things .Whether i would go for its extraction or not would depend on the amount of disturbance it gives me in the days to come , but one thing thing which struck me while i was going through information on it was its link with the Theory of Evolution .

Wisdom teeth are vestigial third molars. In earlier times, when tooth loss in early adulthood was common, an additional molar had the potential to fill in a gap left by the loss of another tooth. It has also been postulated that the skulls of human ancestors had larger jaws with more teeth, which were possibly used to help chew down foliage to compensate for a lack of ability to efficiently digest the cellulose that makes up a plant cell wall. As human diet changed, a smaller jaw was selected by evolution, yet the third molars, or "wisdom teeth", still commonly develop in human mouths.

Would that mean that since in the days to come the Jawlines would keep on shrinking the Wisdom Tooth would get less and less space to grow , eventually leading to a no-wisdom tooth jawline .Wish i was born a 1000 years later ! It does pain !

AGENDA : Ban on 3 wheelers running on Kerosene in Kolkata..

AUTO-BIOGRAPHY : Zameen se ASTHMA tak ,

Ghoshbabu : Arre baba , 2-stroke Auto maane , jeytate bosha matroi,je kono manusher du du baar stroke hoye jete paare !!!
" Hey man , a 2 stroke auto is that vehicle wherein any human can have 2 strokes at a time !

Ghoshbabu : Etto pollution ! Shei jonyoi to sarkar bolche , Hari bole dau tule
" So much of pollution ! That is why the government says say jesus and pull them off the roads "

Bodobabu : Tule dewaar ki darkaar , auto-te othaar aage pocket-e ekta Sorbitrate rekhe dilei holo ...!!!
" Whats the need to ban them , just before climbing onto it keep a Sorbitrate in your pocket "

From Chandni to Parkcircus , from Jadavpur to Garia , from Behala to Taratala, Autos are everywhere , they are and they would be !!

The Autohwallah is a tough man .So flouting the court ban is 2nd nature .And they would still carry on carrying 6-7 passengers on their matchbox -on - wheels.

They have to say in unison :

" Aree sahib , jaayo giye sarkar ke bolo , Aaamder gaari choto kintu dil ta na , bujhle ! "
(" Oh sir , go , go and tell the government , we have small vehicles but our hearts are not small , understood !)

bangalore airport

I never had an oppurtunity to be at the new bangalore Airport but would constantly hear from my brother Aditya about it being too far away from the city ( He is doing his engineering in Bangalore ) .It became so incessant, his bickering , that it plunged me into giving a thought as to why the decision makers chose this place as their site !

Though he has always admitted that it is far ahead of the present state-of-the-art his complain is completely to do with its location .He always says that nobody seems to know just how far it is from the heart of the city , but everybody thinks it is very far .Now he has a valid point to make when he says that due to the far-ness it becomes a subject of higher math to calculate when you should be leaving to catch the flight ( It involves the concept of space-time relativity :)) , especially keeping in mind the traffic snarl-ups bangalore is diseased with , and , it being just one of the un-control-ables .He suggests the use of lunar calendars based on some vedic system of calibration :) or maybe astrologers .

He has his constant Hows ? Whys ? .I did find some answers to it , if i may suggest so ( though i would say they are generic suggestions and would not be logical always , do not try being cynics :) ) :

1. REAL ESTATE : The farther the airport away from the city the more the connecting land between the city and the airport .Now people in the know-how of the scheme of things could buy the land in advance at dirt cheap rates and then rake in the moolah later on .Simply said " The farther the airport -> the more the connecting land -> the more the prospective real estate -> the more the money to be made by insiders ( no brownie points for guessing who the insiders could be ! :) )

2. CARBON-FOOTPRINT: Now each flight that takes off from any airport of any city does leave a carbon footprint that depends directly on the (A) sheer number of flights and (B) their duration .
(A) Farther the airport -> More the avoidance in people towards flying
(B) Farther the airport -> Shorter the flight duration between airports

Now an interesting point to be made is , ( though might be comical to you ) assume airports start being so far from the city that they are almost mid-way the flight route , what we could do is then start sharing an airport for 2 cities .Similarly other cities could follow suit and eventually we land up with something very interesting and that is 1 Airport for the whole of the country , thus obviating forever the need to fly and thereby creating carbon-footprints ( though the Pachauris could lecture the whole world on it , travelling on planes , resulting hence in creating more of it :) ) .

ULTIMATE MOTION CONTROL IN AIR !!

INCOMPLETE :


genre:poignant , metric : uniform



In the solitude , germinates this cathartic mind of mine

Here everything looks so just incomplete ;

Almost whispering ,kissing & toying in the void ..

But the valiant efforts all go in vain .




There is this incessant fight within elements

The flow of the waters want to breakthrough to the gravel ;

The tall palms amost droop to their destruction ..

To absorb the juices that help them grow .




The fast moving symbols of urbanisation

Want to break into this sanctum sanctorium ;

The vast skyscrapers & its inhabitants peep their blood out ..

But cometh what , they fail to sense anything animate .




And I .....

Want to plunge into the waters

Against the flow of water and against gravity

To kiss that goldfish ..

That has eluded me and failed to sway in the air ...


How so incomplete ?!

Paryushan-festival of forgiveness :

The days that just went by rekindled in me the desire to truly respect the religion i was born with and people who are interested in knowing what jainism has to offer can read this post .
1.It acknowledges the self as atman .It is based on self-realistion ( atmadarshan)
2. It professes Vitraag-detachment as the key to moksha.It amounts to complete renunciation of all possesions and aversions.
3. The basic principles on which it stands are - ahimsa( non-violence),aparigrah(non-possesion),anekant(nonabsolutism).These are the primordial principles.
4. The path to moksha are the 3 jewels( ratna-traya) - right conduct,faith and knowledge.
5. Jinas have elucidated Daslakshan dharma ( 10 nobel virtues ) of the soul-forgiveness,humility,sincerity,purity,truthfulness,self-restraint,charity,celibacy,penance and non-possesion.
6.Paryushan-the festival of forgiveness ,reflection,meditation,adoration and self-purgation is celebrated from the 5th day of the bright fortnight of bhadrapad till anant chaturdashi for 10 days with fervour and devotion.Devotees absorb themselves in praying,studying scriptures,eulogising,attending sermons of sadhus( vyaakhyaana),fasting for days together(apavaas) and exercising severe austerity for spiritual enlightment.

"SANDALWOOD PERFUMES EVEN THE AXE WHICH HEWS IT DOWN, ITS PERFUME WAFTS ALL AROUND WHEN IT IS ITSELF BURNING-THAT IS FORGIVENESS "

Educational dream

I had this dream the other day : I am taking a class in what hardly seems to be a school .Under the plastic canopied shed , rain water gettin in through all pores and kids -tattered,bruised,dirty ,grimy , Oh god the shed is brimming with kids !!

Unsure of how to start - overwhelmed with emotions - i get this rare oppurtunity to feel the kids one by one - I play with their dishevelled hair .The " navo chokro " is soon taken over by this " good uncle " - all beaming and confident .I take the class with panache and end it with a resounding goodbye they had to offer .

They had a promise to make :

" WE WOULD WAIT FOR YOU THE NEXT WEEK " :)

match day : Gambhir, McGrath shine in Daredevils' win,Royal Challengers beaten for the fourth time in five matches: A VERY EXCITING DAY INDEED

It all started and ended so fittingly , with bouts of tension stuffed in so fittingly that it was almost a smooth but long day .The excitement started with that call my friend gave me at 6:15 informing me about the schedule and that we had got tickets within the range we wanted it in for the same day 8 PM match , wow !! At the time my friend called me i was well into my work and would take 3/4ths of an hour to wrap it all up .Imagine.On top of that home was about 35 minutes away from me at that time .Rush home .Freshen Up very very fast .Rush to the stadium which would be choc-a - bloc by the time i reach i was sure .I ask my driver to keep the machines in the office while i get ready and then pick me up from home .Generally i do not trust anybody on this machines part and i prefer doin it all by myself , but i was helpless .I keep him waitin for 20 mts and then rush to the metro station.The 20 mts went in dressin up , gettin minorly , geared up for the match , seeing the delhi map and tryin to figure out what would be the most optimal way to reach the stadium .I leave for the stadium at 7 : 15 for a 8 PM match , when i know the stadium is 45 mts away from me via the metro ( tube ) route.Grossly laggin in time right at the inception .The tickets were with my friend and i was suppose to meet him outside the stadium at 7:30 , no idea about which gate .I leave home and forget my phone , i do not remember his number since i generally dial his number with the help of the phonebook.On the way i luckily meet a company colleague and borrow his phone for the call .3 ifferent combinations tried , all 3 wrong numbers .He needs to get down in the next stop , i am still far from reachin my friend at the stadium .I try callin someone else who is in a way 2 steps away from my friend waitin at the stadium.He would give me number , from where i would get my frnds number .I get throught the first level , but fail to reach the 2nd level before he needs to get down and take his phone back from me .Reach the stadium and ask for the gates for the ticket denomination we were going for .Ahoy ! , 3 gates for that combination , throbbing crowds , swellin like a hot air balloon at all places .I almost scrutinised a 1000 faces so that i could get a look of my friend and hence could enter with the tickets .No , that was not happening .( came to know later he waited till 7:55 and i reachd at 8:05 ).No tickets , completely tired and out of sorts .Calm down , compose myself and start searchin frantically for people selling those tickets they dont need .Get one guy , who sells me those tickets very cheap .The 500 ticket at 250 jut because his son couldnt make it due to a sore foot !!!.Watch the match from calliper to grave from then on , though miss those initial blasts by sehwag.By this time i am so dehydrated that i cannot bear the dry whiff of air anymore ,Get a lime juice and settle on a longish square leg position , with the screen on my immediate left for instant catch-ups of stuff missed.

Reach home , safe and hearty at 00:40 hrs , so tired , the bones almost dis-owning my body !Nothin much to eat except dried cashew nuts and pistachios , but nevertheless a very satisfying and tiring day .What a fittin end to it : sid is smokin the " montecristo mini cigars to glory " - wow !!!" "sos el mejor del -mundo"-it does make me feel like that !

SELF COMPOSED POEM : "LA KALYUG MEGHDOOT TRAIL:

SOURCE: SELF IAMGINATED DARK SIDE OF AN INDIAN MONSOON
GENRE: SARCASM & EUPHEMISM
STRUCTURE : CANTO FORMAT WITH ALLITERATION
METRIC : VARIABLE
WORDS: 400 ( APPROX.)



LA KALYUG MEGHDOOT TRAIL:

Light changing radically
Relentless flat tropical yellow ;all flowy
Gives way to an ashes-of -peach colour
So psychedelic , so blur

This light we can see only when
The SUN GOD manages to , after the cloud battle
A few straggling rays down the lane
Those too , refracted by dust motes & rain drops rattle

The bunch of moving water bodies
Scuddling white clouds in the proscenium of the human eye
All milky , eye-pouring toddy
In the never-before-never-after sky

It poured like a farcical comedy
Leaving the rich car struck
Next , they in hotel rooms -" MARGARITA TOO SALTY "
This monsoon is a moronic muck

It poured as if raining donkeys
The "lesser rich " -got bus & train struck
Mobile phones , mint boxes & tiffins get exchanged
They are no more junk-ies
The strings of their soul-ly guitar
Are all playing a philharmonic chord
All voices get overlapped
But no one feels the cacaphonic herd
The gentlemen stand up
Just before the pregnancy struck mother sits down
On the seats of heavy sighs
She wants to avoid the swollen legs.


It actually completely poured
The " lesser-than-lesser rich"
Feel their blood getting sucked
By the AARDVARKY LEACH
The belongings are piled
Children all perched
The granny under a blue sheet
Is plasticly waterproofed & CURSED
school children hoisted on backs
Human chains lead all from stranded buses
All the way into the water get pushed the planks
So that a stray cat gets uncursed


The fisher folk dress galore
Get into the sea away from the shore
Their ANNADAATA & ANNAPURNA
Offer coconuts in SADBHAVANA
But it is INDRA WHO HAS TO DECIDE
who would live & KISE HAI MARNA
The same fisher folk all gay and showy
Still dance -the leaves & flowers brightly holy,
A schism in their heads
Still abuse weather gods- as duds
The real criminals par excellence
Still sipping MARGARITAS with no pretence
The weather gods so un-equanimous
Distributing joy & sorrow with a bias


The true spectre of penury haunts the month
All fortitude gets a brunt
The darkness & deprivation not only corporeal
The hollow also breaks through into the soul

Once upon a time it was known
When in a world washed with innocence
Equine wishes got fish drown
We waited for the monsoon incense .


JHIRR....JHIRR....-its raining
GUDU..GUDU..GUDU..-INDRA'S wheels turning
Out come the palm tree umbrellas
From the side of the agrarian fellow
What fun shore hopping in a row
With no umbrella over you , so mellow
But wait , OH!!-The song of the peacock
Has lost it's way, is so shallow .....


---------------END----********--------END---*******____________________

the island snap in fiji ignites the ' go green ' signal in me :

The recent past has seen a great metamorphosis in me , courtesy the image i saw of some place in fiji , submerged in water .An immediate repercussion of environmental degradation experts say .It has rung in alarm bells within me .A similar jolt was struck on me when mumbai had those life-stopping rains some time back, which at that point in time had forced me to dedicate an allegorical poem on it(http://sidbhai.blogspot.com/2008/04/self-composed-poem-la-kalyug-meghdoot.html) , also posted .

On a personal note i have started to walk to office , have asked my folks at home to run washing machines only at full load , buy clothes only when it is required and not get lured by the attraction that the shopping mall offers.( only visit it when i am in dire need of clothes ),have also manipulated my flush knob to save some water.

I remember my days in calcutta when in bengal i saw those sooty fume-emitting sugar industries .Those bunch of irresponsible idiots burnt the rejected bagasse as fuel for further use .It was simply out of convenience that they did that .I also have started to hate aluminium just because the whole process of aluminium manufacturing is extremely detrimental to the ecology.The bauxite is converted to alumina ( Al2O3) , and then after the smelting process made into aluminium ingots, before finally turning up as aluminium.The smelting process emits a huge ball of those obnoxious GHG which contribute to the warming .I was kind of flabbergasted by the very thought of how the 3rd world countries are left with doing all the dirty jobs and the 1st world countries , just because of monetary might do only the final real value-addition jobs that are clean as cheese.And now after the ' carbon credits ' concept , the 1st world nations have a real medium to replace their moral guilt with money , by buying CCs for anything and everything .It is like spitting on the roads and then paying for it at leisure and will .

And after that article i read regarding green food , i would go on to suggest that friends there is every reason in the book that suggests " stop indulging in hogging meat of any kind" .Obviously there is the physical aspect to it ( in hindi sthool) , which says it causes hypertension and high BP , but beyond that i had just read that the whole process of butchering them is too darn brutal , it does leave a lasting impression of horror on the animal , to be consumed as meat later .The horror, when it is being butchered, brings in a set of chemical changes within the animal body which might not be good for meat eating .Thats the meta-physical aspect of it all .( in hindi sookshma ).

Even my company has taken a huge leap forward in terms of going green .It has already planted a photovoltaic array for in house power consumtion , planned to install solar heaters for heating up all the rooms in the company hostel , getting a complete overhaul done of the drainage system to align it to a proper rain water harvesting system, procuring only amorphous transformers that help in reducing core losses ( iron and hysterisis losses ) , selling CFLs and Electronic chokes at subsidised rates and going to schools with well laid plans of energy conservation across the whole of north & NW delhi .

I would just wanna say at this point in time that atleast the start is good when we have accepted the magnanimity of the problem in its true amplitude and have given due credit to the world rhetoric regarding going green .

nurture the juvenile mind :

There is always this identity theft of most of the children in the country .The 'child ' is soon replaced by the tag 'student '.And just as this happens the trauma and the struggle begins for all .Would it be a success story or one which ends in disappointment and blame ?

Where does the story of the struggle begin? It begins with the metamorphosis of a child into a student that seems to happen like any natural occurrence although this transformation is laden with innumerable and very serious ramifications. When does a child actually assume the form and colours of a student? This could well be termed as the moment of transition .

It starts with " how the child would look like " , " whether he resembles anyone in the family ".Oh sorry , before that very importantly " whether he would be a naughty boy or a sweet girl ".The child is first appreciated for its physical appearance , then because he distantly resembles someone in the family he gets brownie points .How silly ! In due course of time he is lauded for his grasp of speech and walk , his play .The child's antics and tantrums are then the focus of all attention and are constantly compared , benchmarked .All the family members see some of their characteristics in the child .Oh great god , u do satisfy all and all !

Then starts the tedious admission process : play school , primary school and then higher school, all accompanied by trials and tribulations for the child and the parents alike .And then, almost overnight, the change of status happens in the psyche of the parent. From the word go, the child is viewed as a student, and the ability of the child to fit into the school system and its demands becomes the yardstick or measure of success.How heavy and overbearing for the child indeed , does anyone understnd !The biological circadian clock should match the school timings , the aptitude to the curriculum and the strength of the back the load of books !The child who is student first and child only next wears the hat for the whole of childhood and the greater part of adolescence.And tragicly the mood of the parents and family also swing high and low as go the scores on the report card.

Questions and questions all lined up in succession : Which are the best careers in today’s scenario? Which are most coveted, that carry the promise of booming opportunities? Which schools and colleges are the best of the pick? And what scores will take students there? Such are the questions that cloud parents’ minds.The neck of the student is clenched by pressures of a high paying job .The colourful butterfly of childhood dreams has long back flown out of the window into the wilds !

The child is trampled and torn between parental expectation and personal ambition and joys.Who is caring for the child's natural endowments and propensities ? NONE , Is the uniqueness in the child being nourished and cherished ? NO No no .

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE :
- Child first , student next
- differentiated teaching and testing by teachers
- the child needs to be nurtured thoroughly

I am helpless and I have to recall the memorable lines of the Persian poet Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet:


Your children are not your children.


They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself;


They come through you but not from you.


You may give them your love but not your thoughts,


For, they have their own thoughts.


You may house their bodies but not their souls,


For their souls lie in the house of tomorrow,


Which you cannot visit,


Not even in your dreams!

my audip clip

http://www.soundupload.com/audio/42dkafoe3su4sel

I'm Sorry-john denver

I'm Sorry


It's cold here in the city
It always seems that way
And I've been thinking about you almost everyday
Thinking about the good times
Thinking about the rain
Thinking about how bad it feels alone again

I'm sorry for the way things are in China
I'm sorry things ain't what they used to be
But more than anything else
I'm sorry for myself
'Cause you're not here with me

Our friends all ask about you
I say you're doing fine
And I expect to hear from you almost anytime
But they all know I'm crying
And I can't sleep at night
They all know I'm dying down deep inside

I'm sorry for all the lies I told you
I'm sorry for the things I didn't say
But more than anything else
I'm sorry for myself
I can't believe you went away

[break]

I'm sorry if I took some things for granted
I'm sorry for the chains I put on you
But more than anything else
I'm sorry for myself
For living without you

It's cold here in the city
It always seems that way
And I've been thinking about you almost everyday

This song means complete intimacy to me .I constantly relate to it , it is from the " leavin on a jet plane " and " back home again " triumvirate of songs in a way .

John why did u leave us and go so early and so fast , we miss u ....

my " love -visual DNA "

http://youniverse.com/love/results/bcb80da3539cfae1f0a3bdd349cff742#

The Seven Words on the Cross- Eagle christians :sermons

1stly : “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” In other words forgiveness is the hallmark of a Christian.
2ndly : “Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” -> repentant sinner .A Christian will never exclude a sinner from the possibility of being integrated into the society of God if he or she truly repents..
3rdly : “Woman behold thy son.” Jesus showed that the Christian’s core concern should be the welfare of others as illustrated in the Parable of the Good Samaritan...
4thly : “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” -human cry of despair from the downtrodden and oppressed for god's recognition ....
5thly : “I thirst.”-a christian should be ready for any kind of physical suffering symbolised by the crucification of Jesus as part of the redemptive plan of God .....
6thly : “at-one-ment” (atonement)-God accomplishes his task by ending all suffering of humankind ......
7thly : “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” -implicit obedience and surrender to the will of God.......

And hence The Seven Words on the Cross are a condensation of the Sermons .......

water crisis :dry delhi summers

This is one interesting incident that i have gone through in recent times . It is a generally accepted fact that the harbinger of delhi summers brings with it an acute water crisis.This past week was almost desert-like in my house with not a drop of water to drink or bathe.Due to the same old prejudice in my mind - i said to myself -sid guy , the days have begun where you have to dig deep for each drop of water .So for drinking i had water cans or the community water outlet and each time i had to go down 3 floors and get some water and for bathing i had to go to a friend's house nearby - now u could imagine how irritating it was .

But then i was a fool to not take any cue from nature and the surroundings .Realisation should have dawned that it was a bit too early for such acute water shortage and i should have asked my neighbours at the same floor ( floor matters because my motor is placed on the 2nd floor and it could be that the natural flow did not get the water to this height for the motor to pump and maybe the guys having a motor placed on the ground floor would be having water just because the pump was accessing it), but i never did any of this and just assumed that because it was summer on our heads that there was not water and was complying with it . On top of that the newspapers continually said that the whole of delhi was facing the water crisis, so everything just seemed to be even more normal and expected.

Then one fine day , my motor co-sharer came by as a godsend and stimulated my biased brain .Let me just explain to you the whole situation: we have a common overhead tank which is on my terrace and both off us share that tank , and the motor has 2 energisation points : one with him and the other with me , so on manual changeover we can control the running of the motor. It so happens that the chap has such job timings that at both times of the day he cannot somehow get the supply water for his use and so has to bear with the tank stored water .At my place i run the motor at both times , but these days since my conductor going in to the motor was open i was not being able to access the motor and about which i did not come to know because the motor was in his house , and hence i concluded that there was no water inflow from the water board's side , but i was grossly wrong .Today i happened to go to his house and serendpitously discover that the motor was not running through my switch , so i came home straightaway and checked the continuity of my conductor and saw that either both wires ( P and N ) were glowing on a line tester or both were not glowing ,the other chap said that " bhai there is a short circuit" , i said cmon how can it be a short circuit , if it is a short circuit both would glow on any combination you apply .Is is a open on the N wire and i was exactly right - for an open circuit if the open N is connected to the supply side P both would not glow and if open N was connected to supply N both would glow : because the whole of the P voltage would come over to the N wire because of no voltage drop.So after about 15 mts of haggling with the wires we discovered that there was an open right next to the plug point in my house and we then cleard that fault .

And AHOY!!!! we could get abundant water from tomorrow onwards.

MORAL : MURPHY'S law is ubiquitous and is always working , here in india systems are always on the verge of instabilty and hence there are many possible ways of it going wrong , though for it to be all picture perfect there is only one way , so rather than thinking and assuming too much , it is always better to start checking your immediate surroundings for the looming MURPHY resultant .

FARM LOAN WAIVER -A SHALLOW RESPONSE , A CRITICAL ANALYSIS :

STATEMENT : All agricultural loans disbursed by scheduled [commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions] (A) up to March 31, 2007 and overdue as on December 31, 2007 will be covered under the scheme

For marginal farmers (i.e., holding upto 1 hectare) and small farmers (1-2 hectare),
there will be a complete waiver of all loans that were overdue(A) on December 31, 2007 and which remained unpaid(A) until February 29, 2008. In respect of other farmers, there will be a one time settlement (OTS) scheme for all loans that were overdue on December 31, 2007 and which remained unpaid until February 29, 2008. Under the OTS, a rebate of 25 per cent will be given against payment of the balance of 75 %.

Government estimates that about three crore small(B) and marginal farmers (B)and about one crore other farmers will benefit from the scheme. The total value of overdue loans being waived is estimated at Rs.50,000(C) crore and the OTS relief on the overdue loans is estimated at Rs.10,000 crore.(C)

ANALYSIS:
-> which institutions, loan categories, and class of borrowers will be covered by the scheme -far from clear ..
-> (A)-Scheme applies to only those farmers who have outstanding loans .Majority of rural and farm households declare they have no outstanding loans or debt.And those who admit they have debt may not have instituional debt at all .Thus majority of the farmer community not applicable .
->(B)-Access to institutional debt and proportion of outstanding debts are skewed to larger farms ie. >> 2 hectares of arable land.
-> (A)WITHIN : What constitutes institutional loans : they include both direct(production and consumption needs) and indirect (trading,transport,distribution,processing of farm produce) lending .These indirct loans acoount for half of all loans on an average.Any justification on waiver of indirect loans ??
-> (C)-INR 60,000 Cr, thats bizarre and hideous , this estimate is far from clear and very very vague to say the least. There is good reason to believe that a generalised waiver of all overdues will benefit non-rural borrowers to a considerable extent; that the large majority of rural households, including those in the below 2 hectares(small and marginal) category will not benefit; and that the magnitude of benefit accruing to them will be considerably less than INR 60,000 Cr.

REPERCUSSIONS:This scheme would not address the current agrarian crisis in the way it is intended to .It would create a huge backlash in terms of attitude shifts in the farming community.Waivers would encourage borrowers to presume that they can sooner or later get away without repaying loans as corroborated by history.The culture of default by default would make a home in the farmer mindspace.There is statewide massive rural reform process going on and this waiver comes right at the wrong time : an irony of sorts.

WHAT HAD TO BE DONE INSTEAD:Faster pace of growth in the rural economy and an improved quality of education and health services was rather the call of the hour .Addressing deeper problems rooted in the overexploitation and degradation of land and water; government policies that encourage wasteful use of resources; the inefficiency of public systems responsible for implementing programmes, regulating the use of common service facilities, and ensuring quality infrastructural and support services would have done the job.

This was my experience and conversation with a small town factory worker in his tiny factory making those plastic bottles to hold chuna ( edible lime product ) .The conversation was insightful in more ways than one .The machine was a low-end one though thoughtfully crafted . It was nothing but a moulding machine with variously shaped moulds to cater to many end products . On the top was a cuppish slot to hold the plastic raw material and that was fed into the heating chamber with the help of a spindle . The heating chamber was nothing but a coil which was fed by the ac supply and which heated the raw material ( plastic balls) beyond their melting point .This viscous,molten plastic was then fed into a chamber where it was blown out into bottles by the help of pressurised air from a compressor .The finished product came out of a 4-legged termination point .The efficiency of the machine as stated by the worker was a mere 50% but still reaped in huge profits for his employer .

Then i asked him how they were paid . On hour basis ? Or on number of bottles made ( in that case they were dependent on the machine as they did not completely have a direct hand in the number of bottles finally turning up ).He said " bhaisaab , maalik jo hai na bada ginti ka pakka hai , 5 gm main 50 bottle nikalti hai , toh ham karib 3 kilo maal din main nikalte hain aur tab jaake prati 1000 bootle ke hisaab se 20000 bottle ke paise lete hain ( wink wink !!! ratio and proportion redifined !! wink !) , tabhi kuch bachta hai khaandaan ko khilane ko kyonki aane jaane ka bhaada bhi toh lagta hai , aur phir sahab ( whispering) hame toh is wajan waale machine pe bhi bharosa nahi ( actual weight of their output would be in the tune of 4 Kgs) hai aur na uspe , lagta hai maalik ne ise bhi golmaal kar rakha hai tabhi toh hame kabhi nahi dikhata wajan kya hai !!!! bas yehi majboori hai ki andhere mein naukri kar rahe hain kyonki aur hame kaun rakhega bina jaan pehechaan ke delhi jaise shahar mein !aur phir gaon mein kya karen , kheti bhi toh bahut mehengi pad rahi hai gentor(generator) ki bijli mein !

Now that is how the trickle down theory works in india !! with falsified calculations , dishonesty , utter disregard for the poor and bull shitty weighing machines !

Solar house: A Solar Home, can u add solar panels to your house ?

The house includes a fully integrated solar roof that is interconnected with the local utility grid. The solar electric system uses an inverter which regulates the energy produced by the solar panels on the roof making the system completely compatible with the home's local utility provider.

This solar home, replete with solar panels, harvests energy from the sun to generate electricity and heat. On sunny days, the roof collects enough sun energy to produce more electricity than the home actually requires. Since the home-owner has a net metering agreement with the local utility, the electrical meter on such days will run backward, selling energy back to the utility company. At night, the residents of this solar home consume electricity from the utility as regular consumer.

The home is also equipped with a solar thermal array that provides all of the pool heating and a good part of the domestic hot water. The family's swim season is extended by two months, as well as paying a much lower overall cost for pool heating.

As well, part of the home's space heating requirements is covered by solar thermal heating. This also reduces their monthly gas bill.

In addition to all these features, the home is constructed using passive solar design principles. These features include the use of natural daylighting, natural cooling, superior insulation and windows as well as other energy conservation techniques.

invictus-" unconquerable "

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of Circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of Chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

This is one hell of a poem by William Ernest Henley, it is my eternal guide when i am down and out in life , it inspires me to bounce back from any damn shit surrounding me . Its greatness lies in the way it tells us to take responsibilty of our own destiny .It is the same poem which Timothy McVeigh ( oklahama bomber ) recited as his final statement before death .( though in no way does he influence my admiration for it )