The Number Game

Quake rocks Sichuan province of China..storms sweep Myanmar..Series explosion in Jaipur ..Around 40000 killed in the first case,around a 100000 in the second and 70 killed in the third..and still counting..
At first I ignore these news pieces thinking of them as just another explosion somewhere or just another nature fury in some part of the world..and I continue watching the IPL matches instead of giving even a trifle of attention to whats going around..and then reports start pouring in that there have been significant loss of death and my attention crescendoes towards it..after a series of switching of channels in between the overs and otherwise too that irritates others around me,I find that the death rates are increasing and I find myself more interestingly inclined towards the news..Somehow deep inside I am not feeling bad for the thousands misplaced..Well i am feeling bad but not able to empathise with them much to the extent that I remain sad all throughout..deeper inside I am not praying for the figures to come down..and please note that itas not that I am praying for the figures to rise either..just that there is not much commitment to the whole tragedy..its not that I enjoy people getting killed but somewhere deeper deeper inside,if there is a word like that,I am not feeling bad about It too..this is easily the most difficult post that I have tried to put as expressing myself the way I want to might not be possible..so its open to all kinds of interpretations..
I don’t know if its just human nature or just me..I tend to associate more importance to an event or incident only if there are casualities involved. I don’t know if I am able to get the point across but somehow the events in which say a 100 people die is less important than one in which 500 die..and I guess its true about many of us atleast say a 75 %of us(a very conservative estimate)..Hundreds of people die in Afghanistan and Iraq due to car bombs and human bombs..But then that ends up as a foot note in most of the news as well as our attention.. Somehow 40 lives are not more important or equally important as 500 lives..Simply put in words,more numbers are more eye grabbing than less of them..
Lets take into consideration ,a case,where there are injuries too..Somehow the number of injured people don’t get my attention that much and it just gets side lined although sometimes being injured and scrapping through every inch of life is worse than losing it in a matter of few seconds..I might even be telling all this because I have never directly been involved in anything like it..
It just doesn’t end there..sometimes,the compensation that the state governments announce for the dead might be ,and I say ‘might be’, a boon for certain family members..Well I know you might be bickering over the clichéd line that life can not be equated with money as it is priceless and invaluable but still I just tend to think devilish sometimes..and everyone has that side for sure,although many do not come out in the open and owe up to it..I feel guilty for being heartless at times,well most of the time,and conjure up some possibilities.Suppose there is a person who has left his family and probably is a big drug addict or a drunkard and abuses the family members ,physical abuse too..this guy just walks up the road and bam!!There is an explosion and he is ripped apart, the members see this breaking news in the screen ,if they are watching news that is,now,isn’t it actually better for the family that the member is gone and if the compensation does reach then it would be beneficial for the family ,say a timely compensation of Rs 500000 ,as was announced for the Jaipur attack victims..Now another case is when there is this beggar or a labourer ,who works day and night but still might not see 100000 Rs in his/her whole lifetime..Well given an option of death and money ,NONE would chose the latter for sure but just think of it..What if the family is actually benefited by the lakhs they receive..Atleast it would be a strong basement to build upon..I feel I should have never thought of things like this but then my mind continuously swivels towards thinking on thEse lines..and only after putting these thoughts into words,do I get some respite from the guilt..but then I need to know if other people feel the same too..or am I the only zombie around who feels that death after all might be good news for some families whether they accept it or not..i am expecting a lot of criticism from people who read it and they are all welcome to do so..Well people might say that ‘Arun!you wont say the same if you are in such a situation where someone close to you is in danger’..probably ya but then ….still…Cant stop thinking..
I cant explain the conundrum I am in..there are two ways to look at the whole problem..first is that I am sympathetic towards the people who are suffering but then the fact is if there were hundred people dead instead of a 10000 in china ,I wouldn’t have cared for it much..So the consideration angle gets thrown out of the window..Now the second and more satanic view of the problem is that,somewhere deep inside I probably expect the death tolls to rise ,so that there is much more seriousness or debate attatched to it than just brush away that piece of news..atleast there is a lot to talk about now..i guess it is like the opposition parties that might be praying for a lot of casulaities so that they can have a reason to attack the ruling parties..Well I guess that’s all I want to put in right now..As chinese officials now announce that there might be 50000 killed now,figures might rise again!!

NONe MoRal PoliCeS Me !!

Ok..finally I guess I have decided to come out of my cave and start blogging again..Feel just about perfect to blog..

Now I do not understand this ..What the hell is wrong with our politicians?Well I have never understood their ways anyway..Why on earth cant they do what they are supposed to do rather than become our daily moral policing squad..Now they have a problem with the cheerleaders of IPL now..They think they are provocative,they think it is very occidental,the dresses are too short,instigate the male testosterones and fire them up and what not?

"I cannot understand the necessity of cheergirls at the IPL matches. I am not against any new

concept, but Kolkatans are not yet ready for cheergirls," West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty.

“The scantily clad foreign girls’ dances are certainly obscene and do not gel with the Indian sensibilities, culture and ethos,” the minister said.

"exploitation of women" Termed one womens group.

These were the comment's passed by some of the groups on the recent cheerleader melodrama in the much debated Indian premier league.what are my views on this?

These cheer leaders are contracted proffesionals and should be treated like professionals rather than crying over the culture doom.The so called protectors of moral India fume over a point made by a lot of people that they are watching the whole thing with their families and it would not be appropriate to have cheerleaders spill cleave all over the screens.Now dont tell me that all is well other than this IPL cheerleaders.infact right now while flipping through the channels I come across normal bollywood songs which are almost as provocative or suggestive and i hardly see what the leaders and other so called women organisations are grinning about?

There are a lot of other issues to see to than taking up the measuring scale and see how long the skirts of washington reds or any other god damn blues are?Can we have the leaders just do what they are meant to do?Let them go and solve the myriad problems that the farmers have and are suiciding every hour all over.Go provide electricity to the people who are stll in dark in this era of globalization,curb INFLATION for god sake.

Moral policing is a sign of a society that is being repeatedly knocked by the fists of change but people are still apprehensive towards it as they feel that it will sweep them off their ground as their principles are not built on strong elements.

The crowd for their part is purely enjoying each and every moment of the action.A lot of the action however takes place in the television sets which go perilously close to the bodies of the beautiful women.

Now I am not comparing the cheer leaders with the kind of dresses the bollywood actresses wear or anyone wears for that matter because I do not have any kind of objection to that too.i wont get anywhere comparing them with a Mallika or a Bipasha,rather than thinking about them!!The politicians have really sunk so deep in the abyss of vote ballot that they really do not mind using the name of any public event to forward their ideas and there are enough people who find a topic and cling on to the thread while the matter is hot.

You might be thinking why on earth am I hell bent to protect the so called scantily clad females..Well I am not supporting them.. Yeah some of them are scantily clad but then unless we hear from the real people ,and not the govt.(although its supposed to be an elected representative)It goes nowhere.Yeah the girls can go seek some clothes keeping in mind the family involvement in watching these IPL matches..man..(my mom watches it non stop..although none at my place has any problems)..But then the only thing that troubles me is the level of involvement of the moral police. Agreed that it might be obscene but then again the moral police troubles my sense of freedom..I say it would be even better if there are cheerleaders in draped in Indian culture.As my friend Saema pointed out(hey..I have put your suggestion ok!!)..Probably places like Mohali can do with some Bhangra and stuff like tht..Let s give each place to showcase their culture..But don’t go all guns blazing going around the inch of cloth by which the cheerleaders are covered by instead come up with solutions you.. you..‘LEAD’ers!!

Let me take the Scarlette keeling murder case.now where are the politicians there ,on that issue?None has issued a single statement regarding the safety of women especially foreign women on indian soil.Molestation news is just another passing by element in the news staple.rather than trying to give justice her mother Fiona is accused of man slaughtering and being a careless mother and many other adjectives instead of finding what actually happened to scarlette,and now the person accused has accused her off defamamtion..Well there is some one liner you have for such situations where the thief becomes the one to charge..But then I dont remember what shit that was..well I am digressing off the topic a little I believe..

From my point off view its pure fun and frolic,well,for any other guy it would be fun Iguess.Then there comes the issue of them hogging more limelight than the cricket ..well I wonder if there is no quality cricket,how many would come to see only the dancers.Now whatever happened to ICL..They had dancing damsels too and none raised any voice cos it would be hardly heard.Wasnt the national moral security under threat that time?

I dont know but then I rarely find any approval with the men in white and I hope many others too dont agree with them or I would be labelled as a 'pervert cricket lover'!!Any different point of view is welcome so are alike views..

Now as I am posting this there comes the news that Delhi has banned the cheerleaders!!

God save us all!!

What did you do, 8 to 9?

so there is an earth hour today from 8 pm to 9 pm local time.wonder how many people will follow it but i am right in and would certainly do it.we need more earth hours to save the earth from the global menace of warming.last year it was sydney and this year 2008 is a global earth day observation.24 global cities are participating and there is no indian city as the news channel just showed up.last year the earth hour was observed on march 31 .the official website for it is:
www.earthhour.org
there are around 286000 people who have joined in the event.and right now i am trying to join but the server comes up as busy.i hope its because of a rush in signing up.i am still refreshing it and hopefully it does before 8 o clock because i wont be switching on any device.not even my mobile.lets see.
but then i am sure that none in these apartments would do that .there has to be a larger movement.something in the scale of the seven wonders edition ,where so much publicity was given to the taj and it eventually became the highest voted wonder,although it was overshadowed by the bipasha - ronaldo fling in the post celebrations.but that is immaterial and right now the sign up section has opened up and i am bidding farewell to the blog right now.
save electricity,sAvE EARTH!!!loNg LiVe..

HoCkey?chak De or cHuck de?

a team with its people from different back grounds.all playing for different reasons.some due to sheer love,pleasure and some because they do not know anything else.india face australia in the begining and lose badly.the coach comes in and instills such a fighting spirit in the team that they forget all differences and are suddenly taken over by the sheer drive to perform for the country.a not so organised team fights of all its detractors and rises like the phoenix to win the final in the world cup against australia.the lights turn on and the music plays 'chak de india'!!
well only in a movie could that be the face of indian hockey.
well back to the ground,India has been beaten by great britain for the olympic qualifiers 2-0.this comes as a shocker for thousands of hockey lovers.not that i am one of them but the state of the sport saddens me and should do so to everyone.what message does it send to the outside world when a country doesnt qualify in an event in the world stage when the same event is considered as the national game back home.
the nation is still not over with the hangover of the indian win in australia and the under 19 world cup win by the indian colts in malaysia.those were truly outstanding performances but sadly it doesnt stretch to the other areas of the sporting fraternity.i so not hear any other sport hogging the limelight for more than a couple of days rather than cricket.i hear an occasional arjun atwal,jyoti randhawa and a more often sania mirza(often for her off the field activities).
one of the major reason for the hockey downfall has been the lack of new methodology and measures to harness the potential of the youth and keep them interested all the while.it has been particularly pointed out that indian hockey chief K.P.S Gill S leadership role in the association has been questionable as well as deplorable.
"We do not have a machine that you can get results instantly.We've put the process in place and the results will take some time."
what was that again?well,if not getting even to the semis of last eight world cups and last six olympics is not enough time then you need to do some proper serious thinking mr.gill and trust me i have been really nice by being respectfull till now!!and for the first time in 80 years ,india has not qualified for the olympics or rather kicked out.the coach and the staff have also resigned following the debacle.this is clearly not a average tournament or an off series that has happened , but something that has been on the slide from the past few decades.
Ashok Kumar, son of late Indian hockey wizard great Dhyan Chand told "It felt like there was a death in the family".well that statement comes directly from the heart of a person who really cares for the game as opposed to someone like gill who was rather obstinate and told that he couldnt ensure results instantly and that it would take time.
well shahrukh has laughed his way to the bank with the chak de movie and bought a new indian cricket club shelling more than 70 million dollars,so have the producers and directors and the chak de girls who are now attending all big parites and award ceremonies and even get best supporting actress award and then there still are those people who play for the real hockey team,with dreams shattered and have left the whole nation down and the fat bureaucracy that sits and oversees all these miseries.reel and real life certainly do have some differences

60000 cr. budget waiver- for the good or for the worse??

well the budget was announced on 29th feb and the FM came up witha much expected 60000cr.waiver on the loans taken from the banks by the farmers.it has come as a relief for a lakhs of farmers but is it as an article in the hindu mentioned a karza maafi(loan forgiveness) measure or a voter maafi (voter forgiveness measure)?
some recently read facts have left me thinking as to ,whether the loan waivers are really that effective or is the indian farmer getting into a trap where its only their hope of a much positive future carrying them through rather than solid scientific or progressive measures.a recent article on the budget waiver in the indian express left me pretty startled but i forgot the valid facts and am trying to get my hands on the article,which i hope i will get soon.
well todays article i read in the hindu also exposed a lot about the euphemistic'waivers'that the UPA govt has given.the problems mentioned are as follows

1.MONEY LENDER V/S THE BANKS
more than half of the loans taken by the farmers are from money lenders and especially in a region like vidharbha where the farmers need the most support ,there are far less banks and financial institutions than any other place and the only resort for the hapless farmer is the usurping money lender who charges exorbiantly high rates of intrest.well chidambaram conceeded in an interview that there is no method that they can calculate how many money lenders are there or as to who all have taken loans from them .well shrugging of that responsibility is certainly not the way to go.yes its almost impossible to get a proper list of these money lenders but then someone has to come up with a certain measure some time or the other,or else we will still face this situation over and over again without doubt.

2.LAND SIZE
under the waiver terms it is mentioned that those having land less than 2 hectares will get a 100% waiver on their loans.it is to be noted that vidharba is one of the most affected farm regions in the country and the suicide rates there are the reasons why such measures of waivers have been taken.but it is surprising to find that the average land under a household in vidharba is 3.03 hectares ,that makes them unable to get a 100 per cent waiver.upto 50% percent of the farmers have more than 2 hectares in vidharba.the larger land holdings dont generally translate into more income oppurtunities as most of the land can be dry land ,waste land or simpy put uncultivable land that is of no practical use ,whatsoever.
many farmers in the distressed areas of andhra pradesh too get affected by this size conundrum.whereas on the other hand there will be many farmers in the rich belt areas,who without having any problem will get a waiver.
another very interesting thing i read in the artisle by P.Sainath in the hindu today was that for those having more than 2 hectares of land ,the waiver formula is like,if they pay 75% of the loans then they get a 25 % waiver.well this again is very interesting because if the farmers could pay back 75per cent ,then they might as well could pay the rest too.in short,they wouldnt have commited suicide if they had the ability to pay 75 per cent of their loans.
3.AVERAGE LOANS
it is pretty clear by the reports that have poured in till now about the farmers that farmers in particular those who have cotton yields are the one suffering the greatest losses.it is interesting to note that the average loan given to the farmers having a sugar cane yield is about rs.13000 per acre and that of the cotton is just rs.4400 per acre.so who is the one who is benefitting the most?the one who needs the waiver badly or the person who at the right time and the right palce has defaulted.well,the option is clear.
4.GROWING SEASONS
it is noted that the loan for cotton areas is taken largely during the monthss of spril to june whereas for the sugar cane it is taken from january to march.however the cut off date of loan consideration is march 31 ,2007.that clearly gives an extra edge to those having cane fields as it gives them one nore extra year.
5.WHY SUCH HULLABALOO ON THE WAIVER?
there are myriad oppurtunities or instances the where the govt loses revenue or an opputunity cost is created that is far far higher than the 40000crore waiver.yearly lots of industry debts are also handed over as bad debts and written off annualy.the tax exemptions on sectors to boost them also causes huge revenue gap.but then the returns all the sectors gives back to the economical growth is considerable becuse of which it can be argued that these tax exemptions are encouraging.not that i am aginst giving these exemptions but the revenue gap it creates is considerable as compared to the 40000 cr waiver.
most recent example will be the delay in giving away telecom spectrums.according to a report the per day loss to the economy because of delayed apectrum allocation is around 800 crores!!yes,eight hundred crores,and all this in one day.
The asssumption is based on the fact that an investment of nearly Rs 34,021 crore (slightly over Rs 90 crore a day) has contributed to an increase of Rs 5,71,874 crore (over Rs 1,500 crore a day) to the GDP in fiscal 2006-07, according to a new report by Frost & Sullivan)
giving a waiver is certainly not the only step that could have been taken.the problem could have been nipped at the bud itself had the govt. taken care of the situation right from the time they were sworn in 2005?the PM even visited vidharba in 2006,why wasnt something specific taken into account that time?would they have adopted the same approach on the waiver if the elections were not anyway close?what surety can the govt give that these farmers wont fall into another debt trap as they are eligible to take loans again.
To end poverty ,one doesnt kill all the poor people.similarly the waiver is no strong measure.it rather shows out the gross incompetence of the givt to tackle the situtaion head on and adopt the easiest method possible.
well,populist or not.if the waiver does help the farmer ,intentionally or not,then well and good.the waiver is not as important as the follow up measures that would have to be taken to educate the farmer as to how he/she can change the scenario,head over heels.and sadly ,i have heard nothing regarding the follow up measures.hopefully they do get sorted out and it should be made by people who not only have enough knowledge about finance and planning but people who really care for the farmer.it would be wonderful if the follow up measures are taken into confidence by discussing with the real farmer on the grass root level.people like the ramon magsaysay award winner and palagummi sainath who have dedicated their life for the upliftment of the farmers should constitute the board that is taking decisions.something that needs to be seen is also if the successive govt if not by the UPA,would continue the reforms or additional steps.well,hope and belief is what keeps all of us moving all the time.so lets hope and believe that the worst is over and visualise the indian farmer in a typical yellow field with sun gently shining over him/her and there is faint tune of some happy hindi music playing in the background,one who has no debts but is confused over where to put the surplus cash.a picture where they contribute a lot to the GDP and a place where the children of the farmers are much more educated and look at farming with pride and innovate everyday and face all the challenges head on ,where suicide is not even an option for avoiding burdens.amen!!

obama magic

well everyone is anxiously watching over the U.S elections and this time the action seems to be happening on the democrats side..the republicans are done with their candidate as john Mccain and the action between obama and hillary doesnt refuse to buckle down with hillary winning the latest super tuesday votes in the much touted Ohio and Texas..
something in me wants to support barack obama and many of us do feel the same..he has broken all conventional ideals that a president should have and instead of getting exposed after one is in the president seat,he has accepted whatever he has to.the major confession came in his autobiography 'dreams from my father' where he has confessed that he has used marijuana earlier and experiment with it..well the book was published in 1996 whem he wouldnt have had any idea where he would be 12 years later but such a confession does require pure guts..born to a kenyan father and a kansas mother ,who divorced soon after..he embodies any commmon person who has problems like smoking and other things just like any mortal..he is someone who has robbed the washington of its unreachable purview to one where everyone can dream to get in ,given that one has really done well..
to a person barack obama is more closer to a normal human being than say a hillary,who is riding on the first lady wave..whats more interesting is that barack obama has even studied in madrassa in indonesia for a couple of years and his power right now will impress anyone and can inspire any soul..he is 46 right now and portrays the youth better than any other candidate..
however todays verdict on Ohio and Texas have been favourable towards hillary and it just heats up the race for the democrats choosing of their candidate..
just recently,i guess yesterday ,i read an interesting article about the fame of obama spreading like never before.the global language monitor(GLM)recently came out with a report stating that people are using new words with obama in it and the predictive quantities indicator(PQI),which tracks the frequency and usage of the word has come out with very interesting words coming up in the net..they are:-
Obamamentum, Obamacize, Obamarama, Obamanation, Obamanomics, Obamican, O bamafy, Obamamania, and Obamacam..there is a word called obamazon too that means an ardent female follower of obama..
i dont know why i am going on about obama so much but then there is a certain connect that i feel obama has with the people and that kind of chord,i personally,have never felt..why should i otherwise care for who wins in america..he even shared the stage with elen degeneres recently and pulled out many moves with ellen which left the whole audience dazzled..that is the energy and connect he establishes with the people..
do not consider me anti feminist or gender biased ,in fact i am anything but them,hillary,i feel doesnt have the warmth and the charisma to carry of the post..not that george bush has had any of them but whenever hillary says something it just feels as if its a repeat of whatever the earlier presidents have kept on saying..whereas obama brings in a fresh change..go obama go!!

comparing a normal day in kerala

They call it the gods own country and i ll put in my dads words as 'gods own political country'.

I lived continously for three years in kerala during my 5th,6th and 7th standards..I came back again when I had to study for my under graduate degree in coimbatore and hence there were frequent trips to kerala and they still go on.

I would have loved to say that a lot has changed but sadly nothing has changed.Everything remains the same and have deteriorated in case of any change.

I spent a considerable time of my life in faridabad and i thought i would compare a northern place and kerala,from my viewpoint.This is how i see the things from my perspective

Morning:

If I were in Faridabad or any other northern city,there would have been crowd bustling around me.fast on their feet ,not to miss the local train to their work places.chatting between them .loads of activity happening in the street.traffc jams.People getting ready for work,retired people jogging around or practicing yoga at the park.Busses whistling past,autos nearly filled to their maximum capacity but the driver still tries to squeeze in an extra person on his seat for that extra buck.Children giving their goodbye kisses to their parents before the auto or the bus comes to a grinding stop in front of the gates.

Now if i were in kerala-people do wake up early,some of them are sweeping their yards,some lighting the prayer lamps and chanting the prayer in crisp voice into the morning breeze.all is fine and rosy till now.Enchanting!!

You go to the streets you hardly find much activity.People are moving leisurely in a languid manner.None cares to meet any deadline.you see a bunch of people at the tea shop;nothing wrong with that ,but the thing is that most of these are people in their late twentys and mid thirtys.The family is supposed to be dependent on them but still they are tension free.they can go on and on regarding the political situtation existing there.Infact I believe people in kerala might be the most aware about the political situations of their place than any other state.A lot of time is being wasted and cups of tea being ordered.I think it was OSCAR WILDE who quoted that 'whats the use of a cynic who knows the price of everything but value of none',that holds true here.

NOON:

Up there in the north people will be dismantling the floors of their lunch boxes.Sitting in a group and chatting and breaking away pieces of roti and dipping it into dal curry and eating it fast enough so that they can be back for the job before the deadline.

Everyone has lunch in kerala too but then they come home and have it as usual in a leisure pace and probably have a siesta.Somewhere in the background an auto passes with a political partys flag announcing a meet on a certain date.

AFTERNOON

Well people come back to their home in the evening or at night after a days hard work..spend some revitalising time with their family..Have a nice dinner and watch some tv or a movie.

Back here in kerala,many people are in these small tody shops,having a wine bottle on its board and tody painted in white almost fading away ,waiting for the next drink to come and shell out all they have not caring if someones waiting at home or not.

By the way,kerala is the largest liqour consumer in the whole country.They come back home ,managing their way somehow.Rake up a fight under the influence of the wonder liquid,exhaust themselves and fall off somewhere to wake up to another normal morning.

NOTE:

Well i had originally pasted the above photos and was planning to write about the political strikes and bandhs but somehow i forgot and wrote the above.Please note that the above mentioned is not the condition of the whole state and many people do mean business here and are very dedicated..its just my frustration on the state of affairs that has led me to write all this most of it which cOuld be biased and not agreeable.It should not be seen as an attack on the malayalees but just an expression of sadness..what the hell..Everyone has the write to express right.?